Fish Tales - - Meet OP

Both Saturday and Sunday were AGCC days. Which was a good thing considering that the second largest festival in the state, the NC Seafood Festival, took place in Morehead City. In years past, over 120,000 folks pack downtown Morehead City to look at crafts, listen to live music and try just about every variation of fried seafood known to mankind. Unfortunately, there weren't very many heart-healthy seafood options. Guess the vendors were hoping that the omega-3s from the seafood would temper the effects of deep frying the crap out of a fillet or shrimp.

That's OK. As most of y'all know, we love to look at the culinary offerings, but are most interested in people watching, the arts and crafts and the music. So, the money that other people would spend on artery clogging, deep fried shrimp basket and funnel cakes, we spent on purchasing our newest 'family member.'

Please meet O.P. Mark Cunningham, of Gloucester, VA, hand-crafts a variety of coastal fishes and fowl. Once you pick out your wildlife of choice, Mark will then customize it with your name, a saying, address, etc. Since red drum are quite the popular (and tasty) fish of the Neuse River and Pamlico Sound, we selected a red drum.

Now, what to put on it . . . . . . We wanted something representative of us, but not necessarily our names. Out of the blue, my creative-minded husband said, "What about One Particular Harbor? This would give homage to one of your favorite Buffett songs and the fact that we live on a harbor."

And such is the story behind OP (who now greets people on our front porch).