Wednesday, June 8, 2011

What's Up

It's been so long, I forget where this is.  It's what's up. Off Gwynn's Island, I believe.

So much has happened since I completely stopped slowed down from blogging.  There's much to report, but there hasn't been any time to do so.  Here's a not-so-succinct overview of the highlights.

First, last week was devoted exclusively to work on the book about Mathews County.

The format, dictated very strictly by the publisher, involves approximately 80 old photos of Mathews County scenes matched with 80 current photos of the exact same scenes, and a 60-80 word caption under each pair.

Who else is tired of the number 80 already besides CBW, who has aged 80 years while having 80 nightmares about 59-word captions when there isn't one. single. word. left to say about a picture of something that could be summarized in 10 words or fewer? Because this book cannot be written in her usual Free Form/Stream of Unconsciousness Consciousness Style of Writing, which has no filter caption limit.  This book is supposed to be halfway coherent. 

(CBW clings to the word "halfway" above like a flotation device she just found as she bobs up and down in the frigid waters surrounding the Titanic.)

For my own sanity, we won't discuss how many captions are still unwritten and how many more photos need to be taken.  Or the files that need to be renamed and copied to whatever they need to be copied to. And lots of other things that, as I say, we cannot face won't discuss.

Thank you.


Confederate Statue from early 1900s. (The statue, not the photo.)
Historic Court Green  


Here are some really bad shots, but don't worry they are not representative of what's going in the book, she says, with a nervous laugh random scenes from the Court House, which will be the main focus of the book, not because that's how I planned it, but because that's where the majority of the old photos procured were taken.



Richardson's, corner of Church and Main Streets.
These are terrible shots, and I will do better.  The particular day these were taken I was under duress.
It was the annual County Wide Yard Sale Maniacs On the Loose Day AND the Farmers Market AND people doing their Saturday morning shopping.
Sheer lunacy, I tell you.


I'm so brainwashed by doing nothing but book work for a year ten or eleven days straight, every time I go to the Court House now I am dating things.

Richardson's...early 1920s.

The Westville Theater, 1930s.

Be-Jo Theater, 1940s and '50s.

Bank of Mathews merges with Farmers and Fishermen's Bank to become Farmer's Bank of Mathews, late 1930s.

CBW finally loses her marbles, 2011.

All of a sudden, I am temporarily filled with sheer lunacy facts and figures.

(Temporarily because I'll forget all the details tomorrow as soon as my focus shifts back onto normal life, whatever that looked like, when the book is done. If the book is done.)

All this knowledge, however short-lived, has triggered a few ridiculous ideas.

The dreamer in me, always searching for a way to earn a living without a commute, wants to create a reality TV show has pondered a tour business.  Horse and buggy rides through the Court House!  I guess I'd be the one feeding and watering the horse, that would live where exactly? driving the buggy spewing forth all sorts of hot air stories and snippets and historical tidbits, while the people sitting in the back would roll their eyes and wonder when the Crazy Lady will ever stop talking. (Her blog readers wonders the same thing.)

Or maybe I'd purchase a mini bus with a microphone and I'd wear a crab hat while giving humorous overviews of places of interest, riding around the county on a bus that exactly who is going to purchase? take people on broader, county-wide tours that include the public beaches and all the other hot spots around here.

(Stop laughing.  There are too hot spots around here.)

In the meantime, I'm not quitting my only job that pays day job any time soon. 

In other news, Chesapeake Bay Daughter grew up and went away to college.

Rather, that's what flashed through my mind when I saw how grown up and beautiful she looked at a recent sports banquet (below, left, with her friend Rachel, also beautiful).

Wasn't I just picking her up from preschool? Yesterday?


CBD and Rachel at 7th Grade Event aka Mother's Minor Cardiac Event


Moving right along.

At some point last week I dared to blink, and not only did Chesapeake Bay Daughter look like a young lady instead of a child, summer--and the month of June--decided to make an appearance.

It's June.

June?

June. Halfway to Christmas.

Things have really turned green and lush all of a sudden.

The trumpet creepers are in bloom.




Stuff is growing.

On fence posts and in the garden.

And in the yard.

And in my gutters. 

This fencepost lives very close to Sandpiper Reef in Hallieford.

Last but not least, in the report of highlights from the Chesapeake Bay Family Compound....

Yesterday I called Chesapeake Bay Mother from my paying job to remind her about something.

As I am sitting in my office trying to keep my voice low because it's so quiet everyone can hear, she commenced to tellin' me about a possum that somehow or another managed to get his, shall we say, more delicate yet masculine parts hung up in the plastic pull cinch of a very full trash bag after a (presumably) very enthusiastic and animated night of foraging for leftovers in their trash. Animal Control was dispatched, and let's just say that the Hefty Cinch Sak (sic) brand of trash bags now takes on a whole new meaning.

Click here for some of my mother's recent blog posts. Hopefully with some encouragement she'll tell The Unfortunate Possum story.  Don't worry--the possum is still alive.  Whether or not his dignity will remain intact is questionable, according to Animal Control anyway.

And that's all the news that's fit to print around here.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOL--I giggled through the entire post. Possum event: Maybe the possum was with friends that night,bragging to the other possums that getting into the trash would be a "cinch"...
Lovely CB daughter photo
I am one of the Blog Cabin fans lured here by your fabulous prose, and I think tourism may just pick up this summer with the BC giveaway in August. Your tour guide job may work out--especially wearing the Crab Hat ! My brother's friend bought a rickshaw ( ! ) and gives a moonlight tour of his historic neighborhood in N. California. They have neither crab hats nor the Chesapeake Bay nearby. --- LLC

Chesapeake Bay Woman said...

LLC-Thanks. Also thanks for the update on Blog Cabin - didn't realize it was airing so soon. I'm sure the spotlight will shift to this little speck on the map for a period of time. But for how long remains the question...

The crab hat is very prominent in any visions I have for my non-commuting financial future. I've been plotting my next book (done on my own terms) that would feature local scenes around here and folks wearing crab hats. It sounds far fetched/crazy but I really think I could market it.

For now, though, I have another more serious book to do and, unfortunately, I can't even mention crab hats...sigh.

Mental P Mama said...

Wait. How many words was this post and can you reallocate some? And my CBDaughter has grown up over night! Tell her to stop! And I cannot even go there with the possum problem. Maybe he was trying to twitter it....

big hair envy said...

Wait. Is CBD wearing a dress?? Stunning.

That "Hallieford" fence post has an uncanny resemblance to one in my back yard. Must be the honeysuckle...

Jamie said...

Sheer lunacy at the Court House? There were about 5 people in the photo... oh, right, usually there's only 2 people on the streets at any given time on a non-lunacy day.

Isn't it awful how girls change seemingly overnight?? Midge is now a senior... O-M-G

I really love your family. I thought I was the only person in the world who could go about a normal hum-drum day and have some crazy fantastic story happen to her... then I read your blog. I think this means we are related.

And now all morning I will be chanting "HEFTY-HEFTY-HEFTY!"

Maria_NJ said...

please tell mom to write a post on the possum, I could really use a laugh...

I am very depressed I have a BFF that is not doing well and she lives in Ohio, so its not like I can just jump on over there, very sad right now for me...

your DD is beautiful...

Daryl said...

Oh she looks lovely ... I think the crab hat and the horse/buggy tour is a wonderful idea .. you could end up at White Dog and have drinks/lunch

Unknown said...

I just can't wrap my head around that beautiful little girl growing up so fast. AND she looks just like her mamma!

Noe Noe Girl...A Queen of all Trades. said...

CBD is a beauty!
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fighting mermaid said...

Just a thought on what remains that is caption-less...Could you have some Mathews originals write the captions on some of these...thereby releasing you from some of the writers block while also giving the book some additional richness in character. Just a thought. Love that you are doing this!

Chesapeake Bay Woman said...

Fighting Mermaid - BEST idea i've heard in a long time! Thank you, I will experiment with that this weekend.

BHE - That fence really was on the way to Sandpiper, although I agree it looks similar to yours.

Maria-so sorry to hear about your friend.

Thanks to all of you for commenting.

Bluebird49 said...

Oh my--I'm awed by your strength to do this, and I can't wait to se the book. I don't know how you got the idea for it--but hey--you're an AUTHOR--and that's a dream a lot of us have.

The possum-well, he got his, didn't he!

growing wild on waverly lane said...

Whether we host Blogfest or not, the summer pandemonium continues relentlessly with peculiar book constraints, odd wild animal interactions, and the march of time a la young children becoming adults before our very eyes. CBD is going to be beautiful and looks a bit like my mother who was just that.

I guess I am forced to disclose the possum-most-embarassing-moment without his explicit permission. Stay tuned.

Country Girl said...

Wait a minute, how did CBD turn into a young lady so quickly? She was just a little girl last summer! Wasn't she?