Melange

An old home on the East River

The wrap around porch is beautiful...

but is deteriorating.  It's still a wonderful old home, though.

When viewed from a distance, you can't see the flaws.
(The house is in the upper left corner.)

I don't know about you, but it feels like I've been off work and on vacation for a week, although it's only been four days. What a difference it makes not having to drive children back and forth to school and the associated activities, although their social calendar didn't slow down much...

Anyway, today's post is a hodgepodge of random thoughts, which is no different from any other day here, really.  It's sort of like a Three Thing Thursday on Monday--with six things instead of three.

1.  The Chesapeake Bay Family celebrated Thanksgiving in the most unorthodox way humanly possible.  This topic deserves a separate post but let's just say that lots of driving and this place (click here) were involved. Oh yes indeed. The only thing that would have made it any crazier would have been if we'd all been wearing crab hats.  And trust me, we did not want to draw attention to ourselves in that crowd.

2.  The movie Eat Pray Love is now one of my favorite movies of all time mostly because of the way it ends (in Bali, which isn't Bora Bora, but sure looks good to me).  One night when the Chesapeake Bay Children were both gone, looking forward to a nice, quiet evening alone with my new movie, I attempted to load it on to the DVD player in my bedroom.  Since it's been so long since I've watched a movie, evidently I forgot  which button to push on the remote.  No problem!

Still optimistic, I trotted into the living room and loaded it into that DVD player.  The audio worked just fine, but no matter how many cuss words I uttered buttons I pushed I could not for the life of me get the video to work.  Note: Ordinarily Chesapeake Bay Son handles all the technical issues in this household.  I was not going to embarrass him by calling to ask how to operate the DVD player. I was bound and determined to figure it out on my own, gosh darn it.  Oh, and no, I could not watch it on my laptop, because my laptop screen is fried.  That's another story for another day, although the problem will soon be rectified.

So, I resorted to the one thing I knew would work:  a "portable" DVD player/TV combo (the size of a mini-fridge) with only one plug and no remote or other confusing buttons whatsoever--from circa 1995 2005.  The screen was so small I had to practically press my nose against the screen to see pull my chair very close up to see. (Note to self:  Please schedule that eye exam that is now two years overdue, otherwise you're well on your way to being legally blind.)  Finally I saw the movie, and I loved it.  Success!

3.  The photos above were taken from the public landing just below the Court House.  I have long admired this house and try to capture her every chance I get since she seems to be deteriorating.

4.Yesterday I had the honor of meeting a Mathews resident who can trace her roots in this county back to the 1700s which was the same year that DVD/TV combo was invented.  Later this week I will share photos of her absolutely exquisite home called Beachland, and snippets of our conversation about her family.  Beachland is the sort of home that gives you chills; you can feel the history even as you drive down the driveway.  Unfortunately, I didn't bring a pad and pencil with me, so most of the history she shared will be filed in the same part of my brain that remembers forgets how to operate the DVD players in my own house.  However, I am hopeful I will get back there for a longer visit to delve deeper into what is most assuredly a great chapter in our local history.

5. I made the best batch of collard greens this weekend.  Slow cooked them with a ham hock.  I do believe I could eat collards morning, noon and night and never get tired of them--but only if they're cooked in old ham.

6. Arcadia Publishing has scheduled a couple of book signings for my book.  The first will be December 10th, the weekend of the Christmas parade, at the old Sibley's General Store, now the Mathews County Visitor Information Center.  The next one will be the following weekend at Twice Told Tales in Gloucester.  I'm working on a third at Sandpiper Reef but will probably wait and do that one early next year.  More info/details coming soon.

Right now I am just trying to survive memories of Thanksgiving at the Golden Corral the transition back to the work/school week.

How was your Thanksgiving?