Adventures at Beachland

As I mentioned yesterday, this weekend an out-of-town friend (we'll call him Brooks to protect the innocent) visited Mathews for the first time, and one of our stops was the beautiful place known as Beachland.

Knowing the owner was going to be away this particular morning, I coordinated my visit with her sister.  She emailed me inquiring about the date and whether I still planned on going, and I emailed back confirming that indeed I was.

We were all set.

Brooks and I were amazed at the peace and tranquility of the beautiful estate. We admired the barn, walked by the beehives, took some photos of the creek, and then turned our attention to the house itself.

We loitered lingered in the back yard admiring the house.  Taking advantage of the gorgeous day, we decided to sit for just a spell on the back deck.

The sun beamed down, birds sang cheerfully, and all in all it was very serene, very relaxing.

All of a sudden, amid the roar of all this peace and tranquility, I heard a sound that my trained ear has come to recognize after trespassing taking photos for this blog for so many years.  A ghost! car was approaching.

I asked Brooks if he heard it, and he said no. Although I tried to resume the state of relaxation, any hope of that fell by the wayside when we heard footsteps ascending the stairs behind us.

Oh no. My worst fears were about to be realized.

Here we were, lounging casually in someone's back yard--doing absolutely no harm, though.  Plus I had told a family member I would be here, which you'd think would be enough to assuage my guilt fears.

Still.

Who was here, and what would they think of us loitering hanging out in the yard?

As my heart leaped into my throat I quickly scampered off the deck into the yard, held up my camera, and dove headfirst into my well-rehearsed  speech (for just this sort of occasion) before seeing who was there.

"Hey there! It's Chesapeake Bay Woman," as beads of sweat formed on my forehead.

Whirling around to see who was on the receiving end of this announcement, I was relieved to see someone I recognized as a family member. Someone I've met before.

 He looked understandably startled, at least for the first few seconds, until it all registered.

Waving my camera around as if it were some sort of Get Out of Trouble Free card, I continued. "Suzie said it would be OK if we stopped by to wander around and take some pictures. Did she tell you?"

The beads of sweat were as big as golf balls by this time.

"No," he said.

Crap, I thought.

Oh no, I thought.

As it turned out my fears, of course, were all for naught.  He not only very graciously welcomed us, but he invited us inside.

From this angle, the footsteps came up those stairs on the left.
We were sitting near the stairs on the right.

Many, many thanks to Gloria, Suzie and Bob for giving us the privilege of visiting this beautiful place.


Stay tuned for the next chapter of the Misadventures of CBW The Three Hour Tour, where CBW serves up a meal that included a complimentary post-dinner fire.