Heron

This heron was trying to blend in with the pine trees and marsh grass at Bethel Beach when I visited a while back.

I remembered taking quite a few pictures but  never got around to looking at them until today, more than a month later.

I can't believe the last time I posted was December 31.  

And how did it get to be February 11 already?

They say time flies when you're having fun, but January and February are never fun months for me.  They're typically the longest, darkest, coldest, most-indoors-est, least sunshiny-est time of year. I leave for work in the cold darkness and return home in the cold darkness.

There are signs that things are changing, however, and hope is on the horizon.  The daffodils in my front yard are poking through the cold, hard ground, and all of a sudden I'm noticing more songs from the birds.

The Chesapeake Bay Family has been plodding along mostly uneventfully.  My children, my parents and my sisters are all doing OK.  Son is currently teaching English to six-year-olds in Madrid.  He's headed to Machu Picchu in the summer to work for a company called Global Leadership Adventures (he also worked for them last summer in Costa Rica).  I'm seriously considering a visit if the stars and planets align.

I'm also looking forward to a cruise the end of March, a 70s music themed cruise .  It's my reward to myself for surviving these dreary months of January and February. 

Other than making the arduous trek from Mathews to Williamsburg during the work week and laying low on the weekends, there's not much else to report.  I just wanted to check in and make sure I still knew how to blog.  I do. 

I hope all is well in your world.

Queens Creek

These shots of Queens Creek were taken from my back yard recently. 

We were experiencing a bout of what I like to call Scooby Doo weather. 

Gray, dark, a little bit spooky, maybe even creepy.  The fog always adds that little sprinkle of mystery to the overall landscape.

Flash forward to today, and all is back to normal--whatever that is. 

Mother Nature always reminds us that dark skies don't last forever. 

And no matter how gray things seem, nothing stays the same.  

This too shall pass.

Happy week before Christmas!

Daffodils

Although the calendar still says February, 

Mother Nature is telling a different story.

Our daffodils are blooming, trees are budding, grass is growing and March hasn't even arrived to the party yet.

The temperatures will be around 80 the next few days.  Osprey have already been sighted in the local rivers and creeks.  The song birds are singing.  The frogs are frolicking.

I'm not complaining, but it's unusual.

Welcome, Spring.  I know you're not really here yet, but it's good to know you're on the way.

Weekend

My favorite weekend of the year is finally here, and the forecast includes friends, family, food and hopefully lots of sunshine.

By Saturday evening both of my sisters and several blog friends will be here, and on Sunday a few of my friends from high school will come by for a cookout.

Son will be working most of the weekend, Daughter will be basking in the temporary freedom from school, homework and track meets, and I will be making sure everyone is doing what they're supposed to be doing:  laughing, relaxing and enjoying themselves.

Happy Memorial Day.

Track

The Mathews High School track team had another meet at Charles City County High School Thursday evening, so after work I drove on over to watch.  Above, Josh Foster, my second-favorite student at MHS, paces himself in the mile.  He and Daughter have played soccer together since they were knee-high to a grasshopper.  This year, he's doing both soccer and track, while Daughter opted to do track instead of soccer.

Speaking of Daughter, she's my favorite MHS student and favorite female teenager of all time.

She's also my favorite athlete to watch.

She won the 400-meter...

...and also her heat of the 200-meter. 

(We think she might have won that race overall too, but it's unconfirmed since we don't yet know the time of the winner in the first heat.)

Next week is Daughter's spring break.  I'll work the first of the week but Thursday morning we're heading to Virginia Tech and University of Virginia to take tours and talk to admissions folks.  She stresses over whether she's good enough to get in and wonders what she needs to do to be better.

I just tell her how proud I am of what she's done so far and where she is now.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I love this girl and am so proud of her many accomplishments.

In other news, the weather has warmed up a bit.  I'm hoping it's a trend that continues.

Have a great weekend.

Denial

Just as I am in denial that this favorite tree of mine no longer stands at Aaron's Beach, I am also in denial that it is snowing yet again as I type this.  Driving the 50+ miles home from work last evening it started up again, and by the time I got home the roads were already covered.

So, I'm pretending that it is a warm, sunny day at the beach, like the day I took these photos back in the spring of 2013.  I'm pretending it isn't snowing.  I'm pretending I feel better and that my ear isn't aching and my sinuses aren't killing me.  Most importantly, I'm pretending the weather forecasters aren't calling for an additional four to six inches of snow tonight and into tomorrow.

Nope. It's not happening.

None of it.

Three Things

Welcome to yet another Thursday, the day of the week dedicated to the sharing of three thoughts.  This isn't to say that my two readers anyone reading couldn't leave three thoughts any other day of the week.  It's just important to make sure we do so at least once a week.  It stretches us  and reveals to the world the inner workings of our bizarre brains and forces us to write even when we'd really rather be hibernating.  For example.

Let's begin.

1.  Yesterday morning I jogged up and down Williams Wharf Road, and, thanks to the cold weather,  I started off with a scarf, a headband for my ears, and two layers of shirts.  One length of the road is one mile, and I did four.  By mile two the ear-covering headband, gloves, scarf and outer layer of shirt had been removed.

2.  That's because things warmed up quickly yesterday the higher the sun rose.  By the afternoon it was SEVENTY TWO beeyooteeful degrees.  And sunny!  Taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather, I worked on my back yard, picking up pine cones and sticks and more pine cones and more sticks and so many pine cones and too many stinkin' sticks until even Mother Nature had to call a time out.  When a gust of wind blew the wheel barrow holding a load of how many stupid sticks and prickly pine cones can there be! over sideways, I took that as a signal that I was working way too hard and should instead at least stop for a bit to acknowledge and appreciate the glory of a 70-degree day in February.  So I did.  Gladly.

3.  Daughter's basketball team plays at 6:00 p.m. tonight at West Point for the conference (formerly known as a district, and why they have to change the rules on us old folks is beyond me because it's still basically a district) tournament. The last time we played West Point on their turf, we beat them in overtime.  My sincere hope is tonight we beat them swiftly with no need for overtime.  The team has the capability, that is not even a question.  What they sometimes lack, however, is a substantial dose of mental fortitude and pure desire to completely annihilate crush their opponent.  In case I've not said this here before, I am a firm believer that all success in sports and, perhaps, life is a certain percent (fill in whatever number you want, it doesn't matter) skill and 150% positive sheer attitude of  annihilation determination.  They have to visualize success and sincerely, passionately believe it is theirs in order to achieve it. No doubts, no questions, no negative thoughts, no what ifs.

Now it's your turn to share. Whatever you want, in whatever quantity you want.

And let's win this conference district tournament, Mathews! Please! Thank you.

Old House

This old farmhouse lives on Route 613 in Diggs. 

I drove down here and took its picture on a morning I was supposed to go running.

It was just too darn cold.

This whole weekend was pretty dreary and cold and absolutely boring rather uneventful. Other than a quick 30-minute jog on Saturday, I didn't leave the house the entire weekend.  Son was (and still is) sick with flu-like symptoms.  It was a juggling act trying to keep up with his needs while keeping Daughter at a safe distance since she can't afford to get sick.  (Not that anyone ever can.)  She has three back to back basketball games this week starting tonight at home against King and Queen.  Tuesday we're away at King William.  Wednesday we're at King and Queen.  That's a lot of basketball...and a lot of driving.  They will be brutally long days for those of us who have to work an hour away.

Anyway, that's all that's fit to print from this neck of the woods.  Hope your week is a good one.

Whites Creek Landing

These were taken from Whites Creek Landing on Sunday when the temperatures hovered around sixty.

Monday brought cooler temperatures and lots of rain, so the snow is now all gone.

Although normally I despise Mondays, yesterday was particularly wonderful.

(For me to call a winter Monday wonderful is verboten in my house highly unusual.)

The one and only reason this Monday is allowed to be called wonderful is because the Mathews High School girls basketball team beat Middlesex in a very important game and for one of the few times all season played consistently well without giving up. This win is long overdue and hopefully a sign of more good things to come. Please!

Other than basketball and work and filling out financial aid forms for Son's college, there is not much to report from my world.  I'm suffering from a bad case of the February Blahs that seem bound and determined to linger right up until Spring brings more sunlight, warmer temperatures and lots more outdoors time, which I seem to require in order to function properly.

Anyway, feel free to help liven things up with a comment about anything going on with you and how your February is going thus far.

Cormorants

These pictures, taken from Aaron's Beach, date back to 2009.

That was back in the days when we actually saw the sun, and it wasn't raining 

and freezing cold even in the month of May.

Although I've been a little busy lately and unable to take many new pictures, 

even if I had the time the weather has just been so uncooperative.  

I think it's time to put Mother Nature in time out for being 

so obstinate about relinquishing winter.

Enough is enough with this weather.

...said the person with Seasonal Affective Disorder and a severe Vitamin D deficiency--even though she takes megadoses of supplements every day.  

(Or whenever she remembers to, whichever is less frequent.)

There really are cormorants in this picture, you just need a telescope to see them.
This particular shot wasn't really about cormorants anyway.  It actually had
more to do with my fascination  with the "V" those poles are making in this and the first two shots.
(Have I mentioned how easily entertained I am?)

This was taken last week on yet another gloomy, dreary, overcast day.

Click here for more info  on cormorants, including the fun fact that they sometimes make deep, pig-like grunts and are often confused with the common loon.


Hmmm.


It's quite possible the Chesapeake Bay Family may also have a cormorant clinging firmly to a branch of the family tree, right next to Lucille Ball and Wayne Newton.

Easter Weekend

The other day I was going through some old photos and found these taken several years ago from the Eastern Shore. We were at one of our favorite places  to almost catch the tent on fire when a horrific storm whips up the embers from the campfire in the middle of the night  to camp, Cherrystone, just north of Cape Charles.

We're still suffering through cold weather here, and focusing on these helps remind me that warmer weather can't be that far away.  Can it?

The weekend will be a mixed bag of activities.  Friday after work I will drive from Williamsburg to Northumberland for Daughter's soccer game, assuming there is no snow or rain, and there better not be.

Saturday, if it is warm enough, I have tons of yard work to do.  I don't want to talk about it, I'm so far behind due to the cold weather, snow and rain.

Sunday Baby Sis will be coming home for an Easter food fest that my mother and I will prepare.

Meanwhile, Son is traveling by himself (via train) to his paternal grandparents in New Jersey to kick off the first half of his spring break.  One of the days will include a trip into NYC to tour the United Nations, among other fascinating activities.

So, to recap, this holiday weekend will entail:

• CBW racing all over Kingdom Come after work for daughter's soccer game.
• CBW pulling weeds, hauling pine straw, and picking up several storms' worth of pine cones, limbs and sticks
• CBW cooking Easter dinner.
• Daughter relaxing at home, enjoying her spring break, visiting with friends.
• Son touring the United Nations.

Yep, that sounds about right for this family.

Hope your weekend is a great one. Happy Easter.

Context

The sign in the first photo is leaning against the bottom of this little building.

I think I could fill a second blog with nothing but pictures of boats on dry land.
(Without trailers.)

These are a few more shots from Saturday's pit stop at the house that was for sale.  Saturday was sunny as opposed to Sunday's snow which is now Monday's rain.

My daughter's soccer season began over a month ago, and thanks to Mother Nature she's only had two games thus far.

The daffodils are sagging, slunched over in the field.

Yes, that's right, slunched.  Slunched is what happens when your brain merges hunched over with slumped. Slunched. Go ahead and use it freely today, and tell 'em CBW said it was OK.

Thanks to all of March's rain and cold weather, I've not been running to prepare for April's half-marathon. I'll probably end up slunched over having to walk it, which will make me angry. I don't care about the speed, my only goal is to avoid slunching walking.  My only consolation is Baby Sis, who is doing this with me, says she's done next to nothing to prepare either.


Dear April,

Please leave the cold and rain behind with March so I can emerge from the winter funk that causes my brain to create and use words such as slunch. I really need some sunshine, Vitamin D, fresh air and exercise.

Sincerely,

CBW