Deserted

Yesterday I drove a Meals on Wheels route that

took me hither, thither and yon--and also down Pine Hall Road.

This desolate beauty stands in the middle of a field on a dirt lane

I drove down frequently in my younger years.

It was fun to go fast because the tires kicked up dust.

(In case I've not mentioned it lately, options for entertainment in Mathews County

were--and still are--on the sparse side. So we invented our own fun.)

(Sometimes that fun included driving a little faster than recommended 

down dirt lanes solely for the dust effect.)

Anyway.

This particular Meals on Wheels route was a new one for me. I delivered to 15 people over a span of about as many miles. Of those, two were women I could have sat and talked to for hours. One greeted me at the door in her bathrobe. She wasted no time telling me how grateful she was to be warm and alive and how spring was just around the corner. The sparkle in her eye was contagious.

The other, who suffers from a Parskinsons-like tremor in one hand--asked if I would help zip up her fleece vest (over her shirt, for warmth in an otherwise toasty living room), which she'd been attempting all morning long. She was particularly grateful that a female was delivering today, "because if a man showed up, I couldn't ask him." Hours of frustration trying to zip a simple zipper. Compounded by the worry of whether a male or female would show up with lunch. I can't even imagine.

When I asked if there was anything else I could do for her as long as I was there, we both had a good laugh when she said, "Scrub my kitchen floor!"

An elderly woman living alone spending the entirety of her morning attempting to zip up her own vest really puts things into perspective when you see it with your own eyes.

A bathrobe-clad woman trapped indoors talking about how grateful she is just to be alive and how hopeful she is for spring makes you stop complaining about anything.

Meals on Wheels is a gift to this community, to both the people receiving and the people delivering.

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Have a wonderful weekend.

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Three Things

If it's Thursday--and it seems to be, once again--then it's time to share three things, three thoughts, three of whatever happens to be dancing around the cobwebs neurotransmitters in the ballroom that is your brain.

I'll go first.

1.  I think the opening sentence of this blog post is proof enough that I'm exhausted, but not nearly as exhausted as the Mathews High School girls' basketball team, which traveled to Petersburg last night for a tough loss which seals the end of the season for us.  Although that particular game was pretty much a whipping, they certainly ended farther along than anyone originally thought based on how the season kicked off.  (Not so great.)  I'm extremely proud of them all--and their coaches.

2.  The boys' team, on the other hand, beat Franklin the other night to advance in regional play. Friday night they play (I think it's Surry?) Surry at Lancaster.  Daughter and her friends and I and my friends are all going. (That last sentence is so bad that I'm leaving it just as it is, as proof of how tired I am.)

3.  Mathews didn't win the top spot in the coolest small town contest run by Budget Travel (Berlin, Maryland, did), but we made the top five.  Click here and here for more.  Also, if anyone from Berlin, Maryland, would like to trade houses for a long weekend, please let me know.  Mathews is indeed cool, but I sure could use a vacation away from home and wouldn't mind checking out uncharted territory, which Berlin represents.

4.  (Because three is just a suggestion.)  The house pictured here lives along East River Road somewhere in between Cardinal and Bohannon.

5.  (See above.)  Today I'm doing a Meals on Wheels route down Haven Beach, filling in for the regular driver.  I'm particularly excited because I've never done the Haven route before, so this means new people to meet (and help) and potentially new places to photograph legally!.  Stay tuned.

That's it from me.  Now it's your turn to share three or five things.  Whatever you want.  Anything at all.

Old

Thursday I was the substitute deliverer for the Cobbs Creek route of the county's Meals on Wheels. The route actually started in Hallieford, where these first three shots were taken. It's been forever since I've driven down to Hallieford even though I see it every day of my life by water. (It's right across the creek from me.)

Since I am a rarely-called-upon substitute driver and since I usually get a different route every time I am called, I do not get to know the people I'm delivering food to.  So when my first customer told me she wasn't feeling so hot after my salutatory "How are you?" I didn't know if that was normal or cause for concern.  After talking with her for a while and asking lots of questions, I became convinced it was normal, but even so I told her I'd carry her to the doctor if she needed to go.  She took my cell phone number but never called. Not So Hot is unfortunately her norm.

Another part of the route took me down Morgan's Branch Road.

I'd never been down here before, ever, although I've passed the road a million times.

Waaaay down the road was this school bus graveyard.

I love old vehicles...

And several old houses.

...just as much as I love old houses.

I thought this one was full of character.

Some of the people I spoke with on my route were characters too.

They're elderly and disabled or sick but still full of spark 

and eager for some conversation and a little attention.
Just a little bit of human contact is all they need.

I thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to volunteer for Mathews Meals on Wheels, even if it's only a few times a year as a substitute driver. If you're local and have a couple of hours a month I encourage you to sign up with the Mathews Active Lifestyle Center.  For more info call them at (804) 725-7850.

In other news, I'm hoping to make it over to Urbanna for the Oyster Festival at some point this weekend.

Hope your weekend is a great one.

Fall Scenes

Disregard the utility wire and the shadow from the telephone pole.
This was taken hastily from the car.
Note:  CBW does not condone unsafe driving practices even if she does employ them from time to time out of necessity.
Do as she says, not as she does.

These were taken about a week ago during my recent Meals on Wheels route.  The last person I delivered to lives near the end of Route 657, Bookers Lane.

That day I talked to so many delightful people, including the father of one of my high school classmates; the grandmother of another classmate; and one man, originally from Richmond, who teared up as he was telling me about his wife of 62 years who passed away three years ago.  Sixty two years of marriage, and he called her his best friend.  He clearly was lonely and very eager to answer all my questions about her, his family, and what brought him to Mathews.  (He moved here to be near his son and grandchildren. Shortly after he and his wife moved here, she passed away.)

The Mathews Active Lifestyle Center runs our local Meals on Wheels program, and the food is prepared by the Mathews High School cafeteria workers.  They are always in need of drivers. You don't have to commit to a regular schedule, you can substitute like I do. It's a very rewarding experience and entails so much more than just delivering food. I encourage anyone who is able to help out with this great cause.

Here in Mathews you can call (804) 725-7850 to sign up.

If you aren't from Mathews and wish to locate a program near you, click here.


******


In other news, the Mathews High School girls volleyball team won the state championship Saturday.

What's happening in your neck of the woods?

Three Things

My neighbor waving as he pulls his boat up Millers Cove.

Welcome to Three Thing Thursday, which is sort of like a three ring circus of thoughts, particularly if it's pouring out of my brain the day of the week where we're encouraged to share at least three things, whether they are related, unrelated, important or trivial. In case you're wondering, there's nothing too trivial to share. In fact, that could be the tagline of my blog: Life in Mathews: Where It's All About The Trivial!

I'll go first with my three things.

1.  Actually, for every trivial or mundane thing I share on this blog, there are usually several Major Things going on in the background that I choose not to focus on or share here.  As a result, you hear stuff like "I wanna be a dancing oyster," or "Who's gonna take me to Bora Bora?" instead of the things causing me to rather be a dancing oyster in Bora Bora.  It's complicated, but just know that living in denial choosing to focus on the trivial things rather than the negative, in my opinion, is not just good, it's imperative to good mental health.

Warning: Taking mental health advice from CBW could be dangerous to your own mental health. 

2. In other news, I am very excited to report that I've been summoned to duty by the Meals on Wheels people here in the county.  Forever and a day I've been on the list of substitute drivers. (My schedule is completely insane anything but regular and very unpredictable, otherwise I'd be a regular vs substitute driver.)  When I first signed up I was called frequently.  But for about the past year now I've not heard from them, which is just as well since every spare minute of my time was eaten up by all the work on the book.  Well lo and behold I received a call over the weekend and will be driving the Mobjack route today.  This entails delivering food to elderly people who are otherwise incapable of leaving their house on their own, though it is as much a "checking in" with these folks as it is anything else.  I absolutely love doing this and am very much looking forward to seeing who is still alive since the last time I drove this route is on the route this year.

Continuing along with the fantasy of "What I'd Do If I Won the Lottery," aside from aspiring to be a dancing oyster or a crab-hat-wearing 5K runner, I'd be quite content being a full-time volunteer Meals on Wheels driver.

Click here for one of my Meals on Wheels stories from 2008.  I think it's worth the click and illustrates some of the many reasons I love being a Meals on Wheels substitute driver.

3.   The Mathews High School Cross Country teams travel to Great Meadow at The Plains this weekend to compete in the state cross country championship meet. Good luck, Mathews!

3b.  There's lots to say about the local elections yesterday, but for now all I will say is I went to the prom with our new sheriff.  (He was a junior; I was a sophomore; the year was 1890 or 1980--same difference.) I also went to a prom with one of our former deputies, but all this is a story for another blog day.

What's going on in your world?

This was taken from my back stoop.
Does anyone say stoop anymore?
Hello, CBW?  The year 1890 called.  It wants the word "stoop" back.