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.

Snow. Still.

This marks Day One Thousand and Eleventy Two of not feeling well and it's too cold and my new car wasn't meant for snow and why is it only 56 degrees inside my house when the thermostat is set to 68 and the heat pump hasn't turned off for two weeks and how much will my electric bill be and how will I ever feel good enough to run again and how much work is piled up when I finally go back today and how many days until I can retire and will I make it that long?  All that and then some.

Sunday the temperatures finally broke and things started to thaw out but not enough to really make a difference.  At least not to me.  I still have too much snow on my deck and too much snow in my driveway and not enough energy to do anything about any of it.

Regardless, I will drag myself into work today and pretend to be enthusiastic and full of pep even if all I want to do is pull the covers over my head and sleep until April.

I hope all is well in your world.

Is it April yet?

Pine Tree

The dead tree in this picture used to be a sand-submerged pine tree at Aaron's Beach.

I've taken its picture many times but it's never looked this bad.

For the first time since I've been visiting, there isn't one bit of green clinging to it.  

It's only a matter of time before it falls.

Speaking of falling,

I was alerted by my neighbor Julie earlier this week (or was it last?)

that my Number One Favorite Tree of All Time at Aaron's Beach had fallen.

I'll post pictures of that sad sight next week.

Click here for a 2011 post that shows (in the second and third pictures, if you squint) the pine tree above in happier days.  It also shows my favorite tree (fourth picture, far right) that I'll talk more about next week.

Because that's what I do here on this blog.  Talk about inanimate objects as if they were people.

I think I may need to get out more. Or perhaps the sinus pressure is finally doing me in.

Either way, have a great weekend.

Three Things

Thursday is here, which means it's time to share three thoughts--even if the person asking you to share three thoughts doesn't feel like sharing much of anything herself.

Let's begin.

1.  I've been sick since February Saturday with a hacking cough and sinus pressure that has not yet caused my head to pop straight off my shoulders.  But it's coming.  It can only be a matter of time. 

2.  What makes the above ten thousand times worse is that I've missed the summer-like weather we've had.  All I can do is glance longingly from inside during the few points in the day I actually feel like living moving about.

3.  The pity party is now over.

4.  (Because three is only a suggestion.)  On Saturday, Son is giving a presentation at Virginia Commonwealth University as part of the Chesapeake Bay Governor's School Science Symposium.  He'll be discussing his senior project for Governor's School which involved creating an underwater microphone.  It also involved many years months of frustration, several trips to Radio Shack (there are no Radio Shacks in Mathews, by the way), a few canoe trips to the Gwynn's Island bridge, and lots more that's way beyond my comprehension.  Hopefully he'll be delivering the speech in layman's terms (that include diagrams with stick figures for old people whose brains stopped working on precisely the exact same day that their child--who is now delivering scientific speeches about underwater inventions to a panel of judges--was born).  Either way, I am very proud of his accomplishments and look forward to his talk.

4b.  (Because I can't leave Daughter out.)  Daughter played her first varsity soccer game Tuesday night.  Even though I was so sick I could hardly see straight, I sat in the stands and watched.  Mathews lost but we played Gloucester which is a far larger school.  All things considered, they did fairly well considering they haven't had much time to practice.  Daughter played most of the second half, and although it's vastly different from JV, I thought she did very well and am very proud of her.

Now it's your turn to share three things or two things or six things or four things.  Whatever you want.

Anything at all.

Birdhouse

These houses and trees live down Mobjack.

(That one trip to Mobjack a few weeks back sure produced a lot of photos.)

A bird was resting comfortably on the front stoop 

of his house as I slowed down to take his picture.

Although this particular little bird stayed on his front stoop, the bird known as Chesapeake Bay Woman flew the coop this past weekend.  I traveled to Delaware to visit my friend Iris. It was great to get away for a much-needed break, but Life didn't seem to want to let me have too much of a diversion.  I came down with what sounds like walking pneumonia bronchitis on Saturday.  (Insert the sound of a heavy sigh--abruptly interrupted by a hacking cough--here.)

In other news, Daughter made the high school varsity soccer team. She is one of five girls on the team of twenty-two.  There are two home games this week: Tuesday and Friday nights.

I hope my (self-diagnosed) bronchitis improves by Tuesday, so I can assume my proper place in the stands screaming and hollering at full capacity.

Have a great, cough-free week.