Sunrise

Since returning to work in early June, I've not been able to sleep until ten like I want been getting up around 5:45 a.m. each day.  5:45 in the summer time is not nearly as bad as 5:45 in the winter, when it's dark and depressing and Mother Nature is giving a very clear sign that we're supposed to be asleep, because:  DARK. 

It doesn't seem so harsh, 5:45 that is, when I can glance out the back door and see the sun and her stunning colors letting everyone know it's officially daylight.

Although I'd still like to sleep until about ten I'd usually prefer to stay in bed a bit longer, there's just something a little bit energizing and rewarding about having the sun to greet you first thing.

I hope your week is full of sunshine.

Sunday

Going on the offensive to stave off the standard fare of Sunday blues, my friend BHE and I met at Merroir over in Topping for lunch yesterday.

Ordinarily Sunday is the day I can't enjoy because I waste it worrying about and dreading Monday, which of course everyone knows is the worst day of the week.

No, today we made a grand plan to forget all about the day before Monday and focus more on the moment, which happened to include stunning blue skies overflowing with red wine sunshine.

Since it was still a tad brisk to sit outside, we spent the afternoon on the warm, sun-filled porch talking, eating, boosting our Vitamin D stores, and laughing.

There was lots and lots of laughing.

(Is there anything better than laughing?)

After lunch we lingered so long, clearly not in any hurry to go anywhere, that one of the employees asked, "Don't you have a home to go to?"

To which we responded in chorus, "Yes, but we don't want to go home!"

Sitting on a warm porch overlooking the water, eating good food, and laughing was far better than sitting alone at home in dread of the next day.

In spite of the clocks falling forward and the fact that Monday would make her appearance no matter how much we tried to deny it, Sunday was not so bad this week.

Thanks, BHE!

Also, thanks Miss Sun.  I've really missed you the past several months.

Four Summers

June 2008 - The Bay, Eastern Shore

Since there's been so little time to take any many new photos, I thought I'd share some older ones from the same month of every year this little blog has been in existence, starting with 2008.

June 2009 - Hills Bay

It's hard to believe this is the fourth summer I've been doing this.

June 2010 - Queens Creek

Then again, this fourth photo image begs the question of whether I'm actually doing the blog this particular summer.

I wonder what I'll be doing four summers from now.

 Hopefully I'll be taking pictures rather than drawing them.

Where do you picture yourself four years from now?

Sunday

The lot adjacent to Moughons in Mathews Court House

Yesterday was a glorious, wondrous and simultaneously industrious day.

That's a lot of "ous" packed into one sentence day. 

I awoke to the glory of a bright, warm, sunny day but knew I could not tarry, because Easter Sunday would be the perfect opportunity to take photographs of the Court House area without traffic. So out of bed I leapt and up the road I went to take pictures like the one above.

The one above certainly does not look as though it would be a Court House or village scene.  That's because the building which once stood here was razed a long time ago.  My job for the book I'm working on is simply to record things as they are today and juxtapose them with photos of the way they were then.  Then there was a building.  Now, there's No Trespassing signs and buttercups.  And empty space.

After snapping about 30 photographs in downtown Mathews, I grabbed a cup of coffee and drove over to Gwynn's Island.  Last year I spent Easter Sunday at a sunrise service over there.  This year I held my own service from a beach chair overlooking the mouth of the Piankatank River.  After spilling most of my coffee in my lap listening to the choir of the wind and the waves, I went home to get changed for yet another adventure.

View from Gwynn's Island

This next adventure involved photographing a place which belongs to my friend Alda's husband's family. Or the husband of my friend Alda's family.  Or a family somehow connected to my friend who is named Alda.

Anyway.

 It's a beautiful old farm that lives quietly off the road leading from Mathews to Glenns.

A car load of bloggers at last year's Blog Fest will recognize this as the place we were forced to make a quick pit stop when one in our midst had an emergency that needed immediate attention. A cornfield was involved.  And that's all I have to say about that.


Moving right along...

There are acres upon acres of fields and woods just waiting to be savored on this particular piece of property.

The day was so warm and wonderful, I couldn't help myself.

I had to get down in it and do as it was beseeching me to do: savor it. My Vitamin D deprived system forced me to wallow bask in all the sunlight and greenery and fresh air and buttercups.

All this happened before 11:00 yesterday morning.

The rest of the day involved grass cutting; supper cooking; bill paying; laundry doing; dish washing; weed pulling; animal feeding; hammock testing, calendar checking; and book organizing, among many other things.

In short, Easter Sunday was one of the longest days in recent history. The best part was lying in the field above, with the rest of the day ahead of me and not one bit of urgency to accomplish any of it.

What did you do yesterday?