Happy New Year!

It's hard to believe 2016 is over already.

2016 was pretty good to me.

Compared to 2015, this was an absolutely wonderful year. So many good things happened, I'm really going to miss 2016. One of the things I'm not especially proud of, however, is that this blog languished in 2016. Much of 2015 too.

One of the many great parts of 2016 was receiving a brand spanking new fancy camera for Christmas. Opening that present brought me to tears, really. Although I'm still fumbling my way through the user manual, I'll be out and about snapping new photos with it soon.

So one of my goals for 2017 is to learn to use my beautiful new camera and blog at least once a week. I have a few other minor goals that I may or may not get to, but more frequent blogging is definitely high on the priority totem pole.

Although I loved 2016, I'm already looking forward to 2017. In February, I will travel to California for a mini-reunion with a few of the friends I've made through this blog. In March, Baby Sister and I are going on a trip-of-a-lifetime cruise! I cannot wait!

For the few people who still visit this rusty old blog, thank you for your patience as I try to polish it back up and get it back on track. It may take a while, but she'll be good as new here soon with a little TLC.

May 2017 be your best year yet!

Aarons Beach

The past few days have been unseasonably warm around here, 

so today on my day off from work I decided to visit Aarons Beach.

Truth be told, I had a list of a million tasks to accomplish and didn't want to do any of the things listed except for two.

Those two things were jogging and blogging.

(They even rhyme.)

The jogging part was over and done with first thing in the morning.  That left the entire day--along with those 999,998 other undesirable items on the To Do list--in front of me, mocking me, taunting me. Picking on me, really.

I decided to ignore the taunts and focus on what I wanted to could accomplish. Although blogging was on the I Want To Do This part of the list, I had absolutely no new pictures.

Hence, the trip to the beach.

This beach has changed so much over the time I've been photographing it--over 8 years.

But some things remain constant.

It's hard to believe that December is here already.  Although I survived Thanksgiving and barely survived the annual Chesapeake Bay Woman vs. Artificial Christmas Tree fight, there is still a lot left to do before I'd consider myself anywhere close to ready for Christmas.  I'm not in the mood--at all--to do any sort of Christmas shopping.  But I am looking forward to the Mathews Christmas Parade on Saturday, December 10. It's always a great time. Perhaps that will put me in a more festive mood.

As for this weekend, I'm looking forward to it.  Friday I'm taking my parents to dinner at my favorite local restaurant, Mi Casa Azteca.  Saturday I travel to visit Baby Sister in Richmond.  I ought to take advantage of being in the Big City and start some Christmas shopping, but that's just not on my radar at the moment.  The older I get, the more I can't stand shopping, especially when it's semi-forced and overly crowded.  That just equates to stress as far as I'm concerned.

And I'm all about avoiding unnecessary stress.

Which is why I thoroughly enjoyed today's trip to the local beach and the intentional avoidance of that pesky To Do list.


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To read about previous Christmas quandaries,  click here .

Thanksgiving

This magnificent tree lives in my front yard.

Each fall it puts on a spectacular show.

This year's Leaf Extravaganza is taking place 

just as everyone is converging here for Thanksgiving.

For the first time in history a long time, the entire Chesapeake Bay Family, including parents, sisters, boyfriends, Son and Daughter, will be under my roof at the same time.  Son and Daughter will arrive home from Charlottesville today, and based on Daughter's request to have some of her friends spend the night tonight, I am sure there will be a house full of young people starting this evening.

Last year at this time, I was still recovering from my car accident and simultaneously bracing for a major surgery.  The difference between how I feel this year as compared to last year is night and day.

I am eternally grateful to have survived 2015 and am even more grateful for all the good that has happened in 2016.  I'm so thankful to have my entire family--and some special additions--sitting around the table tomorrow.

I'm just thankful for it all.

Happy, happy Thanksgiving!


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p.s.  Although I've not put my intentions into practice, I do still plan to revive this blog and return to more regular postings and writing.  Stay tuned, there is plenty to tell.

Sunrise

Here are a few shots of some recent sunrises on Queens Creek here in Mathews County, Virginia.

Once upon a time, I blogged regularly about such wonderful events as a Queens Creek sunrise, but I've been woefully negligent this year.

Shame on me.

Actually, ever since October 2015 shook me up, everything

this whole blog thing has been on the back burner.

Then 2016 happened.  

2016 has been wonderful thus far.

There was so much to report, I didn't know where to begin.  

Then I said I'd start writing again when Daughter's sports were over.

Then I said I'd start writing once she graduated high school.

Now, I am declaring to the universe that I WILL be blogging again once I drop her off in Charlottesville in two short weeks.

Although all I've done is be a mother for the past 21 years, I am actually looking forward to this new adventure in my life.  I am happy for my children to be on their own, and I look forward to what awaits.  Aside from returning to blogging and taking pictures, I look forward to volunteering my time.  The tourism board of Mathews has informally asked me to participate in some of their meetings and help with their internet efforts.  

I think I can do that.

Gladly.

In short, I'm happy for my children to be off on their own pursuing their own interests and building their own new lives.

And I'm excited about what happens next in mine.