Daughter

I took this picture during our summer camping trip on the Eastern Shore. I fell in love with this tree and marveled at how many different backdrops there were each day, particularly at sunset. Each one was different, unique and beautiful. The same can be said for both my children.

Today is Chesapeake Bay Daughter's 10th birthday. She has to spend the day in school and then watch her brother's soccer game, so we won't have much time for celebrating. We will do the serious celebrating this weekend when we go to the state fair (weather permitting, and boy do I hope it permits because the pictures I'll come home with from that place will blow your mind. For example, someone from Annandale, VA, just won the pumpkin contest with her entry of a more-than 1,000 lb pumpkin. For example. )

The night CB Daughter was born, I had just come home from a terribly stressful day at work - stressful to the point I had burst into tears earlier in the day (we were living in Northern Virginia at the time and everything up there was stressful, but particularly the jobs I held). I went straight from work to home to the hospital. I've always felt the events at work that day triggered her entry into the world.

Be that as it may, she arrived without much ado, beautiful beyond words, and was a wonderful baby who caused me very little stress.

She has been a joy and a delight to this day. She astonishes me with her talent (academic as well as athletic), her compassion and her ability to love, love, love. She is truly a treasure.

Happy Birthday, Chesapeake Bay Daughter. I love you.

Outbuildings

These are two outbuildings or sheds down Onemo way. I have a fascination with old structures, and these caught my eye because they are so oddly shaped. The first one gives the illusion that it's leaning a tad; the second one just looks like a patchwork quilt of building materials. Speaking of slightly awry and mismatched pieces, it's time for another post about my family..

With Election Day just around the corner, I thought it would be appropriate to relay this excerpt from an e-mail my mother sent me when I lived in Northern Virginia. My parents were babysitting my then-toddler Chesapeake Bay Son (I have no idea where I was) and all three of them went to the polls to cast their votes. (Well, the adults cast their votes; Chesapeake Bay Son just watched.)

While waiting in line, a photographer with the local paper took their picture.
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Here is what my mother had to say about that once she saw the picture in print:

" Disappointment. Oh, it's of us alright, front and center in the local section, but only the top of Chesapeake Bay Son's head is showing. Of course CB Father and I are looking down at the registrars, exhibiting our frog throats and jowls (which are not that noticeable when looking up as the registrars were doing). Asi es la vida. I thought it ironical that the one time we hadn't a clue whom to vote for that we are featured as responsible voters. Ha ha hardy ha.

CB Father's frog throat was monumental in its proximity to the lens; and even so, people will remark how young and good looking he is - count on it. While I will get only bare notice, thank goodness. And they just said "voters" rather than deal with our names. "
- Chesapeake Bay Mother
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I, Chesapeake Bay Woman, stand corrected. This really has very little to do with an election and more to do with jowls and frog throats. Given that, here's a similar excerpt from another e-mail she wrote back in 1997:

" ....My hair is so attractive. It's orange and stringy. What to do I don't know. I'd cut it all off if I didn't look like Icabod Crane of Washington Irving's Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Us long-necked, small-headed persons with a hump in their neck are limited in hairstyles."
-Chesapeake Bay Mother
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There are several lessons to be learned from my mother's e-mails:

1. Please register to vote. Then be sure to show up to vote on Election Day.

2. When the paper is taking your picture at the polls, be sure to glance upwards rather than down, especially if you're related to the Chesapeake Bay Family. This will minimize the Frog Throat Effect.

3. If you resemble Icabod Crane, you're related to the Chesapeake Bay Family.

4. If you're in the Chesapeake Bay Family, you resemble Icabod Crane.

Signed,
-cbw (aka ChesapIcabod Crane Woman)