Beachland

This sharp little shed and plucky old plow live near a farmhouse on the approach to Beachland, one of my favorite homes in the county.

The owners of Beachland held an estate sale over the weekend. Much to my delight, they invited me to take a pre-sale peek on Thursday afternoon.

I'll share some pictures of Beachland's grounds and a story about something I found there in the coming posts.

Happy April Eve.

Beach

Here are a few more shots Aaron's Beach shots taken after the demise of my favorite tree, which no longer stands on the little point of beach to the right, above.

In spite of my lack of reporting here on this blog, there's been plenty going on lately, most of which I've not had time nor energy nor desire, really, to write about.

One thing I did accomplish this week--to give me some hope, something to look forward to--was finalize our family vacation this summer.  This will be our last family vacation before Son gallops trots off to college, and I'm looking forward to it immensely.

In unrelated news, I am surprisingly excited about the UVA basketball game this evening.  Since graduating in 1986, I've not kept up with any of their sports.  Last Sunday I tuned in to watch the last few minutes of the ACC Championship.  Perhaps because I'm still wound up from Daughter's basketball season, perhaps because Son may go there in the fall, I was easily engrossed and, as I say, will be watching this evening, provided I can hold my eyes open after this long, arduous week.

Have a great weekend.

Wistful

Wistful is the word that comes to mind when trying to combine my thoughts about these photographs with my thoughts in general.  My thoughts in general are muddled, because I'm still not feeling 100%.  However, Life doesn't care about that; she's still tossing things my way expecting me to catch them perfectly whenever she feels like tossing.

I'm OK, just wish there were a break somewhere in sight and that I felt a little better.  This too shall pass.  It always does.

Anyway, I hope your week is going well and that your thoughts are less wistful and more optimistic.  Mine will get there, just as soon as we have some consistently warm, sunny weather for starters.

For some real entertainment,  click here to read my mother's blog post  about my father's latest feud with the furnace.  Furnaces, that is.

The Tree

Once upon a time back in 2009, Chesapeake Bay Woman's son and daughter were young enough that they didn't mind following their mother on her crazy photographic adventures, and they were as mesmerized as she by the beach called Aaron's.

At that exact same time, there was a tree that lived (even though it was dead--CBW is infamous for playing with and ignoring the rules of reality) on a perfect point of pristine sand very near a patch of old pilings.

Over the years the tree became a symbol of strength.

No matter how strong the storm winds blew, 

no matter how much the sand around it shifted,

the tree

still

stood.

Then one day, with no warning whatsoever, 

the pilings still stood.

But the tree had finally fallen.

The End.

Click here and here  (in the second link, first picture, the tree is seen way off in the distance)

for more photos of this much-loved tree that finally succumbed and surrendered.

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.

Heron

This heron was hiding

along the shore at Williams Wharf

one day several weeks ago

 when I was down there to go for a run.

Speaking of running, I've not done much of any due to all the cold, snowy weather we've had lately.

However, it's supposed to be warm the next couple of days, so hopefully I can get outside and get moving.

Last night's long drive home from work was made so much nicer with all the daylight still lingering around, even at 7:30 p.m..

What a difference just a little bit of light at the end of the day makes.

I just might survive winter after 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.

A Tale of Two Post Offices

This is Foster Post Office, conveniently located at Foster, Virginia.

Foster is the post office in Mathews you drop by if you want to start the process of obtaining a passport.

(I had to go here to pick up the application years ago when Son's class took a trip to Canada.)

(That paper machine on the left looks like it has eyes and a head.
And it's wearing a red coat.
It especially looks like this if you're suffering from sunlight deprivation.)

Yep, Foster is a full-service post office.

Below is the Mobjack Post Office.

Can't see it? Why it's right there. Next to the sign which declares it to be so.

The sign is taller than the (so-called) post office.
Also, if I wanted to buy some stamps here, I am assuming
I'd work with the pine tree to complete that transaction.

From a different angle.
(Nope, that building is not the post office.)

Anyway, this comparison of two post offices, one of which I'd like to suggest* might be more of a cluster of mailboxes near some very tall pine trees, is now coming to a close.

Have a fantastic weekend.

*I'm no expert on post offices.  But I'm pretty sure most people would expect there to be an actual office or at least a counter (?) if one is going to assign the label "post office" to anything.  Perhaps I'm just old-fashioned and stuck in my ways.  Either way, have a nice weekend.