Busy

These were taken back in December 2012 from the public landing at the Sea Breeze over on Gwynn's Island. I've been so busy here lately, there's been no opportunity to take new photographs.  

Monday night it snowed just enough to postpone Tuesday night's basketball game against Charles City.  They will instead play tonight.  I confess the delay was a relief. Not only was I exhausted from a brutally long day at work, but Daughter has been enduring a sore throat, which I'm hoping will clear up by the time the game rolls around.

Other than that, I'm doing three people's jobs busy at work, busy at home.

Busy, busy, busy.  With no end in sight.

Happy Wednesday.

Heron

Sunday afternoon I arrived home from yet another fiftieth birthday celebration, this time for my friend Laura Lane.  Several high school friends converged on an oceanfront hotel in Virginia Beach, and my college roommate Iris also was in town for her daughter's volleyball game.  There was lots of fun and frivolity, but not a lot of rest and sleep. There also didn't appear to be much behavior typically associated with fifty-year-olds.  One of the two rooms we were in was visited by the hotel security guard, who issued a warning for noise.

(Please note, I was not in that particular room.  I was as quiet as a church mouse.  Well, a more accurate statement is at the time the warning was issued, I was dancing the night away downstairs in the hotel lounge. So, for the record, I was not in violation of any hotel policies.)

A n y w a y... this heron spent the better part of  Sunday afternoon lollygagging on this pole across the creek from me.

At times he looked like a one-legged heron--especially from the angle below.

But eventually I caught him standing on both legs.

My own two legs are a little sore from Saturday night's dancing.  I view it as cross training for some upcoming races, one of which is a 10K on Valentines Day at a local winery. (Click here for details.)  I can't think of a better motivation to exercise than chocolate and wine.

And I can't think of a better cross-training exercise than dancing with lifelong friends in the middle of January in an oceanfront hotel in Virginia Beach.

Have a great week.

Ridgefield

This wonderful building is on Ridgefield Road, near Wayland Baptist Church, which is where I park my car when I go on my six-mile run.

(I haven't gone six miles in a couple weeks now; my excuse is there's been no time.  But I hope to reacquaint myself with this particular six-mile route  this week! soon.)

I've posted seventy eleven thousand many photos of this structure over the years and never cease to be entertained by and attracted to it.  Alas, I know none of its history, none of its stories, none of its connections.

All I can tell you is it sits patiently on the side of a very quiet road down which I love to run. It doesn't require attention.  It doesn't insist on acknowledgement. It just is.

Ups and Downs

I often tell people that the days of my life should be measured much like dog years.  They say that one year of a dog's life equates to seven of ours.  I say that one day of my life equates to seven (or more) of most people's.

For example, since last week:

• Mathews varsity girls WON against West Point last week.
• Mathews varsity girls lost against Middlesex last week.
• I finally took down my Christmas tree and all the decorations and hauled them down to the basement! (...while uttering words that should never, ever be associated with Christmas.)
• My daughter took down my father in an unfortunate incident in a parking lot.*
• I finally bought a new-to-me car!
• My old car, which goes to my daughter, is really acting up and needs lots of work.
• I don't have to drive to work today!
• I do have to drive 45 miles to Newport News to finalize the purchase of aforementioned vehicle.
• I survived turning 50 and managed to clean up all the remnants of the celebration, which included several boxes of recycling that had to be hauled to the dump.
• I hope to survive another friend's 50th birthday being celebrated this weekend in Virginia Beach.
• I jogged about 5 miles on Saturday after having taken off over a week due to cold/ice/everything.
• I signed Baby Sis and I up for another half marathon in March.  
• I'm in the beginning phases of planning a Spring Break college tour for Daughter and her classmate Brian.

I could keep going with the list, but that's a start. 

*My father is fine, that's the good news. The not-so-good news when it happened was after the West Point basketball game, which was a hard-fought win, Daughter, eager to get home, went out to warm up the car while my parents made their way out of the gymnasium. Daughter remained in the driver's seat. I climbed into the front passenger seat. My mother climbed into the back seat. My father was in the process of climbing into the back seat when Daughter--who later declared she'd heard "doors slam shut"-- decided to put the car in drive and proceed forward. My father's head got caught in the door, Daughter drove over not one but both of his feet, he careened backwards and hit his head on the pavement. 

Although shaken initially, he's fine.

The rest of us, however, are scarred for life.

The End.

Ice

This morning Mathews awoke to ice and a two-hour school delay.  Tree limbs are snapping off with each gentle puff of wind that happens to pass through the yard.  You can hear them falling all up and down Queens Creek.

Thankfully, I am off from work today and can use this excuse from Mother Nature to finally take down my Christmas tree and catch up on the mundane tasks of daily life that have been neglected since Son's surgery, Christmas, New Year's and then the 50th birthday celebration.

Of course, if the power goes off--as it already has in many parts of the county--I"ll just take that as a sign from Mother Nature to take a nice long nap.

Fingers crossed.  

Half a Century

L to R:  Old Fart from Mathews, Middle Sis from Georgia, Laurie from California, Lauren from Nashville, Angie from King and Queen, Baby Sis, and Meg from Maryland.

This weekend marked the first time in my life I've ever donned a fake mustache pink cowboy hat and boa, and it also marked the first time I've ever turned 50.

Baby Sis concocted a scheme that involved some very dear blog friends traveling from near and far to help ease my transition from nursing home to funeral home Forty Something to Officially 50.

Evidently, that transition has to include mustaches, because two people brought them.

A picture of all of us us wearing these--which I'd really rather forget-- exists on Facebook, sadly.
Certain Sisters find it absolutely hilarious. I'm hoping I get some sort of credit from the universe for indulging them. (I'm not counting on it, though. In fact, I expect to see that same photo blown up poster-size at every family event we ever have into perpetuity.)

I could explain the theme of the party, but it's a very long story.  If you google Winnebago Man, that would be a starting point. But only a starting point and not the focus of this post.  

Sisters, Parents and Daughter.  Son had already returned to college.
(Don't tell Baby Sis her eyes are--once again!--closed here.  It's payback for the mustache picture on Facebook.)

Eyes wide open.

I'd really love to know what we're all looking at here.  I honestly have no idea, but clearly someone was doing something.

Parents, Sisters and The Infamous Catherine

Parents, Sisters and Blog Sisters

Parents, Sisters and Dino--our adopted brother.  He's from Morocco.

Daddy and Me.
He turns 74 later in the month.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.  And, yes, Virginia, CBW still has her Christmas tree up.
Dear Santa Claus, can you come back and drop off a few elves to help me with some chores? This is the off-season for y'all now, right? Thanks! I really appreciate it. P.S. Do they also do windows?

Middle Sis and her BFF from high school, Judy

Lauren from Nashville

Bud, Billy and Glenda 

Devan and my father

Alda, Larry and Lisa

Theresa and Teresa

I thank my family, especially my Baby Sis, for throwing together this semi-surprise of a celebration.  I am grateful to have friends and family, good health, and knees that didn't give out in all the dancing that took place.

(I might have hyper-extended one knee, though, and I think I sprained my pinky finger--don't ask-- but if that's the worst that happens at a 50th birthday celebration, I'll take it. Gladly.)

And now, post-Thanksgiving, post-Christmas, post-Son's surgery, post-New Year's Eve, and post-50th birthday, I look forward to life returning to normal.

Whatever that is.

Odometer

The first Mathews High School girls' basketball game of 2015 was Tuesday night at home against King William.  In spite of an ugly first half, which was painfully sluggish likely due to the two-week Christmas break, we came out fighting in the second half and WON.

This is my neighbor Ann, who lives at the home known as Clifton.  She hails from South Africa and brought along some fans who currently live in Australia.  It's a little known secret that Mathews County girls basketball games attract a diverse, international crowd. It's the hottest ticket in town, and at five bucks a pop, what a bargain!  That five-dollar ticket includes musical entertainment in the form of a cow bell, which is fervently rung whenever MHS ties or comes ahead in the score.  

Here Daughter stretches to steal a pass.

Here, Daughter styles and profiles her new Game Do.
One of her BFFs braids it for her. I lack that skill set. 

Here, Daughter gives me the look that says, "Are you done with that camera yet?" But she'd actually say it more politely, as in "Hey, thanks, Mom, but I got this.  You can relax with the camera now. Also, I'm not so sure about that cowbell you've been bringing to games either.
Love you though!" She's nice like that.

In any case, both the JV and varsity teams have been on fire recently.  We also won against formidable Charles City Thursday evening, by a wide margin.  The games are hard-fought and more than a little stressful for those of us in the stands, but the girls are playing a really good game of basketball, and there is lots of potential ahead.

They do need a Chesapeake Bay Woman Rebounding Seminar, because they don't seem to want to jump for a rebound, to fight for a rebound, to go after a rebound like your life depends on it!  And because they stand flat-footed waiting for the ball to magically jump into their hands on the rebound, it makes me do insanely crazy things like holler instructions from the stands as if they (a) care and (b) can hear and (c) see (a).

--------------------------------

In other news.

Last night on the way home from Charles City, the odometer on my Saturn hit 200,000 miles.  This weekend, my personal odometer will hit 50 years of age.  Both of those numbers are absolutely shocking to me, but both of us are chugging along just fine in spite of the numeric horrors.

My sisters have concocted some sort of 200,000th birthday celebration that hopefully will take into consideration the fact that I really need my weekend afternoon nap will find us all safely preserved and intact by the time Middle Sister returns to Georgia Sunday afternoon.

If there are pictures to share, I'll post them here next week.  Knowing my two sisters, however, it's probably best if there isn't too much photographic evidence of whatever it is they're scheming.

In any case, I wish you a wonderful weekend.