Monday, April 27, 2015

Sunrise on Queens Creek




































This happened one day last week as I was leaving for work. 


I much prefer waving goodbye to the rising sun than saying hello 
to the cold darkness as I get into my car to make the long commute each day.


Although there's still a chill in the air, Mother Nature is waving 
all the signs that the cold, dark, dreary days are coming to an end.


And I, for one, am very grateful.


Friday, April 24, 2015

Crab Pots


















































I visited these crab pots, which live in Redart, a couple of weeks back.  They were resting up for this year's crab season.

This weekend I hope to do some resting up myself, although I'm not exactly sure when that's going to happen given everything that's going on.  Middle Sister will be in Newport News Friday night, and Baby Sis and I are going to meet her for dinner and an evening out.  Daughter has a track meet Saturday in West Point, which I'll attend.  With any luck a friend is coming over for a visit Saturday evening.  Sunday night is Daughter's basketball banquet.

But getting back to crab pots, these were patiently waiting to be tossed into the local waters.

To read about a crabbing adventure of mine from a few years back,  click here.

Monday, April 20, 2015

Prom






















































































































This was my daughter before this weekend's Mathews High School prom.  Saturday was yet another marathon day that started with a trip to a neighbor's house for activities related to hair, makeup and nails.  Then there were multiple stops for pictures, dinner at Bangkok Noi in Gloucester, more pictures in our back yard, the prom itself (conveniently located at the Piankatank Ruritan Club which is a cartwheel away from our house), and ultimately the after-prom at the high school.

I helped out at the after-prom and didn't get to bed until after 3:00 a.m. (*yawn*)

Daughter was absolutely stunning, and she had a great time.

In short, although it was a very long day that didn't really end until early Sunday morning, a good time was had by all.

Now, I could really use a nap. (*yawn*)


Thursday, April 16, 2015

Redart



























This vast expanse of field and sky was captured on a recent side trip to Redart, which I always remind folks is Trader backwards.

There is something so inviting about this field--but the line linked to the fence posts perched on either side of the driveway says everything a potential trespasser visitor needs to know:  Today's not a good day for an invitation to proceed any further.  Try again some other time. Or not.

In other words, keep out.

The busy week thus far will spill into what promises to be an even busier weekend.  It's the Mathews High School prom, and not only is Daughter going, but I'll be heading up some sort of game at the After Prom, which starts at 10:45 p.m.--normally the time I'm curled up in bed beginning the very careful and methodical study of the back side of my eyelids.  I've been told the After Prom ends well after 2 in the morning.  I've asked the coordinator if I might be able to use the teacher's lounge for napping purposes, but so far have not received the answer I'm looking for.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.




Monday, April 13, 2015

A Tale of Two Travelers









Once upon a time, Chesapeake Bay Woman and Daughter left Mathews County at 7:30 one Thursday morning and arrived at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg exactly six hours after they departed--even though the trip should only take five hours at most and should never have included a trip to another state called West Virginia.

But Chesapeake Bay Woman,  who is getting old who hasn't been to Tech since the 1980s, was stressed about lots of things up to and including the fact that her tire pressure light had been on since the 1980s last week.  So instead of focusing on the super simple directions that she'd studied the night before, she put herself on autopilot, left the directions in her pocketbook, decided against GPS since it was so super-easy, and drove towards Clifton Forge, which she visited often in her college days.

The only problem is, Clifton Forge is nowhere near Virginia Tech.

So, when CBW, intently studying the tire pressure light that seemed to be getting brighter and brighter, eventually looked up and saw the Welcome to West Virginia! sign, which was nowhere on the handwritten directions inside her pocketbook that she still hadn't pulled out, she started to sweat bullets and began a full-on panic attack, to which Daughter merely replied, "I have the iPhone.  Turn here, take this road, yes, we're two hours away, but this will be an adventure."

Serenity now.

After many different iterations of self-beratement (IDIOT!  You're  an idiot, CBW!  You have an uncommonly good sense of direction ordinarily, you have a GPS and an iPhone and you looked at the map last night.  How in the world did this happen? A blindfolded toddler could get from Mathews to Blacksburg!  You know how to get to Tech.  This trip was not supposed to include a visit to West Virginia, idiot!) and many, many stressful miles through one cow pasture after another, they finally re-entered the proper state--Virginia--and arrived at the proper destination--Blacksburg.  They sprinted towards the visitor center just as the doors were closing on their meeting.

After the meeting, which provided an overview of the school and their admissions process, they took a tour led by Meaghan.

Meaghan in front of Burrus Hall





While Daughter clutches her Tech paraphernalia and listens to Meaghan, Chesapeake Bay Woman
identifies with the young lady on the right, who is wondering when anything will ever be easy in life and, more importantly, when's lunch, since we haven't eaten all day?  Also, I'm dying of thirst.
And I need a nap. Is any of this asking too much?





Meaghan is very enthusiastic about Tech.
She graduates this year and will be going to grad school in Florida.
She's sad to be leaving Blacksburg.





Daughter does not appear to be at all frazzled by her mother's detour to West Virginia even though she hasn't eaten a crumb of food all day, and it's well after 2:30  here in this picture. 





Here, towards the middle of the walking tour--on what was a particularly warm day--
Daughter starts to feel the effects of malnutrition and dehydration
the lack of food and water. And the unscheduled trip to West Virginia.



After the tour of Virginia Tech, the two piled back into the car and drove another thousand couple of hours to Charlottesville without an unnecessary detour through another state.

In Charlottesville, they met first-year-student Son for dinner Thursday night, met with admissions officers Friday morning, and then went with Son to the downtown mall for lunch.


































These are the remnants of our appetizer of roasted shishite peppers.
I'd never heard of them before, but I will be having them again.  Delicious!




After lunch, Daughter and Chesapeake Bay Woman bid farewell to Son and plopped back into the car for the journey home that included snail-pace traffic and a torrential downpour outside of Richmond.  In spite of everything, including the tire pressure light that is still on, the party arrived home in Mathews safe and sound and without another word about the never-ending cow pastures of West Virginia that were never, ever supposed to be a part of the trip.

The End.








Thursday, April 9, 2015

Road Trip










These were taken Saturday 









on my little excursion to Gwynn's Island.









It was a gorgeous day.


















The weather hasn't been so gorgeous this week, thanks to some cloudy, overcast skies that spit out a little rain here and there. Daughter, who has been on Spring Break all week, and I are heading west to visit Virginia Tech and Charlottesville.  Although it will be a lot of driving, I'm looking forward to our little escape.

Have a wonderful weekend.



Monday, April 6, 2015

Seabreeze











Saturday a friend and I drove over to Gwynns Island for lunch at the Seabreeze, which fronts Milford Haven.









The Seabreeze is the county's only waterfront restaurant.  









The views alone are reason enough to eat there.












Since Daughter went vegetarian last year, I've not had many opportunities to indulge in a really good cheeseburger. I also can't remember the last time I've had french fries of any description, much less hand-cut ones that actually tasted like potatoes.  But I seized the moment and ordered both.

The food matched the spectacular views and the general mood of a lazy Saturday with no races to run, no track meets to attend, and no chores that couldn't be ignored for a few weeks months days longer.

The Seabreeze was one of the highlights of an entire weekend dedicated to lollygagging slowing down and appreciating the moment.










Thursday, April 2, 2015

Track








The Mathews High School track team had another meet at Charles City County High School Thursday evening, so after work I drove on over to watch.  Above, Josh Foster, my second-favorite student at MHS, paces himself in the mile.  He and Daughter have played soccer together since they were knee-high to a grasshopper.  This year, he's doing both soccer and track, while Daughter opted to do track instead of soccer.

Speaking of Daughter, she's my favorite MHS student and favorite female teenager of all time.





She's also my favorite athlete to watch.





She won the 400-meter...




...and also her heat of the 200-meter. 

(We think she might have won that race overall too, but it's unconfirmed since we don't yet know the time of the winner in the first heat.)






Next week is Daughter's spring break.  I'll work the first of the week but Thursday morning we're heading to Virginia Tech and University of Virginia to take tours and talk to admissions folks.  She stresses over whether she's good enough to get in and wonders what she needs to do to be better.

I just tell her how proud I am of what she's done so far and where she is now.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I love this girl and am so proud of her many accomplishments.

In other news, the weather has warmed up a bit.  I'm hoping it's a trend that continues.

Have a great weekend.