Crab Pots, Etc.

These were taken on a not-so-recent side trip to the public landing at Edwards Creek.

It's been too long since I've blogged.

But I have been taking pictures here and there, 

even if I haven't posted them.

This Friday I leave for Peru, a place I never imagined seeing or experiencing, much less with my two best friends from college. I majored in Latin American Studies back in the Dark Ages of the 1980s; yet I've never been to South America.

 On Monday, I'll be absorbing all the wonders of Machu Picchu. 

This trip has been nothing but logistical questions and challenges, one after the other.  But we've finally ironed out the Getting To part. (You can't just drive up and ask for a ticket to Machu Picchu.  The only way in is by foot or by train.  We'll be trainin' it....)

Now I await the Experience part.

Although I absolutely dread the pile of work that will await when I return, I greatly look forward to setting foot on that first plane Friday afternoon.

I love a good adventure. In fact, I live for a good adventure.

I hope you have at least one great adventure to look forward to in the near term.

Market Days

To be filed under the category of Better Late Than Never, here are a few scenes from Mathews Market Days, which took place a couple of weeks ago.

Although the humidity on Saturday was so bad I felt like I could have used a flotation device just to take a few steps, the overall atmosphere was festive and fun.

I do not know this woman but feel certain she's wondering, "What is wrong with this crazy lady with frizzy hair drenched in sweat, and furthermore why is she taking my picture?"   Actually I didn't even know she was in the picture until I loaded it here.  I was looking more at the stuff in the background, especially the BBQ booth.

As usual, there were lots of booths filled with unique arts and crafts.  

In hindsight, I wish I'd purchased this.  I think the lips and teeth are my favorite part.  And the eyes. And the color, although I'm not typically a pink fan.  It's just a fun, happy fish.  

Since Market Days, I've been on the go.  Last weekend I traveled to Dewey Beach, DE, for a reunion with my college friends Iris and Lenja. The highlight was a live band that performed directly on the beach.  As a public service announcement, I'd like to share that dancing in sand is not the same as dancing not in sand, and it's possible to do what feels like permanent damage to knees and other joints when gyrating aggressively to live music.

For example.

Next Friday I travel to Charlottesville for Chesapeake Bay Daughter's 18th birthday.  Then on Saturday Baby Sis and her boyfriend will join me at the Yorktown Wine Festival, which promises to be loads of fun.

In short, life here in Mathews has been pretty darn great, all things considered, and I am enjoying my foray into Empty Nestville.

So far, so good.

OBX Half Marathon 2014

Over the weekend, Baby Sis and I made our annual trek to the Outer Banks to run a half marathon, and except for the fact that an 80-year-old woman beat us, we were pleased with our time of 2 hours and 15 minutes, our best thus far.

In fact, we were absolutely thrilled with our time-- until we learned that  the 80-year-old woman beat us by almost TEN minutes.  So, to recap, that is a woman, 80 years old, running 13.1 miles in 2 hours and 6 minutes.  Baby Sis is 44, and I will be 50 (!) next January.  She's over 30 years older than we are!

We were fit to be tied when we learned this.  Baby Sis went so far as to accuse her of stealing a golf cart to make such good time.  I'm pretty sure a race official would have noticed an 80-year-old on a golf cart, but Baby Sis won't let go of her theory.

To help ease the sting of this astonishing news, we indulged in some free beer.

I'd like to take a moment to recognize that, although I'm not a beer drinker, there is almost nothing better than a cold, free beer or three after exercising for over two hours without stopping.  It's a little slice of heaven, I tell you.

I think it was about 9:30 in the morning here.  Sunday morning, in fact.
While some folks were hunkered down in church, we were having our own worship service of sorts.

In addition to the free beer, there was my other favorite thing:  free food!  And live music.

And lots and lots of people watching.

This bear was everywhere. Just sort of there.
Not doing anything.  Just lurking. It was only slightly creepy. 

Baby Sis and I always seem to attract people who like to laugh and be silly.  The guy below came trotting over because he liked the fact that we were laughing loudly.  Still giddy from the endorphins and free beer at 9:30 on a Sunday morning in downtown Manteo, I had no problem telling him that the actual reason we were laughing was because he looked like a clown.  Although you can't tell from this picture, he had slathered on far too much free sunscreen they gave away at the expo, and there wasn't a hint of sun in the sky.

Note to Self: Where, exactly, is my upper lip?  I thought I had one.
Instead, I look like Frank Burns on MASH,
and I have the nerve to call someone else a clown?

We met some amazing people at the post-race party.  The two gentlemen below ran the full marathon with incredible times.

(The bear didn't run at all.  He just sat. And stared.)

Doug, below, won an award in his age bracket.  He completed the full 26.2 miles in just over 3 hours. He's run the Boston Marathon many times and also happens to be one hilarious human being.  He came all the way from Nashville just to run this race.

After a while, it started to turn cold, 

and our muscles and feet were telling us it was time to leave.

So we hopped on the shuttle where Baby Sis proceeded to spill her beer and headed back to the hotel.

We ate a lovely dinner at the Black Pelican 

and continued the wine laughter well into the evening.

A fantastic time was had by all.

For those of you wondering if we saw Kilt Man (from last year's adventure), we did. He was a pacer for the full marathon, and we chatted at the finish line.  Baby Sis controlled any urges to lift up the kilt. All in all, we were a little tamer better behaved this year, but that still didn't preclude us from having fun.

One of the things we learned from talking with so many runners--all of whom had better times than we did--was we need to do more races.  We've been running two half-marathons per year, thinking that was enough.  

If we want to beat that 80-year-old--and we do--we need to do more.

I turn 50 (!) next January, and I'd like to try a full marathon, perhaps next year this time at the Outer Banks.  To do that, I'm going to need to do at least two or three half marathons before that.

That's a whole lot of running.  

Right now, though, what I need most of all is a nap.

The End.

Hints of Red

These shots of three different red structures were taken last Sunday.

This first one is the boldest red--and also the farthest away.

(Above, the barn in the distance on the right tries to hide behind those pine trees.)

Here, another little red building is perfectly content on the side of Garden Creek Road.

This particular shed near the nursing home is more like a silver fox with some red streaks still visible.

I've taken pictures of the barn above for about eight years now, and it never gets old.  There's something about this whole scene that to me says Mathews.

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Warning:  Change of topic forthcoming.  

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This weekend, Baby Sis and I make our trek to the beaches of North Carolina to participate in the Outer Banks Half Marathon.  I look forward to it for the escape, not so much for the run.

Click here for an overview of last year's escapades.

I'll be back to blogging the middle of next week--assuming we make it across the finish line.

(We will.)

Nashville

Baby Sis and I after the St. Jude's Country Music Half Marathon

First things first.

I am relieved to announce that Baby Sis and I survived the half marathon in Nashville, however our time was terrible. Given that neither one of us had trained, we're lucky to have survived it could have been much worse.  Baby Sis was clearly more prepared than I, but she hung back with me the whole race.

At one point I thought I was going to require medical assistance not from a cardiac event but from the pain and agony shooting down the backs of my legs. It felt like every major nerve was being individually tortured. I'll probably have to get that checked out at some point, since I have the same pain in my elbows on a daily basis, usually while sitting down. So it has nothing to do with running. (My inner hypochondriac--aided and abetted by Web MD--is convinced it's either fibromyalgia, MS or nerve damage due to too much sitting at the computer.)

Anyway.

Baby Sis didn't want me to mention our actual time, since it was our worst ever.  However, I told her she was looking at it all wrong. This so-called bad time also represents the longest either one of us has exercised without stopping: two hours and forty five minutes.

So almost three hours of movement!

Sounds better when put that way, I think.

Some nights I'm lucky if I get three hours of sleep, so three hours of physical activity is pretty good!

(That's my story and I'm sticking with it.)

Aside from the torture of running a race I wasn't prepared for, I thoroughly enjoyed the course, which took us through downtown Nashville, Music Row and some very lovely neighborhoods.  Last year when we did this, we couldn't take in any of the sights because of the horizontal rain. (Click here for that story.)

This year the weather was simply spectacular.

Our friend and hostess Lauren took us to some fabulous places.

The first day we drank wine hung out downtown.

Me and Lauren

We drank wine had lunch at a place called Merchants.

The deviled eggs were outstanding.

As were the deviled eggs and sugar bacon at Brick Top's in Franklin, 

where we sat next to one of the most beautiful men I've ever seen

none other than Carrie Underwood's husband, Mike Fisher--

who is also beautiful! a hockey player.

Lauren lives in a resort-like apartment complex in Franklin.  

We spent many hours enjoying wine lounging by her pool.

Did I mention the wine? 

We had some.

We even had some boxed wine.  Here Lauren and Baby Sis appear
to be fighting for the right to pour.

Lauren's daughter Emnma joined us Sunday evening on a last-minute excursion through miles and miles of beautiful horse country to Arrington Vineyards.   Guess what they serve there?

We arrived just before it started raining, so we only stayed briefly.

After the vineyard, we traveled back to Lauren's apartment, watched movies and enjoyed more wine and laughs in complete denial that our adventure was coming to a close.  Monday morning we flew back to Virginia.

Baby Sis and I would like to thank Lauren for once again providing us with a perfect getaway.  We relaxed, we laughed, we frolicked up and down the streets of Nashville, we ran a half marathon, we ate lots of good food, we enjoyed lots of good wine, we met new people, we sat next to a beautiful!! quasi-celebrity named Mike Fisher, and we basked by the pool in 80-degree weather.

Unlike what the sign above says, looking back on this weekend, I didn't miss a thing*, and the good time was all around me no matter where we were.

The End.


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p.s. There are more stories to tell about traveling with Baby Sis--such as when I confidently walked off with some very nice man's carry-on bag (he stopped me before I got too far, we had the exact same blue bag), and the time she thought the announcement over the public address system in the Richmond airport asked for Nashville passengers to please approach the counter to verify passports.   In fact, they were asking international passengers to please provide passports. When I looked her dead in the eyes and confidently told her Nashville didn't require a passport, she still wanted to go up to the counter--even though she didn't have a passport and even though nobody said anything about Nashville and even though anybody in their right mind would know passports aren't needed to cross state lines.

Serenity now.

* I did miss my children a little, but I sure didn't miss cooking or cleaning or laundry or cutting grass or driving hundreds of miles to work/soccer games or ant infestations or gutters that need cleaning or ....I want to go back to Nashville now!