Still Here

In spite of all outward appearances, this blog has been picked clean by turkey buzzards who circled over its dead carcass for months. is not yet dead--nor am I!  (Click for sound of applause.)


After many months of wearing a bath robe all day resting and focusing on getting better, I finally am.

As of this moment in time, my scans have all come back clear of Hodgkins lymphoma, and if all goes well/clear for the next two years, I am pretty much good to go--at least on the lymphoma front. One of the unintentional benefits of doing so many scans is you discover things you didn't know you had, such as an ascending aortic aneurysm.  For now, nobody seems to be concerned about that, so I'm pretending like I don't need to be either.  I've definitely sharpened my denial skills in the past year, that's for sure.

In addition, I gained weight and lost hair, sadly. But I can work on losing the weight and finding the hair.  Actually, it doesn't sound very good to find hair, so let's say that the hair will grow back instead.  There.  Better.

Although I've been away from this blog for a while, lots has happened.  For example:

• In the spring of this year, this dead blog turned ten years old!
• My son graduated from UVA and is now living in Costa Rica working for Global Leadership Adventures as a camp counselor of sorts.  
• My second child completed the second year of architecture school at UVA with good grades.
• My father, although weak, is back to cutting grass and chopping wood and conducting perimeter checks of Waverly Lane on his golf cart. All good.
• My mother, not without some health scares of her own, has had good test results lately.
• I am back to work four days a week but squeezed in an End of Chemo Celebration Trip to Moab, Utah, with my blog friend Lauren.  We went on a jet boat tour of the Colorado River, went on a slickrock jeep tour, ziplined, and toured Arches National Park as well as Dead Horse State Park.  I highly recommend a trip to Moab for an unforgettable experience.

My intention is to return to blogging somewhat regularly, but it all hinges on my home internet working properly.  My internet is free of charge thanks to a deal my parents worked out with a local provider who put a tower behind their barn.  It's been spotty service at best here lately.  But assuming I have time to take pictures and my internet is up and running I hope to get back into a routine of some sort here on this crusty old blog.  

In the meantime, thank you for reading.

Happy New Year!

It's hard to believe 2016 is over already.

2016 was pretty good to me.

Compared to 2015, this was an absolutely wonderful year. So many good things happened, I'm really going to miss 2016. One of the things I'm not especially proud of, however, is that this blog languished in 2016. Much of 2015 too.

One of the many great parts of 2016 was receiving a brand spanking new fancy camera for Christmas. Opening that present brought me to tears, really. Although I'm still fumbling my way through the user manual, I'll be out and about snapping new photos with it soon.

So one of my goals for 2017 is to learn to use my beautiful new camera and blog at least once a week. I have a few other minor goals that I may or may not get to, but more frequent blogging is definitely high on the priority totem pole.

Although I loved 2016, I'm already looking forward to 2017. In February, I will travel to California for a mini-reunion with a few of the friends I've made through this blog. In March, Baby Sister and I are going on a trip-of-a-lifetime cruise! I cannot wait!

For the few people who still visit this rusty old blog, thank you for your patience as I try to polish it back up and get it back on track. It may take a while, but she'll be good as new here soon with a little TLC.

May 2017 be your best year yet!

Boat Houses on Stutts Creek

Last weekend, my first weekend as a new member of the Empty Nest Club, my friend Warren took me on a boat ride on Stutts Creek.

It was a gorgeous day and a wonderful way to keep my mind off the fledgling I abandoned dropped off at UVA the day before.

It's been several years since I've taken a spin on Stutts.  What a lovely creek.

Now that I've survived all the emotions and worries of launching my youngest off to college, I find myself in the unfamiliar position of having the luxury of worrying about what I want to do with my time, with my day, with my weekend. I no longer have to worry about details and schedules and logistics and who needs to be fed at what time, and how many friends will also be here, and do I need to take off work early to make that cross country meet or that basketball game.  When I go to the store, the only person I'm shopping for is me.  (And my cat Twinkie, who is really the Chief Operating Human in the household.)

Chesapeake Bay Woman is very excited about this next chapter of her life and looks forward to returning to regular blogging, among many other things.

Although she usually reserves talking about herself in the third person for unsavory topics, in this instance it's all good.  (She thinks.)