Sea Farms

Last week my parents took me over to the old ice plant to procure seafood for an upcoming family gathering.

Going to the ice plant, now known as Sea Farms, is somewhat of a walk down Memory Lane for my father, who worked here briefly as a teenager.

My father has a good rapport with the owner and the folks who work there, and it was nice to see him so animated and happy on our visit.  He's been mourning the loss of his good friend and our neighbor Sidney.

We bought some tuna and several pounds of Carolina shrimp and happily made our way back outside.

(My mother was so giddy, she broke out into spontaneous dance even.  Evidently fresh seafood has deep, positive, uncontrollable effects on this family. Regrettably, my camera was not poised to capture her impressive, music-less moves.)

It was a very successful trip.

I'm looking forward to the next visit.

Cricket Hill

Please tell me I'm not the only one who sees the eyes and mouth on this tractor.

Unless I'm mistaken, it's whistling, too.

A friend from this blog who owns a home in the Cricket Hill area asked me to watch her garden while she was out of town.

(Watch = Water + Note to Self: Please don't forget to water, thank you very much).

Anyway.

The tractor above lives peacefully in the woods on the way to her home. I've admired it for some time.

Another thing I've admired is the view from her dock.

I've had the privilege of sitting in one of those chairs and can tell you that once your feet hit that dock, all stress is immediately released to the universe.

Shifting gears, today includes (unless it rains) a soccer game in Windsor, which is exactly 3,000 miles from Mathews or 2,500 from California, depending on which way you're traveling.

A blog post which began with a whistling tractor and could ramble into perpetuity unless forced to a conclusion ended with pink chairs and a trip to Windsor is now coming to a merciful close.

The End.

Bottoms Up

These pictures are courtesy of a blog friend who lets me trespass wander around her and the neighbor's property now and then. 

Well, I'm reasonably sure if she knew I were on her neighbor's property, she'd be OK with it.  For now we aren't focused on what the neighbor might say. 

 Have a great weekend.

Gratitude

]

*****

Here are more shots from Saturday night's party
thrown by my blog friend Debra.

*****

Today is my daughter's first day of high school.

My son will go to school today, but as soon as he comes home, we will drive to a hotel in Norfolk in anticipation of an early Wednesday morning admittance into Children's Hospital for his surgery. He isn't expected to return to school for several weeks, and that's assuming there are no complications--which of course there will not be.

I will be living staying in the hospital with him until he is released, hopefully no later than the beginning of next week.

I'm eternally grateful to my sisters and parents, who will stay and take care of my daughter, my pets, my house and my yard; to the fantastic people I work with, who have been so generous and supportive through this ordeal; and to my friends everywhere, who have come out of the woodwork with an overwhelming flood of encouragement and offers to help.

Thank you does not adequately convey the depth of my gratitude.

My laptop is coming with me, and I'll post when I can.

Have a great first week of September.

Boat House

These were taken Saturday night from Cricket Hill.

Happy Monday.

Saturday Evening Gathering

The mirror image of the sky and tree line in this creek
is Reason 4,569 I love Mathews County.

I've just returned from a wonderful evening spent not more than five minutes from my house.

My blog friend invited me to a Labor Day celebration at her house in the Cricket Hill area of Mathews. Since all I've done here lately is run up and down the road to Norfolk (85 miles one-way)  to stress over in anticipation of my son's upcoming surgery, I was very much looking forward to a carefree evening.

Her home is lovely.

The views from the yard are lovely. 






And her family and friends are lovely as well.

This is her son's girlfriend. 

She's as kind as she is beautiful.

The light here is on the boathouse even though I was trying to capture
the person's face.  My camera is the boss, I'm just along for the ride.

This was a friend of the family who probably has no idea he's on the internet today.

Finally, the light--and my camera--cooperated.

Debra's Son.  My name for him is Renaissance Man,
a modern-day Thomas Jefferson. 

This curly-haired guy was loaded with energy.
His mother has the endurance of ten thousand
Energizer Bunnies.

This is Debra's husband.  

I think the whole family is extremely photogenic.

And so is their back yard.

Thank you, Debra, for a grand evening.