Haven Beach

These were taken last week from Haven Beach, which is the county beach closest to our infamously haunted Old House Woods. No ghosts were spotted this particular day.  Instead, all I saw--even as I struggled in the bitter cold to make my frozen fingers work long enough to press the shutter button-- was beautiful scenery in an otherwise nondescript day.

It's back to work for me today after a long arduous weekend.

I remain vigilant in my quest for worldwide support of Human Hibernation Until March. The essence of the movement has legs to stand on, I am convinced.  I've made a few informal queries, and most people agree. (Where most people equal a few random young people I polled this weekend.)

Hope your week is off to a good start.

Three Things

Welcome to Thursday, where I try to share no more than at least three things and encourage you to do so too.

I'll begin.

1.  A few weeks ago, if you'd told me there would be another Blog Fest (click here) in Mathews--this year--I'd have thought you were crazy.  If you said Not only will there be a 2013 Blog Fest, but new bloggers will join us too, I'd say no way.  Get out of town.

Kay from Canada is researching travel options and Sheryl from here is coming, in addition to many from the other two Blog Fests.

No way! Get out of town! 

It's true.

2.  Whether you're contemplating a trip to Mathews for Blog Fest 2013 or just need a week, a weekend or even a night away from it all, please check this vacation rental out.

3.  Son, Daughter and I are traveling today to Dewey Beach to visit my college roommate Iris, who has a vacation house there.  It will be great getting away and seeing her and her family.  It's hard to believe I've known her for over 30 years.  (Click here for a post about the last time we visited her.)

4.  (Because three is merely a suggestion.)  With various trips out of town, back-to-school stuff, major family celebrations (Son's 18th birthday and parents' 50th wedding anniversary), and Blog Fest 2013 to prepare for, the months of August and September are more than full.  One blink and I'll be applying for Social Security  it's going to be October.

Now it's your turn.  Please share three or more things. Whatever happens to be on your mind.


5. p.s.In case I don't have the opportunity to post from Delaware, have a great weekend.

Scenes from Haven

These were taken on Sunday from Haven Beach.  Although it was overcast earlier, the day turned out to be fairly nice.  I spent most of the afternoon grilling some tuna for a family dinner unofficially in honor of Middle Sister's birthday.  (Middle Sis wasn't in attendance, but we used it as an excuse for a Thanksgiving-like feast nevertheless.)

Another reason for the dinner was Son's return home from the NASA program he attended (aka Virginia Aerospace Science and Technology Scholars/VASTS). Friday I left work early to head over to NASA/Langley for the closing ceremonies. I confess that until then I had little direct knowledge of the program, which is absolutely free of charge to those selected to participate.  All I can say is if you live in Virginia and have a son or daughter who is a rising junior, you should definitely take a look at the website and encourage your student to apply. They are exposed to so much and (I'll say it again because it is important), it's free of charge thanks to the sponsors.

That's it for now.  Anything exciting in your neck of the woods?

Scenes from Haven

These are from Haven Beach.

Well this is certainly lopsided.  I expect all the water to come draining
out of the left corner any minute now. I wasn't even looking at the horizon, obviously,
I was more focused on the pine tree. (Which also appears to be leaning.)

Ah, this is better, a little more level.

Blogger is playing all kinds of tricks on me as I write this Monday evening, so I am going to be mercifully brief with any words and try to get this thing queued up before the whole thing disappears into the black hole of the blogosphere.

Click here for a document I found on a quick Google search for Haven Beach.  Although Haven is only briefly mentioned, the article does provide a great overview of Mathews and its attractions.

Enjoy.

End of the Dock

These pictures, taken from Haven Beach not long after the storm called Sandy, show the status of a dock which used to extend way out onto the beach. Since I don't visit Haven often, I'm not sure how long ago the end of the dock fell by the wayside.


The rest of it is perfectly intact, although the sand threatens to overtake it in spots.

Click here for a previous post about Haven; the very first picture in that post shows how far out the dock originally extended.

The beaches change so quickly around here, I never get bored.  And you never know just what you're going to find.


One thing I wasn't expecting on this particular trip was the following.

A beached couch!

A beached, overturned couch that at one point
 had been nailed to a dock (or something).
It blended in so well with the surroundings, I almost missed it.

At first I thought perhaps this was part of the end of the dock that washed away, but then I remembered the chairs nailed to the end of that dock were more Adirondack style, or so I recall. I can't seem to locate any other photos of the end of that dock with the chairs even though I have hundreds several.

Oh well, it was a pleasant--though brisk--walk on the beach.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In other news, last night Chesapeake Bay Daughter was battling a sore throat and fever.  Tomorrow is her first basketball game (away, at Rappahannock, which is approximately three two states away from home, by the way).  Friday evening is her first home game.  I'm just hoping she feels better soon.

Happy Wednesday.

Beach Art

Bad Hair Day

Thursday I took a walk down Haven Beach.  

The sky was very Scooby Doo-ish.

Gloomy, overcast, a little creepy.

(But I didn't see any ghosts.)

Howling Dog

There are many stumps, downed trees, and pieces of driftwood there,

What would you call this one?  So much going on.
I'm going with Twister.

many of which take on the appearance of familiar forms
if you stare at them long enough.

Daydreaming Staring at inanimate objects
and making up stories is one of my favorite pastimes.

(I'm easily entertained.)

People watching is too.

But there's not much of that here at Haven Beach.

The Claw

Speaking of entertainment, I hope your weekend is full of it.

Have a great one.

Roadside Scenes

These were taken last week

from the road that winds its way from the Court House

to Haven Beach.

******************

The Chesapeake Bay Family's Father's Day celebration was fun and quirky even by our standards and a little unconventional. Cuz where's the fun in conventional?

An evening filled with good food and lots of laughs culminated with a family outing on the Gator (a contraption featured in yesterday's post).

We visited neighbors, picked a few blackberries, and all in all had a splendid time.

********************

How did you spend the day?

Blue Skies

These shots, from a brief trip to Haven Beach,

were taken using my faithful camera, which arrived

home from the Canon repair shop earlier this week.

Good as new.

Here's to a weekend of blue skies.

Wednesday

I would call this post Wordless Wednesday except it's been proven that I am incapable of posting without words, unfortunately.  So for now this is simply called Wednesday with the caveat that I am attempting to be quiet today, mostly because there's nothing of interest to say.

However, I do have these pictures of a lovely old house which lives at the intersection of Routes 643/Haven Beach Road and Route 682/Whites Creek Lane.
I've photographed it before, but not with snow on the ground.

Have a great Wednesday.
With or without words.

Random Shots from Haven

I've officially reached the bottom of the photo barrel. 

All I can find is this tree stump

and a ton of a few oyster shells.

These were taken at Haven Beach a while back.

Hopefully I'll take more pictures this weekend, although most of them will probably be of my son in all the Homecoming festivities.

Whatever you're doing, have a great weekend.

p.s. For anyone wondering about the importance of lawn mowers in Mathews County, and surely all both of you are, I ask you to click here for Chesapeake Bay Mother's account of not just the difference between two lawn mowers, but the differences between them otherwise known as the Hatfield-McCoy feud.

Three Things

Welcome to Three Thing Thursday, where I share three (usually more) things and I encourage you to do the same. You can share thoughts, dreams, hopes, desires, complaints, constraints, recipes, observations, recommendations, lamentations, obfuscations--anything at all.

Let's begin.

1. These photos of sponges (or whatever they are) washed up on Haven Beach were taken back before monsoon season hit Mathews bringing day after day of gloom, despair and agony darkness and heavy downpours. Monsoon season began in September and seems dead set on driving us all to the brink of insanity lingering the entire month. "They" say that Saturday, the first day of October, will be sunny and sixty degrees. "I" say I'll believe it when I see it.

2.  Last night at Beaverdam, the Mathews High School girls cross country team continued their streak with a win against Lancaster and West Point.  Unfortunately, for the first time in several years, the boys' team's winning streak came to an end; they came in second to Lancaster.

Or is it the boys team's winning streak?  I know it's not boy's team's winning streak, because there's more than one boy. I'm gonna stick with boys' team's but actually should just remove team's entirely and go with the boys' winning streak. However, I just realized I didn't use any apostrophe when I referenced the girls' team.  I ought to go back and simplify both sentences, but I'm too tired right now. Who here besides CBW is ready to jump overboard with a cinderblock tied to both ankles if this blog post doesn't get back on track? 

3.  Between work and sporting events, I drove approximately 400 miles total from Monday through Wednesday.  Thursday through Sunday will add at least another couple hundred miles to that tally thanks to Chesapeake Bay Daughter's weekend birthday festivities and a much needed trip "to town" (an hour away) to purchase a suit for Chesapeake Bay Son, who will be an escort in next weekend's Homecoming festivities.

4.  Will someone--anyone--please invite me to live in Bora Bora?  I don't need much, just a one room thatched hut over the water. (This over the water thing is important since I never want to have to cut grass or weed beds again.) I'd also like someone to wait on me hand and foot. If they like to cook, all the better. That isn't asking too much, is it? Good, I didn't think so.

Now it's your turn to share four three things.

Scenes from Haven

Last week I was finally able to make it down to Haven Beach for the first time since Hurricane Irene. I am pleased to report the beach is still there; however, as with other storms, lines and boundaries have been redrawn ever so slightly.

The shot below is looking left as you walk from the parking lot.  When I was a kid, the beach on this side extended much further out, and if memory serves me there was at least one tree out there right on the beach.

By the way, memory very rarely serves me these days, but I think I'm right about this.  Except I don't think I mean "when I was a kid," I think I mean "only ten or fifteen minutes years ago." I am struggling with the concept of time and age (among many other things) at the moment.

In addition, when I say there was one tree out there, I realize there are a thousand pine trees bordering that beach, but there was a tree right on the beach.  And that beach hooked much farther out into the water.  Also, I'm tired so none of this makes any sense.  Let's get back to the blog post already faltering in progress.  

One very noticeable change is how much the beach has been shoved back.

Really?  "Shoved back"?  Well, yes, that seems to be the best way I can describe it right now, after a very long day.  The beach has been shoved back. Final answer.

Where the sand meets the marsh grass below there is a very noticeable, sudden drop. That sand was shoved blown back a couple of storms ago.  Each nor'easter or tropical storm or hurricane shoves pushes the sand farther and farther back.

I am pleased to report that the haunted swamp (below) remains relatively unchanged.

OK, so the woods, not the swamp, has the reputation of being haunted.  But surely the swamp is involved somehow, especially when boundaries are shifting with each and every storm.  

No ghosts were spotted this trip, sadly, although there were countless mutant/ninja dive-bombing horseflies, which were bigger than your average ghost and twice as frightening.

The End.