Three Things

Here are a few more shots from Saturday afternoon's

trip to Yankee Point Marina.

 Jamestown Settlement ship replica

Dinghy dock.
(Say that six times without cracking a smile.  I dare you.)

More dinghies.
(I am so easily entertained by the word dinghy, it's ridiculous.)

Saturday was a great day.

So here we are at Thursday already, and I'm still talking about last Saturday. Sometimes on this blog Thursdays are reserved for sharing three random thoughts dating back to last weekend.   Since I really don't have a whole lot on my mind right now, at least nothing worth sharing, I'll pass on my turn and ask you to share three things.  Anything at all, no matter how random. 

Otherwise feel free to remark on Yankee Point Marina, the Jamestown Settlement and/or the word dinghy.

Happy Thursday.

Locklies II: Merroir

Last week my blog friend Debra showed me a new place over in Topping at the marina at the end of Locklies Creek Road.

(Well, the eatery may not be new, but it sure was new to me. I really don't get out much.)

It's called Merroir. And it describes itself as a tasting room even though much of the tasting goes on outdoors in an open-air area that could best be described as not at all a room.

That may well be my favorite part of this place, its lack of confining walls and boundaries.

This poor guy had no idea I was taking his picture.
He sure as heck has no idea his image is on the internet today either.

If it's all the same, rather than say Merroir or that tasting room on the Rappahannock River,

I'll just forever refer to it as That Wonderful Place

at the end of the road going down to the marina in Topping. 

The best part of all, besides the food and wine--which are both excellent--is the ambiance.

Although there is some seating inside, most of the tables are outdoors.

No walls. No ceiling. No floor.

Just fresh air. Sky. Mother Earth.

And views to die for.

I was instantly reminded of a summer vacation I took years ago to Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, one of my favorite places on Earth. After a very long day of hiking in the mountains without food, I enjoyed the best dinner of the trip at Dornans Chuckwagon, which was basically a simple cowboy buffet set up under a tepee, with picnic tables dotted all over several acres of lush, green grass. No walls, no fences, only the stunning mountains off in the distance and the endless sky above provided the definition of space. It is one of my all-time favorite memories.

Anyway, this is not about the Tetons.

(I know you knew that; I just had to remind myself.)

The Wonderful Place at the end of Locklies Creek Road is a great place to stare off into the distance as your blood pressure drops. And drops. And drops some more.

Debra ordered roasted oysters, shrimp & grits, which she enjoyed. I had a tomato/mozzarella/basil salad (delicious) and scallops & grits (outstanding).


I might be head over heels a little bit in love with this place.


Click here for an article on Merroir, my  new favorite place to sip wine hang out.

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Who wants to join me for a trip to the Grand Tetons Topping?

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Random Scenes

Today I feel like playing an association game. We'll connect all of these otherwise disparate photos by a common word or element.  

Fasten your seat belts, the train is getting ready to leave the station. Please remain seated until the ride has come to a complete stop at which time you may exit to your left.  Do not stampede on your way out; you could injure others trying to escape exit ahead of you.

(Unrelated side note: I used to work at Busch Gardens and had to give a similar spiel a few hundred times one summer. If anyone's ever looking for book or reality TV fodder, work at a crowded amusement park in the jungle-like humidity of an August summer in Williamsburg. You simply won't believe what people do on vacation, nor the clothes they wear or don't wear, nor the stuff they find to complain about, nor how many of those complainers seem to be from the North. No offense to anyone from the North, it's just an isolated observation made by a silly woman who wears a crab hat for entertainment.  Let's return from this entirely unnecessary tangent to our little association game, already in progress.)

The wooden skiff above sits on dry ground in a yard down Shadow.

That weathered and worn skiff  is made of wood, just like this cute little white farmhouse with a tin roof in Redart.

This mountain of oyster shells, outside of the old ice plant at Milford Haven, is white like that house.

Milford Haven is home to the Coast Guard station and the Gwynn's Island Bridge.

This rainbow is like a bridge from Earth to sky.

The last photo was sent to me by Mathews resident Bill Crowe, who had the privilege of seeing this rainbow from his back yard.

Thanks, Bill!

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Life is like an amusement park here in Mathews.

We have to invent our own fun and games here in rural Mathews.

Thanks for playing along.

  

Have a fantastic weekend.

Venturing Out

Yesterday, after sleeping all day lying around nursing a Christmas cold that refuses to leave, I decided to venture out to the ends of the Earth opposite end of the county from me, the Bavon/New Point area.

It was pretty chilly and there was a good breeze blowing.

None of this deterred a kayaker, who was gearing up and preparing to put in just as I arrived.

I didn't take his picture, but trust me he was out there somewhere just as I was snapping these. I think he slunk underneath the dock.  Slunk is the past tense of slink. I think. Or did I thunk he slunk?  To slink is to sneak stealthily underneath a dock when someone with a camera desperate for something to take a picture of happens to be nearby. There's no need to check this on Wikipedia or Merriam Webster online or anything. Except if you did, you might find this.  And here I thought I had made up a new word. 

After spending some time on the observation deck at New Point Light  reflecting on the cool breeze and the elusive kayaker,

I returned to the car and headed back up the road towards home, but not before I took a few more pictures of a seagull festival going on down Sandbank.

Stay tuned.