Bethel Beach

Ooopsie.  The water seems to be draining out of the right-hand corner thanks to that slanted horizon.

These were taken several months weeks ago before my parents started encountering some pretty major health problems.

Again here, we're listing to the right a little.

I've all but missed the summer and have spent the past six weeks traveling from home to work to hospitals and now rehabilitation facilities to visit my father.  As of this moment, and entirely due to Middle Sister's diligence with the doctors and nurses, my father is holding his own.  But he's not home yet.

That's my main goal for him.  To come home.

Because life just can't seem to ever calm down, I've had a health scare of my own that is still unresolved.  For now, I'm just grateful my father is showing some signs of improvement, my mother is doing OK, and I have some breaks from work coming up which are long, long overdue.  The driving and the hectic season at work plus all the worries about my family have pretty much worn me down.

I look forward to the time when I can return to jogging, blogging and taking pictures of the serenity that surrounds me when I'm home.

Happy last week of August.

Prom

This was my daughter before this weekend's Mathews High School prom.  Saturday was yet another marathon day that started with a trip to a neighbor's house for activities related to hair, makeup and nails.  Then there were multiple stops for pictures, dinner at Bangkok Noi in Gloucester, more pictures in our back yard, the prom itself (conveniently located at the Piankatank Ruritan Club which is a cartwheel away from our house), and ultimately the after-prom at the high school.

I helped out at the after-prom and didn't get to bed until after 3:00 a.m. (*yawn*)

Daughter was absolutely stunning, and she had a great time.

In short, although it was a very long day that didn't really end until early Sunday morning, a good time was had by all.

Now, I could really use a nap. (*yawn*)

Bright Spot

Pulling into the driveway after Yet Another Long Day at work, I caught a glimpse of the moon making its appearance for the evening over Queens Creek. After grabbing all the grocery bags from the car, trudging up the steps and throwing everything on the kitchen counter, I dashed into the back yard with my camera for just a minute; and for just a minute I was able to ignore the chaos reality occurring in the house behind me.

Daughter, busy doing homework after basketball practice, was starving; the dog needed this; the cat needed that. The dirty dishes stacked high in the kitchen sink were talking about me--and snickering-- behind my back. Even the groceries were complaining, loudly, that I was too slow and wasn't putting them away fast enough.

Or so it seemed.

In the midst of the perceived chaos at home after a day of actual chaos at work*, I was grateful for the minute I had with the moon in the back yard with my camera.

Very grateful.


*Like this moon over Queens Creek after work, there was one very bright spot in my day at work.  A friend surprised me by delivering a home-cooked lunch of mashed potatoes and roast beef to my office. Given that all I'd brought to eat was a handful of grapes, which I'd choked down by 10 a.m., and also given that I love mashed potatoes so much I was called Potato Woman in college, this surprise made all the day's stresses seem immaterial.  

Because, really, in the presence of homemade mashed potatoes made from homegrown potatoes, everything else--including chaos--must be secondary. 

I'm pretty sure that's one of the Laws of Nature. If not, I hereby nominate it to be one.

Tire

It was low tide at Williams Wharf when I arrived there for a short run Sunday morning.  It's rare that I'm there at low tide, and I took advantage of the opportunity to peruse the shoreline for hidden treasures. Although I didn't find anything terribly unusual, I did enjoy seeing all the green sea grass and oyster shells that are usually covered up by the East River.

The tire was a little out of place, but it was doing its best to blend in.

I'm doing my best to blend in at work and everywhere else even though I am tired.  I'm pretty sure I could sleep for a week, maybe a month, if allowed.  The weekend wasn't enough to get caught up on sleep, even though I took full advantage of the opportunity to take naps both days.

Tired or not, it's back to the business of commuting and work and not one, not two, but three basketball games this week after work.

I hope your week is a good one.

Ice

This morning Mathews awoke to ice and a two-hour school delay.  Tree limbs are snapping off with each gentle puff of wind that happens to pass through the yard.  You can hear them falling all up and down Queens Creek.

Thankfully, I am off from work today and can use this excuse from Mother Nature to finally take down my Christmas tree and catch up on the mundane tasks of daily life that have been neglected since Son's surgery, Christmas, New Year's and then the 50th birthday celebration.

Of course, if the power goes off--as it already has in many parts of the county--I"ll just take that as a sign from Mother Nature to take a nice long nap.

Fingers crossed.  

Odometer

The first Mathews High School girls' basketball game of 2015 was Tuesday night at home against King William.  In spite of an ugly first half, which was painfully sluggish likely due to the two-week Christmas break, we came out fighting in the second half and WON.

This is my neighbor Ann, who lives at the home known as Clifton.  She hails from South Africa and brought along some fans who currently live in Australia.  It's a little known secret that Mathews County girls basketball games attract a diverse, international crowd. It's the hottest ticket in town, and at five bucks a pop, what a bargain!  That five-dollar ticket includes musical entertainment in the form of a cow bell, which is fervently rung whenever MHS ties or comes ahead in the score.  

Here Daughter stretches to steal a pass.

Here, Daughter styles and profiles her new Game Do.
One of her BFFs braids it for her. I lack that skill set. 

Here, Daughter gives me the look that says, "Are you done with that camera yet?" But she'd actually say it more politely, as in "Hey, thanks, Mom, but I got this.  You can relax with the camera now. Also, I'm not so sure about that cowbell you've been bringing to games either.
Love you though!" She's nice like that.

In any case, both the JV and varsity teams have been on fire recently.  We also won against formidable Charles City Thursday evening, by a wide margin.  The games are hard-fought and more than a little stressful for those of us in the stands, but the girls are playing a really good game of basketball, and there is lots of potential ahead.

They do need a Chesapeake Bay Woman Rebounding Seminar, because they don't seem to want to jump for a rebound, to fight for a rebound, to go after a rebound like your life depends on it!  And because they stand flat-footed waiting for the ball to magically jump into their hands on the rebound, it makes me do insanely crazy things like holler instructions from the stands as if they (a) care and (b) can hear and (c) see (a).

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In other news.

Last night on the way home from Charles City, the odometer on my Saturn hit 200,000 miles.  This weekend, my personal odometer will hit 50 years of age.  Both of those numbers are absolutely shocking to me, but both of us are chugging along just fine in spite of the numeric horrors.

My sisters have concocted some sort of 200,000th birthday celebration that hopefully will take into consideration the fact that I really need my weekend afternoon nap will find us all safely preserved and intact by the time Middle Sister returns to Georgia Sunday afternoon.

If there are pictures to share, I'll post them here next week.  Knowing my two sisters, however, it's probably best if there isn't too much photographic evidence of whatever it is they're scheming.

In any case, I wish you a wonderful weekend.

Perched

I'm woefully behind on taking new pictures but was glad to find these forgotten photos from earlier this summer on one of the Winter Harbor boat trips.

Another thing I'm woefully behind on is laundry yard work bill paying and paperwork rest and sleep, both of which I hope to get plenty of this weekend.

Have a great one.

Wistful

Wistful is the word that comes to mind when trying to combine my thoughts about these photographs with my thoughts in general.  My thoughts in general are muddled, because I'm still not feeling 100%.  However, Life doesn't care about that; she's still tossing things my way expecting me to catch them perfectly whenever she feels like tossing.

I'm OK, just wish there were a break somewhere in sight and that I felt a little better.  This too shall pass.  It always does.

Anyway, I hope your week is going well and that your thoughts are less wistful and more optimistic.  Mine will get there, just as soon as we have some consistently warm, sunny weather for starters.

For some real entertainment,  click here to read my mother's blog post  about my father's latest feud with the furnace.  Furnaces, that is.

Three Things

Glimpse of Queens Creek from my back yard Wednesday morning

My driveway

Queens Creek as seen from my parents' back yard

Waverly Lane

Once again it is Thursday, which means it's time to share three things, three thoughts, three whatever-is-on-your minds.

I'll begin.


1.  So, yeah, it snowed here Tuesday night.  To be perfectly honest, I was hoping for more, but beggars can't be choosers.  School was out and work was cancelled.  Hey, I'll take it.  Thanks, Mother Nature.

2.  Today is my father's 73rd birthday.  Unfortunately the calendar is so full I doubt I will even get to tell him happy birthday in person-- even though he lives next door.  But we'll celebrate appropriately when we can.

3.  I need a vacation and am painfully aware of all the days, weeks and months to plow through before summer makes an appearance.  Still, I am really tired and need a break.

4.  (Because three is just a suggestion.)  The Christmas tree is finally down--and it's not even Valentine's Day yet!


That's it from here.  Please share three or more or fewer things, whatever is on your mind, anything at all.