Iris and Lenja

About a week ago, my college friends Iris and Lenja came to Mathews for a visit.

We met at UVA in August 1982, which astonishingly means we've been friends for over 35 years.

(Thirty five years?  How is that even possible?)

Lenja (pronounced Len'-ya, rhymes with Kenya) lives in Cambridge, England, 

and Iris lives in McLean, Virginia.

During their visit we went to Bethel Beach and later had lunch in the Court House at Southwind.

It was warm enough to sit outside.

It was a wonderful visit.  We're already planning our next reunion, which may include a hiking trip through Portugal--once I'm done with my chemotherapy treatments next year.

Speaking of chemo, it's going reasonably well.  I've had two treatments thus far (one every two weeks) representing one complete cycle.  I'll need five more cycles, meaning I should be done in April.  Aside from some exhaustion, I really can't complain at all.  My white blood cell counts are very low, though, which just means I am more prone to infections and have to take precautions.  I'm supposed to steer clear of crowds and sick people and wash my hands frequently. 

Staying away from crowds is thankfully not a problem here in Mathews. 

Not a problem at all.

I hope all is well in your world.

Market Days

To be filed under the category of Better Late Than Never, here are a few scenes from Mathews Market Days, which took place a couple of weeks ago.

Although the humidity on Saturday was so bad I felt like I could have used a flotation device just to take a few steps, the overall atmosphere was festive and fun.

I do not know this woman but feel certain she's wondering, "What is wrong with this crazy lady with frizzy hair drenched in sweat, and furthermore why is she taking my picture?"   Actually I didn't even know she was in the picture until I loaded it here.  I was looking more at the stuff in the background, especially the BBQ booth.

As usual, there were lots of booths filled with unique arts and crafts.  

In hindsight, I wish I'd purchased this.  I think the lips and teeth are my favorite part.  And the eyes. And the color, although I'm not typically a pink fan.  It's just a fun, happy fish.  

Since Market Days, I've been on the go.  Last weekend I traveled to Dewey Beach, DE, for a reunion with my college friends Iris and Lenja. The highlight was a live band that performed directly on the beach.  As a public service announcement, I'd like to share that dancing in sand is not the same as dancing not in sand, and it's possible to do what feels like permanent damage to knees and other joints when gyrating aggressively to live music.

For example.

Next Friday I travel to Charlottesville for Chesapeake Bay Daughter's 18th birthday.  Then on Saturday Baby Sis and her boyfriend will join me at the Yorktown Wine Festival, which promises to be loads of fun.

In short, life here in Mathews has been pretty darn great, all things considered, and I am enjoying my foray into Empty Nestville.

So far, so good.

Welcome, 2016

As the year comes to a close, rather than dwell on the nightmares highlights of my 2015--which are mostly not-so-great and will be the topic of a future book--I will focus on 2016, which represents a clean slate and a fresh start.

My son is spending New Years in London visiting a friend who lives there. He paid for the airfare with money he earned working at Merroir over the summer.  I couldn't be more proud of him for being curious, brave and resourceful enough to make the trip by himself. To make it even better, he will be meeting two friends of mine from college who live in/near Cambridge. That my son and college friends will be meeting for the first time in another country absolutely thrills me.

Daughter, in the mean time, is filling out her application for a passport in preparation for a trip to Quebec after she graduates in June.  She hopes to hear about acceptance to college in January.  In the mean time, she's in the throes of her last high school basketball season, and thus far the team is undefeated.  I'm relishing this precious time with her as we brace for the transition to I'M GOING TO BE AN EMPTY NESTER SOON WHAT WILL I DO WITH MYSELF? college life in the fall.

As for me, I am looking forward to an impromptu trip to San Diego next week thanks to my college friend Iris, who is going there for business.  Given the horrific 2015 I had, she offered to pay my airfare there!  Although I could give a million reasons why I shouldn't go--not the least of which includes all the time I've missed from work due to car accidents and surgeries of late--I'm realizing that the time is now to do the things I want to do, and I can no longer take for granted that there will be a "later on" to enjoy life.

I hope that 2016 brings you joy and good health.

Happy New Year!

Three Things

Thursday is thrust upon us again, and that means it's time to share three things. This is one of those weeks where I struggle to come up with even one thing to share. It's been a rather blah 2014 month week thus far, snowstorm notwithstanding. On the one hand, there is so much I could tell if I were at liberty to do so had the time to do so. On the other hand, the day-to-day stuff is the same as it ever was.

Let's begin with the sharing of three things.

1.  Same as it ever was will always remind me of this song by the Talking Heads. (If you're unfamiliar with it and click on the link, the words don't crop up until after the second verse.)

2.  The Talking Heads will always remind me of college, because I saw them live at U-Hall at the University of Virginia. My friends-to-this-day Iris and Lenja (rhymes with Kenya, but she's from Finland) lived with me in an apartment complex directly across the railroad tracks from U-Hall.

3. My son has been accepted to UVA. He's still waiting to hear from other colleges he applied to (and what sort of financial aid they might offer) before making a final decision, but it's a relief that he's been accepted to my alma mater. The nightmare of the financial aid forms never seems to end. It's March and I am still working on last minute items for some of the colleges he hasn't even been accepted to yet.

4. (Because three is simply a suggestion.) Speaking of my college roommate Iris, if all goes well I will see her this weekend. There is no doubt in my mind that some Talking Heads songs will be a part of the mini-reunion.

That's it from here. I hope there's something more exciting going on in your world. Even if there's nothing exciting, feel free to share three things thoughts here. And remember, three is merely a suggestion. If you wish to write one thing or twenty-one things, I welcome your words.

Dewey Eyed

Iris (left) and CBW (not at all right right)

This weekend I drove to Canada, lawd it was a long drive to Dewey Beach, Delaware, to visit my college roommate Iris and her family at their vacation home.  Here we are on her rooftop deck enjoying wine the view and fresh air.

Chesapeake Bay Daughter and son, shown here playing paddle ball on the beach, went too.

Iris and I have known each other since 1492 1982.  She and I have so many stories, we could start our own blog.  Click here for one guest post she wrote about a time we drove from Charlottesville to Key West.

Oh, the stories we can't could tell...

This is Delaware but it reminds me of the drive to Key West. Water on both sides of the road.
Plus driving. Lots and lots of driving. 

For the Chesapeake Bay Family, who never only rarely eats out, the trip was full of culinary delights, including some delectable Thai food in Rehoboth. At the opposite end of the culinary scale, Dairy Queen, which was within walking distance of Iris's house, saw sometimes twice daily visits from CB Son and Daughter, who are ice cream fanatics.

(There is no Dairy Queen or Ice Cream King or anything close to dessert royalty in Mathews. On the one hand, that is good. On the other hand, it creates kids who are so sheltered they think they've died and gone to Ice Cream Heaven when they see anything that isn't scooped from a Breyer's carton that was two for one at Food Lion. The same holds true for their mother, who actually let out a very audible scream when she found the Thai restaurant on the way to the boardwalk in Rehoboth. It's abundantly clear we all need to get away from Mathews a little more often.)

Reluctantly, we loaded the car up and headed back yesterday morning.  The drive took us down the Eastern Shore of Virginia, which looks a lot like Mathews except there's fast-moving cars and Don Valerio's restaurants four lane highways. From where the photo above was taken, which is north of Cape Charles, Mathews is only about, what, 15 miles across the bay?  I can't remember, but it isn't far by water.

By car, however, it's four hundred a two hour drive. Without traffic.

Except there was all manner of beach traffic converging on I-64. Virginia Beach traffic.  Outer Banks traffic.  All trying to squeeze through one tiny little foot feat of engineering known as the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel.

(Between this and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, I must've crossed and re-crossed and circumnavigated the bay at least eighteen four times this weekend, at least it felt like it. Oh, and to make matters worse, I only had one contact lens in and was squinting the whole drive home.  Don't ask, it's a typical CBW story of being careless and forgetful. Or just typical CBW.)

Speaking of being forgetful typical CBW, when we finally arrived home I was greeted by a harsh reality reminder of an unfinished project.

Before we left,  I had trimmed the front shrubs but neglected the top parts which required a ladder. At the time,  I was too worn out to drag the ladder from the garage. So I just left things as they were.

"I'll finish it later," I said.

Right.

For now, let's not focus on the botched trim job which causes the bush to appear slanted.
We're talking about the top part.

Between my mohawk shrubs which draw just enough attention to the window that's been missing a shutter for a year now, and the fact that this week will be brutal at work, and the fact that there is still unfinished business with the book, I was ready to turn back around and head back to the beach.

Traffic and all.

The End.