Tangier Island. Yes. Still.

Just when you thought I was done with Tangier Island, I'm not!

With over 400 photographs and no time to synthesize them, I merely tossed up a few token shots last week without realizing what was left over.

There is actually at least another week's worth that are decent enough to share here.

This works out well for me since I've not had a chance to get out and about here in Mathews to take photos.

I love this boat in spite of (or perhaps because of) the fact that it's seen better days.

Is there enough room in this contraption for all the passengers listed?

Mathews or Tangier?  

I spy a bow that matches the first photo in today's post.

Please believe me when I say that at some point I'll return to normal--whatever that is--and will focus on photos and stories relating to Mathews.

However, the past several weeks I've been wanting to escape from stories relating to life here. Things have been slightly chaotic. We've been short-staffed at work meaning longer hours and higher levels of stress; a local teen was killed in an auto accident; a dear, dear friend from high school passed away; and a few more challenges have presented themselves.

All things considered, though, I can't complain, really. It's all about perspective. Life is good, I just haven't had a whole lot of time to devote to this crazy blog little hobby of mine known as a blog.

Until I make the time to sit down and write everything that's swirling in my addled brain, I'll at least share more pictures from the Tangier trip.

What is going on in your world? Any unexpected challenges? Any winning lottery numbers? Anything exciting?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

p.s. Middle Sister's birthday was this weekend.  Click here for my mother's celebratory blog post.

Three Things

Edwards Creek, Gwynn's Island

Welcome to Three Thing Thursday, where I share three things and you share three things related to whatever topic happens to randomly spring to mind.

Let's begin.

1.  Yesterday the thermometer read 40-some degrees as I left the county at 6:15 a.m. for work.  By the time I reached Gloucester Point, about 30 minutes later, the temperature had risen to 57.  No lie. By lunch it was a balmy 67.  Overnight the temperatures plummeted back down into the 30s.  I'm pretty sure Mother Nature needs a small dose of lithium to stabilize her mood swings.  However, if she feels like getting stuck for the rest of her life in that 67-degree mood, I wholeheartedly encourage and support her efforts to do so.

2.  The DIY Network's 2011 Blog Cabin house renovation in Mathews is well underway.  Click here for a link to the latest activity, which includes voting for the bathroom design. The site describes the home as being in Susan, and technically it is.  However if I were in charge of that opening paragraph, I'd say the house is in Mathews County, Virginia.  People who live here an hour away from here (much less your average DIY Network viewer) don't even know where Mathews is, much less Susan, much less I can't believe how many times I've said much less.  Of course this is just a minor suggested change.  Otherwise everything looks fine.  Carry on, DIY Network! We're glad to have you here.

2b.  Dear DIY Network, if you have any connections in other segments of the reality TV world or Animal Planet the Comedy Channel, and those connections are looking for ideas, boy have I got a few good ones and they all involve Mathews County.  Surely by now you understand we're not only loaded with character, we're loaded with characters. 

3.  Today I'll venture down to the Court House and spend half my life half the day going through property records. Then I'll spend the rest of my life  the day at the library before heading to Irvington for Chesapeake Bay Daughter's basketball game.  Between the county records, the library and the offices of the Gazette Journal, I won't see the light of day again until summer, when hopefully the book will be behind me rather than looming like a catastrophic asteroid hurtling through space directly towards the 23076 zip code  like a thundercloud closely overhead.

Now it's your turn to share three things, whatever is on your mind.

Have a great Thursday.

Three Things

Aarons Beach, December 2010

Welcome to Three Thing Thursday, where we share three things which can be related, unrelated, random, orderly, interesting, boring, humorous, sad, germane, irrelevant, silly, serious, loopy, profound, heartwarming, frightening, ridiculous, informative  and Oh, for the love of Pete, please make this sentence STOP and everything in between.

I'll go first.

1.  Driving home from work last night, my odometer tripped 100,000 miles.  This frightens concerns me, because there's no way a new car is in the future any time soon. My hope however naive is that cars are lasting longer nowadays than they used to, and that I can expect another 100,000 out of mine.   Please don't burst my bubble if that isn't the case. It's wonderful living in a place called Denial, where I feel very much at home. Also, let's not discuss the fact that a major piece of exterior plastic blew off going down James Store hill a while back.  Let's definitely not take into consideration that I drive over 100 miles a day at least half the week and approximately 30-50 per day the rest. No, please, let's not talk about that.  Thank you. 

2.  Chesapeake Bay Daughter has a basketball game tonight in Gloucester.  At almost the same time, there's a meeting Chesapeake Bay Son and I must attend at Mathews High School.  Does anyone know where I can find those mad scientists in charge of cloning?  I need to order about three more of me.

3.  My focus this month is returning to the book that's due to the publisher later this year, so blog posts will continue to be trite light for the foreseeable future.  Hopefully these next couple of months will be productive and the bulk of work will be behind me.  Once that happens I'll feel better, but right now there is so much to be done it's frightening overwhelming.

Well, it seems as though the theme of this post is things that frighten me a familiar one: too much to do, too little time.  This, too, shall pass, just like the numbers spinning furiously on the odometer.

Now it's your turn to share three thoughts using the very stringent guidelines outlined in the first paragraph.

On your mark, get set, go!

The Book

This is an early morning shot of the old school near Haven Beach and a prime example of a location that will be going in the book I'm supposed to be working on, Mathews County Then and Now. I'm taking the "Now" shots and must locate the "Then" shots to match.

I can take photos all day long, no problem. The problem lies in trying to locate all the "then" photos to go along with mine.

And that's not all.

There are very stringent technical requirements for the shots. Photocopies are no good. Scanned copies of originals are acceptable provided they are of a certain quality. Digital photos must be saved as TIFF files.

Did I mention I've never heard of a tiff unless you're talking about a spat, and we aren't?

Did I mention that I don't know how to use a scanner, much less ensure proper resolution, cropping, output or print size; color (what is grayscale?); descreening; etc.? I thought descreening was what my cats do to my windows. Who knew it was also a scanning term?

Also? If I want to copy files or photos or what not from the main drive on my computer to a CD? Doesn't work. Even Chesapeake Bay Son says so, so it's not just me. Therefore, I need a new computer, but there are only two problems: money and fear of change money. Never mind that I would have no idea what to get even if I had the money.

So, let' recap the challenges:

1. Locate 80 high-quality, vintage photos of typical Mathews scenes, such as schools, churches, the court house, wharves, estates, homes, etc. (Not easy.)

2. Take 80 high-quality photos to match the 80 older/vintage ones. (Daunting, but doable.)

3. Get (1) and (2) into the proper technical format. (Impossible for me. Does not compute.)

4. Research each location and write a blurb describing the major changes over the years for each pair of photos. (Not impossible, but not easy.)

5. Need a new computer.

6. Tilt! Help!

If anyone reading has access to old photographs or post cards of Mathews, and/or if anyone knows anything about what scanner or computer I need to complete this project, please let me know.

The ideal computer must not cost anything manipulate and save photos in TIFF format; multi-task; do the laundry; cook supper, and cut the lawn while ferrying children to and from school activities and the orthodontist that's an hour away.

The scanner must be able to produce images at a resolution of no less than 300 dots per inch and save as TIFFs. In spite of how it appears to me, the previous sentence was written in English and is not Lithuanian. What, pray tell, is resolution a TIFF?

You can e-mail me at ChesapeakeBayWoman@gmail.com (or my other e-mail if you have it) or leave a comment here. The main priority right now is in acquiring the photos and then scanning them. Oh, also in acquiring the proper technology. Plus learning how to use it. Then doing all the research. While parenting two children.

Help!

p.s. Since I already have a day job, I'll just plan on doing all this during the hours ordinarily set aside for sleeping, i.e. midnight to five a.m.

p.s. Part II This means that at some point in the near future, my blog is going to switch from daily postings to twice or three times a week. Or less. (Hold your applause.)

p.s. Part III Thanks for letting me whine vent.

Three Things

Step right up, folks, and welcome to another episode of As the World Turns Three Thing Thursday, where I share three random thoughts and you hopefully do the same.

Let's get started.

1. My stockpile of photos pre-loaded onto Blogger is dwindling, and even worse I've not had time to take photos, download and then upload them, which usually takes approximately several months days. Hence, we have the photo above of creek mud and periwinkles Canada geese at sunset, complete with too much glare, one leg missing, and one neck contorted into a water fowl pretzel.

In short, this photo represents the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay Woman Barrel.

2. This weekend there's a Relay for Life event at the high school, and our one and only Re aka Ann Marie needs sponsors. Please visit her site for info on how you can participate in the fight against cancer. In return, she promises to make some of her award-winning deviled eggs. Plus hush puppies. And fried fish. And macaroni salad. And succotash.

If she tells me she can fry chicken I'm going to have to put up a For Sale sign and move down to Bavon in spite of the infestation overabundance of insects and fiddler crabs.

3. This morning as I was counting the minutes of my life wasting away behind the steering wheel commuting to work, NPR had a piece on roller derby and how it's still alive and well with over 500 (!) leagues worldwide. I was born with no other purpose than to be a roller derby-er and would like to know where and when I can sign up. Do you they accept 45-year-olds with graying hair and Vitamin D deficiencies? Perhaps I can get the makers of Boniva, the osteoporosis medication, to be my sponsor.

Now it's your turn. Please share three things or more things. Random or related. Good or bad. Funny or sad. Mindless or cerebral.

Whatever you want.