Seaweed

Times are tough when Chesapeake Bay Woman tosses up some photos taken earlier in the year of a typical Mathews shoreline sprinkled with seaweed--and then dares to call it a blog post.

 But Chesapeake Bay Woman hasn't had time to take any new pictures.  On top of that, a monsoon has hit Mathews.  There's been nothing but heavy rains, high winds and dreary skies the past week few days.

By the way, when Chesapeake Bay Woman wishes to distance herself from her worse-than-usual work, she tends to lapse into the third person.  This way, it's as if someone else is doing shoddy work.  She can pretend she has nothing to do with it, whatsoever.  On the other hand, when was the last time you saw a close-up shot of seaweed?  Doesn't it look like green linguine? Where else can you go for such riveting reading, such tantalizing topics? When was the last time you thought about seaweed?  Have you ever really thought about it for any length of time?  I have.  Or rather, Chesapeake Bay Woman has.  CBW is also tired.  Let' return to our blog post, already devolving before our very eyes.  

CBW hopes to get out on Sunday and take some new pictures.  She would do so on Saturday, but she'll be 75 miles away in Richmond at her daughter's cross country meet.  All day.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Captain Ellery

Here are a few more shots taken during Saturday's pontoon boat ride over on the Northern Neck.

(That's a lot of oyster shells.)

The name on the big boat is Capt. Ellery, although when I first saw it, I thought it said Captain Celery--thanks in no small part to aging eyes, bright sunlight, exhaustion, general confusion, and a newly acquired ability to transpose letters.

Frankly, I like Captain Celery better.

There should be a Captain Celery.  I could write all kinds of stories about a Captain Celery.

It might not be as dignified a name as Captain Ellery, but still.

I see potential.

Also, I think I'm way overdue for a vacation, which isn't happening for a few weeks.

In the meantime, I'll continue writing nonsensical posts about nonexistent superheros named after vegetables, in between long days at work and worrying about a potential tropical storm or even hurricane this weekend.

It's still too early to tell, but at a minimum it looks like we'll be seeing some rain towards the end of the week.

Captain Celery, take me away!

For more information on the real Ellery and his seafood business, click here.

Nonstop

This heron was presiding over some East River crab pots near Williams Wharf on Thursday morning.

He was not far from where I parked my car to run four slow miles.  During that run, I chastised myself repeatedly for accomplishing only one or two of a mile-long list of things that were to have been done on my days off this week.

My son graduates high school in two weeks. There are lots of emotions swirling about that major milestone alone. Next week Busy Season begins at work, and I'll be putting in more hours. The doctor says my blood pressure is high, and I am also Vitamin B-12 deficient (among other things, one of which requires a nerve test at the end of June. Joy!).

Daughter is still in the throes of sports and has a soccer game tonight in West Point, which I'll attend after work.  Wearily. Cow bell dragging behind me, kicking up dust.

And, I just got the first email regarding the upcoming fall cross country season, which Daughter eagerly anticipates. There is a meeting Monday night in the high school cafeteria for runners and very exhausted parents.

After spending most of the week "off" from work--doing yard work and other not-so-small feats of hard, physical labor--I'm still wondering if things will ever slow down or get caught up.

More importantly I wonder why I thought they ever would.

Yet I did.

For now, I am just trying to keep everything in perspective and be grateful for all the good.  Because there is a lot of good.  I'm just tired.

This weekend won't necessarily be restful, but it most definitely should be enjoyable.  My friend Glenda turns 50, and her celebration takes place Saturday on New Point island.  Hopefully there will be pictures and, no doubt, a story or two.

Have a great weekend.

Three Things

If it's Thursday--and it seems to be, once again--then it's time to share three things, three thoughts, three of whatever happens to be dancing around the cobwebs neurotransmitters in the ballroom that is your brain.

I'll go first.

1.  I think the opening sentence of this blog post is proof enough that I'm exhausted, but not nearly as exhausted as the Mathews High School girls' basketball team, which traveled to Petersburg last night for a tough loss which seals the end of the season for us.  Although that particular game was pretty much a whipping, they certainly ended farther along than anyone originally thought based on how the season kicked off.  (Not so great.)  I'm extremely proud of them all--and their coaches.

2.  The boys' team, on the other hand, beat Franklin the other night to advance in regional play. Friday night they play (I think it's Surry?) Surry at Lancaster.  Daughter and her friends and I and my friends are all going. (That last sentence is so bad that I'm leaving it just as it is, as proof of how tired I am.)

3.  Mathews didn't win the top spot in the coolest small town contest run by Budget Travel (Berlin, Maryland, did), but we made the top five.  Click here and here for more.  Also, if anyone from Berlin, Maryland, would like to trade houses for a long weekend, please let me know.  Mathews is indeed cool, but I sure could use a vacation away from home and wouldn't mind checking out uncharted territory, which Berlin represents.

4.  (Because three is just a suggestion.)  The house pictured here lives along East River Road somewhere in between Cardinal and Bohannon.

5.  (See above.)  Today I'm doing a Meals on Wheels route down Haven Beach, filling in for the regular driver.  I'm particularly excited because I've never done the Haven route before, so this means new people to meet (and help) and potentially new places to photograph legally!.  Stay tuned.

That's it from me.  Now it's your turn to share three or five things.  Whatever you want.  Anything at all.

Old and New

Here are some more shots taken from my friend's property over in nearby Gloucester, the Glenns area to be exact.

 I can't remember jack the older I get I may be inattentive to details and often can't remember my own name specific names of birds or insects or road names or whatnot, but I'd call the car above a Datsun.

Remember Datsuns?  Now they're Nissans.

A high school friend had one.  A very sporty, brand new 280Z, if memory serves me.

Although I hate to admit it, I remember being a little jealous.

This may explain why  I took such satisfaction in beating him every now and then in ping pong, which was what we did in gym.  Every day.  We played ping pong.  Day after day after ping pong playing day.

I don't remember why we played so much ping pong in gym class, exactly. It had something to do with the school not wanting you to fully participate in gym class if you played sports and had a game or a track meet or something.  I'm sure it was intended to avoid injuries during sports season.  Or something.

Anyway, to this day I love ping pong. And I no longer care about Datsuns. Or Nissans. Not in the least. Give me a VW bug any day.

However, this post was not started with the intention of spending any amount of time on the topic of ping pong or jealousy.  Or even Datsuns.

I just wanted to share some shots of old things

sitting amid the new growth of spring.

Three Things

Welcome to another edition of Three Thing Thursday, where we share three things related to whatever topics happen to spring to mind. Whatever happens to spring to mind is my normal writing style, true, but at least on Thursdays I make an effort, however futile feeble, to limit the sheer number of random thoughts.

Let's begin.

1. Yesterday I drove through seven different counties (Mathews, Gloucester, King and Queen, York, James City, Middlesex and Lancaster at least once and in a few cases three times) all in one day to accommodate my paying job plus my children's activities.

My blog friend Meg recently dedicated a post to her very lengthy list of activities and responsibilities, and it definitely struck a chord. Yesterday was one of those days, although to keep everything in perspective it was all good--very good--just very frenetic. Frantically frenetic, to be redundant for effect.

2. This weekend is the Guinea Jubilee.

Folks, if you don't know about Guinea, in neighboring Gloucester County, click here for some background. The Jubilee is not to be missed. Except that I have missed it, every single year of its existence. And for this I am truly sorry, honestly.

I'd give my eye tooth to attend the Guinea Jubilee, but I'm sure as heck not going by myself, and nobody has ever invited me to go, plus I think we have a soccer game or some such, but in the future if anyone wants to go just let me know and I'm there.

(Insert sounds of multiple sirens going off-- it's the Grammar Police! They are writing me a ticket for the World's Worst/Longest Run-On Sentence. This is all due to the day I had which was conducive to utter exhaustion rather than logical, coherent thoughts and cogent, succinct statements.)

3. According to the Schedule of Events at the Guinea Jubilee, we can expect the following to happen tomorrow night:

Friday 3-10 pm
	3:00 pm	Arts & Crafts and food booths open	Festival Grounds
		Children's Rides
	7:00 pm	Entertainment: Crazy X Band	Main Stage
	10:00 pm	Bubba Takes Darlin Home

In other words, after the crazy band plays and darkness falls, you'd better get yourself on home, darlin'. Pronto.

No offense intended to Guineamen, Bubbas or Darlin's. Honestly.

Now it's your turn. Please share three or more things on any topic you want, regardless of its connection to a bubba, a darlin' or to Guinea.