Unexpected

A weekend that was supposed to include house and yard work instead was spent having fun, none of which was planned.

Saturday I went to Gloucester's Daffodil Festival with Me, Myself and My Camera.  The three of us like to hang out, and we enjoyed the diversion on a brisk sunny day.

(We also happened to be avoiding house and yard work.)

I'll post some pictures of the food trucks as far as the eye could see flower-filled festivities later this week.

Saturday night I met my friend BHE and her date at Sandpiper Reef, where we enjoyed a fabulous dinner.

(I had the blackened tuna which was fantastic. And yes, I was the third wheel on that date.  Still, we had fun. Also, I was at Sandpiper Friday evening at the urging of another friend in town for a funeral. She called on my ride home from work and forced me out of the cocoon I've created for myself here lately.)

Sunday BHE and I met at Merroir.  Again.  What can I say, it's become a biweekly event.


On the drive home from Merroir I pulled over in a church parking lot to take a closer look at an old house I spotted in the adjacent woods.

I was completely engrossed in thought, entirely focused on this house, when out of nowhere came a man.  I waved politely and started making my way back to the car.  Figuring I should explain my presence, I held up the camera, said hello, and told him how much I loved old structures.

This started a conversation that lasted at least thirty minutes and went everywhere from his wife's death to his unfulfilled desire for a daughter to my great uncle Gene, who evidently was a mentor to this man in earlier days.

Sometimes I wonder just how these things happen.  Here I am, randomly pulling off on the side of the road to take pictures of a ramshackle house when out of nowhere comes a man who not only was interesting but who knew someone in my extended family.  I gave up trying to figure out the "why" of these occurrences and instead am just grateful they occur at all.

His name is Howard.

Sprinkled throughout the conversation were several references to beauty, the simple beauty found in everyday things. I pointed out to him that the very reason he and I were talking was because I was drawn to the beauty of an old house which others might consider dilapidated. 

After a most unexpected (yet deep) conversation with the man who came out of nowhere, I returned to my car and drove back to Mathews.

Although I accomplished absolutely nothing on my To Do list, I had a wonderful weekend.

Gone

This was taken over the winter.

Once upon a time, in a field along Route 14 in Gloucester,

next to a silo bearing a sign advertising a pumpkin farm,

there lived a beautiful, stately tree.

Here's the silo.

Mathews residents traveling to Gloucester usually pass this tree and silo.

(Some Mathews residents make far more trips to and through Gloucester than they care to, for work or other necessities. Some days CBW feels she holds the world's record for number of trips to Gloucester in a single day. But this is not about that. It's about a stately tree in the middle of a field.)

Somehow the tree made the journey a little more tolerable. Like an old friend. Always there to greet you.

One day recently Chesapeake Bay Woman, returning home from an arduous day at work, glanced towards the silo and the tree as she normally does and was mortified to see the tree knocked over on its side.

No longer standing. No longer stately.

She screamed. Really.

She was very, very shocked and distraught.

Here's the tree lying on its side. There was a bulldozer nearby, so
I assume they intentionally knocked it over. But of course I don't know that for sure.

Soon afterwards, they chopped it up and hauled it away.

Just like that the tree was gone forever.

The field looks so empty there now. It's not the same.

In addition to this tree, another Chesapeake Bay Woman Favorite--the barn below on the right of Route 198 just beyond the Farm Bureau Insurance place at Soles/Dutton--was recently torn down.

This also pains me. Immensely.

Gone forever.

Click here for a previous post outlining my not so irrational fears about this beautiful structure.

The bizarre person with unusually strong emotional connections to trees and inanimate objects such as barns and old houses will simply say The End.

Nothing lasts forever. We shouldn't take anything for granted, not even trees or barns. The End.


p.s. The owner of Sandpiper Reef in Hallieford recently matted and framed some of my photos, one of which is of the barn above. Say hello (to her and the picture of the barn) the next time you're there for happy hour, dinner or live entertainment.

Graduation

Sunday afternoon I headed to Sandpiper Reef in Hallieford to participate in a very special celebration.

This beautiful young lady, Maggie, graduated from Mathews High School Saturday.

I've known Maggie since she was knee high to a giraffe.
(She's tall as well as gorgeous.)

The celebration included crabs.

And also some crabs.

After that, there were more crabs.

Followed by crabs.

Beautiful, succulent crabs.

Remember Blue Collar Joe's, home of the World's Most Heavenly Doughnut?

 (Click here for that post.)

Well, Blue Collar Joe's doughnuts made an appearance at this Crab Feast Fest.

Mr. Blue Collar Joe is Maggie's uncle.

(Pardon me.  Can't type right now.  Wiping drool off the keyboard. I do not eat doughnuts.  But I live for these doughnuts.  Amen.)

Then, of course, in case it hasn't been mentioned before except that it has, there were still. more. gorgeous. crabs.

A good time was had by all.

The End.


Congratulations to Anonymous Hallieford Resident's Daughter Maggie and the MHS class of 2011.


Maggie, you have so many gifts and so much to offer.


The world is your perfectly seasoned steamed crab oyster.

Still

I'm happy to report that the book hasn't killed me yet I'm still alive.

I'm not so happy to report that, in spite of taking an entire week off from the paying job, I'm never gonna be done with the book still not done with the book.

Last but not least, I am less than thrilled to report that I still haven't had time to do anything other than gain five pounds from incessant, nervous eating due to the pressure of giving birth to this book take any new pictures.  These came from a drive I took last night to Sandpiper Reef in Hallieford to retrieve a mysterious package that had been left for me last weekend.

The contents of that mysterious package and the story behind who might have left it have all the makings of a most excellent blog post, but only if I can confirm my suspicion about who left the package.

So, at the risk of further alienating confusing you even more, I have to toss this question out to the one person (who may or may not be) reading who left that package at Sandpiper last weekend: Did I work with you in Charlottesville in the 1980s?  If so, what on Earth are/were you doing in Mathews? E-mail me at ChesapeakeBayWoman @ gmail.com and let me know. Either way, thanks for the contents of that package, which have brought back a whole flood of memories.

 To everyone else, since I'm still under a tight deadline but now have to resume my normal commute, job, etc., the postings will continue to be sporadic until the majority of the book work is behind me.  In other words, until the year 2055 for the foreseeable future.

What have you been up to?

A Tentative Plan

For those who have not yet visited the Blog Fest website, below is the latest and greatest information coming out of thin air Blog Fest Headquarters, Mathews County:

Tentative, Completely Flexible Schedule of Events
(Emphasis on "tentative" and "flexible.")

Thursday
3:00 – 6:00 Arrivals; Wine and Cheese at CBW’s house

6:00 – 9:00 Opening Remarks (CBW/BHE/Gustav the Goose, etc.) and Dinner/Shrimp Boil. Locals including Mathews Mark will be in attendance despite claims of having a date with a fishing pole. I've also invited Hallieford Jim and his wife and a few others who hopefully will be able to make it.

Basically, if you are local and you're reading this, you're invited to attend and bring the family. The more the merrier. This holds true for any/all other Blog Fest activities. Please join us.

Friday

9:00 – 10:00 Coffee and Continental Breakfast at CBW’s house

10:00 – 2:00 Tour A – Mathews Tour (Mathews Mark? Are you listening?) with Lunch at Court House or
Tour B – King and Queen Tour with Lunch at Shackelfords

(We will discuss these options Thursday night.)

2:00 – 5:00 Free Time (Shopping; Napping Gwynns Island Museum if time, etc.)

5:00 – 6:00 Happy Hour at CBW’s House (Margaritas)

6:00 – 8:00 Dinner at Sandpiper Reef
(Dear Anonymous Hallieford Resident: I need to make a reservation. Hopefully you can accommodate us. Because one attendee has respiratory struggles, we'd like to sit indoors if possible, I won't know the number until Thursday night, but plan on about 20?)

8:00 - ? Karakoke and Margaritas at CBWs House

Saturday

9:00 – 10:00 Coffee and Continental Breakfast at CBWs house

10:00 – 12:00 Boat Tour

12:00 – 1:00 Sea Breeze for lunch

1:00 Gwynns Island Museum for those who wish

2:00 - ? Gwynns Island Beach including fun in the sun (and shade);
Cornhole Tournament; Boat Rides ;
Cookout; Bonfire; Fun and Frivolity

Sunday

9:00 Breakfast at CBWs house

The End.

Ongoing activities:

Fun
Frivolity
Hijinx
Tours of Noe Noe Girl's Camper
Tales from Mathews Mark
Tours of Chesapeake Bay Mother's Garden
Boat excursions Up the Creek
Gustav Appearances and Autograph Signings
Fiddler Crab Infestations
Mosquito Swatting
Fun
Frivolity
Hijinx

This schedule is subject to change depending on the weather, the whims of the attendees and Gustav the Killer Goose, who may have plans of his own for this group.

Town Crier

This is the bell at Mathews Baptist Church (aka Old Baptist) at Hudgins. This particular day I had pulled into the parking lot more interested in the neighboring house's wisteria than the church, but the sunlight hit the bell so beautifully I couldn't resist snapping a shot.

Mathews Baptist Church and wisteria are topics for another time, there's plenty to say about both.

Today, however, I would like to make a few general announcements.

Consider this a Town Crier post, where the crier is exceedingly tired which of course guarantees her writing will have you crying before too long.

My apologies in advance, it's been a long life day.

Hear ye! Hear ye! Oyez! Oyez!

1. On Saturday, April 24, there will be a grand opening of an expanded exhibit at the Clayton Building on the Historic Court Circle in Gloucester.

The building honors botanist John Clayton and is home to a collection of artifacts from his residence, Windsor, and his office. The exhibit will be open from 10-4 and 6-7. Lectures at 2 and 7 p.m. (I'll be attending the 2:00 lecture if anyone wants to join me. )

Archaeologists Robert and Lisa Harper will be available throughout the day to answer questions. Robert recently told me they're always happy to provide tours of the site. If you are interested in a tour or wish to volunteer at the dig, please stop by on Saturday or e-mail me and I can put you in touch with him.

2. Sandpiper Reef will be hosting Toby and Larry, a very popular duo, this weekend.

The last time they played was when Miss Pookie, Mathews Mark's mother, was celebrating her birthday. I can personally attest to the fact that they're good, plus the atmosphere is conducive to old folk those of us who want to hear ourselves think wish to be able to converse while enjoying the music.

Mrs. Anonymous Hallieford Resident may not be thrilled with my mentioning this because they usually sell out, but give them a call anyway and see if there are any tables/seats left. If not, be sure to pre-reserve for next time.

If Chesapeake Bay Woman is carding at the door, be sure to slide her a telescope magnifying glass so she can properly read the fine print on those driver's licenses.

3. The Mathews Farmers Market continues every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

If you have even the slightest desire to sell something, I can't encourage you enough to go and try it on for size. The fee is only $5, and the Chesapeake Bay Children made $75 in only four hours of selling daffodils.

You just can't beat that. Not with a stick.

If you "bake it, make it or grow it," you can sell it there. All you have to do is show up by about 8:30 that morning, locate the organic farmers who have the gorgeous plants (both of them wear hats so it's pretty easy to spot them), and tell them you want a spot. Pay your five bucks, and have at it. It's great fun.

4. In other news, Chesapeake Bay Woman ran into a rusty clothes line this weekend while chasing after her aggravating, ornery mutt of a stinkin' dog with all the sense of a small kitchen appliance her children's beloved pet in the comfort and serenity of her very own back yard.

Although she didn't quite hang herself, she did walk away stunned and now boasts a scab on her lower left chin which, she supposes, is better than some of the other alternatives such as CBW is a magnet for disasters a scab around the larynx.

A couple of years ago, she made fun of Chesapeake Bay Son for doing the same thing and said, "How in the world could you run into a clothes line without seeing it?"

Easy, that's how.

Daggone karma dog.

What's going on in your town, village, neck of the woods, state, hemisphere, back yard or neighborhood in the near future?

Gwynn's Island, Pre-Civil War

This view is from Gwynn's Island looking towards the Piankatank River, with Hallieford (home of Sandpiper Reef Restaurant where Chesapeake Bay Woman is the emergency, back-up, last resort bouncer) to the left and Deltaville (home of Taylor's Restaurant and its legendary seafood buffet that alas is now just a distant memory, one filled with hushpuppies, steamed shrimp and fried fish) to the right.

The Gwynns Island Museum has put together a number of incredibly informative books about the island, one of which is "Chimes from the Chesapeake: Life on Gwynn's Island Before the Civil War" by May Evergreen (pen name for Elizabeth Ellen Hill). Her family, originally from New Hampshire, bought 350 acres on the southeastern end of the island in the mid 1800s, on what was then known as Buckschase.

A quote from her articles written in the 1850s pretty well summarizes the island even today. The following is from page 1 of the book:

"...Having too much faith in humanity to fear a rude repulse from the friends of past days, I have bethought me that some few chimes from the Chesapeake might not be entirely without interest to those who are somewhat unfamiliar with this powerful daughter of old ocean.

Chesapeake, signifying "mother of the waters" according to Indian lore, is a name well befitting the broad and magnificent bay, all bright and beautiful in its tranquility, but wild and fearfully awful when the "winds are all abroad" and are working wrath and mischief upon the waters.

Turbulent and tempestuous as she may be at times, this "mother of waters" casts her arms most protectingly around our fair islet resting as a bright jewel upon her bosom.

Gwynn's Island! How many are there who never heard the name; and among those too who are reckoned the wise ones of the earth, there are very many who have ever been utterly ignorant of this locality.

To those who are fond of the minutia in detail I would say, this gem of an island stands 37 1/2 degrees north of the equator, is in Mathews County, Virginia, is separated from the main by Milford Haven, a lovely and lively limb of the Chesapeake, not more than half a mile at its narrowest portion, and is one of the prettiest sheets of water that ever sparkled in the sunbeams, or danced the tempest to the music of the wild winds."


And to that Chesapeake Bay Woman says, some 150+ years later, "Why can't Taylors bring back the seafood buffet?" "Amen."

From the Frying Pan to the Fire

This delightful old shed lives down Shadow, which is on the way to New Point and Bavon, except not really on the way, you have to veer off the main road just a bit, but then eventually you reconnect to the main road so maybe this is sort of on the way to New Point and Bavon, and who's tired of this never-ending sentence besides me?

Speaking of being tired, as I write this Sunday evening tired doesn't even come close to describing the way I feel. Perhaps it had to do with the 5:30 a.m. alarm on Saturday to prepare for the Farmers Market, which included bending over in a daffodil field in cold, wet conditions that rendered every one of my fingers numb and useless, which was the exact same condition of my coffee-less brain.

After surviving the Farmers Market, delivering children to and from places, delivering parents to and from places, serving as middle man in a parental dispute that included, "Why the BLEEEEEP! can't he cut that BLEEP! BLEEP! wood some other time? Everything has to revolve around his schedule and that BLEEEEP!ing wood," I arrived home in time for a very quick break before heading over to Sandpiper Reef restaurant to work as a bouncer until 2:00 the following morning.

Why in the world would Chesapeake Bay Woman pretend to be serving as the gatekeeper to a restaurant/bar when her only real restaurant/hospitality experience involved waitressing at a pizza parlor in college, where she served a woman a salad with mushrooms after the woman explicitly said she was allergic to them? Read on.

Remember my post on Blue Collar Joes, home of the most delectable doughnuts ever created? Blue Collar Joes is owned by the brother of Sandpiper Reef's owner (aka Anonymous Hallieford Resident in the comments).

Imagine the horror of discovering that Brother Blue Collar's house burned to the ground last week. He was inside working on a hot water heater (I believe) and somehow or another it exploded and set the place on fire. Luckily someone found him in time and pulled him to safety. He's in the hospital but doing OK-- as much as someone can be OK after they've lost their home and everything they own. Everything.

Sandpiper Reef was hosting a very popular local band Saturday night, but Anonymous Hallieford Resident needed to be with her brother in a hospital on the other side of the state. She needed help.

Happy to assist, I found myself standing at the door with Bay Man carding toddlers young people eager to hear the band while Mathews Mark was busy tending to the goings on inside.

More on these escapades later, but for now a few key things:

1. Please leave some words of encouragement to the Maker of the World's Best Doughnuts in today's comments or on the Blue Collar Joes Facebook page.

2. Please also encourage the Maker of the World's Best Doughnuts to buy a home in Mathews County and open up a doughnut shop here. The old Fleets restaurant is currently vacant...

3. Dear Blue Collar Joe, You have a group of people here in Mathews who are very eager to help you in any way possible. Tell us what you need and consider it done. Same to you, Anonymous Hallieford Resident, except if I'm going to be at the door again, please provide me with some extra strong reading glasses to decipher the microscopic text on the Virginia state driver's licenses.

4. These doughnuts belong in Mathews County.