Seabreeze

Saturday a friend and I drove over to Gwynns Island for lunch at the Seabreeze, which fronts Milford Haven.

The Seabreeze is the county's only waterfront restaurant.  

The views alone are reason enough to eat there.

Since Daughter went vegetarian last year, I've not had many opportunities to indulge in a really good cheeseburger. I also can't remember the last time I've had french fries of any description, much less hand-cut ones that actually tasted like potatoes.  But I seized the moment and ordered both.

The food matched the spectacular views and the general mood of a lazy Saturday with no races to run, no track meets to attend, and no chores that couldn't be ignored for a few weeks months days longer.

The Seabreeze was one of the highlights of an entire weekend dedicated to lollygagging slowing down and appreciating the moment.

Seagulls

Sunday morning, on my way to Bethel Beach to go for a short run, I pulled in here to check on the dock,

the boats

and the crab pots.

At the end of the dock, 

two seagulls made it clear they had the situation under control.

The weekend was cool here, downright cold Saturday night.  It's great weather for running though.

And sleeping.

Neither of which can happen on this day called Monday, the return to work.

I'm very much looking forward to the coming weekend, which includes a federal holiday that means three glorious days off from commuting.

Hallelujah.

Three Things

Once again we find ourselves at the day of the week called Thursday (o jueves en espanol), which on this blog is the day dedicated to sharing three thoughts.  The randomer  more random the better, even if you spontaneously erupt into another language (como espanol).  However, if your three thoughts are related, nobody is going to fuss. This is a no fuss, no stress, no drama sort of blog.

Usually.

Since I can, I'll go first.

1.  Yesterday Mathews High School's boys and girls cross country teams beat Gloucester.  Mathews is a much smaller school than Gloucester, so this is quite an accomplishment.  Daughter ran her personal best, I believe she came in at 27:29 (give or take on the seconds).

2.  Speaking of running, I went for a six-mile jog near Bethel Beach yesterday.  There were no mad dashes from fiddler crabs coyotes, however I did almost run into a goat that had sprung free from his pen.

3.  Baby Sis and I are signed up for the Outer Banks Half Marathon in November.  If it is a fraction of the fun of last year's race, we'll have a blast. Yes, as strange as it sounds, it is possible to have fun jogging 13.1 miles--but only with the right people. Never underestimate the fun that accompanies an out-of-town adventure with Baby Sis.

4.  My three things seem to be related to running and aren't random enough for me.  Therefore I must toss in another thought for good measure. Remember that three is just a suggestion, one I rarely adhere to.

5.  The Guinea Jubilee is this weekend.  For reasons I can't explain, I've never been. It's not that I don't want to go; something always seems to prevent me from going.  Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective) Daughter's birthday celebration is this weekend, and I feel confident that attending the Guinea Jubilee isn't going to be high on her list of ways to acknowledge turning 15. I'd like it noted for the record that in spite of thousands numerous inquiries as to how she does wish to celebrate, I do not have a solid answer yet.  Maybe if I threaten to take matters into my own hands and announce we're going to Guinea Jubilee, she'll come up with something.

That's it from me.

Now it's your turn to share three or more things. Whatever is on your mind.  Any language thing at all.

Perched II

I'm officially in Hunker Down and Focus on the Task at Hand Mode, which is the stage just after Procrastination Mode and the one immediately preceding Panic Mode, at least as it relates to getting ready for Blog Fest 2013. This exact same system, however, got me through life thus far four years of college, plus I don't know how many projects at work--plus two previous Blog Fests. It may not work for everyone, but waiting until the last minute to accomplish anything seems to work for me.

Daughter has a cross country meet this afternoon in Lancaster, which will subtract a minimum of three to four hours from the total number available to work on Blog Fest-related preparations.

Oh well. There's only always tomorrow. 

Hope all is well in your world.


p.s. If you're unfamiliar with Blog Fest, click here for the 2009 Blog Fest Eve post or here for Blog Fest 2010.

Perched

I don't have much to say today.  

I am sort of perched myself, waiting for the frenzy of the next few 

days that will entail preparing for this weekend's guests.

I'm sort of hoping if I wait long enough the magical elves 

will do everything for me--including cleaning the upstairs guest rooms.

But right now I am sort of perched like these seagulls.

Waiting.

More importantly, my heart is heavy for a 

dear blog friend who lost her husband.

My thoughts right now are with her and her family.

(Click here.)
(Also here.)

Three Things

Welcome to Three Thing Thursday, where I share three things, and hopefully you do too. If three is too many things, one is fine. Two is too. Whatever you feel like, whatever you want to do. Before this Dr. Seuss opening paragraph gets any longer--and believe me I could continue on forever-- I'll start.


1. Son and Daughter hopped on a Greyhound bus from Richmond to NYC yesterday, traveling alone to see their grandparents, and everyone is fine including me who has suddenly rediscovered religion in that I've said more prayers in the past 24 hours than my entire life, I think.

2. Saturday, if all goes as it should, I will be transported by boat from Reedville to Smith Island, Maryland (click here for background on this unique destination). I've never been and am very much looking forward to the diversion from worry adventure.

3. All during vacation we ate nothing but fish, no meat. As a rule, I don't go out of my way to eat a ton of meat, but every now and then I get a craving--such as when I've gone a week eating nothing but seafood (and homemade guacamole). This particular craving caused me to Google a chili recipe, which I made with half ground beef and half ground turkey. However, the end result is I now have a huge vat of chili and only me to eat it. Son and Daughter won't be home for a week. I'm not sure what I was thinking, there's no way I'll consume a fraction of what I made. Most normal people would freeze it, but there's nothing normal about me or my life my freezer isn't working properly.

3b. By the way, who the heck craves, cooks and eats chili in the hottest month of the year?

3c.  If what to do with too much chili in the heat and humidity of July with a broken down freezer is my biggest concern, I'd say life is pretty darn crazy good. Great even.


Now it's your turn to share three things. Or two things. Or one and a half.

Whatever you want.

(Want some chili?)

Wordless Wednesday: The Bird Edition

There are gulls perched in this very dark, slightly slanted picture.
I promise. Oops!  There are words in this so-called wordless post.

Happy Wednesday.

More From Bethel Beach

Notice how the design formed by the feathers of this bird in flight
looks like some ominous creature with great big eyes.
(Or is it just me?)

Whenever I use my camera's zoom function to the extreme, things get all wobbly,
blurry and ridiculous. Just know that I was a million miles away when I took this very
mediocre shot of very beautiful swans.
And I still adore my camera.

Here are some more shots from last week's very brief
trip to Bethel Beach.

Someone's peeking out the nest.

The parent kept an eye on me the whole time.

These two were very content to just stand around and listen to the waves.

Those same two seagulls are in the upper left corner of this shot, but
you have to click on the image and pull out a telescope
magnifying glass to see them. I wasn't trying to capture them but was
more intrigued by the patterns above.
It doesn't take a whole lot to amuse me. That's why I thrive in Mathews.

These were on the path at the entrance to the beach.

Even a stray crab claw can be beautiful.
I love the blue and hint of  red.
(Though I'm sorry he's dead.)

Bethel Beach is a wonderful place to visit, 

especially on a sunny May day.

Thanks for tagging along.

Sea Gulls

Pardon these not so great shots of some seagulls down at Bethel Beach.  For starters, I'm not very good at action shots. Also, these birds were actually very far away, and the zoom on my camera doesn't usually produce very good photos even when the camera is working properly.

However, the camera isn't really working properly, and as a result I never know if a shot will be too dark (as a couple of these are) or full of glare (as several of these are).

It's basically anyone's guess how shots like these will turn out.  A more motivated, disciplined person would have sent the camera off for repair a long time ago.

I confess that not only am I completely unmotivated and utterly undisciplined, I am mortified of putting my camera in the mail because it's so important to me.

In the meantime I just pretend nothing's wrong and hope it will magically fix itself--just like everything else on my In Need of Repair list, which stretches from here to the Eastern Shore and back.

I'll worry about all that another day.

As for today, hope your day is a good one.