Redart

This vast expanse of field and sky was captured on a recent side trip to Redart, which I always remind folks is Trader backwards.

There is something so inviting about this field--but the line linked to the fence posts perched on either side of the driveway says everything a potential trespasser visitor needs to know:  Today's not a good day for an invitation to proceed any further.  Try again some other time. Or not.

In other words, keep out.

The busy week thus far will spill into what promises to be an even busier weekend.  It's the Mathews High School prom, and not only is Daughter going, but I'll be heading up some sort of game at the After Prom, which starts at 10:45 p.m.--normally the time I'm curled up in bed beginning the very careful and methodical study of the back side of my eyelids.  I've been told the After Prom ends well after 2 in the morning.  I've asked the coordinator if I might be able to use the teacher's lounge for napping purposes, but so far have not received the answer I'm looking for.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Juggling

This was Queens Creek on Thanksgiving evening, as seen from my parents' deck next door. Gwynn's Island and the Islander are in the middle, farthest away.

Although I took advantage of the Thanksgiving break to sleep all day, every day rest up, a mere two days back to commuting and work have negated it all.  Not only is there plenty more work and commuting to do this week, but Daughter has basketball games--one at home on Thursday after work and another at Lancaster Friday night.

I'm awaiting delivery of a new refrigerator this week.  I'm still researching new cars.  (For the record, CBW lacks time and patience and despises shopping for just about everything except vacations.  The prospect of purchasing a car by herself is especially daunting. Can't the Car Fairy just make a practical, fuel-efficient car magically appear in the driveway, already financed and ready to go? No haggling and no loan applications? Is that really asking too much?)   Personal property taxes are due.  Spring tuition will soon be due for Son.  Daughter takes SATs on Saturday.  Son has surgery December 16th.  Last but not least, I've done absolutely zero Christmas shopping, unless you count the soon-to-be-delivered icebox a Christmas present to myself--and I don't.

I think it's time to start playing the lottery.

Let me know if you can recommend some lucky numbers.

Reflections

Here are some more photos I took on a recent kayak ride down the cove near my house.

The calm waters and the setting sun joined forces to create some beautiful reflections on the creek.

This week has felt more like a month; the days have been exceedingly long.  Today is no different.  Although it's my day off, I will get up at 5:30 a.m., drive Daughter to Gloucester for her cross country scrimmage, procure books for her AP classes next year, cut grass, clean the house, and last but not least be herded into the high school for Bring Your Checkbook and Ink Pen So We Can Empty Your Accounts Day, also known as Open House, also known as There's a Fee For Everything Including Breathing Day.

I'm really looking forward to the upcoming long weekend, even though when it's over we're flung headfirst into September and the start of the school year.

And summer starts to leave us. I feel like I was only just getting used to her being around.  I'm not ready for her to leave.

For now, I'll just go back to staring at these reflections, which help erase all some of the stress.

New Point

Here are a few more scenes from Saturday's boat trip to New Point.

In spite of the fact that the end of the school year is just about on top of us, and Son graduates in a week, it doesn't feel as though anything has slowed down at all. Not one bit.

Work is busy, the teenagers are busy, there's lots of stuff going on.

I'm glad the weekend is finally here.

May yours be peaceful and enjoyable.

Field

This field full of fallen corn stalks sprinkled with spring blooms lives down Redart, which for anyone who hasn't heard is trader backwards. It's pronounced as if it were two words:  red art. (Except a little more quickly, without hesitation.)

I have two words for this weekend:  serenity now.

Friday after work I will race to Daughter's home soccer game.

Saturday night is the prom.  Son is taking the exchange student from Belgium who has been living with my friends across the creek. The evening will commence with a photo shoot at their house, followed by dinner at Sandpiper Reef.  The actual prom will take place at the Piankatank Ruritan Club, conveniently located a mere cartwheel from my house. After the After Prom, Son informs me he will be bringing some friends over for post-After-Prom WhenDoesItEverEnd festivities.

I just want the evening to come and go with everyone staying safe, happy and healthy. Half of me says of course everything will be fine--while the other four-fifths simultaneously reminds me that anything and everything can go wrong.

(Math was never my forte.)

Anyway, I hope to report back on Monday that everything is fine and dandy.

I hope your weekend is fine, dandy and worry-free.

Have a great one.

Grace Providence

Grace Providence Church overlooks the Mobjack Bay, where the North and East rivers converge.

Click here for a 2010 post about this quaint church and the lovely lot on which it lives.

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The winter weather they were calling for arrived yesterday.  We saw rain, sleet and snow.  School was cancelled, and I was dismissed from work at 11:00.  It only took me two hours to drive home.  Son managed to work his car into a ditch in front of the Gwynn's Island bridge.  The story behind that is better left untold for now, mostly because I'm trying to forget it ever happened I need to go to sleep soon.  He's fine, nobody was hurt.

The End.

Other than that it was just another day in paradise around here.

Serenity now.

Groove

These were taken back in October 2012 from Aaron's Beach.

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

Weaving the new basketball season into our already hectic lives (which includes this weekend's Holly Ball and never mind Christmas) has been daunting.  All it takes is one away game on a Monday night to completely do me in for the week, what with all the driving I already do to get to work and the long days that start at 5:30 a.m. and don't end until after midnight.  Running a half marathon is far easier than being a working parent with a daughter involved in sports.

Speaking of basketball, the girls lost last night against Essex, 31-29, however they should not have.  There was no reason for them to lose other than the team just hasn't found its groove yet. (The JV team won, just barely, in a very brutal match.)

I haven't found my groove as a spectator yet either.  By the time the varsity team plays, especially on a day I have to work, I am just too exhausted to even cheer properly (where "properly" equals whole hog, full force, wide open, all the way).  It's pitiful, really.

This blog certainly hasn't found its winter groove.  No time for pictures and way too much going on to even write about it all.

Anyway, blog posts will likely be sporadic this month and only if/when I have a fresh batch of pictures.

Have a great week.

Crickets

Here are a few more shots from last week's outing to Bavon and New Point.

Last night the Mathews High School cross country teams won their last regular meet of the season, with many runners setting new records.  Justin Adams, in Daughter's class, set a new course record.  Emma Hudgins, my neighbor's granddaughter who is a JV runner, also ran a tremendous race. The girls won in spite of many serious injuries.  Daughter shaved some more time off her personal best. It was a very exciting evening to be a cross country parent.

In other excitement that is not so welcome, Son's car has been in the shop since last week.  My car needs new tires.  Work is busier than usual, and I'm juggling incoming requests and Major Life Deadlines with my teenagers that cause exchanges like this:

Son:  "Have you ordered my cap and gown?"
Me:  (crickets) "Have I seen the paperwork?"
Son:  (crickets) (He doesn't understand the word "paperwork" because his world is paperless.)
Me:  "What do I need to do?"
Son: (crickets)
Me:  "I can't do anything if I don't know what to do."
Son:  (Debates using my last remark in his nomination for Most Profound Mother of the Year award, but then realizes there may be paperwork involved, plus deadlines for nominations, etc.)

Or then there's this:

Son:  "Hey, you know the week after graduation?"
Me:  (crickets) (Too far in advance and I'm in denial graduation exists.  Perhaps explains no cap and gown ordering, whether there was paperwork or not.)
Son:  "Well, a bunch of us want to get a beach house down in Nags Head."
Me:  (Heart pounding out of my chest, blood vessels getting ready to explode all over the place but I remain outwardly nonchalant) "Oh. Hmm. Who all would be going?"
Son:  "This one and that one.  And the other one.  And more."
Me, picturing House Party to end all house parties:  "You know teens cannot rent houses."
Son:  "There would be an adult chaperone."
Me, stifling laughter and hysterics. Also blinking back tears: "Does this adult chaperone have a name?"
Son:  "Yeah, I think it's between a couple of people right now."
Me, wondering how quickly I can obtain a passport and flee the country:  "OK, well, we'll talk about this some more. Later. Much."

Since this is not the "How to Survive Parenthood" blog, I'll cut this post off here. Even though I could go on and on.

And on.

Don't get me started on the college application due next week.

Serenity now.

Click here for the sound of crickets,  which I choose to focus on in all of these conversations. For the sake of sanity.

Milford Haven

For  what feels like three weeks the third day in a row, my internet provider seems to be trying to kill me testing my patience.  Service has been intermittent since Sunday.

Here's a blog post with minimal words simply because I have to post while I can, and at least I was able to load these few pictures.

If you're in Mathews and see a mushroom cloud forming over the 23076 zip code and Queens Creek vicinity, you'll know the internet provider has pushed me and my very limited patience too far.

Hope your week is going better than mine well.

Collapsed

Here are more photos from Monday's trip to Williams Wharf. 

For more information on Williams Wharf, click here.

If anyone's interested in renting a vacation cottage on the East River within a comfortable walking distance from where these were taken, I found this (click here) in a random Google search on the wharf.  I had no idea there was a vacation property so close by, but I've seen this place from a distance on one of my many jogs down Williams Wharf Road. The screened porch pictured on the website looks divine.

It'd be a great place to relax and collapse, like this old section of dock.

(Don't collapse into the water though, especially this time of year.  Brrrrrrrr.)

Holly Ball

My daughter and her date.
Yes, she's taller.
Bless his heart.

Saturday was a busy day if you were a parent of teens in Mathews County. I happen to be the parent of two teens, so I was doubly stressed busy.

First there was the Christmas parade. I'll show those pictures later in the week.

Then there was the Holly Ball, which is a formal high school dance that wasn't invented when I went to Mathews High School back in the late '70s and early '80s.

Among other things that weren't invented yet were computers, cell phones, I-things, internet, fruit roll ups, reality TV shows, cable TV, and indoor plumbing electricity.

After all the requisite fuss and ado to prepare for this outing, Son took off in one direction to pick up his date (who is from Essex), and Daughter and I went to a friend's pre-dance gathering.

With the exception of the first girl on the left, these young ladies
have been together since preschool, which was only yesterday. 
Now look at them.  (Sniff.)

They're growing up too so fast.

Did I mention my daughter had a DATE? 
(He is adorable and very nice. He texted her several times
the day after the dance to let her know 
he had a good time.  Bless his heart.)

I still cannot believe this is happening.
Young adults emerging right before
 my bloodshot  eyes.

After sending Daughter off with her date to the dance, I scurried home to meet Son, his date, and another couple who was with them.

Son's date was gorgeous.  And all smiles.

O.M.G.  
I know I'm the mother and more than 
slightly biased, but are these two beautiful or what?

After they left for the dance, I hung out with two other mothers who successfully distracted me from all the worrying and fretting I would have done if I were home alone.

I am thrilled to announce that we all survived the 2012 Mathews High School Holly Ball.

Amen.