Happy Easter

I'm negligent in everything my blogging responsibilities these days, but I did have time recently to take these pictures of spring blooms off of Stutts Creek in Redart.

Slowly but surely Nature is bouncing back to life after the doldrums of winter.  Green leaves are sprouting, dandelions and buttercups! flowers are blooming and yellow pollen is covering everything.

I'm getting excited because my May, my favorite month, is just around the corner.

Happy Easter!

Spring Break

This endearing structure lives in a field near the end of the road at Freeport, just up the road from Mathews. I stopped in recently on my way home from having lunch with a friend in Saluda.

The wonderfully weathered wood and the vestiges of vines made it impossible for me to drive by without stopping to say hello and take a few shots.

Pretty soon, the weather will take its turn towards warm, and the weeds will take over my house greenery will take over everything.

There are signs that the process has already started.

I just returned from a once-in-a-lifetime cruise with Baby Sister, which is why this blog hasn't been updated in a while.  On board, we saw tons of live music from bands of the 1970s, including Firefall, Ambrosia, Little River Band, Player, Orleans, and my favorite:  Peter Frampton.  Although the best days were the ones at sea, we also visited Cozumel and Key West.

Now, it's a slow return to the town called Normal Life, where my workload will gradually increase, and much of my spare time will be devoted to work for the Mathews County Visitor and Information Center.

But I do still vow to keep up with this blog.

I hope all is well in your neck of the woods.

Daffodils

Although the calendar still says February, 

Mother Nature is telling a different story.

Our daffodils are blooming, trees are budding, grass is growing and March hasn't even arrived to the party yet.

The temperatures will be around 80 the next few days.  Osprey have already been sighted in the local rivers and creeks.  The song birds are singing.  The frogs are frolicking.

I'm not complaining, but it's unusual.

Welcome, Spring.  I know you're not really here yet, but it's good to know you're on the way.

Sunrise on Queens Creek

This happened one day last week as I was leaving for work. 

I much prefer waving goodbye to the rising sun than saying hello 

to the cold darkness as I get into my car to make the long commute each day.

Although there's still a chill in the air, Mother Nature is waving 

all the signs that the cold, dark, dreary days are coming to an end.

And I, for one, am very grateful.

Brrrrr

Although the calendar says Almost April, the temperatures this weekend said Almost Alaska.

In spite of the frigid temperatures, which made for brutally cold conditions for Saturday's 10K in Richmond with Baby Sis, these backyard daffodils have made themselves known, and they promised me when I spoke with them yesterday that warmer weather is on the way.

Still, just like the runners who couldn't feel hands, feet, toes or fingers Saturday morning, these daffodils have to put their heads down to brave the oncoming cold wind, push forward, and persevere.

Baby Sis and I managed to eke out a personal best in Saturday's 10K.  With no training other than last weekend's half marathon, we jogged a very frigid 10K in one hour and three minutes.  Could we have done better?  Of course.  Could we have done worse? Yep.

I need to sniff out another race for us to do this spring.

Until then, I'm going to sniff the backyard daffodils and hope for warmer temperatures this week.

Baby Sis and I at Saturday's 10K, cold and suffering in spite of outward appearances.
Thanks to Edward Anderson for this picture.

Signs

Over the weekend we enjoyed some of the warmest temperatures of the year and finally saw most of the snow disappear.

The ospreys are slowly returning from wherever they spend their winters, the red-winged blackbirds were singing their songs in the tree tops, and the frogs were even making themselves known.

The snow had been hiding one of the surest signs of spring.

The daffodils are slowly making their appearance.

Son has also made an appearance for his spring break.

I'm hoping that the cold, gray days of winter are well behind us.

Regardless, it's good to see these reminders that spring is on its way.

Beachland

This sharp little shed and plucky old plow live near a farmhouse on the approach to Beachland, one of my favorite homes in the county.

The owners of Beachland held an estate sale over the weekend. Much to my delight, they invited me to take a pre-sale peek on Thursday afternoon.

I'll share some pictures of Beachland's grounds and a story about something I found there in the coming posts.

Happy April Eve.

Three Things

On Thursdays I give myself and anyone reading permission to spout off three random things, even though most everything written here on any given day is a volcanic eruption of random thoughts. Thursdays are different. The randomness is encouraged, allowed, supported, and expected.

I'll go first.

1. Photographs from the organizers of Saturday's 10K race came in an email last night--available, of course, for purchase. Why in the world I'd want a picture of myself struggling across the finish line after running 6.2 miles in the rain while wearing a crab hat is well beyond my comprehension. I'd have to be insane to actually pay money for such a monstrosity. No. Thank you very much.

2. The dogwoods are bursting with blooms this week. My drive to and from work on the Colonial Parkway, a leisurely, highly-enforced 45 mph drive which overlooks the York River, is made even more pleasant by these beautiful white blooms sprinkled throughout.

3. Depending on how much my camera costs to be repaired, I may have to buy a new one. Initial reports back from Canon indicate that I have an older/outdated model that may not be worth repairing. (What Canon doesn't understand is that everything I own is outdated. Cell phone? Circa Car Phone Era. Have to tap out text messages like Morse Code. No keyboard, just a number pad. I can only function with outdated stuff. Everything else is too confusing. By the way, the camera they call "old" is only 5 years old. Even if a camera's age is measured in dog years, that's still young. But of course the chances of a camera's technological life and a dog's life being measured equally are, well, OK FINE. My camera is old.)

Until I acquire a new or (likely) refurbished camera, you can expect one of two things on this blog: a month or more of pictures from my crabbing adventure and/or recycled photos from the past 4-5 years.

Now it's your turn to share three things no matter how ludicrous outdated random they may seem.  I love to hear from you, even if you only have one thing to say. We really have no rules here.

Spring Has Sprung

This lovely tree lives at the end of my lane.

With those horrible months of January and February safely behind us, Spring now sees fit to make an appearance, however brief that appearance may be.

We've had 80-degree weather already.  The ants are back (inside the house).  The fiddler crabs are out and about. The grass already needs cutting.  Eighty-degree weather, ants, fiddler crabs, and overgrown grass are more indicative of summer, which no doubt we'll launch right into after these two, perhaps three, days of spring.

For today, though, let's enjoy some photos that show Mother Nature is hard at work breathing life back into me her domain.

Green! I took this Saturday from the car on my way to Deltaville, where I enjoyed
a wonderful lunch with  Deltaville Jamie, Nora and Big Hair Envy.

This was on the ride home from Deltaville.  

Waverly Lane. On the left daffodils are barely visible;
on the right is another blossoming tree.

Blurry daffodils out in our field.  I took better shots but for some reason forgot to download them.

These daffodils are admiring their reflection in the water which is actually a ditch down near Onemo.

Same flowers.

Same tree as the first one but taken on a different day.

What's happening in your neck of the woods?

Rebirth

This series of photographs was taken from the public landing at the end of Warehouse Road in neighboring Gloucester.  

Each picture juxtaposes something dead, colorless and seemingly lifeless with the green and beauty of spring.

The remains of a dock...

or a tree 

clinging to the shoreline.

"Nature often holds up a mirror so we can see more clearly the ongoing process of growth, renewal, and transformation in our lives."
- Mary Ann Brussat


"Nothing really dies it just turns into something else."  
- Ann Cushman


"I happened to notice that all these pictures featured new growth as well as death;  then I realized it was Easter weekend, and also spring!  


(Sometimes it takes me a while, but eventually I cobble such obvious facts together. Other days I wonder how I am able to function as a contributing member of society when it is the Friday before Easter and I'm only now catching up with the fact that it's spring. Or the Friday before Easter. Or the year 2011.)


As all these profound thoughts flooded my cluttered addled brain, it occurred to me that you might just like the pictures without all the extraneous Deep Thoughts, and so I will end on this note:  Enjoy today; enjoy the weekend; enjoy the gift called Life." 


- CBW