Boats on the Creek

I know.

You wish you had a pair of sunglasses. Here, take mine.

My apologies for the glare.

If you squint and avoid the upper right corner of the photo above, you'll see a boat on the creek I live on.

An exquisite boat.


Of course I'd call the boat above out of focus exquisite too.

Same with the one below.

(Except this one is way out of focus.)

During this particular excursion, whenever I tried to snap an in-focus shot, which was nigh on impossible from my vantage point, I became indignant impatient and uttered a few bydammits.

For those unfamiliar with the "Oh By Dammit" expression, please click here for that story.

May your Friday be free from out-of-focus photos and bydammits.

It's Friday! What are you doing this weekend?

Storm Clouds

In spite of all appearances, this is not a scene from the Wizard of Oz and the picture was not taken in Kansas.

August is the unofficial thunderstorm month around here, and many evenings treacherous storms race up the Piankatank River before spinning off angrily towards the bay. They're very rude, these thunderstorms. They barge in, wreak havoc and don't even say they're sorry.

Although this looks very ominous, no ruby slippers or flying monkeys were involved in this particular storm which came through a week or two ago.

This was taken along what some folks call the river shore road on Gwynns Island.

(I'd capitalize River Shore Road, except the Virginia Department of Transportation has officially declared this Old Ferry Road. And who am I to quibble with a posted sign unless it says No Trespassing?)

Right below those storm clouds is Deltaville, which is in Middlesex County.

Deltaville has several claims to fame including Sting Ray Point, where Captain John Smith is rumored to have wrangled with a ferocious sting ray; Taylors Restaurant, formerly the home of the world's greatest seafood buffet ever; the baseball stadium which uses crab pot wire to protect the audience from fly balls; and Jamie, who writes a blog about her childhood memories in that area. You didn't hear this from me, but she's been known to splash about in these very waters atop a rubber ducky float. Not that I have photos or anything.

As we take a step or two back, the distance between the island and Deltaville becomes more apparent.

With yet another step or so back, the ferocious temperament of the clouds becomes apparent too. Clouds are extremely temperamental, you know.

Yep, it's cyclone thunderstorm season here.

Auntie Em!

There's no place like home.

The Rail

At Aaron's Beach a week or so ago, I noticed several of these birds hanging out in the marsh.

Now, as you may know, Chesapeake Bay Woman is not good with details, specifics, facts, data, fine print, technicalities, anything requiring patience and housework. In spite of all that, she is going to take a stab at assigning a label for this bird, and what she's come up with is a rail.

Before both any of you rush to correct me, let me also say that even if this is not a rail, we do have rails in Mathews. And today we're talking about them.

Naturally when required to provide facts and details, I turn to the internet, because as we all know everything one reads on the internet is whatever you want it to be, just keep looking until you find the answer you like accurate and factual.

Here's what my BFF Wikipedia says about the aquatic birds known as rails:

"...any of 127 species of slender, somewhat chicken-shaped marsh birds, with short rounded wings, short tail, large feet, and long toes, of the family Rallidae (order Gruiformes). The name is sometimes used to include coots and gallinules, which belong to the same family, but coots and gallinules are far more ostentatious. Coots and gallinules flock like ducks, swim in open water, and waddle conspicuously on shore. By contrast, rails are secretive birds, hiding among reeds at the water’s edge by day and uttering their calls mostly at night."

Coots and gallinules?
Ostentatious coots to boot?

Oh, the field day I could have with these words, but before I say something my children might read I might regret, let's bring this brief discussion about rails, coots and gallinules to a close.

If you hear somebody cackling and howling, it's just me laughing at my own off-color remarks about coots and gallinules and rails. Oh my.

Happy Friday.