Queens Creek II

Here are more early morning shots from my back yard overlooking Queens Creek.

These were taken using the zoom.  This point is actually quite a ways from my house.

Well, Sister Susan and I survived the Nashville half marathon and thoroughly enjoyed spending time with our Soul Sister Lauren. Although we didn't turn in our best time, we also didn't turn in our worst. Considering I haven't run 13.1 miles since March 2015 and hadn't run more than six miles since then either, and also considering my insides were turned upside down quite literally in the car accident and subsequent surgery, well,...I'm not at all disappointed with my time.  It's all relative.

Speaking of relatives, we're spending Mother's Day over at Middle Sister's house.  She's fixing a great big feast, and all the rest of us have to do is show up.  That's my kind of festivity.  I'm excellent at showing up. It's one of the things I do best along with eating other people's cooking.

Speaking of other people's cooking, I am negligent in talking about reconnecting with someone I haven't seen since the 1980s.  He's in to aquaculture and grows his own oysters.  He also makes the best fried and roasted oysters I've ever had in my entire life. (And that includes my father's,) More on that in another post.

Last but not least, this weekend I had the privilege of hosting blog friends Meg and Angie at my house.  We thoroughly enjoyed our mini-reunion, which included a trip to Merroir, where Daughter has been working all weekend long.

Aside from nursing a dental problem, which has had me in a great deal of pain the past week, all in all life is great and things are going well.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel for Daughter, who is very excited about leaving for college this summer.  Son is taking his last exam of the semester this week and will be home for a short visit in a few weeks.  My favorite month of the year is here, things are green and the worst of the cold weather is behind us.

It's great to be alive.

Half a Century

L to R:  Old Fart from Mathews, Middle Sis from Georgia, Laurie from California, Lauren from Nashville, Angie from King and Queen, Baby Sis, and Meg from Maryland.

This weekend marked the first time in my life I've ever donned a fake mustache pink cowboy hat and boa, and it also marked the first time I've ever turned 50.

Baby Sis concocted a scheme that involved some very dear blog friends traveling from near and far to help ease my transition from nursing home to funeral home Forty Something to Officially 50.

Evidently, that transition has to include mustaches, because two people brought them.

A picture of all of us us wearing these--which I'd really rather forget-- exists on Facebook, sadly.
Certain Sisters find it absolutely hilarious. I'm hoping I get some sort of credit from the universe for indulging them. (I'm not counting on it, though. In fact, I expect to see that same photo blown up poster-size at every family event we ever have into perpetuity.)

I could explain the theme of the party, but it's a very long story.  If you google Winnebago Man, that would be a starting point. But only a starting point and not the focus of this post.  

Sisters, Parents and Daughter.  Son had already returned to college.
(Don't tell Baby Sis her eyes are--once again!--closed here.  It's payback for the mustache picture on Facebook.)

Eyes wide open.

I'd really love to know what we're all looking at here.  I honestly have no idea, but clearly someone was doing something.

Parents, Sisters and The Infamous Catherine

Parents, Sisters and Blog Sisters

Parents, Sisters and Dino--our adopted brother.  He's from Morocco.

Daddy and Me.
He turns 74 later in the month.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.  And, yes, Virginia, CBW still has her Christmas tree up.
Dear Santa Claus, can you come back and drop off a few elves to help me with some chores? This is the off-season for y'all now, right? Thanks! I really appreciate it. P.S. Do they also do windows?

Middle Sis and her BFF from high school, Judy

Lauren from Nashville

Bud, Billy and Glenda 

Devan and my father

Alda, Larry and Lisa

Theresa and Teresa

I thank my family, especially my Baby Sis, for throwing together this semi-surprise of a celebration.  I am grateful to have friends and family, good health, and knees that didn't give out in all the dancing that took place.

(I might have hyper-extended one knee, though, and I think I sprained my pinky finger--don't ask-- but if that's the worst that happens at a 50th birthday celebration, I'll take it. Gladly.)

And now, post-Thanksgiving, post-Christmas, post-Son's surgery, post-New Year's Eve, and post-50th birthday, I look forward to life returning to normal.

Whatever that is.

Birthday Party

Saturday I traveled to King and Queen County to visit a dear friend, this barn Angie. 

(And also this barn, which I adore.)

Angie threw a surprise birthday party for her boyfriend.

I made a new friend who loves getting her picture taken.  Her name is Taylor, and she's a sweetie pie.

Angie's boyfriend Dana is wonderful. One of the happiest people I've ever met.

The party was pirate-themed.  (That reminds me, I never did get my eye patch!)

There was plenty of food.

Angie received a surprise herself when her family brought out a cake for her as well. 

Her birthday was earlier in the week.

I love her whole family, and I also became BFFs with her boyfriend's family during a very spirited game of cornhole.  We're not going to talk about who won, it's a sore subject with me.  (I demand a rematch, by the way.)

Angie, her middle sister and her mother

Angie's baby sister and her cousin.

A grand time was had by all.

 

Thanks, Angie, for a wonderful evening!

 

Happy birthday to you and to Dana.

 

 



Nashville

Baby Sis and I after the St. Jude's Country Music Half Marathon

First things first.

I am relieved to announce that Baby Sis and I survived the half marathon in Nashville, however our time was terrible. Given that neither one of us had trained, we're lucky to have survived it could have been much worse.  Baby Sis was clearly more prepared than I, but she hung back with me the whole race.

At one point I thought I was going to require medical assistance not from a cardiac event but from the pain and agony shooting down the backs of my legs. It felt like every major nerve was being individually tortured. I'll probably have to get that checked out at some point, since I have the same pain in my elbows on a daily basis, usually while sitting down. So it has nothing to do with running. (My inner hypochondriac--aided and abetted by Web MD--is convinced it's either fibromyalgia, MS or nerve damage due to too much sitting at the computer.)

Anyway.

Baby Sis didn't want me to mention our actual time, since it was our worst ever.  However, I told her she was looking at it all wrong. This so-called bad time also represents the longest either one of us has exercised without stopping: two hours and forty five minutes.

So almost three hours of movement!

Sounds better when put that way, I think.

Some nights I'm lucky if I get three hours of sleep, so three hours of physical activity is pretty good!

(That's my story and I'm sticking with it.)

Aside from the torture of running a race I wasn't prepared for, I thoroughly enjoyed the course, which took us through downtown Nashville, Music Row and some very lovely neighborhoods.  Last year when we did this, we couldn't take in any of the sights because of the horizontal rain. (Click here for that story.)

This year the weather was simply spectacular.

Our friend and hostess Lauren took us to some fabulous places.

The first day we drank wine hung out downtown.

Me and Lauren

We drank wine had lunch at a place called Merchants.

The deviled eggs were outstanding.

As were the deviled eggs and sugar bacon at Brick Top's in Franklin, 

where we sat next to one of the most beautiful men I've ever seen

none other than Carrie Underwood's husband, Mike Fisher--

who is also beautiful! a hockey player.

Lauren lives in a resort-like apartment complex in Franklin.  

We spent many hours enjoying wine lounging by her pool.

Did I mention the wine? 

We had some.

We even had some boxed wine.  Here Lauren and Baby Sis appear
to be fighting for the right to pour.

Lauren's daughter Emnma joined us Sunday evening on a last-minute excursion through miles and miles of beautiful horse country to Arrington Vineyards.   Guess what they serve there?

We arrived just before it started raining, so we only stayed briefly.

After the vineyard, we traveled back to Lauren's apartment, watched movies and enjoyed more wine and laughs in complete denial that our adventure was coming to a close.  Monday morning we flew back to Virginia.

Baby Sis and I would like to thank Lauren for once again providing us with a perfect getaway.  We relaxed, we laughed, we frolicked up and down the streets of Nashville, we ran a half marathon, we ate lots of good food, we enjoyed lots of good wine, we met new people, we sat next to a beautiful!! quasi-celebrity named Mike Fisher, and we basked by the pool in 80-degree weather.

Unlike what the sign above says, looking back on this weekend, I didn't miss a thing*, and the good time was all around me no matter where we were.

The End.


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


p.s. There are more stories to tell about traveling with Baby Sis--such as when I confidently walked off with some very nice man's carry-on bag (he stopped me before I got too far, we had the exact same blue bag), and the time she thought the announcement over the public address system in the Richmond airport asked for Nashville passengers to please approach the counter to verify passports.   In fact, they were asking international passengers to please provide passports. When I looked her dead in the eyes and confidently told her Nashville didn't require a passport, she still wanted to go up to the counter--even though she didn't have a passport and even though nobody said anything about Nashville and even though anybody in their right mind would know passports aren't needed to cross state lines.

Serenity now.

* I did miss my children a little, but I sure didn't miss cooking or cleaning or laundry or cutting grass or driving hundreds of miles to work/soccer games or ant infestations or gutters that need cleaning or ....I want to go back to Nashville now!