Daughter

Here's the best daughter in the world walking on Aaron's Beach with a skimboard she found--yes found--on the shore of another beach. Although she'd never skimboarded before, she was bound and determined to teach herself how.

Skimboarding is not that difficult, really. All you have to do is have a death wish turn on the theme song to Hawaii Five-O. Then you take that flat piece of wood, toss it down on the shore just as a wave is crashing and effortlessly jump on top as it skims on the tiny amount of water that lingers when the wave withdraws back into the sea. Then you go a&& over tea kettle and wonder exactly how long it will take the Mathews Volunteer Rescue Squad to find your limp body on the beach.

Actually that was what happened to me when I tried it, minus the Hawaii Five-O music.

Chesapeake Bay Daughter, on the other hand, very diligently and methodically practiced and practiced until she perfected the technique, which is the exact same technique that is used when you slip on a banana peel. She doesn't fall down though.

No, Chesapeake Bay Daughter is very good at everything she does with the exception of cleaning her room. And today is her birthday.

Not only does she have to go to school today, but she also has to go to the doctor for shots as part of her annual sports physical. Guess which mother of the year scheduled a doctor's appointment for her daughter on said daughter's birthday?

Happy Birthday, CB Daughter.

Love you.

Signed,
Skimboarder in Training
Mother in Training

Deltaville

<Chirp>.This house lives in the middle of a corn field over in Deltaville, which is north of Mathews between the Rappahannock and Piankatank rivers. Deltaville is a close cousin of Mathews in that its terrain, architecture and pace of life are very close to what we enjoy here.

<Chirp.> I'd really love to discuss this photo; about past vs. present. About how the corn crops are alive, tended to and under control; and the house had life but is now unattended, left to the mercy of the elements. The colors of the picture--brown signifying decay and green signifying life--further illustrate this life and death, past and present theme.Interestingly, this picture shows the controlled crops in a decaying state of brown while the uncontrolled growth at the steps of the house are green and full of life. Oh, how I could expand upon that. <Chirp.>

Yes, I'd really love to discuss all that at length, but I can't. <Chirp.>

Right now, my nerves and sanity are being tested by a chirping smoke detector which has been dangling from my bedroom ceiling for years months now. Despite removing the battery, <chirp>then pulling the entire apparatus out of the ceiling <chirp> and finally messing with the wiring coming out the ceiling (whereby I almost electrocuted myself and saw more sparks than a welder at the Newport News Shipyard) I'm unable to make it stop. The thing continues to chirp incessantly every so often.

Every so often is shorthand for Oh please make it stop.

And now, <chirp> a few questions:

Does everything have to be a <chirp> struggle? Is there any rest for the weary? Have you almost electrocuted yourself while teetering on a chair trying to yank a hard-wired smoke detector from the ceiling? Out of sheer <chirp> despair and frustration due to a chirping smoke detector, have you ever tilted your head backwards, closed your eyes, then glanced upwards only to see that on your <chirp> ceiling there is a granddaddy long legs spider making himself quite at home?

In your house or in your life, is there something that ought to be simple to fix but isn't and it's driving you crazy?

<Chirp.>