the epitome of summer

The smell of freshly cut grass. Homemade ice cream. Sunsets on the East River.Goodies from gardens. Sandy cars. Invitations to pools by the rivah (Rappahannock River)
Cold beverages on warm afternoons. Watermelon & steamed crabs. Spontaneous boat rides to dwindling islands. (Hole in the Wall)

Swimming by New Point Lighthouse. Tomato sandwiches & the smell of basil. Tired children from hours in the pool. (Carys)

Fried fish & cucumber salad. Blueberry pickin'. Exploring state parks. (Belle Isle State Park)

what's all the hoopla about?

Yesterday, Southwind debuted Hoopla Pale Ale, a beer created by Kyle Hollingsworth, home brewer & keyboardist for String Cheese Incident. And in honor of it, folks gathered across the street from the restaurant on our county's courthouse green to do some hooping.

Hula hooping has long been on my list of things to learn to do. Oh how I've tried, never being able to keep the hoop going. Well, all that changed yesterday. After a couple simple tips from the instructor, I actually kept it going for the longest EVER.. at least 30 seconds! Ha! So of course, buying this "magic" hoop that's weighted (with water I was told)was required.

It was a fun time, watching the younger girls swapping tricks & using 4-5 hoops at a time. Others were catching on pretty quick, so proud of themselves.
The day was hot & after working up quite a sweat, we cooled off on the porch with a Hoopla, of course. Cheers to hooping!

just say noseeums

This evening, Terry & I decided to take advantage of the low humidity weather we've been having. We grabbed some take-out from a fairly new restaurant in town & hit Bethel beach. We brought our high-tech sound system with us so we could tune in to our favorite NPR program.
When the weather is clear like today, you can vaguely see the eastern shore (12 miles away) across the bay. And Wolf Trap lighthouse, which shines in the sunset lighting.

As the sun began to set lower, we could slowly feel them.. noseeums. Grr! Dusk is usually the worst time for them. They can make a nice evening turn pretty awful, pretty quick. I think I would almost rather have mosquitoes. Of course, there's always Deet. Terry won't use that stuff at all, since being super sensitive to it, can taste it after applying it on his skin. And the natural insect repellent just doesn't work.
We stayed as long as we could comfortably, headed home & tried the dock, which didn't last long, either. Funny how something so small can be such a nuisance. Shouldn't I be used to these little bugs by now?

festival season

On Saturday, we went to the 63rd annual Gwynn's Island festival here in our county. There were the usual craft & food vendors, live music, tents of local groups & artists, & Bubbles the Clown. Walking around, we ran into friends that we see all the time & some that we haven't seen in months (or years).

Hannah & Layla with cotton candy fingers

Yesterday, we traveled south with our friends, Raquel & Arthur, to the Bayou Boogaloo & Cajun Food festival. And I was especially glad to have this day with my friends, since they'll be moving by the end of summer. I will miss them, but am happy they are moving forward.
Mainly, the 70 mile trip was made to see one of Terry's favorite singer/songwriter/guitarist, Anders Osborne. And boy, was he worth it! He's known for his deep blues slide guitar & soulful singing. I was so close to him, I swear his sweat beads were flying on me. Eww! ;) On top of playing his rocking originals, they did Grateful Dead's "Fire on the Mountain" & ended with an amazing version of Neil Young's "Cortez the Killer". Many times throughout the show, my arms filled up with goosebumps.

Since we arrived late on day three of the festival, they had sold out of the spicy boiled crawfish that Terry was hoping to eat. He was bummed, but we still enjoyed some tasty cajun foods. They also had Abita beers on draft.

Our friends, Bradley & Elisa, & their adorable boy, Yaunder met up with us there, too.

We also caught Bonorama, a brass funk band from New Orleans, & the Funky Meters, who closed out the day. We headed home, exhausted from the sun but happy from our fun, music-filled day.

easy living

It's happening.. again.
The late sun-setting days are bringing less time on the computer. It seems like there's only been enough time to jump online for those needed daily check-ins. Drafts of unfinished posts from the past couple weeks are filling up my "edit posts" box.
So here's a little visual catch-up for ya.

At Chris & Sara's

Terry finally holds Josey!

Tin Can Alley

Father's Day


Grilled fresh wahoo & veggies at my friend, Mike's

Mercy Creek at Port Warwick's free concert series

tin can alley

Here's another spot in our county, on Gwynn's Island, that rarely crossed my path growing up.

We've been there a few times already this early summer (or well I guess technically, late spring). The sandy bottom & deep water have made for fantastic swimming!

Lilli even got Terry in!

There's limited parking & not too much space on the beach, but the jetties somewhat help create more of a feeling of privacy. It's been a nice place to go after work for a quick swim & to catch the sunset. We even met a man & his two grandchildren there who drive almost 45 minutes just to get to this special place.
I think this is where we'll be going more often this summer. Let's just hope the stinging nettles aren't bad this season!

for Peyton

Today is Holly's baby shower. So, this week I made a wall hanging for the nursery. Holly knows I'm making it, even telling me which colors she wanted. But I don't think she knows she's getting it today.
I started by taking pictures of Peyton's bedding & tried to make it similar.

I printed out the letters on the computer & cut them out. Then I traced them onto the fabric & cut them out.

For the owl, I hand sewed button eyes & a beak. For the birds, eyes & beaks. Then chose pink as the border.

To finish it up, green tabs were added.

I can't wait to give it to her!