No Mental Energy for a Clever Title

So, what to say about this week. It has been fine, really, I'm just in the depths of an anemia-induced funk. Thus everything, in spite of the good times, has seemed a little blah. Thus no writing. It didn't really seem fair you, the reader.

I refuse to succumb when I feel this way, however, so I get out and do things and in fact I force myself to so that I won't curl up in a ball like a potato bug and just stay there. But man, I am tired. Not lack-of-sleep tired, that would be easy. No, this kind of tired just turns the world grey, with paths that are all slippery and uphill-nothing is easy, nothing is particularly fun, and my emotions respond to my body, so it is incredibly difficult to focus on the positive. I really think that is what saps the energy. The mental exercise of choosing to look at something as an opportunity or as a learning experience or as just a normal part of life is MUCH more difficult than just giving in and seeing normal setbacks and challenges as evidence that my worst fears really are true (you know-the usual: that I probably am a failure at most really important things in life like being organized and detail-oriented and ambitious and tidy, with an uncluttered, well-decorated home and scrapbooks that are all caught up and not having to pay the late fee AGAIN to register for soccer, etc. and will probably never truly succeed at any of them)

But, since those fears are ridiculous and deserve to be in even smaller type, I offer up a report of my week that hopefully will tell the story to my future self that I kept on going, even though I really didn't want to most days. I am soooo grateful to the people who are part of my life that let me be part of their lives so I have reasons to get beyond these inevitable moments.

Here are the good things for this week:

• The Weather! We have been having positively California-esque weather here. Okay, so I realize that if you're FROM Cali, it might not seem that way, but for me, this is heaven. It has been warm, but the humidity has been low, so the sky has been this exquisite clear blue with gorgeous fluffy clouds. We've had a few storms go by, but they've just served to make some nice cool evenings. Seriously, this weather has been such a blessing this week, because the brilliance has literally broken the grey into little shards under my feet. I've tried to be outside as much as possible.
  
• I got tickets to see So You Think You Can Dance with friends who are all significantly younger and hipper than I. I'm taking my daughter along and if you average my age and her age, together we are 28, so I fit in a bit better. Actually I'm really excited. My one indulgence to the blahs this week was to get under my covers when I felt all achy and cold and catch up on episodes of this fun series. The more I watch, the more I remember how much I loved to dance in high school and how, like poetry, dance is such a beautiful and succinct way to express emotion and experience. Some of the performances made me cry. But maybe that's not saying much this week. ;o)
  
• As a bonus to getting together to buy said tickets, two lovely pals that I haven't been able to spend tons of time with lately went out for breakfast and ate yummy food and laughed for a good hour and a half. That is always good for the body and soul.
  
• The one good thing about my anemia getting to this point is I start remembering to take my medicine again, so I start feeling better pretty fast. Unfortunately my learning curve is a little flat and I'll forget again when life gets busy. Probably around Christmas. Maybe you could email me and tell me to take my pills...
  
• I took a few photos up to the County Fair and whaddayaknow, I got a first place ribbon! There were 963 entries in the photography exhibit, so I am feeling kinda proud about that one. Even more fun is that I got to share the experience with a pal, but I'll let her tell her story. I find it cosmically, ironically, darkly humorous that the winning photo perfectly expresses my physical state this week:
• My darling daughter returned from AZ. She was visiting my youngest sister. There is less of an age difference between my sister and Sara than there is between my sister and me, so they've grown up a bit like sisters themselves. They had a wonderful time, experienced the Breaking Dawn phenomenon together, and she came home happy and sweet. I really missed her.
  

• My young kindred spirit friend S. and I did something I've always wanted to try: We dyed yarn. It was so fun and creative. I don't know if I'll get deep into it because it requires precision, one of my worst things, but it was super-fun as a try-out. I offered all this knitting and fiber arts stuff to my kids when they were younger but because it was me and I do this professionally, none of them ever responded beyond the okay-we'll-try-it-once stage, so it is really a thrill for me to have someone to play with who really likes these particular endeavors.
  

We start with Plain, Natural Colored Yarn

Then Paint and Play and Squeeze

And all the yarn is colored.

See, lots of good things. Lovely times, lovely friends, lovely family, all good. Thanks for reading as I cast it all in that light for myself. It really does help.

Naturally though, the week finished out with me facing my fears again as I find myself unable to find either of my TWO battery chargers for my camera. I've looked EVERYWHERE. Pete's Sakes, as my friend Corinne would say. It should not be this hard. My mom loaned me hers, and I have two super-batteries, so I only need to charge once a month or so, so I'll live, but I can't escape the nagging thought that always strikes me at times like this: Normal people just don't go through things like this. They put the battery charger away and there it is the next time they need it. What is my problem??? Well, at least I have something to aspire to.

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Something to Look Forward To!

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Cape May

I took the second of my summer adventures this week. I found myself in the unusual position of having my house empty. All of my children are gone (temporarily). Four are off to Scout Camp (2 as participants and 2 as leaders) and one to my sister's house in Tucson, AZ. Knowing this to be the case, I made plans a couple of months ago and convinced a dear, hardworking friend to take a little time off and come play with me.

Part of this adventure was to take the Cape May-Lewes Ferry across the Delaware Bay and this turned out to be one of my favorite parts. It made this fairly long trip such a pleasure. We drove for about 2 1/2 hours to the ferry terminal at Lewes, DE, rode the boat for about an hour and twenty minutes in a lovely breeze watching lighthouses on silent duty, dolphins seeming almost curious about us, and Coast Guard soldiers keeping us safe along the way. When the ferry docked, we were literally moments from our hotel. I highly recommend this as a way to get to the Jersey Shore from the Baltimore-Washington area. It is not cheap-our fare was 41.00 one-way, and it goes up with more passengers. Here are the advantages, though, at least for me:

1. Once you're on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, the trip to Lewes is off the beaten path through pleasant towns on country roads-no traffic jams, no tolls except the Bay Bridge.
   
2. There is less driving, even though the time from door to door is about the same or a bit longer.
3. We went home the non-ferry way and paid about 20 dollars in tolls, plus we got caught in the Wilmington-Philly rush hour traffic-Eeeww.
   
4. It was a simply lovely boat ride. Here is the view of Cape May as you come into the terminal:

We got to our lodgings, the lovely old Inn of Cape May around 4:30 on Monday evening. Our room was not terribly modern or luxurious, but it was quaint and quirky, which I liked. The only disadvantage was the air conditioning unit. It cooled the room, but was loud enough to wake me up in the night as it cycled on and off. There are tons of hotels/motels in Cape May plus all the wonderful Victorian homes-cum-B&B's all over town. There are also some amazing top-drawer rental homes. Nearby is the quieter community of Cape May Point comprised of cottages, rental homes and permanent residents, plus there is the party town of Wildwood just to the north.

After we settled in, we took a trolley tour around the town and it was okay. We learned a lot about the history of the town, but the narration was not really matched to the locations we were driving past. This is a great way to see all the beautiful Painted Lady Victorian homes though. After our trolley ride was some fun shopping and delicious frozen custard. It was really fun to be out on the square with everyone. It is a small town, so many, many people are on bicycles, which just enhances the beachy, slowed-down pace of this lovely coastal town.

On Tuesday, we woke up early, and while we missed the sun actually coming over the horizon, the cloud cover and morning mist yielded a spectacular extended sunrise show, plus the bonus of a huge rainbow in the sky as we walked across the street to the beach.
It was really a lovely morning. I like the beach best before 9 am and after 4 pm-no crowds, gentler sun and quiet. After our walk on the beach, we enjoyed a delicious full breakfast at, which was included with our room, at the hotel restaurant.



We got ready and got out the door at a leisurely pace appropriate for two off-duty moms with absolutely no obligations awaiting us at home. We had two goals for the day: touring the Emlen Physick Estate and exploring the Cape May Lighthouse. Both of these are maintained by the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts, a community group that was formed to preserve the character and history of Cape May. They offered a discounted double ticket to the estate and the lighthouse for 16 dollars. It was a dollar savings. This organization has a wide variety of tours, including regular and themed, such as Haunted Tours and combo tours of the various attractions they manage. The house tour was on a schedule and lasted about 45 minutes. The lighthouse has no guided tours, just 199 steps that you can climb whenever you want. Both were worthwhile and offered a lot of history and information about the area. The estate would NOT be fun for kids of any age unless they are a history buff, plus there is a lot of self-control required to not touch anything, sit on anything or lean against the walls. It was an excellent, informative tour, and the house is spectacularly decorated and meticulously restored. It is a fine example of the Victorian Style.

The lighthouse could be enjoyed by anyone capable of self-locomotion up the steps. I wouldn't want to coax or carry a toddler up, but older kids would be rewarded with a wonderful view and a lot of fun facts about lighthouses.
After resting our legs a bit and enjoying the summer afternoon, we headed home. Actual driving time was probably about 3 hours, lengthened to around 4 1/2 by a stop at a farm stand, a stop for dinner and that blasted traffic jam. The highlights of the drive home were the crossing of the Delaware River on the spectacular twin spans of the Delaware Memorial Bridge, crossing the Susquehanna with the sun getting low, and watching a gorgeous sunset over the Baltimore skyline just before we dipped into the Ft. McHenry tunnel. For geography geeks, I thought it was cool to make the trip there across the actual Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, then to come home over the rivers which form those very bays.

So, there you have it. A summer adventure for grown-ups. Why should the kids have all the fun?

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Anniversary

Today marks 22 years since Eric and I tied the knot.
We snuck out to spend the afternoon together in the midst of a busy day of swimming competition, getting everyone ready for scout camp and reclaiming the house from the usual weekly wear and tear.Our first stop was the Washington D.C. Temple visitor's center. I had submitted 3 photos to my first ever juried exhibit and was quite thrilled to have one of my images (the one of the redwood trees from California) chosen to be hung! It was even better because three friends also had images chosen to be in the show. Anything is more fun with friends along. One friend received a Judges' Choice Award. Congratulations Jeri! I really enjoyed looking at all the chosen photos. It was a good experience to see what is considered worthy of inclusion. I feel energized and motivated to continue to learn and improve and enjoy my photography all the more.

Next we went to an early dinner. We tried for my new favorite restaurant, Victoria Gastro Pub, but they weren't serving dinner yet so we settled on a reliable favorite-PF Chang's. That one is by the mall so after our yummy food, we got the chance to go ogle Power Macs and iPhones at the Apple Store. My next computer is a little ways away, but it is fun to dream. Eric is great for dreaming right along with me. That is definitely one of the reasons we work so well together. He always supports my dreams and especially my realities, with never a complaint about any of my many pursuits.Now we're home and back to the real world of last-minute packing and other preparations for the week ahead. I'm getting ready for a marathon session of sewing patches on scout shirts, hemming pants and other tasks while Eric indulges in a little rare tv watching and finishing up some high-powered lawyer stuff. Bless his heart-his work never ends.

So, while this may seem like a very un-romantic anniversary, it really represents the very best of our life together-we're good at running a family together and at the end of the day, he's my greatest comfort. Our lives are so good every day, with so many little kindnesses and caring attentions, that when the subject of gifts comes up, we just look at each other and chuckle and wonder what we could possibly get for each other-we have everything we could ever want.

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Warning

I now have a reason to truly get behind global warming. I found this truly disturbing.

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