weekend recap, september 23

1. Friday hike | 2. Night light | 3. Day light | 4. First Landing | 5. In a row | 6. Autumn at the Beach | 7. Lucy meets the water  | 8. First at bat | 9. Making it matter | 10. Cocktail | 11. Breakfast sandwich | 12. Sweet ride | 13. Cal | 14. Bust…

1. Friday hike | 2. Night light | 3. Day light | 4. First Landing | 5. In a row | 6. Autumn at the Beach | 7. Lucy meets the water  | 8. First at bat | 9. Making it matter | 10. Cocktail | 11. Breakfast sandwich | 12. Sweet ride | 13. Cal | 14. Buster | 15. Easy Sunday

It was good. We all seem to have nabbed Cal's slight cold, but otherwise, I'd clock this weekend as a good one. I'm back on my hike routine with my dear friend Tracy and that was pretty much the highlight of my Friday. I wish I could take you guys with me sometime. Wouldn't that be fun? 

Neel came home from work to find a new stretchy leash sitting on the counter. When he asked what it was for, I said, "I'm taking Lucy to the beach tomorrow. You're more than welcome to come with me if you want." It was at least the 3rd weekend that I'd wanted to go for a walk on the beach and we hadn't. I was tired of that. So we got up on Saturday and took Lucy to the beach.

I loved it. 

She remains uncertain. 

Saturday afternoon Cal had his first baseball game of the season. He's playing Little League Fall Ball, which is pretty low key. It's an instructional league, and it's giving Cal some much needed at-bats. His team had only had two practices before Saturday's game, and, well, it showed. But here's the thing. Our kids (boys AND girl) are a bunch of scrappy 13 and 14 year olds playing against SIXTEEN YEAR OLDS. Need I say more?

Those big kids had a lot of swagger. They sauntered up to the plate. They jawed with their coach (not impressed). They jawed with the smattering of parents and friends in the stands. There weren't many of us there, and since at the start of the game the sun was shining directly on the bleachers on the 3rd base side (where the visiting team generally sits)  a lot of us were sitting on the 1st base line. Parents from both sides chatted and talked. It was all very friendly; these games are more often than not.

One of our kids drew a walk, and I cheered. (To be honest, there was little to cheer for for our guys, so we were taking what we could get.) The catcher from the other team (yes, you read that right) , takes off his mask and says to me, "Wait, are you for them?"

"Yes. I am." 

"Why are you sitting on this side? You should be sitting on that side," and he cocks his head back to the 3rd base line. 

Do I need to remind you that this is the TEENAGE PLAYER FOR THE OTHER TEAM?

Perhaps, given the distance, he didn't see my eyebrows go up as I said, "I can sit anywhere I want, darling." 

Cal was next at bat.  

It's possible that I embarrassed myself with how loud I whistled and cheered when he batted in two runs with a double that went over 300 feet. Perhaps.

Boy earned himself some wings for dinner that night. And you know what? Even he and his teammates noticed how disrespectful that other team was to their coach during and after the game. They lost, but they learned a lot and they improved over the course of the afternoon, even. I'll take a loss like that, where our kids hold their heads up and respect the men who come to coach them over a sloppy win any day.

Back to the beach Sunday morning. This time to meet my friend (and photographer crush) Kim and her husband and their dog Buster. Lucy is still uncertain, but she's getting there. We might even let her off leash next week. She can't run too far, right? 

Back Friday, my sweets! This is my last week off. Promise! XOXO

five things, september 20

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1. I KNOW I'm excited to announce that I'll be teaching, along with my dear friend Jackie, another food photography workshop in November. We have some exciting things planned to explore the basics of this exciting genre. This is one of three classes I hope to teach this fall, so if you live in the Tidewater and have any interest in learning more about blogging or photography, contact Amanda at Virginia MOCA or checkout their website  to learn more.

2. I think this week hasn't been nearly as quiet as I had hoped! Last week I had said to myself that I really wanted to stay home all week and get things done. Ha! Best laid plans and all that. Cal got sick. Went in late Monday and stayed home Tuesday. Apparently everyone is hacking and sniffling their way through school right now. Heather had it right. Those first of school year colds? Don't stop after preschool. He better now. Well enough for baseball practice, which started unexpectedly this week and screwed up our evenings on Wednesday and Thursday. Plus, I had a meeting on Wednesday night. Thursday? Out all day. Friday? Out all day. My house is a wreck! I got nothing done! (Well, very little.) We ate dinner standing up! I might need to lie down.

3. I think  one of the best things that happened to me this week was discovering this post by my friend Rooth. As part of my 365 (I should do a catch-up post soon with some highlights, as soon as I'm caught up!), I take a weekly picture of the Elizabeth river from a vantage point a couple points a couple blocks from our home. It's one of my favorite spots in all of our area. And that Rooth thought of me and my photos when she read that lovely poem? Well. I have no words. It was exactly the thing I needed to read right in that moment. How did she know?

4. I think  one of the funnier things that happened this week was that Callum used our friends Richard and Annie and their (and our) beloved Primrose Hill in a word problem for math this week. Here goes: Richard decides to walk through Primrose Hill on his way home from work. Eager to get home, he walks up the hill two kilometers in two hours (!), however he catches up with a few old friends and talks for two more hours. Realizing that his wife will be worried he jogs home and reaches there in one hour. Cal then charted Richard's progress on a graph.

5. I think  this week has been good and necessary, and I think I'll likely take next to go along with it to actually stay home and get things done. I'm trying to monitor and pay really close attention to my on and offline life. To listen to the still small voice. It's easier to do when there's not so much chaos swirling around, isn't it? The absolute bonus is that I've had some amazing conversations with some wonderful people who are very dear to me. People who remind me how special being here really is. Thank you to all of you, near and far. Thank you.