Weekend on the Western Shore

I’m glad I started back to work because I am so busy that it keeps my mind off of my life right now. Everywhere I look, I see my husband. Today coming up the driveway from work, I thought I saw him standing there on the lawn waiting for me, George at his side. I had to look twice and saw that it was actually our son. But I promise you that it’s true when I say that I’m doing ok. My sisters check in on me all the time and my good friend, Karen, called me Sunday morning while I was on my way home from the Western Shore of Maryland where I’d gone to visit a friend that I had met online.

She was checking in to make sure I was still alive and hadn’t been killed by axe murderers. She actually said this.

I have ‘known’ Kat at Low Tide High Style for several years and we hoped to meet some day since we live in the same state and all. But she’s a 3-hour drive away and for so long it was so hard to get away. So we finally decided to meet halfway, in Annapolis, for lunch before I started back to work. But it rained on the chosen date and the weather was so lousy that we bagged that idea. We had planned to enjoy a nice autumnal stroll after lunch. And then she suggested that I come and stay at her place overnight.

And I thought, “Yes. I think I could do that.”

 

It was like meeting an old friend, one that I’d talked to over the years through e-mail and IM. Kat is a photo-journalist and she and her husband, along with two well-behaved border collies, live in a lovely home on the water.

Although I took my camera, I barely took it out. I get like that sometimes and also didn’t want to overstep my bounds by photographing their property which I thought might be weird. Especially when she does such a nice job of it herself.

 

We did a number of things in her beautiful part of the state. She took me to a local Amish farm where I bought some pumpkins and took these photos with my camera phone.

 

For some reason, I think this one almost looks like a watercolor or something. Not that it’s all that and a bag of chips. I just like it.

 

While we were out and about on Saturday, we ran into her son and his girlfriend, shown above. She was holding the most adorable little kitten that she found at the farm. It was purring and I believe she wanted to take it home.

But she had to just be content holding it for awhile.

 

Kat had her home completely decorated for the season. If you visit her blog, you can see some of it. I ended up only taking a photo of the delicious apple spice cake that we had for dessert. It was gluten free and I really thought I would have to pretend that it was tasty just to be polite. So imagine my surprise when I bit into a slice of it and found that it was ding dang diddly delicious. (And I got a slice to take home as well).

 

On Sunday morning before brunch, I sat down at the end their dock with my long lens, hoping for some eagles to come along. One or two flew by and one perched for a bit, but I was too far away to get a decent shot.

 

The only shot I managed to get of any wildlife is this. It looks to be some type of thrush, but the tail seems too long for a wood thrush. This is where I miss my husband because he used to know the birds really well and there was a time when he could tell me exactly what this was.

All in all, it was a lovely weekend and I do hope they’ll have me back. The two border collies, Misty and Quinn, were just a joy and they made me miss George all the more. I had left him home with my son because I just didn’t know how they would all get along. What a nice family though! I met Kat’s husband, and their two adult children who live in the area. It’s great meeting people in real life that you’ve known for so long on the pages of each other’s blogs, especially when they are as gracious in real life as they appear on the blog they write.

Hope you all have a good week and thanks so much for coming by today.

UPDATE: The bird is a brown thrasher, cousin to the mockingbird. Thank you, Donna.