Memorial Day

Hope everyone had fun on the porch this morning. If the weather was like here, it should have been a good day. We've had plenty of sun and the temp must be about 90 now.

After our return from the beach we rested for a day, then went to W. Va. on Friday. Got some yardwork done there, did some hiking, I got out on my mt. bike and we bought some new furniture. Good times!

Today, I mostly finished cleaning and preserving our deck here in Va. M did his gig at Potbelly's. E is working today at Best Buy. Her second day selling appliances.

C and I head back to work in the morning.

I've started putting together some things for my presumably brief appearance at the alumni dinner. May need some help from Ed and his LV photo archives.

Day two: Bikes and beach

We took a two-hour bike ride around Assateague Island today (broken up by 30 minutes or so of lying on the beach). Very fun.

Also today: A couple hours of reading by the pool; a late afternoon walk on the beach; lunch at a place the locals seem to like that had a good buffet; dinner at a seafood place; dessert at an ice cream shop (and we got there just in front of four vans of kids from Pa., so our timing was great); fed corn to the ponies and ducks that live at the motel; and I worked out in the exercise room at the motel.

Pretty good day all in all. Tomorrow, we'll leave sometime after breakfast (the motel has a decent continental one, including a "make your own waffle" machine).

Hello from Chincoteague

We're comfortably resting at the Refuge Motor Inn right now, after a very nice day.

Left home about 8:30 a.m. Stopped for breakfast on Kent Island, Md. Got into Chincoteague around 1 p.m.

First thing we did after checking in to the motel was to drive over to the beach. We picnicked there. Then we took a 30 minute walk. Beautiful, sunny day. But quite windy. We could see the wild ponies in the distance as we drove back past some of the marshes on Assateague Island.

I went for a run later in the afternoon. We had dinner in town at a very nice seafood and steak place. Now we're getting read to watch 24.

Tomorrow, we'll likely rent bikes and do some more exploring on Assateague Island.

On vacation

We're heading to Chincoteague, Va., in the morning. Staying two nights at the Refuge Motor Inn, where we haven't been since M was a baby.

Then, either Thurs. or Fri. we'll head to W. Va. for a couple nights.

E has gotten a job a the local Best Buy. She'll start this week. M is back playing gigs at the local Potbelly's a couple times a week. Says he's getting $15 an hour.

I made plane reservations for alumni weekend. I'll fly up to Buffalo that Thursday, rent a car. Then back to Buffalo on the Sunday morning to fly home. Martha: I still think we can fit in a trip to W. Va. on your way back to WNY if you like.

Biked over to the local rec center today (took about 35 minutes), worked out for an hour and then biked back home. Good exercise.

Prom '06, on to the 9:30 Club & Mother's Day!

Whew! Quite a weekend.

First E had the prom. As you can see, she looked quite beautiful. This year's date was Christian - a friend. They went with a group to a restaurant in Arlington that has a view of D.C., then on to the prom. Afterward, she went to her friend Whitney's house, where several girls stayed over. They also went to the after-hours school-sponsored bowling party for a while (driven there by Whitney's dad), and couldn't leave until they called us at 3 a.m. or so - C had to talk to the chaperone to tell her it was OK for Whitney's dad to take them home.

Meanwhile, C and I started our evening with dinner and a show. Saw Stephen Stills at The Birchmere in Alexandria, which is just a great place. We got there early and had dinner (all the seats are at tables). The band came on around 8 p.m. and Stills joined them during the second song. He was excellent. Did a fair number of the old classics - several re-arranged in interesting ways - and a few new songs as well. And he told a few stories along the way.

We ducked out as he was ending the show (before any encore) to make our way over to D.C. to see M's band perform in round two of their battle-of-the-bands. They did very, very well (perhaps the wrestling uniforms that two of the guys wore added to the event), and gathered enough votes to advance to the big final round for the D.C. area.

So - and of course it would come on this particular weekend - they next peform at the very cool 9:30 Club in D.C. on the day after the alumni dinner. Looks like I'll be rearranging my plans a bit, most likely to fly up and back. Martha: we'd still like to combine your visit here for E's graduation with a trip to W. Va. afterward. Perhaps I'd then come back to Va. and fly up to Buffalo on Thurs. or Fri.

It will be worth it, though. Playing at the 9:30 Club is a very big deal for M and the guys.

C had a pretty good Mother's Day, I think. The two concerts, breakfast in bed, a new digital recorder, two bunches of flowers, the new Bruce Springsteen CD and a nice dinner today with just the four of us at home.

As you can imagine, we had quite a couple days at work after the release of Thursday's front page.

Happy 18th!

Lots of attention for E this weekend, topped off today with her birthday cake.

Saturday night she went out to eat with about 20 friends. She collected enough in gift cards to do some pretty serious damage at the local mall. Today she went with her friend Laura to an all-day concert at a nearby county park. Then she came home to have cake. And now she's relaxing in the room we redid last weekend. Not bad!

I went to W. Va. yesterday. Attended the annual homeowners meeting. Still lots of talk about illegal water and sewer lines and ongoing efforts by the state to get it all fixed.

After that I put some new solar-powered lights around the outside of our place. This morning I stopped on the way back to walk for a while in woods atop the mountains across the valley from our cabin. Took the second picture there.

Next Saturday, we've got tickets to see Stephen Stills at The Birchmere in Alexandria. That same night, Shatterbelt plays in D.C. But since the band doesn't go on stage until 10:30, we'll make it to both shows. E will be going to her prom that night. Should be quite a Saturday.