George and I have been working hard trying to get things done around the house knowing that next week and the week after will be full to the very brim with busyness. We managed to get the office under control and find the surface of our desk, no small feat if you saw it before we cleaned. All three vehicles needed attention of one kind or another. The Joey had a flat tire. And the beat goes on... er, I mean list...
Last night, George was able to sit down to watch the Redskins pre-season game versus the Buffalo Bills. I had a lot of nervous energy and I do not like watching football, so I worked on our basement. I ran the vacuum and put away all the things that I have carried down the stairs and dumped for the last few months. After about two hours of maniacal tidying, I had had enough! So, I grabbed a loaner copy (thank you, Emily) of Real Simple magazine and sat with George to "watch" the game. Well, the Redskins did something amazing - they won. It's just too bad that it doesn't actually count. Poor George. He just can't give up hope no matter how bad their record is. I think part of his genetic makeup is "eternal optimist".
We woke up this morning with no particular task to do. Sure, we needed to vacuum out the cars and use the upholstery shampooer on the seats. Yes, we actually own our own upholstery shampooer! If this surprises you, you must not know me well. I want to wash the kitchen floor by hand before school starts. We both need new sneakers and George needs work shoes. But who really deep down wants to do any of those things? We decided to blow it all off and have a leisurely afternoon. What to do, what to do?
We picked Chesapeake Beach, a small town in southern Maryland. I had been there once in college with some friends to spend the day at the water park. We had taken a brief tour of the area while completing the Maryland Municipal League Geotrail with caching friends, Danny and Danielle. One of the caches that we did while in the area was at a place called "Brownie's Beach". The guys found the cache and Danielle and I walked the shoreline, ultimately finding 7 total shark's teeth. I tucked this little gem away in the back of my mind for a later date, which turned out to be today.
Picked up the pooch from my parents' house. He needs lots of opportunities for exercise and we enjoy letting him tag along so he is not bored at home. Left to his own devices, the furry monster would sleep all day, every day! Lots of traffic on the beltway slowed us down. Multiple broken down cars, cops with people pulled over and my favorite -- a poor Asian lady driver behind the wheel of her stopped compact car in the 3rd fastest lane on a curve near the Mormon Tabernacle Temple. At least she had on her flashers!
We finally got in the vicinity of our destination around 3:45 this afternoon, where I promptly announced "I'm hungry". Fortunately, George was too. Unfortunately, I was a poor planner and had packed absolutely nothing to eat. No worries, though! This is the EAST coast -- food can be found within 10 minutes of almost anywhere. Out west, you can drive for an hour and not see a single possibility of sustenance.
We leashed up and headed off down the boardwalk to see what there was to see. Well, this is a small town, so the answer was: not much. We were about to turn around when we spied a restaurant/ bakery on a corner, Sweet Sue's. We lamented that bakeries are not the source of joy they once were now that gluten is our nemesis. George read the menu in the window faster than I and proclaimed that this place had some gluten-free items. He found a seat outside and I went in to investigate. I was thrilled that they had rolls, cookies and even peanut butter creme-filled, chocolate iced gluten-free eclairs! Two chicken salad sandwiches and two chocolate chip cookies (all gluten-free) later, we were full and happy. Back to the car we headed, weaving our way through the farmer's market vendors setting up for the evening. Of course we made a stop in Doggiestylez pet boutique to let Sutter pick out a new snuggly. I can't tell if it is a sheep or a cow, but the construction is of multiple materials (burlap, twine, thread, baby washcloth fabric, fleece) and the ears crinkle!
Walk down about 400 feet to the end of the paved gated-off road and you are there! We arrived right after low tide, which is always advantageous. There were only 10 other people on the beach with us, a family of 4 and three pairs. While the beach is not very big, we had some room to ourselves and within a half an hour, we were alone on the beach!
Even though it was not the plan, we found a great deal more sea glass at this spot than we did at either Tolchester Beach or Rock Hall. But we weren't there to hunt glass -- we were after shark's teeth. And find them we did! 45 to be exact, and 5 skate teeth, too! We also picked up sea glass as we came across it and got quite a little pile. The day was overcast, only about 85 degrees and with the lovely breeze coming off the bay, it was actually pretty nice out. There are lots of different "techniques" for finding these teeth. George liked to kneel in front of the piles of debris away from the shoreline and sift for teeth missed by other hunters. It worked. I liked to slowly walk the shoreline and find a gem here or there, but this made the dog nuts because he could not understand why I was walking so slowly if we were on a walk! I finally ended up standing just below the water's edge in the water in my flip flops and watching a 3 foot square spot as the waves washed in and knocked stuff loose from the shoreline. It worked really well. I would hit-hit-hit and then nothing. Ten teeth in a minute and then nothing. So it worked, sort of. We had such a good time and both want to come back again. On the way home, we were passing IKEA and needed an add-on for an incomplete shelf that is in our basement so that we can downsize from a huge monster that is heavy and old and half-empty. We wedged Sutter's water bowl in a cup holder, topped it off and set our cell phone timers for fifteen minutes. With all the windows down, it was cool inside the car, but I still was not comfortable leaving him for any longer. As it was, we were in line to pay when time ran out and I left George and went to find the dog... asleep in the backseat on his blankie. He was fine. But we still snuggled and waited for George to come with the cart.
I was storing my sea glass in a chemistry flask given to me as a graduation present, but while we were in IKEA, I snagged a big glass jar with a close-able lid. Looks pretty empty right now. I guess I have some work to do.
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