This holiday weekend started out with great promise. The sun made itself a permanent resident, and a slow warming trend began. Our friend Gloria arrived on Friday. She loves good food and I put a ton of stuff together--pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw, corn on the cob, a berry pie. We finally got around to eating around 8 pm, and that was the last solid food I had for the next 36 hours. Gloria, it turned out, didn't arrive alone. She was just finding her way clear of a bad bout with some stomach bug that had had her in bed the entire day before. Fever, cramps, the works. I know how she felt because I got it Friday night. Just as she was feeling better (but still a bit wobbly), I was knocked flat. The three of us were the walking wounded all day Saturday, with both Steve and me getting over this nasty cold, and Gloria and me at various stages of sick to our stomachs, me feverish, unable to warm up, and as energetic as a wet dishrag. All I could do Saturday was lay on the bed in a sweater, with the heat on, and sleep. Thank goodness there was enough in the way of leftovers to keep Steve and Gloria happy. Food in the form of a can of soup finally passed my lips again Saturday night, so the bug didn't last long, but it was lethal. Happy holiday!

Yesterday was a good day. We traveled about a half-hour south to Berlin, Maryland, a little town with a locally famous turn-of-the-century hotel, The Atlantic, which serves lunch on its verandah, overlooking the town's main street. They have a great "soft-shelled crab BLT" sandwich that I love, and I put that baby away like nothing had ever been amiss in the alimentary department. There are two good and cheap antique/junque stores in Berlin that we visit when we are there and always find something to put on a shelf, or a wall, or to eat off of, in this place. This entire area is great for antiques, and we don't really have to go that far to find a good browsing, but lunch at The Atlantic makes it a day.

Gloria left this morning and now we are the two pops at home, doing our usual things. Steve's in his regular relaxation mode, which means building something--this time putting together finishing trim pieces for the bulkhead. There's a nice shelf along the front now, calling out for potted flowers to perch on it, so there's another enjoyable project in store. Meanwhile while I'm in here, catching up with emails and seeing what the blog family has been up to. Looks like everybody did it up right.

This small, scenic body of water is inviting for daytrippers in all their varying styles of boat, and this very warm day (91 F in the sun at the end of our pier) is bringing them out in number. Just about everybody observes the "slow, no wake" rule except the jet-skiers, who seem to believe that since they have no propellers they leave no wake, so they can do as they please. Whether they live here on the Priong or are just whizzing by, they make endless noisy and wave-inducing figure-eights, to the point where we sometimes have to shout over them to have a conversation, and tie our boat a bit tighter so it won't crash into the pier on the never-ending waves. We call them a word my fingers do not normally form in this space (but stick around for the audible version.....) The good thing is that the high-traffic scene doesn't last long; soon enough we're back to the accustomed peace and quiet. That's what we've got now, after a spurt of activity.

It looks like you're all enjoying yourselves this weekend. Good! I'll try to check back tomorrow, but if not, I'll be back in the regular routine no later than Wednesday.