My week on the Eastern Shore of Virginia

This past week, I left the Gnome all alone (well, he had the cats for company) and traveled 6 hours to my parents'. I hadn't been to visit my parents since Thanksgiving so it was long overdue. In my defense, I had visited once in October and twice in November, but I still shouldn't wait so long in between visits. 


Monday was driving day, and I arrived around dinner time. My favorite meal, roast beef and dumplings (the flat kind, not the ball kind), was waiting for me :) And dessert was cotton candy ice cream with a waffle cone at the Island Creamery on Chincoteague Island.


Tuesday, my mom, the Question Lady (?L for short; called this due to her superhuman abilities to ask an insane number of questions within a given amount of time), and I jumped in the car and drove back in the direction from which I came to go shopping in VA Beach. Our first stop was a consignment shop the ?L loves called Worth the Wait. The shop carries consignment items from Anne Taylor, Talbots, BCBG, Vera Bradley, and Coach to name a few. I myself didn't find anything, but the ?L came away with a dress and two tops. After lunch at Macaroni Grill, we went to the biggest Michael's I have ever seen (I am in our local Michael's and ACMoore at least twice a week). A quick stop at Bed Bath and Beyond was followed by a lengthy visit to TJMaxx (also the largest TJMaxx I have ever seen). We had some time to kill before dinner so we walked around Fresh Market (a specialty grocery store in case you aren't familiar with the name) since the ?L had never been to one before. I had decided that we had to eat at a Japanese steakhouse for dinner because the ?L had never been to one, and I knew she would love it. We met up with one of my best friends from high school to have our hibachi dinner. The ?L definitely loved the dining experience, but the fire was a bit close to her for her liking, and the chef didn't throw shrimp for us to catch. The ?L hasn't stopped talking about the fried rice.


Wednesday was just a hanging around the house day until dinner with some more of my best friends from high school. We had flatbread pizzas and flirtinis. We were going to watch a movie, but we ended up talking the whole night so the movie didn't happen.


Pops (my dad) took Thursday off to hang with me. We ran errands, had lunch with the ?L, and then headed to Ocean City, Maryland for dinner. Everything on the Boardwalk was closed so we ended up just eating at Outback. Friday morning, I loaded the car with all of the stuff the ?L was sending with me and headed back to Roanoke. It was a great week with the parents. Here are a few pictures from around my parents'.

Strawberries ripening away in their own personal patch:

The strawberry patch!

Sweet Potato starts growing in Pops' hot box. He topped it with an old window, and it's equipped with its own temperature/humidity monitor. You may be able to see the sandals on either side of the box. They serve a very significant role in venting the box when it gets trans-mega hot in there. How's that for recycling?

     

Pops has an ongoing battle with the booming deer population. His pea plants are deer candy so he is constructing a 7-foot-tall fence complete with double gates. Gate #1 is to the left of the truck while Gate #2 is under construction. The pea plants are safe, but the ?L contends that they haven't been consumed because she bought these strips meant to deter deer called Critter Chasers and hung them up around the garden. Pops doesn't believe in the Critter Chasers.

Finally, this is the canopy Pops built recently to cover the back steps, mainly so snow and ice don't accumulate on the landing. Now, I'm trying to talk him into coming out to our house to build a screened porch.