Marriage in Mathews County (2)

Believe it or not, we've now been married for over a year! In honour of our first wedding anniversary, John and Kristal (and Kristal's mom) very kindly arranged for us to stay in a beautiful little cottage over their wedding weekend. It was a fantastic place with everything you could possibly want, including cinnamon raisin bread in the fridge for breakfast. The large lawn just outside ran down to the Piankatank River, with a long jetty from which we spied ospreys and jellyfish.

After the wedding on Saturday, we strolled along Bethel Beach, a narrow strip of sand between the Chesapeake Bay and some protected wetlands. We helped a kite surfer launch his enormous kite and were amused by the antics of some fiddler crabs. These lopsided critters have one claw bigger than the other. They sit in little holes in the sand or mud, and if you stand still for a few minutes they all start popping out to take a look around.

As we drove back into Mathews we wondered what an evening's entertainment might consist of out here in the sticks. We soon found out: it's a crowded pizza place with handmade pies and local beer, crammed full of music from a five-piece band. Both the musicians and the customers were having a great time, and so did we. We thought for sure we'd found the most happening place in Mathews that night... until we drove home past Donk's Theater, which was offering a "Salute to Jimmy Buffett". There were cars and people all over the place!

It was hard to leave the next morning, so we took it gently and drove cross-country to Williamsburg, once the capital of Virginia. The big attraction here is "Colonial Williamsburg", a whole network of streets and buildings preserved as they were in the 18th century. You can pay some extortionate price to go in all the buildings and talk to all the people in period costume, or you can do as we did and just wander around for free. I rather felt for the interpreters dressed up in hot-looking 1750's fashion. You have to have some admiration for the people who settled a whole new country wearing 3-piece suits or 6 petticoats.

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Ten books that shaped my life

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Martha's Marvellous Munchies

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