Saturday Morning Reflections

While I generally seem to dislike winter more each year, one of the real positives is that with the leaves off the tree our bedroom gets a view of wonderful sunrises across Hampton Roads towards Norfolk and the Naval Base such as the view above.  Once the trees across the street leaf out the views are largely lost again late fall.  Despite losing the amazing sunrises, I am happy that spring is nearly here as the daffodils are starting to bloom with their promise that warmer weather is almost here.

It's one of those mornings where I have a pleasant sense of well being despite recent family drama with one of brother-in-laws who was nearly killed a week and a half ago when an idiot driver ran into his car at 60 mph on I-64 while he was stopped in traffic (he's still seriously injured but recovering slowly) and the always present stress of running a solo practice law firm.  Last night the boyfriend and I went to "Steak Night" at the gay club, The Wave, in Norfolk where we met one of my daughter, her husband and my 3 month old granddaughter pictured below for a pleasant evening.  The food was good as always, as were the cocktails and some of the other customers, including several local TV personalities.

Today - which thankfully is sunny and beautiful though chilly - will involve an afternoon party at the home of one of the boyfriend's clients and then a birthday party/dinner for a friend over in Suffolk, across the harbor and to the west of the view at the top of this post.   The honoree has been with his partner for over 30 years thus dispelling the Christianist lie that gays cannot have stable, long enduring relationships.  Many of our circle of friends will be there as well.  It should be a good day overall and is an example of how gays endure even in horribly anti-gay states like Virginia.  And here at home, the usually sun worshipers are having a relaxed morning:

Virginia Braces for Yet Another Severe Storm

This past late fall and winter have been a bitch, starting back with November's "Nor'Ida" flood and torrential rain (the repairs to the house are still weeks away from completion). That storm has been followed by successive snow storms and now perhaps the worse storm yet is predicted to hit today. Charlottesville, which still has snow from last weekend's storm, is predicted to get 2 feet as is Washington, D.C. The photo above shows the chaos in one Charlottesville supermarket as people try to stock up - my sister said it took her 2 hours to pick up a few essentials. My mother has gone to my brother's house to stay. His house has a Vermont wood stove, so there will be heat even if the power goes out and he has a first floor bathroom. In addition, he and his wife have a Land Rover, so they can still get out if they need to do so. This area may get 3-4 inches of snow which is more than enough to create chaos. Here are highlight's from Charlottesville's Daily Progress:

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Call it snowmaggedon, the snowpocalypse, a snowtastrophe or just a gigantic pain in the neck, a huge snowstorm is expected to blanket the region today and set a new Charlottesville record for snowy winters.
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The storm has taken a track that brings it farther to the west than originally predicted, which should keep upper air temperatures low enough to make moisture fall as either sleet or snow rather than freezing rain. “That’s good. We don’t want freezing rain,” said Jerry Stenger, of the University of Virginia’s climatology office. “I’m leaning toward 16 to 20 inches for Charlottesville and I think we might get 20 to 28 inches in other areas.” With that amount of snow, authorities aren’t sure how long it will take to get roads passable again.
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“We stand a really good chance of breaking the record [today],” Stenger said. “Plus, we have another storm expected on Tuesday that could bring us another 2 to 4 inches. And we have six more weeks of winter to set the record.” Not everyone is as excited about setting the snow record, however. A series of storms has kept Virginia Department of Transportation snow removal teams at work on the weekends.
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UVa, Piedmont Virginia Community College and local schools have canceled classes today to help reduce traffic. “Consistent with the state declaration of emergency and the local declaration, the University of Virginia is canceling classes [today],” said Leonard W. Sandridge, executive vice president and chief operating officer of UVa.
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From my many years at UVA, I know that it is VERY rare for UVA to cancel classes, so they must truly expect to get hammered. It sounds like it will be a good weekend to be a couch potato!

Weekend Plans

This evening I am going to the HRBOR happy hour at Mixers - the featured martini is the "Golden Slut Martini" that I helped select last Saturday. Tomorrow I am meeting Victoria, my youngest daughter for lunch, and will then play the rest of the weekend by ear. Depending upon the waves, I may go surfing with my straight surf buddy, Skip, on Sunday. The ocean water is in the mid 40's Fahrenheit, so it will be fully body armor time. I need to get back to surfing every month - January and February are usually the biggest challenges water temperature wise.

I hope each of you has a great evening and weekend. I will try to find more tasteful yet provocative "male beauty" photos for the blog over the weekend. :)