Those of us who live here know that the land between the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean is a magical place. From outdoor adventures to cultural attractions, playing in the sand In Ocean City, Maryland to sailing on the Chesapeake Bay, fine dining to crab feasts, this really is The Land of Pleasant Living.

I hope you’ll spend some time browsing the site. There’s a lot to explore. Click on a tab to learn more about upcoming events, places to experience the outdoors, where to go to play and stay with your dog, the people and places that make Delmarva unique. Join in the conversations, upload your stories, check out links to special deals. We’re glad you’re here. Let your Delmarva adventure begin!

As I mentioned in my last blog, my computer's hard drive decided that blizzards and real winter were not its thing, so it 'went south.' As in: quit working, crashed, died, belly up, and a slew of other unhappy actions.

It's up and running, but I still lost some data. Among the missing pieces were contacts and information about some upcoming events. Several people contacted me after hearing sponsorship messages bout Delmarva Drives on WSCL/WSDL and asked about having their events posted on the calendar. Those were the things that were gobbled up by cyberspace gremlins or were wiped from my e-mail InBox.

So if you sent me something in January, please send it again. If your event does not show up, a thousand apologies.

There are times when becoming a Luddite is awfully appealing….

Jeeze Louise! Has this been a winter or what?

Not that I'm complaining. I actually *like* snow. Even lots of it. It's kind of an adventure and a bit of a forced hiatus from the frenetic way we live our lives. It's a beautiful reminder that we are not in charge. And it's a lot more benign than earthquakes and tsunamis. I mean, really, how many of us had things to do that were *that* important? Do we even remember what was so critical a month ago? A few people, sure, but most of us? And now I don't have to imagine what it's like to live in Alaska! What a country!

The weather played havoc with this website in an indirect way. I was in Florida attending a writer's conference when my computer began acting strangely. Document files would not open. The CPU was plastered at 100%. Access to the internet was fine, but the only way I could write and save anything was to use OneNote.

The suspected diagnosis from the other writers was "hard drive is terminal." When I got back, I took it to my usual computer hardware guru who said he thought it just needed an annual tune-up. Which is only $80 and was a much nicer diagnosis. Two days later, computer freshly vetted, I headed to Florida again, this time for a week-long equestrian clinic.

The computer worked fine for about two start-ups, then the pattern of no opening of files, et cetera returned. I visited the Staples in Ocala where I discovered their Easy Tech Department. The tech there could not do a full-blown diagnostic -- I was heading home (I thought) the next day. But he hooked it up to a console and it began flashing "Hard Drive Dying" in bright red letters. (Well, not really, but it felt like it should be.)

Plans to return home were thwarted by the first snow dump. I probably could have made it back in my Durango if I was solo. But I was hauling a horse trailer (and horse) and that's a non-starter. We stayed in Ocala for another four days, retuning just in time for the second and third snow dumps. I had just enough time to drop off the computer into the capable hands of Angie at the Salisbury Staples before being snowed in. Between running the complete diagnostic, ordering recovery discs (nobody told me I was supposed to do that when I bought the computer), having the store closed for several days, having the deliveries be slow because of the snow, re-configuring the computer, and recovering lost data from the crash, I was computer-less for nearly three weeks.

And, ya know, it was great! Once I accepted that there wasn't a blasted thing I could do about it, I chilled. Read books, reorganized my office, loaded up 9 boxes of books to take to the library (nice tax deduction, that), baked 'way too many cookies, kept a good fire going, developed an undying hatred of starlings that kept swarming over the seed I put out for the birds. All of the birds.

When Angie called to tell me the computer was ready for pick-up, I felt a vise clamp onto my forehead. Back to the grind and the pressure and the work.

But it's good work, and if you enjoy what you do every day, you are way ahead of most of the world. Spring is coming, and it will soon be time to get out and explore Delmarva. Come August, we'll be looking back on the cold nights and days with nostalgia.