House of Stalin

Just so you all can see the evidence, this is what I deal with on a daily basis. No wonder they think I am Stalin... yes, they really are playing soccer in the house. I try and maintain some semblance of control... it's hard.

Rach and Em

Well, in an attempt to keep the blog alive and interesting, here is a report on my most recent travels. Last Thursday, I flew to Indianapolis, Indiana to visit Rachel. She has been in school at IU for two years, and has one semester left. If I'm going to see her there, I figured it had better be soon. So, now or never. So I arrived in Indianapolis around midnight, where Rachel picked me up at the airport. We drove to Bloomington, which is about 45 minutes away. We were both pretty tired, so after taking Lucy for a walk we both crashed. Friday morning we got up and walked to the Bloomington Bagel Company (Rachel's equivalent to Aurora). It was yummy. After breakfast, Rachel gave me a little tour of Bloomington by car. It's not a big place, pretty typical college town. VERY granola. And flat. Well, it is the midwest... We then decided to play some tennis. The weather was really nice, not as hot as Atlanta. After some good exercise, we did some shopping to get ready for the picnic and borthday cook-out planned for Saturday. Friday night we met some of Rachel's friends and went out in downtown Bloomington. Saturday morning we took another trip to the BBC (Bloomington Bagel Company) and then... I don't remember what we did then. Oh yeah, we went to the library so Rachel could take care of some business. Saturday afternoon we went to the Oliver Winery, where we tasted some wine and then had a picnic on the lawn (see pic). It was fun, a little hot, but very fun. Saturday night Rachel had a birthday party at her house. Some of her friends came over, and we cooked out and had birthday cake and sangria. Yummy again. (As you can tell, we ate a lot -- it was a good trip :-) Rachel took me back to Indianapolis Sunday, and I came home to Atlanta. It was a great trip, and I was glad to get home. It's been an extremely busy past month, there has been a lot of travel and activity. Fun times, but I have to say I am looking forward to hanging in the 'hood this weekend. This weekend I will be hanging in the 'hood, but I have a visitor coming from Front Royal. One of my co-workers from WCSAC is coming to spend the weekend, I will be picking her up from the airport tonight. I'm sure she will enjoy her stay in Atlanta... everyone loves the Highlands!!!

News From Browntown

Waiting for pics...

I read a lot of blogs and I know what makes them interesting. Long, unbroken reports of boring activities are not one of the more interesting elements.

In an effort to liven up our own News From Browntown, I have just delivered two rolls of film to Costco for developing, instructed them to be put on CD and will post the most incriminating - oops, make that interesting - ones as soon as I have them back. I am studying up now on how to post CD pics to this format.

More to come...

News From Browntown

News From Browntown
Even though there are no pics, we did actually get our yard work done this week-end as promised in Friday's blog entry. It took three separate trips to the hardware store and one trip to Lowe's but Dad persevered and we finally have the pig set up and functioning. At this point we will have to trip the sump pump manually every now and then because the rain seems to have stopped and no more is forecast - why am I not surprised that drought would set in just as we finally have our water collection system in place?! Anyway, it is a beautiful thing!

Sorry there are no pics as yet. Dad has found the camera instruction manual and e-mailed me the web site but I have had no time to study up yet. Maybe this week I will get the hang of it. Then all can see the pig in it's newly renovated garden spot along the side of the house where Nana's ramp used to be.

Char, there will also be yarn pics! Good idea about our very own craft blog by the way. We could work on a lot of collaborative stuff I think.

It is so nice to know that you are practicing your instrument, Andrew, even though Em has been out of town and unavailable to sign practice cards. Good Boy! I know your teacher will be pleased at your progress. We can work on the squirrel problem when Grammy and I get down there. She will be rested from victory in the groundhog wars and will have all sorts of experience to draw from in engaging the Rodents of Rupley in battle.

Win must be totally immersed in camp - no surprise there - I am assuming that he is still within the borders of the Commonwealth since we have had no notice to the contrary.

Em - pics of Rachel in Indiana are coming, we hope.

News From Browntown

News From Browntown
The rain has stopped for the time being and unseasonally cool, dry weather is forecast for the next few days. The rain was so good for the plants and everything is just glowing sparkly green. Of course, where I see lush, healthy, growing greenery, Dad sees mowing... He was called to work in Baltimore unexpectedly yesterday and had to be gone on the best mowing day in more than a week. He is champing at the bit to get back and on that tractor this afternoon.

As always, it has been peaceful and serene here in Browntown (other than the Fourth of July fireworks earlier this week although even that was somewhat subdued - humidity, I guess). I am hoping to give myself a lesson on camera use this week-end so I can post some pictures of the flowers, veggies, etc. Maybe throw in a picture or two of yarn (Auntie Char is the only one interested in that stuff, I know). The egg plant and tomatoes are looking very healthy and potentially productive. The peppers are also looking good. Unfortunately, the resident groundhog up at the pool garden has destroyed some of the squash and zucchini so it's hard to say what the output there will be. The pool garden tomatoes, however, are spectacular! Of course, the herbs, flowers and other stuff Grammy tends so carefully are looking very hale and hardy, especially with the rains we have had these past couple of weeks. Usually by this time of the summer it is tough going to keep everything watered sufficiently to offset the blazing heat but this year it is working out really well - at least for us - of course, there are those who have suffered with flooding. Both of the rain barrels are completely full and this week-end Dad and I will work on getting the "pig" set up to catch the water that pumps from the spring under the basement floor. That little spring is running high since the rains and there is plenty of groundwater now. The sump pump is humming right along to keep the basement floor dry.

We are getting some very interesting letters (via e-mail) from Kris Iden describing her first experiences in her new home in Germany. She is settling in well, it seems and it will be fun for her to look back at those letters a year from now. By then she will be really settled in and those experiences will, no doubt, seem like ancient history.

Will try to post some pix this week-end!

Emmalee's 4th of July Report

I hope everyone had a great 4th. Mine was excellent, I spent the weekend at the beach. I had never been to the Gulf of Mexico before, and I took this opportunity of a long holiday weekend to take a road trip to visit a friend who just recently moved there. I had a travel partner most of the way, which made the drive much more fun. St. Petersburg is a beautiful little place, and I was fortunate enough to witness one of those famous St. Pete sunsets I have heard so much about. Enjoy the pictures!

News From Browntown

News From Browntown

Happy Fourth of July!

Does anybody else remember how much Pawpaw loved the Fourth of July? It was always one of his favorite secular holidays, as I recall. Every element of Fourth of July celebration was something he particularly enjoyed. Even the patriotic colors motif suited him. He could actually see red, white and blue.

For another thing the timing of this holiday suited him to a Tee. Portsmouth-born and raised, he preferred hot weather (no matter how high the temperature climbed, it never got too hot for him) and blazing, steamy July Fourth was a book-end to cold, white Christmas. July 4th stood as the pinnacle of the summer for him and more than once he told me that "after that it was downhill" to winter time.

Outdoor socializing and eating was his favorite way to entertain. If cooler heads had not prevailed (ie. Grammy, who did all the cooking), he would have declared the whole summer season one long week-end picnic which was pretty much how it happened anyway in later years in Browntown.

As little children, we looked forward to the Fourth of July picnics at Aunt Emma's and Uncle Floyd's house just two short blocks from Ocean View. Not even us kids were more excited than Daddy was about being with the family, going to Ocean View amusement park and watching the evening fireworks from Aunt Emma's back yard- a pretty spectacular display over the park and beach to the accompaniment of amusment park music and thrill ride screams - 100% Americana.

Of course, there were the years when we stayed in Arlington and had the real Fourth of July thrill of a lifetime watching - in person - the fireworks display at the Washington Monument. We all remember how Daddy loved old-fashioned band music, the more rousing the better, and John Philip Sousa marches were at the top of his list. Is there any bigger thrill than watching fireworks bursting over the Potomac and listening to the Navy Band playing John Philip Sousa marches in the background? Even the Boston Pops Fourth of July cannot beat that! Pawpaw loved it!

The Fourth of July for Pawpaw in later years was quiet, low-key and relaxed and what you all, Win, Emma and Andrew, will remember. Fourth of July Browntown style - usually a picnic at our house or Grammy and Pawpaw's with friends and family and maybe a short walk down to the Bowntown celebration sometime during the day. Pawpaw seemed to enjoy it in a different way after 10 years of living outside of the U.S. Or maybe it was his age and the national political climate, or maybe it's my age and my memory.

Anyway, Happy Fourth of July, 2006! PLEASE BE SAFE

Bar Harbor Weekend

Another most excellent adventure as Mom and I tour the Bar Harbor, ME area. Since I had to work back to back weeks up here, Mom flew up to meet me and spend a long weekend. It is truly a beautiful place, one that we have never visited before. The pictures don't do justice to how pretty it is here.



This is the hotel we based out of. It was about 3 miles from the center of town.

The highlight on Sunday was taking a 4 hour whale watching tour. After crusing out in the ocean (35 miles) and covering 85 total miles, we were able to catch sight of several whales. I believe they were 'fin whales' which we were told were the second largest mammal. All I know is, they were incredible. We close enough that I could actually hear them blowing thru their blow holes. Pretty impressive. It is kind of hard to see, but here are a couple pictures. Actually the entire tour would have been fine even without seeing the whales. We cruised by a light house island, some 25 miles out in the ocean and watched seals lounging on rocks, and diving as we shut down and just hung out watching.





We will have more pictures and stuff to blog later. It's Lobster time now! More blogging later....

Day 2 of the excellent adventure........

We're off to Acadia National Park and Cadilac Mountain. More pictures to follow. In the meantime, here are a couple from the Whale Watching outing.








Ok, day 2 was spent exploring Acadia National Park. The pictures below show some of the beautiful sights. Some of the things observed were Peregrine Falcon's nesting. Watching a mother Falcon ward off a hungry buzzard. Thunderhole which was a crevice carved between some massive rocks at the shoreline, with waves constantly bashing into it. The resulting sound was like thunder. Witnessing mom standing on the edge of a ledge overlooking the Atlantic ocean was something you don't see everyday either. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves and mom will contribute more narrative later, once she is home in Browntown. Enjoy!





Ok, Mom is home, or at least nearby, I talked to her and she was navigating Dulles Airport. The last obsticle is for her to find her car (she didn't write down her parking area) so that could take some time. I'm still in Maine, and went back to work this morning. We both are looking forward very much to having all of the kids home (for however brief a time) for a visit this weekend. If anyone wants more pictures of the Bar Harbor experience let me know and I'll send more to you. As for me, it's back to work! I can't wait to get back to Browntown and to re-collect myself before the next Excellent Adventure!

News From Browntown

News From Browntown/Show Dog Circuit

Auntie Char has some very exciting new to post. Here it is as e-mailed for posting :

Abby, Haley and I had a stellar weekend of competition in the dog sport of Rally Obedience in Fredericksburg, Va. This is a newer style of competition obedience that is sort of like a cross between Agility and traditional Obedience- if you are familiar at all with either of those. In Rally, the obedience exercises (instead of Agility obstacles) are placed around a course designed by the judge. You and your dog “heel” around the course completing the required exercises at each station-usually 18-23 stations, with “perfect heeling” in between the stations. Lots of fun, but requires attention and precision from both dog and handler.

Anyway, the total possible score with bonus points is 210. Haley had fabulous scores of 207,208 and 209 in 3 runs. And…Abby DAZZLED everyone with 3 PERFECT (!!) runs of 210 each. With that they BOTH earned their “Rally Level One” titles with “Awards of Excellence” for exceptional scores. With 37 dogs in the division Abby won FIRST place (in a run off!) and Haley THIRD. There were lots of great dogs with really high scores, so we really felt great about our wins!

Afterwards one of the judges shook her head at me and said “You have 2 lovely working dogs!” Another lady came up to me later and said “Do you realize that everybody here wants your dogs!?” We will now continue on with training for Level 2 and then Championship levels. Oh, and by the way, we beat a Border Collie AND an Australian Shepherd!! (Those 2 breeds excel at these things!).

Keith had to stay home and bale hay with John Deere (HIS absolute favorite sport!!) but I kept him posted by cell phone the whole weekend (thank heaven for those cell phones!). He is very proud of us girls!

Now Auntie Char has to begin digital photography so she can take pix of the shows and post photos of the girls performing! To think that Abby came from the Humane Society after a miserable life as an incubator for pit bull pups!! She is a star now!

Rupley Summerfest '06 Report

Well, another Summerfest has come and gone here in the Virginia Highlands. For those of you who don't know about Summerfest, it's basically a bigger and better Festival of Leaves. And Rupley would be the Summerfest equivalent of Chester Street for the Festival of Leaves. For that reason, we had several house guests at 991 for the weekend.

The festivities started Friday afternoon, with Ryan and Jarrett setting up the Washer Theatre in the front yard.



Washers is a yard game that our Indiana friends introduced us to. Basically, it's the same as horseshoes, it involves throwing washers from one side of the yard into a cup on the other side of the yard. It proved to be quite entertaining all weekend. For us, our houseguests, and even the neighbors stopped by to throw a washer or two... It is a gentleman's game, as Andrew demonstrates. However, we girls did get a few ringers in!







Wait a minute, I'm getting ahead of myself here. Let me not forget the front porch jam Friday night! Andrew and friends entertained us on the front porch with some tunes. Then they got ambitious and moved to the intersection of Virginia and Highland, where they serenaded some poor guy trying to impress his date at the Highland Tap. From there, I'm told they moved to the Summerfest Main Stage, set up in the middle of the intersection. I did not witness this, as I was in bed trying to get some sleep before my big day Saturday... more to come on that.







After a late night Friday, Saturday morning came early for most. I ran in my first race, the Summerfest 5k, which started at 8am. I don't have pictures of this spectacle yet, however I hope to in the near future. I will post as they become available. Our neighbors, Scott and Kim, have a party for the race. All the neighbors and guests gathered on their lawn to cheer the runners on as we raced past. John Marc and I had been training for the race for a while, going to bootcamp regularly and running on the off days. We were both glad to run the race together, especially when we rounded the corner on Rupley and heard all of our friends and neighbors screaming for us with Chariots of Fire blaring in the background. The good news is that our street came at the end of the race, so it was pretty much downhill from there (not literally). I finished the race, which was my overall goal, in 30:26. I am hoping to improve that time for next year!

After the race, I was glad to join everyone else at the party... the weather was great Saturday. Not too hot, no rain, perfect! We did have a party Saturday night, which was a raging success. I think Andrew and Jarrett and I all met new people Saturday night! (Yeah, there were definitely a few crashers!) It was a good time, as was evident from the clean-up we had to do Sunday morning. Good times.

Overall, I would say Summerfest was a fantastic time, another reason why our neighborhood is so great!

Part 2

After returning to Abingdon from Holiday Lake, I had another Elderhostel to get through. This is a biking program that we do every year. The hostelers spend several days biking on the Virginia Creeper Trail, which used to be a rail line into North Carolina, and one day spent on naturalist studies in Tennessee and Virginia.

Shady Valley, TN. Eons ago a meteor formed this bowl, it was once a marshland, then a forest, now being returned to marshland.

A Salamander we found in Shady Valley. Scientists come from all over the world to study salamanders here, apparently there are more varieties than anywhere else, and a few that don't exist elsewhere.

This 1/4 acre cranberry bog is all that remains of the vast cranberry bogs that filled the Valley. This site is the smallest parcel of land owned by the Nature Conservancy, which is the largest single land-owning organization in the world.

A stand of old-growth forest in Shady Valley. The sun barely reaches the ground here.

Backbone Rock. The highway goes right through the rock, like Natural Bridge. This is a big recreation area, there was a group of kids climbing and rappelling off to the right.

The view from atop Backbone Rock. Look at the previous picture. Yes, we hiked/climbed to the top. Yes, we walked across. Yes, this is what it looks like peering over the edge.

A creek that runs parallell to Backbone Rock, under the road. It reminds me a lot of Passage Creek, near Elizabeths Furnace. In fact, the whole area bears a strong resemblance to the Lee Ranger District of the George Washington National Forest.

Climbing back down from Backbone Rock.

As you can see, this Elderhostel program is a particularly interesting one. We're doing it twice more this fall, so hopefully I'll get some biking pictures, maybe on the trestles that cross over the Holston River.

It's now quarter to one in the morning, and I have campers coming tomorrow. So I'm off to bed, and I'll talk to you all in August. Except for when I'm home in two weeks for Adam's wedding. And when I call on a weekend sometime. And maybe an email during the week. You get the idea.

Camp Approaches

As I told mom, I have been taking pictures and contemplating a blog entry in my mind for months now, I just haven't gotten around to doing it. So now, on the night before camp begins, I decided to throw something out to you all before I drop from sight for the next ten weeks.

It's been a busy spring here in Abingdon and at the 4-H Center. Since March, we have had three Elderhostels, one week of State Staff Training, one week of staff training, one board meeting, one Serve-Safe class for foodservice workers from the area, a teen and adult volunteer training weekend, three groups of foster kids on the ropes course and, starting tomorrow, camp!

In early March, we hosted 18 hammered and lap dulcimer players from as far away as California and as close as North Carolina. It's a program we do every year, and this year we had several repeat customers. Apparently, most Elderhostel sites don't get many repeats....we do. It seems the hostile elders like our approach of quality over quantity, the individual family atmosphere we achieve with our smaller groups.

A few weeks later, we had another Elderhostel, this time working with the local Hysterical Society to put together tours and lectures on the history of the area. We visited the Museum of the Middle Appalachians in Saltiville, several restored historical homes in Abingdon, and had an interesting tour of the oldest cemetary in town. It's actually two cemetaries...one for the whites, and one for slaves across the road. We took a walking tour of downtown Abingdon, stopping behind the Cave House to see the cave that Daniel Boone supposedly named the town after, when it was known as Cave Hills. One of the more interesting activities was afternoon tea served up by the Daughters of the American Revolution - Blacks Fort Chapter. The ladies came in full period garb and in character, serving tea while telling stories. Sam and I had a laugh at our handling of the delicate china...I took pictures, but they're not on this computer, so I'll have to share them some other time.

About three weeks ago my camp staff and I drove to Holiday Lake 4-H Center in Appomatox for the annual State Staff Training event. The other five 4-H Center Program Directors and I had begun putting the event together several months prior at a three day retreat. It's a great event, camp staff from all over the state teaching each other new songs, new games, learning to teach classes...in short, a nerd-fest for "camp people". Everyone's a type-A and loves attention, a rowdy group.

Nate, PD at Holiday Lake, and I pose for a picture. Nate was in the Peace Corps in Bolivia.








Leading a group in a team building exercise.









Southwest leads all the other 4-H Center Staffs in a song before lunch.








Yes, we stil square dance at camp. Well, at State Staff anyway. Thing 1 & Thing 2 are on my staff.









Southwest leads a flag raising ceremony on the last morning.










Everyone's favorite (former) teen counselor, Megan Stephens, makes an appearance.





One or two familiar faces for Andrew. Bob Meadows, Associate Director of Virginia 4-H in the blue shirt, and Barry Garst (reddish shirt, no book), my boss, next to Bob. Andrew remembers Bucket and Bubbly Bob fondly, I'm sure...




With that, I'll close this post. I'll do another one on the last Elderhostel.

News From Browntown

News From Browntown

Who knew that an interest in sticks and string could lead to such things as Christmas in May in Browntown?

Cleo and I had a surprise this morning. We got up and, as usual, the first thing I did was to follow Cleo to the front door to let her out. We were both taken aback when she had to navigate her way off the porch through two boxes that hadmysteriously appeared there. I have not opened them but I already know that they contain a SPINNING WHEEL sent to me by a friend in Chicago! Bev Nachtrieb and I had such a good time talking about fiber crafts when she was here with her husband a couple of weeks ago that she sent me her spare spinning wheel.

I am shocked and amazed at her generosity but, even more than that, I am really anxious to "take it for a spin" (groan...). The Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival is this week-end and I had planned to attend. Now it will be even more exciting to see the spinning demonstrations and learn about that ancient skill. Will post pix of the wheel as soon as I have unpacked the boxes and put it together (uh...Win can you come home for the week-end? You are the official assembler in the family).

Atlanta Braves

Audrey and I had the pleasure of seeing the Braves beat the Marlins last night, in the 11th inning. It was a good game, and we had a good time. I got two tickets at the last minute from a coworker of mine who couldn't go. They were good seats and they were FREE (ca-ching!!!). We had a great time, just us girls, like the good old days... Aud and Em wreaking havoc in Atlanta. Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

News From Browntown

A Cozy, Rainy Moms Day in Browntown

Mother's Day in Browntown started off with church and the Moms' high hopes of playing in the yard. However, just after church it got very chilly, clouded up and things started to look iffy. Grammy and I dashed home, changed clothes quick, and ran outside trying to stay ahead of the impending rain to get some planting done. I have lots of vegetables and flowers all waiting patiently for their new, permanent homes and the weather has not been cooperative so I can get them settled in properly. Grammy has her stuff planted because she plants and putters in the garden during the weekdays between rain drops and showers. Anyway, we dashed outside bundled up against the May chill and while Cleo fretted and paced around us worrying about the impending storm, we managed to get a few things planted on my end of the compound before the storm broke. It rained heavily the remainder of Mother's Day, 2006.

We spent the rest of the day eating lunch, watching a movie, winding yarn with my new Mother's Day ballwinder and having Mother's Day observance what with cards to each other and calls from the children/grandchildren. It was so nice to hear from each of you when we could both chat a bit.

Dad and I gave Grammy corning ware for Mother's Day. Her cookware (which I remember PawPaw giving her for Christmas one year in the early 1960s) is more than a bit worn and she has resorted to using some odds and ends that only resemble cookware in that they are metal vessels with handles of sorts. I hope she can adapt to using nice French White Corning Ware and, even more important, will discard the worn out, make-do stuff.

Thanks so much for the cards and the calls Win, Emma, and Andrew.

I will be doing a bit of traveling this summer if all works out. Sometime in June Dad has to stay in Maine for two weeks and we were thinking we might make it a bit of a long week-end. I will go up on a Thursday and stay over until the following Tuesday or so. Dad says it is really beautiful and I have never been that far up into New England. June in Maine will be beautiful, I'm sure.

Sometime after that and before mid-August, Grammy and I plan to drive down to Atlanta via China Grove, NC (where we will visit the Fulghums) and on to Atl. to visit with Melanie, Em and Andrew. That trip date is not set yet - waiting to confirm with those kind enough to host us and sorta hoping the Virginia Highlands yarn shop is open by the time we get down there.

Thank you again for the Mother's Day rememberances and for being you (all three of you).

Florida Gig

Well, here I am, in sunny Florida! It'a hot............DAMN HOT! The only thing I have going for me is the AC in my hotel room. Thank goodness it works! I must say, traveling from Regan National Airport (National Airport) for us old timers, was a breeze. The downside was driving from Front Royal to DC, howwever, my return flight gets into National Airport on Friday at 6PM. Do I have to say more??? Blog when you can. Win..........I'm glad you got the Sony off loaded into your apartment. I'm still trying to figure out how best to get HD on my new set.... More to follow.

dad