It's The New Toy On 991 Rupley....

Dad, Win, check it out...it's the newest arrival.........

Beachin It In Jax

So it's a little late, but what you gonna do. Em and I hit the road to Jacksonville (that should be a song title if it isn't already) this past Labor Day weekend for some much needed R&R and a visit with Gina and Tom-First off, let me just say that Mapquest is a bunch if liars. No way it's 5 hours, for some reason unbeknownst to the to of us in the car, the drive took 6 or so hours-which was a little longer than we had bargained for. We finally arrived in Jacksonville in the late afternoon, and spent the evening with Gina, Tom, their friends Laura and Don, and their little daughter Kacey, who is a barrel of laughs. We took a walk down to the beach, made our way to a Mexican restaurant with possibly the worst service in the history of the world, and proceeded to leave without eating when the waitress just up and ignored us for 25 minutes.
We went back to Gina and Tom's hung out at the house with some pizza, and watched Georgia Tech and Notre Dame, and hung out on their back porch laughing at-well, everything. Gina and Emmalee tend to do that.
We hit the beach on Sunday, and despite not having been on a beach since the last Iden excursion to Virginia Beach, I had forgotten how incredibly cool the beach is. After our time on the beach, we got in the car and Tom and Gina took us down the road to St. Augustine, the oldest city in North America. Can't remember the details behind it, but its OLD. We generally walked around, mocked those who were worth mocking, and took a look at the sights. Mom, you'll enjoy the picture of the "most photographed street in the world"-Although Im not sure what street it is, Tom said it's the most photographed street in the world, so who knows. Anyway, enjoy the pics......

News From Browntown

If anyone doubts that something has changed our weather just consider the fact that for the past four out of five years it has not rained between late May and early September. Summer is really and truly becoming the "drought" season with flooding rains at either end... not good plant growing weather at all. The weeds were the only thing growing by last week and the week-end rains just gave them the extra boost they needed to take over completely! We did pick four beautiful eggplants this past week-end, though, and they were delicious! There are still some blossoms hanging on the plant but I think it will be too cool for them to set fruit so we are probably done with that until next year. The dependable pepper plants got pretty much beaten down by rain and the tomatoes ... (sigh) well, the squirrels must have enjoyed some sort of acorn slumgullion dish this year. They got all the tomatoes.

The Labor Day week-end sort of got rained out but it was okay. We all spent a very quiet week-end doing indoor stuff including more homeowner projects. Got a bit of mowing done but it is not nearly so pressing now that the cooler weather is just around the corner and we are easing into Autumn mode. This year we have the Cyclone Rake to play with in the leaves. Dad is looking forward to getting it out and cranking it up. He receives regular mail from the manufacturer as it seems once you purchase one of their machines you become their new best friends.

We expect to have some time for a trip or something during October. Then in Nov. (on Dad's B-Day) Donniebiggs gets married!

There is a story in the NVD today about the last class to graduate from Warren County High School starting their senior year this week. The Iden kids' old alma mater will be no more. The new schools - yes, there are going to be two high schools in Warren County - will be named something like Skyline High School and South Warren or some such thing and they open next fall. Next time you all come home you will not believe how much has changed at the entrance to Browntown Road. The high school they are building looks like a major league stadium/parking lot with a building attached.

I remember Grammy saying that she never got over the feeling that comes from End of Summer/Back to School time even though there were no children to send back to school after we left home. She is right. It really is a transitional stage even without the Back to School preparations. It is already starting to get dark at 6:30 pm and the 6:30 am wake-up time is a bit dimmer each day now.

I know that Win, Emma and Andrew had active holiday week-ends. How about some pics??

Butterflies and other ramblings...

It's been awhile since I posted, so I thought it was about time. This week has been a relatively slowed down and relaxed one for me, no travel! It's only Wednesday and all that could change with one phone call however. My latest project in Baltimore seems like it will never end. Since it is getting closer and closer to football season, the anticipation and excitement is growing (well, with Grammy and me anyway, Mom endures as she sits knitting away!!). Football in HD is just great. Of course Monday Night Football is more watchable now that TK is in the booth.

Work on the old homeplace is nearing completion with the planned project of shelving and deck sealing to be finished this week. Pictures will follow. Speaking of pictures, here are just a few taken of the Butterfly bush just off the deck at the back door. The butterflies have been spectacular this season, and we've even had a few hummingbirds visit. Our backyard has become quite the gathering spot for the local Browntown wildlife community with squirrel and deer. Every day is like a battle zone as I step out and dodge the acorns being hurled from above......Cleo doesn't seem to mind, she just calmly walks off the deck (if the grass isn't wet) and stares at the herd of deer hanging out munching Mom's plants. We did manage to salvage most of the eggplant and peppers enabling us to enjoy that most popular of summer dishes..shlumgullion.. or however that is spelled, you get the idea.

Congrats to Win on the completion of what can only be described as a very active and successful summer camp season. We are all looking forward to the pictures that he's promised. If anyone has not already visited the Southwest Virginia 4-H web site, please do so, it is a great snapshot of life in SW VA 4-H life.

http://www.ext.vt.edu/resources/4h/newcenters/southwest/

I am looking forward to pictures and mp3's of the 991 Rupley St. Front Porch Band too! Founding members Andrew and Jarrett continue rehearsals and are adding to their songlist weekly. Bookings by appointment.

The Dozier Center for the Performing Arts had it's grand opening, and from all reports (see post below) was a huge hit! Congrats to Emma for getting this project off the ground in the Atlanta 'burbs. I am looking forward to a back-stage tour this winter. IDEA: Bring the 991 Rupley band into that impressive studio and lay down some tracks.

Ok, enough ramblings for this morning........enjoy the butterflies!!










Ok, it's not a butterfly, but fish need love too!

As requested.........pictures of the family room. Win, can you spot the speakers?

News From Browntown

News From Browntown
Week-ends "on the compound" in Browntown are certainly no match for the excitement that goes on down south with the younger family members. Sounds like a good time was had by all!

Another lovely time with a friend this week-end. Phylis Benner, Em's colleague from Wolf Trap days, came to visit and spent Saturday night in "the cave"... which she reported to be very comfortable.

Phylis is committed to the Liberia project (she is a board member) and we spent some time planning and strategizing on how best to build LOEP. Her experience with children's foundation work and program planning combined with my experience in fundraising and development is a pretty good combo.

Dad has become quite the Bob Villa of "the compound". Improvements to the TV room have really made it a comfortable spot for his TV viewing and my knitting - quite the fogey picture, huh?. I guess many years of indirect exposure to HGTV has had some effect on Dad ... he is taking an active interest in getting some things done to be comfortable in the post-children homestead. Our new best friend is Steve The Handyman. Every home improvement idea ends up with the burning question WWSD (What Would Steve Do) . The highlight of our week-ends is the trip to Lowe's!

Melanie, if you read this please send me your e-mail address. I have tried to e-mail you several times in the past couple of weeks and it keeps getting kicked back at me. I am using the same address I have used successfully in the past - what's up?

Weekend Redux

Andrew did a pretty good job of summing up the weekend, so I won't write much. Here are the pictures I took at the Dozier, there are only a few.

Weekend Wrap

So this weekend was good fun….Im sure there will be some pictures to follow, as Win was the official photographer for the most part this weekend. Emmalee showed us around The Dozier Center on Saturday, and me, Win, John Marc, RP, Ryan and Lori were all quite impressed, the place certainly spared NO expense when it came to decking the place out in the finest of everything. Flat panel HD screens at every turn, acoustics that would make sound nerds drool, and electronics in the recording studio and video facility that are awesome. Em had to get back to work, and left us to our own devices, and trusted us not to break anything. I was tempted to touch stuff, but managed not to. Auntie Mels and John came as well, and we spoke for a while before Win and I headed back to the neighborhood.

Sunday was of course the Allman Bros./Derek Trucks Band show-A great time was had by all. Me, Win, Emmalee, Ryan, Lori and Jarrett all piled into my Jeep and headed down to the parking lot to tailgate, and cookout, etc. A friend of Jarret’s and I from CNN stopped by as well-The rain came, and came down hard. The downpour lasted for a good while, and we were soaked from head to toe-Derek Trucks was….well, brilliant, as one might imagine. The ABB were great as always, and played some good stuff. The mud was deep, and people were doing mudlsides all the way down the hill, I talked Emmalee out of giving it a try. Tired, damp, beat, and exhausted we headed home, and Win headed out this morning. And now we work. Fun times.

Dad, I didn’t see the Skins Saturday, and haven’t had a chance to listen to Joe’s post game comments. I hear neither the play OR what Joe had to say was pretty. Must have been an ugly performance Saturday night……

News From Browntown

News From Browntown

Hard to believe that it has been 32 years since Dad and I stood in the apple orchard and promised to get at least this far together. It was a lovely summer day and the sun has been shining for us ever since!

News From Browntown

News From Tomatoville

The high point of summer came to pass yesterday when we finally feasted on tomato and mayo sandwiches!! Despite the thieving squirrels of Browntown, we ended up with plenty of homegrown tomatoes thanks to a visit from Bev Nachtrieb. Bev arrived on Saturday afternoon bearing homegrown peaches and tomatoes from Sperryville and we have been eating them ever since.

The visit with Bev was really nice and gave us a chance to re-connect in person after about 30 years of once-a-year Christmas card contacts. Win, Emma and Andrew, you don't remember John and Bev but they lived in Flint Hill when we lived on Stonewall Drive and before that they lived in a house PawPaw and Grammy owned on Utah St. in Arl. and John (Bev's husband), worked with PawPaw. We all go back a long, long way to the time when Win was born and then their first child was born shortly afterward. They have lived in Chicago for the past 27 years or so and have been faithful about keeping up contact with PawPaw and Grammy.

Bev and I share a number of interests including yarn and crafts. Even more important, we share the same kind of "family values" (like Dad and me, Bev and husband John are children of the 60s). Dad, Grammy and I spent a good portion of the day yesterday taking Bev to Liberia. She got the tour of the shipping preparation set-up in the Meeting House and saw the medical supplies and school stuff. Then we viewed the videos of the precious children. No matter how often I see those pictures, I am still struck by how irrepressible those adorable children are in spite of their skinny little limbs, distended bellies and raggedy clothes. They are just beautiful. Bev was captivated too, of course.

The weather this week-end was absolutely perfect - sunshine, blue skies and temps in the mid-80s. It was a perfect two days of meandering up and down the hill from the cottage to the house and back again via the Meeting House and the pool garden and, of course, eating tomato and mayo sandwiches. Dad mowed while we meandered.

Check back for details and pix of little Richie's Big Third B-Day at the Animal Park!

News From Browntown

Ahhh ... Music and Politics Back In The Day

Andrew reports that he went to hear/see Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young last night at the big concert arena in Atlanta. He observes that the music was great, Neil Young is waaayy out there leftwingcrazy and Atlanta yuppies take themselves waaaay too seriously.

Now I know that Dad and Emma are the real musicians in the family. While I find music a pleasant accompaniment to life, they actually find it essential to life. Keeping this in mind, I am about to comment on music with absolutely no claim to any knowledge of the subject- just my own ramblings based on personal experience and opinion with no claim to any actual knowledge. After all, isn't that what the internets are for??

Not surprised that the music last night was great. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young still have such great harmony and their voices blend so beautifully that, as long as they sing together, their music is always good. Only when one or the other tries to stray from the safety of the herd does the truth come out... not one of the four can carry a tune in a bucket by himself. The group is a perfect example of the whole being the sum of it's parts.

The music is also good also because it reflects a political point of view, comments on the times, makes a political statement. It is 60s music and CSNY fans know those politics, expect that and love it! Neil Young, in particular, is such an outspoken song-writer that he sings his own politically charged compositions solo to get the point across. That takes guts considering his awful stuffed-nose caterwauling "singing style". Lots of musicians from the 60s were in the business not just to gain fame and fortune but because they had something to say. Music was the way they said it.

Back in the day when we rode around listening to the radio we got our political point of view from musicians not from radio talk show hosts. That is the tradition from which CSNY comes and their music is going to be political, folks.

The fact that Neil Young comes off as an extremist ties in exactly with what I posted yesterday. Everything is skewed so far rightward nowdays that what was considered pretty normal counter-culture, bit-left-of-center politics back in the day is now leftwingcrazy!

What were the Atlanta yuppie-types expecting? Why would they go to a CSNY concert and then boo or walk out when a political statement they didn't agree with was thrown their way? Didn't they expect 60s music? Do they think CSNY's most famous song, the anthem of student protest, Ohio, is just a recruitment promo for Kent State University?

It's 60s music!!

News From Browntown

News From Browntown
It's a sad day when the party of FDR and LBJ, both of whom presided over some of the most progressive legislation and effective government in U.S. history, can only offer voters this;

a) in Virginia a candidate for Senate whose main qualification for office, apparently, is that he was a highly-placed Republican?! ...
b) in Connecticut a candidate whose main qualification for office seems to be that he is a wealthy businessman who thinks that Bring the Troops Home can serve as both campaign slogan and philosophy of government...
c) also in Connecticut, a (former) Democratic Senator who seems to believe that repeatedly invoking the name of Senator John McCain, a Conservative Republican, is his own ticket to ride to victory in November.

In context of current slang, if 50 is the new 40, then Democrats are the new Republicans. The problem is that becoming just slightly less awful clones of those Republicans now in power is not enough to win an election, much less govern the country. Democratic leadership these days appears to be reduced to "vote for us, we're a smidgen less of a mess than the other guys". How inspiring!

How broken can the system get? I read somewhere the other day that the last time our democracy was in such shambles, we ended up fighting the Civil War!

This is why I knit. It is a mind-altering activity that involves ingesting nothing and ignoring selectively. I can sit in front of the television and knit serenely and calmly while John McGlaughlin, Randi Rhodes and Chris Matthews rant and rave. I don't yell at the television anymore because I am focused on finishing one row so I can move to the next... and at the end I have a nice, colorful, knitted thingie.

News From Browntown

News From Browntown

It seems especially quiet "on the compound" this week with Dad in Baltimore, no construction going on at home and just Grammy and me to hold down the fort. Quiet or not, I have decided to step up my own blog entries even if there is nothing exciting to report. I have no idea yet how to post pictures. That will come sooner or later.

The flora and fauna around our place are a bit the worse for wear now. Once the heat and humidity of Dog Days settles in it just becomes so difficult to keep up with watering and feeding. One plant that thrives in this awful weather, however, is eggplant. The three plants we have are looking very well and the little heat-loving lavender blossoms promise some excellent eggplant parmigiana in the next few weeks. The green peppers are also quite happy and some will be ready to pluck this week.

The sad news is that there are no tomatoes or squash. They were destroyed by we-knew-not-what in spite of various electrified barrier devices that were placed carefully around the plants in Grammy's pool garden. Since that destruction we have experienced several mornings of heavy shelling (literally) from squirrels in the oak trees surrounding the house and overhanging the deck. Acorn bombardment (the squirrel version of "shelling" attack) has become a routine morning and evening occurrence. The deck stays covered with acorns and the rain of nuts on the tin roof sounds like machine gun fire.

Apparently, the little critters were also busy snatching tomatoes and squash between military maneuvers. They picked the tomatoes very carefully off of the plant (Dad and I opted for a single plant in the planter in favor of making more space for the eggplant), leaving the entire plant intact. They weren't so careful with the squash though and those plants were destroyed.

The high point of summer, if not it's main purpose, is a tomato and mayonnaise sandwich made with tomato picked right from the vine. Not to be this year so ... I guess it might as well snow.

News From Browntown

News From Browntown

Emma and Andrew, you two have been busy! Congratulations Em on your job and Andrew, I can completely relate to the WV "mountain mama" feeling.

Grammy and I had a great time in Atlanta. I completely forgot to take even a single picture (didn't even think of a camera the whole time!) but will soon fill everyone in about the good time we had with family and re-connecting with old friends.

News From Rupley

Hi everyone,

Just a quick post to let everyone know that I got a new job! I am going to be working as Education Assistant at The Dozier Centre for Performing Arts. I'm very excited about this opporunity, and will post more information along with the Dozier web address as soon as it is available so you can check it out. It's really an awesome place. Thanks to everyone for all the support while I whined about the whole job search process... thank goodness it's over!

West Va, Mountain Mama, Take Me Home.....

So this weekend was the big “bachelor/bachelorette” party for Donnie Biggs, and his fiancée, Meghan Montgomery. However, in a decision that everyone supported, rather than the normal and totally cliché party plans, we all decided to get together, and have a wedding party gathering, in Fayetteville, WV for some whiteater rafting and camping. Personally, I take a little pride in the trip as Im the one who did the research, planning, and found ahome for us, and wound up making sure everything was tied down prior to all of us arriving. Logistical planning props to me, Ill take what I can get.
I arrived on Friday evening about 5:30, after seven and a half hours on the road, and Donnie, and his fiancée and two others in the group arrived shortly after, and it was just the five of us for a bit, as others trickled in throughout the evening, coming from Pennsylvania and other parts of VA. I won the “traveled the furthest” award, but the PA folks were close. I was also the only Front Royal person there other than Donnie, all the guys in his wedding parties are non FR friends of his, but I didn’t feel left out by any means, Donnie’s non FR buds are just like him, cool, down to earth and good decent dudes.
We set up shop at a campsite, and as soon as we were all settled, and started cooking food, the rain started. Luckily we had a canopy of trees, but that didn’t shield us for too long, as the heavens opened up. Im wet in most of the pictures, although being dry wasn’t much of an option the entire weekend.
Saturday we did the lower portion of the New River, and hit one Class V rapid, the highest in the class system, which the guides say is pretty arbitrary anyway. I was in the front of the boat with Donnie, and the two of us got to be the ones who saw the boat actually drop into the rapids….pretty intimidating, but someone has to do it. I may have uttered a few expletives now and then when I realized that I was headed straight into water going about 30 miles an hour-I even smacked Donnie in the arm with my paddle, which he repaid me for later. I can say with pride that I didn’t get thrown from the boat, it tried to throw me in a few times, but I managed to stay in the boat and roll with it. Even our guide got tossed….not fun turning back and seeing no captain of the ship. Grab the gun boys, the general is down, and your in charge now is what I was thinking…
The river was awesome, and I did have some reservations about the whole thing, having never done it, but I can say with no hesitation Id do it again in a split second. It was an awesome time, and the guides are great, it really had a 4H Camp for Adults feel to the whole weekend, I picked the outfitter at random, and I think I wound up with a pretty good one. Our guide was actually doing her first un-chaperoned trip, she was recently certified and we were the first group she got. Yay, what luck we have. She was pretty intense, but I would be too if it were my first time, and all the other guides were watching to make sure I didn’t screw up. Unfortunately we don’t have any pics of the actual rafting trip, we didn’t have waterproof cams, and the whole “buy a pic of you on the river” is a little too touristy for me, but I found some stuff online of what we were dealing with, the spot known as Upper Railroad, Donnie and I sat in the very front of the raft, so we were the first two to experience that water up close…..Pretty unnerving, but I loved it…
Post-river activities were great, we ate some dinner the outfitter provided for us, they even had a hang out bar kind of place, and the guides hung out as well, and everyone jammed to some live bluegrass all night, a downright hootenanny if you ask me, was awesome. I realized that if I lived near a river, and could be a guide, it would be a pretty nice life….spend the day on the river, come back, wind down with some live bluegrass, wake up and do it all over again…….Anyway, a good weekend, a long drive back, and back to the corporate world tomorrow, which, seems kind of lame after being outside, and once again getting some time in WV, which I might at some point adopt as my second home state, was nice to go into the New River Gorge on Route 19 in Bluefield with Country Roads playing on the radio…….

News From Browntown

Pictures to come...

Got the developed pics from Costco along with CDs. Now I have to learn how to post them so they show up here...

Mom

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.