When people find out I’m a free lance writer, they tend to assume I write about food. So when they find out I mostly write about gardening, they then begin to assume that I’m some fabulous gardening guru and start asking me questions about their gardens or tell me they’d love to come see mine sometime, which leaves me in a bit of a stammer because my gardens are really not all that. For starters, I’m lazy. Secondly, my lot gets lots of shade, so there are any number of plants I would love to have that just simply, don’t do well in our yard, like roses. 
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Category: family tree
Handwritten Treasure.
On our recent visit, Pat’s mom Kathy, offered I go through a chest where she kept her late mother’s cookbooks, to see if any appealed to me. Of course I leapt at the opportunity, but seeing how I’m trying very hard to not accumulate new cookbooks, there was nothing that deemed ‘necessary’. But then I saw this:
A gallon ziploc bag full of handwritten recipes as well as recipes clipped from newspapers and magazines over the years. I was more than a little excited and when I sat down to look through it, Kathy told me I could just have it. (!!!!) Continue reading
Spring Road Trip.
Edie’s spring break was last week, so we packed up the car and headed south to visit family and friends in Alabama.
Friendfest.
The first weekend in November is one that is permanently marked on our collective calendars to gather with friends. Usually we head over to Urbanna for the Oyster Festival, but this year we found ourselves in Richmond, with Eric playing host.
Lazy, hazy days
We spent the better part of last week down at the lake with the Smileys. After feeling like our summer was highly overscheduled, it was a much needed and welcome escape from town and schedules. Continue reading
This is how it happens.
I needed a new raincoat. I didn’t want anything fancy, a simple old-fashioned rain slicker would do. Something I could wear in the summer months that wasn’t overly expensive. It didn’t have to be a name brand, it didn’t have to have a lot of bells and whistles, it just needed to be something sturdy and water repellent to wear in the rain. The bar was pretty low. I did a google search and after looking around the interwebs, I kept going back to this one particular rain jacket, a floral lined rain slicker by a company whose name I recognized as one that was frequently carried at The Bon Ton, the local department store in the town I grew up in. Not a fancy label, but the sort of label your mother purchased as a good, dependable, tasteful, well priced brand. You know the type. Continue reading
Three is my favorite.
On a recent visit with my friend Walker, he accompanied me on a trip to the nearby Urbanna Market to pick up some essentials. There were of course, certain conditions for this excursion laid down by Walker- one, he was going to ride his bike and two, I was going to buy him cotton candy. Done and done.
Coffee Table Art Games
In his retirement, my Uncle Kevin has become an artist. Mosaics are his thing, using small tiles, usually glass and often incorporating mirrors. In addition to selling them, he’s given them away to family and friends. Every time we’d visit, he’d have a piece or two sitting in the front room for me to bring home. Unfortunately, every single time, someone else would walk in and end up claiming the piece(s) and so Kevin would promise to have one for me next time.
“Fetch” is finally happening.
Friday afternoon, ten of Edie’s girlfriends came home on the bus with her to attend her birthday party, which had been postponed from last Saturday afternoon, due to the weather. Unfortunately, the change meant a few friends couldn’t make it, as neither could her father. That left me solo, refereeing eleven teen girls. Continue reading
They did.
New Years Day found us getting up bright and early to drive to Baltimore for a wedding we’d been looking forward to for some time – my cousin Molly and her beau Patrick. Edie was to do a reading in the wedding, so the idea was we’d leave early to allow time to settle in where we were staying before getting cleaned up and heading to rehearsal. Continue reading
Chicken Wire & Paper Flowers 