Fall in Farmville

Fall has arrived and this morning she was wearing a white blanket.   I on the other hand, wasn’t and it was c-o-l-d!  Despite turning back the clocks, it was still dark out at 7:15.  What’s with that?  I never like the trade-off of late sunsets to bright mornings, but I surely felt gypped this morning.  No bright sun to catch the sparkle off the frost covered grass. Woody and I high tailed it up to the park with few lingerings (well, two – both #2 to be truthful) and then made a quick bee-line for home.  By 9:00 the sun appeared and the day didn’t seem so unfriendly.  Fall has always been a melancholy time for me.  Maybe it is the dreaded “back-to-school” syndrome or the fact that my skin begins to shed like a rattler.  More profound is perhaps the absence of the new beginning that spring offers, followed by the sweetness of summer.  Whatever the reason, that reluctance to embrace the fall season has haunted me forever.  It’s time for a change.  I’m going for a new outlook.  There is opportunity at every turn in life to try something new.  So, with that in mind,  I’ll take fall square on. 

Halloween on High

Halloween on High

I have to admit I was leery about all the reports I had heard about Halloween and Trick-or-Treating in our new neighborhood.  In the days leading up to the 31^st, folks stopped me on the street and in my front yard to give me fair warning about what was to come.  I was downright terrified and almost bailed out of the entire All Hallows Eve event.  But I was curious, and my neighbors to the east go all out for the holiday, so I felt a wee bit obliged to give it a go.  I stocked up on the mega bags of candy (times 5), lit my pumpkin and stood watch.  George promised to be home by 5:00 to help assist with the goblins and fairies.  The steady trail of children began to arrive and it never slowed.  Both of us sat on the front steps with baskets of candy and dropped pieces into bags, plastic jack-o-lanterns and (I swear) backpacks.  Almost all the kids were in costume, but even those that weren’t were polite.   Next door they were lined up down the walkway to get an "up close and personal" look at the witch handing out candy.  Our neighbor Leigh played her role Broadway perfect and had ‘um shrieking and screaming and coming back for more.   We closed up shop when the candy ran out, blew out the pumpkin and headed to Charley’s to join friends for dinner.  What a night.  Halloween on High Street was something.  I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.  I’ll buy more candy next year.    

Weather Wonders

Faye Leads the Way

What a difference a week makes!  Last Monday was a perfect Indian summer day and I was kayaking on the Appomattox – today I’m hunkered down, glued to the television, monitoring what the weather channel is calling “ the storm of a lifetime.”  What a crazy flip of nature.      My neighbor Faye invited me for an afternoon paddle…something I’ve been itching to do, so I accepted with enthusiasm.  Our route was to take us on three local bodies of water, starting at Wilck's Lake behind the public library, paddling down Buffalo Creek where it empties into the Appomattox and then following the Appomattox into downtown Farmville.  Faye indicated it was an easy paddle and would take about two hours.  Well, you may remember the cliche “two hour tour.”  It was more like four.  But, oh so fine.   Mind you, I have not done any kayaking in quite a while so I was a bit rusty.  This became apparent straight away when I tipped it at a precarious angle getting in.  I’m sure I saw alarm on my friend’s face.  I can only guess what she was thinking about the entire venture ahead of us.  I have to admit that within the first five minutes my arm muscles were talking to me and my flu shot was whining.  Now I’m thinking I’ve gotten myself into something I can’t even see the end of the tunnel…or the river as the case may be.   But it got better and better and I got the rhythm and my muscles relaxed.  We had to portage the kayaks up and over the High Bridge Trail, we navigated around fallen trees and pushed ourselves over sandbars all throughout the beautiful afternoon.  We laughed a lot.   We even startled a deer who was resting next to the river’s edge.                                  It was a perfect afternoon.

Wonderful Wedding

The Wedding was all I had hoped it would be.  Most importantly, the bride was happy and radiant. The groom showed up, looked debonair and positively beamed as Kate walked down the aisle with her father.  Did I say walked?  They almost sprinted.  But they arrived at the alter in good fashion, finding groom, best man, the priest and the rings.  All it takes to join in holy matrimony!  The wedding party sat in the choir pews, up close and personal, giving us an intimate connection to the ceremony.  It was all lovely.

Back in Farmville, I am pouring over photos and reliving moment by moment.  Sadly, the inevitable will engulf me and the clarity of the wonderful weekend will begin to fade.  I'm writing it all down and pressing it to heart and mind.  It was just too marvelous to forget.

Gone Missing

Life can surely offer up some surprises.  Most of you know I lost my cell phone on Saturday.  It happens….folks misplace their phones all the time.  Having said that, I feel my current circumstances contributed to my heightened aggravation.  This is a pretty significant week for me with calls to make and bases to touch, and to top it all off I knew I was leaving Elizabeth City Monday morning at 6:00 headed back to Farmville – with or without my phone.   I did what everyone does; cuss, blame their husband and check under the car seats.  Having no luck, I then began to retrace my steps.  You can only imagine where those led me the Saturday before my daughter’s wedding.  In the attic, the garage, every room of the house, Page After Page, Overman & Stevenson, Sydney’s, the downtown market, Belks, Big Lots, Farm Fresh & Food Lion,  Lowes, Ace Hardware, Jenny’s house, Brenda and Terry’s house, Flora’s house, Muddy’s and CHKD’s….just to name a few.  I didn’t make it.  There weren’t enough hours in the day to do it all over again, and besides, I had concluded that it must be in the house…..somewhere.  Turns out it wasn’t.  Driving back up hwy 460 this morning, George’s phone rings and it’s his Longwood secretary.  Said she got a call from a lady (Faye) in Farmville who had called me this morning and left a message. Faye was surprised when the return call was from a thrift shop in Elizabeth City who was trying to figure out who the phone belonged to.  Faye said she knew and would make some phone calls on my behalf.  The l-o-n-g and short of it, she did.  Phyllis went and picked it up and has it in her glove compartment.  No wait, her office.  No, maybe she said it was in her pocketbook. 

Up and Running

Well, we're not running for heavens sake, but we are walking.  Farmville's a great place to walk the sidewalks and ponder life's wonders.  We've adjusted quite nicely and find the area to our liking.  I've stopped (almost) making comparisons to Charleston, but I can't help myself sometimes.  Our neighborhood park area where we walk Woody for daily rituals, is not totally unlike our walk to Colonial Lake....nicknamed the "cement pond" that we took our daily walks to while living in Charleston.  There's not as much meet and greet along the way, but it's a pretty stroll and we check out the comings and goings of mostly university students and faculty heading to and from class.  The park area is just a huge grassy playing field where the old high school once stood, and is now used by Longwood for rugby and soccer.  The other day George and I were there late in the day and, as often,  found the field empty and quiet.  Out of the blue a small black pup darted from somewhere, followed in hot pursuit by it's owner.  As it came to be, we all met, sniffed and checked one another out and were straight away invited over to meet spouse and have a glass of wine!  They are lovely folks everywhere.  I think we're gonna be just fine.

It's been a while.  Life's been busy...back from Charleston and on to Farmville.  Our Charleston stuff fit right into our new house in VA with room to spare.  I swear it was the easiest move ever. Loaded the 20' UHaul on Thursday, drove to Farmville on Friday and unloaded on Saturday morning. Two guys showed up at 8 AM and had everything off the truck and in place by 9 AM.  Good grief, why didn't we think of THAT sooner?  We did miss Margene.  This was her first absence from a Jackson move.  She would have marveled at the fellows in the orange shirts.  Two trips to Lowes, one trip to Roses,  one to Walmart (forgive us) and one stop at Goodwill and we were set up for sleeping, cooking and showers.  We're getting pretty proficient at this stuff.
Looking forward to a great year in the foothills...it's beautiful country.  Plan a road trip and come up for a visit.  We have three bedrooms this go around!