shirley plantation & lunch at joe’s inn

Sunday, September 29:  This morning I leave my dad’s house in Yorktown, taking a detour off of I-64 to stop at Shirley Plantation in Charles City, Virginia. The eleventh generation of one family continues to own, operate and work this colonial plantation.

Driving to Shirley Plantation

Shirley Plantation

It is also the oldest family owned business in North America, dating to the establishment of the farm by Edward Hill I in 1638.  The home has been continuously inhabited by descendents of the same family since 1738.  The mansion is referred to as “The Great House.” (Shirley Plantation: Shirley’s History)

James River

The most important building, the Great House, is closest to the James River, with buildings of lesser importance further away.  The Great House was originally flanked on either side by freestanding wings, which have since been dismantled.

Shirley Plantation from the James River side

According to the plantation brochure: Shirley Plantation is America’s first plantation; it was founded in 1613, only six years after the first permanent English settlement of Jamestown.  Shirley Plantation survived Indian uprisings, Bacon’s Rebellion, the American Revolution, the American Civil War, and the Great Depression.

Shirley Plantation

Pork was a major staple in Colonial Virginia.  As much as 10 tons a year were butchered, cured and smoked at Shirley.  Hogs were butchered in the winter months, then rubbed with salt and cured in tubs for two weeks. The meat was hung from the rafters and pegs in the smokehouse. The smoking process lasted two weeks and required burning a fire outside the Smokehouse day and night to supply coals. Green wood was placed on the hot coals in the pit to create a rolling smoke.  The most popular types of wood used for flavoring included hickory, oak and apple.  Apple wood was preferred at Shirley.

extended plantation with the smokehouse in the foreground

stellar flowers

plantation buildings

me in the kitchen

fake food

full fake working kitchen

cotton

cotton and machine

I get a tour of the house, and see the original family furnishings and portraits.  However, we’re sadly not allowed to take pictures in the house.

After the tour, I wander around the grounds to get the full lay of the land.

the lay of the land

purple berries

Shirley’s dovecote is round and made of brick. Shirley’s dovecote was built between 1723 and 1738 and has 6 rows of 18 roosts for a total of 108 roosts.  Doves were an important source of dietary protein, both from their meat and eggs.  Outside the dovecote, I run across some goat and chicken crossings.

chicken crossing

chicken

Goat crossing

dovecote

It’s bizarre to me that I’ve lived my whole life in Virginia, and I’ve traveled the road between Yorktown and Richmond too many times to count, yet this is the first time I’ve ever taken time to stop and visit this plantation.

I love tree-lined lanes like this

After leaving Shirley Plantation, I drive another 15 miles to Richmond, where I stop in to visit Sarah at Joe’s Inn, where today she’s working as bartender.  After about 45 minutes, she gets off and joins me at the bar.

the bar at Joe’s Inn

Joe’s Inn

Wall art on the wall of Joe’s Inn

After our lunch, I head back home to the dreaded northern Virginia, to prepare for another week of work. 😦

adam’s two-month cross-country soul-searching trip

Saturday, September 28:  Today, my youngest son Adam, 20, takes off alone on a two-month trip across the United States.  His destination is California, with a stop in Boulder, Colorado.  His plan is to get to San Francisco by Friday, October 4, where he will attend a 3 day C.H.E.K. Holistic Lifestyle Coach Program: C.H.E.K. Institute: Advanced Training Programs.  According to the website: This three-level program is based upon the techniques that have helped thousands of people increase vitality, decrease stress and sculpt the body of their dreams. Each level looks in increasing detail at the underlying causes of disease and stress, considering the body as a “system of systems.” Using a coaching model, you will learn how disease and stress are preventable through healthy eating habits, lifestyle management and appropriate types of exercise.

Adam takes off at the crack of dawn in his VW Golf

On November 13, he arrives at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Farm for a 10-day Permaculture Design Certification Course. According to the website, Sivananda Ashram Yoga Farm: Permaculture Design Certification Course:

Permaculturists can grow food just about anywhere, repair environmentally damaged lands, design lovely and long-lasting green-buildings, produce power, run successful people-oriented businesses, and build authentic community. All by using fundamental permaculture principles and applying the three Permaculture Ethics:

1. Care of People
2. Care of Earth
3. Share the Surplus

Permaculture is a creative and artful way of designing our lives, where waste become resources, productivity and yields increase, work is minimized, people and nature are preserved. All by thoughtful planning and a respectful approach to life.  Thus embraced, we create an environment where all may thrive for future generations. 

His car loaded up with bananas & apples for breakfast

In between these two courses, he plans to camp, hike, visit my friend Jayne and her son Nicholas near San Francisco, visit my sister near Los Angeles, and attend a yoga meditation retreat from October 30-November 10 at Dhamma Mahavana California Vipassana Center in North Fork: Dhamma Mahavana California Vipassana Center.

He is determined to chart out a course for his life that embodies the values he finds in these kinds of environments, and we finally decided that there was no point in continuing to insist that he follow the traditional path of going to university.  Even though he is a brilliant boy, one who has always been in gifted & talented programs throughout his school years, he insists that he doesn’t want a traditional education; neither does he want any part of the rat race life we live here in America.  I have to admit I know the truth in his beliefs.  After all, how many of us are truly happy in this life we lead in America, scrambling to get ahead, gain more possessions, and neglect our health and peace of mind?  As his parents, we can only hope that this trip will enlighten him in one way or the other; we hope he can find his passion and evolve into the successful and happy young man that we want him to be.

He’s due to arrive back home by Thanksgiving, at which time we hope to give thanks that he has developed a clearer vision of his life and direction. 🙂

***************************

Postscript: While on his trip, Adam decided he wanted to do a two-week internship at Earthship in Taos, Mexico, so he added that on to his journey.  That was due to end on December 13, so the plan changed for him to arrive back home before Christmas instead of Thanksgiving.

wordless wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

weekly photo challenge: from lines to patterns

Sunday, September 22: The WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge asks us to come up with photos from lines to patterns.  Writes Cheri Lucas Rowlands of WordPress:  We see lines and patterns in the world around us, in nature and things man-made. Sometimes we don’t realize they’re there: on the street, across the walls, up in the sky, and along the ground on which we walk.

Today’s challenge is inspired by Evan Zelermyer‘s stunning urban, abstract, and architectural images from his “Shape, Line, Texture, Pattern” post published earlier this week. I’d love to see your interpretations of these elements, so grab your camera, get outside, and snap a great shot of shapes or lines that you stumble upon, or a cool texture or pattern that catches your eye.

Here is my tiled gallery of lines and patterns seen around Virginia and the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

Click on any of the images below for a full-sized slide show.

an old cart at Sky Meadows, Virginia

cornfield and fences at Sky Meadows, Virginia

an old barn in southern Pennsylvania

lines at Cunningham Falls State Park, Maryland

Lines and patterns at a church in Emmitsburg, Maryland

bridges in Richmond, Virginia

roads in Richmond, Virginia

Richmond, Virginia

on a whim: tickled pink by antiques in lucketts

Saturday, September 21:  On this rainy Saturday, I am driving through Lucketts, Virginia on my way back from a road trip through Maryland and southern Pennsylvania, when I am surprised to see a pink silo with black polka dots.  I immediately think of Marianne’s CBBH Photo Challenge: Pink.  Lucketts is home to a number of antiques stores, one of which I featured in my post: the old lucketts store near leesburg.  I decide to pop in to this one, On A Whim, to check it out.  I find so much cuteness here, I’m tickled pink!

On A Whim, with its pink and black polka-dotted silo

a metal bed pretty (& rusty) in pink

near the road at On A Whim

the entrance to On A Whim

pink bicycle

another pink bicycle flanking the entrance

pink formal wear

mannequin in pink

pink hats and flowers

another mannequin in pink

pinkish gloves

Now everything in this store isn’t pink, and there are quite a few other cute displays, which you can see by clicking on any of the pictures in the gallery below.

Right before I leave here, I come across a globe.  I’ve been thinking a lot about where I’d like to go for a holiday next year, or where I’d go if I were to teach abroad again.  I decide to spin the globe and see where my finger lands.  It lands in China.  It’s funny because I’ve often thought that if I were to teach abroad again, I’d go to China.  But I don’t really want to go there for a holiday next summer as it’s too far away.  I’d rather stay close to the Americas.  I spin the globe again.  Again, my finger lands in China.  Hmmm.  Is this a sign of things to come?

My finger lands on China two times in a row. What does this mean?

As part of Marianne’s CBBH photo challenge, I’m supposed to add links to two blogs I’ve visited and commented on in the last month.  So here we go, sharing the “blog love.”

I first have to introduce being mrscarmichael: I love her way with words and her quick wit.  She has described herself as “just another mannequin,” and seeing these mannequins makes me think of her immediately.  She describes herself on her blog:  Mrs Carmichael is opinionated, quick to judge and occasionally impatient. She also changes her mind. … Her dislikes include math, weakness, a tardy nature and chardonnay.  Mrs Carmichael has a number of very good friends and a few people who don’t like her as much as they should. On balance she quite likes herself, enjoys her own company and sometimes makes herself laugh.  She makes me laugh too!

I’d also like to introduce Jude of Postcards from around the world… and Travel Words, who describes herself as a person filled with wanderlust.  She posts her travel diaries and photos, which are wonderful indeed.  We share a love of Portugal, and have visited many of the same places I visited this summer.

of barns & covered bridges ~ crossing the mason-dixon line

Saturday, September 21:  After leaving Emmitsburg, Maryland with directions in hand from the owner of the Holy Grounds Cafe, I follow a number of country roads in search of some covered bridges.  To my surprise, I cross over the Mason-Dixon line into Pennsylvania.

I pass a number of barns along the way.

a barn just being a barn

another barn

Another barn

threatening skies

rustic barn

abandoned barn?

I love the overgrown look of this barn

barn taken over by nature

The Sachs Covered Bridge is just over the Pennsylvania line.  It was built in 1852 by David S. Stone and is a lattice-truss bridge that extends 100 feet across Marsh Creek.  The bridge was also known as the Sauches Covered Bridge at the time of the Battle of Gettysburg. It sits in the Gettysburg National Military Park and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

Sachs Covered Bridge

During the American Civil War, both the Union and Confederate Armies used the bridge in the Battle of Gettysburg and its aftermath (1863).

Sachs Covered Bridge

The bridge was closed to automobiles in 1968.  In 1996, it was damaged by floods but it was restored by Adams County as a scenic bridge.

Sachs Covered Bridge

Sachs Covered Bridge

Sachs Covered Bridge

Sachs Covered Bridge

Lattice-truss design of Sachs Covered Bridge

I never find the second covered bridge that I’ve heard about.  After this little dip into Pennsylvania, I head south as the skies that have been threatening all morning open up.  All I see through the rest of my drive home are my windshield wipers and sheets of rain all around.

a cloudy afternoon in emmitsburg, maryland

Saturday, September 21: After my morning photography outing at Cunningham Falls State Park, I head to the little town of Emmitsburg, founded in 1785 and a part of Frederick County, Maryland.  I’ve been told it’s a cute little town, quintessential Americana; it’s the home of Mount Saint Mary’s University and a Catholic pilgrimage site. The Basilica and National Shrine of St. Elizabeh Ann Seton, the first U.S. born saint, are also here; the saint’s relics are entombed at the shrine (Wikipedia: Emmitsburg, Maryland).

Church & cemetery in Emmitsburg, Md

Cemetery in Emmitsburg, MD

Door in Emmitsburg

Door in Emmitsburg

Door in Emmitsburg

Door in Emmitsburg

Church in Emmitsburg

The Vigilant Hose!

Emmitsburg is just south of the Mason-Dixon line, separating Maryland from Pennsylvania.

Gate to a cute yard

Once again, I’m on a quest to take pictures for an Instagram challenge, #WHPdoortodoor.  The challenge is to take interesting photos of, you guessed it, doors.  As far as I’m concerned, American doors are not that interesting, but I try my best.  If only I had been taking these pictures in Portugal, or Spain, or even Oman or Nepal or India.

Bar

Cemetery

Sunflower

Door in Emmitsburg

Door in Emmitsburg

Church in Emmitsburg

Doors in Emmitsburg

House For Rent

Door in Emmitsburg

After I wander about the town, I stop in at the Holy Grounds Cafe for a pumpkin latte; here I sit and chat with the owner for a while in this part-cafe, part-religious relics store.  The owner is a music teacher who counts among his students many students from Mount Saint Mary’s University.  We talk for quite some time about the horrors of life in northern Virginia, where he used to live and of course where I live now.

Holy Grounds Cafe

Inside Holy Grounds Cafe

After I enjoy my pumpkin latte, the owner directs me to some covered bridges outside of town; I’ve heard there are two in these parts.  As I drive through the countryside following his directions, I pass a barn doing what it does best: just being a barn.

A barn just being a barn

a photography outing at cunningham falls state park

Saturday, September 21:  Today I join a photography group to explore the waterfalls at Cunningham Falls State Park in Maryland.  Last evening, I went to a photography store to buy a tripod, which I have never used before. I also bought some filters.  I checked into the price for a wide-angle lens, but sadly, I can’t afford $700 now. Feeling all geared up, I embark on this new adventure.

Sadly the waterfall doesn’t have much water in it because there has been so little rain over the summer.  It is also quite an overcast day.  This is my first experiment with a tripod and a filter.  I can’t say I’m overly impressed with my first attempts.

waterfall at Cunningham Falls State Park

waterfall

waterfall

Cunningham Falls State Park is in the Catoctin Mountains. It is divided into two separate but unique areas. Today, we visit the William Houck area with its lake, falls and campground.

creek bed

Cunningham Falls State Park

Mossy stump

tinges of autumn

spiky fallen trees

spiky standing tree

The park is named for its 78-foot waterfall. Cunningham Falls are the largest cascading waterfalls in the state. The falls are locally known as McAfee Falls.

waterfall taken with tripod

waterfall

filtered green

greenery in the forest

tree barnacles

a bed of green

rock-lined path

leftovers

Ice cold Coca-Cola

handstands & cloud-minding in sky meadows state park

Sunday, September 15:  We decide on this Sunday afternoon to go on a little outing to Sky Meadows State Park in Delaplane, Virginia.  This 1,864-acre park has scenic views, rolling pastures and woodlands on the eastern side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The park has 7 miles of bridle trails, 17 miles of hiking trails and a trailhead for the Appalachian Trail.

the view looking over Sky Meadows

My intention today is to spend time with family and to continue looking for people and objects interacting with clouds for the Instagram Weekend Hashtag Project #WHPmindingtheclouds.  It’s a beautiful day with a hint of fall in the air.  Sky Meadows is all rolling hills and fields of goldenrod and corn stalks.  I’d like to hang out and take a walk in quiet and solitude, but solitude is not in the cards for me today.

an old cart at Sky Meadows

Sometimes I feel a stuck-in-time quality to my life, and today is one of those days.  I’ve been to Sky Meadows many times with my sons in various stages of their lives.   They are now 22 and 20, and they still run around doing cartwheels and handstands as they did when they were little boys, although their abilities have increased considerably.  Alex, my 22-year-old, spends hours in solitary training sessions developing control over his body and making it do things I would never aspire to or be able to do.  He is still trying to figure out what to do with his life, and much to my frustration, this process is taking longer than I think it should.  We’re encouraging him to get a certificate in personal training since he’s so obsessed with health and fitness.

Alex does a handstand on a wooden bridge

wildflowers at Sky Meadows

Alex at a stile at Sky Meadows

Adam, 20, is also obsessed with health and fitness and simple living, namely permaculture, or self-sustaining, off-the-grid communities.  Permaculture has these tenets:

• Care of the earth: Provision for all life systems to continue and multiply. This is the first principle, because without a healthy earth, humans cannot flourish.
• Care of the people: Provision for people to access those resources necessary for their existence.
• Return of Surplus: Reinvesting surpluses back into the system to provide for the first two ethics. This includes returning waste back into the system to recycle into usefulness. (Wikipedia: Permaculture)

  

  Alex & Adam

  

  Sky Meadows

  

  Sky Meadows State Park

  

  the road less traveled

  

  Adam does a handstand

  Adam has also toyed with the idea of starting a business building specialized backyard exercise equipment and involving communities in growing and sharing vegetables and then selling the excess in a farmer’s market, a kind of co-op arrangement.  His ideas are many and varied; he’s got to find out himself what will work in the real world and what won’t.

  

  stile

  

  fences at Sky Meadows

  

  old log cabin at Sky Meadows

  

  corn stalks and fences

  

  an old barn at Sky Meadows

  

  Alex, Bailey and Adam

  

  Adam

  

  Alex

Neither of my sons seem to think they need any kind of education to do these things.  This is heartbreaking to me, but as young men with ideas of their own, they don’t feel their parents have any wisdom to impart.  They will simply have to find out things the hard way.  All we can do is give them a time limit and an ultimatum, which we have now done, although many might think we’re being too generous giving them a year’s time frame to get their acts together and get out of the house.

As of last month, we had both boys sign a contract that they should start paying us rent by September 30 and that we expect them to be out of the house and self-supportive (or in school full-time) by the end of August 2014.

As I intended, I take some cloud pictures, but frankly the clouds today are not that interesting.  Here’s what I come up with.

Little do I know that the boys have other intentions for me: they want me to take pictures of them doing their gymnastics moves so that they can post the pictures on their Facebook pages.  They have some idea of starting a business involving videos of their workout moves, which I think seems to be falling by the wayside now that they realize the difficulty of creating a viable business plan and marketing this business.

Anyway, I’m roped into taking pictures of their many moves, which isn’t exactly relaxing for me and isn’t really the way I hoped to spend my rare day off.  Oh well, it makes them happy, so I do it.  After all, the first 40 years of motherhood are always the hardest. 🙂

Alex does a handstand at Sky Meadows

After leaving Sky Meadows, we make a stop at Trinity Episcopal Church in Upperville, where the boys balance on the church railings and do handstands in front of the old church door.  Adam leapfrogs over stone gates and squats in the tree like a wise & serious owl.

Adam balances on the church railings

Alex does handstands in front of the church door

Fancy pants

Adam in the tree

Trinity Episcopal Church

Trinity Episcopal Church in Upperville

Upperville is our last stop this Sunday afternoon, meaning that the weekend coming to a close and another hectic work week begins.   My weeks, and even parts of my weekends, are occupied more than I would like with running from class to class or zipping to the office to make lesson plans, mark papers and make photocopies.  Thank goodness that we have over a month off between semesters. 🙂

minding the clouds in my front yard

Saturday, September 14:  I got a new iPhone at the end of July, finally joining (most of) the rest of the world in having a smart phone.  The main reason I wanted a smart phone was to be able to take decent pictures when I don’t happen to be lugging my Olympus PEN EPL-1 along.  In late August, I joined Instagram because I like the idea of taking random pictures using the phone and posting them immediately.  I also really like Instagram’s Weekend Hastag Projects, which seem more creative and challenging than most of the other photo challenges I see out there, including the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge.  I really do enjoy the Photography 101 blog posts that WordPress has initiated of late, and I love the photo challenges related to those photography lessons.  However, I admit I am getting a little tired of entering photo challenges by just looking in my archives and finding photos that match the challenge.  It seems to me that a photo challenge should be about taking pictures AFTER the challenge is entered, within a certain time frame, say a week.   Many people, often including myself, post pictures the minute the challenge is posted, meaning they’re not actually going out and taking pictures in direct response to the challenge.

a vase of wispy weeds

My goal is to do the opposite whenever I can, because I want to be challenged to actually take new pictures meeting the challenge. I want to learn to think outside the box, something I’ve never been good at, and try to see things in the world that I might not otherwise notice. I may not always succeed, but at least I’m going to try.

wispy weeds and clouds

This weekend’s project is to get people interacting with clouds.

floating

Instagram’s Hashtag Project’s challenge for the weekend of September 14-15 was to take creative and playful photos and videos of people or objects interacting with clouds. Some tips to get you started: Take time to notice the shapes of clouds and what you think of when you see them, then use that inspiration as a starting point for the shot you put together. Second, be patient and pay attention to perspective. It’s important to line your shot up well so others can understand what you’ve created. Finally, have fun! Don’t be afraid to let your imagination run wild. PROJECT RULES: Please only add the #WHPmindtheclouds hashtag to photos and videos taken over this weekend and only submit your own photographs and videos to the project. Any image or video taken then tagged over the weekend is eligible to be featured right here on Monday morning.

where does one end and the other begin?

These are the results from the weekend on Instagram: #WHPmindtheclouds

butterfly on Rudbeckia with wisps of clouds

All of these photos are taken with my iPhone in my front yard on Saturday.  On Sunday, we head to Sky Meadows in Delaplane, Virginia, where I continue the project.