Inspiration Hits to Capture Scenes to Share

A two-lane road leads us through the heart of Bull Run Battlefield Park near Manassas, Virginia. This is a short-cut to a daughter's house.

What a beautiful trip~

Early morning light touches white mist hovering in low areas over tall grass that now graces the rolling hills. It will soon be bailed making the fields ready for another year.

Trees here and there, many along the creek called "Bull Run'"

The area near Bull Run is the location of the famous battle which was fought July 21, 1861, near Manassas, Virginia. It was the first major land battle of the American Civil War..

Today, it is peaceful and beautiful.

All is under blue, blue sky...filled with puffy white clouds.

The scene catches one's breathe.

One wonders if our Civil War Soldiers saw the same sight on the last morning of their lives.

Am sure they didn't see the herds of deer that now graze near the tree lines...They sleep in the tall grass, making and leaving tell tell circles. When we find one, I always wonder if they return to sleep there again and again.

I want my camera, but alas, no time to stop and on a mission to baby-sit this day.

The following day, my daughter and I went to near-by Leesburg.

WHY don't I travel with camera? Ahh...but today was with friends and no camera.

Leesburg ~ always make me think of when I first knew of Leesburg.

I remember an old TV show sponsored by Lipton Tea.

I was a little girl and he was seen in black and white on a small TV in our living room.

Are you old enough to remember Arther Godfrey?

He was Mr. TV in the 1950's and as I remember, there was not much else to watch.

I remember he talked extensively about his farm in Leesburg. Virginia with an airstrip for his plane. He took the cameras there to share. He knew he lived in a little piece of heaven.

It would be fun to make a trip to the Court House and find which of the beautiful old houses belonged to him. Why? I don't know. Do I have this kind of time?

HUMMMM

Am going back alone to these places for photos.

4th of July in Washington

Forth of July 09
We enter the Grand Hallway of the Kennedy Center
to spend the evening with friends to enjoy the Culinary Arts of D. C. before the National Fireworks.

We are greeted by the bronze bust of President Kennedy which is at the entrance of the Grand Opera House within the Center

What's playing at the Opera House right now?
~The gift shop is filled with marvelous books and great gift ideas~

We go to the top level about 7 PM for dinner before the fireworks.

The event is for Members of the Kennedy Center and their guests.

We overlook the beautiful Lincoln Memorial
The sun is escaping to the west...and notice
Boaters gathering on the Potomac River

We look back to see the famous Watergate Hotel with the circular balcony's.

Hello Mr. Lincoln~

and...Uncle Sam~

Children strike their own pose~

Statue of Liberty gives up her torch

Lady, can you spear a dime?

UNCLE SAM NEEDS YOU!

Night falls over the crowd...people move to the ledge for front row viewing. The flag waving crowd is awed by Big Name and Electrifying Entertainment Aretha Franklin takes the Grand Stage ~ her FANTASTIC voice is heard throughout the City carried by big screens with wonderful speakers singing to flag waving and screaming, standing room only crowds.
She is one of my favorites!

Is there any ice cream left?

Can you reach it?

OH! We enjoyed Dungeness Crab for dinner.

They are the BIG ones that are available on the Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco ~ they come from Alaska and Washington State ~Northern Pacific waters.

Dessert~ watermelon, strawberry short cake with lots and lots of strawberries topped with whipped cream.,

and KEY LIME PIE. FABULOUS 4TH!

West Virginia

The neighboring state to our West is West Virginia.
West Viriginia is such a unique state. I feel close to the people as one of my most beloved friends was
born in West Virginia. She has traveled the world and has accomplished more than most people ever dream of...she has lived in many stares and today, makes her home
in North Carolina .

I met her when we both lived in Key West, Florida. She was one of three who rode bikes most evenings on a little long deserted stip of land off Trumbo Point. We rode amongst the Palm trees and ocean spray ...an experience never to be recreated.

One thing we learned about her is that...her heart is forever in West Virginia.

Seems this is true for all sons and daughters of that state...memories of happy, down to earth simple life...amongst the beautiful natural beauty and abundant feelings of security and belonging.

Please ENJOY this "youtube" posting of the unique music of West Virginia.
Note the difference in voices and music from what is known as "Country Music."
This is true West Virginia...enjoy~

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHvWvOsrMuo

Click the above link or cut and copy to open.

Summer of Parties

Summer isn't complete without at least one Crab Fest

Two bushels of Chesapeake Blue Crab graced the table

along with boiled corn and potatoes, etc.



Our immediate neighbors are among our best friends.

Together, we plan to build a permanent fire pit for our Fall events.

Fun, fun group~ we feel so, so lucky to live in our tight little cul-de-sac.

Toddlers, college kids, grown kids to grandparents~ we have it all. Great group indeed.

The guys quickly put up tents as light rain joined our neighborhood group.

Make it cozy.

We have a great sense of belonging.

Summer Birthday Parties

Pirate Parties

were popular this year~

Seventy-five gallon water spills at the Pool Park were lots of fun~

OH NO~ Another year gone already?

"WHAT IS THIS?? I want back in the pool!"

For sure, all the adults enjoy the parties much more than the B'day Kids.

Can you believe this is a homemade cake?
I have one more cake to show...Jimmy turned 5..
His cake was homemade with a cake airplane on top of a cake cloud.
Amazing what parents and grandparents do today.
I remember when no one made a big deal out of B'days.
Do you?

Part 4 Aunt Dot

Beautiful Aunt Dot was quickly married Mr.Tall, Dark and Handsome. The years rolled by with a very good lifestyle but had no children.. As a little girl, I visited often and was pampered being there. About ten years after they were married, they built a large cabin on the Tennessee River where fun meant great meals, boating and skiing the summers away. The cabin was large with capacity to slept sixteen. We enjoy a large screened in porch with a sweeping view of the river. Many card game were played right there.

Summers in the south are memorable as heat and humidity interlace in a soft blanket which welcomes the evenings. I remember Aunt Dot making a grand breakfast every morning of eggs, sausage, biscuits and tomatoes. Uncle Handsome loved Aunt Dot and called her "Babydoll."

Nephew Edward was about 3 years younger than me and the only child of Uncle Handsomea' brother. They were always were at the River Cabin with us. I was somewhere between playmate and babysitter for Ed, which was great as he was a spoiled little brat who loved me. Edward actually turn out to be a great little pal and dare-devil skier. We double-skied taunting each other while skimming waters trying to derail the other.

Late one afternoon when the adults were in the cabin, he and I decided to play Tom Sawyer by building a raft of intertubes, ropes and boards from the boathouse. Four intertubes, tied together topped with secure boards and 2 paddles available, we set off rafting down the wide, deep and seemingly lazy river to an island which looked much closer then it actually was. The currents took us easily to our destination as the late afternoon sun became lazy in the sky.

We pulled the raft onto the little island and explored for a little while finding nothing of interest. We noted the sun dropping and now to the task of getting back upstream. The sun quickly was gone and dusk made the river current seem stronger. We worked our way but the going was slow. Seemed darkness came quicker that day and there we were in the middle of a river some five miles wide and only God knew how far we were from our pier. We continued, peddling as fast and hard as we could.

It wasn't long before we could see lights on the river ahead. The lights were searching back and forth. They soon came our way and we could faintly hear our names being called. The rescue was welcomed, however, our rescuers were filled with fear, relief and a proper amount of anger. It wasn't pleasant. Lectures galore followed.

Now a lifetime has passed.
Uncle Handsome died some thirty years ago. Just before he died, he asked me to come to be with her when that time came. I was there.

A few years later, I asked her if she ever thought about Mr. Too Good and why didn't she call him to see how he was. She remembered the love she always had for him, and knew where he was at the time, but never made a call. She, many years later, told me he had died. I didn't ask how she knew, however, he was a well known public figure. I wondered what her life would have been like if.....

Aunt Dot always visited us even when we lived in Brazil. She played Santa one year in Virginia when my children were young, She looked good in the Santa suit...what fun. Many years of memories of her will live forever for all of her niece's and nephews.

Now, we gather, cousins who she has loved and "mothered" over the years to talk about what to do about Aunt Dot. She has let everything go and allowed swindlers drain her money. It is our job to keep her safe. That is what we are doing about Aunt Dot.

Part 3 What to do About Aunt Dot

Looking back to the 1940's and we know it was a most uncertain time. After Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. That very day, our country declared war on Japan and on December 11, that same week, we also declared war on Germany. The entire world changed at that point.

With the Germans trying to overtake Europe and America always on the alert for an invasion on our shores, and then we had Japan on the Pacific desiring to overtake our country from the West. We had blackouts, were all lights in large areas were required to be turned off until danger was over. In schools, the teacher taught us what we could best do to survive bombing should it happen. We practiced quickly getting under our desks, covering our heads with a book and be still. All along our coastline on the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific, there were troops stationed to keep watch for planes, ships or submarines approaching our shores. Populated coastlines had frequent "black outs."

Thank God for all the men who fought to keep us safe and brought an end to the horror.

After that week, times became really, really bad; men disappeared from the work forces and women took their places in factories, farms, hospitals, volunteered for the Red Cross, etc and many joined to go to the battle areas to care for the men abroad.

My Aunt Dot took a job at what was called "The Tin Mill." She wore regular clothes to work where she changed into work clothes. All the women wore slacks, work shoes, cotton short sleeve shirts, heavy gloves and their hair tied up in a turban made of a scarfs. This kept their hair from being caught in machinery. At the end of their shifts, she and all the girls went to a local cafe to socialize and have a late supper.

Times were hard. Victory Gardens were in every yard. Any surplus was canned for the winter.
Meat was rationed. We had no ice cream as there was no sugar. of course, no candy. I was blessed by being to young to remember having sugar and exotic fruits. We had dried fruit in the winter and fresh peaches and apples in season.

All tin cans, bits of aluminum and such were collected and taken to the collections bins for the War Effort.

Gas was not available for cars had there been any cars to buy. Older cars ran with a ration of gas for them. All that steel, tin, iron material used to make cars was going into building ships, planes, guns, tanks and whatever the troops needed
It was our job to survive while the world was at war.

If you can imagine a world without televisions, telephones (1 to each community to be shared for emergencies only.)

AH! The Ice Box.
The Ice Box was in our kitchen. Basically it was a zinc lined cabinet that kept the cooled air inside and ice from melting quickly We had The Ice Man make regular rounds to our neighborhood selling ice in chunks of 25, 50 or 100 pounds for which Mother paid.

I loved to see ice being chipped off into large or smaller blocks. The small icepick made a line in the large block of ice and it would simply break apart at that line. Amazing to a little girl. (There wasn't much entertainment for children in those days, therefore anything new was a treat.)

The guy using a large ice tong would placed the ice on the top shelf of our ice box.
Children were not allowed to open the door as the cooled air would escape and melt the ice.

Most everyone had a few chickens for eggs and a chicken here and there for a meal on special occasions. There were cows nearby and we had fresh milk. I don't know how my Mother lived without coffee, but that was not available as well.

The one radio was for the adults to listen to the news after we were put to bed. It was a terrible time to be alive, however, I was so young I didn't remember life being different.

Our neighbor, the lady who had the community telephone received news that her son was killed in what was later called, "The Most Colorful Battle of WW II"...the Battle of Midway. I remember that being a terrible time for all in our community. I noticed his mother didn't go to her mailbox at all anymore. Aunt Dot told me the lady probably didn't go because she could bear the mailbox being empty.

A little girl has such big feelings about things going on around her, but lack of power to control anything. I was told to "be cheerful and feel blessed for what we had , as there were so many children in this world with nothing to eat or a place to sleep." We were taught to pray every night for World Peace. I prayed for a handsome man to come home from the war for Aunt Dot. I also prayed for a dog.

To be cont...