Before and After - That's our girl!!!

Native American Winery Discovered

  While in the Fredericksburg area we encountered a Native American winery.  The Mattaponi Winery is the only one we know of that is operated by Native Americans. There may be many more but it sure was interesting to Linda and I.

  The front of their trading post.

Main entrance to the trading post

We liked their sign hanging inside.

Their wines have won national awards and are most known for their strawberry wine.

I always have liked dream catchers.

Deer head make the trading post look more rustic.

You all mean a lot to me, thank you

I received this from a friend this morning in my email and it touched me and I thought it should be passed on to my blog family. Hope it blesses you as well. Maybe you've seen it before. Will be good to read again.

One day a teacher  asked her students to list the names of the  other students in the room on two sheets of  paper, leaving a space between each  name.


Then she told them to think of  the nicest thing they could say about each of  their classmates and write it  down.


It took the remainder of the  class period to finish their assignment, and as  the students left the room, each one handed in  the papers.


That Saturday, the  teacher wrote down the name of each student on a  separate sheet of paper, and listed what  everyone else had said about that individual. 


On Monday she gave each student his  or her list. Before long, the entire class was  smiling. 'Really?' she heard whispered. 'I never  knew that I meant anything to anyone!' and, 'I  didn't know others liked me so much,' were most  of the comments.


No one ever  mentioned those papers in class again. She never  knew if they discussed them after class or with  their parents, but it didn't matter. The  exercise had accomplished its purpose. The  students were happy with themselves and one  another. That group of students moved  on.


Several years later, one of the  students was killed in
Vietnam and his  teacher attended the funeral of that special  student. She had never seen a serviceman in a  military coffin before. He looked so handsome,  so mature.


The church was packed with  his friends. One by one those who loved him took  a last walk by the coffin. The teacher was the  last one to bless the coffin.


As she  stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as  pallbearer came up to her. 'Were you Mark's math  teacher?' he asked. She nodded: 'yes.' Then he  said: 'Mark talked about you a  lot.'


After  the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates  went together to a luncheon. Mark's mother and  father were there, obviously waiting to speak  with his teacher.


'We want to show you  something,' his father said, taking a wallet out  of his pocket 'They found this on Mark when he  was killed. We thought you might recognize  it.'


Opening  the billfold, he carefully removed two worn  pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been  taped, folded and refolded many times. The  teacher knew without looking that the papers  were the ones on which she had listed all the  good things each of Mark's classmates had said  about him.


'Thank you so much  for doing that,' Mark's mother said. 'As you can  see, Mark treasured it.'


All of  Mark's former classmates started to gather  around. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and  said, 'I still have my list. It's in the top  drawer of my desk at home.'


Chuck's  wife said, 'Chuck asked me to put his in our  wedding album.'


'I have mine too,'  Marilyn said. 'It's in my diary'


Then  Vicki, another classmate, reached into her  pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her  worn and frazzled list to the group. 'I carry  this with me at all times,' Vicki said and  without batting an eyelash, she continued: 'I  think we all saved our lists'


That's  when the teacher finally sat down and cried. She  cried for Mark and for all his friends who would  never see him again.


The density of  people in society is so thick that we forget  that life will end one day. And we don't know  when that one day will be.


So please,  tell the people you love and care for, that they  are special and important. Tell them, before it  is too late.

Wordless Wednesday-Paintings on a wall

Other Buildings at Stevenson Ridge

This building at one time belonged to George Washington's brother, was taken down and reassembled here.

This 10,000 Sq. Ft. building serves as a chapel for over 200 already scheduled this year. The back portion serves as room for receptioins & parties.  Staff quarters are on the ground floor.

This large Rental was across the pond from our cabin.

Pinterest does it again--Thank you

  Thanks to Pinterest I will never cook cabbage the old way ever again. This is so simple and taste amazing. All you do is cut a cabbage into quarters and cutting off the hard core from each.

 I do each quarter individually and place it in the center of large piece of foil large enough to bring the edges together and seal. Rub softened butter on each side. Mix enough salt, black pepper, garlic powder and parmasan cheese to sprinkle on all 4 quarters. I put two half slices of bacon over each quarter and brought the edges of the foil together and folded tight bringing up the ends to seal them as well.

 Place all 4 quarters on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. They also hold their heat as long as they are sealed.

 Linda & I had some tonight for supper and it was perfect. Give it a try.

Where we stayed in Spotsylvania, Va

Beautiful spot in Spotsylvania County Virginia covering 80 acres.

Side view of our cabin, living room, half bath & kitchen downstairs with 2 bedrooms upstairs.

Front view of cabin

Spacious front porch with rockers

How cute, one rocker for two

Woods behind us

Living room with working fireplace.  12 inch flat logs, expertly reconstructed.

Boom box & TV with a stack of movies available.

Chair made almost entirely of tree branches. 

Entrance with wine glasses, information and memory book to fill out.

Kitchen area had a huge sink, coffee maker, microwave, large refrigerator and toaster oven.

King size bed felt like we had an acre to move around and that comforter was so warm.

Vintage wash basin with mirror in corner of bedroom.

Comfortable seating in master bedroom.

Beams throughout the house ceilings.

From Spotsylvania, Virginia

Email address for the retired "Odie"

odie_langley@yahoo.com

A light show behind us

 OK, I know it is hard to see in the first picture but it was certainly brighter just looking at it. During the wee hours of the morning while it was still dark outside the airport behind us  was all lit up with reds, whites and blues that were so pretty.

  Even this picture is not as good as I wanted it to be but with maximum magnification it was the best I could do. When you are looking out your kitchen window at the lights when everything is dark is a very pretty scene. OK, on to more realistic stuff....

  When we got up this morning it was really foggy and when I went out to put something into the car I noticed the glistening patches all over the ground. The moisture had settled onto spider webs and had them outlined all over the place.

  The next one was taken in an Azalea bush and was really eye catching.

  The last one and probably the biggest was in a small evergreen tree in the front yard. I just found it amazing how nature can accent other forms of nature.

Let me take you back to a place I loved

  I guess it was around 2002 and I was on a long weekend visiting a friend and enjoying the scenery of north Georgia. We came to this bridge and it was the site of Tallulah Gorge. Don't know when I have ever been so amazed as I was that day. I walked onto the bridge which was an automobile bridge and part of the local highway not a pedestrian bridge. I walked over to the right side and noticed a spillway for this dam that was beautiful as I looked across the water.

  So far nothing out of the ordinary for this small town guy from up north.  I then walked over to the left side of the bridge and to my amazement it looked like somewhere between 100 to 200 feet straight down to the rocks and water below. 

  My friend told me that this was also a place that some people chose to commit suicide by jumping off the bridge. The area is very rough and to get to the person on foot would take days so the local emergency department would repel off the bridge to the bottom of the gorge to retrieve the unlucky jumpers.

  This is a view across the dam area

Looking down from the bridge.  

Looking straight down where jumpers would land.

It is a beautiful area but you have to respect the wilderness or it will ruin your day.

  I said all of the above to lead you into "the rest of the story". For years now I have been driving north and south on NC Highway 301 which parallels Interstate 95. 301 goes through a number of towns including Halifax.  On the south side of town there is a bridge that you cross that has always made me wonder what was under that bridge because all can see from the car is trees and the thought of depth. 

  Being retired and having the time to explore I stopped near the bridge today and walked to the center to take a look over the side. 

  This is what I saw looking down and out and it is quite a long way down. This picture was taken with no magnification. If you look near the center in the water there is a rectangular object towards the left side of the stream.

  Now with full magnification at 5X this is the object I mentioned. Get the picture? The next picture was also at full magnification just a little ways further down the stream. So my friends that is why Tallulah Gorge popped back into my mind today  seeing a smaller version a couple of miles down the road.