I’ve typed the name Mckibben so many times in the past few days that I can actually spell it now without using a cheat sheet. The environmentalist and best selling author came to Floyd on Tuesday and spoke at The Floyd Country Store on sustainable local economy to an engaged audience of about 140. I [...]
The following was published in The Floyd Press May 28, 2009. I saw the play last night and can highly recommend it. It’s being performed tonight at 7:00 and Sunday at 5:00. Since the fall of 2005 Floyd’s Young Actors Coop (YAC) has been entertaining audiences. With over a dozen productions of original plays and [...]
1. A mother phoebe with a nest in the porch rafters has been using our picnic table for her runway while making feeding trips to her babies, as evidenced by the bird droppings I have to clean up everyday. 2. The above gives new meaning to the term “poop deck.” 3. “Pooh” is actually a [...]
It’s only a matter of time before I spill tea on my new white shirt. Before my one-year-old grandson is old enough to sleep over. Before I teach my step-granddaughter jump rope songs from the 60’s. Before I forget and leave the house without makeup on my one white eyebrow Before I write a poem [...]
It wasn’t a hike, just a leisurely neighborhood stroll and a chance to hold hands as we walked, Joe in his plaid martial arts PJ bottoms and me in my baggy purple house silks. Passing a couple of well-groomed yards tucked away off winding dirt roads caused us to think about how wild our own [...]
~ The following appeared (in a slightly different order) in The Floyd Press on May 21, 2009. 1. The weather cooperated for the 3rd Annual Tour de Floyd last Saturday. Under sunny skies, 98 riders made the 63 mile loop, much of it along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Participants left the Floyd Fitness Center in [...]
For a couple of decades I’ve been part of a Triple Spiral of Neighborhood May Goddesses who celebrate our birthdays together. Like clockwork our birth dates fall like dominoes just days apart. Over the years we’ve posed together with irises in our hair, roses in our teeth, holding pies and all varieties of cakes in [...]
Struck by the design on some green bean seeds, I realize that growing food is no less magical than a beanstalk that leads to a golden egg laying goose, than a cow that jumps over the moon. After planting a second row of beans, next to the ones already growing, I take a break to [...]
1. I check for blossoms on my flowers with the same vigilance that I check for blog comments. 2. My Thirteen Thursday last week was almost canceled due to lack of comments on Wednesday. It was the first time in the four years I’ve been blogging that an entry received no comments, so I considered [...]
There was a rumor that went around amongst Hull kids growing up in the 50’s – or maybe it was just in my family – that if you put your finger in one of the horses mouths on the Paragon Park Merry-go-round snakes would come out and bite you. I was about four years old [...]
~The following was published in The Floyd Press on May 14, 2009 There’s a new Friday night street attraction in downtown Floyd. Jamboree goers lined up on a recent Friday for fresh baked pizza from an open wood-fire oven on the back of a pick-up truck. John Roberts pulled pizzas in and out of the [...]
A photo shoot of the 3rd annual Tour de Floyd, with 98 riders cycling 63 miles (mostly) on the Blue Ridge Parkway to benefit the Floyd Rescue Squad. A weed walk with Thrivalist Frank Cook, who taught us what we could eat from the land surrounding the library parking lot. A story on the latest [...]
I always wondered what that wall of photos of people wearing sombreros in the back of El Charro was all about. Then they brought out a Mexican dessert with a cherry on top, put the sombrero on my head, and snapped. Now I’m one of the photos on the wall. Aging may be bull but [...]
My grandson Bryce has passed his first year of life with flying colors. As he’s reached all the normal first year milestones – first smile, first tooth, first step, learning to sit, crawl and walk – we’ve watched with enthusiasm and awe at how much a baby can learn in one year. As much as [...]
1. Does Shebang mean the same thing as a kit and caboodle? 2. I recently became interested in the word “Shebang” and looked up its origins and found this: Known to go back at least to year 1862 (Walt Whitman), shebang is suspected to originate from the French word char-a-banc, which was a bus-like wagon [...]
~ The following was published in the Lawn and Garden supplement of Community Newspapers of Southwest Virginia in April 2009. Known for its vibrant music and art scene, Floyd County has also been fertile ground for a flourishing of sustainable agriculture. Since the early 1990’s small market growers and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms have [...]
Go Green Walk Your Talk Gets Good Gas Mileage
I’ve been having a difficult time trying to find a doctor that I can work with, probably because this (burdock root ready for steaming and tincturing) is my idea of medicine.
