Elaine Callahan, loyal Cville Buzz reader and frog expert, shot me an email with a recommended business. Says Elaine, “Consider visiting A2D Appliances in the Forest Lakes strip mall, near Food Lion. It occupies the former Tuesday Morning site. After looking around at the appliances, ask for Adolpho, the owner/manager, to see their business model. Fabulous prices because there are … [Read more...]

Early this summer, Cross Keys Vineyards participated in the 2023 Finger Lakes International Wine & Spirits Competition, in Rochester, New York. This is one of the largest charitable wine and spirits competitions in the United States, with some 3,000 entries, judged over three days by fifty industry professionals including: masters of wine, sommeliers (CMS), journalists, winemakers, and other … [Read more...]

I have been an avid newspaper reader since I was 10 when I passionately followed Duke Snider and the Brooklyn Dodgers. I have been a reader of newspapers; I have delivered newspapers; and I have written for newspapers. I had been a Daily Progress subscriber for 50 years. This year, I gave it up. Every year, they raised prices and reduced content, and what content there was was out of a … [Read more...]

  When you don’t know a carburetor from a gas cap, you are at the mercy of whoever it is that works on your car. Many auto repair shops, especially those at the major dealerships, work on set fees and commissions, so it’s in their interest to find things wrong with your car, or things that might go wrong. There is only one shop I trust implicitly when my car needs attention, and that’s … [Read more...]

Cooking for a couple families, I am in one of our grocery stores almost every day. Kroger’s is across the street, so I visit them frequently. I like Wal-Mart because their prices are super low. I also push a cart up and down the aisles of Harris Teeter, Food Lion, Whole Foods, and Sam’s Club. Charlottesville has a relatively new grocery store, Aldi, and at first, I wasn’t impressed. I saw their … [Read more...]

  Yep, and a candlestick maker. The three main characters in an old nursery rhyme. Butchers, however, seem to be a dying breed, especially at the major grocery store chains. Kroger’s, for example, no longer has butchers. They have “Putter Outers” – folks that “put out” the prepackaged meats on the counters. It is much more efficient to have meats trimmed and butchered at a central … [Read more...]

  My kids gave me an electric mower last summer. My old gas mower was wobbling along on 3 wheels. Sometimes it started, sometimes it didn’t. The new mower was mouse-like quiet, light at as hair spray and did a great job. Except, it was a push mower and I have a heavy stand of zoysia grass in my front yard and pushing even that light mower was like pulling a red wagon through a 6-inch … [Read more...]