It’s almost strawberry season. My little backyard patch is blooming, and the grocery stores are receiving daily shipments of luscious, red-ripe strawberries. It’s hard to go wrong with strawberries – eat ‘em plain, in short cakes, over ice cream - it’s all good. But recently I saw a recipe for Strawberry Puff Pastry Tarts and since I had some Puff Pastry in my freezer, I decided to give it a go. … [Read more...]
Sleeping with Snakes
This is snake season, when the slithery reptiles shake off their winter chills and make their presence known in yards and beneath porches and around sheds. Unless it’s a copperhead, there is nothing to be concerned about. Snakes are good to have around the house because they wouldn’t be there unless they had a reason – like eating mice and rats. I once took a nap with a snake, tough I had not … [Read more...]
Restaurants are Best When the Boss is on Duty
Going way back in Charlottesville history, there was a restaurant called The Gaslight at 625 West Main Street, founded by John Tuck in 1961. For years, it was among Charlottesville’s finest. John Tuck – everybody just called him Tuck – was always on hand. An eccentric sort of fellow who wore a beret, Tuck greeted each of his guests and went from table to table to make sure everything was just … [Read more...]
Patience is a Gardening Virtue
Every year it happens. After snow, sleet and frigid weather, March delivers beautiful, warm sunny days, which get even nicer in April. Time to get stuff in the ground, right? Then, every year – just when you think winter has moved along – it happens again. A cold snap. Like this week when the evening temps plunged to the low 30s. But this year, I am showing a rare trait for me – patience. … [Read more...]
Nate Bargatze: Just for Laughs
We went to see Nate Bargatze last weekend in the Capital Center in Washington, DC. There is not much that would make me go to DC, except for maybe Nate Bargatze, one of the funniest stand-up comedians in the world. We first saw Nate in his 2 specials with Netflix. He was so funny, we just belly laughed – and that’s hard to do these days. If you’ve seen him, you know what I mean. If you’ve never … [Read more...]
A Beauty and a Beast
We were driving back from Deltaville recently and noticed lots of soft purple plants growing in many of the winter rye fields. We had seen this before, and the fields can be breath-taking in purple beauty. But there are many farmers and gardeners, however, who wish these blooms would grow elsewhere. The plant is called Purple Dead Nettle and it’s a beast to control. It’s now popping up in our … [Read more...]
Take a Trip with Matt Miles
Wanna have some fun? In the next few weeks, stripers from Buggs Island Lake will head up the Dan and Staunton rivers to spawn. Buggs Island stripers are among only a few freshwater stripers will actually pull off a spawn. But the rivers are packed with these feisty fish and there is one guide I know of who can put you on a pile of fish. Matt Miles. Matt is an Orvis-endorsed guide. His … [Read more...]
Speckled Trout Season Closed
The Virginia Marine Resources Commission has closed the recreational speckled trout harvesting season because of the heavy cold snap a few months back. Anglers will not be allowed to keep any specks from now until June 30, giving the population a chance to recover. Black drum are creeping into the Eastern Shore waters and headed for the lower bay. Red drum should be close behind. There is … [Read more...]
Do Not Pass Go!
Breathes there a Boomer who doesn’t remember the terror of rounding Marvin Gardens and Pacific Avenue, only having to face two hotels on Boardwalk and Park Place. At $2,000 for rent, Boardwalk put many a young boomer in Chapter 11. After all, we played lots of board games in those days. Youngsters in the 50s and 60s didn’t have access to video games, and that was a good thing. We used our minds … [Read more...]
Eating Sardines
One thing I so much enjoyed when growing up and hunting quail with Daddy was lunchtime. After walking who knows how many miles across the hills of West Virginia that morning, we always took a break at lunchtime, found an old country store and loaded up on almost everything that was bad for you. Like Vienna Sausages. Each hunter would open a tin, manage to squeeze that first one out and then … [Read more...]
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