I had enjoyed a particular bottle of wine and couldn’t find it in the wine department at a nearby grocery store. I stopped by Rio Hill Wine and asked my friend Doug Hotz if he knew about it. “I’ll check and see if I can get it," he said. Three days later, Doug had tracked down a distributor and said he could get a bottle or even a case in three days. That’s the kind of service customers at Rio … [Read more...]

Many salons price their facial appointments by the clock - maybe 30 minutes, maybe 45, maybe an hour. Kathryn Yates at Faces by Kathryn is less interested in what time it is than how her clients look. “I give my clients a full hour,” she said. “Everyone deserves to benefit from a quality facial.” And whereas many salons may charge up to $148 for an hour facial, Kathryn’s fee is … [Read more...]

When my good friend, Ron Martin, was alive, if we needed to replace an appliance we’d call him and say, “Ron, our dishwasher just died. When can you get us another one?” Odds are, it was the next day. His technicians delivered the new one, took the old one away and left a bill on our kitchen counter. We trusted Ron’s expertise and opinion so much that we often left it up to him to pick the … [Read more...]

The biggest smallmouth I ever caught was on a float tube trip near Hatton Ferry. I don’t now how big she was since I released her and I had no scales with me to weigh the hefty fish. But she was big enough to pull my float tube all over the river. It took quite a while to bring that big bass to net. It just so happens that now is an excellent time to float the James River and James River … [Read more...]

Charlottesville, Virginia, home of CvilleBuzz, had 225 restaurants at last count. That’s a lot of choices, but if I had special guests coming to town, price was no object and I wanted to make sure they dined at one of Charlottesville’s finest restaurants, I would take them to the Ivy Inn. Over the years, my wife Nancy and I have had many enjoyable meals at The Inn (mostly anniversaries and … [Read more...]

It’s not easy changing the name of an established business. Government authorities need to be informed, there are signs, cards and stationary to change and the general public must be notified through an extensive advertising campaign. But changing the name of Builder’s Lighting to Nancy B’s House of Lights was something that Nancy Brewer (Nancy B) thought was worthwhile. That’s because – even … [Read more...]

I had a pain in my neck, literally. I had been fishing with Capt. Dick Whitehill and had reeled in numerous stripers on a pleasant day last November. Unfortunately, the fishing rod and reel out I was in charge of had a one-pound, ball sinker at the business end and it was a beast to reel in. After our trip, my neck hurt like the dickens. Later that week, I went to my primary care doctor to make … [Read more...]

We first met Jimmy O in 1983. He was playing at Millers in downtown Charlottesville. This was before it was a downtown mall. It was just a bunch of streets and a downtown. My wife Nancy and I along another couple were enjoying the food and ambience at Millers while watching N.C. State play Hakeem Olajuwon and the highly touted Houston Cougars in the NCAA basketball championship game. As much as we … [Read more...]