Special places. Special memories. For me, one such place was the West Virginia State Fair. My parents took me as a child. I later took my children and then my grandchildren. You never tire of a State Fair and West Virginia’s showcase in Fairleigh, WV was always special. In the summer of 1956, I was still getting used to small town life in Lewisburg, population 2,000, after moving … [Read more...]
Rub It On with Sauer’s
I’m a sucker for rubs. I have a cabinet full. Each time I walk down the spice aisle at the grocery store, I stop and inspect – forever seeking that perfect rub for my various meat dishes. After much trial and lot of error, I have arrived at the conclusion that Sauer’s makes the best rubs in the business. The C. F. Sauer Company is local, with headquarters in Richmond. Founded in 1887, they’ve … [Read more...]
Project Perry: A Parrot Sanctuary
Well-meaning humans often buy pets without realizing the amount of care and attention that will be required. Birds and parrots, in fact, can be more labor intensive than dogs and cats. They require special treatment. Birds can also be loud and messy. Therefore, when people purchase birds from exotic pet stores without knowing what’s required, they will often mistreat the birds or give them up for … [Read more...]
Cherry Tomatoes: Better Late Than Never
I have four healthy cherry tomato vines and fully anticipated I would be plucking the tender beauties throughout the summer for garden salads. But the cherry tomatoes had other ideas. I have had very few to date, but in the next few weeks I will have them in spades. The vines are dragging the ground, they are so loaded. I don’t know why the cherry and grape tomatoes wait until so late … [Read more...]
The Return of the Thrushes
Lots of my backyard birds are regulars, like Norm, Cliff and Frasier – the bar patrons at Cheers. Several other of my bird friends come only periodically, and this includes one of my late summer visitors, the wood thrush. Thrushes are said to return to the same woodlands each March to nest. They usually have two clutches, then move on, in this case to my yard. They hang around the back of the … [Read more...]
Joe Pye Weed
Since I spotted a vivid orange Butterfly Weed growing by the roadside a few weeks back, I have become captivated by the many beautiful flowers and weeds seemingly growing wild along our highways and byways. Not only are they beautiful, but most have medicinal uses and interesting backgrounds. Last week I noticed another beauty. As best I can tell, it’s a Joe Pye Weed, a lovely soft-purple plant … [Read more...]
The Szechuan Restaurant
It was Sunday night and we didn’t want to cook. So, what would it be? Pizza, Subway, Arby’s, McDonalds, The Colonel? Nancy suggested we order out for Chinese. That sounded good, so I called Chop-Stix, a small Chinese restaurant close to our house. But they had just started closing on Sundays! I couldn’t believe it. I thought that would be a busy night, but apparently not. Our old go-to … [Read more...]
Offshore, For Sure
This is prime billfish season offshore along the Mid-Atlantic coast. White and blue marlin, sailfish, spearfish and swordfish are all available, and dolphin and tuna fishing is excellent. It’s also exciting to see a few big yellowfin tuna being caught this year. The one above topped the scales at 188 pounds. Most have been caught in Carolina waters. Generally yellowfin that size are caught on … [Read more...]
A Day to Remember
Last week, Mark Finley had a day to remember as he fished on the Chickahominy River. His wife was going to join him, but cancelled at the last minute, so he hooked up his bass boat, drove down to the Chick and fished by himself. Mark, who owns Finley’s Service Center in Charlottesville and has been fishing bass tournaments for 30 years, put in at Walker’s Dam, fished for couple hours and … [Read more...]
Special Places: The Greenbrier River
One of those special places in my life is and has been the Greenbrier River. When we moved from Beckley to Lewisburg, WV, one of the first attractions to this young fisherman was this beautiful piece of water. Beckley had nothing like it. The Greenbrier was a gentle river - clear, cold and inviting. The Greenbrier is a major tributary of the New River. It begins in Pocahontas County with the … [Read more...]
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