Alison's blog in Virginia - Spring 2008

Tuesday 29 May 2007

nobody@vox.com(virginia49) — Tue, 29 May 2007 08:05:35 -0700

This is our last full day here so we are busy packing and cleaning. It is very hot again - thank goodness for air con!! We need to take books back to the library and deliver the last few things from the freezer to friends. Dan and Carolyn are taking us to the airport at 1 pm tomorrow so we will have an early lunch somewhere.

I will be too busy to post anything tomorrow morning so I will say TTFN - watch out for more in the middle of September!

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Monday 28 May 2007

nobody@vox.com(virginia49) — Mon, 28 May 2007 08:50:03 -0700

Flag

Today is Memorial Day and in UK it is a Bank Holiday. Hope you are all having fun.

I looked out of the window this morning to find that someone had put an American flag on all of the mail boxes, including ours! We have a real estate agent living around here and he uses these holidays as an excuse to do that and attach his business card of course. PS - not that size of course!

We had a quiet morning and went out to a shop to return something and ended up in a book shop for a long while - with air conditioning. On the way home (well not quite) we dropped into CW to sit outside the Cheese Shop. We didn't stay long it was SO HOT, around 94 degrees again.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Sunday 27 May 2007

nobody@vox.com(virginia49) — Sun, 27 May 2007 07:00:10 -0700

Sign at Crab Shack

They say it is going to be 94 degrees today!!

Church as usual, but it was sad to say goodbye to our friends. Eve was in tears so it was hard not to cry myself. We did have lunch with some of the church members as usual, and went to the Red Lobster. Afterwards Greg wanted to go to Yorktown because there is some celebration for Memorial Day, but it is SO HOT and I know there is no shelter there. I cannot survive without air conditioning at these temperatures! Maybe we will go out later when it cools down. Greg is making iced tea. And NO, I am not packed yet!

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Saturday 26 May 2007

nobody@vox.com(virginia49) — Sat, 26 May 2007 07:59:01 -0700

USS Iwo Jima and ERII mailbox

It was strange to see several aircraft carriers at the same time - that would not happen at home. The Iwo Jima was launched in 2000, it is the 2nd one of that name. We also saw the Harry S Truman and the Eisenhower which has just returned from an 8 month deployment. We saw the news film of the men being reunited with their families, I remember that feeling! We caught the little paddle ferry across the River Elizabeth yesterday.

Harry S Truman (33rd president) once said - 'appeasement of evil is not the road to peace'.

Rose Garden

This is the rose garden at Huntington Park, the smell was amazing. Imagine all that dead-heading

Norfolk from the marina at Portsmouth

This is the view from the marina in Portsmouth where we had our afternoon cold drink - we needed it!

Paddle Ferry on Elizabeth River

This little paddle boat is the ferry that takes people across to Norfolk. It only takes a few minutes but it is a nice way to get there.

This is Memorial Day weekend and there are many planned events happening in Yorktown and Williamsburg. The shops are going to have Memorial Day sales on Monday. They often seem to have major sales on the Monday after a holiday weekend.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Friday 25 May 2007

nobody@vox.com(virginia49) — Fri, 25 May 2007 06:43:11 -0700

War of the Worlds water tower

A Tanker goes by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge

This water tower at Cape Charles looked like it was going to walk towards us!

This is NOT my husband!

Gene and Nancy picked us up late morning and we drove down to Portsmouth and caught the ferry/paddle boat across to Norfolk. It was a very hot day so the breeze on the boat was very welcome. We found a crab shack and ate lunch on their deck overlooking the Elizabeth river and stayed there for a long time watching the boats and talked and talked. Finally we caught the boat across the river again to pick up the car. Our chauffeur knew of a good place to get a cool drink at the marina where there was another good view of the river life. On the way home we stopped at the rose garden at Huntington Park Newport News, the smell in the hot sun was amazing! It has been about 90 degrees F today and the weekend is going to be hotter so summer is finally coming. Yet again we have had a wonderful day.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Thursday 24 May 2007

nobody@vox.com(virginia49) — Thu, 24 May 2007 06:48:08 -0700

Greg wants to go to Charles City today because we have not been before and he is curious.

Chesapeake-Bay-Bridge-and-tunnel

Well after looking at the map etc, he decided there was not much there so we went off to the Virginian Eastern Shore which involves going from Lynhaven (Virginia Beach) over the bridge and through the tunnel to the Eastern Shore. It is 17 miles across that stretch of water and there is a bridge each direction and a tunnel. The views from the bridge are wonderful on a clear day. There are places to stop and look and we took some pictures but photos do not do it justice really. We ended up in Cape Charles for lunch and a look around. It is a quiet, beautiful riverside town (Chesapeake River) and we visited the few shops and then walked along a peaceful beach where we met a lady collecting sea glass which is glass that has been worn by the sea - apparently it is collectable! We have found before that people in small towns here are incredibly friendly. We had a wonderful day and saw coastal Virginia at its best, we won't mention the traffic jams on the way home because they were not too bad. We found ourselves at the cheese shop before we got home.We have had a wonderful day but we can't believe we have travelled almost 200 miles!

Cape Charles Beach boardwalk

The sky tells it all!

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Wednesday 23 May 2007

nobody@vox.com(virginia49) — Wed, 23 May 2007 08:17:09 -0700

Colonial Drums

I have been reading a couple of books about families who lived in Charleston South Carolina from the 1600s to the Civil War and it has whetted my appetite to see the area. We worked out it is just over 400 miles from here so maybe when we return in the Fall we will take a trip. A southern friend of ours said we should go to Savannah too so maybe! We have our final house group tonight and it is a 'pot luck' evening so I have been cooking - I hope it is OK! It is a lovely bright day although I have not been outside yet.

We had a very pleasant party/house group with far too much food of course. It was a balmy evening so we sat on their patio to eat and chat. We were thrilled to see Libby there, looking really well. She says the new pacemaker is making her feel better already.

We were told on the local news to watch out for a satellite that was due to come over later in the evening so after we walked home to looked out for it and eventually saw it but it was very faint.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Tuesday 22 May 2007

nobody@vox.com(virginia49) — Tue, 22 May 2007 07:14:00 -0700

Libby

Heard last night that a good friend of ours Libby has been taken into hospital with heart problems and has had surgery last night. We have a friend called Libby each side of the Atlantic, this is the American one. She has 6 grown children and lots of church friends so she is well cared for but it is scary!

I am going to the hairdresser this morning to get a good cut before we go home. Well it cost a lot of money but she always cuts it so well, I feel it is worth it once in a while. I came home to pick up Greg and we went off shopping. I had a couple of things to take back and I have a last minute shopping list. What am I saying, we still have another week! Greg has asked for the mail to be redirected when we leave. Can you believe it, they do it free!

Just heard that Libby is at home already! It all went very well. It was a problem with her pacemaker.

Sounds like M and H are having a wonderful time in Malta.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Monday 21 May 2007

nobody@vox.com(virginia49) — Mon, 21 May 2007 14:58:51 -0700

The Smithfield Inn

It seems we have been to Smithfield an awful lot this trip but Dan and Carolyn wanted to take us out for lunch and this is their favourite place to eat (Greg had done some work on their computer). It was a lovely warm day, not too hot and we went via the ferry to Scotland which is always a pleasure. We spent a long time over lunch, it is a wonderful old place, full of antiques and then did a little shopping at the Antique Emporium and the Ben Franklin shop which is going to close down soon which is sad. It is the sort of store that has just about everything and they are trying to sell it all so everything was 40% off. I was good!

George Washington

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Sunday 20 May 2007

nobody@vox.com(virginia49) — Sun, 20 May 2007 06:37:04 -0700

Sweet William Garden

Last night we went to Nancy and Bruce's house along with Nancy and Gene, and had a great time. Bruce cooked huge steaks on the barbeque and we had salad and baked potato. The evening was only spoilt by the news that Gene has not been accepted as an Elder of the church. It is so unexpected and such a shock that everyone is upset. No one could do more for the church than Gene! I will never understand church politics. 2-3 of the present Elders are retiring from the job so they do need more willing people. Two other men were chosen so perhaps they feel they have enough. It will be hard in church today though, we have to vote for those who the church elders do want. Greg has gone off to Sunday school and I will join him at 10.30 am.

Had lunch with the group as usual, this time at Applebees. At 2 pm there was an Ice Cream Social on this sub-division (estate) so we walked down to Isobel Park, which is the little park here and took in some more calories!!! We met up with most of the people who were here on Friday night but we did meet some different people so we are getting to know more and more folks here which is good. Later we went into CW and sat outside the Cheese Shop. There are still lots of students and parents around after graduation ceremonies so it was busy. It was warm but breezy.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend