Category Archives: family

by | November 30, 2015 · 1:32 am

Happy 72 to ME!

A decade ago Donny took me to Paris via London for my 62nd birthday. We covered a lot of ground in the two nights and one day that we were in London. I decided it would be fun to title my LiveJournal post about it all London in Six Hundred and Sixty-Two minutes which of course we didn’t pace quite that fast but almost.

 

The London Eye makes a great halo!

The condensed version

1. Struggle out of bed
2. Eat complimentary hotel breakfast at 7th floor restaurant – great panoramic view looking west over the city
3. Buy bus ticket around the corner
4. Hop bus to London Bridge
5. Get bus map (finally) at London Bridge Station/ big and bustling
6. Leave station; Donny asks about old cathedral close by; I say it must be a lesser place as it is not noted on my walking tour guide
7. Walk down Nancy’s Steps (from Oliver Twist) to cathedral
8. Discover cathedral is Southwark, very important; Shakespeare’s brother and John Harvard (university founder) both worshipped here
9. Get nice private tour talk from Welcomer lady
10. Walk to St Mary Overie Dock where replica of Golden Hinde (Sir Francis Drake’s ship) is docked; very small, intimate place
11. Pass by rose window; remains of Bishop of Winchester’s Palace
12. Pass by The Clink, BofW’s personal prison
13. Continue walk along Thames, this whole area called Bankside; then outside London proper so not subject to city regulations
14. Have coffee at Starbucks next to Globe Theatre; not impressed with Globe
15. Finish coffee; walk round the corner; see real Globe; now impressed
16. Amazed at the three 17th century houses next door rather tucked away in the middle of all this commerce; they are for let; Provost Lodging
17. Note Cardinal’s Cap Alley; very narrow walkway typical of the 1500’s
18. Overwhelmed by Tate Gallery of Modern Art (will go inside another trip), partially housed in first London public power station; it is huge; we walk through garden
19. Cross Millennium Bridge; called wobbly bridge as it had to be closed for a year to fix constant wobbling that resulted from too many people on it at same time
20. Wonder about odd look of St Paul’s; as we get closer discover we have been looking at cloth façade covering sand blasting
21. Get city map from Tourist Information; at last a guide to the rest of London
22. Do not chose to pay fee to see St Paul’s inside; walk through garden
23. Head back toward Thames; pass St Andrew’s By-The-Wardrobe
24. Pass Blackfriars Bridge; walking is fun but the levels and lack of pedestrian crosswalks in places make it challenging; I tell Donny we need a 3-D map too
25. Find the river walk; pass many war memorials
26. Pass Somerset House
27. Pass Charing Cross Station
28. Marvel at Obelisk and history of it; make friends here with a lone tourist that we photograph on his camera phone in front of the adjacent Sphinx; he takes our picture
29. Pause across from the Eye; Donny takes my picture with it as my halo; see our friend and take his picture with Eye; decide not to cross over to find out why it is not running (even at night we never catch it running)
30. Approach Big Ben and House of Parliament
31. Turn away from river at Westminster Bridge
32. Circle Parliament Square noting protest signs
33. Walk around Westminster Abbey; do not pay to go in
34. Pass Jewel Tower which looks interesting but it is getting toward dusk and we have more to see
35. Confused about where Diana got married (I think St Paul’s as the steps are better for showing off the gown) we also cannot decide where her funeral service was held; Donny thinks he remembers a walk from Buckingham
36. Walk on to Westminster Cathedral which I have noticed on the map near Buckingham so maybe the service was here
37. Arrive at this Roman Catholic place of worship so beautiful in its red Byzantine style after walk down Victoria St
38. Photo interesting huge (wider than the church) flag spread out in cathedral outside entry courtyard (it is gone by the time we leave)
39. Happy there is no fee we go in; contributions to offset the daily operating costs (L3000) are welcome
40. Stop at adjacent McDonald’s (at the separate “McD’s Café” inside) for bathroom break
41. Need to shop for some gloves for Donny; we are in a shopping district and it flows toward Buckingham Palace; but no gloves are found here
42. Reach Buckingham Palace as a car is entering; much searching is going on; it is now dark and the whole scene is very clandestine-like
43. Have to backtrack on ourselves to simply cross the street to walk down The Mall
44. Walk down The Mall past St James Park toward Trafalgar Square; it is dark
45. Intend to see the tree in Trafalgar Square (which was lit yesterday) by night we come upon it just as we planned (it is tall but skinny)
46. Go inside St Martin’s in the Field which is diagonally across from the square
47. Hungry, we dine amongst the dead in the Crypt Café; we have stumbled upon the best in London for church meals; it is equal to a five star restaurant
48. Hustled out (but we did get to eat at a nice pace) because a sold out concert is about to start and the cafe is closing
49. Buy expensive StM’s academy and chorus Christmas cd in the bookstore as it is closing (the partially pulled down metal security doorway, literally, on Donny’s head as he walks into it leaving – nice bruise, no blood)
50. Head for Covent Garden which is supposed to be beautiful at night
51. Climb Duke of York steps
52. Consider theater tickets at Leicester Square
53. Would go to Christmas Carol with Patrick Stewart but starts 6/12 (6 December)
54. Have been stopped three times(including once by a bus driver) for directions; we pass for Brits
55. Find gloves at a shop (Next) in Covent Garden
56. Weave our way through narrow cobblestone walkwaysinto the square
57. Photo tree from good side; side without garishly lit Santa (note Covent Garden literature also photos non-Santa side)
58. Aim for bus stop
59. Board bus to Shoreditch (Globe Theatre originally in this district) and hotel
60. Arrive at St Gregory
61. Shower and pack for early departure
62. Happy Birthday #62

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by | October 29, 2015 · 1:45 pm

I’ll Take Manhattan

200“Don’t be remorseful. It just confuses me.” Oh Inspector Jack Anderson & Lady Detective Phyrne Fisher we do love you.

Son Andrew recently posts a photo of ingredients for a mixed drink that takes him four stops to acquire. He asks for guesses as to what he is concocting, offering a free drink for the first correct answer.

I figure it probably has something to do with season three of the charming series Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries many of us are watching but what specifically would Phryne and Jack have been drinking? Andrew & Jenn are finished with the episodes, we have several to go.

Almost simultaneously Lewis and I guess Old Fashioned. Phryne was known to enjoy a hearty Old-Fashioned mixed to perfection by Mr. Butler. Nope, but we still get a free drink.

Then I look closer at the ingredients, two kinds of vermouth. Aha, it’s a Manhattan. Kat beats me to the guess (but she did spell it wrong). She has completed the series too. We’re both right, confirmed by Andrew and later the episode where Phryne and Jack have a Manhattan nightcap.

Manhattans and I have a long history. It is my first mixed drink. I am a freshman in college. My family has recently moved from Whitehall, Ohio where we live from fifth grade until I graduate. Dad’s job with the newly formed Department of Transportation investigating air plane crashes takes them to the DC area. No way I can get there from the cornfields of Oxford, Ohio where I attend Miami University and back for Thanksgiving break and so I find myself tagging along with dorm mate Sandy Mathison to her home in Cleveland.

Her parents own a Dairy Queen and she has her own horse. Another first for me on that trip. Riding a horse. It is harrowing invigorating. I do not fall off. I do not get kicked. Success. Probably has something to do with that Manhattan her aunt fixes me the night before.

We land at Sandy’s home shortly before dinner time. After dinner we head over to her aunt’s house within walking distance (good thing). “Show us how to drink,” Sandy commands. Her aunt, a real Phryne type free spirit, is delighted to oblige. Drinking proteges! She mixes. We drink. It is a happy combination. Many drinks later we stumble home. But upright we are. We can hold our liquor. We’ll take Manhattan.

 

 

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by | October 23, 2015 · 12:24 pm

Family MATTERS

“You couldn’t believe anything John T told you. He was a great fibber.” My new friend, Buster Moore, is explaining his grandfather and, as history happened, the youngest eye witness to the first flight. But Buster is not referring to that day, Johnny really was there, just his rascally character in general.

Friend Ed Beckley is writing an article on the history of Colington Island and asks me for information about the multi-use path project and anything else of interest that I might know. I tell him about the little yellow house that John T Moore, or Johnny Moore to historians, used to live in and describe it. Ed sends me a photo of what he thinks is the right house, but my description is off base as Ed has the wrong house. I tell him that I will get some photos for him.

I have taken several a few months back when I got the information about the house from Tanya Hill. John T Moore was her great grandfather. She is caretaker of the Hilltop Cemetery near the little house. I could not find my photos so I decide to not only take more but also take a photo of John T’s grave site.

moore grave

John T and Cloey Moore. John witnessed the first flight in 1903 when he was sixteen. He is famous for running up the beach, before there were dunes, shouting “They done it. They done it. Damn’d if they ain’t flew.”

It’s not a big cemetery, still I have to walk the entire thing, which is extremely interesting before I find John T and his wife Cloey smack dab in the middle. As I am straightening the silk flower cross to get a nice photo a gentleman walks up. Now if you do not know this cemetery, it is about a quarter of an acre on a hill but pretty much flat. You can throw a football from one end to the other or side to side. I was easy to spot wandering around.

He doesn’t say a word and I stand up explaining what I am doing and ask if he is Stanley. Stanley is the last living child of John T’s double digit brood and Tanya has told me that he lives nearby. This gent laughs and says words to the effect of not on your life.

He then begins to tell me about his father, Dallas, one of John T’s children, whose grave site is a few over. And his mother May, who as it turns out is Tanya’s grandmother, and still living. He tells me lots more family history, citing the names of all the children of John T. I listen so enthralled that I do not even think to take notes. I ask if he will let me take his picture, but he declines. He also is not interested in letting me take photos of his many clippings about the Wright flight and his grandfather. My new friend is part Indian and believes that photos take part of your soul. Later in our chat I ask his name. Buster he tells me, named after an uncle who was killed in WWII. One of my favorite uncles on my mother’s side was named Buster too. Buster Moore and I are instant kindred spirits.

I do think to ask if he had a relationship with his grandfather. He tells me he did and that he remembers sitting on the porch of the original house. It was a much bigger house than the abandoned current house built in 1954 that sits on about the same site.  He tells me that the crepe myrtles were as close to the road, then a dirt path, as they are today.

He tells me that Stanley would talk to me about John T but to not bank on anything that he says because he fibs as much as his dad did. He tells me a story about John T and the Colington game warden. Geese were out of season and the warden asks John T if he’d seen any. John T who always wore an overcoat smiles and tells the warden that he has not as he squeezes the dead geese tucked under each arm a bit tighter.

I do not know how to get up with Buster but I plan on going back to the cemetery in hopes that he’ll show up. He does live close by. I want to ask him if his grandfather talked about the Wright brothers, not as much about the day they flew, but just about them in general. John T did name one of his sons Orville Lindbergh Moore, so he must have some good memories. Trouble is can we believe anything he told Buster.

many greats grandfather

Starke Jett my great great grandfather

Seven year old grandson Edward was at fall camp recently getting some down time, as he told his mom, before his new baby sister arrives. While we were sewing a bed for shy cat Huey’s newly designed and created by Edward outdoor home, Edward notices a portrait hanging on the wall and asks who it is. I fumble through a few greats and give up, I need to review the time line. And yes, Edward did a lot of the sewing. He and Sebastian have now had a camp sewing machine lesson and both did really well.

Back to the portrait. I have an awesome book on the entire Jett lineage my cousin Jeter put together decades ago. It starts with Peter Jett & his wife Mary who settled in Peppertocks Creek near Bray’s Wharf (now Leedstown) in or around in 1663 and goes forward until publication in 1977 so fact checking is easy. Still the details of the painting escape me until today when I am wandering through my old blog posts on LiveJournal and find this. This first part is about a big birthday party we threw for Mom at the Reedville Fisherman’s Museum. She got to invite anyone she wanted to include and we provided all the rest.

The birthday party for mom was a lot of fun. She was in her element. The weather was perfect. A nice group of family and friends. The Melinda cake was awesome as always, and it survived the eighty flaming candles. 

While I was in Reedville I stopped by cousin Miriam’s house and found out some information on the mystery painting. Seems that the painter, Sidney E King, was Miriam’s art teacher. He went on to become rather well known in the area. He was even hired by Jamestown to paint a series of landscapes. Well, anyway, Miriam commissioned him to paint portraits of Starke I, her great grandfather, and Theodore Augusta, her grandfather. They now hang in the courthouse in Heathsville. The one I ended up with Mr King painted specifically for Miriam. She likes it more than the official portrait. My dad got it because he asked her for it years ago and so she gave it to him. 

And so for this generation of grands the portrait is of their great great great great grandfather, Starke Jett, a well respected minister with the Methodist Episcopal Church of the South. He was also a Democratic delegate to the Virginia Legislature.

Family matters are fun to matter.

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by | September 4, 2015 · 9:11 am

Camp OBX 2015

posing

Mimicking the pose of three first flight witnesses. Jake (16 year old Johnny Moore), Martin (lumber merchant Cephus Brinkley) and me (surfman Will Dough) Senior Camp 2015. Photo credit Lydia.

In 2006 Emily & Marty need summer help with then six year old Martin & three year old Lydia. Being more fun to call it camp than anything else it quickly it became officially Camp OBX envied by many but attended by a very select few.

Not far from the beginning, Donny’s nephew Jake and his family, plus even more of Donny’s family, were visiting and after Jake got back home to Richmond he decided that camp time was needed. Taking the bull by the horns he told, not asked, his parents that he wanted to attend, applied and was accepted. He’s now in his sixth year and the only non-grand to be a full rights camper. He always tries to schedule his camp time with Martin and Lydia but occasionally he’s been the only camper in residence.

ghosty

Beach time with the teens brought this no zoom needed friend to my towel side.

Three years ago the younger crop of grands began getting their own special camp time. As much as all of our campers love and cherish their parents, and while family camp time is unique and awesome, as seven year old Edward, now a three year camp veteran, states, “It’s not camp when you’re here, Mom.”

Campers have learned to read, swim, surf, and ride a horse all at camp. Campers have seen turtles hatch, the inside of the Wright Brothers Monument, and almost seen the moon rise at the top of Bodie Island lighthouse (got halfway up to be thwarted by lightning in the area). Campers have made their first mini-golf hole-in-one and one lucky camper even got just the right one to win a free game (Professor Hackers ftw), gotten their first hourly paying job (thanks Val and My Little Sunshine) and mastered the art of wearing flip flops while at camp. Campers have camped out under the stars, seen shooting stars, and watched babies become Virginia Dare stars at the Lost Colony. Those are only some highlights. The list is pretty much endless. And FUN is always the operative word.

We got our first official t-shirt this season, thanks to the Desjardins family, Marty specifically who came up with the idea. It reads “Grandma Sandy What Can We Do That’s FUN?” This now much repeated phrase was started by grand Sebastian trying to get me to play Portal without actually coming out and saying it, since he has limited screen time. His clever reasoning being that if the idea comes from Grandma Sandy allowances are made. It took me longer than the rest of the family to figure out his coded message.

2015 marks our first pretty much non-stop camping the entire traditional school break summer and it really was, as Jake told his parents, the best year yet!

martin camperlydia camperjake campersea bass camper

 

edward camper benji camper zach camper marie camperpj rising camper

The Nifty Nine. Martin 14, Lydia 12, Jake 17, Sebastian 6, Edward 7, Benji 7, Zach 5, Marie 3, PJ 2. Martin & Lydia belong to daughter Emily & Marty. Sebastian belongs to son Donald & Terri. Edward & Marie belong to son Stephen & Sarah. Benji, Zach & PJ belong to son Andrew & Jenn. Jakes belongs to Donny’s brother Robert & Diane.

 

 

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by | August 26, 2015 · 7:13 am

Hanging Around UP in the AIR

sunset park

Closing out 2014. Sunset over the sound behind the ropes course.

Our new favorite place to play is Abby & Brad Carey’s First Flight Adventure Park in Nags Head. Into its second season it is fast becoming a must do for every Outer Banks vacationer and local.

While this is definitely Abby & Brad’s vision (Brad has helped build a lot of courses) I still maintain that without the guidance of then Nags Head planner awesome Liz Teague they would still be dialoging with town officials. She helped them cut through the paper trail in record time every step of the way.

rope and tape gone

Emily takes on one of our favorite challenges while Donald and Martin look on. For this one you had to get back on if you fell off because your lanyard was in the middle, but no fear, its gone. A first year element only. Glad we got to play on it. I did fall off my first time through but finally got back on. It was kind of tricky because you end up hanging below the loops with no good hand holds to grab. Still I wondered why I even fell the second time I took it on. It really was easy.

The course is a sixty feet tower of challenges formed in three almost circular levels. At least one section of the first level is mandatory, that is after also mandatory flight school. Then for two hours you can go on any section as many times as you like. Every level has two sections with seven individual elements each separated by a wooden platform built around the support pilings. Only one person at a time allowed on an element and only two people on a platform. The sections are labeled after hurricane categories. Tropical storm, Category 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5.

I have been on all the sections save category 5 at the top. The hammock and I have yet to meet and the guy wire tight rope. The entire time you are on a section you are tethered to a five hundred pound load bearing strap that is locked in place on a lead wire. If you fall off of an element you just pull yourself along until you get to the platform. There are a couple of elements where you cannot do this because of the way the lanyard and the challenges intersect but they’re not too difficult to get back up on and keep going. After each level you zip line to the middle where you are untethered by a guide with the key. Then on to your next set of seven challenges.

zip to the end

Guest at Family Camp OBX for a week Henry zip line rides between sections.

My personal nemesis is was an element called Pirate Crossing. It’s two loose ropes that cross in the middle of the element. The point is to hold onto the rope while you slide your feet along a wire, switch to the second rope in the middle and continue. The first time I tried it I kept the rope too slack and while I didn’t fall off I used a lot of unnecessary energy staying the course. This time I stalled about even trying the level with Pirate Crossing but brother-in-law Robert, my climbing partner, urged me on. Turned out it is really easy once you get the hang of it. Speaking of Robert I’m so excited for him. He was only going to do the first level elements because of his compromised ankle, but we ended up doing all but those on Cat 5. And he aced every one.

the park new

Brand new not even yet open park 2014. Those buoy things above my head, my downfall this year. I refused to use the guy wire and just could. not. get. my leg around the buoy and hold on. Everything was that much too far apart. But I’ll figure it out.

Bested the Pirate Crossing but fell off of Braided Argile on Category 4. That section ends with hand over hand rings which I have yet to really try. I love monkey bars but these rings are thicker in dimension and smoother. Of course I could try and see if I can make any progress. Hanging by the first two is as far as I’ve pushed myself.

Playing on the course this past week was lots of fun because we had folks on almost every level and every section. Words of encouragement from any one of us were constantly floating from above and below and even the covered viewers deck where some of our party chose to hang out. The added elements of a stiff breeze and people unexpectedly juggling the course as they took on their personal challenges only upped the stakes for success.

The view is amazing, the vegetation below in the wetlands is lush and green with beautiful water flowers adding in color. From sea to sound the panorama is yours for the looking, that is unless you’re busy tackling a challenge. Or unless you’re son Lewis who likes to go through with his eyes closed.

 

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by | August 20, 2015 · 7:37 am

Don’t Ask An OBX Local For Directions They’ve Already LOST One Colony

lost colony 2005

Several members of the cast and crew with a few Irish friends in Youghal County Cork 2005. Left to right, Greg Purcell, Becki Rea, Joan’s sister (a YaYa) Donny Ball, Marsha Warren, Carol Adams, Joan’s other sister (another YaYa), Carl Curnutte III, Joan Brumbach, Bill Rea, Sandy Ball, John Buford, Marj Thomas, Jackie Pierce, Irish kid one and two and fellow countryman.

Our family history with Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Green’s The Lost Colony, longest running outdoor symphonic drama, is not as lengthy as some but is a lot longer than many and has its own thread of fun. True we’ve never had a Virginia Dare baby in the family. For those of you who might not know, once a summer on Virginia Dare’s birthday, real babies are used in five different scenes. Lewis was the only child in our family eligible for this role since Richmond was our base when the others were the right age, but at 6 months and very active, I figured that he would not really enjoy the entire acting gig and didn’t take him to auditions.

However, we have suffered the agony of the wooden bench seats with no backs and jockeying for a good seat since all tickets were general admission. Bug spray was not an option it was a necessity. Any form of local id got you in free on Dare Night that preceded the show’s official opening and really the only night to go if you were a local. Everyone was there, literally just about everyone in the county. It was great to see wintered over neighbors with greetings of ‘Hi!’ and ‘How are you?’ creating a familiar early summer cacophony of sound not that much different from the cicadas that came along later in the season.

Once purchased seats became the norm, Emily trained us early on to opt for ones on the Indian side at her friends in the colony recommendation. One year the colony was so jammed pack with theater goers every night the best we could do was get seats in the last row of the center section.

barbara and her dudes

Bill Rea, HRH Barbara Hird, Chris Chappell Ireland 2005

New to the Outer Banks in 1984 we were lucky enough to see the 400th production of the colony when Colleen Dewhurst was Queen Elizabeth for the 4th of July weekend. Our arrival almost matched that of Barbara Hird who came on board in 1986 as HRH (her royal highness), a role which she owned for 10 years and later marketed into several amazing HRH one act plays penned by lebame houston. Lisa Bridge followed Barbara as Queen Elizabeth and she too owned the role. In 2006 Lynn Redgrave was queen for a week as a favor to director friend Jane McCulloch. Our family grew up with magnificent queens.

In 2005 Donny & I were fortunate to be included as part of the freshly formed abridged concert version of the Lost Colony. TLC was to be the feature attraction at the Youghal Through the Ages festival in County Cork Ireland. The Life and Times of Sir Walter Raleigh was the theme that year and no one knew it better than lebame houston. Board member of TLC, lebame, along with then executive director/producer Carl Curnutte III, assured the folks of Youghal that we could deliver and we did. I was official photographer and Donny tenor in the small company. He was Ananias Dare and I can still hear him start the Final March song (in this version Ananias does not get killed off) with his strong deep tenor solo beginning. “O God that madest earth and sky and hedged the seas around, Who that vast firmament on high with golden stars hath bound. Oh God our father Lord above, O bright immortal one, Secure with in thy mercy, we walk this death alone.”

This was and remains the only time TLC has been performed outside the United States in any format. And we were there. It was grand. We got a special viewing of Sir Walter Raleigh’s home, now a private residence. We were feted endlessly and got invited to the back after hours rooms of many a pub, where joviality continued through the night. We were given tours of the countryside and even had a day or two off to take on Castle Blarney and a few other sights on our own.

lydia martin old tom 2013

Lydia, Old Tom & Martin 2013

In recent history the grands have become attracted to the show. Lots of changes have been made. There are always changes every year but these are actually pretty major. The show starts and ends earlier. Time was when you could put solid money on getting home after midnight, especially if you live on the better island as we who hail from Colington Island good naturedly tell our Roanoke Island friends. Scenes have been reworked and some even cut. One of my favorite show stoppers, the girl with the dress on fire, taken out for years, is back in.  Actors now greet you after the show for photo opts and autographs.

And so with the show, our show, there is a constant ebb and flow, just like the tides around the barrier islands we call home, that is ever a part of The Lost Colony, our colony, the one that we lost, and found again.

 

 

 

 

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by | August 14, 2015 · 7:28 am

A SWEET Adventure

Warm up Hershey 2015

Lydia (center screen) has a nice warm up with a solid axel for the Hershey Open.

Donny has decided that seeing Lydia skate in the Hershey Open will be fun and he begins his quest for a room. Hotel prices around the park are crazy high in the season as are b&b rooms, if you can even find anything, and so when he locates Into the Woods in nearby Mt Gretna and it’s available and affordable he gets skater approval and books it. A cozy efficiency in the lower level of a private home it has two bedrooms with wide doors opening onto a covered patio that overlooks a wooded hillside. There’s a fire pit, an outdoor pizza oven and on the upper level a soft lawn edged by a stone walkway winding through a small vegetable and flower garden complete with a goldfish pond.

Andrew Wyeth in the 70s002

Mom took this photo of Andrew Wyeth in the mid-seventies. She and friends took a road trip to meet him.

We have discussed picking up Em and the kids in Springfield giving us just one car. In that discussion to spare the boys an early morning wake up call, I have offered to go with the girls to that dawn breaking practice and then go back to get the guys but Emily is not sure about how heavy the traffic entering the park at the later time will be so we agree to drive separately and meet at Into the Woods.

I am navigator as usual and in reviewing the roads ahead inadvertently touch the screen on Donny new phone such that we are unknowingly rerouted. We have opted to go the Eastern shore way and this change of route occurs shortly past Wilmington. After many turns and miles on beautiful but really small country roads, Donny asks if we are on track. We are supposed to be on a couple of secondary roads anyway to get to the Pennsylvania Turnpike for the last leg of our journey so we don’t realize that we are off course.  I get our trusty paper map and strive in vain to find where we are. Finally in frustration we pull off to regroup. A few miles back we have passed a road marker for Chadds Ford. Mom would be so happy. Andrew Wyeth territory. One of her favorite artists. She even purposeful took a trip with friends to meet him at his studio.

Donny & I deduct that we are still headed true just a bit differently than planned. Back on the road I take a video of the bucolic countryside and post it. I get a message from good friend, Robert Netsch, dad to our beautiful daughter-in-law Hilarey, telling me that we are in his neck of the woods. We have recently learned that he grew up in Chadds Ford. He recognizes exactly where I took the video. He suggests several worthy stops but we are still not sure how long this winding trip is going to take and forge ahead.

IMG_6157

Third place FreeSkate Preliminary Hershey Open 2015

Many hours later and with our last gasp of gas we reach Old Mine Road. We have been so intent on getting there that neither of us has noticed the empty light come on. Emily and the kids are already settled in. Back up close at hand, Donny and I venture out for gas. We are in the wilds but resupply promises to be only a few miles away. Again our GPS takes us on a circuitous route. We find ourselves going in a circle headed back to Old Mine Road which is only a few miles long. In desperation, we pull into a driveway and button hole a kindly gentleman who assures us that gas albeit high priced is close by and points the way. Back home Donny collapses. Lydia chooses take out over going out and so Emily and I set forth for Manheim and food. Her GPS is much more direct. We quickly find the pizza place and a grocery store close by.

The next morning our drive takes us through a huge country road cycling event. Later Donny learns that it is the 5th annual Chocolate Tour, a very big deal. The girls are already at the rink and later report that they have been entertained by the lift off of a multitude of hot air balloons on their drive in to town.

Donny & I are very impressed with Hersheypark Arena, home to one of the oldest figure skating clubs in the country. It has that grand aged building feel. It is huge with tiers of seats. Lydia’s event is early. She does well enough to medal. And she just misses advancing by one place.

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Lydia and Martin approaching the world of chocolate. On our way out Martin inadvertently photo bombs a lady so badly that we are sure her shot is a close up of his t-shirt. We are all weaving through the crowd anxious to get to our restful cottage. I notice the picture taking lady at the last minute and change my course but have no time to signal Martin. I try not to laugh but then Martin cracks up and I join in. We are in stitches. He says it’s the first time he can remember laughing at himself that hard. No one else has seen it but us. You had to be there.

Now we’re off to Chocolate World, a brief walk away, to get some lunch and to met Jen, Lydia’s awesome coach, at Create Your Own Chocolate Bar for our scheduled one o’clock tour. Equipped with aprons, hair nets and a beard net for Donny we begin by entering into a computer our choices of inclusions for our personalized bar. Later I get a lot of grief for creating a plain bar and truthfully it did look rather pitiful gliding along the conveyor stopping for no addition, not even a sprinkle topping. But its fresh milk chocolate taste is amazing. I stand by my decision.

We head back to our little island of calmness for rest and relaxation.While the others rest, I explore the Lebanon Valley Rails to Trails path that winds below our property. We girls plan to meet up with Lydia’s skating friend and her family to watch her event that evening and then take advantage of the free with your day ticket park preview available three hours before closing. The guys choose to stay home.

Sunday morning sees us ready for our day at Hersheypark. It is overcast so we explore the zoo while we wait for the clouds to pass. Martin and I need sun to take on the water adventures on The Boardwalk. We hit the zoo at the right time. Cages are being cleaned and breakfast distributed. All the animals are active and very entertaining. It’s a really great small zoo. We are all enchanted and want to take most of the animals home with us, they are so captivating, the martens, the ring tailed ocelots. The road runner is hysterical, true to comedic form.

Back in the main park, Lydia and Emily meet up with their coaster riding friends. They are off to experience the new ride Laff Trakk. Martin & I ride Wild Mouse before changing into our swim clothes. For someone who doesn’t like roller coasters he has picked an aggressive level 5 ride. We have already ridden easy going Trailblazer. Martin comments that two roller coasters in one day is a record for him. We get the car key from Emily, still standing in the eternal line for Laff Trakk, and go change. We are on the far side of the park. When we get back the gang is still not out of the ride. Finally they emerge. We make a plan and go our separate ways. We divide and conquer Hersheypark.

farmland

Kuerner Farm on Ring Road of Andrew Wyeth fame. A fun piece of trivia for us is that it was the working farm of our Hilarey’s great-grandparents and where her grandmother, Lydia, was born. The Kuerners took young Andrew under their wing after he became enchanted with the farm and the rest is history.

Heading home Donny & I decide that we just have time before dark to stop by the family farm Robert has told us about. He has given us perfect directions. I send him a video. Is this the one? Yes, he replies. Except for the annoying power lines it looks the same he reports. It’s huge and so picturesque. I’m trying to figure out the exact connection Robert has to the farm. Finally after several texts and some wikipedia research I deduct that it was his grandparents farm and where his mother, Lydia, grew up. And also is the subject of literally thousands of Andrew Wyeth drawings and paintings spanning over seventy years.

Mom would be in love with this blog post. Her great-granddaughter medals in figure skating, a sport mom loved to obsession. (She would put her ice skates on in hot summer and stand on newspaper wishing for ice.) And Lydia medaled at Hersheypark, mom never met a chocolate she didn’t love. Lastly, her daughter runs barefoot (taught well by her farm girl mom) up the Kuerner Farm lane in the fading day light to take a video of one of Andrew Wyeth’s favorite subjects and which now has a family connection to her grandson, Lewis.

Sweet!

 

 

 

 

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by | July 29, 2015 · 10:04 am

Double Your FUN

man and wife

I now pronounce you man and wife.

In early June our youngest, Lewis, and his lovely Hilarey begin their official life as a couple together. It is a garden wedding in her parents back yard, perfect in every way. But as all, and I’m pretty sure all is accepted here, weddings go there are a few odd turns along the preparation way.

Hilarey’s mom, Valerie, and I made our own fun mark on that odd turn road and here’s the story. I love to shop online and order some dresses for the event that over and over turn out to be all wrong. I am constantly returning dresses and time is ticking away. I finally find a couple that fit and look good, but they’re nothing special. Still I want to be an accessory, it’s Hilarey and Valerie’s day. So either of these dresses will work. I send photos to Val. She sends photos of a couple of cute dresses she has found locally that she and Hilarey like but she is not entirely sold on either. We decide that we should try on each other’s stash and maybe out of the mix find a couple that work.

Somewhere in the thread of our message exchanges we come up with the idea of wearing the same dress. On purpose. It will be fun. And because the bride has enough things to think about we decide not to bother her with the plan. It’s our secret. I like one of Val’s dresses better than mine and on the way back into town from a road trip stop and buy one for me.

We could have wore this sassy number from Foxy Flamingo. Just a tiny bit too casual for mother of the groom and mother of the bride so we passed.

We could have wore this sassy number from Foxy Flamingo. Just a tiny bit too casual for mother of the groom and mother of the bride so we pass on it.

At home I put it on for Donny and he says he likes it but it’s too big. Val and I decide to meet at the shop, Foxy Flamingo, in hopes that they will have a smaller size. If not we’ll try on some others which is what ends up happening. We swear the shop girls to secret. We are constantly looking over our shoulder for Hilarey to pop into Front Porch next door for coffee and possibly discover us shopping in cahoots. As a precaution we park out of the way so if she does happen along she won’t see our vehicles. Miss Betsy has lots of cute dresses but none are right. It will be tricky but I can alter the too big dress and so we keep what we have and move on.

We are willing to try one more shop before giving up. We just have time. Val has carved out a few hours between her store, My Little Sunshine, schedule and a spinning class that she teaches at the Y. We head to the French Door conveniently located just across the highway from the Y. We tell the shop gals we’re on a mission and explain. They start showing us dresses but none fit our need. We’re about to give up when friend and shop owner, Donna Greenlee, has a thought. She heads upstairs where merchandise is stored and returns with two options. One we dismiss immediately. The other has potential. We head into our respective dressing rooms and emerge grinning. It’s perfect. And has pockets, bonus!

matching dresses

The bride sandwiched between her two moms.

Now we need accessories. We need to look completely planned. There are endless stories about showing up at a wedding in the same dress unplanned. My favorite is from a good friend, Jan Watson. She and her husband arrive just as the wedding they are attending at St Andrew’s By-the-Sea chapel in Nags Head is starting. She sees that she is wearing the exact same dress as the mother of the bride. Her husband asks her now what. She says now they are going home so that she can change as she steers him hastily toward the car before anyone can make the connection.

Donna fixes us up with earrings. We select some simple bracelets including a find your balance Lokai. Val buys a Lokai for Hilarey. We are set. All we need now are shoes. We save that for another day. Val is off to spinning. A few days pass in both our busy schedules. I need to finish up this project. Family is coming in early for the wedding and of course Val will have her own last week to do list. I decide to see what Sound Feet has and advise Val. I find the perfect shoe and they have it in my size. It’s a Toms wedge style, just like Hilarey has chosen for her wedding shoes. Disappointedly it is not available in Val’s size, even in their other stores. I leave, get to my car and decide to go back and look again. Maybe Sound Feet has our sizes in another Toms wedge style option. It won’t be our favorite but we’ll match. My sale guy is busy with another customer. I look over the selection, ponder a few options and leave again. I’m just about to start the car when I decide to go back in one more time. There just has to be something for us. I start sending Val photos of what is in stock.

lokai arm wrestling

Grandma Lydia & Hilarey don’t need any Lokai bracelet balance in this face off.

It’s a complicated thread we are trying to negotiate between me sending photo suggestions and her trying to text me around her customer needs. We opt for a real call. I am chatting with her when Lewis and Hilarey walk into the store and saunter over to say hi and see what I am doing. I am surrounded by a selection of Toms shoes and also talking on the phone to Val. I pretend she’s Donny. “Bye honey. I’ll bring you some lunch. I love you.” I tell L&H that I am considering shoes to go with another dress I have shown Hilarey. The clerk who is helping me is trying to tell me about a pair in another store he can have sent over and asks if I want Valerie’s name put on them. L&H are distracted and don’t hear. I nod and shoo him away. They are here shopping for wedding shoes for Lewis and head to the mens’ section. Bean spill averted.

I leave with no shoes but Sound Feet is holding several pairs and importing others from their branch stores. Val and I agree to meet there in a couple of days when all the Toms choices are in to make our final decision. I am a bit late for that date. The sales lady is already helping Val try on the shoes. She dismisses me with a wave of her hand saying that she is helping Val. We finally get her straight that we are together. Val decides that she needs a smaller size than she thought and the now very helpful sales lady finds our favorite shoe in Val’s size in a branch store. I buy mine. Val will get hers when they come in. We are done. Well almost.

we four

The rents

Val is days late picking up her shoes. When she does get there, our new friend has guarded Val’s shoes like a hawk. She would not let anyone put them back in stock. She knows our story and is beyond confident that Val will be in to buy the shoes. Of course she is right.

We ponder how to tell Hilarey what we have been doing. Just showing up wedding day is not the answer. We briefly chat about starting out wearing our decoy dresses and then changing but too much will be going on for that to go well. With strong encouragement from Donny we decide to tell Hilarey a few days prior to the wedding. But pinning her down is tricky. She’s busier than we are. I text Lewis and tell him that we need five minutes of Hilarey’s time. Nothing is wrong, we just need five undivided minutes. They are puzzled but come up with a time when we are all free.

If Hilarey doesn’t like our plan, we naturally will do something else. But she loves it. We knew that she would. Game on. Last thing on our list is matching watches to coordinate with Hilarey’s awesome white tide watch Lewis gives her as a wedding present and she plans to wear. I find the perfect compliment on Amazon and our outfits are complete.

Oh and Val squeezed out time to go on her own shopping adventure finding perfect matching shirts at WRV for our guys. To round out the mix we added Lokai find your balance bracelets for all the family gals (sorry guys we could not get ones in your size in time).

wedding

Hey y’all, we’re married!

 

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by | July 7, 2015 · 8:23 pm

It’ll NEVER Replace Sex

chuck yeager emily and donald

There’s Emily on the left and in the last nanosecond behind the blue arm is Donald. They’re officially a part of history!

“I’ve been waiting all morning to say that.” It’s Chuck Yeager talking about his record setting cross country speed flight of five hours and fifteen minutes from Edwards Air Force Base in California where in 1947 he became the first human to break the sound barrier to our own First Flight Airstrip where the Wright brothers conquered the mysteries of flight in 1903.

clear yeager“We didn’t have nothing to fight,” Yeager said. “We laid down one for them to shoot at…You’ve got two significant places in aviation. We’re going to let someone else shoot at it.” Averaging a speed of 450MPH in a Piper Cheyenne 400LS twin-engine turboprop, Yeager landed at 7:05AM on December 17, 1986 the 83rd anniversary of the first flight and the 50th anniversary of Piper Aircraft.

planeWe know he is coming to town. We figure that we can catch his landing and still make it to school on time. We plan our strategy. I have the three little people to wrangle. We are lucky enough to find a parking place at the airstrip. Emily is in charge of the camera. Donald is her back-up. I stay in the car with the boys. We put the windows down so we can see and hear better.

There are surprisingly few people. It’s crowded but not overwhelming. Mostly professionals looking for their story. The kids elbow their way to the front and get some photos. Chuck answers questions and then states that he is going to get breakfast before the official ceremonies start in a few hours.

auto yeagerWe’re in the car headed to school when I have an inspiration. I tell the kids I’m going to swing by the Ramada where Chuck says that he is headed and see if they can get his autograph. So what if they’re slightly late for school. This is history. I park. We all get out of the car and head into the lobby and upstairs to the restaurant. Only a few people are there. No one has recognized Chuck drinking coffee with his pals. We have nothing to get an autograph on with us. I spy a newspaper rack and buy a paper. Donald takes it over to the table and politely asks for the autograph. Chuck smiles and obliges, glancing over at Emily, me and the three waiting nearby. We’ve done it. We saw history made and got an autograph to prove it.

Imagine my surprise when Mary Dyal Nelson recently posts a video of her lovely and talented mother singing the National Anthem at the First Flight ceremonies and there in the prequel are Emily and Donald with Chuck Yeager and the reporters. They really did become a part of aviation history!

 

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by | June 30, 2015 · 8:35 am

Mom, We NEED A Swim Team!

team on boat

My heart sinks a little bit at Emily’s request. I know just how much work all of it involves. But I know too that she misses the swim team activities that we engage in when we live in Richmond. There we’re an east end team newly welcomed into the immense James River Aquatic Club that also includes big money clubs such as the Country Club of Virginia. The league is one of the largest in Richmond. We are Anirav. Varina spelled backwards. We are small. We barely win any meets but we are in the big leagues. (Still going strong Anirav won the JRAC Sportmanship Award for their division in 2014).

I know nothing about swim teams. As a teen, I once consider joining the newly formed team at my neighborhood pool, Swimland, in Whitehall, Ohio. But when I find out the practices are early mornings before the pool opens and how absolutely cold the water is, I quit before I start.

At Anirav five year old Emily is in swimming lessons with a friend whose brother is on the team. Missy is a powerful swimmer but she does not yet swim the length of the pool without stopping. Neither Emily nor I realize the significance of the feat but when she accomplishes this in her test to pass the class, she immediately gets drafted by Missy’s mom to swim on a relay team.

It sounds like fun. We agree. It’s an away meet at Sandston. Emily does her part but she is very slow. Still she completes an otherwise incomplete relay team. They win points and ribbons. And we’re hooked.

championshipAs the years progress I find myself team mom, creating a team name, gathering monies for t-shirts and accessories, and attending JRAC meetings as our pool representative. The league is divided by size of teams and so we are put together with our own kind. At the end of the season every member team joins in the championship competition. It’s days of heats and heats of swimming, camping out under any available shade to await your turn after hours upon hours of waiting. But you dare not leave, your parking place will be eaten up.

Win your heat and you advance. The best Emily does is come in 9th over all in butterfly her last year before we move. Not bad for a summer league only swimmer. Many of the summer league kids also swim in the winter and keep their skills at top notch level. That’s 9th out of hundreds the girls in her age bracket. Just a bit higher and she would have gotten a place ribbon.

lewisThen we move to the Outer Banks in the mid-eighties and settle into our new life. We have a great community pool but it lacks youth activities. And is so casually run! Our Inlet Court neighbor, Tom Piddington and I both volunteer for the board of directors at the same time with the same purpose in mind. To make the pool a safer place. He has come from northern Virginia and a strong community swimming pool lifestyle. We don’t know each other at all. His kids are all grown. But we hit it off. We become the official pool committee. We write guidelines. The board publishes them and every member gets mailed a copy. This takes an entire winter of our lives.

As summer rolls around I take charge of hiring a staff. I get my WSI certification and schedule swimming lessons. And we begin Emily’s swim team. The first year I watch. The next year I decide to coach. I have seen enough. I know how this works. Scott Zincone has come on board as a lifeguard for the pool and jumps in to co-coach.

rick & scott

Rick Gray from Duck Woods Country Club has also heard the calling, this time over beer and conversation. He’s in it too for his kids. Both pools have actually had teams in the past but neither in recent history. Being a willing rookie Rick follows my lead. We pattern our match ups using the JRAC footprint. We plan meets. Surprisingly to me Colington proves to be the power to beat.  Emily & Donald are used to the low on the totem Anirav team. So much that when a meet that the Argonauts can win is scheduled during our OBX vacation time, we voluntarily travel back to Richmond to help out and back to the OBX to finish our ‘hope this never ends’ vacation.

Duck Woods is our only competition. Okay to be accurate back up just a step. Nautics Hall in Manteo does join our adventure one year but after we organize the first (and only) Outer Banks Swim League Championship and they end up in third place Manteo fades from view.

hawk powerAnd so for years we compete weekly against Kitty Hawk neighbor Duck Woods. Our team is huge. We have a big pool to draw from. We get more points in the age for age, stroke for stroke match ups. But the real victory of the meets comes down to which team can take the blue for the all age mixed free style relay. We win most of the time but when DW does win those bragging rights they are elated. I can relate. Small team roots run deep.

Emily insists that we have team suits. Parents are willing to pony up for this matching uniform. I collect size information, monies and order suits. We pick a team name. I create a design. We get Hawk Power t-shirts made. We bake snacks to raise money for ribbons and team accessories. Through the marching years to stretch our dollar, I screen print swim caps. Hats. We get towels embroidered. And gear bags. And backpacks. And always more t-shirts. We are a team. We are the Mighty Seahawks!

 

 

 

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