41st Anniversary News

Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012

Today was Joe's and my 41st wedding anniversary, and it bore an eerie similarity in some way to our 40th. Once again we are dealing with Mo's mechanical idiosyncrasies. But whereas last year we did finally get back on the road, this year we spent our anniversary with Ed, his friend Amelia, and Roxy. It was a really nice day, and certainly our dinner was way better than last year!

Joe called Tim, the manager at the Ford repair in Charleston, at about 10:00 this morning, only to hear that the part they needed, the new cover for the engine, had not yet been delivered. As a result, they hadn't made any progress with the repairs. So Joe and I did some brainstorming regarding where to go from here.  We are facing Labor Day weekend, and the need to be home by Tuesday morning at the latest. (Really, we need to be home Sunday night so Joe can catch up on Monday.)

I did some Internet searches, and by noon I had reserved a minivan from Avis to pick up at noon on Friday and return in New Jersey on Monday. I called Enterprise and told them we needed the car until Friday, but would definitely return it then. I also called "our" Comfort Inn and made reservations for Thursday and Friday night. We are planning to leave Floyd tomorrow.  Obviously all of these reservations are cancel-able if the RV is repaired, but at this point we are operating under the assumption that it will not be. Our plan is to pick up the minivan, return the car we have now, go to the Ford dealer and load the stuff in the RV into the minivan to take it all back home. If and when Mo is repaired, we will have to fly down to Charleston to pick it up and drive it back.

After all this planning and reserving, we decided that we should DO something! We had had a quiet day yesterday, napping, gardening, reading, etc. I helped Ed pull out his tomato plants--they had been struck down by a major tomato blight and we spent about an hour clearing them all out. Joey was reading, and I took a long afternoon nap. So the day slipped by and was relaxing. Today we thought we should get out of the house and do something memorable so that when we looked back next year on this year's anniversary, we'd have something to show for it.

So Eddie, Amelia, Roxy, Joe and I drove down the Blue Ridge Parkway to Buffalo Mountain Natural Area Preserve. After driving up gravel and then a dirt road, one lane wide, up the side of the mountain, we parked the car and then hiked to the top of Buffalo Mountain. The website calls it "a steep, 1-mile hike." That is exactly what it was--QUITE steep in places. Our hike up was enlivened by our conversation (ranging from childhood memories to discussions of life after death) and by Joey's cell phone, which suddenly began pinging like crazy. We've had absolutely NO cell service since we arrived on Friday, but someplace on the side of the mountain, the phone picked up one bar, and all the backed up text messages started pouring in. I was so proud of him when he simply turned the entire telephone off so we didn't have to listen to electronic tones in such a lovely wooded setting.

The top was spectacular--a rocky summit with a 360-degree view of Virginia and North Carolina. We watched the turkey buzzards swooping around us as we looked out over the vistas at our feet. It was well worth the climb for all of us.

By the time we got down and back to the car, it was after 4pm. We continued driving south a little way on the Blue Ridge again until we came to Mabry's Mill, a small site which gives information about life in rural Appalachia. We sat for a bit and had a snack--we'd brought some of the leftover rice salad, baba ganouj, and a few other things with us from home. Then we wandered through the mill and chatted with the blacksmith about how iron "tires" were made and fitted onto wooden wagon wheels. And after that, we went into the small restaurant, where Amelia got a cup of coffee and I got some delicious, home-made ice cream.

We headed back to Floyd after that, but before going home, we drove into town to the natural foods store so I could buy some cereal and Ed could pick up some cheese (we've eaten a lot of cheese, at almost every meal, so it's a staple Eddie didn't want to be out of) before heading back home. Amelia went back to her own place to shower and rest a little, and the other 4 of us (including Roxy) pretty much crashed out from our exertions. But it really was a gorgeous day, and we all enjoyed the excursion.

That was about it for the day. Dinner was home-made burritos, a repeat from last night because we had all the makings left over. I did the dishes, and we chatted for an hour or so. Now it's after 11; Ed has already gone to sleep, and I am ready also. Tomorrow I guess we will be hitting the road... it is hard to believe we've been here for so long. Except judging by how our belongings seem to be scattered over the entire house, perhaps we've been here TOO long. It was wonderful spending time with Ed, but I'm sure he will be glad to get his life back.

Floyd: Kale, Tomatoes, and Music

Monday, August 27, 2012

It looks like we are going to be in Floyd for the majority of our vacation. The latest news this morning was that the front cover of the engine is cracked and they won't be finished repairing it until "at least Wednesday."

 After considering all the possibilities, we decided to just stay here and wait it out. We are comfortable--Eddie has kindly given up his own bed to us (he does have a spare bed but it's a single, so he took that one) and Roxy is comfortable too. Joey and Eddie have so little time together usually, that we decided that this is a real treat, even if it wasn't exactly what we'd planned in terms of a vacation. It just seems the best option of all that we can think of.

So we went out earlier today and got a book for Joe to read, and some groceries including more dog food and the ingredients for Joe's wild rice salad. For the latter, we went to the natural food store.  There is a lot of yummy food around here (Ed and most of his friends are natural foodies) and the garden is full of tomatoes, kale, basil, and eggplant. I love the look of the chard, the contrast of those fuschia-pink stalks against the dark green leaves is stunning.  Last night's dinner was eggplant parmesan, with homegrown eggplant and tomato sauce--fabulous!  So the two of them are now happily cooking and baking, which is good therapy for Joe.

Yesterday was very lazy--at least for me. We took a walk to a nearby cluster of homes of folks (people who Ed knows, of course--he knows everyone!) who had settled here about 30 years ago, going "back to the land" as it were. We met a few, who were very nice. Their homes were rustic and lovely, and their gardens were aweseome! After we came back home, I napped for a couple of hours in the afternoon while Ed and Joe went to swim in a friend's pond. More brother time (insert a smile here.)

Tonight we will be going to a potluck music night--everyone brings food and musical instruments and sings together. Besides making his rice salad, Joe is brushing up some of his favorite songs on his ukelele.  He always feels lots better when he is cooking, and as Ed says, "You can't be bummed out when you are playing a ukelele!"

 Meanwhile I should/could be doing some preparation for teaching my Tanach class--I have my books here, and I find them fascinating. But I am busy following Ed out to the yard to watch him add the latest kitchen waste to the compost, and then taking photos of flowers and bees... time seems to drift by. It's almost 6pm as I type this and I have no idea where the day went! It's almost time to get ready to go out.

A Lazy Saturday in Floyd

Saturday, August 25, 2012

We had a very relaxing and lazy day today, and it was lovely. We woke up to gray skies and it's actually been kind of cold! This is a small issue, since I did not take any jeans or warm pants for either Joe or myself when I packed clothes and left the RV. However, we made do, and I did a laundry today so we have clean clothes again. We hung out during the morning, reading and not doing much. Breakfast was yummy homemade bread and melted cheese on fresh tomatoes, and Ed threw another bread dough together to rise.

In the early afternoon one of Ed's acquaintances, as musician whose music he'd played for us last night, stopped by for a voice lesson. So Joe and I gave them some space, sitting outside in the back yard and enjoying the weather, which finally had warmed up. Roxy had a wonderful time out there. She chased one of Ed's kitties (not too fast, and the cat was the clear victor in the race) and she is fascinated by the three chickens! She keeps going around the fence, and every so often gets very excited and bounces around the edge, barking at them. Then she got the idea to try to lift the bottom of the fence, at which point we had to find a piece of firewood to hold it down. She is just too smart for her own (and the chickens' own) good!

At 3 the voice lesson ended, and after tasting the newly baked bread, we drove into town again for an errand. Then Joe, Eddie and Roxy settled down on a sidewalk bench to chat, while I visited the little shops full of fascinating and unnecessary items which are tempting, but I resisted. It seemed that Ed knew half the people strolling past, or running the shops. He and Joe shmoozed and chatted and I took their photo--two old codgers on a bench, watching the world go by!

After that, we drove back to Eddie's and waited for Amelia to join us. Then we all went out to dinner at a very nice restaurant with local foods and other tasty delights. We chatted with our waitress (another of Ed's friends), who is building a new house in the round, made with 20 panels measuring 8' wide by 9' high. She showed us the photos--it was very interesting. She was another transplantee from New Jersey, as was the guitarist (and also the guy we'd met this afternoon on the errand which brought us into town.) It seems there are a lot of folks down here from the Garden State.

After a great dinner, we came back home, and the guys played their instruments (Joey brought his ukelele with him, and Ed of course had his guitar) and we had a singalong, just like old times. And now, it's time for bed! We are having a great time, and relaxing, and not thinking much about Mo--at least, I'm not. We are enjoying our visit to Floyd.

Escape to Floyd, VA

Friday, August 24, 2012

We woke up this morning and just relaxed and hung out in the hotel room, although we packed up our stuff to leave at noon. When we called the Ford dealer, Tim told us it was “safe” for us to leave town, that Mo would not be done before Monday.  So we made our departure and hit the road for Floyd and Eddie’s home in the country.

Most of our trip was on the Interstate, and it seems that the road in WV from Charleston to the border with Virginia is the West Virginia Turnpike. And it cost more than the NJ Turnpike for the distance—craziness! We stopped at a rest stop for a picnic lunch, and again at the exit for Tamarack. This is a large facility showcasing West Virginia artists—sort of like a West Virginia version of Sugarloaf, my favorite craft show.

 Of course, we still had the Dog Problem. So Joey relaxed on a lawn under a shady tree with Roxy, while I went into the building. I found a few small things to buy, of course, but nothing too major (a copy of Arcadia Press’s “Jews of West Virginia” was the most unusual—I’ll donate it to the Historical Society when I’ve read it.)  But I did see a lot of beautiful things—especially the quilts, which were most gorgeous, and some funky metal sculptures which I really liked.

After that, we got serious about the drive, stopping only for a Virginia map when we crossed the state line. We drove through a torrential downpour just at the beginning of Virginia before the sky cleared up. It was 5pm before we got off I-81 and drove through the green countryside to Floyd.  It was hot and sunny when we got to Ed’s house, and we were quite happy to get here—it was a lot longer drive than the 3hrs 15 minutes that Google Maps told us! But we had a relaxing evening sitting in the back yard, meeting Ed's friend Amelia, and eating a yummy homemade pizza for dinner.  The onions and the tomatoes are, of course, from his garden.

After dinner we went into town to take in the Friday Night Floyd scene. Every Friday night, there is a kind of open bluegrass "happening", where people congregate, form small groups, and play bluegrass music. The place draws locals and tourists, who cruise up and down the street listing to the music and stopping by at the Floyd General Store for ice cream and indoor music. 

It is such a part of what makes Floyd a tourism destination that the town has built little niches along the sidewalk to accommodate the groups of musicians and their casual audiences, who wander from one group to the next. We stopped and heard some excellent music....

....as well as chatting with a lot of Eddie's friends and acquaintances--it seems that this is just the place to be and he saw a lot of folks he knew. We left there around 11pm or so--they were winding things up by then--and went back home. It was a late evening, but lots of fun. Happy as we were to be there, I think Roxy was the happiest—she got to run around in the yard, bark at the chickens, and forget about cars, leashes, and motel sounds for a little while.