The February Freeze

We were lulled into a false sense of security with the weather last summer and autumn as it started to turn very cold once we were into January.  Malcolm stayed a week in England and then returned and I stayed in England until early February.  Imagine my surprise when I stepped off the plane - it was freezing and much colder than England!

The one thing in Virginia's favour is the fabulous sunshine and dry conditions, so even though we had minus 17 degrees Centigrade, the sun felt warm when it was out.  Most days we awoke to very cold temperatures, but because the air is so dry, we didn't have to de-ice the car before driving to the factory.  However, I had joined a James' River hikers group in November and had kept it going right up until this point, but the picture will show you how cold we all were about 3 weeks ago and I decided that I would return to the group when the temperature was above freezing! Not surprisingly, there was only about one third of the normal group out on that day.


The Rolls-Royce factory was closed for our first serious snowfall which was about 8 - 10".  We managed to dig our way out of the garden and by the time the snowplough had been through, we were able to get out on the second day.  The schools were closed all week.

 We have been feeding the
 birds through this cold weather and these are a couple of visitors who came into the back garden

We have a pair of cardinal birds visiting - the female is in the right hand picture.  The male is scarlet with a tuft on top of his head and I have yet to get a good picture of him.  The picture on the left is an American Bluebird.  The birds soaring overhead are almost always vultures and we sometimes pass wild turkeys who gather at the side of the road.  The other common bird is the Hawk and of course the bald eagle.

Richmond is a great place for the Arts and Maymont house is a wonderful Victorian house standing in a large park on the outskirts of Carytown at the western side of the City.  We visited Maymont when it was all decked out for Christmas and there are extensive grounds where wildlife is kept when it cannot survive in the wild.  This includes black bears, bobcats and of course eagles, hawks and vultures.

Carytown is a wonderful shopping venue, with vintage clothes shops, ethnic goods, great restaurants and jeweller's shops.  Last Sunday, we went to a bar and disco which was included in the Richmond Symphony orchestra's Mozart day.  Instead of a disco, the space was crammed with a large part of an orchestra and chairs for the audience for a free afternoon concert.  We were treated to Mozart's requiem and violin concerto which was so professionally performed they received a standing ovation.  There are music and arts festivals held at different times of the year and there always seems to be something going on.  Next weekend we are going to see Chicago at Richmond's Altria theatre.

The forecast is looking better for the next week or two as we head to the middle of March, so hopefully no more snow.  We are expecting temperatures in the twenties in a few days, before a drop to below freezing - you can never tell what it will be like next.

We went to Wilmington, North Carolina for Thanksgiving as Malcolm had a few days off (the first since he started in June).  The “old” part of the town was lovely and we enjoyed several good meals in small local restaurants.  Just down the road is Wrightsville beach which has miles of golden sand and some fab properties all fronting the ocean.  On the Friday, it was thick coats, scarves, gloves and hats, and a warming bowl of fish gumbo soup for lunch.  By Sunday, the temperature was 27 degrees and after our walk we sat on the beach watching the dolphins leaping and the pelicans diving in great numbers for fish.










We spent a quiet Christmas in Virginia, with a lovely walk in the sunshine on Christmas Day (no coats) and roast beef for dinner.

New year's day saw us driving the 71/2 hour drive from Richmond to Charleston.  We treated ourselves to a 3 night stay in an old coaching inn with original furniture and 4 poster beds.  I can thoroughly recommend this town.  There have to be more original buildings here than almost anywhere else.  There are streets and streets of beautifully conserved houses and lots of restaurants and smart shops.  The typical food fayre you might see here is shrimp and grits.  Quite nice once you get used to eating porridge with prawns and brown gravy!  The weather was warm, the ambiance really great and everyone was really friendly.

Early in the New Year, we flew home for our Son, Alex's graduation.  A very special day and one where both we, Jessica and Alex were all very proud

Whilst back in England I hosted 3 Sticky Fingers parties and have some cookery tuition for when I return home in May.

In the middle of October, I flew back to the UK for 4 weeks to catch up on friends and various tasks at home.  Jessica has done an excellent job of looking after the house and garden and we have done some nice things together whilst I have been back.  Alex returned with Becki after spending the summer in Corfu and is now looking for his first job as Architectural technologist.  I suspect he and Becki will be coming out to see us next year if they can save up the money.

This is a great opportunity to tell you of some of the things we did in August whilst Jessica was staying with us.  Firstly we hired horses from a local yard and went hacking in the Pocahontas State Park.  These were Tenessee walking horses and they had a lovely disposition.  What made them unique was the way in which they walk and trot.  Unlike most horses who use diagonally opposite legs for these 2 actions. the walking horse uses the 2 legs on the same side.  So instead of rising to the trot, you sit well into the saddle, and you find that your hips tend to swing a little from side to side.  A much smoother ride whilst trotting and the transition from trot to canter was almost unnoticed.  These horses have not been trained to walk this way, their shoulder bones are actually constructed in a different way, so the action is totally natural.

We also visited Cape Charles on the East coast, renowned for its birding and tranquil seas, and watched pelicans diving for fish. We stayed in a motel for the night and this gave us the opportunity of exploring the area.  Fabulous beaches along the coast and huge expanses of water crying out for a good day's sailing!  Cape Charles is a good place to visit during the winter months, where you can watch the whales making their way up to the ice floes.

On another weekend, we visited the Blue Ridge Mountains, so called because they are covered with trees which inevitably give off moisture.  When looking at the mountains from a distance, there appears to be a blue haze over them caused by the moisture.  These are rugged with some amazing vistas and a 110 mile scenic drive along the ridge.  When you stand and look down into the valley, you can visualise the bygone days when the wagon train would make its journey across the landscape.  Today there is every conceivable activity to enjoy during the summer months, but it gets very cold there in the winter.  This is one of the places you may be lucky enough to see a black bear and there are instructions as to how to behave if you come across one of them.  Don't run whatever you do!

By the time I get back on 12th November, we will be well into fall.  The trees turn an amazing colour and everybody starts to participate in activities again.  You see more people out and about and there are more strenuous weekend activities.  The next thing will be Thanksgiving which is a big event in America.

 The beginning of September brought the County Fair to Chesterfield, Virginia.  It was a traditional fair with rides, candyfloss and lots of other foods I had not heard of before.  We walked round in the sweltering heat, stopping now and then to view the performing white tigers and in another enclosure, performing bear with a cub who was more interested in climbing in a paddling pool filled with water to keep cool.  Another interesting sight was a couple of horned bison pulling a traditional wagon, giving rides to members of the public.

The highlight of the fair has to be the rodeo in the evening.  No-one stayed on the back of the bull for very long and several men were close to being gored.  There was also a race on horseback for the cowgirls - I defy anyone in England to keep up with them as they were extremely fast.  And finally, a race for the young children - a sheep rodeo!  Hilarious, but only their pride was wounded.

 In August I spied on the decking a tiny hummingbird visiting the flowers displayed there.  I was able to buy a special hummingbird feeder which is filled with sugar water.  To my delight and amazement, we were visited nearly every day through August with one or more hummingbirds.  Try as I might, I could not get a good enough picture to put here as they move so quickly, they are quickly gone.  We are also visited by mockingbirds and lots of buzzards cruising the skies.  By the middle of September the humming birds have gone on their journey South.

On our anniversary, I collected Malc from work with a picnic and we walked in Henricus park.  The lake is part of the James river, so we watched turtles swim and fish jump whilst the sun set over the water.  A lovely end to the day.

Also this month, we went to the Outer Banks. About a 5 hour drive away, but worth the effort.  It is basically an island which sits in the Chesapeake bay and which is reached via a long bridge.  We spent our time at the northern end of the island where wild horses roam and there is an old renovated village surround a lighthouse.  We stayed in a traditional colonial style hotel with board walks connecting the rooms with the public areas.  Our room overlooked the pool and the sea beyond and was decidedly quirky.  We dined on wonderful fresh tuna and sunned ourselves on the beach.  The particular weekend we were there the surf was really high and having been knocked off my feet once, decided to sit and sunbathe.  Big mistake as I had not realised how hot it was and by evening resembled the lobster I was going to eat.  Sunday saw us enjoy bike rides around the area, compliments of the hotel.  We will revisit this area during the winter as from November to March we can watch the whales on their journey North.

The days are beginning to get a little cooler now and the nights almost cool enough to manage without the overhead fan.  The clear blue skies, however, promise a wonderful "fall" ahead of us.

My trip to New York and Philadelphia

I can't believe its a whole month since my last blog.  I have done so much whilst my daughter Jessica has been staying with me.  We met in New York and spent an amazing 4 days exploring all the tourist sights.  We took a boat trip around Manhattan, went up the Empire state building and also visited ground zero which was a very moving experience.  They left the 2 plots where the twin towers had stood and made them into waterfalls with the names of everyone who perished engraved in granite around the edge.

One of my favourite places was Central park, where we watched the Turtles in aptly named Turtle Pond, ate wonderful food at a french deli and people watched by the fountain.

The other place I loved was the Highline park.  Created from the old railway track which is still visible, it gives a birds eye view of the Southern part of Manhattan, whilst walking through exotic flowering plants and shrubs.  A must do was also seeing a Broadway show, and we saw "Newsies" which was a musical and packed with energy and verve.  We sat on the front row and we were so close to the stage, I was almost up there with them, joining in. I loved it! The following day we travelled to Philadelphia where we did a bus tour of The City and wandered about the antique quarter of the city.  Lots of parks and  pleasant corners in this city and some interesting architecture.  I am amazed too, how many films have been made in this city - nearly one on every corner according to our tour guide!

An exhausting week, but tremendous fun with Jessica.  So a 6 hour train journey took us from Philadelphia down to Petersburg again and to our American home.  I need to have a new sole put on my shoes as I walked so much!  In the next blog I will tell you all about the activities and places we say whilst Jessica continues her holiday.

I made my first cake Stateside

This week we have finally put paid to all our move related problems and things are starting to settle. We are getting the hang of our "stick shift" car (its not the same changing gear with your right hand). The fridge was the final straw and we lost some of our food as it quickly goes off in the heat.  It is now fixed and I was so inspired I made my first cake Stateside!

We visited Pocahontas state park last week to watch a Jazz concert in the evening.  Prior to that, we have visited the park on several occasions and discovered a water snake catching fish, we also saw a duckling snatched from the water by a bald-headed eagle and many dragonfly darting here and there.  There are also a lot of tree frogs, although we have never seen them, we hear them constantly.

 

 

 

We initially thought we might have difficulty finding somewhere for our walks, but have now discovered several large parks not far away and a riverside walk which is even nearer.  There appears to be no provision for walking generally speaking.  The roads are large and have at least 2 lanes each way, with strip malls in groups along the highway.  It is actually easier to get in the car and drive across the road than to go on foot, and there are no public footpaths along the streets or across fields as we have in England. 

 

On Friday we visited the "Dockside" which is a fish restaurant in Hopewell on the banks of the James River.  We ate on the veranda and watched the sun set across the water

 

Sunday saw us at the Henricus Park situated on the banks of the River James.  A lovely place and very tranquil, but not a soul in sight.  Once again we witnessed a hungry bald headed eagle catching something on the river.  You can tell them by the piercing call they give beforehand, see a large dark shadow pass overhead and next minute, something is grabbed from the water.  That day we also saw a large turtle swimming down the river, some amazing butterflies and finally a stone I nearly tripped over on the path turned out to be an unexpected  tortoise.  Our landlord cannot understand that we only keep them as pets in UK and they are not wandering about in the woods!

 

 

 

Our decking area now has some attractive flowering plants in pots to brighten it up including hibiscus and geraniums.  One of the regular visitors to the deck is a Mockingbird with his family.  He is extremely bold and actually chased off next door's cat by pecking it on the bottom!  They really do have a personality.  The flowers attract bees, insects and butterflies  and we were amazed to find that we now have a hummingbird as a regular visitor.  Mind you, it requires a quick reaction to actually see it as most times you hear the humming noise of its wings as it disappears over the roof.

 

TV is so awful out here, we tend to watch the BBC world news, an occasional daytime movie and have now bought a DVD player so we can borrow films from our local library.  We are currently watching the whole of the first series of Cold Feet.  I loved that programme, so its great fun to watch again.

 

Next week we are hoping to get out to the coast.

 





A house made from brick amongst all this forest

There are many interesting things to see and do in Virginia.  Last weekend we set off for the coast to visit a nature reserve.  As the signposting in Virginia is so poor, we never did find the reserve but we did discover Smith's Fort Plantation. 


As you can see, the house is brick built, quite unusual in these parts where so many trees are grown. 

The construction of the fort began in 1608 on Gray's Creek and was located opposite historic Jamestown.  The fort was never completed as the community suffered starvation conditions and violent conflicts with the local Native American tribe.  A few years later, the Chief of the Powhatan Confederation, gave his newly married daughter, Pocahontas and husband John Rolfe a grant of the land as a dowry gift.  Although the couple never lived on site, their only son, the English reared, Thomas Rolfe, later returned to Virginia and operated a tobacco plantation on over 400 acres of the property. 





Our

Inside is an excellent example of artefacts and furnishings of the period
In the dining room, there is a beautiful built in display housing Delft china from that period