September 22, 2017
I ended up watching Alissa’s
two all day Monday, Tuesday afternoon until 8:30 pm and then again for a few
hours on Wednesday. I had a large truck
load of items to price, get inventoried, take to the antique mall and arrange
on Tuesday. In addition, I needed to
move all the personal items I could possibly get moved so that Alissa and Gab
and the girls have room for their things.
We filled a trailer with furniture that included antique pieces that
Mike had bought for me after we got married and some comfortable living room
furniture for the SW Virginia home. We
bought the house furnished which enabled us to “move right in” and start
enjoying it the day we closed, but the furniture that was left was extremely
uncomfortable. In addition to all the
moving, Mike decided it was a good time to mow down about 50 acres of hay and
get it up. He was stressed, I was
stressed and we both worked our behinds off for three days, pushing to get
everything done. We left early Thursday
morning and Mike’s mom came along for this trip. We stopped once we got in the area and had
brunch at our favorite, little, family restaurant called “Crooked Oak”. Upon arriving to our SW Virginia home, we had
a trailer load of furniture and personal items to unload and put away. This home is much smaller and already pretty
full and it also contains lots area where walls have been knocked out to
provide a more open living area, but that has left very little wall space,
especially since the wall space that is available has heating registers on
them. Still, this little traditional
farm house is much easier to decorate and arrange than our Octagonal home in
Staunton. It was a challenge getting
things in and arranged but Mike and I were much more relaxed by this time,
having gotten the most pressing things done earlier in the week. He and I have completely different ideas
about most everything, and arranging furniture is no exception. Fortunately, we were able to laugh about it
and in the end, came up with an arrangement that made both of us happy. Every time Mike’s mom comes down, we are so
busy that we don’t have time to really entertain her, so we decided this time
we would take her and do some sightseeing and things she enjoys. We do have some more contractors coming to
give us bids on a roofing job and some gutter work and Mike is still working on
cleaning up brush and trimming trees.
I’ve been finding homes for the small items, clothes and books I brought
from Staunton. The good news is the most
pressing of the moving is done. We still
have a lot to move, sell, give away, and do at both places but we can take our
time in doing it and not feel so pressured now that we have space made for the
kids. It will be an adjustment as we
learn to all live together in Staunton, and we will have times when I am sure
we will find it difficult. I especially
need me time of being totally alone and it’s doubtful I will have that there,
but I think this will be so good for the Little People.
September 24, 2017
This has been a week too full to journal. I really miss it when I am not able to
process my thoughts on paper, but some weeks are just so busy being lived, that
there’s no time to write about it. One
day while Mike’s mom was with us, we
took some time off in the afternoon and went to the Blue Ridge Music Center
that sits just right off the parkway near Galax, VA. Mike and I have been there once before for their
“jam” session where a group of local musicians get together and play and
sing. They meet from noon to four on
Friday during the summer and until the last of October. (They have groups each day of the week that
play for free but on Friday it’s a collage of locals who just get together to
sing and play.) I so enjoy listening to
the music even though as a younger person, I swore I would never listen to blue
grass. Guess we do change as we
age. My feet were stomping to the music
and my hands clapping and eventually one of the leaders of the group came back
and asked me if I wanted to join one of the ladies who was “flat footing” which
is a traditional style of dance in the Appalachian Mountains. I did want to join her but was pretty sure I
would make a fool of myself, so I declined.
Saturday, we got up early and went to a local auction. It was an estate sale held on the grounds and
it was a warm but beautiful day for it.
We stayed for a while, but prices were too high and we had forgotten to
bring a chair for Mike’s mom to sit so we didn’t stay all day. Later that evening, we went back out to our
regular Saturday evening auction house.
I just wasn’t into it that much for some reason so the best part of the
night for me was the great, big banana split that Mike and I shared.
After attending several weeks ago the Rock Church at Buffalo Mountain
that was one of the rock churches built by the Presbyterian Preacher whom I
recently read about in the book THE MAN WHO MOVED A MOUNTAIN, we received a
card in the mail inviting us to come back to their homecoming service this
weekend. Mike’s mom is currently reading
the book and we thought it would be fun to take her and let her see the church
for herself. I fixed potato salad,
sliced homegrown tomatoes and homemade BBQ meatballs made with our beef. There were tables piled high with good,
mountain cooking for the potluck meal. I
noticed the other dishes of sliced, homegrown tomatoes, several dishes made
with pumpkins, apples, cabbage and other mountain grown produce. It was a delicious meal and the people were
so friendly and kind. Mrs. Anna
Childress is the daughter in law of Bob Childress, and will be 95 years old in
the next month. She was one of the first
people to greet us when we first came to the church and is such a delight. She is bright and energetic and I would never
guess her age. She and another gentleman
whom they brought from the nursing home for today’s service were both members
of the church back in 1929 when it was built by Bob Childress and the community
who worked together to provide a building for worship. After church, a man and his wife invited us
to their home when they found out that we enjoy historic old houses. They live in a gorgeous, new home that is
solar heated with radiant heat in the floors and all the amenities, but they
started out in a little cabin that is over 150 years old and made of Chestnut
logs. They were kind enough to show us
their homes and give us a jar of honey they had harvested from their hives.
We didn’t get a lot done over the weekend in the way of work, but the
time was well spent with Mike’s mom and it felt good to get some of our
sentimental pieces of furniture moved and into our new place. As much as I loved our Mountain home before,
having these sentimental and well-loved pieces as well as some of my favorite
books moved and in place makes the place even more comforting.
One event that's not comforting and yet still fills me
with awe is the howl of a coyote. This morning before daylight a pack of coyotes howled just
outside our window. My mind fears the
day when we bring our livestock because I know the coyote are bad and will put
them at risk. Yet, the wild, free, unrestrained cry of the
coyote has always been a thrill to me.