I really do love Staunton..

......... for many reasons. Today , one of those reasons is the neighborhood Newtown Winter Soup Social. It's a community potluck ( with Soup ! ). No, it's not because I love a good potluck , although I do obviously.  It's because occasions like this remind you that you are a part of an actual neighborhood with real people. Some might just love each other , some might ...not love each other. But at the very least you are part of something , not an anonymous cog in an anonymous wheel where no one knows your name. That aspect might backfire on me since I'm baking bread to take. It looks as if it turned out well , but bread can be tricky. I'm a very uneven bread maker, sometimes it's great sometimes it's not. We'll see... Literally, because I'll be coming home with it if it's terrible. Although,  frankly I won't be telling all of you all about it if I do. cause that would be double embarassing. And ,just in case anyone was worried the fire extinguisher was not required.

Update on Monday, February 28, 2011 at 8:40AM by Liz

      Yay ! All but one little heel got eaten up ! And the talk afterward was very interesting, all about the Great Valley Road, aka Route 11 , The Warriors Path, the Valley Turnpike. There were three speakers taking different perspectives of the history of the road. Apparently , when I go to work at Blue Ridge Community College I'm following a path ( at much higher speeds) that people have followed more or less for ten thousand years. Neat, huh?

On my Walk with Bhindi.....

...........................we saw yet another neat building that I love that could be reclaimed for some imaginative use. Maybe a community gym with yoga studios ! All it takes is gobs and gobs of money. Damn that elusive winning lottery ticket... Anyway, Staunton is jam-packed with many old but really great buildings at rock bottom prices right now. This could be a fabulous opportunity for someone who wants to move to a friendly, green,  arts oriented walkable small town.  

And on a different topic at least I'm still walking Bhindi around town but that's about it due to my new job at Blue Ridge Community College. Learning the inns and outs of it is keeping me busy. But dinosaurs are calling my name so hopefully soon I'll be posting about that more. Fingers crossed !

Update on Monday, March 14, 2011 at 9:36AM by Liz

      Wow ! , the universe must have really been listening because this place has a new roof and  they're working on the doors and windows just since last month. They wouldn't do that just to make me happy so apparently something  is going to happen there. Probably apartments, but still it won't be falling down so Yay !

I love Staunton. Part 2

       Tonight my neighbor Sara and I went to a Potluck Dinner sponsored and organized by the Newtown Neighborhood Association.   This sort of thing is exactly why I moved here, and I don't mean the food, although that was very enjoyable.  VERY enjoyable, especially the dessert table.  But I digress...  I was able to meet some of the people who live in the houses I walk by everyday with Bhindi and learn a little more about them.  I talked with a woman about gardening whose garden I've admired weekly since I moved here.  We met a couple who just moved here to Staunton from Ohio a month ago ,who were brave enough to turn up when they didn't know anyone.  Now they do!  Community is one step at a time,  it doesn't happen all at once.  It's cumulative but it's definitely worth the effort.  And I would say that , even if there hadn't been three different kind of brownies.      

Snakes I have known..

    This is a Eastern Ringneck Snake at my old house in Bedford county, he would loiter around the front door, I think in this photo he was shedding on the stones. Occasionally, he would fall out of the ivy in front of me  seem a little stunned and then collect himself and go on unhurt.  My father always called them "bridle " snakes , we saw them frequently patrolling the patios and rock walls at night.  It's the one snake I know I have in my garden here in Staunton.  Unfortunately, I know this because I found a dead one but I have hopes that there are more.  I've always had a fondness for them, one of my earliest memories is of my mother trying to feed a Rough or Smooth Green Snake that lived in her garden. That wasn't unusual, she was always trying to feed people, pets or neglected wildlife.   Snakes, in general are so beautiful , their colors and patterns so perfectly vibrant or subtle that I've never been happy with my snake sculptures and eventually gave them up.  For me , as far as snakes are concerned nature just does it better.

Liz