Lavender Petals

Ear Drops for Benny

Ben C. Spaniel tends to get ear infections, and they can be hard to treat. Last summer his vet finally found a medication that works well, and it cured the problem in July. Last week, after a long hiatus, his right ear was inflamed again. (It's always the same ear.) I clean his ears every morning so the infection had just started but the ear was red inside and oozing a bit. I called the vet and picked up some Posatex right away. I applied some that night and by the next morning the redness was noticeably less. He's continued to improve but we have an appointment to take him to the vet tomorrow for routine vaccinations and she will examine his ears to make sure they are okay.

 Related Post: Benny at the Vets

Spring, Muhlenburg Street

Recently I drove to Woodstock (VA) with Frank and waited while he went to a settlement on a house he had listed in Basye. This nearby flowering tree caught my eye. Behind it is the Woodstock Christian Church.

Field Trips: Civil War Prisons and Hospitals

This year's Civil War tour conducted by Charles Poland will begin on May 18. Here's a course description from the NVCC website.

	HIS 298-036N: Civil War Prisons and Hospitals- Belle Isle, Point Lookout, Libby, Chimborozo and more, Three day field trip, May 18, 19, 20, 2012. For more information contact Dr. Poland: cpoland@nvcc.edu Three day field trip: May 18 - 20, 2012.
Richmond Viewed From Belle Isle	See my Richmond Trip Pictures from 2001

Turning Point in Virginia Exhibit

It's always a pleasure to visit the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley. Currently they have an exhibit on the Civil War in the Valley and how it changed lives.

The museum is in Winchester not far from the hospital.

Views from the House

These are views from the living room and dining room of our house in Bryce Resort. They have a lovely view of Great North Mountain.

I Like A Pretty View!

Frank has been a real estate investor since long before I met him. One of my contributions is encouraging him to buy homes that have a view!

The house we are trying to sell in Bryce Resort has a mountain view, which I absolutely love! Here we're looking at that view in winter, complete with a visiting squirrel.

We've moved to the Lake House, which also has a view of a mountain, with the added attraction of a lake (below). I found it in the real estate listings a couple of years ago and insisted that we go see it because I know he likes spending time by the water.

We also own a waterfront home in the Northern Neck. I found that one in real estate listings too. Originally we planned to live there full time but it turned out to be too isolated for my tastes. Right now it's rented out.

View from Egret Court, Montross, VA

Photographing the House on the Ridge

I've been working on pictures of our Basye home for the sales listing. Except for shooting the view, it's been difficult getting good exterior shots. The lot is wooded and sloping so it's almost impossible to find an unobstructed angle.

See listing.

An Iris

In the Rain, Delaplane

Here are a few more pictures from the Garden Week tour of Oakwood.

I just realized we had similar weather on a NVCC Civil War tour that ended in Delaplane in 2007.

Delaplane is in Fauquier County (VA) just off I-66. A sign in the town tells us that Stonewall Jackson's use of the railroad there marked a new era in military transport.

It's Historic Garden Week in Virginia

I love Historic Garden Week because so many homes and gardens are open for tours. Some have never been open to the public before. Unfortunately, we were super-busy this week and only made it to one house and garden. It was Oakwood in Delaplane and the weather was unpleasant: rainy and cold. Still, it was worth seeing.

We get ideas for planning our own gardens from touring various gardens. I've seen the value in hard-scaping and laying out outdoor "rooms." Of course, anything we do will be modest compared to some of the fancier gardens.

Selling Squirrel Ridge (Oh, No!)

Now that we've moved to the lake house, it's time to sell our house in Bryce Resort. It breaks my heart to part with it, but we cannot justify the expense of keeping an extra home.

If you are looking for a mountain home in Virginia, ours has some unique features:

• Beautiful views!
• Resort amenities.
• One level living
Guest apartment over the garage
• Only one block from state-maintained road
• Originally designed by an architect for his own family
• Remodeled kitchen designed by Nancy Meyers
• Private yard with flowers and trees.

Blog Post #3350

I'm blogging from our Ipad. Right now it's 3G access is the only decent internet connection we have in the house. We moved here eight days ago and although Comcast sent out a guy right away, he said we need a new cable run from the street. Finally today two contractors showed up to put in that line. Now we need to wait for the other guy to come back and do the rest of the installation. In the meantime, our web access is limited and we don't have cable TV. The latter ia fine with me because my husband watches so much TV I get sick of it. But blogging via ipad is slow and tricky. Yesterday's post got messed up somehow and I had to redo it several times. On some other days I took my laptop to a library or to Denny's and used their wi-fi to blog. Anyway, I hope to get back to normal soon.

Birthday Wishes

This 1966 photo shows baby Marie being held by her big sister Lynn. Happy Birthday to Marie!

It's Civil War Tour Season

Jonathan Noyalas lectures at Kernstown Battlefield

Part of Kernstown Battlefield has been preserved, surrounded by development.

It's spring, and a great time of year for outdoor tours. Tomorrow there's a Civil War class and tour sponsored by Lord Fairfax Community College. Here are some pictures from last spring's LFCC tour.

Kernstown Battlefield Park is located on the south side of Winchester just behind Creekside Village Shopping Center.

Touring Star Fort in Winchester

Coming in May: NOVA's Civil War Field Trips

Lake and Mountain, Early Morning

It's not often that I'm up and outdoors at 6:30 in the morning. But the dogs are still adjusting to their new residence and Flash has started barking at dawn. So I got dressed and took them outside for a brief walk.

The morning light illuminated Signal Knob with a reddish glow. So as soon as the dogs were ready to settle down, I took some photos. These are views from our yard.

The Unending Process of Moving

We have been in the process of moving for weeks. We spent Saturday getting a rental truck. The Penske dealer closed at noon on that day but we didn't need the truck until the next morning and didn't want to pay for an extra 24-hours. So we drove to Front Royal in the morning, did the paperwork and got the key, but waited until 6:30 PM to pick up the truck.

At quarter of nine the next morning, Amanda and Greg Miller showed up with a helper to load our furniture and boxes into the truck. They worked very hard but were not able to completely move us because the truck wasn't big enough! It was big, a 26-footer, but we have loads of stuff.

The good news is that we did get the furniture moved except for lawn furniture plus numerous boxes and a bunch of odd-shaped stuff. (Ever notice that when you pack boxes, your belongings seem to expand like foam insulation does? They just take up so much space, it's hard to believe.)

On Monday and Tuesday we went back to Basye in our own vehicles and loaded even more stuff. And yet there's till more. Nobody said moving would be easy!

Stretch Your Wings

A Flotilla of Geese

Preparing to Leave our Home in Basye

This is our driveway entrance in Basye. We did not name the place Bella Vista; the previous owners did.

We purchased this house in 2006. Now we are leaving for another home an hour away. The good news is that it's an hour closer to most of our family members and only 10 minutes farther from the others. It's also close to shopping so we will spend less on gas and not have to make long drives just to run errands.

But it is hard to leave this place! I love the view, and the peaceful yard, and the spacious "great room," and the little apartment above the garage. And the deer, and the woodpeckers, and the surrounding resort, and our community library, and all the nice people we know here!

Tonight we had dinner at the resort's main restaurant. The last time we ate there, we watched skiers and children as they enjoyed the snow on the slopes. Ski season just ended a month ago, and now it's spring and everything is blooming. If we come back next year during ski season, we may see some of the same children, older and more skillful on their skis or snowboards.  Age happens, and it seems to happen so quickly.