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Thanks, Jon Stewart ! We All Can Use A Little Extra Sanity, Even Here On Virginia’s Eastern Shore

Monday, November 1st, 2010

We love Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert at our house here on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, which is, in general, a pretty sane place to live. I was surprized to hear that their shows attract primarily young people because I think biting political satire is funny no matter ones age. Saturday was a work day for me so I didn’t see the live TV coverage of the Washington D.C. Rally for Sanity and/or Fear but I have seen lots of video clips and newspaper articles about the Rally, which apparently had about a 200,000 strong turnout. Some funny, funny stuff but sobering too. And I really loved a lot of the many different homemade signs that people brought to the Rally. ( The Washington Post has a photo gallery submitted by readers of some of the insightful and funny signs seen at the Rally.

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2010/10/25/GA2010102501514.html .)

We don’t usually deal with politics on this Blog but I think political sanity is fair game. From a political point of view, I am an Independent. I’m not registered with any political party, vote after evaluating the candidates and over the course of my years have voted for Republicans, Democrats and Independents. But I am a big, big believer in civil discourse and behavior so the rise of the rhetoric of violence and the talk of “second amendment remedies” and behavior of the last few months seems unnecessary and alarming to me. I believe President Obama was born in Hawaii, I don’t believe President Obama is a Nazi or a Socialist, I don’t believe in handcuffing a reporter for asking a question and the mere idea of stomping on the head of a protester, female or male is absolutely abhorrent to me. That’s what the Red Shirts and Green Shirts do in Thailand, that’s not supposed to happen here in the good ole U. S. of A.

If I hear one more politician condemn TARP as wrong and unnecessary I’m just going to ……. well, do something. As a realtor I deal with banks and bankers everyday so I’m really familiar with how the whole world runs on credit , from big companies to small farmers borrowing for seed and fertilizer for the new crop, to individual house holds, credit is essential. So I so well remember the days after the September, 2008 Lehman Brothers collapse, when credit was simply frozen and governments world- wide were worried about the melt-down of the world financial system. Saying to the banks, ” hey guys, it’s all your fault, suck it up, too bad for all of you, down the tubes you go, adios forever” could have been a whole lot of fun but I’ve never been a believer in self destruction just to get back at the other guy. So TARP was necessary, in my opinion, unless we just wanted to cut off our head to spite our nose, Alice In Wonderland style. And the good news is that most of the banks that got TARP funds have repaid the principal plus some hefty interest so we the people will have doubled down on our benefits—- we saved our financial system and made money doing it. How great is that ! So instead of being in line for free soup most of us are on-line, thinking about the new iPad or the new 4G EVO, or Christmas or some other such thing, the whole point being that most of us are still living our lives, albeit on a more frugal basis, but we are not struggling through another Great Depression. So to hear politicians on both sides of the aisle reviled for passing the legislation that kept our financial system from total collapse just annoys the you-know-what out of me !

Which is why I really, really needed some Jon Stewart Sanity just before these elections. I’m not and don’t want to become a person who turns purple in the face and yells or strikes out at other people about differences in political opinion. I want to continue being a person who can, pretty calmly, make my points, hoping that the other person is trying to keep an open mind and is actually considering what I’m saying, and no name calling, please. And I hope to be able to do rationally consider their points in return. And Jon, I agree completely with you that ” these are hard times but not the end times”. So let’s just keep calm and carry on like the real Americans that we all are. As Rosie the Riveter famously said, “We Can Do It.”

Tags: civil discourse, Eastern Shore of Virginia, jon stewart, Rally for Sanity and/or Fear, Real Estate
Posted in Business, Odds and Ends, Some Serious Thoughts | No Comments »

From Virginia’s Eastern Shore To The Charlottesville, Virginia Mountains- Our Annual Trek For Apples

Saturday, October 30th, 2010

Three hours is all it takes to travel from our sandy seashore to the top of Carter Mountain outside Charlottesville, Virginia but what a change in scenery and pace, folks just zipping around those mountain curves like the blazes. ( Me, I just drive along at a good pace but not trying to set any records either. ) It’s really beautiful on top of Carter Mountain this time of year, off in the distance the Blue Ridge peaks look very blue. Close up, the mountain foliage is almost past its peak whereas back on the Eastern Shore, a lot of the trees are just slowly beginning to turn.

When my kids were small they loved cider and a little song called Sipping Cider Through A Straw. Now that they’re adults they still love sipping cider and Carter Mountain Orchard is an excellent place to do just that. The week-end before Halloween is a busy time at the orchard, it seemed like their winding mountain road was bumper to bumper, both going up and coming down, cars chuck full of pumpkins, apples and apple cider. But nobody was impatient or honking, they were just enjoying the crisp fall air permeated by the sweet smell of apple pies baking in the orchard’s little bakery. Actually, we like Carter’s apple cider donuts just as much as their apple pie– if you’ve never had one, let me say that it’s hard to beat a fresh cider donut ( or 2 ) paired with a cup of hot spiced cider as an autumn treat.

Anyway, the plan was to meet up with our son and crew to have lunch atop the mountain and then pick apples. BBQ sandwiches and real french fries ( not frozen mushy things so often served) washed down with fresh-pressed apple cider, a tasty lunch for sure, just close the eyes to the calories ! But the rest of the plan was to work off some of those calories by picking apples. After the kids enjoyed a ride around the orchard on a tractor-pulled hay-wagon, we all set off for the U-Pick section of Fugi apples. In my opinion, Fugi’s are a perfect apple for both eating and cooking. Picking was the easy part– toting about 100 pounds of apples down the mountain while corralling 3 little running, laughing grandkids was a challenge but we managed it. By then the time had finally come to pick the Great Pumpkin. After much searching, evaluating and advocating for a particular favorite, the kids at last found a pumpkin upon which they could all agree, thank Heavens for that !

Then they were off to make a couple other stops, leaving my husband and I to settle down and relax at one of the picnic tables to enjoy the long view out to the Blue Ridge and to have a wee bit of dessert….. an apple cider donut and a cup of cider, of course. We wrapped up the afternoon by selecting a few other varieties from the pre-picked bins, some Jonathans, a few Granny Smith, some McIntosh, some Staymans, etc. . When cooked together into an applesauce, the flavor of a mixture of different varieties of tart-sweet apples like these is incomparable. ( Why the only so- called applesauce you can buy in grocery stores is some thin, runny, no- texture, flavorless stuff which has no relationship to what real applesauce actually is if you make it at home, I truly can not understand. Really, how hard should it be to make a decent, delicious commercial applesauce ? Some company should make that their calling– bringing real applesauce to the market ! )

Last item on our Carter Mountain Orchard to-do list was to get a bushel of Pink Lady apples. Having had our fill of apple picking for the day, we opted for a pre-picked bushel of these beautiful apples, each one sporting a wide pink blush. For staying power in a refrigerator, a Pink Lady is hard to beat. They are a wonderful all- around apple for eating, Waldorf salads, frying, etc., etc. So, loaded up with apples, apple cider, apple cider donuts and jars of apple butter, we were ready to say goodby to Carter Mountain Orchard ( www.cartermountainorchard.com ) until next year’s apple trek from Virginia’s Eastern Shore to Charlottesville, Virginia.

Tags: apples, Charlottesville Virginia, Eastern Shore of Virginia, fall foliage, week-end trips from Eastern Shore Virginia
Posted in Just Having Fun, Odds and Ends | No Comments »

From Virginia’s Eastern Shore To Blue Ridge Mountain Wineries — A Wonderful Trip !

Thursday, October 28th, 2010

From the seashore to the mountains in only three and a half hours of travel through beautiful scenery — that was the essence of our trip from the Eastern Shore of Virginia to Charlottesville, Virginia last week-end. October is wine month in Virginia, no better time to take a little break to follow the Monticello Wine Trail ( www.monticellowinetrail.com ) and to have fun visiting a few of the 25 wineries on that Trail. Question: What do Dave Matthews, Thomas Jefferson and an extremely wealthy Virginia family have in common ? You’ll see.

Visiting The Big Apple

The first stop on our trip was up Carter Mountain where we hooked up with my eldest son and family for some apple picking, cider sipping and hayride tripping but more on that in another post. Carter Mountain Orchard has added a wine tasting room where we tried several different wines from the Prince Michael Winery, including a particularly good Chardonay. I ended up getting a bottle of the Chardonay for a friend who is having foot surgery on Friday — if you are confined to the sofa for a week or more, what better than a good glass of wine to liven things up.

Jefferson Vineyard

Our next stop was Simon’s Market which specializes in picnics and sandwiches for the many winery visitors in the area and is located just around the bend from Jefferson Vineyards. We popped in for two of their cream cheese, kalamata olive spread, roasted peppers and Genoa salami sandwiches to enjoy with a glass of Jefferson’s excellent Viognier out on the vineyard’s patio, overlooking the beautiful views of the vines and the Blue Ridge mountains. Only a mile from Monticello, this land was the site of Thomas Jefferson’s first vineyard, planted in 1774 . Jefferson became very interested in wines from his time in France and the winery website, www.jeffersonvineyards.com , offers a lot of detail on the interesting history of this property. Jefferson has a very attractive tasting room and the wines here are delicious, especially the velvety Cabernet Franc and their Viognier, which is particularly crisp and refreshing.

After a good dinner at the Boat House, a restful night’s sleep and a late breakfast at Brodo’s Bagels, it was off to a trio of wineries, all near Monticello. We wanted to visit the tasting rooms of First Colony, Blenheim and nearby Kluge. We had thought about Keswick Vineyards because we had read about their interesting tradition called “Yappy Hour” where on Sunday afternoons from noon till closing, doggie loving customers can bring their canine pals and socialize with other dog owners. Even though our dogs were not with us, it still sounded like fun but Keswick was too far away from other the three vineyards we had already decided to visit and still depart Charlottesville by 5 pm.

First Colony Vineyard

First to First Colony. The driveway approach to the tasting room winds around the 12 acre vineyard with the mountains as a familiar back-drop. Once inside, the main room is lightfilled and airy with a separate dining area for special events. We tasted several whites as well as the reds. My favorite red was the Petite Verdot and I loved the Zephyr, a bright white wine with flavors of pineapple. Just off the tasting room at First Colony is an elevated deck surrounded by large hardwoods dressed in their intense fall colors– a good place to rest with a glass of wine and some of the available cheeses.

Blenheim Vineyard's Tasting Room

From there to Blenheim Vineyard not far away and owned by, you guessed it, Dave Matthews of the famed Dave Matthews Band. The land was owned by his mother before Matthews decided to begin the vineyard and it is a family run operation. The tasting room is in a handsome timber-framed building which features a full glass south facing wall overlooking the vineyard and the mountains and includes a large outdoor seating area for a picnic with a bottle of Blenheim’s excellent wine. The most interesting part of the tasting room however is the floor– or rather, lack of floor. As you walk in the door, the center portion of the tasting room floor is made of clear plexi-glass so customers can see into the barrel room below. That’s a very unique feature in my experience and one that I’m sure everyone “oo’s and ahs” about — I know we were impressed. The wines were impressive as well and we ended up with several bottles of the spicy Cabernet Franc.

Wine And Cheese In The Garden At The Kluge Estate Vineyard

From Blenheim we were off to Kluge Estate Winery and Vineyard just a few minutes away. The Kluge family is a very wealthy family and the vineyard and winery established by Patricia Kluge in 1999 are located on a tiny portion of their very beautiful 2000 acre farm. The tasting room is nestled in a grove a mature hardwood trees and features outdoor seating on the patio and in the garden area as well as indoor seating surrounded by warm hardwood paneling. Kluge’s tasting proceedure is also unique– instead of small pourings into commemorative wine glasses, Kluge has a custom upright tray with 6 slots for tall cylindrical vials. Customers select from two tasting flights of six wines each, approximately $10-14/flight, select a cheese plate if desired and then find a quiet spot to sip and evaluate the wines. We picked the flight that included two of their superb sparkling wines, a rose and three different vintages of their “New World” a luxurious blend of Cabernet, Merlot, Malbec and Petite Verdot. Needless to say, as we left Charlottesville and these four fine vineyards behind, jumping on the interstate to head back to home- sweet- home on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, we were well armed with red, white and sparking wines for the upcoming holiday season !

P.S. Back to the question of what Thomas Jefferson, Dave Matthews and the Kluge family all have in common. The answer is of course, a love of good wines and the creation of memorable vineyards as testiments to that love. See these wineries on the web at : www.jeffersonvineyards.com , www.firstcolonywinery.com , www.blenheimvineyards.com and www.klugeestate.com .

Tags: Blue Ridge mountains, Charlottesville Virginia, Eastern Shore of Virginia, Monticello Wine Trail, vineyards, week-end trips from Eastern Shore Virginia
Posted in Just Having Fun, Odds and Ends, Regional Foods & Wine | No Comments »

I Can’t Believe That My Favorite Month On Virginia’s Eastern Shore Is Almost Over !

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

From Our Deck The Water Looks Bluer In October

October on the Eastern Shore of Virginia is just the best month of the year, to me anyway. The clear blue skies and the Indian Summer warm days are so delightful, nearly perfect really. The leaves start to turn, but very slowly. My dogwoods and crepe myrtles are coloring up beautifully but the deep reds and oranges of hickory and oaks have yet to really start. Fall camellias are just starting to bloom, pansies are ready to plant, time to put collards and kale in the garden and buy a few mums for the porch steps to enjoy as I come and go. Sitting on the deck enjoying the views, for some reason the water just seems bluer to me in October. Fall here is long- sleeve- cotton- blouse weather, not yet time for a sweater or windbreaker, which is good because I hate toting that stuff around, putting them on, taking them off. ( Actually I’d rather be a little cold than lug a sweater around even in December. January is a different story. )

Colorful Fall Foliage In The Blue Ridge Mountains

And there’s always a lot going on in October both on the Eastern Shore and around Virginia. It’s almost time for our annual Blue Ridge mountain trip to Carter Mountain Orchard in Charlottesville, Virginia, home to Pink Lady, Fugi, Stayman Winesap, Yellow Delicious and Granny Smith apples— all favorites of our family. Time to put a couple bushels in the garage refrigerator for pies and Waldorf salads, etc. through the winter. Fall foliage will be at its peak up in the Blue Ridge Mountains, a lovely sight indeed. And the 20 + wineries there will nearly all be having special tasting room treats. It’s an easy trip, just over a three hour drive from Virginia’s Eastern Shore to Charlottesville ( C-ville as the locals there call it ), through some beautiful scenery. Going to Carter Mountain for apples, apple cider and apple butter plus some side ventures for wine to Jefferson Vineyard and Barboursville Vineyard, both a part of the Monticello appellation ( www.monticellowinetrail.com ) is annual October tradition for my husband and I. Part of the “October is my favorite month” thing — good apples, good wines , good times.

October Is The Time To Plant Pansies And Mums On Virginia's Eastern Shore

Here on the Eastern Shore, the October foodie thing, the annual Harvest Festival has come and gone. ( In fact, I just finished a week of rice cakes and cottage cheese for lunch, thanks to over- indulgence at the Harvest Fest, especially on crabcakes and the always fantastic sweet potato pie.) The October birdie thing, the 18th annual Birding Festival has also come and gone. But the birds, especially the beautiful songbirds and large raptors, are still migrating through. Good luck guys and gals, it’s a long, long way to Central and South America. ( Ever wonder if birds say to themselves, in bird speak obviously, ” This migration thing is a severe pain in the tukus — let’s just say “No” next year and go to Miami instead !” ) The annual Chili and Chowder Cook-off held in Chincoteague, Virginia each year in October for the last eleven years has also come and gone. The chili and chowder part is great– I love chili, my husband loves clam chowder, so it’s a win-win event for us. But Treat or Treat is still to come. I’m looking forward pumpkin carving and walking around the “big block” in the little town of Cheriton with my grandkids on Halloween as they collect enough goodies to provide another year of job security for their dentist. And then, inevitably, October, my favorite month on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, will be over yet again.

Tags: apples, Eastern Shore of Virginia, fall foliage, Halloween, October, Real Estate, winery
Posted in Climate and Weather, Just Having Fun, Odds and Ends, Our Little Towns | No Comments »

Celebrating The Great Fall Migration — The Eastern Shore of Virginia’s Annual Birding Festival

Monday, October 11th, 2010

See you at the Owl Prowl

What do the “Run For The Birds”, the “Butterfly Walk” and the “Owl Prowl” have in common ? ( No, they’re not new dance steps ! ) Rather, each is a part of the annual Birding Festival held on Virginia’s Eastern Shore on the first week-end in October. ( The first week of October is getting to be a pretty important week what with the start of the new term of U.S. Supreme Court and the Eastern Shore’s Harvest Festival and Birding Festival all held then. ) This year’s Birding Festival, held last week-end, was the 18th in this series of highly successful eco-tourism events and included the largest number of participation activities of any Festival so far. Bird lovers from all over Virginia, indeed from all over the East Coast, came to Cape Charles, Virginia to hear the keynote address given by Dr. Gregory S. Butcher, an internationally renown ornithologist and Director of Bird Conservation for the National Audubon Society.

If you look at a map it’s easy to see that the shape of the DelMarVa (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia) peninsula is rather funnel-like. On the northern end, in Delaware, the funnel is rather wide. Venturing south, the penninsula grows more and more narrow so that by the time you reach Northampton County, the Shore is only about 8 miles across, narrowing to about 4 miles south of Cape Charles. During the Fall bird migration, as the birds fly south along the Atlantic Flyway, they are funneled into an ever decreasing land mass. This results in the Eastern Shore of Virginia having large concentrations of migrating songbirds and raptors at our southern tip where they are able to rest and replenish before flying over open water. Great efforts to protect and study these birds have been expended by a large number of organizations including US Fish and Wildlife, The Nature Conservancy, Coastal Management Dept of VDEQ and numerous others. From those efforts grew the idea for the eco-friendly Birding Festival. The rest, as they say, is history.

Part Of Our Pristine Chain Of 18 Barrier Islands

I personally think that what accounts for the continuing great success of the Birding Festival is that there are such interesting activities in which to participate, with new and different activities being added all the time. This year a number of different boating options were available including a two+ hour trip from the little town of Willis Wharf out to the Machipongo River to view shore and wading birds, a 2 + hour trip out of Watchapreague and a 3 hour boat trip out of the tiny town of Oyster to Cobb Island hoping to see nesting terns, oystercatchers, whimbrels, sandpipers, etc., maybe even plovers out on these pristine Barrier Islands and a 2+ hour trip, also from Oyster, out to Wreck Island to see what is being hailed as the world’s largest and most successful seagrass restoration program.

Adios Amigos, We Are Off To Mexico

I personally always enjoy the bird banding– it’s amazing how calm these beautiful birds are as they are banded but how quickly they flit away as they are released. The bird banding station is located at Kiptopeake State Park which is the very, very tip of the the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Millions of songbirds migrate through our area each year and many of them can be found at Kiptopeake Park which has a huge natural maritime forest plus open areas and lots of specifically planted beneficial shrubs and trees. Like ducks to water, the birds have really taken to the Park. Apparently over half a million birds have been banded at Kiptopeake Station over the years, a real achievement, mostly by volunteers. Also located at the Kiptopeake Park is an amazing hawk observatory. On Saturday, mermerized watchers were counting with glee the numbers and variety of hawks and falcons they were observing — lots of Cooper’s hawks especially. The Kiptopeake Observatory is plays a vital part in the the annual raptor count for the Shore. Kiptopeake Park is also home to a beautiful Butterfly Garden planted and maintained by the Master Gardeners of the Eastern Shore. The Garden was filled with colorful Monarch butterflies on Saturday, flitting along in their migration south to over-winter in Mexico . Lots of folks, many with kids in tow, were snapping picture of them while waiting for the “Butterfly Walk” to begin. Later still, 9-11 pm, for those who had the energy, Kiptopeake Park would be one of several sites for a two hour “Owl Prowl”. ( I love owls. Often, if I am up very late, I can hear a pair softly calling to each other not too far from my house.)

" Release Me Already, I'm Banded"

Finding Butterflies

Hawk Observatory- Seeing A Lot Of Cooper's Hawks Today

Meantime back in the town of Cape Charles, at Festival Central, ( www.esvafestivals.com ) lots of organizations had booths set up, literature to distribute, ready to answer questions and give advice. Tons of interesting exhibits and plenty of stuff for kids too. Next door, the Marine Science Aquarium’s huge mobile truck was set up with its “Oceans In Motion” exhibit plus its mini “Touch and Feel” tank which was attracting kids of all ages. Anyone who loves Nature would love the Birding Festival. So don’t forget– the first week of October each year signals the new term of the Supreme Court, the Eastern Shore of Virginia’s Harvest Festival and the Eastern Shore Birding Festival ! Hope you can make it next year.

Aquarium In A Truck -- Amazing !

Virginia Dept. Game & Inland Fisheries, An Important Festival Sponsor

Festival Central- New Information, New Ideas, New Efforts

Tags: bird banding, Eastern Shore Virginia Birding Festival, Hawk Observatory, Nature, songbird migration, Virginia Eastern Shore
Posted in Birding, Just Having Fun, Odds and Ends | No Comments »

The 18th Annual Harvest Festival on The Eastern Shore Of Virginia, Coming Tomorrow

Tuesday, October 5th, 2010

Food, Music & Fun On The Beach At Virginia Eastern Shore's Harvest Festival

I’ve been dieting for about a week in anticipation of the annual Virginia’s Eastern Shore Harvest Festival held each year in early October. Where else can you find such an exciting array of traditional seafood dishes ( plus some land lubber foods as well) in an open air beachfront setting with music, an artist’s pavilion and inevitably, politicians. No where that I know of except at the Sunset Beach Resort located on the Chesapeake Bay near Cape Charles, Virginia , the traditional home of the Harvest Festival, held there on the first Wednesday in October since 1992.

We Used To Tent, Now We're Just Foodies

Entering the Festival grounds, it’s always fun to see all the little food tents with a few business tents interspersed. ( We used to have a tent to give out business cards and catalogues but everybody on staff really wanted to be out and about with friends and food so a few years ago we decided to consider the Harvest Festival strictly as a “Food and Friends” event and forget about a more formal business approach.) Once inside, my daughters usually head straight for the soft shell crab sandwich tent and my husband maneuvers towards the crabcake tent. But I head straight for the devils-on-horseback. ( If you’ve never had a “devil-on-horseback”, it is a shucked, seasoned oyster wrapped in bacon and roasted to pure perfection. Topped with a little hot sauce it is more like angel- on- horseback.) Harvest Fest is all about the various foods from our pristine Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean saltwaters including fish, shrimp and clams as well as oysters and crab. A perennial favorite is the “Eastern Shore style” clam chowder, made in huge kettles and thick with clams, onions, potatoes and salt pork, all cooked in a clear broth, served up steaming and fragrant. It’s quite different than the more traditional cream- based New England clam chowder or the tomato-based Manhattan clam chowder– very simple yet delicious.

Land-lubbers enjoy the country ham served on traditional sweet potato biscuits or thinly sliced roast beef on yeast rolls. And who can resist Sting Ray’s famous spicy chili, lots of heat and not too many beans. And those who are “all hat and no cattle” with regard to spicyness join in the stampede for the Buffalo but mild chicken wings. Add in the Carolina- style shredded BBQ and we-all have got us-all a really fine southern-style feast ! Last but not least is the scrumptious sweet potato pie from Kate’s Kupboard Bakery– it’s the best ever, with a just a hint of lemon and a little coconut, served with or without some smooth whipped cream, just melts in your mouth. So now it’s easy to see why it’s necessary for me to diet for a week before the Harvest Festival— too much great food to resist and too many calories to ignore. So — it’s rice cakes and cottage cheese for lunch on Thursday !

Tags: clam chowder, crabcakes, Eastern Shore Virginia Harvest Festival, seafood
Posted in At the Beach, Fine and Casual Dining, Just Having Fun, Odds and Ends | No Comments »

The RE Show– Studying Social Media At The 2010 VAR Convention In Virginia Beach, Virginia

Tuesday, October 5th, 2010

Every year the Virginia Association of Realtors (VAR) holds an annual convention and the 2010 event was held last week-end at the Virginia Beach Convention Center, a sleek modern facility which fortunately understands the value of comfortable chair seats for those who are going to be attending seminars held in 2 hour modules, i.e., the mind can only absorb what the derriere can endure. Since Virginia Beach is less than an hour from Virginia’s Eastern Shore it was an easy trip, a piece of cake really, and I slid into my first seminar with 10 minutes to spare. The convention is an annual opportunity for Virginia Realtors to network and to attend seminars on a variety of topics presented by top experts in their field brought in by VAR from around the country. This year I agents selected six seminars, each about using “Social Media”.

So for nearly 12 hours over two days, I immersed myself in Internet social media ideas and questions. Starting with a seminar entitled “Beyond Blogging” given by Jeff Davis from California (who apparently is one of the top 5 experts in the US on Word Press which happens to be the platform this blog is written on) to tips on “Risk Management in Social Media” also presented by another Californian, Ginger Wilcox and finishing with “Agent 2.0” offered by Brian Copeland, a funny, funny guy from Nashville, Tennessee, my derriere endured and my mind was stretcheeeeeed. I loved Brian’s witty aphorism, you can be smart or you can be pretty but this afternoon let’s try to be smart. ( Brian himself is both smart and pretty ! ) All three speakers were terrific, the rooms were fairly crackling with ideas and info, mostly new to me. I definitely was trying to be smart but I think I probably was mostly pretty. Yep, I know I was mostly pretty.

Brian Copeland...Smart and Pretty

Anyway, from “Engagement is the New Metric” and Dunbar’s Number (150) to websites with names like Cademus, TweetBeep and Ping, various rooms full of mostly middle age plus Realtors ( in my case, plus plus) grappled with new names, terms and concepts. We learned how to create an interactive web poll, we learned the program for doing voice-over on videos of our listings and we were urged to “move our off-line to on-line and our on-line to off-line” . My husband likes to call learning all this new technology “Coming out of the Cave.” ( For the record, I should note that he selected seminars on familiar subjects like ” Floating In A Sea of Short Sales” and “Understanding the Glue to Real Estate Agreements” and was not out there trying to understand the security issues of being or not being on Foursquare ! ) However, step by step, I do think I am coming out of the Cave but it is hard — the Cave feels safe and is so familiar. Also, much as I hate to admit it, I’m a person who looks back very nostalgically on the days when a cell phone was simply a device for placing and receiving phone calls. So, we’ll see if by this time next year I’m tweeting Tweets and friending on Facebook. The proof will be in the pudding, time will tell, not taking any bets just yet, etc., etc.

Tags: blogging, Eastern Shore Virginia real estate, Real Estate, social media
Posted in Business, Odds and Ends | No Comments »

Finding The Silver Lining — How I Ended Up At The Cape Charles, Virginia Tomato Festival After All !

Tuesday, September 28th, 2010

I’m a natural optimist and I do like to find the Silver Lining if I can. When I came down with a terrible cold last Tuesday and by Thursday still felt like a huge nose attached to a worn out body, I realized that I just could not subject the other three who would be in the car with me to a four hour ride to D.C. enclosed with Miss Sneezy. So I said, in my most pitiful voice , you-all just go to the Book Festival without me . (See Sept. 21st post about looking forward to the 2010 National Book Festival ( www.loc.gov/bookfest/ ) being held Saturday, Sept. 25th on the National Mall in Washington D.C. ) Don’t worry about me, poor, poor sick me, said I. Well OK, said they, we won’t worry about you, we’ll be on our way on Friday morning, really sorry you can’t come, we’ll try to get some of your books signed for you, watch the Book TV coverage.

But then, ironically, an important client of my daughter’s who was flying in from the mid-West to the Eastern Shore of Virginia to look at waterfront property on Thursday the 24th decided to stay over through Saturday to look at additional beachfront acreage. So that took her out of the trip as well. And then my friend’s son’s lasik surgery got bumped from Thursday afternoon to Friday afternoon, so another one bites the dust. That left only my husband in a position to make the trip, but loyalist that he is, he pledged to stay by my side, replenishing Kleenex and orange juice as necessary, commiserating with my loss of the opportunity to get the books I had purchased by Michelle Norris, Anchee Min, David Remnick and Scott Turow autographed by them, planned as special Christmas gifts for several people. ( I realize that it may not seem all that special. But trust me when I say that after you have stood in line about two hours per each author, in the hot sun, the only food all day being the trail mix and a PBJ you fortunately brought along but which got somewhat squished at the bottom of your rolling briefcase, washed down sparingly by a warm Desani, portapotties about 10 miles off but you are worried about leaving the line in case of a ruckus about getting back in, feet aching even though you’re wearing your most comfortable Birkenstocks, weary arms clutching the max- allowed- per- author three or four books, open to the title pages as ordered by the event staff, yellow post-it notes peeking over the edges of the title pages whereon you have, after much wracking of the brain, written the pithy phrases you want the admired author to inscribe for the recipient…… Well, after all that, I don’t care if it’s just an inscribed “Manual of Insurance Rates” instead of a John Grisham 1st edition — by golly, it is special !!!! ) Anyway, the 11th annual National Book Festival is coming up in just 361 more days, wonder who the authors will be ?

But back to the Silver Lining. In order to go to the Book Festival, I would have had to miss the 3rd annual Cape Charles Tomato Festival. So now, if I felt up to it, we could attend. Possible Silver Lining. Mid- afternoon, pocket full of cough drops, I summoned up the energy to slip down to Cape Charles with my husband. It was a pretty day, blue skies, warm, breezes blowing in from the Chesapeake Bay. My husband and I both always like the ArtWalk and this year was no exception — lots of mediums exhibited, sidewalk tables plus snow white individual tents featuring watercolors, sculpture, glasswork, oils, stained glass, decoy carvings, etc., up and down Mason Avenue as far as the eye could see. On one of the next- to- last sidewalk tables, I came across my art purchase of the day……. a whimisical watercolor, original and framed, a pair of charming orange seahorses, outlined in red, with large aquamarine eyes, set against a vivid backgound of various blues, white bubbles and little red hearts floating upwards as the seahorses shyly peek at each other. The whole painting was so vibrant, I love seahorses, I have a perfect place to hang it, I could not resist.

Continuing on down the sidewalk, past those last lucky diners to be able to enjoy a bowl of the ambrosial tomato basil bisque being served at Cape Charles Coffee House, we crossed the street to see the antique cars exhibit. Arriving just after the judging was completed, we watched as the trophies were being awarded. Although I am not that into cars, I was impressed with the 1930 Model A, black of course, which looked like it just rolled off the assembly line. ( You’ll remember that Henry Ford famously said that his customers could have the Model A in any color they wanted—- just as long as they wanted black ! ) Among others, a trophy was awarded to a 1955 mint condition Chevy painted in beautiful tones of cream and deep burgandy, owned by MaryLou and John Thornton, whose cute-as-a-button two year old grandaughter, Andrea, stole the awards ceremony as she presented the trophies. And that pretty much did it for me, tired, still not fully recovered, ready to go home and flip on the television. And so, a Silver Lining after all — I got a fun painting at the Cape Charles Tomato Festival and then spent the rest of the afternoon in comfy air conditioning, enjoying Book TV’s ( www.booktv.org ) live coverage of the National Book Festival direct from C-Span’s little studio set up in the huge History and Biography pavilion, temperature in D.C. estimated at a hefty 90 + degrees and no Chesapeake Bay breezes. Hi, ho Silver Lining.

Tags: art show, Cape Charles Virginia, National Book Festival, Tomato Festival, Virginia antique car show
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My Secret Kayaking Spot On The Eastern Shore Of Virginia

Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

Kayaking on Virginia’s Eastern Shore is a well-known passion of mine. But I’m not worried about my secret spot becoming overrun by kayakers because it’s getting mighty lonely paddling around out there all by myself. Save for the bald eagles, osprey, great blue heron, kingfisher, and assorted other shore birds that migrate through the area, that is, so actually it’s not lonely at all, just really wonderfully peaceful and relaxing ! Having paddled Westerhouse Creek almost daily now, going on 9 years, the number of times I have encountered another soul I could count on both hands. This small saltwater inlet from the Chesapeake Bay near Machipongo, Virginia in Northampton County has an absolutely pristine shoreline and is edged in the softest way by thick stands of tall green spartina grass. I have yet to become jaded to the sublime beauty of this place, and especially its lack of disturbance by human encroachment. Although others live along the shores of this beautiful channel, near sunset or sunrise it seems to be mine alone.

Launching my 17 foot long sea kayak into Westerhouse Creek from my backyard finger pier is a breeze. I climb down a short ladder to balance before scooting into the cockpit, sitting as comfortably as if I was lounging in my living room. All is quiet, the sun is starting to set and shortly a full moon is due to rise in the east. The beauty of paddling a kayak lies in its unobtrusiveness in the natural surroundings and ease of movement through the water. I feel at one with nature as I glide upon the fluid surface. This little salt water estuary is really a miniature Eastern Shore creek, with all the features shrunk down so that an hour’s paddle takes you through the various topographical features that comprise an entire healthy ecosystem. The headwaters of the creek are wetlands that capture the drainage of fresh water from as far away as Lankford Highway (Rt. 13) which runs along the spine of the Delmarva Penninsula. The marsh soon gives way to open water as the opposite banks of the stream open wider and wider apart. Behind the spartina grow thick stands of long and short needle pines and hardwood trees. In the fall, the change of color of foliage creates a rainbow along the both shores, pine greens contrasting with the brilliant hues of reds, orange, pinks and yellows of the hardwoods. In the early spring, the white dogwood blossoms are the first flowers to appear through the leafless branches, a welcoming sight.

My goal each trip is to paddle the length of the entire creek, passing out between the sandy shores of the mouth where the creek empties into the Chesapeake Bay. There, when the wind is blowing strong from the northwest, I love to catch the waves and virtually surf the kayak back homewards into the mouth of the creek, almost California style.

One evening in early May, in a fairly stiff breeze, I paddled out through the breaking 2-3′ waves and turned to catch one back to shore, but a rogue wave hit me sideways and and for the first time ever, tumbled my boat upside down so fast I hardly knew which direction was up. I found myself suddenly immersed in an inverted position and I literally fell out of my kayak and rose to the surface sputtering water from my mouth. It was cold water, too, and the waves were breaking all over, and I was a little worried about being slowly pulled out into the Bay by the falling tide. Luckily, a couple of weeks earlier I had finished a series of four classes in a YMCA pool in Virginia Beach to train on how to perform a kayak self-rescue and of course, as always, I was wearing a life vest. The cold water was starting to sap my strength but I stripped off my waterlogged sweatpants, gathered my thoughts and planned my every move. Relying on an inflated bag fitted over one end of my paddle to steady the tippy craft, I climbed aboard in the breaking surf and rolled inside the boat. Using the bilge pump, I emptied the water from my kayak and steadily started paddling back towards the mouth of the Creek. Whew! What a relief to be afloat again and heading for home! Maybe, I thought, on the next windy day I will just turn around in the Creek and not head out into the Bay to surf back on a wave. Or……… maybe I’ll just keep on being adventurous !

This evening, however, the water was quite calm so my paddling was as peaceful and easy as could be, total relaxation. The sun began painting the waters in vivid shades of purples and pinks. And out in the Bay, I gazed up and down that beautiful shoreline, then turned my kayak for home, spotting the white disk of moon peeking above the distant treeline.

My Westerhouse Creek finger pier perfect for launching kayaks.

Sun setting into the Chesapeake Bay

Entrance to Westerhouse Creek from the Chesapeake Bay

Tags: Kayaking, Nature, Virginia Eastern Shore, waterfront home
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It’s An Easy Day Trip From Virginia’s Eastern Shore To Washington D.C. So I’m Looking Forward To Going To The 2010 National Book Festival

Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

Virginia's Eastern Shore's Location On The Eastern Seaboard

One of the nice things about living on the Eastern Shore of Virginia is how easy it is to go elsewhere. Sort of an oxymoron thought process– it’s good to be here so I can go elsewhere. But it’s true ! Virginia’s Eastern Shore is actually within a half day’s drive of many of the great spots on the East Coast, it’s the perfect place to buy a property which is a home base for get-a-way trips to lots of exciting events and places. About six hours from my office door to emerging from the Holland Tunnel onto Canal Street in Manhattan.. .. dim sum in Chinatown is calling to us. ( And we love the roast pork buns and coconut buns at Maria’s Bakery on Mott Street. ) About three hours to Charlottesville and the beautiful vistas of the Blue Ridge mountains and some of Virginia’s finest wineries ( www.monticellowinetrail.com ). About four hours to Baltimore, site of Inner Harbor and its fabulous aquarium and of course, Annapolis is nearby. And let’s not forget about Virginia’s Golden Triangle, the historic towns of Jamestown, Yorktown and Williamsburg, so close, only an hour and a half away ( www.historictriangle.com ), always lots of interesting things going on there. Over the Christmas holidays we nearly always visit Colonial Williamsburg ( www.history.org ) to enjoy the bonfires, fife and bugle corps , the nightly Illumination of the Christmas Tree, the stunning all -natural decorations, topping it off with a fabulous dinner at the Regency Room at the Williamsburg Inn.

Moonlight Illuminates The U.S. Capitol and The Festival Tents

I could wax on and on about places to visit within a half day’s drive but this post is supposed to be about going to the 2010 National Book Festival. www.loc.gov/bookfest/ This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Festival, held annually in Washington D.C., sited out on the National Mall, organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress. It will be the second time we have attended, having had a marvelous time at last year’s Festival we are really looking forward to going again. I had learned about the Festival some years ago but as September is a busy month in real estate, it’s really a difficult time to get away for several days. But last summer when I read about the 2009 Festival, so many authors, fiction and non-fiction, that I truly love and admire were scheduled to appear that it was simply impossible not to go ! ( Actually, once I discovered that Ken Burns, John Irving and John Grisham would be there, speaking and autographing their books, I can assure you that wild horses couldn’t have dragged me away. ) Irving’s novels, especially Garp, Owen Meany and Cider House, have long been favorites. ( Couldn’t really get into Son of the Circus but I met a fellow while standing in the long, long Irving book signing line who thought it was his best work and had re-read it six times. So I’m going to give it another shot this winter.) And who doesn’t like John Grisham — his work is so popular that he must be a multi- billionaire by now ! My husband and I both admire Ken Burns and so I toted four copies ( one for us, three for gifts ) of Burns’ then brand new National Parks book to be autographed — trust me when I say that after standing for almost two hours in his book signing line, ( in a light drizzle, no less, thank Heaven I brought those little yellow rain ponchos ), those four copies of National Parks seemed to weigh four hundred pounds and my arms had stretched four feet. ( I know it is better to give than to receive but the three people who got a signed Ken Burns book for Christmas owe me a new arm. )

The 2010 National Book Festival Poster

At any rate, the 2009 Festival, which was a two day event, also featured acclaimed authors Nicholas Sparks, Lee Childs and Daniel Silva (both of whom I particularly enjoy ), Michael Connelly, James Patterson, Judy Blume, Sue Monk Kidd, Jon Meachum ( whose book American Lion I had just finished reading ) and Gwen Ifill, the excellent moderator of PBS’ Washington Week, plus many other novelists, poets and non-fiction writers. About a thirty-fecta of literary talent, all in the very same place on the very same week-end. Can you believe it ??? Thank-you, Library of Congress !! Anyone who truly loves books and reading can appreciate the real thrill of attending the 2009 National Book Festival and seeing, hearing speeches by and getting books autographed by some of ones favorite authors . So although, for me, the 2010 Festival doesn’t have the same star power, my husband and I, a daughter and a friend are all looking forward to leaving the Eastern Shore, making that easy trip to spend the week-end in Washington DC and hearing Ken Follett, Scott Turow, Anchee Min, Michelle Norris of NPR and David Remnick speak and getting them to autograph their books for us — and yes, I’m thinking Christmas as well. ( A signed, first edition copy of a book by the giftee’s favorite author makes a great Christmas present, especially when it comes with the story of how the giftor stood in line forever in the sun/rain/dark of night, feet aching, just to get it autographed especially for them. ) So let’s hear it for books, authors and the brick and mortar book stores like Barnes and Nobles and Borders who hold the world within their four walls ! And let’s hear it for living on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, so centrally located that a whole other lifestyle dimension is opened by the ease with which you can get away to so many other places ! Applause, applause, applause, ad infinitum !

Tags: Eastern Shore Virginia, National Book Festival, Real Estate, travel on Eastern Shore Virginia, week-end trips from Eastern Shore Virginia
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Life and Real Estate on the Eastern Shore of Virginia