What's a Northern Neck?

The Northern Neck is a piece of Virginia that looks like the Rappahannock River is going to split it loose from the rest of the state and  make it fall off  into the Chesapeake Bay. It's really a beautiful spot:  very woodsy, yet there's water and beaches everywhere.  And it's a great place to eat crabs.

My friend, Joy, and I went to visit another friend, Cheryl, who lives there.  Oh, did you two want to remain anonymous?  Well, don't worry, you practically are because not that many people read this blog.  We had so much fun spending a couple of days together.  We were especially glad the Northern Neck survived Hurricane Sandy since we were traveling down there a few days after the storm blew through the area.  They had very little effect from it and we had no trouble driving down.

Here's Cheryl's cute house set in a beautiful location with a lovely woods right behind it.  She even has her own playhouse outside. ;)  We have to go back in warmer weather so we can get the full experience.

She fed us crabcakes and taught me the mysteries of preparing and enjoying grits.  I didn't think I liked grits until I ate Cheryl's cheesy grits.  Now I make breakfast grits for myself a couple of times a week!

She also took us down to the Bay at sunset.  How peaceful and beautiful!

Cheryl and Joy

Cheryl and me

The Three Stooges... er... Amigas

We shopped, ate, redecorated Cheryl's house (at her request) and basically created work for her and her husband.  And we took over her daughter's room.  What a gracious family!

I think this next picture is the Rappahannock River.

On our way home, we saw signs for George Washington's birthplace.  It was only 2 miles out of our way, so of course, we stopped.

George's parents did find a lovely riverside spot for a home.

But, alas, the original house no longer exists, so they built this house sort of where it was in a style sort of like what could have been there, with things inside that are from that time period.  Well, we got the idea.  I loved the big tree framing the house.  Beautiful!

Thanks for a wonderful time Cheryl!  The Northern Neck is a lovely, one-of-a-kind place.  I highly recommend visiting there sometime.  Cheryl's a great hostess, but call ahead.  ;)

Virtual vs Actual Travel Experiences

Exotic animals.

Unique foods.

Lush vegetation.

Mysterious antiquities.

Picturesque views.

 Exhilarating adventures.

Fascinating people.

More stamps in your passport.

Foreign travel is exciting.  Exhilarating even.  It's a great bonding experience for friends or family traveling together.  I have only been able to get to a couple of foreign locales so far.  My kids, however, have been to Haiti, Namibia, Ecuador, Rwanda, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Portugal, Austria, Germany... I can't even remember all the places.  Our son and daughter-in-law even have a blog just to chronicle their travels while they are living abroad for a few years. I enjoy living vicariously through them.

Since I don't get the opportunity to personally visit all the places I would eventually like to see, hear, smell, touch and taste, I often enjoy reading books or blogs that take me there.  For us women, the Sisterchicks books are great for fun and inspirational stories involving virtual travel.  After reading Sisterchicks in Gondolas I knew I wanted to gaze upon the canals of Venice myself and taste creamy gelato served at an outdoor cafe there some day.  Recently I devoured, not gelato, but another book that has me yearning to visit Italy:  The Girl in the Glass by Susan Meissner.

The descriptions of Florence, Italy and many of the unparalleled Renaissance works of art are enchanting and intriguing.

 I really want to stand and gaze at the statues and paintings, sniff the earthy scent of Italian coffee, taste melt-in-your-mouth porcini mushrooms, and stroll down ancient streets.

For now, I will content myself with virtual travel through blogs and books.  Here's a review of  The Girl in the Glass by Susan Meissner in case you want to indulge in some virtual travel yourself!

This lilting book colors Florence, Italy with a magical ambiance.  Stories of three different women are woven together as an illustration of fatherly neglect, family heartbreak and ultimate healing.  16th century Nora Orsini of the famed Medici family tells her story in the midst of present-day Florence native Sofia's story.  They have parallel experiences and both find solace in art and faith.  Both of those women speak into the life of main character Meg, an American woman who grapples with family issues, men issues and work issues.  As a travel book editor, she meets Lorenzo and Renata, writers from Florence, and ends up traveling to their city and staying with their neighbor and aspiring author, the aforementioned Sofia.  Sofia introduces Meg to both Nora and the art-filled city of Florence where they jointly seek healing for past heartaches.  Meg needs to figure out how to love her promise-breaking father, deal with her feelings toward her mother's boyfriend, and basically learn to make her own decisions about life and love.

The writing is lovely; infusing humor, poignancy and wonder into a story featuring disappointment, confusion and ultimate healing.  "Imagine that you've been empowered to believe Renaissance isn't just a word; it's the essence of rebirth; it's what happens when you dare to believe what is isn't what it has to be; it can be remade."  And this is the essence of The Girl in the Glass:  Nora, Sofia and Meg all learn what it means to say that "Your life is what you make of it, not what happens to you."  An enchanting read.

I received this book free from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers in exchange for my honest review.  Even though the book was free, I promise that I woulda told you if I didn't like it!

Foreign Family Fun

We love family vacations.  It's so much fun to travel together, to see historically or scenically significant places together, and most especially to spend quantity and quality time together.  The beauty of a vacation is that (if you choose to), you can be disconnected from email, phones and schedules and  even the pervasive TV.

Recently, our family traveled to England.  This is unusual for us, because we don't usually travel "abroad" for vacations.  We went there because our son and daughter-in-law live there and we hadn't seen them for seven months.  People have been asking me about our trip and what our favorite places were.  It's funny, because although we got to see gorgeous scenery, to appreciate stunning ancient architecture, and to hear charming British accents and their unique vocabulary, my favorite things about vacation are family moments.

We stayed with some very gracious people the whole time-- our son and daughter-in-law-- so there were plenty of opportunities for family moments!  We got to sit around their dining room table eating, playing games and talking.

We sat in their TV-less living room catching up on pictures and stories from the last seven months we've been apart.  We stood together on the roof of a cathedral that had its beginning almost 1,000 years ago with dark, menacing clouds swirling overhead and charming, centuries-old stone buildings far below.

 We betted tiny wagers on racehorses and cheered together when they won.

We jammed ourselves into the Underground cars during rush hour while the shorter ones among us snagged a sleeve or belt loop of a tall Dad or husband, while trying to simultaneously avoid the strangers' armpits who were easily gripping the overhead bars.  Or there was the time Dad didn't have time to get a handhold before the train started... watch out!

Of course, I couldn't take pictures under those circumstances-- this is from a calmer ride.

We relaxed in a variety of British pubs for lunch, snacks, dinner or just for cards and games in the evening over a pitcher of Pimm's, a fruity concoction which we girls quickly grew fond of.  One of the pubs was even a hang-out of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, some of our favorite authors.  We got to sit at their very table at the Eagle and Child.  The others were The Golden Lion, The Eagle, The Salamander, The Running Horse, and The Turf Tavern. Really, we were mostly eating at those places!

Nachos= bad choice for pub food.

Sticky toffee pudding= good pub food

We sniffed lovely roses,

 joked about a certain British lord, met a few of D & E's friends, ate savory sandwiches from the Sandwich Mill (a local British version of Subway) and posed together for family photos in strategic places wherever we went.  






We got excitedly disturbed over thinking our rental van was struck by lighting as we were driving through a storm, then had a good laugh when it turned out to be a soda bottle popping as it contracted or expanded in a door pocket of the van.  We traipsed together through sunshine and rain in beautiful cities like Bath, Oxford, Cambridge and London, drinking in centuries of history, pomp and circumstance. 

Buckingham Palace

In the mornings we would watch from D & E's windows as racehorses were being exercised on the tracks up to the heath behind their apartment.  Then, in the evening, we would get our own exercise walking up to the heath.  

Memorable quotes:
"Look at those big buoys!"
"It's Pimm's o'clock!"
"I think we were struck by lightning!"  "Twice in one day?"  "I bet we will get super powers."
"Do those stairs go up or down?"
"I'm running down to Iceland for some milk."
"Look at that mallard."
"If it's yellow..."
"Emmieee-- I miss you!"
"Anyone wanna play Bananagrams?"
"What was in your Kinder Egg?"
"Those are some nice sandals, Archie."
"We are so posh."
"Would you like any salad on your sandwich?"
"Can you exchange these two euros for pounds?  We need to buy drano."

We left England filled up with memories, feeling that God had blessed us with time set apart to reconnect as a family.  There were tears mixed in the with hugs and kisses at "goodbye".  But that's a good sign of how much we enjoy each others' company.  You can't pick your family, but I thank God that He picked a fantastic one for me!