Gayton & Short Pump, Virginia

Young Friends

Dianne sweeps up Harper, one of four babies born to the Cambridge community in recent months, and makes the rounds with her.

 

There is an obvious bond between Harper, right, and her older brother Liam. He will run get their mother if he thinks she needs something.

Michelle, center, frees Harper from the carrier as Harper's  mom Kelley, right, looks on.

Feris is well on his way through a second read of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.

Jenine is passionate about something ... most things ... everything!
She finds this tiny Bible in her mother's purse and finds in hilarious.

Short Pump, Virginia

The Daily Grind

Deep in the flower bed at the Daily Grind Samantha waits for Sam to arrive this morning. We wonder whether or not she has a nest nearby. We are torn, wondering if by feeding this winsome creature she will become habituated to human beings. It's better that she remain a bit wary.

Short Pump Farmer's Market

A frame of bees draws attention to Alfredo Neuman's sale table at our new Farmer's Market in Short Pump. The beekeeper raises bees and harvests honey in nearby Manakin-Sabot.

It takes 60,000 worker bees 950,000 trips between flowers and hive to produce one pound of raw honey. One bee will produce a thimble full of honey in its lifetime.

Charles Reed loves to sculpt. The artist's sculptures are found all about Richmond. But it is the small, popular wooden utensils he fashions by hand from Cherry and Walnut that pay the bills. 

Lebanese Festival

Each May, St. Anthony's Maronite Catholic Church holds a Lebanese Food Festival. For three days food, wine, dance and singing draws hundreds to the Short Pump church. Feris, above, waits to sample some of the fare that is offered.

Alison waits with her food for others of her family to join her.

Wine bottles reflect a moment of sun this afternoon. It was a sky filled with clouds most of the day. Rain threatened, but fortunately held off.

Feris corrals a bouncing ball.

Two young dancers peer out at the audience after their performance at the Festival.

Young people dance across the stage ...

... their feet clapping across the worn and weathered boards of the performance pavillion.

North Carolina & Virginia

The drive home from Wake Forest, N.C., to Short Pump, Va., took the form of a mini road trip. I went via Hopkins, N.C., to see friends and wander some back roads. It was a beautiful, top down day in the Jeep with clouds building into thunderheads as the afternoon wore on. Fortunately, it never rained.

Hopkins, N.C.

Miss Turnip, foreground, waves to passersby from Joe and Danita Strong's garden. Some honk as they go by. Turnip has seasonal wardrobes—an Uncle Sam look for July 4th, witches hat and pumpkins for Halloween. She's been known to mysteriously move from place to place in the garden — but only at night. The Strongs run an international non-profit organization from their home in Hopkins. ABRO (American Belarussian Relief Organization) assists children exposed to radiation from the Chernobyl nuclear accident.

Moseley, Va.

Sarah Hutchinson, right, stops to refill her water from Meredyth Temple on her 165 mile walk from Salem, Va., to Richmond. She and two friends left last Saturday and are averaging a little over 20 miles a day. Temple is their support driver. They hope to raise $200,000 for Easter Seals of Virginia from their walk. All four women are from Salem.

Tara Hutchinson walks along U.S. 460 while participating in the 165 mile walk for Easter Seals from Salem to Richmond, Va. 

Short Pump, Va.

Home again in late afternoon light with Sadie and Dianne.

Arriving for an evening at the Daily Grind, we meet a new regular. Sam calls her Samantha. Each morning — and often in the evening — she arrives at the front door looking for Sam, willing to take food from his hand. 

A pair of Mockingbirds are nesting in bushes near the front door of the Grind. One of their hatchlings left the nest and tried its wings this evening.

This evening there was a reading at the Daily Grind, Linda Dini Jenkins read from her book, Up at the Villa (Great Little Books, Glen Rock, N.J., 2009). It is a travel book recounting adventures with her husband, primarily in Italy. She is an engaging storyteller.

Wake Forest, North Carolina

I'm not telling whether Bob is really that big or the facilities that small. Let's just say he feels like a giant in the land of the dwarfs and decides this is not the place for him. There has to be to larger opportunities elsewhere.

Jacob and his brother Brian, left to right, enjoy frozen custard from Goodberry's. This is no ordinary custard. This is your Midwestern, loaded with fat, creamy delicious custard usually found in places like Minneapolis and Des Moines, not North Carolina.

It is surreal. Bob and I are having a small day. The seats are scaled too small everywhere we want to sit. Terri and Mike, left to right, fold themselves without too much difficulty at Goodberry's to enjoy custard with their sons.

Wake Forest, North Carolina

Old town Wake Forest is reflected in the window of Over the Falls Deli. The town was the site of Wake Forest College before the Reynolds family of tobacco fame endowed the school. It moved to Winston-Salem, N.C., and became Wake Forest University. Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary now occupies the campus.

Bob Carey and I share a meal and memories on the deck of the deli. We've known each other for 20 years. He succeeded me as editor of World Mission Journal, is now professor of Journalism at Gardner-Webb University and current president of National Press Photographers Association.

Sarah gently moves Bob and I along as the hour gets late and we stay beyond closing time. She has lived here most of her life, but claims Connecticut as home. She is an amateur photographer who loves to take photographs of old churches.

Richmond, Va.

Les White leads a creative team in research on a new publication.

Richmond & Short Pump, Virginia

Richmond

Violet shares a Mexican meal at SuCasa with her mother Natalie. The one-year-old is an exuberant eater. Her name describes the color of her eyes, which she got from her mother.

Greg is not having one of his better days, and it shows.

Image by guest blogger Kristen Nicole

Short Pump

Dianne in extreme backlight at dusk during dinner at Pizza Fuson.

Gayton, Va.

Mother's Day

Judy, left, receives a flower in honor of Mother's Day from her husband Shawn at Cambridge church. Flowers were part of Mother's Day celebrations at the church.

It the kind of day spring should offer — cool in the shade, warm in the sun. The senior high class moved outside — teachers in the shade, students in the sun — to enjoy it.

Children listen and respond to stories about mothers by Win Davis, pastor to youth and young adults, during the children's sermon.

Four children were born into the church community in recent months. Lindsey rests in the arms of her mother Carla next to her father Jason during a dedication service for them.

Aubrey, center, with her mother Anna and father Chad and Mikasia, right, with her mother Jewel and father were also dedicated.

Harper was dedicated surrounded by her brothers Jett and Keegan, left and right, and mother and father Price and Kelly.

Emily Ann waits in the shade after the morning service while her mother buckles her brother into his car seat.

Margaret surrounded by her daughters Sherry, left, and Dianne, right. Yesterday she didn't know who any of us were. Today she is alert and knows our names. It made for a good Mother's Day. Margaret has been to the brink, then sprung back, several times over the past year and a half.

Memphis, Tenn.

I meant to post this image last night. This is Linda, cashier at Gossett Jeep-Chrysler in Memphis where the Jeep was fixed. Her son has become interested in photography through a friend who is working at becoming a professional photographer. Her son recently bought a camera. He takes pictures of everything, she says. "The other day he said, 'Mom, did you notice that tree down the street?' He never noticed it before and he's lived there all his life. It's (photography) teaching him how to see."

Williamsburg, Va.

Saturday, May 9

Busch Gardens

Virginia residents get a season pass to the theme park for the cost of a one-day ticket. We took advantage of it this year and this afternoon headed to the park to meet our friends the Jarrars.

Boats on the ride "Escape from Pompeii" in the Italy section of the park plunge down the ramp and hit the water with a huge splash. Everyone nearby — in the boat or on land — gets wet.

We took a boat trip on the large lake that lies in the center of the park. One of the steam locomotives that circle the park crosses the trestle above the lake.

Another boat approaches us under the trestle. In the background are two of the four roller coasters in the park.

We ate a late lunch in the Italy section of the park and timed it for a performance of the San Marco singers who entertained us during the meal.

The singers moved into the audience, neither hesitanting to play to the camera ...

... nor to sit down and serenade a pretty girl.

At the end of the day, we took one of the locomotives back to the park entrance.

Weary from a day in the heat and sun, Jenine and Feris relish a ride rather than a long walk back to the car.