Springtime in the Blue Ridge

Saturday May 2, 2015
Charlottesville, Virginia

 

 

Many many thanks to all who shared their opinions of the new Google maps and suggested alternatives.  I’m glad to know I’m not alone in hating google’s latest.  Misery loves company I guess.  Your suggestions were wonderful and everyone will benefit from them.  Thanks again SO much to everyone who commented. 

Now let’s see, where was I before google made me so mad?  Well let’s see, we’d made it back to Charlottesville in a long 3 days of travel.  Now on to the farm.

Our drive, after leaving Winnona in Charlottesville, is southwest toward the mountains and out to the farm in the foothills.  It is lovely in the spring first with the forsythia and then with all of the red buds in bloom along the roadside of Route 29 South.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We head west off of Route 29, the Monacan Trail named for the original inhabitants of this area, and onto Plank Road which takes us into the little town of Batesville.   Batesville is 5.8 miles from the farm Lane.  Early on, we had a post office box here since the rural delivery was sketchy.

When we bought the farm nearly 40 years ago, all the roads were Rural Routes.  But with the advent of the 911 system, everything got named.  Many road names are historic.  Plank Road is one of those.  I was told this was the road, made of planks, that went over Afton Mountain from the county seat of Scottsville before the change was made to move the offices to Charlottesville in 1761.   An old road to be sure.

 

 

 

We turn left just in front of the Batesville Store immediately before the Page’s home on the left.  We cross over the one lane bridge.  In all the time we have lived here, I have never seen an accident here. Mostly there isn’t anyone coming in the opposite direction but if there happens to be, people are very courteous.  Sometimes too much as they wait on either side of the bridge for the other to come across first.  Always makes me laugh when we both start to move then and both stop and finally someone goes.   The road beyond the bridge is Route 635, renamed Craig’s Store Road, for the oldest store which is now a home.  It’s a very windy narrow mountain road.  If you drive faster then 35 you are taking your life in your hands as there are “some people” who zip along this road and come around blind curves and over blind hills on your side.

 

 

 

I didn’t take any pictures of how terrible the front of the lane next to the county road looks or the pot canyons along the road through the woods, or the muddy lake as the lane comes into the valley.  But this section is flat and drains well.  Ruby can straddle some things and squeeze around others on the bad sections.  She has to go very slowly.  But Winnona is too big for this mess.

 

 

 

 

 

The road is a problem for another day.  If it will EVER stop raining.

 

Here are some of the spring beauties that have brightened our days over the past 2 weeks as we have cleaned up and put things other than the road to rights for the Bridal Shower happening here tomorrow.

 

African Daisy, this one is for you Gaelyn.

 

Purple phlox of course.

 

 

Columbine- domesticated not wild

 

 

Azaleas - white and many shades of Pink

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty hosta leaves.  Amazingly no two quite alike.

 

 

 

The blueberry flowers are signs of delicious things to come.

 

And of course the dogwoods, a big deal in this part of the world.  For 66 years, in Charlottesville, there has been a multiple week long Dogwood festival.  I attended the parade with Carrie last year and wrote a post on it.  This year the Dogwood Parade got rained on but not out.  I felt really sorry for the marching bands although I wasn’t there to see it this year. Too busy and so tired of rian.

 

But the dogwoods put on their show rain or shine. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And of course spring tulips. 

 

 

While all this beauty is around us, here’s some of what we have been doing.  A few things we put off when we decided not to sell the farm and some general cleaning.  Mostly inside this time.  We painted the outside a few years ago in order to sell it and then decided when the future became so uncertain we’d better wait.

 

 

These two are for you Paul.  While you are off enjoying your cruise, We’re both doing the painting.  Wish you were here, we could use your expertise especially on the living room ceiling.  It’s textured.

 

 

 

We have to move one of the Hoosier Cupboards to get to the wall beside it.  While we’re at it, we’ll just put some new stain the Hoosier.  There’s a never ending list of things that can be done.  Some of them are actually fun.   And everything in this house has many many memories.   The toss it and get rid of it continues as well.

 

 

Things should look as spiffy as an old farmhouse gets for Sunday’s party.

 

Spring is a beautiful time to be in Virginia which is why we always seem to swing back through here.  I highly recommend the Blue Ridge Parkway or Skyline Drive in the Spring.  And then drop down off the mountain to see Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, James Madison’s Ashlawn and James Monroe’s Montpellier.  They all look wonderful too.   And on your way there, you can stop by here and see what we’ve been up to.  We’re straight down the mountain from where the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Skyline Drive meet.