Moving On...Changing My Focus

It was on July 18, 2010, 15 years ago today, that I first posted something on my blog site.  I have regularly published posts regarding historical, food, family, travel and restaurant experiences for most of the past many years.  At one point I was posting to the site 3 times every week.   Most recently, it's been twice a week.

I've decided to cease any regular publications/posts to the site.  Not gone...still will publish something from time to time as the spirit moves me, but my focus is moving elsewhere.  I want to spend more time researching our family histories and I've gotten much more involved with a local Knoxville collector's club.  I do enjoy the time spent in that endeavor...even with the work involved. 

What follows are a scattering of the many photos dating as far back as last October...a sampling of those taken near the conclusion of our long road trip through parts of Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and Virginia.  I'd never completed the Virginia portion of the trip...

This is the entrance to the Reeves Museum of Ceramics at Washington and Lee University in Lexington Virginia.  The Reeves collection showcases one of America's best collections of Chinese export porcelain as well as European and American ceramics made between 1500 and 1900.

FYI, Washington and Lee University is the 9th oldest college in the USA.  Originally known as Liberty Hall Academy, it was renamed Washington Academy in 1796 and Washington College in 1813.  A gift of stocks from George Washington had saved the school from financial ruin.  Robert E. Lee, who had led Confederate forces throughout the Civil War, had previously been the Superintendent of the West Point Military Academy.  A few months after the war, he became President of Washington College and he helped build the university for the future.

In today's highly charged political atmosphere, Lee's name being attached to this University has been controversial.  For the university's outlook on this subject, go to https://www.wlu.edu/about-w-l/university-history/university-namesakes.

During our visit, there was a exhibition of ceramics adjacent to artwork with blank spaces in the paintings that are related to the ceramics.  I still don't get it...but both Laurie and I do love ceramics and this plate was a stunner!

I just had to include this 'fowl' piece of porcelain in my post.  Love the brilliant colors involved!  

Then there was this gorgeous brown and yellow teapot with raised decorations.  This teapot from the Yixing Dynasty teapot dates somewhere between 1725 - 1775.

This stunning hard paste porcelain 'tea pot' from China didn't start its life as a tea pot, but rather as a wine pot.  The English later repurposed it as a teapot.  Note the 'bamboo bundle' shape that was created by a master ceramics maker sometime between 1700 and 1720.

Moving on down the road, it was time to find a place for dinner.  Research had revealed the possibility of a fine German dinner near Staunton Virginia.  The Edelweiss Restaurant is a log structure in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  The family that built it came from Karlsruhe Germany.  The menu is loaded with German specialties, something one doesn't see very often.

While Edelweiss is well rated on the Internet, Laurie and I weren't feeling it... The food was decent but not great and the service was rushed.  This restaurant is popular with long waits for customers so maybe our lack of enthusiasm isn't typical.  Check it out and give Edelweiss a try.  Let us know what you think... Website: https://edelweissvirginia.com/.

I love taking photos like this and imagining what might have been... Located at the eastern foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains on US Hwy. 60 in Amherst County Virginia, Forks of Buffalo refers to the place where the North and South Forks of the Buffalo River come together.

Since I like researching places, I came across this photo from the Forks of the Buffalo area, showing the Myers' Cash Store, United States Post Office and Esso Gas Station.  Perhaps the early to mid-1960s, the store opened in 1937.  Unfortunately, I also came across another photo from December of 2024, only 2 months after I took that first photo, now showing that the front of the old building had fallen down... Timing is everything.

This well preserved and restored railway depot is located at Amherst Virginia.  Amherst was founded in 1807 and it is the county seat for the county of the same name.  The town's population has never been much higher than its current level of about 2,200 residents.

Amherst was first known as Dearborn and the first depot here was completed in the late 1800s for the Orange and Alexandria Railroad.  It was replaced in the late fall of 1913 by the Southern Railway.  As was typical, the ticket booth extended outward from the center facing the tracks, with waiting rooms on each side...one for black folks and the other for white folks.  Three passenger trains stopped at the depot every day until the mid-1940s.  Passenger service was completely discontinued during the 1960s and finally freight service ceased in the mid-1970s.

So...just where is this old structure located?  Our next significant stop was at the Appomattox Courthouse National Historic Park at the village of Appomattox Courthouse...redundant I know.  This is not the original Appomattox Courthouse, but rather a reconstruction.

In the 1800s the original courthouse gave its name to the village around it.  As many of us know, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his army here in 1865.  I always thought that Lee had surrendered to Grant at the courthouse but the courthouse was closed that day so the surrender took place in a nearby home.  In any case the village was already in a state of decline in the 1850s.  The original courthouse burned down in 1892 and the county seat was relocated.  This structure was rebuilt in 1964 and it now serves at the Visitor's Center for the more than 1,700 acre Appomattox Courthouse National Historical Park.

So this is the house...or an almost exact replica of the house...where Lee surrendered to Grant, virtually bringing America's long and painful Civil War to an end.  This is the McLean House at the Appomattox Courthouse National Historic Park and it was chosen for the surrender as it was the most substantial home or building in the Village.

The McLean House was originally built by Charles Raine in 1848.  It had served as a tavern/inn and it was sold to Wilmer McLean in 1863.  In an interesting historical quirk of fate, the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) took place on McLean's farm.  Seeking to avoid the war, and too old to serve in the Confederate Army, McLean moved here to 'avoid the war'.

This is a recreation of the setting where Lee formally surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant.  The original furniture is in the possession of the Smithsonian and the Chicago History Museum.

The terms of surrender were: "The officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against the government of the United States until properly exchanged, and each company or regimental commander to sign a like parole for the men of their commands,"... neither "side arms of the officers nor their private horses or baggage" to be surrendered; and, as many privates in the Confederate Army owned horses and mules, all horses and mules claimed by men in the Confederate Army to be left in their possession.

As for the McLean house, Wilmer McLean was broke as all his money was in Confederate dollars, which he'd accumulated by running sugar through the Union blockade during the war.  Ownership passed from one person to one scheme or another.  At one point it was disassembled and labeled for possible reconstruction as an attraction in Washington D.C.  That project never got off the ground and much of what was left of the house was pilfered over the years.  The re-built house was opened to the public on April 9, 1949.  Over 5,000 of the home's original bricks were used in the construction.

To learn more about the Appomattox Courthouse National Historical Park and to plan a visit, go to https://www.nps.gov/apco/index.htm. 

This is the Booker T. Washington National Monument near Hardy Virginia.  Booker T. Washington was born a slave on the 207-acre farm of James Burroughs in April of 1856.  Following the Civil War, he became the first principal of  the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial School.  Later, as an advisor and confidant of President Theodore Roosevelt, an author and orator, he became the most influential African American of his era.

Booker T. Washington (1856 - 1919)

To learn more about Booker T. Washington, you can go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booker_T._Washington.

This National Monument preserves portions of the tobacco farm where Booker T. Washington was born and where he lived for the first 9 years of his life.  The facility also provides interpretation of Washington's life and achievements as well as an interpretation of slavery and farming in the 1850s through the use of buildings, gardens, crafts and animals.

You can learn more about The Booker T. Washington National Monument at https://www.nps.gov/bowa/index.htm.  

The last stop on our long but interesting and relaxing road trip was of course, dinner on the last night of the trip.  We were tired and looking forward to getting home.  The decision was made that we should go casual for our final meal on the road so we picked JJ's Restaurant and Sports Bar in Abingdon Virginia from my list of dining options.  Laurie stuck to soup and cornbread and I went for fried catfish, beans, coleslaw and cornbread.  The food wasn't gourmet but it was tasty, reasonably priced and satisfying.

JJ's Restaurant and Sports Bar is located at 115 Charwood Drive in Abingdon Virginia.  Open daily for lunch and dinner.  Phone: 276-525-4999.  Website: https://www.eatatjjs.com/.

As I mentioned at the start of this post, I'll be back from time to time and I'll also check in on those who I've been following...

Just click on any of the photos you'd like to enlarge.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care...and, as the saying from the 50's (the era of 45 rpm records), "I'll see you on the flip side".

Big Daddy Dave

A Break for a Family Visit...

You probably didn't notice when our fall 2024 trip seemed to end in Staunton Virginia.  Well, it really didn't end there and some day in the not too distant future I'll post the ending bits regarding this road trip.  As you may or may not recall, the trip started with our first stop in western Tennessee, proceeded all the way back across Kentucky, into Ohio, touching West Virginia a couple of time, then up to northern Pennsylvania, touching extreme southern New York state, then back south passing through Maryland into Virginia.  The last stop I reported on was at President Woodrow Wilson's birthplace in Staunton.

This week Laurie and I have her sister and brother in law visiting East Tennessee all week, so this is the one short post I will contribute until June 24th.  This stop was one of my favorite roadside 'adventures' from that October 2024 road trip. 

This is Duke's Lexington Antique Center which is just off I-81 in Lexington Virginia.  Laurie and I love to prowl antique stores...especially well stocked large antique 'malls'.  I'd listed Duke's on our travel plans and we made sure we didn't miss it.  This antique center covers over 20,000 square feet and it features over 150 dealers offering a huge variety of antiques and collectables.  We had a fun time just looking...but of course we did end up making a few purchases too.

We didn't take a bunch of photos.  Part of the reason for that failure is that I didn't even get very far down the first aisle we traversed.  We always go to the right in stores and then go up and down every aisle.  Laurie did complete the entire journey but, as the photo above indicates, I got 'stuck' in a vendor booth that specialized in antique and collectable postcards!  Yes, rare though it is, that is a smile on my face!  I was a happy camper indeed...postcard collecting is one of my few remaining vices.

I like postcards dating 1920 or earlier, (ideally 1910 or earlier), used with messages on them and they must still have the postage stamp on them.  I prefer ships and trains but I also like city sights and landmarks as they appeared back 'in the day'.  The messages can be quite interesting as well...projecting what parts of life were like over 100 years ago.  I bought a bunch of interesting postcards with my only regret being that Duke's is over 5 hours from our home, probably more depending on traffic and road work.

When visiting Duke's, keep an eye open for Cooper.  He's the house cat and as far as he's concerned he's in charge.  He is very 'chill'!

Duke's Antique Market is located at 1495 North Lee Highway (US Hwy 11) at 30 Pinnacle Drive in Lexington Virginia.  This antique mall is open from 9 AM until 6 PM 365 days a year!  Phone: 540-463-9511.  Website: https://dukedukeantiques.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them...

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

No Post Week! (Almost...)

We're so tied up this week with the pending neighborhood garage sale that this will be the closest thing to a blog posting I'll even attempt.  Seventeen houses in the immediate area are all having garage sales on Friday and Saturday from 8 AM until 2 PM.   

We are still digging for other items to sell and we seem to be constantly reorganizing our garage sale offerings... We did sell one set of ladies golf clubs already.

Laurie caught 'some old guy' in this photo of one side of our garage.  We have signs on all the upper shelves stating that nothing on those shelves is for sale.  We've also covered our yard tools...rakes, shovels, etc. as they aren't for sale either.  I did sell a sledge hammer and an axe to one of folks from the crew that washes our windows a couple times a year.

This is a view of the other side of the garage.  Note the hanging items on the wall plus all the fishing rods and reels along the wall.  More golf clubs too.  That couch/love seat at the left by the garage door was sold today and it's gone.

I am selling a bunch of 'collectables' including some Olympic Games vendor's pins... This is a Vons Grocery Store pin from 1984.  I have lots of them from Atlanta and even a couple from Barcelona.  In addition, since I spent my career in retail security and loss prevention I have over 100 security badges bagged for sale.  Who knows?  I might sell a few of them.  Also on sale are 3 Montgomery Ward collectable trucks in their original boxes...

We did manage to sell a set of Mikasa China on-line and we just pulled a scattering of these Czechoslovakian plates and serving pieces out of storage, even matching boiled egg cups.  My mother inherited them from my great aunt Elsie ca. 1951 or so.  Someone might buy them... If not we'll find a home for them in a thrift store.

This rain-style shower head came with the house when we bought it.  It's been in the garage ever since... It will sell or it will become recycled metal!  We are running out of things to put out for the sale.

We have sold a number of furniture items in addition to that love seat previously mentioned.  This antique table came from my mother's house where it served her well for years.  We also sold a buffet, a baker's table with an attached hutch and 2 rocking chairs.  Basically the big stuff is gone and the sale doesn't start until this coming Thursday.

The weather forecast for the sale is that there is a 40% rain on the first day and 60% chance of rain on Saturday.  Whatever will be, will be!

All I know for sure is that this will be our first and last garage sale!  We are looking forward to 'just chillin' with a beverage on our screened porch after the madness we're expecting to take over the neighborhood.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!  I'll be back with a new post on 6/10.

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave and Laurie

Home, Stuff and Food...

After looking at my photos, I either had to label this post as "Miscellaneous" or, as I ended up doing, "Home, Stuff and Food".  I also considered "Angry, What to Do, Scary and Experimental".  In any case this post is an mix...a mongrel...with a variety of different issues and challenges. 

Home ownership is an investment, a significant cash drain and a source of frustration.  Our home was built in 1999.  Our neighborhood is built on rock...mostly limestone.  Issues arise with older homes.  Example: When one of our HVAC units needed attention, the good news is that despite its age, the problem was resolved for a relatively modest sum of money.  However, the owner of the HVAC company told me that a replacement unit for this particular Air Conditioning/Heat Pump, would cost $7,900.00!  Nuts!  

Anyway, back to the photo shown above.  We have a home inspector/builder who is doing some work for us.  Unrelated to his work he spotted some beginning separation of some foundational cinder blocks at one corner of the house and suggested that we should have someone come out and fix it to keep it from getting worse.  We checked around and contracted with AFS (American Foundation Service) to fix the problem.  It was not inexpensive!  In any case, despite specific warnings from my better half, the AFS crew not only made a mess, but they also severed our sprinkler system's main line.  We had a 2-story fountain until they figured out how to turn the system off.  Now we have mud everywhere with the broken line directly under that rock.  Laurie is all over AFS to have the repairs made, with a meeting with them scheduled today as I compose this post.  Aggravation!

On to more "fun", this time related to our upcoming garage sale.  

We keep finding things that we forgot we had and that we've been carrying around for many years now.  One recent 'find' was this Mrs. Stevens Candies Antique Christmas themed round tin box that is just packed with embroidery thread or floss, as it's sometimes referred to.  Pricing it for the sale is going to be a guesstimate at best. 

When I first moved to East Tennessee, I did a bit of fishing.  Before that, Laurie and used to take fishing vacations to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and up into northwestern Ontario in Canada.  It was a cabin in Michigan with a fishing boat...cook your own meals, etc.  In Canada, it was an all-inclusive deal...cabin, meals, guide with a boat and, in one case even a float plane fly-in to an isolated lake. (The pilot was no more than 19 years old)

So now our fishing days are over... How to price this this tackle box full of all kinds of gear and a plethora of lures for our garage sale?  

The same question applies to this tackle box and an even greater assortment of lures!  Then we also have a couple small tackle boxes, a small suitcase with more gear in it including a couple of reels...and let's not forget the 8 fishing rods with reels all ready to go fishing!

Next we have a family related note to report on... Unless you live under a rock by now you have heard about the tornado that came through St. Louis Missouri.  Major damage at the iconic Forest Park and the St. Louis Zoo.  The core group of Laurie's family lives in the St. Louis metro area.  Her sister Bonnie and Bonnie's husband Bill rode out the storm in a parking garage near their home.  This was to avoid hail damage to their new Subaru.  They live about 3 blocks from the area where the heaviest tornado damage was evident.  Even so, they were without power for almost 72 hours.  They transferred perishable foods to coolers or to the refrigerators/freezers belonging to their kids.  Laurie's other sister, Karole and her husband Bob were in Kansas City when the storm hit St. Louis.  When they returned home, the power was still out and they had to throw away all of their perishables.  Scary...but lucky compared to some.  No major issues...just threats of major storm damage here in East Tennessee. 

Now onto some food items...

We continue to try out/test the 'fast food', prepared food items from Costco.  We're looking for winners that we can rely on.

Caribbean Food Delights Jamaican Style beef patties/turnovers in a flaky cornmeal crust were not spicy...not by anyone's definition.  The 'ground beef' had a mushy texture with close to zero flavor.  No amount of the 4 different sauces we tried could save this product.  This is not a 'food' product that we would ever purchase or eat again.  I rarely throw food away, but I made an exception with this item!  Bye Bye!

The next item on the prepared food menu was this 'new item' that we bought at Food Lion.  This Shrimp Penne Pasta comes in individual servings.  Laurie liked it quite a bit and I thought that it was a decent meal.  There were enough shrimp in each of our dinners, one could pick up the bacon flavor and the pieces of jalapeno gave it a modest little pop of heat...just enough that you knew it was there.  To me it was a bit like an upscale mac 'n cheese with shrimp.  It had enough going for it that we will purchase it again... There was plenty of food for almost any level of appetite.

I didn't take a photo of the pack of thin sliced salmon that we'd purchased from Costco so I can't tell you the brand name.  Actually it was a twin-pack of salmon...almost too much salmon for two people to consume in a relatively short period of time.  On more than one occasion we had salmon in a swirl and salmon on crackers or thin sliced bread with and without crackers and capers.  Then I finished off the second packet of the salmon with the above breakfast entree.  My very enjoyable and satisfying breakfast consisted of a thin slice of rye toast, smeared with cream cheese, topped with 2 or 3 thin slices of salmon and topped with an over easy egg.  This is one time that I didn't use Tabasco with my fried egg. 

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them...

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

What a Mess! A Challenging Event!

Everyone encounters challenges in their lives... This post is tied to the challenges presented by our accumulation of 'things', 'stuff', and 'excess' that we've gathered over 46 years of marriage.  Adding to our 'excess', are items that came from my mother many years ago.  In an effort to declutter a bit, we decided to participate in our local neighborhood garage sale.  So much effort already...and so much more to do before the sale in early June.  Hopefully our marital union will survive the stress and trauma!

The first step was to post larger items on Facebook Marketplace just to clear space for all of the other 'stuff' we want to sell.  We posted 6 larger items... 

First there was this 'loveseat' sofa.

Then there was this large buffet that came from Rich's Department Store in Atlanta.

Plus there is this antique cherrywood rocker that we purchased many years ago.  It's from the late 1800s.

This solid oak possum belly baker's table and hutch was purchased at the same time at the cherrywood rocker.  Both purchases seemed rational at the time...

This more rustic antique rocking chair came to us through my mother's estate.

While we have had a couple of inquiries about the baker's table/hutch combination, that's been all the action we've had in the first 3 or 4 days on these furniture items.  We have managed to sell three of the larger items so far.

Neighbors purchased two of these types of almost never used deck lounge chairs.  They were used once or maybe twice and had spent the rest of their life with us in our storeroom.

A master gardener who has done a lot of work for us snatched up this dresser as it filled a need for her.

If you've ever been to an estate sale or an auction, you will have noted that no one wants chinaware.  We have had this nice set of Mikasa for more than 40 years.  It was rarely used and since we retired and moved to East Tennessee it hadn't been used at all.  As expected, we didn't get very much money for the set, but we did manage to sell it through Facebook Marketplace.

Then there is the rest of the 'stuff' that needs to go...to find a new home.  It's an eclectic grouping of odds and ends, collections and past activities or hobbies.  

For years we've been moving and storing this assortment of dolls and doll clothes that my mother had acquired or actually made.  

For several years in a row, Laurie and I headed to Northern Michigan or Ontario Canada for backwoods fishing adventures.  It had been 20 years since we headed north to go fishing although I did go fishing here in Tellico Lake many times earlier in my retirement.  We found the slickers and wet suits in a box we'd been moving from place to place.

I have very little hope that we'll find buyer for these remnants of a set of Czechoslovakian china that my great aunt had willed to my mother...at least 65 years ago.  I suspect that we'll end up just tossing it out.

Antique canning jars, a nicely framed print, folders, a classic candle holder, a pair of painted antique candlesticks, a signed Brooks Robinson baseball, a collectors plate, a set of German steins, a Tiny Tears doll and boxed toy trucks for kids or collectors.  These are just further examples of the mish mash we'll be offering at the sale.

In the preceding photos you will note a couple of items that were also in other photos.  We keep moving things around looking for the 'right place' to display them for sale.  Disorganization is still our condition...although we have priced more than half of what we're going to try to sell.  I still haven't addressed my fishing tackle (4 boxes) or my 9 fishing rods and reels.  Then there is our golf equipment!  At least 4 bags with golf clubs, balls, etc., plus extra clubs.  In addition, there will be a lot of clothing offered for sale.  The question is, how much can we sell vs. how much do we end up delivering to local charities?

Just click on any of the photos...

Thanks for stopping by!  Wish us luck as we'll need it!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave