Act Three

Today was beautiful! L and I took advantage of the warm day and spent some time outside. We even managed to find some brave crocuses in bloom.

L did have fun walking on the grass, but his favourite part was the stones beside our building.

We have introduced L to crayons. Now that he is getting the hang of making his mark he quite enjoys colouring. His favouite two crayons are purple and orange. I am not sure if that is because he can say those words or if he says those words because he likes the colours.

So we’ve claimed that L is walking, but we haven’t proved it. Well, here’s the proof. Look at him strut his stuff.

Today, we decided to see some of the Civil War battlefields. We started with the battlefield at Fredericksburg. This was the scene of a lopsided victory for General Lee and the Confederate forces. After walking parts of the battlefield, it was easy to see why. Lee’s army was dug in behind the stone wall you can see in the picture. In addition, they had artillery set up on the hill behind them (off the right hand side of the picture). The Union army tried to dislodge the Confederates by charging across about a quarter mile of open field (off the left hand side of the picture)—I guess General Burnside, the man in charge of the Union army at the time, decided it would be a good day to let the Confederate army use his own men for target practice. The house in the picture is one of the few surviving houses from the time of the battle. You can still see many of the holes the musket-balls made in its exterior and interior walls.

After spending about an hour and a half at Fredericksburg, we headed off to the battlefield at Chancellorsville. Again, this was the sight of a victory for the Confederates. However, the victory came at a cost. Confederate General “Stonewall” Jackson was accidentally shot by his own troops. After having one of his arms amputated, he contracted pneumonia and died about a week later. It started raining shortly after we got to the battlefield, but we were able to see many of the sights from inside the car. There were signs at roadside turnouts, and we could see many of the earthworks through the trees.

After visiting the two battlefields, we headed north, hoping to do some wine-tasting at one of Virginia’s vineyards. Our first stop, Piedmont Vineyards and Winery, was closed. The picture below was taken while we were on our way to another vineyard nearby. (No, I wasn’t actually driving while taking the picture.) We don’t usually make a practice of having L in the front seat with us; however, L was getting restless in the backseat and our next stop was only a few miles away. L has traveled amazingly well over the past few days. Hopefully, he won’t have re-occuring nightmares of being strapped in a carseat.

We had more luck on our second stop. The people at Chrysalis Vineyards were open for business. We tasted some of their wines and ended up buying a few bottles. The pictures below were taken while we were driving the Virginia back roads looking for the vineyards.

Yesterday, we enjoyed some of the natural wonders in Virginia. Today, we decided to take in some American history. We spent the day in Colonial Williamsburg. Colonial Williamsburg is a recreation of Williamsburg, Virginia as it would have appeared during the War of Independence. The exhibit was impressive. The main street of the town ran about a half mile and there were several streets that ran off of the main one. The buildings were fully furnished with period furniture and there were many tradespeople at work in various buildings throughout the town. There was a gunsmith building a musket, a carpenter working on a harpsichord, silversmiths working on silverware, and others. All the work was being done with period tools and techniques—pretty impressive.

Just as impressive as the exhibit itself was the price we paid to see it—Pam and I each paid $40 to get in. I’m sure it costs a lot of money to pay all the actors, guides, and tradespeople. And I’m sure keeping the place looking the way it does also costs a lot of money. However, I began having doubts that the high admission was justified when I saw the welcome center. It looked like an airport terminal. There were about half a dozen electronic ticket-purchasing stations and about 30 of the more conventional kind. Above each one, there was a large, flat-screen TV hyping the exhibit. I’m more than happy to pay money to hear a knowledgeable person talk about the history of a place. I’m not quite so happy to pay for large TVs that don’t enhance my experience of the place in any way.

Yesterday, immediately after the Palm Sunday hoopla was over, we got into the car and drove to Front Royal, Virginia. Never heard of it? Neither had I before yesterday. It just happened to be near to where we wanted to start our day today. The drive went smoothly; L was a trooper and the traffic around New York wasn’t too bad.

We started our day on the north end of the Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park. As the name of the drive suggests, the road snakes along the top of the mountains that are in the park. The drive treated us to many wonderful views. L wasn’t as impressed with the views as he was by all the whitetail deer at the side of the road. After we saw our first group of deer, he kept on asking for them. Eventually, we had to tell him that, after deer finish their breakfast, they take a nap and don’t want to be seen.

By 11 o’clock, we found ourselves in Luray. We made our way to the Luray Caverns where we paid lots of money to walk around in a large cave. The stalagmites and stalactites in the cave were spectacular. Our favorite part of the cave was a room that had a large pond in it. The water surface acted like a mirror, which made the floor look exactly like the ceiling. The tourist literature for the caverns boasted that the cave had an organ in it. In the 50s, some guy went around the cave tapping the crystal formations with a rubber mallet. When he found enough crystal formations that vibrated at the right frequency, he rigged up a keyboard and some electrically controlled mallets so that he could play music in the cave. We were treated to a rendition of “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” As musical experiences go, it wasn’t all that impressive. A novice could have made the same sound on a marimba with a single mallet. Good thing we didn’t go there for the musical experience. Anyway, we really enjoyed looking at the crystal formations.

After seeing the Luray Caverns, we got back on the Skyline Drive and headed further south toward a trail we wanted to hike. The hike was about a 4.5 miles (round trip) and included a nice stop by a waterfall. L probably enjoyed the hike more than we did. When he wasn’t singing to himself, he was busy tugging at the hair and ears of whoever his saddle happened to be attached to at the time. And when he wasn’t busy “loving” his packhorses, he was busy…

…sleeping.

Quite awhile ago Lowell posted a picture of L and I sewing, I have been mostly sewing strips for a bargello quilt using the material (Fabricland gift certificate) I received for Christmas. However I have completed a different project that I can show you. A long time ago, a friend sent me this Winnie-the-Pooh panel, L loved lying on it and looking at the bright colours. I had always intended to quilt it, finally I have done just that. Nothing complicated, but I did try something new with the triangles as a border.

I was reading Quiltpixie’s blog today. She wrote that she often buys material with gifts in mind, but rarely gives them away thinking the finished product isn’t good enough. I can totally sympathize with this viewpoint, I have been guilty of the same. More often I do give the item away, cringing a little as a I do. So I thank all the recipients of my experiments for being so gracious and allowing me to play.

Since you are indulging me already; I will post another picture of my very cute son. Sometimes (more often then not) he is too smart for his own good, he now knows where and how to get to the Cheerios. Here he is helping himself to a snack.