Back From Virginia part 4

This next installment starts with the whole reason for the trip: the chocolate fountain! wedding, of course. It was in the chapel of the church and was truly a lovely ceremony. The moms of the bride and groom got bouquets, which was a nice surprise. After the wedding pictures, the reception was in the fellowship hall and was a ‘dessert’ reception. I think you can guess what my favorite part of it was…

The next day, Marv and I hit a used book store before meeting up with Paul and Anne. I scored big time there! I just love finding bargain books! After a quick lunch with Paul and Anne, we went to Poquoson, a small town where Anne’s grandma lives. She had a flat tire the night of the wedding and was unable to come, so had invited us over to meet her. What a treasure she is! Almost 90 and spry as all get out! Her name is also Anne, so I will refer to her as G-Anne (for Grandma Anne) She treated us to another lunch (!) at a local spot and then gave us a tour of the area, where she is related to EVERYONE, since the town was given to the family way back in the day. It’s pretty close to Langley, where she worked for many years. G-Anne has a permanent pass for the base and thought she could smuggle us in for a tour. Apparently not. She tried to get us in at the NASA gate, where we were turned away by the no-nonsense guard. G-Anne tried all her sweet talkin’ skills (which were considerable) on him, but no go. That’s OK…we can tell people we were KICKED OUT OF LANGLEY, which makes a better story…

On Sunday, we went to church with Paul and Anne. This time it was in the big sanctuary. They have a pipe organ and a piano at the front, and a man who KNOWS how to play them both! Wow! I talked to him after the service and asked to see the music for one of the piano pieces. He’s a true artist.

Then it was lunch at Carrabbas! Amazing place! What is very interesting is, I’ve started seeing ads on TV for the chain, but there are NONE in California…as yet, anyway. Later in the afternoon we went to Hollywood Cemetary, which is named for all the holly trees, not movies stars. There were ‘stars’ buried there, but they were from the Civil War. Another amazing place. Such history. Just not enough time to take it all in.

The next day was our last full day in Virginia. Paul and Marv went to Arlington/D.C. for a field trip while I stayed in Midlothian with Anne. My knees just would not have been able to handle all the walking. The first place Anne and I went was to another used book store. Two book stores in one trip! Heaven! I am SUCH a bibliophile…and no, that doesn’t mean I collect Bibles…

Around lunch time, Anne and I got McDonald’s take out and met her daughter Madi at school to share lunch with her. That was so neat! They had a special seating area up on stage in the cafeteria for this purpose, and for kids who had rated special lunch time as rewards, etc. Great idea.

Then I just hung out with Anne at the house until Marv and Paul got back. It was a good time to get to know my daughter-in-law a bit better. All in all a very good day. We all had dinner at the house and watched HGTV. Great family time! Enjoyed it immensely. All too soon it was time for good-byes. If you’re reading this, Paul, (which is highly doubtful, NOT ONE of my blood kin read me) YOU DONE GOOD…I now have another daughter and 2 more grandkids to love. I know you read this, Anne, so you can pass my words on to him…

So ends our trip. Next week I will just natter on about some of the other things about the trip, the prep for it, etc. It will be a long time, if ever, that we get to go back to VA. Very expensive. But I sure wouldn’t mind going back.

Where Are You, Shirtless Wonder?

Living in a small town has some perks. Seeing “interesting” people is one of them.

When Marv and I first moved here, there was a man we called the Shirtless Wonder. I have no clue what age he was. My guess is maybe well in his 30’s in the beginning. We saw him all over town, always walking. He walked with a purposeful stride, like he had someplace special he needed to be. He’d walk in all weather. If it was the least little bit warm out, he would be walking with his shirt off, either in one hand or slung over a shoulder. He was VERY fit looking. Nothing much to look at in the face, but his torso looked like he did weights. As the years went by, we noticed that he would still take his shirt off, but now would be wearing a white tank top underneath. I saw him a couple of times in the grocery store, muttering to himself. I don’t know when it was that we realized we hadn’t seen him in some time. If my first guess about his age was right, he’d be pushing 70 now.

Then there was the couple. Man and woman. Walking everywhere. Many times laden down with shopping bags. They looked to be in their late 20’s. The man was short and on the heavy side and seemed to walk slowly. The woman was the same height and wore impossibly high heels. Always. Couldn’t imagine how she could walk all over town in those heels. She also had jet black hair worn straight down below her waist. I was in line behind them once in a store. She was doing all the talking and pulled out an enormous wad of cash to pay for their purchases. We would see them everywhere for a short period of time. Then they were gone.

And then there was Stalin…

Short little guy with long gray hair and beard and a Stalin hat. Completely dressed in black leather. Always. No matter how hot it was out, he’d still be wearing a leather coat, buttoned up to the top. We saw him a lot at Raley’s. You did NOT want to be close to him in the summer…

I think he was still around long after Shirtless Wonder disappeared. But it’s been many years now since he made an appearance.

By far, though, the one who was around the longest was The World's Oldest Living Cocktail Waitress. There was a "fancy" restaurant where Marv and I would go on special occasions. It had a bar section attached to it, so the cocktail waitress would come around to take drink orders before people ordered dinner. This gal was maybe 97 years old, wearing a short black skirt and spiked heels and had LONG, straggly, blondish (don't know what other color to call it) hair down her back. Absolutely frightening. Wonderful personality of course. But scary to look at. Haven't seen her in a while though, and since the place changed hands we don't go there any more.

Oroville is bigger now, after 34 years of living here. Haven’t really seen anyone out of the ordinary for some time now. I kinda miss the Shirtless Wonder…hope he’s OK.

Back From Virginia part 3

No, that picture is NOT of my little toesies…I don’t do red, at least not on my toes. I went with a nice pearl color. I had never had a pedicure before. The morning before the wedding, the whole female gang went to have their nails done. My fingernails aren’t worth dealing with, but “the mothers” of the bride and groom were treated to a pedicure. What a nice experience! I wouldn’t mind having that done on a fairly regular basis. It’s become increasingly difficult for me to do my toenails anymore, since my knees and back conspire against me. But it was such a pleasure to soak my footsies in the hot water and then have them smoothed and lotioned and the nails filed and painted while I just sat there in a VERY nice chair that had massage capabilities.

Lunch was with Paul and Anne at a local Taco Bell and then it was back to the hotel for a nap. Love my naps!! Then Mr. Garmin led us to the church for the rehearsal and dinner afterward. Beautiful church! Lots of stairs, though. Found out later there was an elevator! The rehearsal went well and then it was time for the dinner in the fellowship hall. Paul had REALLY wanted a Pirate Wedding, and of course, Anne being a SANE person, said no. But she had a surprise in store for Paul…a Pirate Rehearsal Dinner! The wonderful company of Oriental Trading (love them!) had all the supplies needed for such a thing. And a local bakery did the pirate cake. AND Paul and Anne gave presents to everybody! Did not expect that! Marv and I got beautiful scripture mugs and something to put in them: coffee and tea!  

The next day, Marv and I did some sightseeing. We didn’t have to be at the church until 6pm, so that gave us plenty of time. We went to the Museum of the Confederacy, which was right next door to Jefferson Davis’ house when he was the Confederate President. So much history in such a time of turmoil for our nation! Very sobering to consider.

One of my main objects while in Virginia was to find some “tourist souvenir stuff” to take back. I really wanted postcards, too. NOT TO BE FOUND! In the museum they had lots of very high priced things, but I was looking for a Walmart or some place like it that had that stuff. NOT TO BE FOUND! We went to a Cracker Barrel for lunch and there was a store connected to it, but again, it was all very high priced and not necessarily “Virginia”, just normal boutique type stuff.

Then it was back to rest up for the wedding!

Next week’s blog will be from Fresno, so it will probably be something easy for my brain to handle, since I will have been run ragged by then….♥

My Pirate Name

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Every once in a while I will do one of those cute little "quizzes" where you find out what your name is: Pirate Name, Rockstar Name, Hobbit Name...
I revisited this one today. I like this one!

 

    My pirate name is:
   

 

    Bloody Bess Flint    

 
 

    Every pirate lives for something different. For some, it's the open sea. For others (the masochists), it's the food. For you, it's definitely the fighting. Like the rock flint, you're hard and sharp. But, also like flint, you're easily chipped, and sparky.    Arr!
   

  Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network
 

Back From Virginia part 2

OK. When we last left off, Marv and I were being met by Paul and Anne at the Richmond airport. There was some kind of tedious snag involving the rental car, but we FINALLY got it. Paul drove us in the rental car to IHOP with Anne following behind. AWESOME breakfast! Cinnamon pancakes…Oh. Em. Gee.

Then we went to the hotel to get settled in and TAKE A NAP. Before he left with Anne, Paul put his Garmin in the rental car for us to use. What a neat toy! I want one! I certainly don’t need one here in Oroville, but as I told Marv, I would love to drive around in Kelly Ridge, get good and turned around (which is easy for me, sadly) and then ask Garmin to find my way back to Olive Highway. Just to see where he’d take me. Because I would put the Garmin voice to a male one. I became quite fond of Garmin while we were in VA…

After our nap, we went over to Paul and Anne’s house. With the wonderful help of Mr. Garmin. They have a cute house on a very nice lot with amazing trees all over. That was one of the biggest surprises for Marv and I. The land all over the area of VA we were in was either neat and tidy lawn, or forest! And the roadsides were sparkling clean. NO TRASH. We got to meet our new grandkids, Madison and Jordan. Wonderful kids. Although Jordan isn’t really a kid anymore at 17…and Madi is the sweetest 10 year old. A bit on the shy side, but then, so was I at that age.

That night was the bachelor/ette dinner at Glory Days Grill. Awesome hamburgers. Something I had never seen before: there were TVs set up all around the place near the ceiling. Any place you sat, you could see at least 3-4 different screens, all with different channels. On all the tables were small speaker towers that you could set to whatever channel you wanted to watch, and you would be able to hear that channel. Great idea!

After that, it was back to the hotel. Where we discovered that they make FRESH COOKIES almost every afternoon. I was way too full for cookies, but that didn’t stop me from taking a couple back to the room for “later”. Since we ate so late, I had to sit up most of the night, and my inflatable travel wedge failed. But I had asked for extra pillows when we checked in, so I had 7 pillows to arrange and slept quite well.

The hotel breakfast was THE BOMB! The usual cold cereal, fruit and muffin/bread selection PLUS egg patties, sausage, bacon, waffles…and something that looked like mushroom soup with meat in it. Then I KNEW I was in the South…it was gravy for the biscuits! I love biscuits and gravy, but I had already piled my plate with eggs and bacon and cornbread.

One thing I failed to mention last time: Marv did very well with the trip out and back. He took his Dramamine regularly and had no problems. I am so thankful that I’ve never had a problem with motion sickness. If I did, I would NEVER have been able to do my homework. On the school bus. On the way to school the morning it was due…

Next time: manis and pedis for all!