Craft Show

The LBHS Band Boosters put on a craft show annually to raise funds. This year I went.

Lots of jewelry.

It was very crowded.

An old teacher from high school days with author Tammy C. Ferris

The book cover was drawn by Dorothy Etzler Barnett (my husband's cousin).

Some of Dorothy Etzler's Christmas ornaments she had for sale.

Like I said, it was crowded.

Cousin Dorothy.

Remembering HFI

Saturday's Historic Fincastle festival was a memory tour, of sorts. One stop had a bunch of old souvenirs and other items from the days when HFI was a force to be reckoned with by citizens and government alike.

I wrote a number of the advertisements and other things for HFI. Not everything, but a good bit of it.

HFI did a lot of stuff at one time.

Those newspaper inserts like the one on the right were the types of things I wrote for HFI.

The Festival was a big deal in its time.

HFI has put out some books and other items over the years.

I started to buy one of the tomato can labels, but I didn't.

These were some of the T-shirts. I think there was a different T-shirt design almost every year.
 

Historic Fincastle Festival

Historic Fincastle, Inc. (HFI), a local preservation organization, used to put on a festival in the Town of Fincastle annually. Then they stopped because the people who did it aged and young folks didn't care.

This would have been the 50th year of the festival if it had continued, so they had a little 50th anniversary festival to reminisce and give themselves a pat on the back.

Disclaimer: I am a lifelong member of HFI and was its president back in the late 1990s.

I went but I could not see as much as I wanted because Fincastle is a town of hills, and I can't walk up and down hills anymore.

The view from Roanoke Street looking north. These are artist booths.

A little music for atmosphere.

Looking back down Roanoke Street to the south.

Folks could buy homemade goodies.

Or look at corvettes.

Student art work.

Historic documents were on display in the courthouse.

That is a LOT of signs.

This is Rowan Miller who was touting books for sale.

These books.

This was another author selling her books. She was from Vinton.

More vendors down Main Street. I didn't go down to see these folks because I didn't think I could get back up the hill.

Thursday Thirteen

Around the Courthouse

I can't travel far or fast these days, but I did manage a little stroll around the area of the county courthouse recently. Here is what I saw.

The Douglas Building sits across from the county courthouse. It has served as a motel, tavern, law office, and
who knows what else. Someone told me it was haunted.

A sign commemorating the fire that gutted the 1848 courthouse. Note that this fire impacted the entire state: because of it, the Virginia General Assembly passed an act requiring permanent storage of vital records in the Library of Richmond.

This beautiful old car was in the parking lot. The man who eventually drove it off told me it was a 1964 vehicle that he
bought himself the year he'd graduated high school.
 

The county courthouse. I don't know when someone painted the letters gold. They used to be black.

The Civil War monument with the former "old post office" building in the background. The building currently houses
the voter registrar's office.

The remains of the old Hayth Hotel, now private housing.

Cattycorner to the courthouse sits this vacant building. It once was the Fincastle Drug Store - a title it held for
nearly 100 years, I think. I wish someone could find a use for it.

This marker marks the fact that the Lewis and Clark expedition sort of began in Fincastle.

This marker, which is on a big rock on the courthouse grounds, is dedicated to those who served in WWII.

The old Fincastle jail. It once was the Fincastle Library. Now it is the Chamber of Commerce office.

These two buildings once were part of a hotel complex. Now they serve as offices for the Virginia
Cooperate Extension Agency and county services.

The county seal sits high on the courthouse.

I've always loved the wrought iron fence around the courthouse. Isn't it grand?

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 556th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

My Young Helpers

Because of health issues, a few household chores are difficult for me now, even ones that I used to tackle with ease.

The worst are mopping and using the vacuum, both of which utilize the abdominal muscles. My abdominal muscles are all messed up thanks to multiple surgeries and simply don't want to work properly anymore. While I'm much better than I was even six months ago, I still have trouble when something requires those muscles.

Coming to my rescue are these lovely young ladies:

Haylee and Megan.

These two young entrepreneurs started their own cleaning business about two years ago. They call themselves Peace, Love, and Cleaning. Isn't that a great name? Click here for their Facebook page.

I have used them for a number of chores. They help me with general cleaning as well as those pesky sometimes-tasks, like clearing out the garden after the season is over, or putting mulch around the roses.

They are cheerful, always willing, and seem to enjoy doing the unconventional - like helping me rehang curtains or clearing out a room that needs it (you should have seen my office before they started helping me tackle that! Yikes.). They even do windows.

My brother uses their services, too, and they are very good with his dogs. Yes, they will pet-sit or walk the dog or whatever you need.

They aren't fond of spiders and I think I grossed them out once when I had them clean dead stink bugs out of the fireplace, but they were troopers and worked through it. (Where did these stink bugs come from?)

I like that they are respectful and don't spend their time texting or otherwise gazing at their phones while they are working. When they are here to work, they work. They've become fairly speedy at doing things - I once watched in total amazement as they reorganized some cabinets for me. Zip, snap, and they were done.

They genuinely like people, I think. While I am technically old enough to be their mother, I told them to think of me as the crazy aunt. They liked that. We also have some common interests - Haylee plays guitar, as I do, and Megan loves Lord of the Rings. (We all know how much I love Lord of the Rings.)

Megan and Haylee are my go-to girls when something comes up that I can't tackle on my own. I recommend them to everyone I can, and they tell me they have a fairly full schedule now. I'm glad they are doing so well.
 

Megan helping out with dusting. I love it when they get the whole house looking great.

Haylee with the vacuum. Go Haylee! Go!

Memorial Day

Thursday Thirteen

On October 7, we spent the morning at Camp Bethel. Camp Bethel is a church camp run by the Church of the Brethren. They were having a Heritage Day, a 33-year-old festival that helps support the camp and I suppose the ministry of the church.

The camp, which began in 1927, is located on 470 acres in Botetourt County. It is open all year for conferences and events, many of which are open to the public.

The Church of the Brethren is a peaceful group, but unlike Amish or similar religious orders, the Church of the Brethren do not dress much differently from other people. My husband calls them "new order" Brethren, though they have been around hundreds of years. You can read a bit more about the religion here if you like. I find it an attractive religion because it is pacifist and it follows the word of Christ, not the Old Testament, and it has no formal creed or rules. "We simply try to do what Jesus would do," it says on the website.

Just an FYI, I was baptized into the Brethren church many years ago. My grandfather on my mother's side was also Brethren and baptized at the same church I was.

Anyway, here are 13 photos of the day.

Most of the items for sale were handmade, like these towels. I purchased a few because I like to hang them on the stove
handle.

A display of old wood-working tools held our interest for a very long time.

Building stuff was hard work back in the day.

This was a display of "script" used by farmers, particularly tomato growers, long ago. Each had their own
coin. This was new to me and I was particularly interested in it because it reflects how the agricultural
community worked long ago. At one time, our area was well-known for its tomatoes and other produce.

These are canning labels and original cans from around 1900 or so. The cans were put together by hand, not by machines,
using the tools on display.

More woodworking items.

How'd you like to make biscuits with those?

These gentlemen discovered that using a cross-cut two-man saw was no easy task.

Beautiful flowers and autumn decorations.

A nice crowd.

I thought these were lovely. Wouldn't they make a great centerpiece on a Thanksgiving table?

What's a festival without a little cotton candy?

A woman taking a quiet moment on the bridge over the ponds. The water was very low due to
our recent drought.

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 522nd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.