Stress free in Northern Virginia (5/27/2014)

This week I am in northern Virginia or what they call NOVA.  The trip up north was interesting as always.  The roads were crowded, and of course there was an accident on I-95.  So here I was sitting in a backup thinking about the radio show I heard this morning.  In an interview with Dr. Amit Sood about living without stress he spoke about being in a traffic jam and thinking of people you are thankful of, for being in your life.  I really think that would help a lot; why even bother yourself with people who are potentially toxic to you?  At work you already have to deal with people you cannot choose, so in your private life, concentrate on those people who contribute to your well being; be thankful for them and concentrate on what it is about them that makes you happy.  Quit obsessing about those people that bother you.  Life is too short! 

Well, in the traffic jam I was able to take this (horrible) picture by sticking my phone out of the window and shoot this image of the traffic jam, so symbolic of all the crap and toxicity that can jam up a person's mind.  To me this was particularly important, after a weekend of murders, such as the guy in Santa Barbara, California who had his mind poisoned by his inability to attract women.  As a father of a daughter and a husband I am very disturbed about the increased violence against women, but also of any other hate crime.

 

Snapping Turtle (5/25/2014)

On the way to the marina on Sunday, I all see a big turtle struggling to get across the road.  The county was building a new sewer pumping station in the area, and I am sure that dislocated some animals.  Knowing that this general area is not very environmentally friendly (I’ve seen trucks going back and forth over a black rat snake, which is non-poisonous and a great way to keep rodents down in your yard), I stopped the car, put on my hazard lights and was going to move the turtle.

I immediately identified the turtle as a snapping turtle.  Snapping turtles are famous for biting and painfully so.  From the point of its tail to the tip of the nose this one was 1.5 feet big.  Realizing it was a snapper, I had to do something.  I knew the next car was going to kill it; if not for its prized meat in turtle soup.

This guy was nasty, just touching his shell made him snap at me and knowing its reputation I decided to not go any further.  So I went to the car and got a teak board that I had in the car (I was going to the boat remember) and when I approached him with the board he struck it violently and hit it with a big bang.  He did this one more time and seeing I could not encourage him to get off the road, I rolled him over twice with the board till he was at the side of the road.  The board was slimy when he had hit it.  So here he was sitting looking at me angrily.  I took a photo and went on to the boat.  Coming back two hours later there was no squished turtle on or near the spot, so my relocation project was successful.  A good Sunday.

Virginia Wines (5/23/2014)

As some of the readers of this blog know by now, I am a lover of wine, and have written about it in this blog at times.  Being a lover of wine and having visited numerous wineries in Virginia, I can only say that they have come a long way.

I think the first Virginia wine I tasted was some Governor’s White from the Williamsburg Winery in 2000, and found it mediocre.  I toured the winery in 2012 and noted a great improvement in quality of some of their wines.  I remember taking my daughter on a college tour in 2006 (or was it 2007?), and since I had a designated driver, we stopped at as many as we could cramp in.  My impression at that time was that Virginia was getting better with their white wines, but that reds were poor.  There was one noted exception, which were the reds from Fincastle that I really liked.

Fast forward to the more recent years, and Virginia now makes some dynamite reds.  It is really fun to be able to see this progression.  In the following few blogs I will try to give you a list of the wineries that I have visited over the past years.  I will be dividing it into a three arbitrary regions (lowlands, Piedmont and mountains) and publish it in three postings.  This is different than the Virginia Wine website, but so be it.  I’ll rate them from 1 to 5 (with 5 being the highest/best ... and sorry, but I could not get these numbers to line up); however, note the year of my visit, that should give you a good idea if my rating is still current or not.  For example, I will rate Fincastle very high for my 2006 visit.  I tried to revisit them in 2012, and waited for 10 minutes in their tasting room and there was no one to serve me, even after I called out.  I left the place without tasting and/or buying more wine; it was very disappointing, to say the least.

Well here is my list of the low country wineries that I visited:
 

Winery

Bloxom Winery                    Eastern shore       2010     3 stars       Great location, great lunch (artesian pizzas), wines are fun, enjoyed the Red Kiss (none-dated blend).

Chatham Vineyards              Eastern shore       2010     4 stars       Great romantic location, nice wines, bring lunch or a snack and sit outside with a bottle of wine.

Williamsburg Winery           Tidewater            2012     2 stars       Expensive, commercial, nice whites, average reds.

New Kent Winery                 Richmond            2013    2 stars       Young winery which shows in its wines.

Dog and Oyster Vineyards   Northern Neck     2007    2 stars        May have had a different name (White Fences) when I visited. Enjoyed their Rose. Was in its infancy.

The Hague Winery               Northern Neck     2006    5 stars

                                                                           2010    5 stars       This is a winery I really enjoy visiting because of its quality wine and unpretentious.

Ingleside Vineyards         Northern Neck          2010    5 stars       Very mature winery with great wines. It is a little commercial.

The photo below is one from the archives.  I took it when we visited the The Hague Winery in 2010.  The line up of female behinds was just too much to ignore.

VIMS (5/22/2014)

Had another day of successful training at the Virginia Institute for Marine Science (VIMS).  This one was on shoreline erosion put on by their Center for Coastal Resource Management group (CCRM).  I learned a lot and it was great to see old friends and acquaintances.  We had a boxed lunch as set outside on the steps.  When I came outside you could just see the Alliance sail by.
The Alliance give tours of the York River three times a day (weather permitting) and it is fun to sail that part of the York.  Great to see it, all in all a great day.

Fort Monroe (5/18/2014)

We visited Fort Monroe this weekend for another concert by the Hampton Roads Philharmonic.  We had a nice time and the music was excellent like last time.  After the concert we took a walk through the fort, which is now a National Monument.  This was our first walk through the area and you could feel the history of the place.  The thick walls, the moat, and the old buildings are amazing.  Much different to what is outside the fort, which is nice as well.  Particularly impressive were the old live oaks; I expect some of them might have been there since the civil war. 

One issue I found was that at least one building appears to be boarded up, because of what I expect is the dismal structural shape it is in.  I hope there will be money to rehab this building and actually rehab the facility.  We could see some decay all over the place; and this is such a gorgeous historic place.  It is such a shame that we even have to play politics over a place like this.  It is my understanding that some members of congress got bend out of shape because President Obama declared “too many National Monuments.”  I find this sad, at least when it comes to Ft. Monroe, the place reeks of history and needs to be preserved and maintained.  It would be great if there was a visitor’s center and some more information for the visitors (if there is one, it is difficult to find).

During our walk on Sunday we climbed the walls and I took this picture of the lighthouse just outside the fort.  In the background you can see Fort Wool, another interesting feature of the Hampton Roads.  In all, it was a great late afternoon stroll through an historic place.

An update (5/23/2014) in today's newspaper it was reported that the state has allocated 14 million per year for the next three years for some rehabilitation work at the fort.  Naturally first on the list is the Fort Monroe Authority's own office building.