Part Two of the Governor's Palace in Colonial Williamsburg

Welcome back to the Governor's Palace!  If you missed Part One of the post, you can read that here.        

       

A Tour of the Governor's Palace in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia

Would you like to take a walk through the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg with me?  Begun in 1705, it served as the official residence of the Royal Governors of the Colony of Virginia from 1710 - 1776.  The palace was home to seven royal governors and the first two elected governors of the colony of Virginia, Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson.   

Colonial Williamsburg, Part 2

Hello dear friends!  I'm sorry I have lost touch; I really didn't mean to take such a long break from blogging.  I've been working on some things here around the house, and sometimes I just have to focus on one thing at a time.      I hope you're all doing well and having a good summer.  Today I want to share with you some more about our trip to Williamsburg back in April.    We really enjoyed strolling around the historic area every day, and we also had some good meals while we were there.  I will warn you, though, if you're thinking of visiting Williamsburg and you haven't been before, be prepared for the prices.  We didn't have to pay for our lodging, but souvenirs and food were quite pricey.  I thought our lunch the first day was very expensive for what it was -- two, pre-made, deli sandwiches from the refrigerated compartment in the Raleigh Bakery.  I found out why the price seemed so high a few days later.  We were in the DeWitt Wallace Museum, and we went down to the cafe in the museum to get something to drink.  The lady in front of us was questioning her total at the register, and the cashier told her that there was a 14 percent sales tax on the food.  Yikes!!  I almost choked on my colonial, King's Arms ginger ale.  😲  The cashier said the sales tax differed from city to city in Virginia.  Hal and I decided that Williamsburg is imposing a soak-the-tourists tax.  😏  I mean no offense to those of you who live in Virginia; we love to visit Virginia, but had no idea the sales tax was so high in certain areas.  It won't stop us from visiting again, though.     Would you care to see some of the shops in colonial Williamsburg?         

Colonial Williamsburg

I finally got to go back.  We last visited Williamsburg when our son was in Cub Scouts, and he'll be 29 this August, sooo -- it's been awhile.  I'm really thankful we were able to use my mom's timeshare points to stay at a nice resort, within walking distance of the historic area of Williamsburg.  Thanks again Mom!!   

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety-Jig

We haven't been to market to buy a fat pig 😉 but we have just returned home from four days here --   

   Governor's Palace    

Thomas Jefferson's Gardens at Monticello

Recently, I noticed that I've written several posts over the years wherein I ended the post with a promise for Part 2.  I had every good intention of writing the follow-up post, but somehow I never got around to it.  Life moved on quickly, and we were onto the next thing.  This time around, I've decided to write my "Part 2" as soon as possible so that I don't forget or just get too busy later to do so.  A few weeks ago, I wrote about our visit to Charlottesville, Virginia, in September 2017, and talked a little bit about Thomas Jefferson at the end of that post.     

Americana

We desperately felt the need for a change of scenery last Monday (Labor Day).  Besides, I have a new camera that I haven't had a chance to use lately, and I can always use the practice.  It's a Sony Alpha 5100 -- a compact camera.  I really like the Canon Rebel, but it gets awfully heavy on long outings.   On this day, we grabbed a few snacks out of the kitchen, put Mr. Duncan on his leash and into the car, and headed for the mountains.  It was hot here at home, but somewhat cooler in the mountains of Virginia.   

 

 

September Is Here

It's the first day of September; we're officially headed for the end of summer and then on to fall.  I love September through December -- such a beautiful time of year.  I've probably mentioned here before that September is my birth month and my sister's, as well.  Our birthdays are three days (and three years) apart.   Last year in the last week of September, Hal and I took a trip to Charlottesville, Virginia, for about four days.  We stayed in the Shenandoah Valley, where we were surrounded by pretty countryside.   

November

Happy November!  Can you believe how fast this year has flown?  Have I told you how much I love this time of year? 🍁🍂  Only a dozen times or more, I'm sure. 😊  

It's beautiful today, and I have some of our windows open, bringing fresh air into the house.  Just a short post sharing some random images with fall color today -- hope you enjoy!

James Madison's Montpelier and Virginia Horse Country

You may remember Hal and I went to Charlottesville, Virginia a few weeks ago.  We actually stayed out in the countryside about 30 miles from Charlottesville, but more on that later.  On our first full day in Virginia, we decided to drive to Montpelier, the home of James and Dolley Madison, with the idea that we would just enjoy the pretty scenery on the way but not do the house tour.  I had read that the grounds were free to the public, and we thought we'd just walk through the grounds and take some pictures.  The scenery on the way to Montpelier was indeed beautiful.  Once we got to the museum shop, we decided to purchase tickets and see the house.  It was a terrific tour; we were so glad we decided to take it.

The Waltons House (Earl Hamner, Jr. Homeplace)

Happy October to you!  Don't you love this time of year?  I hope you all had a nice weekend; ours was nice -- and short.  I know the days will be flying by from now until Christmas.  Yikes!

As promised, I'm going to show you my pictures from inside Earl Hamner's childhood home.

A Trip To Virginia

Happy Friday to you!  It's been almost three weeks since I've posted, so I hope you haven't given up on me.  😃  First, I need to update you on my dad.  I want to thank you all for your kind thoughts and prayers over the past two months.  He went home from the hospital about two weeks ago today, and it's been a tough time for everyone.  As my sister said, we all knew it was going to be hard, but I don't think any of us realized it would be this tough.  My mom insists on being positive around us, and she says she thinks things are going okay, but I know this has been incredibly hard on her and my dad.

Hal and I went to Virginia on Sunday and returned yesterday.  We have had this trip planned for a good while, and my mom really wanted us to go.  She and my dad own a timeshare, and she had booked a cabin for us at a resort in the Shenandoah area, so we decided to go.  My sister was here to help out, and my parents' neighbors have been wonderful.

Monticello

My Favorite Season

"No spring nor summer's beauty has such grace,

As I have seen in one Autumnal face..."~John Donne, "Elegy IX, The Autumnal"  

Hi folks; I'm still here and thank you for not giving up on me.  :)  As of this evening, we finally have all our blinds back on the windows and all the curtains back up, too.  We had replacement windows installed in our home on September 15th, and we had 13 sets of blinds to re-hang.  On this Wednesday, September 28th, they'll be here to put up all new gutters for us.  We're thrilled because they'll look so much better, and we won't have to worry about cleaning those bad boys anymore.  ;)  Now it's time for me to get over to the carpet store and start selecting new carpet for our den and hallway.  I'd really like to have that done by Christmas if possible.

Are you ushering in fall in your part of the world yet?  Have you started to enjoy some cooler temperatures?  Today was the first cool day we've had in over a week.  I'm busily putting out the fall decor in our house, so I'll have some pictures to show you later in the week.  Those of you who are new to House at Forest Manor, you might enjoy seeing some images from previous fall posts.

A Bit About Barn Quilts

Hi folks.  I was glad to see that lots of you enjoyed our pictures from the mountains that I posted this week.  In particular, I received a lot of comments on the barn quilts.

Glorious Autumn

Hi everyone!  Is it cold where you are?  It's brisk here.  :)  The wind is blowing something fierce, and it was raining earlier today.  I think it rained through the night last night as well.  Those of you who follow Anita at Far Above Rubies and Penny at The Comforts of Home may have already seen that we got snow in the North Carolina mountains today.  Wow!  Snow while the leaves are still on the trees is not something we see a lot of.  The town of Sparta, N.C., which is where we go every year to cut our Christmas tree, had already received two to four inches by 11:00 a.m. this morning.

I'm sharing with you some images from two weekends ago of the mountains of North Carolina and Virgina.

A Wildflower Mosaic

Hi everyone!  Wow, I feel like I haven't talked to you in ages!  I never intended to disappear from my blog for two weeks straight.  A lot has been happening here (not all good), and it just hit me one day that I was tired.  I never seem to lack for ideas for blog posts; it's making time for all of them that is a problem.  But this time, my mind was even too tired to put thoughts and images together, and without meaning to, I just checked out for a little while.

Today I did a quick post (relatively speaking) -- those of you who blog know it takes awhile to make picture mosaics.  

Mabry Mill On The Blueridge Parkway

I woke up to a storm this morning -- not a snowstorm, but a thunderstorm.  I'm thinking I've heard an old wives' tale about a thunderstorm in winter, meaning snow soon to follow.  I really hope that's not the case.  It's dismal and dreary here, so I felt the need for a lighthearted post today.

Back in November of last year, hubby and I drove up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and drove all the way into Virginia.  We stopped at Mabry Mill to stretch our legs and take some pictures.  My husband took all the pictures in today's post.

Chateau Morrisette Winery

Hi everyone!  We're having a cool snap here, how about you?  It's been bright and sunny, so all in all, a really nice fall day.

Do you like to take day trips?  We almost always go to the mountains for our day trips, but we haven't gotten to do that in quite a while.  This is our favorite time of the year to go to the mountains and drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Technically, the Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Park, so I wonder if it will be blocked off with barricades?  Hmmm -- sure hope not.

All the pictures in this post are from fall of 2011.  We have several local wineries near us in North Carolina that we like to visit, but Chateau Morrisette is actually in Virginia.  It's further for us to drive, but we enjoy spending an afternoon there in the fall if we have a free day.  It's right off the Blue Ridge Parkway in a little community called Meadows of Dan.