Hi, I'm Eva. Thank you for stopping by. I live in Mendota, Virginia. If you like rural life in a country village, sharing decorating and DIY ideas, gardening, local and seasonal eating, food preservation, thrifting, and anything to do with honey, we have something in common.
We have had several days of below freezing temperatures…morning are 10 or 11 degrees with a colder wind chill. Ouch. My sweet boy, River, does not understand why we are not walking him twice per day. River typically is walked three miles each day. Mike has taken him a few of these mornings, but I have not. I hate the cold. We’ve been taking him to the dog park at Sugar Hollow. He likes this, but he does not see it as a replacement. He sees this as a possible addition to his daily regimine of all things being for River, but no..we have not been given a pass on the no walking thing that has been occurring. The result is that he is getting lots of toys, attention, and yes, food. Poor River. Next Friday is a milestone. River has been with us two years and has never been groomed. That all changes when this little dog shetland pony goes for his appointment next week.
I took this picture of the North Fork in front of our house on Tuesday on my way to work at about 8:00 am. The river had started to gather ice but there were darker spots where the water had no ice on top.
Here’s another picture of the same place in the river taken this morning. We haven’t had any snow to speak of so this is all ice that is coating the water. It’s not thick enough to walk on but it’s thick enough to be “interesting.”
Without snow, I am not liking winter. Snow is magic. This weather is just cold. And there is no snow on the horizon, yet I look at pictures of my niece Lacy and she’s in Charleston throwing snowballs!!
For those of you interested in the Mendota Trail, there is a newly established website for the Mendota Trail. You may visit it here. The picture below is of the ribbon cutting of the first mile.
The Mendota Festival for 2017 was held this past weekend. We started on Friday night with our beloved local musician, Oscar Harris, followed by the Poor Valley Girls. About 100 people showed up for the performance. They got a great show. There is so much “heart” in these small festivals, and that heart extended to getting the stage ready for the performance. Oscar’s wife, Katie, took an old stage in an old building and transformed it into a front porch set up for just a little pickin’ on a Friday night.
Every front porch has to have some flowers to pretty it up and ours was no exception.
On Saturday, we had a breakfast prepared by Liz Kiser and her gang of helpers. I manned a General Store that had all sorts of beautiful creations. Most were made by Katie Harris and Dottie Dye. Here’s a few of them…
I loved this tiger tailed tutu. The tutus are for ages 2-5. I don’t have a 2-5 year old to buy this for, but I’d like to! I can imagine a little cat face painted on with this cute little tutu.
She had every color. The green one was awfully sweet. Most have hair accessories to go with them. Sometimes a wand as well.
Another…if you want one of these. I can hook you up but you’d need to pay shipping.
How about a lady bug?
Or Christmas outfit.
Feeling blue?
I bought this for the About Face Bootox event in October.
Here’s another one.
There was a Mendota history room that was set up…very cool. I’ll take you through it. Here’s a nod to education. At one time, Mendota was a center for education. There’s a thread here…”at one time.” I want that to change but that’s another subject for another time.
Our rural, farming roots…tobacco basket, milk churn, patchwork quilts…a sign for the Mendota General Store. History.
Arts…creativity…shopkeepers. On the second shelf is pottery made in Mendota. It is believed to be Mort’s Pottery. You can Google Mort’s Pottery and get the history. There were several potters in the area because of our clay.
Here’s a closer picture of one of the pieces… and right below it you’ll see a pair of stockings priced at 50 cents from Faye’s Gift Shoppe. She was my cousin, but I was instructed to call her “Auntie Faye” because of her age. I loved to shop in her store.
Faces of Mendota…
Closer….
A nod to the North Fork. Hmmm…where are the kayaks?
The Masonic Lodge which is no longer in existence…this whole thing is beautiful, wonderful and sad at the same time. In the picture below, you’ll see an old jar and some items in plastic. That is a jar that was placed in a corner of the old Masonic Lodge building back in 1917. It was discovered last year.
Churches of Mendota…
And there was a corner devoted to music…Oscar Harris, Bill Clifton, Dale Jett, the Carter Family…all threads of our heritage. It’s behind the beautiful fan quilt.
And this quilt tho… I want this fan quilt.
Here’s some history about the fan quilt.
And others…
And others…
A more recent one…
Dottie Dye and Katie Harris put this room together. Pretty awesome. I cannot thank them enough. They have such an eye for beauty and respect for history. We are fortunate that they invested their time, talent and energy into getting this together.
Concurrent with the festival, the Washington County Public Library hosted a book sale in what I recall being the 5th or 6th grade room at Hamilton. I still hold a grudge over this neighborhood school being closed. We bus our little ones a long way in Washington County…or we send them to Scott County which is much more convenient. Or we home school.
Here’s the ladies who manned the booksale. Thank you!
This festival comes at an interesting time for Mendota. We are at a crossroads on many things. Funds that were raised by the festival will go toward paying for a Preliminary Architectural Report which will tell the story of what is required to make the community center and library a safe, warm, attractive place for our community. Or not. Perhaps it’s better to start over.
We do not yet know, but we are not afraid to dream.
Hello! It’s me again. As small business owners operating only about 100 days per year, we give it a lot while we are open. Once closed, it’s easy to just sit back and do nothing or surf on the internet and waste time on social media. Guilty. However, we closed on Labor Day and it’s been over a week and I’m ready to make sure that the fall and winter are productive — not just in doing projects around the house, but productive in that we enjoy ourselves.
But, today was productive around the house. I cannot recall when we last really cleaned our garage, but this blog can. It was June 2013. That’s not to say that we didn’t sweep etc. but to pull things out and clean behind them, well, we’ve not done as well as we should. It looked so good back then…
I did a pretty good job labeling and putting things in place. Did I keep them that way? For a while, I did. However, this morning while Mike was at the dentist, I walked out and took a hard look at the garage. It looked bad. I took these with my ipad. That corner…it surfaced as a junk spot. I hate that.
In serious need of decraptification. I went through and sorted everything. I did this by myself while Mike was at the dentist. He came home anticipating a nap. Instead, he found everything but the freezer and the two shelves out in the driveway. Everything. In addition, the sky was dark as if it was getting ready to rain. Ouch! Thankfully, he jumped in and helped, and thankfully, it did not rain. One truckload went to the waste disposal station. The rest was wiping items and determining what to do with them. At 3:43 pm today, we came back in the house with a much cleaner garage.
One of the primary uses of this garage is storing my canning jars. I did not can this summer, but I’m not giving it up. Home canned items are tastier, and there is a special feeling in opening them up and thinking “I made this.” Also, in a world where disasters are more common and sometimes the food supply chain is interrupted, it makes me feel safe. So tease me and tell me I’m a prepper wannabe. You are probably right! At any rate, I have have lids, rings and jars on hand for next year.
Here’s how things ended up looking after all of our work. Have you ever seen so much toilet paper? I didn’t realize I’d got a little cray cray over toilet paper. I like to have toilet paper and paper towels on hand at all times and I shop the sales, but I’m at over 50 rolls now.
Garage
Some things in the garage organization project of 2013 that really work well –using Sam’s Club boxes to “house” like things.
Another thing is the chalkboard. We could never recall when the Waste Disposal Station was closed or open. This works out so well. Plywood, chalkboard paint, and four yardsticks!
Another thing that I love is having peg board to hold my grocery store bags and laundry basket and clothespins. (I still dry clothes on the line in warm months.) I assume most people like to use their own bags, but it’s very difficult to get out of the house without forgetting them. Since I have them hanging right by the car door, it’s simple to grab and go. The left side of the garage catches recycling, keeps cat litter easy to store and has my grocery story bags. That has worked very well. Mike wishes the floor looked better. I’m like…”it’s a garage.”
So as I slide back into being busy after a week of being lazy, I’m going to bed with a clean garage. Feels good my friend. I felt so out of sorts this past week, but finishing something as reinvigorated me. Did I tell you I no longer have honeybees? Yes that is a bit of a loss. I came across some honeybee stuff in the garage and felt a little sink.
Not having my little flying friends is a loss, but I think the thing that matters most to me is that life is full and has meaning. I’m 61. I don’t have to impress everyone or be liked by everyone, but I need to like myself. And I do.
My fall and winter is going to be focused on doing some work for About Face, going on several mini vacations with Mike, continuing to organize and clean my house, getting the guesthouse ready to operate as an Air B&B next summer, updating this website and my Adventure Mendota website, finishing up a quilt I recently started and learning some new things. Since I get more done when I blog, I’m going to blog even if no one reads it!
And in the late spring, well, it’s be all about this again…
Muffin the Cat has been with us for almost two years. He’s turned from a mostly feral cat into a pet. Here was a picture of him from the early days when he would allow us to pet him but never pick him up or touch his back. It was from an old post on this blog.
Here’s our little cat today. He loves being petted, sleeps inside at night and adores being loved on and carried. His fur is very short because he was recently shaved to remove the matted fur.
He still hates my other cats. Oh well. Aren’t we all a work in progress?
Following the flood two weeks ago, it turned cool. Then, it turned even cooler as we entered what is called “Blackberry Winter”. It’s called Blackberry Winter because it always turns cool when the blackberries are blooming. Here are a few in bloom behind my house.
Mike wanted to go to California to see his mother. We talked about the best date since we’re approaching the kayaking season. I told him that he could count on Southwest Virginia being too cold to kayak on or around the first weekend in May. It worked out well. We had a frost last night while he was out there.
But today, he is returning and spring has returned. It’s a low humidity day where the sky is clear and blue and everything is green. Well, not everything. My flowers are blooming. These snapdragons can handle a little cold, so they fared well in last night’s frost.
These perennials are always here welcoming the spring. The blue is some type of phlox and the yellow is coreopsis.
If I had an English home, I’d have an English garden. I’m lucky because I have a country home and a country garden which welcomes everything — even a few weeds. I covered many of the flowers last night. I’m not adding any mulch to this bed as in a few weeks, it’ll be tight with flowers and color. Hopefully, they will drown out the weeds! That is my plan anyway.
I weeded the raised beds yesterday. Here’s some garlic that looks like corn!
Gotta have a few onions.
I’ll plant tomatoes this week. One thing that was noticeably absent in this garden was the abundance of bees. I sold my bees. This is temporary. I’m going to try a new type of hive next year — especially if I don’t start seeing some bees here. One thing that is still in abundance is our furry friends. This is my neighbor’s doggy, Belulah. She is supposed to be a sheep dog, but she could care less about sheep. What she really is interested in is kayaks. She works with us all summer as an unpaid welcome committee/member of the launch team.
And here’s her sidekick, Poopsie. Poopsie is required to stay home more so he does not work with us often.
And what does my sweet boy, River, think about all this?
We have had two full days of rain following an already rainy week here in Mendota, Virginia. The North Fork of the Holston has “just had it” and is getting ready to flood. I called this Mendota Flooding Part I because no doubt when I wake up tomorrow morning, the river will be in the roads.
Here’s some pictures. Standing on Civil Drive looking at the Mendota Bridge.
And here’s another look…
Civil Drive was flooded, but this actually happens frequently. No biggie here.
Standing on the bridge looking forward to the community of Mendota. Clinch Mountain is covered in fog.
And then there’s this…looking back toward Civil Drive.
Driving down Mendota Road where creeks are going crazy…this is at Katie and Oscar Harris’ house.
Water running off of Clinch Mountain…too much for the culvert to handle.
These swinging bridges are vulnerable if the water keeps rising, which it’s suppose to do.
River bank…
Adventure Mendota’s dock. It may hold…it may not. We just do the best we can.
Each Friday, provided someone doesn’t get sick, the machines start whirring and the iron starts heating as work continues on the 2017 Mendota Cemetery Quilt. A few weeks ago, I posted and showed you the center of the quilt. The colors are intense and vibrant, even though this picture doesn’t look that way. I love these intense colors. Can you tell who picked out the pieces?
Color and shading of the fabric are important components of quilting. It is a combination of good fabric, math, artistry and sewing skills. And ironing! I included ironing because I am the “ironing person” next Friday. I have not sewn a stitch. I never do, but I suppose that will change at some point. Right now, Patsy Carrier and I do the majority of the ticket selling so we get a pass.
The pieces below are softer in color than the ones that are pictured above. They are the new “row” beyond the center section of the quilt. The next section will even be more muted. We haven’t got that one done yet.
I reached out to the Graphic Arts group at the Scott County Vocational School to ask if they will print our tickets. For nonprofits, they will sometime help us out and it saves almost $50-$75.
Someone asked last week why the quilt is called the “Cemetery Quilt.” They thought –“is it for a funeral?” The answer is no. It is to continued the time-honored Southern tradition of a cemetery being maintained and present for families during their time of need. In lieu of charging for the burial, we ask that these families make donations in the future so that others can also benefit. The reality is that many bury their family members, and we don’t hear from them again to aid monetarily or to help clean up occasionally. Their disappearance leaves a burden on the remaining folks who do honor their responsibility.
If you are reading this and you have family or friends buried at the Mendota Cemetery, please make a donation or buy a number of these tickets. If you wish to participate in a clean-up day, message me and I”ll get the word to the right person.
For the past two years, I have often seen advertisements from Blue Apron, Hello Fresh, and so forth for food that is fresh, proportioned and ready to cook. My friend, Monica, posted pictures on Facebook from Home Chef, and I messaged back and forth with her about it. I decided to give it a try.
The meals are $9.95 per person which sounds expensive unless you are cooking for two people. My first week was for five meals and I received $30 off for being a new customer. Five meals is a bit much. Live and learn. The food arrived by Fedex on Wednesday.
The whole purpose of this experiment is (1) make me cook because I hate cooking; and (2) attempt to eat a bit healthier.
My first dish was the chicken and dumplings which doesn’t really fall into the healthy category. It was very rainy on Wednesday and it was my first try. I didn’t care for it and barely touched mine. I put the leftovers in the frig and Mike said it was so very good the NEXT day. It was a bit runny on day one — so much so that I ended up putting it in a bowl.
Today I fixed salmon. It’s one of the only seafoods that I like, and it is heart healthy. It was Teriyaki Ginger-Glazed Salmon with stir-fried bok choy and carrots. It turned out pretty well. I didn’t “plate” if very well, however, and I didn’t attempt to take a good picture. I hope this does not look like throw up.
I did not sear my salmon properly and it fell apart. However, in spite of the fact that the presentation stunk, it was good. Very good.
In making this dish, all of the ingredients were included except salt, pepper, and olive oil. Here’s the bok choy.
Confession — I am so unsophisticated that I didn’t know what bok choy was. Only by process of elimination on the ingredients did I figure it out. There were also mini containers and plastic bags of ginger, green onions, Fresno chili pepper and garlic. Here’s what all of the greens and spices looked like together.
Looks kind of pretty, and Mike came in and said “I love watching you cook!” Honestly, I’d rather clean house than cook. I love living in Mendota, but I do miss Take Out Taxi, pizza delivery, Chinese food delivery, etc. Take Out Taxi was the best, because you could have food delivered from any restaurant. We still eat out a lot even though we live 17 miles from a restaurant (if you don’t count the Rally Mart gas station which is about 11 miles).
I love the cute little containers that Home Chef uses. Here’s fresh peas in what looks like a 3 oz plastic container that resembles something you’d get at the pharmacy.
I have three more meals to prepare this week. What was I thinking!!! Tomorrow it is some type of pork chop dish. I skipped next week’s order because...because I wanted to!! Actually, I wanted to try more of the ones I have here before I purchased additional meals. If I find several dishes that we like that are healthy, I’m going to continue using Home Chef but I believe I’ll drop it down to twice weekly.
Another good thing about this service is that you learn to cook with ingredients you might not otherwise use. We eat salmon quite often, but for me to eat it and like it, Mike has to grill it. This is the first time I’ve fixed it indoors and been able to eat it.
Well, I had taken my blog down and decided not to renew the hosting. My plans were (and still are) to update the blog so it reflects me today — not me five years ago. However, I logged on and found emails from people wanting to know about Mendota, wanting to know this or that, and I decided to call Blue Host back and renew the hosting. I got a good deal at $3.99 per month!! Yay me! It had been $15 per month.
In Mendota, Virginia we have a sweet tradition of allowing residents of our small community to receive burial at our Mendota Cemetery at no charge. We have never turned a family who lives here away in a time of need. However, maintaining a cemetery with several hundred graves is not easy or cheap. We rely on donations and fundraising. Traditionally, we raffle a quilt which is called “the Mendota Cemetery Quilt”. The quilters will give it another, more official name as it comes together.
This year’s quilt features an old-fashioned print, and family and friends are working on it. I have a sewing machine but I’ve never sewn the quilt pieces and I do not think I would be up to the high standards of this group. If “idle hands are the devil’s workshop,” our Mendota quilters are angels.
Quilting is very math oriented. You have to have a sense not only of color but a clear understanding of light, dark and medium prints and how they work together. When the quilt pieces were being sorted and laid out, the words “give me that yellowy piece over there” or “is this one a pinky or a greeny?” Ultimately, they sorted out the dark, vibrant shades as the middle of the quilt and then a border pink and blue and then red and yellow.
Precision. Chris insists on precision. It makes for perfect points. Chris is the kindest, sweetest and most gracious lady, but she’s very particular about her quilts. If I won the lottery, I’d built Chris a quilt shop right in Mendota.
So here’s the center of our beautiful Mendota Cemetery Quilt.
Next week, the quilt moves from Dottie’s to the Mendota Branch Public Library where the borders will be assembled and pinned. Then, back to Dottie’s for more sewing.
