When I grew up Worley and Lily Millard were my forever friends Lisa and Katie’s grandparents, but I called them Granny and Papaw because that is what Lisa and Katie called them.    If it bothered them, they were kind enough not to show it.

They lived in a little house that sat in front of the railroad tracks in Mendota.    We called it “Granny’s House.”

By the time Lisa and Katie were 12 and 14,  Papaw was not well, and Granny had lost most of her sight.   The two girls took turns staying nights with Papaw and Granny.    On many nights, it seemed quite natural for me to stay, too.

There was a bedroom just inside that window on the front porch.  There were two beds in it.   Lisa and I slept in one bed, and Papaw and Granny had the other.   Lisa and I would slip outside and sit on the front porch and talk about the things young girls talk about.   She had one of her first kisses on that porch.

In the back of the house, there was a wooden “boardwalk”  that went to an outhouse.    I looked for it yesterday.  It’s gone.   That was over 40 years ago. Wooden walkways are not built to last forever.   Neither are houses.   

The little house is in the area of Mendota that floods, so it’s future has been in jeopardy, and it was time for it to be removed.   I said goodbye yesterday.   I did not go inside but I could look inside the kitchen area from the back of the house.   I was looking for a piece of my childhood…Lisa’s and Katie’s childhood…and I wanted to store it safely in these pictures.

It was quite the little lady in its day.     Notice the “shake” shingles in the upper part of the house and the decorative curved detail where the upper part of the porch meets the ceiling?    I can imagine when this was new…how exciting it was to have a house that was not just functional but had “pretties”,  too!   Granny had yellow  roses growing near the house.

One night, when Lisa and I were quite young, we were sleeping soundly in the bedroom,  and the Mendota train stopped behind the house in the early hours of the day.  It hissed loudly and woke us.  We popped up in the bed…startled.  Granny ran in and put her hands on our shoulders and said “don’t worry girls..it’s just the train…it’ll be alright.”

Another….

Thank you for reading RiverCliff Cottage.

When driving across State Street from Virginia as you enter into Tennessee, you’ll see the Chamber of Commerce and a giant guitar reflecting Bristol’s musical roots.  Now, there is something else!   There’s a countdown to something that many love as much as we love music — college football.  We don’t have a professional football team in this area, so we are heavily invested in both high school and college football — especially Virginia Tech and the University of Tennessee; and in about 723 days, 12 hours, 27 minutes and 43 seconds away from the time when I snapped this picture, we’ll see them play right here in Bristol.   All 130,000 seats will sell out at Bristol Motor Speedway.  We don’t have anywhere near 130,000 people living here, but they will come!   Pretty cool, right?

But we weren’t thinking football this weekend in Bristol.  It was Bristol’s Rhythm & Roots Reunion.   Emmy Lou Harris played to a record crowd last night.   My girlfriend took this picture.

She was on the Piedmont Stage near the Bristol Public Library.  There are large stages set up throughout downtown Bristol, and walking down the middle of the street means your senses are assaulted with lyrics, melodies, smells and bright colors.   There are musicians on the stages, there are musicians on the street jamming, food vendors, specialty vendors, etc.

This morning, Mike and I arrived at Rhythm & Roots and we headed in the wrong direction to see Ed Harlow and “The Harlow Experience” playing.   No worries.  These great guys who work for the City of Bristol, Virginia gave us a golf cart ride.    When I thanked them, they said “the City of Bristol, Virginia wants to make sure everyone has a great time.”   Thanks guys!  We did!

Here’s Ed.  I did not know Ed was a musician so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  However, The Harlow Experience was very, very good.    He’s introducing his brother who recently turned 80.  Doesn’t look it does he?   Music must keep you  young!

Here’s the whole group plus a guest who sang Happy Birthday to Ed’s brother.

We stayed about 30 minutes and watched them before it was time to go to see Heather Pace and the Poor Valley Girls.   This is the only problem with R&R — deciding where to go and how long to stay.  Fortunately, you cannot make a mistake.  The talent is top notch everywhere.   I could not get a good picture of the Poor Valley Girls.  It was great hearing them, however, because I know every song on their CD.   This picture was taken in Mendota.

Next we went to see Dale Jett & Hello Stranger at the Paramount.  We had seen them perform here two months ago at Mountain Stage which was an awesome experience.  However, the sound was so much better today.   The theater was full.  It was wonderful.  

While walking along, we saw this set up for selling antiques.   I am not a buyer.   I don’t need anything else in my house, but I do like to see things artfully displayed, and I thought this was creative and deserved this picture.

On this blog, I share my love affair with Clinch Mountain.   However, I seldom notice the Holston Mountain in the background of the City of Bristol.   My loss.   Do mountains inspire music?  I think they do. 

It was a wonderful day.   As I closed the day, however, I learned that it was a day of loss.   There once was a sweet little boy who knew how to make a piano sing.  He played by ear.   Like Lisa (my forever friend pictured below) and others, I do not remember a time he was not on this earth as we were raised as children together.   Today he left us.

Goodbye Eddie.  You are in my memories.  

Note: If you are visiting RiverCliff Cottage to view pictures taken from the Mendota Heritage Festival today, please visit the Mendota Community Events Facebook  Page.

The Highlands Beekeepers had a booth at the Washington County Fair, and I volunteered to work from 3 to 6 this past Friday.   This worked out great because I got free admission and a place to park!  Yay!  It was fun talking to people about the bees, but wow, it was so hot.  I was sweating like a pig.  Notice how my colors match the honeybee’s colors?    If I’d lost a little weight, I would have dressed like a bee.  Maybe next year.  

Speaking of pigs…we met Piggy Sue. Piggy Sue is a therapy pig. She’s very clean and friendly. She wasn’t sweating nearly as much as me so I take that “sweating like a pig” remark back. She actually was very, very clean.

Here’s another…

Yes, that picture above was my friend Sue kissing Piggy Sue. On the way home, she asked me if I wanted a sip of her lemonade. Nope!

I loved the country decor of our fair.

Mendota and Benhams were well represented. Mary McCroskey and Terri McCroskey cleaned up. Girls — I am going to take you on next year!! Here’s Mary’s chair which got Best of Show. She also had a fern which was loitering around with a Blue Ribbon!

And Terri’s green beans…

It’s all about agriculture at the fair…here is the Virginia Extension Office display.

Some more canned goods…

This was one of the more strange things. The man from Bathfitters kept getting in his bathtub and driving around. That tub could move!

Cute, country stuff…

$5.00 got you a ride on the bull. This young lady had just finished clogging and she took on the bull with such grace. Ahh…to be that young. She has the world by the tail.

Do you have a county fair where you live?

I have another dishtowel to give away!   Eight readers commented on my blog on the dishtowel post, and I put their names in a bowl.   I drew Patsy Carrier’s name and she now has the dishtowel. Yay Patsy!!

This one is a little brighter.  It came from target.  I like it  because it has a jar on it.  Jars work so hard, are able to do so many things, and they look good doing it!   They are like women!

So…if you comment on this blog post, I’ll enter your name and someone will win this cute little dishtowel.  So easy, and it’s so fun to get things in the mail (assuming you don’t live in Mendota…poor Patsy…she got her dishtowel tossed to her while she was at work in the post office!)   We’ll have the drawing on Wednesday, September 17.

There’s more in this post.  I finished another wreath.  Last night I watched a video on how to tie a wired-ribbon  bow.  I made my bow…I don’t think I could do as well without a wired ribbon, but it was pretty easy with the wire.

I added the B that I’d spray painted black and then dabbed orange dots using an eraser and paint.

Looks more at home glued to the wreath….

And here it is….

I really like this wreath.  It’s simple but speaks of fall.    This one will go on the door leading into our den.

I have one more door that I might make a wreath for.  It’s addictive!

Note:  Aimee won the dishtowel.   I’ve sent her an email asking for her address so I could mail the towel.    Thank you to all ten who commented and had their names entered!   This is so fun!!

Fall is my favorite time of year. This morning when Mike and I made our trip to the Rally Mart (two eggs over medium, buttered toast), he noted that it was 63 degrees. Nice.

I’ve got a friend coming to stay for a week so I’ve been doing some cleaning and decorating for fall. Last week, I had the mantle looking like this…

But today I went in this direction…which is best?

I’ve got other fall things going on in this room…yeah yeah yeah…those leaves are fake and I know I’ve whined about how much I hate fake plants. Disclaimer: Except when it’s leaves for fall.

I tried to draw some leaves this morning…not so good.  This is just sad.  They are still there.  Sad, bad, but allowed to stay!

Here’s what happens if you fail to pick your summer squash…the squash becomes accessories.   I swapped out the scrapbook paper in this picture frame.  It’s polka dots for this fall!

Has there ever been a more beautiful fall quilt than the Glade Spring Tornado Quilt?

This room is a sweet room.  That couch is my bed most nights.  We have three bedrooms, a sofa bed, and a blow up mattress.  Next door, we have a sofa bed and another bedroom in the guest house.  However, I like to sleep on this couch with my feet propped up on the side.   It also makes making the bed easier.   This drives Mike crazy, but I cannot help it.  If he gets too aggravated, I will wait until he’s asleep and then sneak off to the couch.   I can just wad everything up and throw it in the closet and ta da…my bed is made up!

I love that orange pillow cover.  $3.99 at Hobby Lobby and it’s even cheaper with a 40% coupon.  Just sayin’.

I’m working on a few wreaths, too. It is not going well. I used to say I didn’t like those fluffy mesh wreaths…that was until I decided I wanted one. It’s kind of like the fall leaves…I only like them if I want to like them. It’s terrible! However, I was at Ben Franklin’s in Kingsport Tennessee and I saw this autumn plaid geo mesh and I bought a roll to make a wreath. I found that I didn’t have enough, so I drove back to Kingsport and bought a second roll. I have watched numerous You Tube Videos and step-by-step instructions and I can’t make this work and I hate it. It’s going to the trash.  It’s frayed from my handling it so much.

I’ll keep you posted on how my non-geo mesh wreaths are going.  Anything is an improvement over that thing pictured above.