what we did

We drove up the Eastern Shore of Virginia for Father's Day. The original plan was to head to the battlefield at Yorktown, but with temperatures in the upper 90s, traipsing around a battlefield didn't seem like the most fun we could have. So we opted to explore the strip of land between the waters; it's a part of our area that we haven't spend nearly enough time in.

 

We stopped at an historic inn for lunch...when we saw all the elderly people walking in, we knew we were onto something good. Callum had no trouble finishing off both of our cups of crab and corn soup. My BLT with "shore tomatoes" was delish.

After lunch, we drove on to a winery. There are three vineyards on the shore (Virginia, at least), and we'd like to hit all three. We started here, at Chatham Vineyards.

I love the juxtaposition between the old, old house,

with the high-tech work that goes on next door. That's the press, there in the back.

Some low-tech work too...I love a process like winemaking which continues apace...centuries old traditions tweaked but not forsaken.

The tasting was delightful, from two chardonnays (one aged in oak barrels, one in steel), to a surprisingly refreshing rose' right through to the dessert wine. (Although I think Neel and I both would have appreciated a slightly bigger pour...)

Guard dog.

Very menacing.

 

From the concrete and steel of production to the rows of grape vines, full to bursting, this was a very nice day.

and garden

It was the garden that really got us though. 

Roughly three acres, directly across the street from a world-famous botanical garden.  I guess that means you'd feel as if you'd have some "keeping up of standards" to do.  It really showed off for us too.  Look at that splash of red at the top of the photo. Breathtaking color.  We're not that far into fall down here.

And a creek!  What memories of this creek Neel and his brother have from growing up.  It's the thin line midway through that first photo and crosses the property.

 

This pergola had Neel in fits of both inspiration and envy.

 

 

It was where house met garden that we were inspired the most.  These were the images that had us standing in our own backyard in an early November drip, drip chewing on our lips and wondering, "what next" with our blank slate of a back yard.  Deconstruction, then construction was about as far as we got. 

 

Too bad we can't put in a creek.  I'm starting to think every kid needs a creek.

house

When I was a little girl, my mom had glossy issues of House & Garden magazine floating around our home.  Stacked on the coffee table or in baskets in the bathroom.  It was a beautiful magazine (does it still exist?), but much like Vogue, which also floated around our house and was full of gorgeous pages of things I'd never wear, the homes in H&G never felt like ones I'd ever live in.  I guess I'm more a Better Homes & Gardens kind of gal. 

The house we visited last weekend was definitely a House & Garden kind of house. Neel's aunt and uncle have lived there for thirty-five years.  His uncle saw the outside and liked the location (it was equidistant from three hospitals where he worked as an ENT doctor), and he bought the house!  They hadn't even seen the inside.  As his aunt says, it's basically a brick ranch and she tried to work with that. What she did was make it something special.  

 

She has the kind of timeless good taste that never goes out of style.

This was my favorite room almost twenty years ago, and it still is today.  These two love to travel and that love is reflected in their surroundings.  The whole effect is one of elegance, luxury and comfort.  

This is the room where we watched the deer.  I'd have trouble concentrating with that amazing view. For those of you keeping score at home, note the expanse of white windows.

 

You'd think a ten year old boy would find it tricky to navigate a home with so many lovely things in it, but Callum managed just fine.  Especially when he made it outside, but more on that during the garden portion of our tour.

Although perhaps he did a little editorializing.  To his mind, no decor is complete without the addition of a fighter jet.

4th grade is Virginia history year

So of course we went to Monticello.

Callum read a biography of Jefferson earlier this summer, and of course we couldn't leave D.C. without seeing the Jefferson Memorial.  I love the Jefferson Memorial, but I might love Monticello more.  This is my favorite room, a little screened porch off his library.  We weren't allowed to take pictures in the house, but his library and this porch were the best.

 

 

 

 

 

I could snap all the pictures I wanted of the gardens, though.

This little spot was my favorite.  Little room, perched on the hillside beside the gardens.

 

 

What a spectacular vantage point from which to survey your land and home.

Get your nickels out, 'cause here's the money shot.  What a house it is, huh?  You don't need me to tell you what an impressive man Thomas Jefferson was.  I choke up whenever the Morning Edition anchors read the Declaration of Independence at the 4th of July, thinking, he did that for us.  Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clarke, masses of inventions and adaptations.  But what a mass of contradictions.  The whole slave/equality thing.  He makes a point of saying not to spend money you haven't earned, but died with a debt nearly equal to the national debt at the time.  Good grief.  We shouldn't expect our national figures, past or present to be paragons.  We're merely human, flawed all. 

What I love most about Thomas Jefferson is how much he loved his "little mountain."  House and hill were a source of endless strength and joy to him.  I can relate to that. 

"Architecture is my delight, and putting up and pulling down is one of my favorite amusements."  Kindred spirit?  Not in everything, but in this, certainly.

charmed, I'm sure

One of the bonuses of heading to the Shenandoahs this weekend was getting to land in this charmer for our stay.  Nurse Rebecca offered her parents' Charlottesville hideaway, and we couldn't be more grateful.

The setting was stunning.  Steep and rolling hills that made our little Mini Cooper say, "What the heck, you guys?"  Man, we miss hills.

I've taken you inside Jan's local home before.  Gracious and stunning on a grand scale.  The feel of this home is totally different, but completely familiar. 

As welcoming as ever, but this time on a cozy scale.  Neel and I felt like we were in the very best of English cottages. 

The room we slept in was off the living room, just down a step and through that door.  Thanks to Neel, who mused about ghosts upstairs, Callum bunked there too.  It's on the market now, this sweet cottage, and I can't help wondering if that chair right there (of which there are two), is for sale as well.  Well?

From the sloping front lawn to the sweet tearrace out back, this house was nothing if not dear.  Neel and I found ourselves wishing Callum were headed to UVA sooner rather than later (ha!), so we could do what Rebecca's parents did and have a place to land as lovely as this is.  Thanks so much for sharing your home with us.