Virginians meet...

I am once again writing with an Ooch in my lap. I was going to try to blog from home earlier today, but yesterday evening Kathy called and said that Ooch's Mom was still on the Western slope and could I take care of him this morning, as she would take care of him yesterday evening. Of course, I said OK; and took Silver and Smiley out for a 2-hour romp at 5 this morning, then had breakfast, and walked over here. There was an 8-point buck in the backyard, gazing in the kitchen window while I was putting together Ooch's breakfast. He's now grazing outside the garden fence. I'll go home and spend time with the kits after I walk Rosie and Remy a little later this morning. Someone just rode by on a bike, and I can hear Brandi barking in her driveway... why does it seem like I'm home?

I'm afraid I startled, or possibly frightened, a young lady this morning. As I was walking east on Poplar, an SUV with Jamestown, Virginia commemorative plates pulled up and parked in front of me. I stopped, and stepped back, so I could ask the driver where they were from in Virginia. Now, I'd already walked and run 2 dogs; I was wearing an over-large light pink T-shirt with two large muddy dog prints on it, a pair of shorts, sneakers, wrap-around sun glasses that cover my normal glasses, and a huge droopy-brimmed straw hat... it might be normal for Boulder, but it's still a bit odd. The driver cracked her door open, and I asked my question; "Sorry for being nosy, but where in Virginia?" She laughed and stepped out - wearing flannel pajama bottoms and a scrub shirt - and said she was from Middleburg. As I paused (in delight), she said, "Well, let's say northern Virginia... nobody knows where Middleburg is." So I started talking to her about several of the shops in Middleburg, including Jeff's favorite, which was Lola's. Lola's makes the best fresh-baked goods in northern Virginia - Jeff loved the pastries and huge cookies we would grab there. And then I said, "And, of course, Middleburg is where The Chronicle of the Horse is published." She was amazed that I knew of the town and had actually been there; then she asked where I was from and I said Chincoteague Island. She laughed and said that's where her mother is visiting this week - trying to get a taste of Pony Penning without the crowds on those days. We parted ways and I came on over to Ooch's house.

I also know of Middleburg, Virginia because that's where a few of my husband's relatives moved during and immediately after the Civil War. The Devine family had been mostly in Leesburg, in Loudoun County, with a few wanderers in Washington, DC. The family divided during the war, and those who supported the Union stayed in DC, or moved into Maryland. Most of the family moved back to Leesburg, but a couple of branches moved into Middleburg. Jeff and I visited there looking in the old cemeteries, and just driving the country back roads, enjoying the sights and sounds of what almost seemed a century previous - if we'd been on horseback, or in a pony cart, it would have been perfect heaven!