Sunday/Monday

The morning started with cool temps as we got ready for worship at my old church that I attended in my youth. St.Johns Church was founded in the 1790's and has been an influence in our family over the years with many of my ancestores interned there. We located and photographed after the service tombstones from the Revolutionary War, Civil War and of course both World Wars. It was interesting to find the tombstone of our great grandfather who was Gen. Robert E.Lee personal body guard. Afterwards we hugged lots of necks as I found several of my old friends and relatives in attendance as we took lots of photos.

We headed out across the mountain into Wardensville, West Virginia where my middle sister Pat was having a get together for all of her family as well as her husband Keith's family. On the way there we saw some of the mountain land that was once in our family and where my great grandparents once lived. The old springs are still there where they once drew their drinking water but the old building are gone. This area is so rocky, steep and rugged its a wonder anyone could scrape out a living on this land; yet the color of the leaves was just splendid as it was peak for the season.

We had a good visit with family and the food was plentiful. We stayed for a couple hours and then stopped by and visited with Paw Paw on the way back to Woodstock. His friend Adeline gave us some shelled black walnuts and also gave us a demonstration on the process for retrieving those tasty morsels. We got back to Woodstock and chilled for the evening watching football and skyping with Kelly and Halley our beautiful cousins who are in Missouri and Colorado.

We headed out on Monday morning around 9:30 AM for our return trip to the cabin. We decided to return the same route we took on Friday. The trip was uneventful and we were surprised at how warm the day turned as we headed south. The truck was covered in ice when we awakened this morning but by the time we reached Galax, Va it was close to 80 degrees with bright sunshine. After a stop for fresh veggies at the farm market in Hillsville and groceries at Wal-Mart we reached the cabin around 3:30 or so. It was 72 on the back porch in the shade but the cabin was cold as it had been closed up since Friday. I eventually lit the gas heater after a hike to the top of the mountain.

It was great to visit with family in Northern Virginia and the scenery was just remarkable as it was peak for the leaf colors. It's always good to visit Dee and Mike who were responsible for setting up this week-end. The special time we had with Paw Paw is always interesting as he has such vast knowledge of the people and places of this area are mind bending for a man who is nearly 85 years young. Well I will post some pics from the past couple days, LATER