inFauquier Winter 2017 by dreamspeed photography

WINTER 2017

Braving the elements INSIDE THIS ISSUE Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not making this up: Mineral makeup is good for your skin, good for the earth n

Learn the legend of the missing treasure near New Baltimore

Zip code 22720: Goldvein puts the Au in Fauquier WINTER 2017

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IN THE

The Element Issue –

28 PHOTO BY RANDY LITZINGER

FACES & PLACES

22 Hartman goldsmith Silva shines in his profession

44 PHOTO BY CHRIS CERRONE

LIFE & STYLE 38 Gold leaf, gilding: Discover the ancient decor

56 PHOTO BY JOYCE HARMAN

HOME & GARDEN 56 Cloudspotting in winter

25 Ornamental blacksmiths: mining the possibilities

44 Find out where pirate’s treasure trove is hidden

60 Watch as this songbird changes clothes for a winter wardrobe

28 Up, up and away with balloon artists Carol Collins and Linda Donnelly

46 Gold’s Gym offers a personal exercise experience

62 Fearsome threesome of the houseplant brigade: N-P-K

30 Learn the ins and outs (and ons and offs) of mineral makeup

49 Curl up with a good book this winter season

63 Winter gardening offers a taste of summer, indoors

31 Is there a link between aluminum and Alzheimers? This doc thinks ’yes’ 33 Metal detector Steve Henry sweeps the area for history

69 PHOTO BY CHRIS CERRONE

FOOD & WINE 65 Cast iron pan joins oldfashioned kitchen ware with new-fashioned uses 68 Worried about your kids being out of school for snow? Never fear - just follow our beer guide to get through the winter doldroms

50 Opals are one of nature’s most beautiful gems

69 Cooking up comfort for the long, dark, cold months

52 Taking the notion of mad scientist, and compounding it

72 Your guide to navigating the gluten-free zone, even around the holidays

35 War hero Harold Davis honored with bridge

EXTRAS

n Fauquier map...............................8 n Tidbits..........................................12 n Zipcode 22720............................14 n Side by side - yoga.....................42 n The Last Word............................74

ON THE COVER

Freelance photographer Randy Litzinger, staff shooter at Piedmont Media for 12 years, captured this cover image in old town Warrenton. Randy says he “saw the shot” in his lens before model couple Natalie Harpole and Gary Hodge reported at Hartman Jewelers on Main Street. “The light coming from the west end of town lit the scene,” Randy explains. “And the Christmas decorations in the Hartman display window really set off the couple, ’shopping’ from out on the street.” Hartman owner Larry Silva and his crew set up a beautiful display for the photo shoot, says cover story author Mara Seaforest. “The jewelry was lovely, and Horse Country Saddlery provided perfect ’country attire’ for Natalie and Gary.” Natalie, 22, is a native of Amissville and graduated Fauquier High in 2013. Gary, 23, graduated FHS in 2012. They live in Flint Hill.

WINTER 2017

Published quarterly by Piedmont Media Address 39 Culpeper Street Warrenton, VA 20186 Phone: 540-347-4222 Fax: 540-349-8676 Publisher: Bailey Dabney bdabney@fauquier.com Editor: Betsy Burke Parker betsyburkeparker@fauquier.com Executive editor: Kari Pugh, 540-351-0487 kpugh@fauquier.com Advertising director: Kathy Mills Godfrey, 540-351-1162 kgodfrey@fauquier.com Consultants: Marie Rossi mrossi@fauquier.com Kate Sprague ksprague@fauquier.com Liliana Ruiz lruiz@fauquier.com Heather Sutphin hstuphin@fauquier.com Patti Engle pengle@fauquier.com Renee Ellis rellis@fauquier.com Maggie Lovitt mlovitt@fauquier.com Design Visual design editor: Chris Six, 540-347-4222 csix@fauquier.com Page designer: Taylor Dabney tdabney@fauquier.com Ad designers: Cindy Goff cgoff@fauquier.com Taylor Dabney tdabney@fauquier.com Annamaria Ward award@fauquier.com

What’s on your Christmas wish-list? Our contributors say ’go big or go home.’ Pat Reilly of Marshall, a former newspaper editor and government spokesperson, just completed editing her late husband’s book "Allies and Adversaries: Churchill and the Man Who Would Be France" by Richard Irish. For Christmas, she thinks globally, acts locally. “If world peace is too big an ask,” she muses, “I’ll settle for an Advent calendar with chocolates in it.” New York native editor and author Steve Price craves two things for Chanukah, he says: a fistful of Blue Chip SR-50 mandolin picks, and a platter of latkes “that won’t sit in my stomach like the Rock of Ages until spring thaw.” Sally Harmon Semple is a master gardener and is recently retired from a long and “intermittently rewarding career writing and enforcing environmental law.” She says what she really needs for Christmas is a fence to keep the groundhogs out of her back yard. Local writer Connie Lyons has asked Santa for a trip to France and, “in my stocking, tickets to Hamilton.” Managing editor Betsy Burke Parker operates a livestock and horse farm near Flint Hill. For Christmas, her wish list is practical: a new chainsaw to replace her ailing Stihl, or at least a box of spark plugs. Rappahannock County-based outdoors writer Pam Owen writes on local flora and fauna for a number of publications. Alissa J. Jones leads a writers’ group

in northern Virginia. This year, Alissa hopes to spend Christmas with her grown children, 14-year-old granddaughter, and to “kiss the cheeks of my new grandson, born in late October, on Christmas morning.” John Daum has been a teacher at the Hill School in Middleburg for two decades. For Christmas this year, John has asked Santa to bring him some liquid refreshment from a local Virginia brewery, “and a pizza from Spitony’s.” Local writer Nora Rice says her seasonal wishes are simple, and pure as, well, pure as the driven snow. “I wish for a fluffy white Christmas to romp in with my winterloving dog Chloe.” Government reporter for Piedmont Media, James Ivancic has simple wishes for the holidays. "If Santa brings me a good book to read he’ll make me a happy man." Hannah Dellinger is the public safety reporter at Piedmont Media. Freelance photojournalist Randy Litzinger worked for Piedmont Media and its predecessors for 12 years. He lives in Haymarket with his wife and three young daughters, and says he craves a Peppermint Patty for Christmas. Warrenton freelance writer Danica Low has worked in PR, local government and with non-profits for 16 years. In Danica’s house, "the Christmas season begins in early October."

Food writer and home cook Janie Ledyard is married to a professional chef, and “they share their kitchen as best as we can,” she says. “For Christmas this year I hope to make a successful batch of Mother’s divinity candy without ruining another stand mixer. It’s not too much to ask, is it?” Writer Janet Heisrath-Evans, mother of three, lives in Warrenton with her husband Scott. Piedmont Media reporter Amanda Heincer has worked for community newspapers in Northern Virginia more than a decade. Food writer and restaurant reviewer Sandy Greeley has written 34 cookbooks. Mara Seaforest graduated from American University. In addition to writing features, Mara operates a design business, Warrenton Graphics. She and her musician husband, David Charvonia, live on a historic farm outside Warrenton, where she raises heritage roses and medicinal herbs. She wants “this year’s Yule to bring healthy changes for all of us, our nation and the world.” Freelance journalist Julie Taylor, a former staff reporter for Fauquier Times, is a Fauquier native, currently living in Denver. For Christmas this year, Julie wants to see the pre-Broadway production of one of her favorite movies, Waitress.

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Topping the chart: The element of surprise

Creativity is taking known elements and putting them together in unique ways.

– Jacque Fresco

Au Gold

196.97

WINTER 2017

One hundred eight was enough. Today, add 10, and counting. High school chemistry circa 1984 taught us there were 108 elements on the periodic table. Period. It was such a neat arrangement, perfectly ordered horizontally and vertically by Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869. Perfectly confusing to a few of us future English majors trapped in the stuffy second-floor classroom, granted, but if you stared at the chart long enough, the fixed system at least seemed solid. Surprise discoveries in the past three decades have shown, actually, elements are more fluid dynamics than statics, and Mendeleev’s neat design may need some White-Out. Indirectly, these late-comers netted the magazine you're holding in your hands. Another huge science surprise last month pushed it past the tipping point. Peer reviewed and widely credible, after years of research scientists have confirmed that 130 million years ago a collision of two neutron stars yielded the raw material that makes up your gold necklace. The weighty smash sent ripples through time-space, flinging heavy metals across galaxies and sending gold and platinum atoms spewing into the earth’s atmosphere. They settled into deep pockets of the young planet’s core, millions of years later rising near the earth’s crust – some in southern Fauquier of all places, eventually to encircle your neck. It explains Goldvein. Ever since inFauquier was conceived four years ago this month, I’ve longed to use this headline: “Goldvein Puts the ‘Au’ in Fauquier,” a play on the zipcode, the Latin for gold – Au from aurum meaning “shining down,” and a poke at the tricky spelling of the French appellation for this former English colony. And like that, The Elements Issue was born. The inFauquier writing crew latched onto the science and humanities of elements and elevated the theme to a new level. Gold ruled, naturally, and Mara Seaforest paints a luminous portrait of Hartman Jewelers goldsmith Larry Silva and meets the other

tegral

county jewelry pros. Silver takes a turn with Remington trophy designer Dick Varge sharing his ardor for this precious award material. Alissa Jones finds how iron makes the move from element to art when she gets inside the head of a local ornamental blacksmith. Over in the garden, Janet Evans deciphers the confusing balance of N-P-K for the home enthusiast, while Nora Rice offers a how-to guide for gilded garden gifts. Providing the expected tie to bind the elements of the Elements Issue, Steve Price’s piece on the curious etymology of Mendeleev’s table wraps up the entire story package with an unbreakable bond. Funny story about the 19th century chemist, he says. “I still remember looking up at that chart in horror,” Steve says. “It was more insscrutable than a New York City subway map, although as our chemistry instructor would crack wise, ‘never fear, boys and girls, it’s elementary.’ ” But the more Steve learned about chemistry, the more sense the chart made, he recalls. “Hydrogen bombs, carbon-dating, lithium batteries, chlorine in drinking water - they're all part of real life. “The witicism became more clear and more comfortable, and I liked to say ‘it’s elementary’ turned our chemistry class into a Holmes’ room. “As a future humanities major, I never got the chemistry jokes, but I could make my own.”

WINTER 2017

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

WINTER 2017

Experience Old Town Warrenton presents…

umDrop G g in n in -w rd a w a Experience the d for your n a h n o e b l il w ta n Square where Sa 2 wrapped $ d n a s to o h p y il wish lists, fam op. Stroll sh rk o W t re ec S ’s gifts from Santa lers, choirs, ro a c y jo en d n a t down Main Stree horse-drawn d n a a o c o c t o h , ls merchant specia select dates). n (o es d ri e g ia rr a c

P RET WORKSHO C E S ’S A T N A S UARE & GUMDROP SQ pm 8 & Dec 15, 6 - 9 1 pm ec D 1, ec D s ay d Fri Dec 16, 10 am & 9 ec D 2, ec D m - 3 pm Saturdays 10 & Dec 17, 1 p ec D 3, ec D s ay Sund ’S F WARRENTON Dec 1 TOWN O RADE, 6 PM CHRISTMAS PA ANTA, TURES WITH S IC P R O F T E P UR Dec 3 BRING YO CA, 3-4 P HOSTED BY SP OWN RRIAGE RIDE D A C N W A R -D E ORS Dec 8 TAKE A H 6 - 9 PM MAIN STREET, IDE N CARRIAGE R W A R -D E S R O H Dec 15 TAKE A TREET, 6 - 9 PM DOWN MAIN S

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COUNTY TIDBITS

Winter wonderland

Check out Fauquier’s events calendar There’s so much going on through the holidays, New Year’s and beyond, many event dates were not confirmed at press time. This list is just a starting point: Check the Fauquier Times and fauquier.com. Weekends in December

GumDrop Square in Old Town Warrenton

Downtown carolers, orchestra and choir music, open houses, live nativity, food trolleys with hot cocoa and warm snacks and horsedrawn hayrides. oldtownwarrenton.org

Holidays at Airlie

Warrenton Fridays and Saturdays in December, visit Airlie’s holiday-decorated property. Tour the formal gardens, see the light display and warm up with cider and gingersnaps in front of a bonfire. Free. airlie.com

Historic tours

Sky Meadows State Park, Paris Visit the houses in the park’s historic area and see how the holidays were celebrated in the past by the people who called Sky Meadows "home." virginiastateparks.gov

Dec. 16

Paws for Reading program, Bealeton Library

Children age 5-10 read their favorite books to trained therapy dogs. Free. 540-422-8500

Breakfast with Santa

Airlie, Warrenton Buffet breakfast and kids’ activities in Santa’s Workshop with holiday crafts, cookies to decorate and, of course, Santa himself. Airlie holiday open house, Dec. 19. airlie.com

Dec. 16-17

African American Heritage Association, The Plains

25th anniversary “Telling your own story” open house aahafauquier.org

Dec. 30

Open house, Public School Number 18, Marshall

Historic renovation of original oneroom schoolhouse. Fauquier Master Gardeners tour of landscaped grounds. 540-422-8570 12

WINTER 2017

Dec. 31

New Year’s Eve at Airlie

Ring in 2018 at Airlie. Five-course meal. airlie.com

First Night in Old Town Warrenton Welcome the New Year with a community celebration of the arts. Fifty performances at more than 10 indoor locations in downtown Warrenton – jazz, classical, puppet shows, bluegrass, folk music, magicians and more. bluemont.org

Jan. 1, 2018

First-Day Hike – History gone wild

Sky Meadows State Park, Paris Hike with park historian and naturalist as they interpret the stories reflected in the unique landscapes of Sky Meadows State Park. Discover remnants of an old road bed and wildlife, with refreshments afterwards in the historic Log House and tour the renovated Mount Bleak House. dcr.virginia.gov

Jingle Jog 5k fun run

Vint Hill recreation.fauquiercounty.gov

Jan. 27

Foothills Jamboree bluegrass concert Marshall Community Center Free

Feb. 10

Valentine’s Day teen dance Marshall Community Center

Not sure what to get friend or family that has everything?

Try these unique herbal treats for a gift that keeps on giving By Nora Rice

A gift of gold

Turmeric is a classic anti-inflammatory that adds delicious flavor to food and is the basis for soothing golden milk. Recipe 1/2 cup dried turmeric powder 1 cup water and an additional 1 cup water if needed 1/3 cup raw organic cold-pressed coconut oil (can substitute cold pressed extra virgin olive oil but the flavor and texture will be different) 2 to 3 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Mix 1 cup water and turmeric, bring to a boil, then simmer for about 7 to 10 minutes until a thick paste forms. Add more water if needed to simmer for the required time. Cool slightly and mix with oil. Spoon into decorative jars for gifting and store in refrigerator. Freeze if keeping for more than a couple of weeks. Include these directions when presenting as a gift: “Add a spoonful of golden paste and a spoonful of honey to 1 cup of warm milk for a soothing drink. Add to taste to soups, stews, cooked rice or roasted potatoes for golden color and exotic flavor.”

Elderberry syrup

Elderberry syrup is high in antioxidants, and tasty, too.

senting as a gift: “Place 5 to 6 tablespoons in a large cloth tea bag, cotton bandanna, homemade fabric bag or large metal tea ball. Float in a tub of hot water.”

Spicy chocolate nut balls Recipe 1 cup tahini (drain oil floating on top) 1/3 cup nut butter (almond, cashew, hazelnut or walnut, drain oil floating on top) 1/3 to 2/3 cup honey, to taste Five Spice powder to taste (start with 2 tablespoons and add until you like the flavor) 1/3 bag of mini chocolate chips 2 to 3 ounces coconut (optional) 1/3 cup chopped nuts (same as the nut butter) Minced crystallized ginger to taste (optional) Unsweetened cocoa powder

Mix all ingredients well, using hands. Adjust flavors as you add ingredients. Add enough cocoa powder to make a stiff dough. Roll into balls. Dust balls with additional Chinese 5 Spice powder or cocoa or finely chopped coconut. Place in small paper cups in a mini muffin tin to chill. When ready to gift, wrap the entire tin in plastic wrap and a decorative bow. Or place balls on a plate, wrap with plastic wrap and a bow. These balls will keep for a few weeks in a cool place.

Recipe 4 cups cold water 2 cups dried or 4 cups fresh or frozen elderberries 1 stick cinnamon (optional) 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger root (optional) 4 cloves (optional) Lemon juice (optional) Raw local honey

Mix water, berries, the optional cinnamon, ginger and/or cloves. Bring to a boil then simmer for at least 30 minutes to an hour, until the liquid is a rich purple color. Allow to cool slightly, then mash berries into the water. Strain through a fine strainer lined with cheesecloth or unbleached coffee filter. Press or squeeze to extract all the juice. Measure the berry liquid and add the same amount of honey. Heat gently if necessary to combine well. Less honey can be used but the syrup will not keep as long. Add lemon juice to taste. Pour into decorative bottles for gifting and store in refrigerator. Caution - do not serve honey to children less than 1 year old. Include these directions when presenting as a gift: “Take a spoonful daily for general health, use on pancakes and ice cream.”

Herbal bath sachet

Simply mix your favorite dried herbs. Recommended combinations are: • Lavender, lemon verbena, rose petals for a calming bath • Rosemary, thyme, oregano for a lung stimulating bath • Lemon balm, ginger root, cloves for a skin stimulating bath • Rolled oats can be added for more soothing • Include these directions when pre-

Clove-studded citrus

For a classic fragrant gift dating back to America’s colonial period, stud citrus with cloves. Recipe Choose a firm fresh citrus fruit such as lemon, lime or orange.

Draw a pattern on the fruit with a sharpie. Patterns can be spirals, parallel lines or initials. Carve the pattern through the skin and pith with a small sharp knife. Choose cloves that are similar in size and that still have their "bud" attached. Insert cloves spaced closely into the carved pattern. Set three or 5 fruit on a bed of cloves in a bowl or compote. Natural scent will perfume the surrounding air and is less likely to cause allergic reactions than artificial scents. To gift, wrap the studded fruit in colored plastic wrap tied with a bow.

Doggy bed

Protect pets and your home from fleas and unpleasant scents. Recipe Stuff a dog bed or pillow with a combination of any of the following dried herbs: chamomile flowers, savory, yarrow, neem, rue, tansy, cedar shavings or pennyroyal.

COUNTY TIDBITS

You rock

Spreading kindness, one thought at a time By Amanda Heincer

PHOTOS BY RANDY LITZINGER

That’s heavy Fauquier’s own Lord Fairfax Community College will become the first community college in Virginia to offer statewide industry credential programs for heavy equipment operators. The college has been awarded a $453,686 Workforce Capacity Building grant from the Virginia Community College System. The college will use the National Center for Construction Education and Research’s curriculum and national industry credentialing. Students will be trained using state-of-the-art Vortext simulation equipment. “The simulation equipment will allow our students to gain hands-on training on multiple types of heavy construction equipment that will replicate real-life operating scenarios through rotating-motion platforms and high-resolution 3D displays,” said school rep Jean Clark. “Students will do the actual motions and feel the vibrations while moving, digging and lifting in real-time weather and soil conditions.” Heavy equipment jobs pay $43,000 a year, average, and experts say there’s significant demand in the area. “There is absolutely a need for qualified heavy equipment operators,” said S.W. Rodgers project manager T.J. Rodgers. “With the interstate widening project, we’re going to see an increasing shortage of qualified operators.” LFCC is also expanding electrical, HVAC and plumbing trades programs to Journeyman level. lfcc.edu

Bright ideas for the

holidays

• To celebrate the 12 days of Christmas, or any holiday tradition you celebrate, wrap 12 kids’ books to place under the tree. Open one each night, read it, and carefully re-wrap. After the holidays, donate the wrapped gifts to Goodwill or another charitable organization, or better yet, personally deliver to a nursing home to re-open and re-read to residents. • Give the gift of yourself and donate your time to a local animal shelter. Dogs always need walking and interaction with human handlers to optimize their adoptability. Cats always need tending and active play, kennels need cleaning – the list is endless. • This year, instead of adding boxes and paper to the landfill, volunteer to help out at the local shelter.

You might find one hidden outside a store. Or you might find one by the library. A few have been spotted at Warrenton’s Rady Park. Colorful, painted rocks are popping up all over the county, and all over the country – even around the world, part of a powerful social movement that aims to spread cheer and good will. The “Kindness Rocks” project has people painting rocks with inspiring messages and colorful images. The original movement was limited to Facebook posts, a way to spread the fun. It evolved into a game – painting, hiding, finding and re-hiding rocks. “I first started seeing the pictures on Facebook and it just kind of inspired me,” says Tracy Werner, shift supervisor for Fauquier County’s emergency communications team. “It just seemed kind of fun and an inspirational way to spread joy.” Werner’s shift of dispatchers — comprised of emergency communications specialists Danielle Prichard, Bryan Miller and Kelly Omohundro — along with other shifts and other sheriff’s office employees, have been spending their spare time painting rocks with inspirational messages and fun images. They painted a variety of designs on their rocks, including detailed sheriff’s office badge, the SPCA logo, a dragon, and inspirational messages such as “Hope anchors the soul,” “Smile. I got this. – God” and “You rock.” Some of the rocks, like one painted with the message “One kind word can change someone,” aim to inspire and uplift people who might need a pick-me-up and others, like those painted like a Minion and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle are designed to just bring a smile to the face of whoever finds it. Miller turned out to be the surprise artist of the shift, Werner says. He shows photos of his favorite designs — a K-9 rock and a Texas-shaped rock he painted, of course, like the Texas state flag. Painting the rocks was a fun project for the dispatchers to do in their spare time on their shift, Werner says. “It was nice to do something positive,” Werner says. “I think it was good for their morale.” Painting the rocks was fun, Prichard and Omohundro agree. “It was just fun for us to do something to bring a smile to someone’s face,” Omohundro says. The Kindness Rocks Project was started by Massachusetts resident Megan Murphy “to spread inspiration and a moment of kindness for unsuspecting recipients through random inspirational rocks dropped along the way,” she says on her website. This is how it works: Paint rocks with inspi-

rational messages or fun pictures and hide them around your community. When you find a rock, post a photo on social media with the hashtag #kindnessrocks and then re-hide the rock, or keep it and paint and hide one of your own. Locally, the Facebook group Fauquier Rocks! has about 1,000 members. Some rock hiders also post clues about the places their rocks can be found on the Facebook page. Some area businesses are using painted rocks for marketing and offering discounts to customers who find their rocks. The Fauquier County Fair hid 10 rocks around Warrenton and offered free admission to those who found the rocks and redeemed them at the fair. Families4Fauquier, a local nonprofit group, has its own rock club and associated Facebook page, F4F Rocks, with more than 450 members. The club holds rock painting events and provides rocks and paint to children and families who might want to participate but don’t have the supplies, says Familes4Fauquier founder Rachel Pierce. “It’s a fun free thing for families to do,” says Pierce. Hiding and finding rocks in the community can be a fun family activity too, she adds. “It’s inspirational, the idea is to spread cheer around in the community.” Families4Fauquier has opened two community rock gardens, where people want to find and leave rocks can do so, without participating in the scavenger hunt-type of rock hiding. “The idea of the rock garden is to have a place where people can come and see the inspirational messages on the rocks, take them if they’d like to, and leave (others,)” Pierce says. Unpainted rocks are scattered in the gardens for people who want to take rocks and to paint them and return them. The rock gardens are at the WARF in Warrenton and at a community park in Vint Hill. While the project is fun for the rock painters, all of the participants seem to agree that their goal is to spread the cheer around. “I hope it just brings a smile to someone who needs it,” Werner says. WINTER 2017

ZIP CODE 22720: GOLDVEIN

The Gold Dominion Striking it rich in southern Fauquier It takes two million years for gold to solidify from molten to metal. It starts near the Earth’s fiery core, bubbling into cracks and pockets in rock to eventually form a rich, yellow vein. It takes another million years for it to break away by erosion. Look no further than Goldvein to discover one of the earth’s more rare elements.

Thomas Jefferson did it; why not you? From flakes the size of a flea to a four-pound monster found in the 1800s, gold has made the southern tip of Fauquier County shine for 200 years. Gold was first mined commercially in the county starting in 1818, the precious metal providing an obvious name, Goldvein, for the village that sprang up when the Union Gold Mine opened a couple miles east of the settlement of Grove Church. The mines have been closed more than a hundred years, and though modern Goldvein is strategically located on busy U.S. Route 17, it’s more a place that’s not a place today. Fifteen miles south of Warrenton, 20 miles north of Fredericksburg, Goldvein retains its zip code – 22720 – but the post office closed a few years ago, and mail is routed through Bealeton. It’s one of Fauquier’s smallest zips – bounded by Midland, Sumerduck and Remington, with about 800 residents living in small neighborhoods in the largely unfarmed, mostly wooded land area. The topography flattens at the southern end of the zip, Rock Run and Deep Run draining to the Rappahannock. There’s no longer a general store nor post office to serve as “town center,” but Goldvein has an active volunteer fire company, and Grove Baptist and Clevers Oak Baptist attract parishioners from around the region. Most see Monroe Park’s replica gold mining camp to be the modern heart of Goldvein.

How it happened

Early settlers found gold readily along a 150-mile strip, 10 to 15 miles wide, extending Appomattox County north to Frederick County, Maryland. The rich line is the northern arm of a 650-mile mineral-bearing 14

WINTER 2017

Monroe Park gold mining camp curator Todd Bonshire says panning for gold is a throwback to the early days of Fauquier’s former place as a leader in gold mines. There used to be 19 active mines in the county. belt that ends in coastal Alabama. Modern scientists verify what settlers of the region discovered, that veins run parallel the Appalachian chain, rippling through solid quartz rock like underground waves. Gold deposits sometimes press within a few feet of the Earth’s surface, as

they do in southern Fauquier. Fauquier was one of the three top gold-producing counties in Virginia in the 1800s, with 19 mines in a three-mile radius. There’s no accurate measure of the gold extracted from Fauquier mines, but some estimate its modern value at $60 million.

Before the California Gold Rush of 1849, Virginia and Georgia were America’s top gold producers. As more nations turned to the gold standard in the late 1800s, new mines opened in Virginia 1870 to the early 1900s. Thomas Jefferson is credited as first to record finding a lump of gold-bearing ore in Virginia, in 1782 by the Rappahannock River near Fredericksburg. As early prospectors combed these stream banks, so did Henry Patton Monroe, from the 1960s through the mid-1990s. Monroe ran a general store in Goldvein 1939 to 1986, and his 54-year tenure as village postmaster, from 1941 until his death, remains a Virginia record. Monroe’s heirs donated the 19acre H.P. Monroe Goldmining Park in 1988. In the museum that opened in ’98, artifacts of the largely forgotten industry show visitors how gold makes its way from the earth’s core to near the surface, how prospectors learned to mine rock and crush it to extract gold, what it was like to live in a mining camp, and what the modern value of the once-rare commodity is. At press time, an ounce of gold sold for $1,267.50, down from a high in August, 2011 – $1,911.50. “It’s valuable because it’s rare,” explains Monroe Park and gold mining camp curator Todd Bonshire. “And beautiful. “Modern prospecting is just like it was in the 1800s – the thrill of the hunt,” Bonshire adds, noting that Monroe Park visitors old and young love dipping gold pans into a circulating stream built by the replica bunkhouse to look for gold nuggets and flakes. Now, as then, the same motivation drives visitors to try their luck. “You had a chance to strike it rich.” – Story and photo by Betsy Burke

ZIP CODE 20144: GOLDVEIN

Panning for the past

Everybody loves a chance to hit the jackpot By Hannah Dellinger

Monroe Park’s Gold Mining Camp Museum offers an interactive exhibit that gives visitors a realistic gold mine experience. Previously, the museum was limited to offering guests three water troughs filled with sand and creek water. The hands-on display features running water for a more accurate re-enactment. “What we’re trying to do here is show what a gold mining camp from the 1930s would have looked like,” says Todd Bonshire, park manager and curator. Gold mining camps were prominent in southern Fauquier from 1825 until 1936. When the cost of machinery and labor became more expensive than the value of the gold, the camps closed. The streams in Goldvein still have some gold in them, and the park and museum attract a fresh crop of prospectors weekly. The sluice replica is made up of a small water tower with a channel of water running down it. The long and narrow end allows panners to scoop out real gold and gemstones. Although the replica is new, it was constructed to look weathered and old. To the untrained eye, the sluice looks like miners used it nearly a century ago.

“It’s a great learning tool,” says Friends of Monroe Park president Cindy Stylianos, adding that the wheelchair-accessible structure was designed to attract prospectors of all ages. The sluice cost about $14,000 to build, Bonshire says. Friends of Monroe Park raised the funds. The group formed when the park opened in 1998 and has been raising money for its projects ever since. Free gold panning demonstrations are held Wednesday through Sunday, year-round. Bags of mining rough with either gold or gems, minerals, or fossils, along with basic prospecting equipment, are available for purchase at the museum. The museum was awarded a National Endowment of the Humanities Preservation Assistance grant to fund a conservation assessment for several pieces of mining machinery. In addition to the gold mining museum, Monroe Park has a playground, soccer field, baseball diamond, beach volleyball court, horseshoe pits, and a short hiking trail that winds around the picnic pavilion. Two big fundraisers are held each year – a spring Easter egg hunt and the Goldvein Jubilee in September. A group, the Northern Virginia Gold Prospectors, meets monthly at Monroe Park. goldvein.com PHOTO BY ADAM GOINGS WINTER 2017

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WINTER 2017

The Elements Issue: Why matter matters

What’s in a name? Discover the curious etymology of the complicated periodic table By Steve Price

As we were taught in – no pun intended – elementary school science class, elements are substances can’t be chemically broken down into simpler forms. They’re the primary constituents of all matter. Scientists have known about elements for some 10,000 years. It all started with copper and lead, with gold, silver and iron running not far behind. There are now 118, traditionally and conveniently displayed in the Periodic Table. Russian physicist Dmitri Mendeleev created the table, literally dreaming it in 1869 after falling asleep at his desk with 65 note cards arranged on the desk — one for each element known at the time. He awoke with the realization that they could be arranges systematically, starting with hydrogen with its atomic number of 1 (representing its single proton) to terbium, a rare earth metal with 65 protons. Not all elements have common names. Many require some explanation, and the name-game often has an interesting tale. • COLORS: Naming an element after the color in which it is found in nature or, later on, under a spectroscope, made sense to the discoverers. Iodine comes from the Greek word for dark rust or violet. Rhodium means rose, while rubidium is deep red, or its English equivalent ruby. Thallium was suggested by a word for “sprouting green twig,” very close to Thalia, the goddess of poetry and comedy whose name meant “flourishing.” Two elements whose names were suggested by the color of blue are iridium and cesium. Like iodine, indium was named after indigo – which itself derived from “coming from India,” based on the blue color of its emission spectrum. Cesium came from the Latin caesius, which means sky blue because it too emitted a blue hue under the spectroscope. Iridium took its name from Iris; it’s a rainbow that contains the entire spectrum of colors. • CELESTIAL BODIES: Five elements were named for planets: mercury, tellurium (after tellus, Latin for Earth,) neptunium, and the two with which we’re most familiar in this nuclear age, uranium (for Uranus) and plutonium (for Pluto, although

WINTER 2017

Pluto was recently determined not to be a planet). Cerium was named for Ceres, the first asteroid to be discovered, which in turn was named for the Roman goddess of harvest. Ceres is, of course, also the root word for cereal. The inspiration for palladium was Pallas, the second named asteroid. Pallas was an epithet given to the goddess Athena. Helium came from Helios, Roman god of the sun, while selenium was inspired by Selene, Greek goddess of the moon. Titanium was named after Titan, child of Uranus and Gaia that ruled the universe before the Olympic gods and goddesses came to power. Tantalum, an inert metal used to make dental equipment, was inspired by Tantalus, from which the word “tantalize” also comes. A Greek god who betrayed the others, he was exiled from Olympus and punished for eternity. He was made to stand in a pool of water under the branches of a fruit tree. Whenever he reached up for a fruit, the branches grew out of reach, and whenever he tried to drink, the water level dropped beyond his ability to slake his thirst. Promethium was named after Prometheus, who was suffered eternal torture for stealing fire from the gods, a reference to the great effort and ingenuity required to synthesize new elements. Naturally, thorium comes from Thor, the Norse god whose powerful hammer was said to cause thunder. Vanadium, of which the salts come in beautiful colors, honors Vandis, the Scandinavian goddess of beauty. Nickel and cobalt come from a Germanic word for devil in the belief that malign creatures snuck into mines to replace valuable and similar-looking copper and silver ores with these less valuable ones. • PLACE NAMES: Europium, americium, francium and polonium are self-evident. Strontium comes from the Scottish village of Strontian, the location of lead mines in which the element was originally found. Because of the great wealth of discoveries made there, Swedish mining village of Ytterby was immortalized by ytterbium, yttrium, erbium and terbium. Closer to home are berkelium and californium for the University of California at Berkeley.

Top 10, first in

1. Copper was likely the first metal mined and crafted by humans, used in 9000 BCE in the Middle East. Copper beads dating from 6000 BCE have been found in Anatolia. 2. Lead was smelted at least 9,000 years aago, with the oldest known artifact of lead a statuette of Osiris dated 3800 BCE found in Egypt. 3. Gold was highly valued since it was used starting around 9000 BCE. The oldest golden treasure in the world, dated around 4400 BCE, was found at a burial site in modern Bulgaria. 4. Silver is estimated to have been discovered around 5000 BCE, shortly after copper and gold. 5. Iron was used before 5000 BCE, with the discovery of smelting in 3000 BCE leading to the start of the Iron Age around 1200 BCE and the eventual, prominent use of iron for tools and, later, weapons. 6. Carbon’s earliest known use was for the reduction of copper, zinc and tin ores in the manufacture of bronze by the Egyptians and Sumerians. In 1789, carbon was listed by Antoine Lavoisier as an element. 7. Tin was smelted in combination with copper around 3500 BCE to produce bronze, and thus giving place to the Bronze Age. 8. Sulfur was first used at least 4,000 years ago by the Chinese. It was recognized as an element by Robert Boyle in 1661. 9. Mercury was known to ancient Chinese and Indians before 2000 BCE. 10. Zinc was identified as a distinct metal by metallurgist Rasaratna Samuccaya in 800 BCE. Comic book and movie fans recognize krypton. Having nothing to do with Superman’s home planet or his nemesis kryptonite, the name for this inert gaseous element was coined by its discoverers from the Greek krypton, from "hidden" as in “crypt” and so named because it was so difficult to find. • PROPER NAMES: Probably due to modesty, no discoverer has named an element after him or herself, but several scientists have elements named after them. These include curium for Marie and Pierre Curie, pioneers in radiology and discoverers of the element radium; einsteinium for Albert Einstein, formulator of, among other achievements, the theory of relativity; and fermium for Enrico Fermi, creator of the first nuclear reactor (and the so-called “father of the atomic bomb.”) Seaborgium, named after American chemist Glenn Seaborg, was the first element to be named after a living scientist. Roentgenium is named in honor of Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, who produced and detected Xrays. Rutherfordium honors Lord Ernest Rutherford, the “father of nuclear physics” who was the first to discover that an atom has a nucleus around which electrons circle (known as the Rutherford or planetary model of the atom.) And last but not least, perhaps the most honorable honorific on all the periodic table, mendelevium – a metallic radioactive transuranic element in the actinide series, honors the father of modern chemistry, Dmitri Mendeleev.

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Faces & Places WHO WE ARE AND WHERE WE GO

All that glitters

Warrenton jeweler Larry Silva: good as gold Photos by Randy Litzinger Story by Mara Seaforest

Inside this section:

n Tin Pot Run bridge renamed to honor Remington hero Harold Davis n Discover the twisted tales of two local balloon artists n Steve Henry’s the name, and detection’s his game: Finding metal might test your mettle n The Alzheimer’s-aluminum link – Maybe yes, maybe no, but sufferers crave an answer WINTER 2017

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King of bling

Hartman goldsmith Silva shines in the profession that chose him By Mara Seaforest

A least a hundred fishing boats were berthed next to pleasure craft in seaside Provincetown, Massachusetts, when Lawrence M. Silva was born there. Most young men grew up expecting to spend some part of their lives on the water — for sport if they were wealthy, for a rough living as fishermen if they were not. Then as now, the undercurrent in Provincetown was world-class theatre and artisans, including jewelry designers with shops appealing to the town’s seasonal influx of tourists with fat wallets. It created, early, a vision that the eventual goldsmith at one of Fauquier’s most admired jewelry stores never lost sight of. First, though, young Larry Silva was drawn to the theatre, begging his folks to buy him tap shoes and let him go to ballet classes with his sister. They swiftly became a popular performing brother-sister act, then Silva went solo. He’s been a showman ever since.

Dazzling the dazzlers

Silva eventually stowed his dancing shoes and followed his chef parents’ footsteps and studied at Culinary Institute of America. When he joined the U.S. Navy, his kitchen skills made him a natural at Camp David, where he served presidents Nixon, Ford and Carter and their entourages. At the same time, he met a talented amateur lapidary, a person who works with gemstones. Watching his friend work reminded him of admiring window displays of a silversmith in Provincetown. On forays into Thurmont, he spent time examining handcrafted jewelry at the town’s annual ColorFest. “Someday,” he recalls thinking, “I’m going to try that.” Along the way, he’d developed a talent for singing, joining the world-famous Alexandria Harmonizers, a tightly choreographed a cappella troupe. During Silva’s tenure, they wowed audiences at Carnegie Hall and were show-stoppers in televised “Kennedy Center Honors” for two more presidents – Clinton and George W. Bush, as well as Perry Como and Ray Charles. After honorary discharge from the Navy, Silva worked as a restaurant consultant. Working in Tysons Corner, he met Cathy Gilbert, a beautiful United Airlines flight attendant moonlighting during a strike. She recalls being stunned by his “presence” even before they formally met. She knew she was supposed to marry him. She did. As Silva’s wife, Cathy helped him tackle a new adventure. He fretted that the restaurant business wasn’t really his scene, but Cathy cut through the 22

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noise in his head and asked, “what would really make you happy?” Silva recalled artisans at ColorFest from Thurmont and in the beautiful Provincetown shop windows of his childhood. “I want to bring the most stunning elements of nature together in works of art intended to adorn the human body and delight the eye,” he recalls his reply. "Then do it," said Cathy. With his wife’s encouragement, Silva went to work for Castelburg Jewelers in Washington,

D.C., then to school to study metallurgy. He did a four-year apprenticeship with Master Goldsmith Bruce Holmgrain. Larry endured solder burns and the tedium of sizing rings and mending broken chains but also learned hundreds of techniques. “I can hand-make the tiny parts of watches because of that apprenticeship,” Silva says. “Many of the techniques I know today or that I’ve developed myself go straight back to that man.” From H&L Enterprises, he turned out designs for Blackstar and Frost, Ketterman, Mervis, the

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Jewel Gallery in Georgetown and more. “I also did some work for the grandfather of the owner of Warrenton Jewelers back then.” He even backed up the extravagant Madame Wellington of Washington’s Wellington Jewels. “She used strontium titanate, a byproduct of the paint industry, to make artificial jewels that were really popular with a lot of stars. They actually showed up better under lights on stage and on the red carpet. Liberace had Wellington Jewels as well as real diamonds.” When he introduced his own Da Gama Designs, named after the great Portuguese explorer, treasures from Silva’s studio lured visitors into galleries and jewelry shops far and wide, eventually including Hartman Jewelers in Warrenton.

Light up your life Fauquier’s jewels Carter & Spence Owners Kathleen and Carter Spence 13 years at this location 41 Main St. 540-347-9189 kathleen@carterandspence.com carterandspence.com Hartman Jewelers Owner David Hartman 23 years on Main Street 36 Main St. 540-349-4123 info@ hartmanjewelers.com hartmanjewelers.com

Golden rule

Silva removes his protective glasses with fingers blackened by the byproducts of his craft. “People have been in love with gold since Egyptian times, probably before,” he says. “It’s rare and valuable — we used to base our whole system of currency on it. You can make it into almost anything. But mostly, it’s just beautiful.” When gold comes out of the ground, it isn’t pure. It has to be refined, Silva explains. Pure refined gold is 24-karat gold. It’s the choice of added alloys — copper, silver, zinc, and nickel — and the percentage of each that give the karat designation to gold and determine its different qualities, ten-

sile strengths and characteristic tones. Rose gold has extra copper in it, for example. Silva does his own alloying, then manipulates the result for different styles of jewelry. “You don’t want pure gold in most jewelry. It’s too soft,” Silva says. “But working with pure gold or any highquality gold is fun. You can make it really bold or it can be incredibly fine.” Silva likes colorful gemstones that play against stones of other colors and textures. “I’m not a big fan of diamonds,” he says, though his left earlobe sports one that glitters as he speaks. He has a line of jewelry called Neckscapes that works equally well for women or men. “I made a two-toned gold with lapis stickpin based on a native American pottery shard I found. I like to wear it to show men they can get away with it,” Silva says. Silva also loves embellishing customers’ inherited jewelry. “I think I get the greatest joy when someone brings in a sentimental piece that another jeweler said they should just get rid of,” he says. “Sometimes you can’t resurrect it. Everything has a lifespan and maybe all I can do is reuse the stones from it. But it gives me great pleasure to have a customer smile at me and say, ’Oh, this was my grandmother’s and now I can wear it!’ That’s a lot of fun.”

Marta Von Dettingen Owner Marta Von Dettingen 14 years at this location 58 Main St. 540-347-7670 mwirmen@verizon.net facebook.com/pg/MartaVonDettingen Vallie’s Vintage Jewelry Owner Cynthia Salamone 35 years, three in this location 30 S. Third St. 703-589-6549 valliesvintage@gmail.com valliesvintagejewelry.com/ Warrenton Jewelers and Gifts Owners Jim and Erin Driver 10 years; four in this location 524 Fletcher Dr. 540-341-8840 warrentonjewelersandgifts@gmail.com warrentonjewelers.com

Prize possessions

Remington trophy and award company deals in one of humanity’s deepest-rooted needs: recognition Napoleon observed it in the early 1800s: “a soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.” American psychologist and researcher Abraham Maslow found it rang true in 1943, ordering it high on his pyramid of hierarchy of human needs – esteem and respect from others. Closer to home, today the owner of a Remington prize company believes the deep-rooted desire for recognition still drives people to perform. Dick Varge of Varge International has won awards for his awards, in business since 1980 handling trophies and prizes for a variety of companies, clubs and organizations nationwide. “I developed this medallion for an organization once,” Varge recalls. “The members of this club could buy a jewelry store for goodness sakes – it wasn’t about the value of the award. They were just so doggone keen to receive this small medallion. It was symbolic.

“Medals and prizes. They’re funny things, but they move people to greatness. ” Varge International designs and orders trophies

PHOTO BY BETSY BURKE PARKER

and prizes for one to 50,000, creating specialty prizes out of in silver, pewter, gold, crystal, bronze and more. He’s designed delicate little lapel pins to mark 25 years of employment, and he’s designed deliciously gaudy Super Bowl rings. He loves of helping people feel the love. “I want to make a prize so beautiful that when someone wins it, they’ll cherish it,” Varge says. “I’ve heard of people requesting they be buried with their awards. That’s special.” Most trophies – Varge does tons of sports prizes – are crafted from sterling silver or silver plate because of the cost. Silver is $17 an ounce, gold $1,283. “Silver is beautiful, lustrous, soft and won with lasting and increasing value." “When we present a silver award we do it with pride, knowing we are honoring the recipient with something special. Oh, how we cherish silver." WINTER 2017

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WINTER 2017

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Sometimes you’re the hammer ...

Blacksmith calls shaping hot metal metaphor for shaping your life By Alissa J. Jones

and you come out the other side like a sharpened, shiny, polished implement.” Smithing, Preston says, is similar. “You’re building the character of that tomahawk or that knife,” he says. “When I look at leaders in history who did great things, they … shaped themselves into whatever that era called for.”

Former Marine and secret service officer Daniel Preston finds many similarities between blacksmithing and his military experience. They’re both about shaping raw material into things of strength and durability, he says. Preston crafts custom knives, axes and tomaOld-fashioned craft hawks on an old-fashioned forge Preston served six years in “Under a spreading at his home near Warrenton, the the Marine Corps, including midwest native embracing this chestnut tree, the village tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. ancient art of shaping raw bars He works for the government of steel into intimate, intricate, smithy stands: The smith, now, living near Warrenton strong and durable works of art. a mighty man is he, with with his wife, son and daugh“The reason I love blackter. He’s studying for a massmithing so much is that I can large and sinewy hands; ters in history from American prove everyone wrong,” Presand the muscles of his Military University, and does ton says. People say “not every the blacksmithing on the side. problem can be solved with a brawny arms are strong He explains the impossihammer.” bly intricate process of creatas iron bands.” Preston wants to show how ing beauty and utility through he can. – HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW, a hot, difficult process that THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH brings him peace. When he entered the corps in 1995, Preston “was a raw kid “I heat it to where its malfrom central Wisconsin, and didn’t know anything leable,” he says, using flatters, fullers, Hardy tools about anything,” he says. “When you go through and hammers for transformation from plain to boot camp with all the challenges that get thrown pretty on the anvil. Steel is fired to 1,500 degrees your way, what they’re doing is taking the raw ma- or more, then gently – but firmly – formed into terial – like the metal in blacksmithing – and they’re knives, axes, tomahawks and more. putting heat, stress and sometimes force to it. Once shaped, Preston plunges the still-hot “It’s about developing principles and character, metal into a bucket of water or oil, a process called quenching. “You don’t use water on knives because they will either warp or snap,” says Preston. Now hardened, the metal still holds a lot of “tension,” Preston explains. To make a usable tool, the smith must relieve that tension by baking in an oven at 400-450 degrees for about four hours. Steel is an alloy combining iron and carbon. Pure iron, also known as wrought iron, is no good for knife making because it is soft and brittle. By adding a small percentage of carbon – .65 to 1.5 percent, the resulting steel is much stronger. Preston gets much of his metal from railroad spring steel and reclaimed industrial saw blades.

“If someone just wants a knife, they can pick one up at Walmart,” Preston says. “If they are interested in passing something down from generation to generation, that’s what I’m interested in making. My implements are one of a kind.” He etches decorative markings on some knives with a hammer. Preston loves it when kids in his neighborhood hear him hammering and are drawn by smoke and steam rising from the workshop. Everybody, he says, should learn basic skills like smithing, carpentry and gardening. “No one should have to call someone to have something fixed if it involves a basic skill.” he says. In addition to ironworking, Preston dyes and makes leather and kydex sheathes as blade covers. “It’s a great outlet for that built-up nagging cascade of painful memories over the years,” Preston says of his ardor for the forge. “It can also satisfy the artistic side of (working) with your hands.” agentdph@aol.com

Commercial Cardine Studios fashions custom ironwork at Opal workshop From the outside, Cardine Studios appears still, nearly lifeless this frosty morning. The cluster of old dairy barns south of Opal looks almost abandoned but for a couple cars parked crookedly along the gravel drive. Highway traffic headed south towards Bealeton whizzes past at intervals, but the complex is eerily quiet. Open the doors, though, and inside, the studio blazes to life. Red-hot fire flares in a roaring coal-fired forge, bellows feeding gulps of oxygen to keep it a constant 2,500 degrees. Metal-on-metal rings as an international cast of master craftsmen in the dark workroom pound rigid black iron rods into art. Patrick Cardine created Cardine

Studios in 1994 in Chantilly, but moved to Bealeton 10 years later when custom-orders and commissions outgrew the Loudoun studio. Cardine, his daughter and nephews run this commercial blacksmith shop that’s a real throwback to the past. That the blacksmith’s art persists in the 21st century comes as a surprise to many: the industrial age gave the world modern tools and machinery, and factories made possible assembly line production. But Cardine’s custom ironwork – stair railings, lantern sconces, gates and more – are hot property both for business and residential use. “Factory-production ironwork is never the same,” Cardine says.

“The art of blacksmithing masters the tension between the strong and the delicate, artistic and utilitarian, unique and ordinary. “People want this kind of craftwork.” Cardine apprenticed to local artisanal blacksmith Nol Putnam and his White Oak Forge in 1987, in 1993 moving to Europe as a journeyman. He worked with master blacksmiths in Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland and England, to “enhance my skill,” he says. “It shaped my sense of style.” He learned “how to pull a design out of the subconscious.” In the early ’90s, Cardine opened Cardine Studios in Chantilly, and commissions began rolling in. One of his

first big commercial projects was for The Brothers, a Roman Catholic order: a bronze statue of Saint LaSalle, patron saint of educators. Cardine moved the shop to an sprawling old dairy farm just south of Opal in 2004. Current projects include altar rails for St. Francis LaSalle in Purcellville, and ornamental gates and railings for the National Cathedral. “We work with everything,” Cardine says, metals ranging from the classic iron and wrought iron to bronze, stainless steel, copper, aluminum and nickel. “They all yield a totally different look,” he says. “It depends on the project.” cardinestudios.com WINTER 2017

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No clowning around here

Local balloon artist is really serious about being silly

By Julie Taylor

She’s been twisting balloons into smiles for decades, but Carol Collins has never grown tired of her side-gig. A former elementary school teacher, the 74-year-old recognizes many people think she’s growing younger, not older, as she perfects the act of clowning around. Collins first created her well-known Bingo the Clown character some 30 years ago when she decided she should wear a costume to go trick-ortreating with her daughter. Collins realized that night, re-discovering her inner youth at age 41 in a borrowed clown costume, that she loved bringing happiness to people so much she would devote her life to it. One of her favorite ways to work is anchored by a most simple of joys – twisting plain blow-up balloons into adorable animals for young and old alike at a local ChickFilA. “My thing with balloons is about entertaining with balloons instead of making a complicated figure,” Collins says. “To me it’s more important when the kid can actually do something with the balloon.” In addition to the more typical animals – giraffes, elephants – Collins loves creating instruments like guitars with uninflated strings, and maracas. “One little boy, 4 or 5, wanted to help me all the time so I showed him how to tie a knot. This kid got excited,” she recalls. “Another little girl, I called her Baby Bingo, helped me at the restaurant. She’s a teenager now.” Collins began with local library gigs, helping with fundraising, and when she noticed she could improve her act in certain ways, she then became serious about being silly. Her second husband helped her go professional, creating an entertainment empire as they added performers to their roster. “He bought me my first bunny,” Collins says. She had her retired Navy commander husband walking stilts at 50 years old, performing magic shows and clowning. “We separated 12 years ago, but we’re (still) friends. He didn’t want to continue much anymore, but it was my life,” Collins says. “I’m Bingo, not Carol.” Her clowning character has evolved into Safari Bingo, and she frequently does acts with a hedge-

PHOTO BY RANDY LITZINGER

hog, a dog and racing hamsters. Collins manages her own website and has over 50 performers in her agency, Newventur Entertainment. She performs as many characters, and encourages groups through motivational speeches and laugh yoga workshops. To stay spry, Collins dances, ballroom. “That’s

Linda Donnelly: Dealing in smiles

Her helium balloon designs give Festive Effects a national name Linda Donnelly created her Festive Effects party planning company in Marshall 22 years ago, starting small with just a few parties a month. The business has ballooned. Now a nationwide family entertainment empire, Festive Effects has a half-dozen employees, dozens of 28

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accounts every week, and calls for decorative helium balloon displays from coast to coast. “We’re part of Balloon Planet,” Donnelly explains, saying a “balloongram” is ordered much like flowers from FTD. “You can celebrate with family or friends, or have a business

what I love, and it keeps me young.” Collins finds humor everywhere, just recently teasing an employee for a store sign that read "Senior citizens: buy one get one free.” “He forgot to write ’meal’ on the sign,” Collins says. “I want to make people smile. That’s my goal.”

reach, across the country.” Averaging 2,000 to 3,000 balloons per week for displays, Donnelly says there is no “fast way” to fill balloons with helium. She buys tanks of helium gas every single week, filling about 500 balloons from one $240 tank. “Clients ask for the craziest things” in terms of design, she adds. Just last week, Donnelly fashioned a 10-foot-tall turkey made only of helium balloons. “Red for the gobble,

a yellow beak. I used burgundy for the body. “I didn’t ’know how’ to create a turkey. You just figure it out, engineer it to work. “I always tell people – kids, especially – don’t open a balloon and inhale the helium. It’s not good for you. “But, yes, it’s pretty funny to hear the Alvin and the Chipmunks voice.” festiveeffects.com – By Betsy Burke Parker

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FACES & PLACES

We're not making this up: A brief history of mineral makeup Natural products proving popular By Nora Rice and Alissa Jones

Since prehistory, humans have used colorants from nature to decorate spaces and faces. Minerals, plants and animals served as color sources. Minerals in natural colored earths include ocher, green earth and white chalk. Ochers are quartz sand, kaolin, clay and iron oxides in browns, yellows, reds and violets. Early humans learned to grind earths to remove the sand leaving behind the valued colored grains of clay. Red iron oxide, also called hematite or sanguine, tints red, red-orange or orange-violet. Brown sienna and umber are a mixture of manganese oxide and heated hematite. Black earths are mostly manganese oxide. Paleolithic humans painted caves in Spain and France with these earths. Native Americans painted their faces and bodies with colors from clay and other materials. White and yellow clays were gathered from riverbeds. Red was from iron oxide-rich clay or arsenic sulfide rich cinnabar clay. Rare blue clay from Wyoming and green clay from copper ore were used. These colors are still used today when wearing Indian regalia while performing at powwows and other ceremonies. Ancient Egyptians used the prehistoric earth colors but added more blues, violets, greens, gold and white. Reds were made with arsenic disulphide, greens with powdered malachite (copper carbonate) and atacamite (hydrated copper chloride). Yellows brighter than the ochers were made with arsenic trisulfide or orpiment. Pale yellows were made from minerals containing iron sulfate, potassium sulphate, and sodium sulfate. Synthetic blue was made from copper and calcium, and they synthesized the ancestor to the Delft blue used to paint Dutch porcelain from rare cobalt deposits and possibly salts. The dark grey or black eyeliner, Kohl, helped prevent eye infections in early Egyptian medicine. It was made with black lead sulfide, white lead carbonate and artificial lead chlorides. In the Middle Ages, more colors were created using lye, vinegar, heat and fired-closed bottles. Verdigris green, ceruse red, white lead, vermilion red or cinnabar and silver blue were created using these methods. The desire for smooth pale skin was prevalent and has lasted through to recent times. The wealthy used white lead and arsenic paint to cover their faces. This paint was used to lighten skin and to smooth facial smallpox scars. The wealthy used cosmetics to emphasize their differences from the deeply tanned field hands.

Want the look? Charla Malone, lead makeup artist at Salon Emage in Warrenton explains the two biggest reasons she is a serious proponent of using mineral makeup on brides, bridal attendants and on photo shoots. “Mineral makeup has natural sunscreen, which is the number one ingredient for skin health,” Malone says. “Mineral makeup also contains more light 30

WINTER 2017

Salon Emage makeup artist Charla Malone

Before

After

As recently as the 20th century, women ingested arsenic to have the pale skin which resulted from the poison-induced anemia. Today cosmetics include zinc oxide rather than the toxic lead and arsenic. Tanned skin is now desired as a sign of health and of leisure time to frolic under the sun rather than paled from always working indoors.

Meet the artists

Tara Franklin, makeup artist at Salon Emage says her true passion is theatrical makeup. She loves mixing various makeup elements together to create special effects, like wounds or bruises. “I can make bruises by mixing and layering reflection than other types of makeup, which often helps even out skin tone.” She stresses, however, the importance of monitoring that light reflection for bridal photography and photo shoots. “Flash photography reflects different off the mineral makeup than it does your natural skin,” she says. “In photos your makeup may come across blotchy and not blended.” If you’re concerned about flashback, remember to blend it well.

PHOTOS BY RANDY LITZINGER

different colors of eyeshadows, like blues, purples, greens, and yellows,” she says. “There’s a lot of layering.” Franklin goes to Cosplay and Awesomecon, yearly gatherings she describes as “nerd conventions.” People dress up as television, movie or video game characters using costumes and makeup. “I love my beauty, my brides and my headshot work,” Franklin says, “but it’s the blood and gore I have a passion for. “Creating characters on the canvas of a face is what I enjoy most. If I could do movie (or television) makeup, that would be a dream come true. "With bridal makeup, I am matching all the makeup I use to skin tone. With theatrical makeup I’m not concerned about that because I am going for a specific look, trying to change the look completely.” Another difference between the two types of makeup sessions is where she uses mineral makeup. With the brides, any element can be made from minerals, but with theatrical makeup Franklin only uses mineral makeup at the end, in the “setting” stage. Theatrical makeup needs good setting powders because it often gets sweated off. Enid O’Sullivan credits her passion and love for

Continued on Page 31 Minerals can be used in everything from liquid and powder foundations, to eyeshadows, blushes, face and setting powders, highlighters and bronzers. Salon Emage Day Spa, owned by Melanee Montalvo, opened in 2000 as a four-chair salon. In 2003, it moved into a larger space, increased its staff and opened a spa. This year, Salon Emage moved into a larger space in the same building. salonemage.com

FACES & PLACES

Learning to live with the awful sentence of Alzheimer’s

Mom was diagnosed, but we had no idea how hard it would be By Connie Lyons

num exposure can cause neurological and dementia-like symptoms in dialysis patients who, in the course of treatment, were exposed to high levels of aluminum. Intrigued by the work of the earlier researchers, Savory began his own studies, and he’s become convinced that aluminum was a likely cause. It is a controversial but intriguing theory, one with supporters and detractors. But sufferers, and caregivers, are eager for an answer.

It’s the diagnosis most dreaded after cancer. As cancer destroys the body, so Alzheimer’s destroys the mind and spirit of its victim, wreaking havoc with memory and mood and reason, and ultimately leading to death. A personal tale Like cancer, the cause is little underIn the middle of her 87th year, my stood. One fascinating, though contro- mother forgot how to tell time. Because versial, hypothesis, is that the disease is she had an appointment she didn’t want caused by exposure to aluminum. to miss, she telephoned me to inquire In 1965 researchers discovered about the hour. “I’m looking at the that injecting rabbits’ brains with numbers on my watch, but I can’t seem aluminum caused them to develop to figure them out,” she said. She didn’t neurofibrillary tangles, seem especially conthe convoluted proteins "It’s everywhere." cerned. found in brain cells of But I was. patients with the disI spoke with her doctor, who ease, and a spate of speculation and scheduled a battery of tests. She intensive research followed. A Ca- protested, furious and indignant, nadian group studying the brains of about the waste of her time and the deceased victims found two to three intrusive nature of the tests. Nothtimes the usual amount of aluminum. ing wrong with me, she said. This is The third-most-abundant element all your doing, she said, pointing the on earth, aluminum is found in soil, in customary accusatory finger at me. some foods, cookware, food packaging, And in fact, the examination uncovanti perspirants and some medications. ered nothing of significance. In other words, it’s everywhere. She was in extraordinarily good “Aluminum is so common, so health, both mentally and physically. prevalent in the environment, that Except for the one temporary aberrastudying it is a hard task,” says John tion, her mind was perfectly lucid. She Savory, professor emeritus of patholo- audited classes in history at the Unigy at the University of Virginia. “Just versity of Virginia, regularly attended a speck of dust can contaminate your a nearby church, shopped, walked, read voraciously and incessantly. Her sample, because it’s everywhere.” Savory helped discover that alumi- hearing and vision were intact; she had

Continued from Page 30 glamour and the birth of her makeup line, Enid O’, to growing up in Brooklyn “during a simpler time.” She recounts how she and her girlfriends spent the days of summer and after school playing in the streets of Brooklyn and practically living at each other’s homes. “We would spend hours dressing up, putting on high heels and doing each other’s makeup and hair,” O’Sullivan recalls. “We’d eat (dinner) and then go back to it.”

Makeup: Make your own

Avoid known allergens and adjust the tint by whipping up a batch of makeup in your kitchen. Work with cosmetic grade ingredients and test on a small patch of skin before using. Discard if makeup changes scent or appearance; it may go "off" since it is free of preservatives.

Master recipe – basic mineral powder 1/2 cup white kaolin clay (cosmetic grade)

none of the diseases that customarily plague the elderly: diabetes, heart disease, cancer, arthritis. Barely five feet tall, she was impeccably well groomed and trim. She dressed with care and style; even a trip to the grocery store required white gloves and a hat. Yet, a few weeks later the manager of the apartment building where she lived telephoned me. “Your mother caused a major uproar here yesterday,” she said. “The smoke alarm on her floor went off, and we noticed smoke coming from under her door.” Using her pass key, she found my mother sitting comfortably in her usual place in her living room, all unaware that a pot on her stove had boiled dry and the remaining contents were on fire. “I think,” said the manager, in a tone that broached no argument, “that it’s time for assisted living.” She moved to a pleasant community a few minutes away, and for three weeks all went well. Then another telephone call. The same scenario, this time embellished by pools of urine here and there. “It’s time to consider a higher placement,” the director said firmly. I found later that this is nursing home euphemism for “she’s going downhill fast.” Knowing that my mother, a profoundly private and solitary woman, would loathe the intrusiveness and herd-like living conditions of nursing home care, I decided, with her eager assent, to move her in with me and my husband. And so for seven months my life was upended, taken over, consumed by my mother’s neediness. She was a difficult person when well, and her

After marriage, divorce, the loss of her parents and being faced with raising a young daughter on her own, she developed her own cosmetic line and entered the wild, weird world of small business ownership. She debuted Enid O’ when she joined forces with stylist Louis Licari 15 years ago. Enid O’ makeup has been worn in the movie, television and magazine industries for years. O’Sullivan was the makeup artist for Regis and Cathy Lee and for Katie Couric. For the past 10 years O’Sullivan has been the featured makeup artist for the Today show’s “am1/2 cup arrowroot powder 1/2 cup organic cornstarch dried rose petals (use red for a rosier color) Finely grind dried rose petals in a coffee mill. (Use this mill only for herbs unless you want coffee scented makeup and rose flavored coffee.)

Sift the petal powder and grind again to minimize grit. Blend the clay, powders and cornstarch together. Cover with a tea towel and let sit several hours or overnight to dry. Pour into decorative shaker bottles. Apply with a fluffy powder puff.

burgeoning illness made her nearly impossible. So that she might feel as much at home as possible, we installed her bedroom furniture in the guest room, putting our own in storage. Since we ate late in the evening, I cooked twice, always to her specifications. Every morning after breakfast we took off in the car to whatever activity she chose from a litany of options I suggested: movies, shopping, a church bazaar. We would lunch out or at home, and she would settle in her room, close the door, and chaos would ensue. Most often, a barrage of telephone calls: to her sister in Charlottesville, to my brother in New York, to my sister at Harvard, weeping, begging and pleading with them to come and take her away from “this terrible place.”

Continued on Page 63

bush makeovers.” She has a cosmetic counter at the Licari Culter Salon in New York. Enid O’s liquid mineral foundation is a signature product of the line. O’Sullivan explains that the health benefit of mineral makeup’s natural sunscreen isn’t the only reason to use it. “Mineral makeup adheres to the face a lot better than other types of makeup,” she says. Aesthetically speaking, mineral makeup is more natural looking.” Salon Emage uses Enid O’ products on bridal party and magazine photo shoots. enido.com

Blush Adjust the basic mineral body powder: Omit rose petals and add pearl red mica powder.

Face powder Adjust the basic mineral body powder. Omit rose petals and add bronze mica powder to match skin tone. Add french green clay to calm a ruddy complexion and zinc oxide for a matte finish. WINTER 2017

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FACES & PLACES

When they call Steve Henry an old relic, he doesn’t mind one bit

Detecting through detective work By Danica Low

When asked the difference between a treasure hunter and a relic hunter, Steve Henry says the difference is connecting. Connecting to the past has been a passion of the Warrenton resident’s whole life. He remembers being 11 and exploring his cousin’s farm in Amelia County. Henry was fascinated by Native American artifacts, and would walk through his cousin’s corn fields looking for projectile points – arrowheads. One day, he spotted a bullet, and not a modern one. He learned that Grant’s Union troops pursued Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia unit on that very land as they retreated from Petersburg to Appomattox. From that small lead slug pumped out more than 150 years ago by a Sharpe’s carbine, Henry was hooked. History had him by the hand. “Treasure hunters seek to locate and recover previously lost objects because of intrinsic or monetary value,” says Henry, 68. “Relic hunters, as I, seek to find objects because of their relationship or connection to a historic event or person.”

Henry and wife Joyce have explored, collected and re-lived the past for four decades. Joyce recently retired as head equestrian trainer at Colonial Williamsburg, where they lived on Duke of Gloucester Street. Together, the Henrys have collected antiques from Civil War and Revolutionary War eras and decorated their homes with the finds. They split time between Warrenton and a farm in Charles City County. It is the history of early Americans that drew them to the farm, 20 miles from Jamestown. Henry has written books about his relic hunting, created a museum in his home, and pinpointed interesting historical family genealogy; his wife takes part in reenactments. “As long as I can remember, I’ve had a passion for the past,” says Henry. “It was only natural that I would become fascinated with objects that have a direct connection to historical events and persons. Growing up in Virginia, I was drawn to the many battlefields and museum collections related to the American Civil War.” Henry remembers when U.S. military forces began using mine detectors to locate land mines and unexploded artillery rounds after World War II. Veterans, he says, soon began to apply the specialized metal detecting technology to discover and recover relics from Civil War camps and battlefields, and earlier military sites.

“While relic hunting actually began immediately after the Civil War battles were fought, it was these veterans who created the idea of applying metal locating technology to relic hunting,” says the University of Richmond class of ’71 grad. Although mine detectors of WWII and the Korean War were not designed to find small, non-ferrous, metal objects, they served well for locating artillery shells, shrapnel, muskets and other iron objects. Much of what we know today about the types of bullets, artillery projectiles, buttons, buckles and camp life of the Civil War is the result of what was salvaged, studied and documented by early relic hunters.

Hunting the hunters

In 1960, Henry’s odyssey as a relic hunter really began. “I was able to enjoy relic hunting in its hey-day, when it wasn’t unusual to be the first person to explore a site with a metal detector since the event occurred,” he explains. “I’ve walked into campsites where the remains of the huts’ fireplaces were still intact and ration cans, plates, eating utensils and bottles were still to be found, sometimes poking up through the leaves. “I have explored battlefields where the metal detector signal sounded constantly as it passed over shrapnel, canister balls and fired bullets that littered the fields where carnage had laid 100-

plus years ago.” In 1964, Henry and a friend saved enough money to buy a surplus mine detector. A month later, they had saved enough to purchase batteries, which, when installed, weighed more than he did. With the invention of the transistor and solid state electronics, smaller machines could operate on batteries. “While in college I was introduced to these new machines,” Henry says, “Even as I couldn’t afford one, I was able to borrow them. My first finds were in 1968 at the Cedar Creek Battlefield in Middletown. I found the brass tip to a bayonet scabbard, a .58 caliber minné ball and a .69 caliber minné ball. “I had in my hands actual items from a battle I had studied. I could almost hear the cannon and musket fire. I had crossed time and been there.” Henry found items from an Oct. 19, 1864 battle between the Union forces commanded by Gen. Phillip Sheridan and the Gen. Jubal Early’s Confederate troops. “The realization that your hand is the first to touch an object, since last touched by a soldier on that field, is a connection with the person in history,” Henry says reverently. “Monetarily it may be worth a few cents, but, historically and emotionally, it’s priceless. It was there, in that time – an actual part of our history.” PHOTOS BY RANDY LITZINGER WINTER 2017

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WINTER 2017

FACES & PLACES

Tin Pot bridge renamed to honor local war hero By James Ivancic

Wounded in four separate battles in Europe during World War II, Harold Davis was thankful to be alive. Though the Remington native carried shrapnel in his body until the day he died at 89 in 2010, he came home in one piece when many others did not. Like many veterans of his generation, he seemingly buried his wartime experience, not sharing it with his family. “He never talked about it. I knew he was in the war,” says son Scott Davis, who lives near his father’s former residence in Remington. “He had visible scars.” Scott remembers as a boy he’d rub his fingers over his dad’s forehead and feel the shrapnel under the skin. A bullet deflected by his helmet had passed above his eyes. It wasn’t until many years later around the time of the 50th anniversary of the D-Day invasion – that the senior Davis opened up about his experiences, his son recalls. Harold Davis made a return trip to Normandy with his wife. Davis kept the many medals, ribbons, photos, newspaper clippings

and induction and discharge documents. And he was a charter member of Remington American Legion Post 247. Scott Davis discovered the depth of his father’s contribution when he went through a box of medals after his death. “Some of the medals and ribbons, I didn’t know what they were for. One of my golfing buddies lives next door to Russell Claar (commander of the Morrisville VFW Post.) He came over to look at them and said, ’This stuff is great.’” Besides the decorations, Davis saved a compass, a small field stove, a can opener, dog tags, newspaper clippings, photographs and a bullet attached to a key ring. Brian Scannon, commander of the Remington American Legion Post 247 Harold Davis helped establish, worked with the Fauquier Veterans Bridge Council to get Tin Pot Run Bridge in Remington named for Davis. A sign will be posted soon. Other county bridges dedicated in the program include the Meetze Road bridge, named for Pfc. Clay Preston Rankin, and the Opal bypass bridge named for William Sidney Shacklette. Rankin earned a Sil-

ver Star for gallantry during World War I. Shacklette, a hospital steward from Delaplane, earned the Medal of Honor for saving others after a boiler exploded onboard a Navy ship in San Diego, California, in 1905. Davis was wounded after landing with the Allied invasion force. He received the Bronze Star after leading a squad of riflemen across exposed territory outside Aachen, Germany, during a battle dubbed Crucifix Hill in October 1944. He received a Purple Heart for a leg wound in combat in North Africa in November 1942. Three oak leaf clusters were added to the Purple Heart for subsequent leg and arm wounds in Sicily, Normandy and Germany. He was a technical sergeant when he was discharged. “I asked him once if D-Day was bad. He said it was bad but not as bad as North Africa,” where his father contracted malaria, Scott says. “It’s amazing to me that some guys made it out. They were patched up and sent back in. My dad’s fourth wound ended his service but probably saved his life.” Davis worked as a radio rigger helper before the war; afterwards, he

worked for the Chesapeake and Telephone Company as a field engineer for 35 years. He retired in 1985 at age 65. He was very involved with the community – Kiwanis and American Legion, and was a Mason for 50 years. Davis served on the Culpeper Town Planning Commission and was deacon in a Baptist church.

Fauquier’s finest World War I:

Maj. Robert S. Spilman, four Bronze Stars, one Silver Star Pfc. Clay Rankin, Silver Star

World War II:

Lt. Col. George Dickerson, USA, Silver Star Lt. Col. Claire B. Mitchell, USA, Silver Star Cpl. Lawrence W. Sudduth, USA, Bronze Star Capt. Alan R. Montgomery, USN, Silver Star 1Lt. Mallory Nash, USMC, Bronze Star Msgt. Nelson “Monk” Noland, USA, Bronze Star SSgt. J. Frank Griffith, USA, Bronze Star PHOTOS BY RANDY LITZINGER WINTER 2017

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LIFE & STYLE

WINTER 2017

LIFE & STYLE

Life & Style THE WAY WE LIVE IN FAUQUIER

The Gilded Age

Gold leaf for books is Cat Tail Run Bookbinding’s specialty Photo by Chris Cerrone Story by Alissa Jones

Inside this section:

n You go, yoga -Meet the experts n Curl up with a cup of cheer and a good read this season n Three local college professors, one overarching plan – to make science sexy WINTER 2017

LIFE & STYLE

JILL DEISS IS IN A BIND

Gold leaf is her specialty

Jill Deiss founded her Cat Tail Run Hand Bookbinding business 27 years ago. Her father was a clock restorer whose influence lit her passion for cultural heritage. Deiss holds a B.S. in chemistry and masters in library science from Syracuse. She specialized in archives and rare book collections. Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a book by binding pages together along one edge, either by sewing with thread or using flexible adhesive. Deiss says she and her staff of five bookbinders spend a typical day engaged in new binding work, but says restoration projects are the bulk of what they do. “Most projects make their way from binder to binder in the shop, with each of us supplying our own area of specialty to the process,” Deiss says. Once the book is bound, edge decoration of pages takes several forms. One is giltedge, where the edge of the book is tooled in gold. Giltedge is not only decorative, Deiss says, but creates a smooth surface that repels dust and fingerprints. Deiss developed her skills through the old-fashioned system of traditional apprenticeship, gaining knowledge that, ironically, “cannot be learned from a book,” she says. Deiss apprenticed in Massachusetts, at Cornell’s Department of Library Conservation and at the Smithsonian. Today, Deiss works with government institutions and private individuals as a “conservator in private practice.” Deiss loves working with individuals most of all, because they have emotional investment in their books, she says, whether it’s a family Bible or handeddown cookbook. “A slice of their identity,” she calls it, something they hope to preserve. “I am often their first contact with book binding. I never get tired of educating people about the books that are so important to them.” Deiss started The School for Bookbinding Arts in 2002. “It’s a place where those of us with a love of the book can continue the traditions of a craft that has been practiced continuously for hundreds of years and shows no sign of becoming obsolete,” she says. Classes range from leather binding restoration, cloth binding construction, book sewing, hand papermaking, paper repair and more. schoolforbookbinding.com cattailrun.com 40

WINTER 2017

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WINTER 2017

SIDE Yoga for every body Instructor Charlene Ploetz has found magic in an ancient practice By Janet Heisrath Evans

Meet Charlene Ploetz

Yoga is a disciplined practice of controlling the body, mind and breath to achieve a sense of well-being and enlightened consciousness of living. Many come to the practice to help reduce stress and for general health. Charlene Ploetz teaches yoga at Lord Fairfax. She says her classes make yoga accessible to everybody, and every body - regardless of body size and shape. A yoga practioner for more than a decade, Ploetz recently completed a 200-hour certification training course. She’d grown up on a New York dairy farm in a small rural town. A drive to travel and experience other cultures led her to take up a yoga practice while in college. Ploetz works as a counselor at the community college as well as teaching yoga. “Relating to people and finding something you have in common is a way to connect,” she says. “In yoga, learning how to help each person is so important. Not every person is the same and some people will never be able to perform a particular pose, and that is okay. “Modifying a pose can help that one person … succeed. I want yoga to be accessible to every person, just as we all can connect and relate to each other on some level. “Begin with taking care of yourself first, help where help is needed, keep your body and mind healthy, choose a career and lifestyle that will fulfill you and design your life where you have room to grow,” Ploetz adds, noting how she broadens exercise practice to include philosophy. “There’s no prescription for a happy life, and we all make things up as we go along. But when you … take care of yourself, the rest will fall into place. “Yoga has changed my day-to-day thought patterns and improved my outlook on life. Rather than worry about the future, I focus more on the present. I look for ways to improve myself and help others attain their goals. Life itself is a community where we all help and support each other.” Ploetz begins and ends each session with a focus on how

Continued on Page 63 PHOTOS BY RANDY LITZINGER Five things Charlene Ploetz wants you to know about yoga 1. Anybody can practice yoga, regardless of body type or religion. 2. Yoga helps with both physical and mental well-being. 3. Yoga will teach you things about yourself you didn’t know. 4. Yoga will show up in other areas of your life. 5. Yoga is fun. Four things to drive your practice 1. Teaching and planning classes. 2. Belonging to a community where people support each other. 3. Cross training and stretching helps with other sports. 4. Desire for peace and quiet, to be still, to have space. Three favorite yoga poses 1. Pigeon pose – hip stretcher. 2. Cobbler’s pose – stretches knee, thigh, groin. 3. Tree pose – balance. Two lessons learned from yoga 1. Time will pass anyway: if there’s something you want to do, do it now. 2. Hold space for other people: allow them to move how they want to move and feel how they want to feel. One thing – the most important – that Charlene Ploetz finds in yoga. “Yoga has given me space, space to feel safe, find peace, be free and cultivate strength, love and gratitude.” 42

WINTER 2017

BY SIDE In with the good, out with the bad Using ’yoga breath’ as free medicine for body and soul By Pat Reilly

“If you can breathe, you can do yoga." It’s a pretty strong statement, but Monica Fernandi, the lithe and brightly-dressed yogi of so many in the Piedmont area, swears it’s true. “It is not a prerequisite to touch your toes,” she stresses. Anybody can do it, she says. Fernandi begins many of her classes by exhorting her students to turn off the chatter in their brains, focus on that elemental practice of life — breathing — and “find the calm in the chaos.” For one hour, pupils will be guided through postures that address various parts of the body and told repeatedly to “match your breath to your movement.” Fernandi explains that three-part breath is part of the practice. It begins in the diaphragm below the navel, she says, expanding into the rib cage and finally into the chest and lungs. “Inhaling creates a lengthening, making space,”she says. “Exhaling is letting go what the body no longer needs.” In so many cases, Fernandi adds, that is the stress of daily living. Exhaling detoxifies, creating energy and calming the nervous system. “We tend to hold our breath when something is difficult, instead of using the breath to make it easier,” Fernandi explains. “For instance in lifting, whether it’s a child or a heavy box, inhale big, but then exhale during the lift (to) actually make it easier. “You can prevent injury and help the body heal itself,” she says. “It even helps with digestion, massages the vital organs, cleanses the respiratory system and increases immunities. Breathing stimulates the nervous system and gives energy to the brain cells.” Fernandi often tells students that deep, controlled breathing is free medicine. “Breathe,” she frequently reminds students at classes she teaches across a four-county area, including Warrenton’s WARF plus area churches, schools, wineries, breweries and resorts.

Meet Monica Fernandi

Lifelong practice

Fernandi came to yoga almost 20 years ago. She was quite familiar with the body-mind connection already, having earned her first-degree black belt in Taekwando, where breath assists with everything from meditation to breaking a brick with your bare hand. When her mother died, Fernandi felt her energy shift: she craved more calm in her life. “I wanted strength to endure life’s challenges,” she recalls. She turned to yoga and went from being a practitioner to being a trainer 15 years ago. Looking back, she says, it has been a slow, steady, educational journey. When she moved from her native New Jersey to Virginia, she began teaching classes from zumba to aerobics, but yoga is her passion. Though Fernandi does most of her teaching in person, she also does online work – Skyping to coach people on their breathing. Her latest addition is “Pull Up a Chair, Let’s Go to the Barre” yoga, using a chair and ballet barre as tools to enhance muscle awareness, flexibility and range of motion. Fernandi also teaches “Rock Your Chakras,” a reflection of humor and music. “Yoga can apply to everything, you yoke together body and mind,” she says. “You must be mindful of what you are doing, whether its weight lifting or dancing. You can get a better, safer approach to body mechanics by applying yoga.”

Continued on Page 63

WINTER 2017

LIFE & STYLE

Did he or didn’t he?

Many believe a pirate’s treasure trove is hidden east of Warrenton

Discovering Fauquier’s rich history By Julie A. Taylor

You could call him a reformed pirate with a heart of gold, but Fauquier’s most legendary treasure trove is shrouded in mystery. Locals still wonder about the treasure at Snow Hill Farm, riches supposedly buried by Scottish pirate William Kirk. Legend has it that Kirk wanted to give up his plundering and retire discreetly in the late 1700s. The story explains that Kirk distrusted banks, so hiding the loot was his form of financial planning. Kirk apprently never told his wife about the locations of hidden caches on their New Baltimore farm. At one point, a tenant farmer is said to have found a stash of English guineas and Spanish pieces, but theorists hold out hope that more treasure remains underground, patiently awaiting discovery. Another local treasure tale says that Col. John Mosby buried money and valuables at a vaguely described location of “somewhere along Route 522 between two pine trees.” Part of Mosby’s treasure was requisitioned during an 1863 raid that included heisted horses, 60 prisoners and thousands in currency and valuables. When Mosby’s men went back to retrieve the rest of the buried money, the tale goes, Union troops captured and hung them. The money? Never found. Yet. It’s not all tall tales, though, with some of Fauquier’s rich currency history thoroughly recorded and confirmed as fact. For years, Eric Schena, an avid numismatist, has researched and compiled facts about local payment systems over the centuries. Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money and related objects. While numismatists are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, 44

WINTER 2017

the discipline also includes the broader study of money and other payment media used to resolve debts and the exchange of goods. Schena says the earliest modern currency in the region included “English coins, Spanish colonial silver, Spanish gold pistoles, gold dinars from unspecified Middle Eastern countries, Lion daalders from the Netherlands, and even Massachusetts Oak and Pine tree coinage.” Many of these have been found in the area, especially Spanish colonial silver coins. “To cope with the varied type of coins in circulation, many businesses and some homes kept a set of coin scales in order to weigh coins as they were presented in order to ensure that they met the correct weights and as a way of detecting counterfeit, underweight or clipped coins,” Schena explains the colonial version of trust, but verify. During the Civil War, Fauquier used state, town

and even private currency, because the shortage of anything less than $5 became so serious that towns like Warrenton had to produce their own money. In 1861, Warrenton issued paper notes for .25 cents, .50 cents and $1, which are presumed to have been printed in Winchester. A signature from Mayor Charles Bragg and town recorder Charles Green marked each note, with about 17,000 produced. Confederate Army major and real estate developer Rice W. Payne produced the only known Warrenton currency in January 1862 through his brokerage, Payne & Co. Only a couple of these notes have been seen by current-day numismatics. Businesses in The Plains, Upperville, Warrenton and Rectortown produced their own currency as well. Surviving private currency is even harder to find, since bills were printed in very small numbers. After the war, Confederate money was no longer recognized, and many banks around Fauquier dissolved. Another form of payment which circulated through the county were trade tokens – much like modern bitcoins, which could be used for merchandise. “Tokens were made in a seemingly endless variety of shapes, sizes and materials, including aluminum, brass, cupronickel, cardboard, hard rubber or vulcanite, celluloid and (later) plastic,” Schena says. Local tokens date from 1870 to World War II from businesses T. Lynn & Son in Midland, the Canary Grocery run by C. C. Orelbrough in The Plains, and D. Pfeiffer in Warrenton who ran an oyster saloon. Warrenton’s Sower’s Drug Store issued tokens which could be redeemed for a glass of soda at the soda fountain. “Once their usefulness ended, many simply ended up in the trash after clearing out an old abandoned store or cleaning out an estate,” Schena says. “Many tokens have vanished completely or may be lying somewhere waiting to be rediscovered. “This is one of the few fields in numismatics where such discoveries are made on a frequent basis.”

LIFE & STYLE

WINTER 2017

LIFE & STYLE

Following Gold’s rule:

Strength = health

Story and Photo by Alissa Jones

Brothers Juan and Jack Pozo-Olano are co-owners of three Gold’s Gyms in Virginia: Richmond, Front Royal and Warrenton, where they have made their home office for the past 12 years. Gold’s Gym is known for its heritage. The legacy began in Venice Beach, California in 1965. There are 422 Gold’s Gyms across the nation and internationally. They moved with their parents from Boston to McLean in 1977. The brothers, who are one year apart in age, both say their family was close-knit with an entrepreneurial spirit. Juan says this contributed to bringing them into their partnership Gold’s Gym. They’ve been Gold’s Gym franchisees since 2001. Jack explains the general programs at Gold’s can be seasonal, but some programs are consistent regardless of season. Classes and machines favor strength and cardio, as well as group classes. There are group and 46

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individual classes taught in cycling and yoga, stretching and abs, along with Zumba and aerobics. Still, Juan says, personal training is at the core of Gold’s popularity. “Personal training has a lot to do with sports specific training,” he explains. “(It) can include rehabilitation, or senior and youth populations.” “Super Bowl” season for Gold’s enrollment happens around Jan. 1, Juan says. “We get a lot of people whose attitudes are ’this is my life,’ and they want to change their habits because they know it’s important for them,” he says. “It’s been this way for 50 years. It hasn’t changed.” When someone joins the gym, Juan says to assess the individual’s needs and goals, they conduct an interview, encompassing a complete orientation and evaluation of the client’s health and exercise history. “Conducting that sort of interview is where the magic is,” he says. Juan says the most important aspects of the gym are the five variables of fitness. First, he says, is aerobic fitness because of the

importance of heart health. Second is strength, which can vary in definitition according to sport or age. Nutrition is the third variable, combining weight loss with fitness. Flexibility is fourth, as a lack of flexibility can lead to injury. Number five is intensity. “Your body, after six or eight weeks has conditioned itself,” Jack explains. “What worked for you in the beginning may not work for you now. To keep your workout and your results dynamic, you elevate intensity. “High intensity programs are very popular these days, but we encourage and reinforce programming rooted in sound basic fitness principles.” Trainers follow up with periodic assessments, he adds, to maintain optimal fitness and health. Gold’s partners with Transitions, a program for special needs teens. goldsgym.com/warrentonva

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LIFE & STYLE

Turn the page – as the calendar turns the season

Story and photo by Alissa Jones

If colder weather ushers in that enchanting season that chases you into a cozy corner with a good book, then keep reading. We asked professionals at two local bookstores, and the Fauquier Library, for ideas to capture your attention this winter. Whether your preference is to be swaddled in a warm blanket outside by a crackling campfire with your Kindle, snuggled on a comfy couch, or tucked in bed, indulging a spiced – or spiked – latte with a new release hardcover, we got insight into trends in the book world.

Winter reads: Browse, borrow or buy yourself a little time to reflect, rest and rejuvenate; escape into a good book, or attend a fun event.

The Book Cellar

John Barton Payne Building, Warrenton The Book Cellar is a non-profit run by volunteers of the Friends of the Fauquier Library. They receive donations of new and used books. Prices begin as low as 25 cents. We talked to volunteer Judy Haggerman.

Walk By Faith

7 N. 5th Street, Warrenton We talked to co-owners, Ednida Minor and Barbara Minor, who have been providing Christian and inspirational books, Bibles and specialties since 2013.

Fauquier Library

Marshall, Bealeton and Warrenton locations We talked to public services manager Dawn Sowers. inFauquier: What’s on your bookshelves this winter? The Book Cellar’s Judy Haggerman: Every two weeks to a month we will highlight a “classic.” We promote overall good reading, traditional classics, children’s classics, fantasy, early reader. For the young reader, look for American Girl classics and dinosaur books. We also highlight women’s auxiliary cookbooks from local churches, and from Highland and Wakefield schools. (We) highlight local authors, and decorate accordingly for the holidays. Walk By Faith’s Barbara Minor: We often highlight books we can tie into a season by using scripture. For instance, in fall, we were thinking, “harvest,” so we used this one – “The harvest is full, but the workers are few.” (Luke 10:2). Heading into Christmas, we are highlighting this seasonal scripture: "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth

Barbara Minor, Walk By Faith peace to those on whom his favor rests." (Luke 2:14). Fauquier Library’s Dawn Sowers: We don’t promote specific books, it’s more about flowing with a “theme.” We follow a certain pattern with the all the seasons. When summer ends and the school year begins, we start to focus on early literacy – emphasizing the importance of reading to children from the time they are infants all the way up until they go to school. We’ll also highlight cookbooks that emphasize the cold winter weather,

comfort foods, soups, cooking for Thanksgiving and Christmas, tailgating or entertaining at home for sporting events. Our patrons are also thinking about holiday decorating, so we do book displays on table décor and making wreaths. inF: What events do you host in the winter? Book Cellar: We have an auction planned. This will be for unusual books, books from the 1800s, as well as medical books and children’s books.

Walk by Faith: Our biggest yearly event is hosting a Christian Outreach Festival; we invite all churches inside Fauquier County and the surrounding areas to come together as one and share with the public what they are about. Beginning in December, we have a program just for children. When they come in the store and need a gift for a parent, a grandparent, sibling or other family member, they can select from the wrapped gifts displayed in a basket just for that purpose. The staff hand selects and pre-wraps gifts. There’s more to spreading the gospel than selling books. Often someone needs a word of encouragement, maybe it’s a hug, a prayer, a smile, or sometimes, it’s even feeding someone who is hungry, providing a grocery store gift card to someone who hasn’t eaten. You can’t put a price tag on helping people. Fauquier Library: For children we have story times for babies to toddlers, the Paws to Read program, teen writing groups, adult book clubs, a mystery book club, the Socrates Cafe discussion group, writing groups and more. And in December the library has a special visitor – Santa. Families (can) participate in holiday story time and crafts. inF: What’s on your bedside reading table this season? The Book Cellar’s Judy Haggerman: I love to read in bed at night and my selection for is “The Nightingale” by Kristin Hannah. It’s a love story and drama set in World War II. Walk by Faith’s Barbara Minor: I’m reading “Women Who Love,” part of a series by Cynthia Heald. I love reading in my recliner with my snuggy and my coffee. Walk by Faith’s Ednida Minor: I read the books and stories of local authors – I want to help them any way I can to get their word out. My husband and I get away twice a month, and I find when I’m away from home, I have time to relax and read. I’ll read in the car, in the hotel, or on the beach, wherever it’s quiet. Fauquier Library’s Dawn Sowers: I (am) reading, “The Lilac Girls” by Martha Hall Kelly, as well as “The Nightingale” by Kristin Hannah. Both are about the Holocaust. The perfect atmosphere for me is reading in bed to relax. But I also like reading outside on a porch swing. I did that as a child, outside where it’s shady, and I can hear nature around me. WINTER 2017

LIFE & STYLE

Opulent opals, worldwide beauty Color pattern, value vary with provenance

By Connie Lyons No lovelier word than “opalescent,” by definition it means showing many colors. It derives from one of the most beautiful of gemstones, the opal. According to an old Australian aboriginal legend, the creator came down from the heavens on a rainbow and delivered a message of peace for all mankind. Stones that were near the place where his feet touched the ground came to life and began to sparkle. This was, if myths are to be believed, the birth of the opal. Because the opal has the colors of all other gems, the Romans believed it most precious and powerful of all. In 75 CE the Roman scholar Pliny observed, “Some opals carry such a play within them that they equal the deepest and richest colors of painters. Others…simulate the flaming fire of burning sulphur and even the bright blaze of burning oil.” He marveled that this kaleidoscopic gem encompassed the red of ruby, the green of emerald, the yellow of topaz, the blue of sapphire and the purple of amethyst. The Bedouins believed opals contained lightning and fell from the sky during thunderstorms. There are three grades of opals: precious, fire and common. The precious opal possesses the remarkable ability to diffract light, which results in a rainbow of colors that change with the angle of observation. Of these, black opals are more rare. They display a dark blue, dark green or black background with a strong play of

livestock, cause the plague or summon a storm with the power to level a house, village or entire town. The stone’s unlucky reputation persisted for centuries, until it was rehabilitated by Queen Victoria, who prized opals above all other gems.

Locally popular

PHOTO BY RANDY LITZINGER

Domestic opals are found in Idaho and Nevada. color. The fire opal can sometimes show light color play, but it is better known for its vivid body color. The common opal is usually opaque, rarely translucent and lacks play of color. Opals displaying the most color are considered the most valuable; warm colors like pink, red and orange command the highest prices. Those predominantly blue, green, violet or purple sell for less. Coverage and centering are also important: the more surface showing color, the greater the value. And ideally, the color is centered, not off to one side or the other. Unexpectedly, medium size stones sometimes fetch higher prices than large ones. The largest deposits of opals are found in Australia, where 95

percent of the world’s supply of white precious opals is mined. Opals are also found in Brazil, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Russia and, in the U.S., in Idaho and Nevada. In Roman times the gem was carried as a lucky charm or talisman, thought to bestow good health on the wearer, and to have curative powers. But in the Middle Ages, partly because of the stone’s resemblance to the eyes of supposedly evil creatures like snakes, toads and cats – all associated with spells and witchcraft, it became affiliated with the dread “evil eye.” An opal could supposedly strike its intended victim sick or dead on the spot, or kill family members, blight crops, sicken

Modern travelers still view Opal as a precious roadside commodity, but there’s no evidence of opals in central Fauquier village The naming of the central Fauquier census designated area of Opal appears lost to history. Summary research on the origin of the busy crossroad at U.S. 29 and U.S. 17 turned up little detail. Previously known as New Brighton Post Office and Fayetteville – some record it as Fayettesville, businesses sprang up around what was already a major intersection in the early 1700s. 50

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The nation’s first Chief Justice, John Marshall, was born near Fayetteville, and Fauquier’s first courthouse building was located here in a modest wooden building 1760-1762. It was abandoned when a new brick courthouse was built in Warrenton in 1764. Modern Opal measures 3.2 square miles, with about 700 residents.

“(Opals) are uniquely beautiful and fascinating,” says Cynthia Salamone, owner of Vallie’s Vintage Jewelry in Warrenton. She is referring to the play of brilliant color within the precious stone. “Look,” she says, showing me a necklace set with a number of small opals, their pale surfaces alight with hidden fires. Most of her stones originate in Australia, but she holds out one that came from Mexico. “It’s entirely different,” she says. And indeed it is: a solid soft golden color, resembling a dark topaz. Salamone is constantly on the lookout for opal pieces. Prices range from around $500 to $2,000, depending on the setting (gold filled or 14 carat gold) and the size of the stone. Salamone says there is a lot of demand for them. “In October, for which they’re the birthstone, I can hardly keep them in stock,” she says. Last Christmas she had three opal rings on offer and they all sold immediately. Interestingly, she almost never has to resize a ring. “Somehow, they seem to know their rightful owners, or the owners know them,” she says.

Some famous opals

• Big Ben is a white precious opal of over 800 grams, more than 4,000 carats, which was found at Lightning Ridge, Australia. • The Light of the World is a white precious opal of 40 grams, 2,250 carats, which was found in Australia. It is considered to be the most colorful white opal of all time. • The Andamooka Desert Flame is the largest opal ever found, weighing 6,843 kilograms.

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LIFE & STYLE

Science: It’s not so weird

Local teachers don’t as much differ as find common bonds to tie their unique fields

Professor Roy Hoffer

Photos by Randy Litzinger Story by Betsy Burke Parker Picture a scientist. Male? Crazy white hair? Permanently bewildered look? The archetypal scientist in your head is no doubt sitting inside a windowless, dark basement laboratory, in front of some very intimidating, very expensive piece of equipment, researching as hard as he can. He’s definitely a he. And he’s definitely alone. Dr. Cynthia Morgan doesn’t exactly fit the picture. She’s got long, dark hair and a ready laugh. She’s encouraging, and dotes on her freshman biology students like a clucking mother hen. She knows a ton about science but relates it to the real world, having worked jobs as varied as vet tech to professor of pathobiology. Her classroom at Lord Fairfax Community College is light and bright, spacious and filled with colorful specimens, a life-size human skeleton, and a box of dead baby pigs in one corner. Students crowd around her and shush each other to hear what she’s saying about how to scalpel the tough outer layer of fetal pigskin open to reveal lungs the size of a fingernail and ovaries the size of the period at the end of this sentence. She’s a she, and she’s surrounded by enthusiastic and quietly boisterous Biology 102 pupils in this congenial second semester course at the Warrenton school. Like Morgan, physics Professor Cle Le Monica turns the image of science teacher on its head, taking it from staid to lively. LeMonica sketches a little skier with a little hat on the slopes at Bryce – Ned - to exemplify Newton’s Second Law and soften the multi-step formula to discover acceleration. She plays a flying cat video off Facebook to simplify the complicated show-your-work diagram determining terminal velocity. And one floor down, Professor Roy Hoffer is making engineering sexy, improbable but not impossible when he weaves in tales about gigs as an explosives investigator and forensics expert. Mechanical engineering doesn’t have to be boring, he’s saying, it can be cool. inFauquier sat down with the three LFCC science department professors to find out how they're spreading the word to their young audience. 52

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LFCC assistant professor of electric engineering and electronics and mechanical engineering Roy Hoffer uses various items to spark student interest in his engineering classes, like a power measurer, a forensics measurement lab where students precisely measure the size of found shell casings and then find what gun they came from, and night vision goggles.

LIFE & STYLE Sitting underneath the flickering florescent fixture in his Lord Fairfax Community College office, Professor Roy Hoffer recognizes the irony. Some 30 years ago, he designed a prototype for an innovative slow-acting photoactive dimming control, an invention that never saw the light of day but one that would have generated 25 percent energy savings right out of the box. It was the ’80s, and the Iran crisis was making energy savings headline news.

His company never got the patent, and they all lost out. “I had to let it go.” The 60-year-old Hoffer holds 29 patents – “that I know of ” – all related to energy innovations. The University of Pennsylvania grad has grown to love teaching engineering as much as doing it, working four decades directly in the field. He loves sharing this continued passion for the wild, weird world of the profession that links math and science with a bit of intuition.

Professor Cynthia Morgan

It’s this intuitive proclivity that drives his sideline career as a Certified Fire Explosion Investigator and forensics expert. “It’s important to show (the students) the reallife application.” Engineering isn’t a static field, Hoffer stresses. Engineers innovate, invent, improve and problem-solve. And they have solid earning power right out of the box. Hoffer has no lack of pupils. “It makes engineering pretty popular.”

Lord Fairfax professor Cynthia Morgan recognizes that most of her Biology 102 students won’s use the skills they’re learning from dissecting fetal pigs in the future, but she recognizes how important the lessons. “It’s not about the intestines,” she says. “It’s about teamwork, and learning how to think. These are the critical skills that carry you forward” in life. “It warms my heart when you use scientific terminology,” she’s telling a swoosh-sweatshirt clad young man who asks about cutting over the piglet’s teats. “This is a dress rehearsal for the future.” Her class project is another life lesson: teams give 15-minute presentations on any of seven biomes. “Remember, when you do the presentation, no crack, no cleavage, no sparkle. Etiquette and safety. « LFCC biology professor Cynthia Morgan. prepares to examine a specimen.

“Think about your font size and your color contrast for the power-point. Practice and rehearse, don’t read. “You’d be surprised at kids today. They may not know how to dress professionally, may not have to do public speaking, even talk to grown-ups. This is learning crucial to future careers.” A professor of pathobiology, Morgan’s focus is on the environment and ecology. In school she specialized in myremycology, the study of ants. “School isn’t the only place you’ll have rules,” she’s saying. “There’s always going to be someone telling you what to do. At home, at school, at work, in life. Get used to it. School is the safe place to learn how to be yourself, but within traditional constraints.”

Professor Cle LeMonica

MVGS and LFCC teacher Cle LaMonica has been teaching physics for 49 years. She poses here with a vandegraft generator, conservation of momentum demonstration, weights, and Newton’s cradle.

Every other word is “shhhh,” but Mountain Vista Governor’s School and Lord Fairfax physics professor Cle Le Monica has developed tricks to deal with the hyperintelligent students drawn into the STEM program. Designed to identify strength in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, the gifted courses attract bright minds, but busy minds, says the education veteran, at age 70 in her 49th year teaching. “Yelling doesn’t work,” she says, lowering to a stage whisper for the 10th grade physics class. The kids simmer down, stretching to hear her explain how a coffee filter dropped from on high perfectly demonstrates air resistance. “Gravity pulls everything equally. You just need to know the mass to get the mg sine theta. Keep the sigma of course." To the unschooled ear, she may as well be speaking Greek. She is.

“Don’t forget -bv or -cv2 terminal velocity.” They nod. They understand. They perhaps knew nothing of physics when class started nine weeks ago, but with Le Monica’s clear vision, they get it. Still, “it’s like herding cats sometimes.” William and Mary class of 1969, LeMonica first taught at Taylor Middle in ’71, then at Marshall Middle and Fauquier High before joining Lord Fairfax staff in ’06. LeMonica has no intent to retire: the profession is “never boring.” She dotes on her students, calling them baby and darling, sometimes honey. She taught some of their parents, even a few of their grandparents. Her best advice to incoming pupils is old-school. “A calculus miracle is going to occur. But write in pencil. Just sayin.’ ” WINTER 2017

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Home & Garden LIVING WELL INSIDE AND OUTSIDE

Spy in the sky

Demystifying the weather clues provided by cloud formations Photo by Chris Cerrone Story by Pam Owen

Inside this section:

Find out why our feathered friends ditched their summer suits n Unraveling the mystery of fertilizer’s alphabet soup n Miss digging in the garden? Try these winter garden favorites – they’ll cheer you up with color and holiday glamour n

WINTER 2017

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Cloudspotting in winter lous clouds are fluffy, mounded, with flat bases. They are typically bright white at top and dark underneath. In winter, it’s not just the terrestrial landscape that In warm weather, these clouds can become denser changes. The skies also take on different personalities and pile up to towering heights, becoming dramatic as cold affects the clouds that inhabit them. cumulonimbus clouds – thunderheads – that can sudOver the ages, we’ve looked up for a variety of rea- denly unleash thunder, lightning and torrents of rain. sons. We may ponder the nature of the universe and As the northern hemisphere starts to tilt away what gods may lie in wait there. Or, on a lazy sum- from the sun, the light gets less intense and temperamer afternoon, we may let our imaginations loose to tures fall. While cumulous clouds will still appear find bunnies and other familiar shapes in the clouds. in winter, often in a sky that’s deep blue from lack When angry clouds fill and darken the sky, we peruse of moisture, higher-flying species take over on cold them more anxiously, worried what days. Wispy cirrus clouds, commonly they portend. known as “mares’ tails,” sometimes Naming clouds A visible mass of particles of congang up, becoming cirrostratus and densed vapor, clouds suspend in the The following prefixes and forming a sheet that can fill the sky. suffixes are used to name atmosphere of planets and moons. When either of these cloud types clouds and organize them Like organisms, clouds have a taxdegrade, they can become a less-cominto groups (genera): onomy: specific types – species – are mon cloud — cirrocumulus — that cirro — curl of hair, high organized into groups – genera – alto — middle carries a small amount of water dropbased on shape and texture but also strato — layer lets in a supercooled state, with ice on how high they occur in the sky. nimbo — rain, precipitation; crystals the main component. The ice Some have intriguing names and (suffix: nimbus) crystals usually cause the water dropshapes, such as mammata – sheets cumulo — heap lets to freeze rapidly, transforming the of cloud shaped like breasts. The cloud into cirrostratus. undulating, wave-shaped undulatus Summer or winter, masses of thick, gray nimasperatus is also known as an agitated or turbulent bostratus clouds can fill the entire sky, sometimes wave cloud. This one was decreed an entirely new reaching down to the ground. These usually portend species by the Cloud Appreciation Society in 2009. a long stretch of precipitation. In winter’s cold, that Like organisms, some cloud species can be diffiprecipitation can take the form of crystals, either ice cult to tell apart, and some cross-breed or mutate. or snow. During such events the sky and ground can The 10 basic cloud genera are organized by where take on a silvery sheen. they occur in the sky: high includes cirrus, cirrocumuAlthough it’s rare in Virginia, hoar frost — ice lus and cirrostratus. Mid-level comprises altocumulus, altostratus and nimbostratus, and low (clouds include crystals that hang suspended in the air and cover the ground — can turn the winter landscape into a cumulus, cumulonimbus, stratocumulus and stratus. In Virginia’s temperate climate, most cloud species magical, sparkling ice palace. The sun stays lower in the sky in winter, produccan be seen throughout the year, depending on the temperature, but some thrive better in the cold. While win- ing less intense light. High clouds can veil the sun, ter skies are usually devoid of the drama summer can dialing back the color saturation of summer landbring, clouds populating winter skies still have a lot to scapes to the pastels of winter. One of the loveliest sights in winter is when dawn breaks over freshly tell about current and impending weather. One of the most common low-flying clouds, cumu- fallen snow, everything pink. Story and photo by Pam Owen

The Cloudspotting Society

Brit Gavin Pretor-Pinney is such a big fan of clouds that he formed the Cloud Appreciation Society in 2004. The Society has more than 40,000 cloudspotters. Memberships come with a certificate (proudly displayed by the author of this article on her refrigerator) that states that the member “will henceforth seek to persuade all who’ll listen of the wonder and beauty of clouds.” The society’s website, cloudappreciationsociety.org, offers bounteous cloud lore and descriptions as well as cloudthemed art and poetry. A cloud identification wheel to help sort out the various types of clouds can also be purchased there. Pretor-Pinney, who has a distinctive British sense of humor, also wrote “The Cloudspotter’s Guide,” a reference that is both informative and a ripping good read.

WINTER 2017

Has anyone ever called you a ’special snowflake’? The debate in the scientific community about whether snowflakes are truly unique probably dates back to when they were first photographed through a microscope in the late 19th century and is partly fueled by semantics. Snowflakes are crystals that form from water molecules (H2O) that attach to tiny particles of pollen or dust. Scientists have found that snowflake shapes appear to fall into 35 basic categories, but is that where they similarities end? In 1988, researcher Nancy Knight published a paper — “No Two Alike?” — in which she reported photographing two snowflakes that were “alike.” Following her death, her husband and fellow researcher tried to clarify her findings, stirring up the debate about whether snowflakes are unique. While “lots and lots of snow crystals are ’alike,’ meaning similar,” no two alike seemed to translate in people’s minds to ’no two identical.’” Earlier this year, researcher Ken Libbrecht added more semantic fuel to the fire, reporting that he could grow “twin” snowflakes in his lab. “I like to call them identical twin snowflakes because, like identical twin people, they’re not absolutely exactly the same but they’re very, very similar,” he said in an interview. He points out that he grew his “twin” snowflakes in a controlled environment — on the same plate, under the same conditions — which is unlikely to occur outside the lab. Science writer Joe Hanson, who hosts the PBS series “It’s OK to be Smart,” took on the debate in 2014 in the video “The Science of Snowflakes,” offering a detailed argument for a snowflake’s uniqueness. As he explains, snowflakes form in clouds and fall, bumping into each other as they ride the air currents. Their environment — including temperature, humidity, and “factors scientists don’t even understand” — shapes each one individually. Drilling down to the atomic level, Hanson adds that one out of every 3,000 water molecules in a snowflake contains deuterium, a variant (isotope) of the ordinary hydrogen atom. With deuterium scattered across the millions of molecules in the snowflakes, “even identical-looking snowflakes are not the same,” he says. In fact, “the chance of two snowflakes being alike on the atomic level, even factoring in deuterium, is so infinitesimally small that we may as well call it zero.” Hanson offers a more nuanced, science-based alternative to the “unique and beautiful snowflake” metaphor, something he finds “cheesy”: “Snowflakes are symmetrical, but they’re not perfect. They’re ordered, but they’re created in disorder. Every random branch retells their history — that singular journey that they took to get here. And most of all, they’re fleeting and temporary. Even if sometimes they don’t look so unique on the outside, if we look within we can see that they are truly unique after all.”

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Watch as this songbird changes clothes for winter Goldfinch goes from gold to green in season Story and photos by Pam Owen

Goldfinch in winter plumage

Telling goldfinches from similar species

Two other finches — pine siskin and common redpoll — winter here and often hang out with goldfinches. The streaks of the former and the red cap of the latter, neither of which goldfinches have in any season, help in telling the three species apart. In fall and early spring, the pine warbler can also be mistaken for a goldfinch. The yellow patch on their rumps and streaks help distinguish them, but first-winter males are less streaky, so may be confused with goldfinches in winter. Field guides, which have illustrations or photos, maps and descriptions, help with I.D. Among the best series are Sibley, Peterson, Stokes and Audubon. Some of these come in app form. All About Birds is a website with photos of most North American bird species, including both genders and varying ages. There are photos of similar birds and identification points for telling them apart. eBird, a sister website to All About Birds, offers data and maps of actual sightings of each North American species over specific periods. This can help in pinning down a species’ range, which may vary not just by latitude and longitude but also by elevation or habitat type. Why do male cardinals retain their bright coloring in winter? Data from Cornell Lab’s Nestwatch project suggests the northern cardinal’s remarkable success, despite the male’s bright coloring year-round, probably has less to do with avoiding predation than with reproductive success. The cardinal’s edge comes mainly from its being a generalist when it comes to habitat and diet. Cardinals find suitable nest sites pretty much anywhere and eat a wide variety of foods, mainly seeds, fruits and insects.

WINTER 2017

You don’t have to be an ornithologist to identify a male American goldfinch in summer. His bright-yellow body feathers, shiny black wings and cap, bright-white wing bars and orange beak easily distinguish him as a beauty among songbirds. But for winter, the male goldfinch undergoes an extreme makeover, one that takes him from bright breeding plumage to a drab olive-brown. The American goldfinch is the only species in its finch subfamily to do this complete outfit change. This more subtle coloring makes them hard to distinguish from females and juveniles, and from similar species of about the same size. The process by which some birds change color seasonally is called molting — shedding and replacing worn feathers. Plumage is the feather coat worn between molts. Most birds here molt all their feathers — flight and body — in late summer, at the end of the breeding season. And they molt all but the tail and wing feathers just before the next breeding season starts, usually in late winter or early spring. The molting process is complex and not completely understood and can be complete or partial. It occurs in response to a mixture of hormonal changes brought about by seasonal changes and varies by species, by individual and from year to year. Color is an important aspect of a bird’s appearance. It’s among the sensory cues birds use to attract mates, intimidate competitors and hide from predators and prey. While drab colors are generally the best camouflage, different kinds of animals see different kinds of light, so the bright blue of a bluebird, for example, may not be detected by certain predators. The coloration of a bird can indicate species, subspecies, gender and age. It also can indicate health and genetic vigor, since most bright colors come from certain important foods in a species’ diet. Coloration is especially important in attracting mates. A brightly-colored male is basically advertising his ability to find and defend territory that is rich in these foods, as well as other foods important to the species’ overall health, during the breeding season. In the songbird world, females choose males, rather than the other way around. That gives females the luxury of sticking to duller plumage year-round, which is especially important for camouflage when they are nesting. Males of a few bird species in the Piedmont, such as the northern cardinal, retain bright colors year-round. The male cardinal’s bright-red coloring makes him stand out against the winter landscape, especially after a snowfall, and in foraging near the ground, he risks attracting the attention of terrestrial as well as aerial predators. But predation is only one of the factors driving adaptation in a species. If a species scores high in dealing with other evolutionary pressures, such as being able to eat a wider diversity of foods or produce more young, as the northern cardinal does, it might retain its bright coloring year-round.

Northern cardinal

How plumage gets its color

How color is produced in plumage is complex, but it is basically to a combination of pigments, keratin and structure. Pigments come from the bird’s diet: plants and animals that eat the plants. Three kinds of pigments are involved in the color-making process: melanin, carotenoids and porphyrins. Melanin produces black or earth-toned colors, the most common colors of bird plumage, and is usually associated with flight feathers. Carotenoids, which come exclusively from plants, produce bright yellow, orange and red colors but are rarely seen in flight feathers. Porphyrins, related to hemoglobin and other bile pigments, are modified amino acids that produce green, brown, pink and red and only show up in a few bird families. The various pigments can be mixed to produce a variety of hues. Along with affecting appearance, pigments may provide protection from the ultraviolet rays of the sun, absorb radiant energy and increase the strength and wearing qualities of the feathers. Keratin, the material human fingernails are made of, reflects or absorbs light and can create layers of color to produce varying patterns and intensity. Structural coloration is produced by microscopic surfaces fine enough to interfere with visible light, sometimes in combination with pigments. One example is the male ruby-throated hummingbird’s iridescent throat patch, which only shows bright red in direct sunlight.

Male, female goldfinches dress in different outfits, year-round

Bird expert and field guide author Dave Sibley has a slideshow on his website (sibleyguide.com) that shows how a male American goldfinch’s color differs throughout the year. He describes how to tell the two genders in this species apart during the nonbreeding season: “Males have really black wings with bright wingbars and feather edges, while the females have duller brownish-black wings with brownish-white wingbars and edges.” If you really want to be sure, “look at the underside of the tail, which is easily seen when birds are sitting on a feeder,” Sibley adds. “Males have blackish tail feathers with well-defined white spots, females grayish feathers blending into dull white spots.”

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WINTER 2017

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Fearsome threesome of the houseplant brigade: 7

Nitrogen

Phosphorus

Potassium

14.01

30.97

39.01

Photo and story by Sally Harmon Semple Are your potted plants looking a little tired? It could be that they’re hungry. Keeping your houseplants healthy and adapting potted plants to the indoors after – much like us – spending the summer and fall outside, humidity and sunshine can be a challenge. Interior low light and low humidity in our winter homes are no friends to indoor greenery. Consider how much light, water and fertilizer plants receive and be prepared to make changes to help them thrive. Temperature extremes – radiators and drafts, incorrect light exposure, or simple over- or under-watering may be the culprit. Although feeding plants seems like a logical way to boost their health, just like us, indoor plants need "rest"

and actually require little or no fertilizer during the short days of winter. In fact, applying fertilizer to a plant located in a poor growing condition may do more harm than good by increasing the salt content of the potting soil. However, if you didn’t regularly fertilize your plants during the growing season of March through September, a half dose of an all-purpose fertilize administered now may help.

Simple, yet complex

Plants need 16 elements to be healthy. Of these, three elements needed in large quantities from the soil are nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K), known collectively as the primary macronutrients. Nitrogen promotes green leafy growth and is an essential component in proteins. Phosphorus supports root development, flower bud set, and the transfer of energy throughout the plant. Potassium

Cheerful winter plants By Nora Rice Poinsettias are traditional around the winter holidays, but the jolly, cheery red leafy plants can be a challenge to maintain during the season. Forcing poinsettia to re-bloom takes patience and effort. Most people are happy to display the tropical natives for a few months, but few people take the time to learn what poinsettias need to return to that December beauty. To help poinsettias perform their best, whether you buy one or receive one as a gift, place the plant in a sunny southern window with filtered light. Take care that the leaves doesn’t touch the window glass. Water regularly, but don’t allow the soil to dry out nor allow the roots to sit in water. Misting leaves is a good way to keep them

PHOTO BY BETSY BURKE PARKER

Christmas cactus is a reliable re-bloomer that is a popular hostess gift around the holidays. With a little care, it goes from green houseplant to a riot of red, more simple to coax into winter bloom than other traditional Christmas plants like poinsettia. 62

WINTER 2017

Leaching salts from soil

helps plants overcome drought stress, improves winter hardiness, makes strong stems and helps fight disease. Because nitrogen and potassium leach easily from soil, they need to be replenished frequently. When shopping from many commercially available fertilizers, select one with a balanced ratio of N:P:K for your indoor plants, such as 2020-20, 10-8-7, or 3-3-3. If you select an organic fertilizer, you may need to use a combination of products since many organic fertilizers supply only one or two of the NPK elements. The ratio of N:P:K will be stated right on the label. Follow directions carefully, and don’t use more than instructed. Ex-

healthy and avoid "leaf shine" which will turn the leaves brown. If your poinsettia’s leaves begin to look pale, move the plant to a sunnier location. If the color fades in patches, cut back on watering and make sure the plant is not standing in water. A poinsettia can be treated just like a normal house plant, and they’ll live just fine without special care. But if you want a red beauty timed for Christmas, 2018, you have to work a little.

How to make it happen

To force blooms next year, allow your plant to dry out around mid-spring. Keep the plant cool so it becomes dormant. The way you know a poinsettia has gone dormant is that the stems wither. When summer arrives, cut back your plant to 2 inches and repot in fresh soil. Begin to keep it warm and water thoroughly but avoid wet feet. When it breaks dormancy and begins to grow, feed it with houseplant fertilizer. A month into summer, move the plant to a shady location outside. Pinch out growing tips before bringing it back indoors in August. Now, keep your plant in a sunny window while watering and fertilizing regularly. In mid-autumn – October – put the poinsettia in total darkness from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. The back of a closet works well. If you follow these directions, bring your plant out of the closet a few weeks before Christmas: colorful bracts should reappear in time for the holidays. The poinsettia is a bit difficult to care for in our temperate climate since it is native to the tropical areas of Mexico and Central America. In it’s native range a poinsettia plant can grow 10 feet or taller before blooming in winter. Aztecs believed the sanguine bracts represented new life for warriors killed in battle. The poinsettia’s milky sap was used for fevers

Take these simple steps two or three times a year to remove the buildup of damaging salts caused by fertilizers and soft water: 1. Manually remove any visible salt crust from the top of the potting soil. 2. Move houseplant to the sink or tub where water can safely drain freely from the bottom of the pot. 3. Pour a lot of water -- at least twice the volume of the pot -- on the soil and let it drain. This first soaking helps dissolve the salts. 4. Wait about 30 minutes and repeat. This second soaking washes the salts out of the soil.

cess fertilizer can burn roots and damage leaves. It’s OK to fertilize at half the recommended rate and see how your plants respond. Apply fertilizer to already moist potting soil to avoid root damage. Fertilizer salts will accumulate in potted plant soil over time. Salts can damage root tips, inhibit the uptake of water, and weaken the plant. This makes plants susceptible to attack from insects and diseases. To prevent salt build up, leach the pot every 4-6 months with plenty of plain water. With care, you can green up your home for winter.

and skin infections. Textile dyes were made from crushed red leaves. The poinsettia was named after U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Joel Roberts Poinsett, who brought the plant to the U.S. around 1835.

More winter gardening favorites

Amaryllis, freesia and paper-white bulbs are easily forced to bloom indoors because they are from tropical climates and do not require a chilly winter before blooming. Place your bulb roots in shallow lukewarm water for several hours before planting. After soaking the roots, place the bottom of the bulbs in a pot filled with pebbles. Most of the bulb should be above the pebbles. Keep damp and place in a warm sunny window. Many other bulbs can be forced into indoor winter bloom with a little help. Bulbs that need chilling before blooming include daffodil, crocus, hyacinth, grape hyacinth, iris, tulip and snowdrop. Pre-chilled bulbs for winter forcing are often available for purchase in winter and around the holidays. Branches of cornelian cherry, filberts, forsythias, fothergillas, redbud and witch hazel can be easily coaxed to bloom indoors in winter. Trim branches from your trees outside and bring them in for prep. Strip leaves from branch bottoms that will be in water and crush the end of the branches so they will absorb water more readily. Place in a vase with water, and put in a cool place. Mist the branches frequently. Once the branches bloom, move them to a sunnier location for display. Change the water once a week and add floral preservative for longer life. If roots form from your cutting, consider it a Christmas gift from your garden: plant the branch in a pot with light potting soil, prune back most of the branch and pant outdoors after winter ends.

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Alzheimer’s, continued from Page 31 “You won’t believe this, but I’ve been kidnapped,” she would tell them. One afternoon she decided to go for a walk. Since we live in the country there was no traffic to worry about, but we are on a steep winding mountain road. I cautioned her to stay on the upper part, where the road was flat. Yes, yes, she said. Fifteen minutes passed, 20, and she did not come back. Just as I was setting out to find her, the phone rang. She was at the police station in Warrenton. She had walked to the bottom of the mountain and flagged down a passing car, telling the driver that she was being held against her will and asking to be taken to the nearest train station. The bewildered driver took her instead to the police, who managed to pry my name and phone number from her. “What’s going on?” demanded a genial officer, who sized up the situation at a glance and released her in my custody. “Why did you do that?” I asked her on the way home. “Why,” she said, “I’ve always wanted to see the inside of a police station. I guess I made a lot of trouble for you,” she added, smiling brightly. I brought her home, she shut herself in her room, and the daily round of phone calls began. Reaching out for professional help, I spoke to her geriatrician in Charlottesville, who recommended a psychiatrist. Every two weeks we made the trip to her former home, where she spent 40 minutes with the doctor. While there, we visited her sister and her husband, where she used the opportunity to pull them and beg to be given shelter.) An antidepressant was prescribed, to little or no effect. Then she devised a new round of evening amusements. Something was missing: all the money out of her wallet, or her purse, or a piece of jewelry. We would dutifully search her room, her pockets, her possessions, and eventually the missing treasure would be unearthed, often in an unlikely place: in a corner under the kitchen sink, or behind the bottles in a medicine chest. Order was restored, for 10 minutes of so, when she would proclaim that the object had once again disappeared.

The healing power of yoga It was Christmas Eve a few years ago, and fitness instructor Elly Riedel had just treated herself to a pedicure. She was driving home to Hume on a country road ice-slicked by a sudden freeze. Her mind was on the cooking she had to do for holiday company. The large pickup truck speeding toward her hit a patch of ice and came spinning down the road to hit her car head on, sending it whirling 75 yards down the road. Her beloved Toyota Highlander was so crumpled, she had to crawl out the passenger side. Riedel was on pure adrenaline, she says, running in her pedicure flip-flops to find the 17-year-old driver of the truck. It took a state trooper to calm her down, get her Highlander towed and convince her it “wiped out.” The tow truck driver took her home.

When confronted with the fact that she was hiding the objects herself, she would protest, tearfully and indignantly. One day, when she was relatively sane and confident, I asked her why she did it. She waved a dismissive hand at me. “You know I like a lot of excitement,” she said. As we approached the end of November, my sister began pressing heavily to have my mother spend the holidays with her. “It would give us both so much joy!” she exclaimed. But I knew that constancy in environment was crucial to Alzheimers patients, as it is with autistics. Her psychiatrist was ambivalent, but thought a temporary change might not do irreparable harm. ”It might even do her good,” she suggested. And so I let her go, and so I learned how wrong he was. Within days, her wavering grip on reality began to totter, then collapse. Night after night, barefoot and clad only in her nightgown, she would race out of the house into the icy cold of a Massachusetts evening, screaming that her daughter was “flashing knives” at her. Nothing would induce her to come inside; she demanded to be driven to the police station, and, fearful for her safety, my sister complied. She had been kidnapped, she told the police. After several similar escapes, each worse than the others, my sister felt that she had no choice but to place her in a nursing home. I saw her once after that. She was ill, in the hospital, and though she recovered it was not for long. She knew me, at least for the first brief moment. “Dear girl,” she said, raising herself and holding out her arms beseechingly. And then she reverted into the vast black emptiness where she lived and had her being, and after hours of silence and emptiness, I went home. I never saw her again.

ly leads to the destruction of all thinking processes, she says. “Women tend to live longer than men, so we certainly have more women with the disease then men; however, men typically have more behavioral issues than women, i.e. sexual inappropriateness, inappropriate language and gestures.” Deniz Erten Lyons is associate professor of neurology at Oregon Health and Science University. “There is no question that, in excess, aluminum is toxic to the nervous system,” she says. Before the 1980s dialysis patients were exposed to high levels of aluminum in the dialysis fluid, she notes, as well as through medications. Patients developed progressive “dialysis dementia,” but significantly, the brains of these patients did not show the tell-tale lesions of Alzheimer’s disease. Still, a study reviewing all of the published studies up until 2014 concluded “... there was no consistent and convincing evidence to associate aluminum ... with increased risk for Alzheimer’s,” she maintains. Erten-Lyons even disputes the validity of the rabbit brain studies. “The injection of aluminum into rabbit brains does lead to brain changes that share some similarities to Alzheimer’s disease but are not truly identical to Alzheimer’s changes,” she says. “Some studies suggest that some Alzheimer’s disease lesions are shown to contain aluminum. This however, should not be taken to mean that aluminum is the cause of the formation of these lesions or the cause of Alzheimer’s disease. “Interestingly, aluminum is not the only metal found in Alzheimer’s lesions. Other metals including copper, iron and zinc have been implicated to cause Alzheimer’s and have been shown to exist in brain lesions of Alzheimer’s disease. The more likely explanation here is that once the disease process starts, these types of metals play a role in the mechanisms leading to brain damage, rather than instigating Alzheimer’s disease changes.” Savory acknowledges his conclusions are highly controversial. “It became very, very difficult to get funding,” he says. “As soon as you mention aluminum, you’re dismissed with ’Oh, that hypothesis was disproven years ago.’ But it has not been disproven. “The truth is, nobody knows.”

"The truth is, nobody knows."

Contrasting opinion

“Dementia is not a cookie cutter disease,” says Sophia Cameron, community relations manager at The Villa. “Yes, there are different stages of the disease from early, to mid, to late stages, and within those stages additional personality changes, which differ from person to person, day to day.” With dementia there is damage which ultimate-

It wasn’t until Christmas Day that she realized she may be injured. “I was a mess and the pain was really bad,” she recalls. Thus began the odyssey of seeking relief from the acute pain in her shoulders and upper back through acupuncture, massage, orthopedists and physical therapy. She couldn’t do exercises that involved impact. She turned to an old friend: yoga. Four years later, she calls yoga “my salvation.” The calming practice allowed her eventually to cope, not only with the physical pain, but the emotional stress of having her life change in an instant. Yoga quite literally means a yoking of the mind, body and spirit. Most commonly identified with postures, it is made up of eight “limbs” of which the postures are only one. The aspect that Riedel believes is the key to its benefits is the measuring, control and directing of the breath – Pranayama.

Charlene, continued from Page 42 students are feeling, mentally and physically, in the moment. The practice, called centering, carries through the session, she says, and helps keep practioners safer because of that intentional focus. “Focusing on the practice rather than nagging thoughts of the past and future, is the goal,” Ploetz adds. “This is your time and space to focus on yourself.” charpea.com

Monica, continued from Page 43

Fernandi has also taken her message to schools, where she coaches young people to think about what stresses them: schoolwork, peer or parental pressure, even bullying. She teaches them how to breathe deeply and use this to calm the nervous system. “It’s beautiful when you see them apply that,” she says. The mother of three grown girls, she remembers having them say goodnight to each part of their body as children to help them relax before sleep. “Counting breaths is like counting sheep,” she says. “It gives your mind the task to stay present.” Coaching also includes corporate team building, in which Fernandi encourages team members to grow their strength within to conquer workplace challenges, from a conflict with a co-worker to making a presentation to the boss. “Breathe and conquer (the) obstacle to what you want to do.” WINTER 2017

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FOOD & WINE

Food & Wine WAY BEYOND EATING AND DRINKING

Hot stuff

When you really, truly need a trustworthy kitchen tool, can’t beat cast iron Photos by Betsy Burke Paerker Story by Janie Ledyard

Inside this section:

Here’s how to chill if the kids are off school – fill your fridge with our snow day beer recommendations n Tuck into a heaping helping of comfort foods this winter: Easy to make, easy to love n Delicious chestnut strives to make a comeback n Find out which elements belong in your medicine cabinet n

WINTER 2017

FOOD & WINE

Iron-clad rules: They’re meant to be broken National cast iron cooking contest yields personal prize

Cast iron cookware has always had a prominent place in my culinary life. When I was growing up, mother used ancient cast iron skillets and griddles every day to prepare everything from bacon and eggs for breakfast to fried chicken for dinner. She even made her famous yellow cake in that big, heavy skillet. When I was setting up my solo kitchen, the first order of business was to go to the hardware store and buy a 10-inch cast iron skillet. Mother showed me how to season it by rubbing the freshly scrubbed skillet with a thin layer of shortening and baking it upside down in a hot oven for an hour or so. After repeating that process a few times, my skillet was ready to go. That was about 35 years ago, and the skillet is now as slick on the inside and as black and crusty on the outside as mother’s. Cast iron is remarkably easy to care for, and nearly indestructible. Just wash it by hand in hot water after each use, scrubing stubborn stuck-on food out with a brush if necessary. Dry well before storing. Sometimes I re-season it by running a very thin layer of oil on it and putting it in a warm oven to dry. You can use cast iron on all cooking surfaces, even on the grill. The iron is a wonderful heat conductor and cooks a variety of foods evenly.

King cornbread

My favorite thing to cook in cast iron is cornbread. Nothing else produces the wonderful crunchy brown crust and tender interior. In 2003, I saw a notice in the local newspaper to enter the National Cornbread Cookoff, I was intrigued. Highlight of the National Cornbread Festival, the cookoff is held every April in rural Tennessee, sponsored by Martha White and Lodge Cast Iron. The contest called for an original main course recipe, using at least one package of Martha White cornbread mix and cooked in Lodge cast iron.

Cleaning tips

Cast iron skillets make a tasty crust on foods cooked in them. I developed a recipe I called “Country Ham Quiche,” basically quiche Lorraine with a cornbread crust. I sent it in my entry and promptly forgot about it. Imagine my surprise several weeks later when I was contacted by contest officials. My recipe was one of 10 finalists selected to rumble at the festival. So in April, I packed up my trusty skillet – which I knew to be Lodge because of its trademark teardrop handle – and headed a couple hours south of Nashville. As soon as I arrived at the welcome reception the night before the competition, I realized I was out of my league. I had no idea there’s a competitive cooking subculture, a nationwide circuit consisting of very serious home cooks who travel

• Wash cast iron by hand with a nylon bristle scrub brush. If needed, use a pan scraper for stuck on bits. For extra sticky situations, simmer a little water for 1 minute, then use the scraper after cooled. • Dry promptly and thoroughly with a lint-free cloth or paper towel. • Rub with a very light layer of cooking oil while the cookware is still warm. • Occasionally, you may notice some dark residue on your paper towel or cloth when cleaning. This is perfectly safe -- it’s just the seasoning – the baked-on cooking oil – reacting to slightly acidic or alkaline foods you’ve cooked. • Soap isn’t necessary, but if you like, a little mild detergent is fine. Don’t put cast iron in the dishwasher. 66

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sometimes 20 or more weekends a year to cooking competitions all over the country. My humble little quiche didn’t win, but I had a great time, received a small cash prize and a new pre-seasoned Lodge skillet. One thing I really admire about Lodge cast iron is that it is made in

the U.S., using the same sand casting technique for centuries. Cast iron is not expensive, gets better with time, and never wears out. It poses no health risks, as opposed to some modern non-stick pans, and some say it even imparts a little iron into your diet through the food cooked in it.

Country ham quiche

small bowl. Cut in shortening using a fork or pastry cutter until combined. Sprinkle water in while tossing with fork, and continue to stir lightly until mixture forms a ball. Roll out on lightly floured board. Fit loosely into a 9-inch pie pan. Flute edges if desired. Spread spinach and ham or bacon over the bottom of the crust. In a separate bowl, combine beaten eggs, milk, cheese, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Pour over spinach. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Turn the oven down to 350 degrees and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and set in the middle. Let stand 10 minutes before serving warm, room temperature or cold.

For the crust 1/2 cup Martha White cornmeal 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup shortening or leaf lard 3 tablespoons cold water

For the filling 4 eggs 1 cup whole milk 2 cups shredded Swiss cheese tossed with 2 tablespoons flour 1/2 teaspoon of salt pepper to taste dash of nutmeg 10 ounces cooked spinach, drained very well 6 ounces cooked ham or bacon, torn or cut into bite-sized bits

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine cornmeal, flour, salt in a

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Snow day survival kit

Hunker down with our perfect beer selections

Photos and story by John Daum Prepping for winter may be simple, but it’s not easy. You checked the tread on your tires, dug out the windshield scraper and topped off the antifreeze. You bought some salt for the front steps, a new snow shovel for the driveway and put up the storm windows. But are you prepared for a true emergency? One that could wreak havoc on your domestic winter bliss. I am talking of course about the dreaded “snow day.” School is closed, and it’s just you and the kids for endless hours of togetherness with no end in sight. Good chance your power is out, too. The best you can hope for is kid-approved food in the fridge, and a chilled stash of snow day beer to help the adults survive the cold and dark days of winter. Day one is super cool. Witness how easily frozen precipitation still engages the minds of your young even after years of being glued to televisions and cell phones. All you’ll need to do is make a quick appearance outside, of course, and do some cursory snow shoveling before slipping back inside by the fire. This day, pop open a delicious Hardywood Gingerbread Stout. This terrific milk stout hails from Richmond and is lightly infused with local ginger and wild honey along with a touch of cinnamon. Later that evening, once the kids are back inside warming by the fire and enjoying their hot chocolate, join them with your own mug of Dark 68

WINTER 2017

Hollow from Blue Mountain Brewery outside of Charlottesville. This rich imperial stout is aged in charred American oak barrels and has pronounced hints of Bourbon and vanilla to make it the perfect nightcap. Day two requires an attempt to make a snowman with the kids which could be quite taxing, so afterwards you will need real pick-me-up to get your snow day mojo back. Gold Cup Russian Imperial Stout from Old Busthead Brewery at Vint Hill is just what you need. Clocking in at 10 percent alcohol, it will reach deep down into your bones with its refreshing blend of sweet berries, dark chocolate and roasted coffee beans. Evening calls for a tall glass of Tin Cannon’s Unkle Dunkle from Gainesville. This refreshing dark Hefewizen is a nice contrast to the typical winter beers that most people think of this season,

but is light enough to enjoy in repetition, imperative if the kids ask you to join them in a long game of Monopoly. If school is canceled again and you are staring down day three at home, it’s time for some Schwarzbier from the Farm Brewery at Broad Run. This is a classic black Pils, which means it is light enough to enjoy throughout the day but enjoyably rich in roasted dark chocolate flavor. At only 5.4 percent alcohol,it’s nice at lunchtime, and you can even muster up the energy afterwards to lead a snowball fight outside. Once the battle is over, settle in front of the fire with some Black Ox from Old Ox Brewery up in Ashburn. This rye Porter has a very appealing nutty aftertaste that pairs nicely with a full range of chips and dips you very wisely stocked in your pantry when you’d heard for forecast a week ago. If you wake up the next day and you are staring down day four of Snowmageddon, all bets are off. For me, the only thing to ensure my survival will be a big bottle of one of my favorite Virginia beers, Bourbon Barrel Three Chopt Tripel Ale from Lickinghole Creek Craft brewery. This is a special beer for just such an occasion, and if you can get your hands on a bottle, buy two or three. In the very rare chance you also see a bottle of their Magnificent Pagan Beast Bourbon Barrel Ale (17.5 percent), you might just be hoping for a second week of snow days. beerfests.com brewtrail.com virginiacraftbeer.com

FOOD & WINE

Dishing up comfort this winter Country cookin’ makes you good lookin’

Twice-baked squash Makes: 4 servings 2 medium acorn squash 1 1/4 cups chopped cooked spinach or 1/3 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese 3 slices bacon, crisp-cooked, drained and crumbled 3 Tbsp. butter, softened 1 green onion, thinly sliced 1/8 tsp. salt 1/8 tsp. ground red pepper 2 Tbsp. soft bread crumbs 1 Tbsp. grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

Halve squash lengthwise. Remove seeds. Place squash, cut side down, in a large baking dish. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 50 to 55 minutes or until nearly tender. Scoop out squash pulp to leave 1/4-inch thick shells. In a large mixing bowl combine squash pulp, spinach, the 1/3 cup cheese, bacon, butter, green onion, salt and red pepper. Fill squash shells with the squash mixture. Combine the bread crumbs and the 1 tablespoon cheese; sprinkle over squash. Return filled squash halves to same baking dish. Bake, uncovered, 30 minutes.

PHOTOS BY CHRIS CERRONE

Warm winter lunch salad Set your table first, having everything ready so this dish can be served warm. Deviled eggs are traditionally served cold in summer, but they’re equally filling and tasty served warm from cooking in winter. Pair them with a salad, lightly wilted from a warm dressing, and you have a light, nourishing winter lunch. 10 fresh eggs 1/4-1/2 cup mayonaisse 1 tablespoon mustard, or to taste salt and pepper Dash paprika or cayenne pepper, optional 1 head lettuce (romaine holds up especially well to hot dressing, but any lettuce or greens mix will do) 1/4 cup cooked chickpeas, black beans or any leftover cooked grains or seeds 1/2 cup olive oil 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar 1 tablespoon mustard salt and pepper to taste; cayenne or red pepper, optional

Put eggs in a saucepan of water large enough

Winter vegetable medley 12 oz. Brussels sprouts, rinsed, stems cut off, halved if large 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed 1/2" 4 big carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/4" medallions 12 oz. spinach, kale or Swiss chard, torn into 3" pieces 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 onion, chopped Oil of your choice, salt and pepper to taste, other fresh herbs if desired

Preheat oven to 350.

to hold them all in a single layer. Cover with water. Bring to a rapid boil and immediately remove from the heat. Cover with a lid and let sit for 10 minutes, exactly. After 10 minutes, pour out hot water and let cool slightly. When you can handle the eggs, crack and peel, still hot. Slice in half, lengthwise, scooping out yolks into a bowl. Mash yolks then gently stir in mayonaisse, mustard and spices. Spoon yolk mixture back into halved whites. Arrange on a platter and keep warm near the warm stovetop or in a very low oven - 175 or as low as your oven goes. Meanwhile, tear lettuce into bite sized pieces and put on salad plates. Top with a few beans or a little quinoa or cooked grains. In a small saucepan, heat olive oil and balsamic vinegar to near boiling. Remove from heat and stir in mustard and spices. Pour warm dressing over greens to wilt just before serving, and serve warm boiled eggs alongside.

In a 9 by 13 baking pan, toss sprouts, potatoes and carrots with olive oil to coat. Bake 1 hour or until soft when pierced with a fork. Meanwhile, stir fry onion in large saucepan in a little olive oil (or coconut oil, or avocado oil.) When onion is translucent, add garlic and stir. Cook a minute or two more and add greens. Cook a minute or two more and add salt and pepper and herbs. When vegetables in the oven are done, mix all together in the baking pan. Serve over cooked quinoa or other grain.

WINTER 2017

FOOD & WINE

Once the king of the Eastern forest, chestnuts only known by the Christmas song these days Local foundation looks to bring back the beloved classic, but in the meantime, tuck into delicious holiday treats By Sandy Greeley

Besides "Jingle Bells," one of the best-known and most-loved winter songs is "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire." The merry melody has a back story. In 1945, American singer Mel Torme dropped by the house of his lyrics partner Bob Wells, and not finding him at home, sat down at the piano. There he saw a notepad with possible Christmas song lyrics, including the simple line, “chestnuts roasting on an open fire.” When Torme’s pal walked in, he asked Wells about that line, and he responded that it was so hot outside in the California heat that he tried to cool off with December thoughts. Less than an hour later, the pair had penned what’s since become a holiday classic. Most modern holiday celebrators only know chestnuts because of this popular tune, since the great stands of native American chestnut trees are long gone. In the early 20th

century, the huge hardwood was the most predominate deciduous tree in the east with an estimated four billion. The American chestnut was wiped out by blight starting around 1900, no longer covering the nearly 200 million-acre range it once occupied. In a national effort to revitalize the species and bring it back to its former glory, the American Chestnut Foundation is working on research to develop a blight-resistant chestnut. Today, any chestnuts Americans we eat come from European or Chinese species or hybrids. They’re just as tasty, though the trees aren’t as grand as the original American chestnut. Regardless of pedigree, there’s much to love about chestnuts: cooked nuts are sweet, and can be eaten raw or roasted. Chestnuts are rich in nutrients and fiber and low in calories, and – modern bonus – gluten free. Supermarket chestnuts should be stored in plastic bags and refrig-

erated—they can last up to several months. Left at room temperature, the nuts do become sweeter, but cooks risk having the chestnuts dry out too quickly: room-temperature nuts should be cooked and eaten within a few days.

How-to guide

Uncooked chestnuts are very hard. To soften the outer shell, lightly rinse the chestnuts. Use a sharp knife to score an “X” on the flat side of the outer shell, or make a long slice across the rounded part of the outer shell. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, place the nuts on a sheet pan and roast 20 minutes so the shells pop open to expose the inner nuts. When cool enough to handle, the outer shell can be easily removed, and the inner skin peels off easily. Chestnuts can be eaten as a snack, chopped and used in stuffing or other side dishes, or sliced and stir-fried with vegetables. acf.org

Chestnut-butternut squash hash

This dish can be served for brunch with sausages, scrambled eggs, scones and coffee, or pair with pork or chicken for dinner. Serves 4 3 tablespoons olive oil 2 leeks, rinsed and thinly sliced 3 cups cubed butternut squash, roasted until just tender 1 cup peeled and roasted chestnuts 1 cup chopped cooked bacon 1 cup crumbled goat cheese Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the leeks and sauté, stirring often, until the slices soften and start to turn golden. Add squash and chestnuts, and continue cooking until the mixture turns golden. Stir in the bacon, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat, and scoop into a serving bowl or onto a platter. Garnish with the goat cheese, and serve.

Chestnut cheesecake

Add roasted chestnuts and toffee bits, drizzle with salted caramel, and elevate classic cheesecake. Serves 8 2 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs 1 stick unsalted butter, melted 1 cup roasted and chopped chestnuts 3 pounds cream cheese at room temperature 2 to 3 cups granulated sugar 3 tablespoons cornstarch 5 large eggs ¼ cup heavy cream 2 teaspoons vanilla extract One 8-ounce package English toffee bits Pinch salt Salted caramel sauce to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the crumbs and butter in a mixing bowl, then press them into the bottom and sides of a 9- or 10-inch spring form pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, and line the bottom of the pan with the chestnuts. Place cream cheese in a mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Add sugar and cornstarch. Add eggs one at a time and beat after each addition. Beat in cream and vanilla, then stir in toffee bits and salt. Scoop batter into the prepared pan, and set it on a baking sheet. Bake 60-90 minutes, or until firm in the center. Turn off heat and open the oven door. Let the cheesecake stay in the oven until cool, then refrigerate for at least 12 hours or overnight. 70

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WINTER 2017

FOOD & WINE

Gluten-free for the holidays? By Danica Low

Hard, but not impossible

School teacher and mother of three, Holly Spagnolo lives in Bealeton. Ten years ago, she figured out how to stay gluten-free, year-round. “I generally eat gluten-free cereal for breakfast and salads or rice dishes for lunch,” Spagnolo says. For breakfast and lunch, her kids and husband eat what they like. But at dinner and holiday time, Spagnolo’s diet rules the roost. Spagnolo says she’s cautious of gluten cross-contamination. “We’re very careful, and I use separate butter and squeezable bottles for things such as jelly and mayonnaise,” she says. “I’m careful using the toaster oven.” “Ten years ago, it was hard to find gluten-free items in the grocery store,” Spagnolo says. “I would have to bake bread and baked goods from scratch, and my choices were limited. Now,

many things are labeled gluten-free, making it much easier to find foods I can eat.” It’s been hard to get friends and family to understand that she can’t "just have a bite,” or "just eat (something) without the crust." She had to learn all the names of different ingredients that have gluten, and which surprising items contain it. She says she misses Twizzlers. Spagnolo says for the holidays, you can’t go wrong with traditional — plain — meats, potatoes, rice, beans and fresh fruits and vegetables. Just be careful, she cautions, to ensure seasonings are gluten-free. She’s learned to replicate glutenfree versions of her former holiday favorites — rich rolls and pumpkin pie. Spagnolo especially misses pizza and doughnuts, though she “no longer has strong cravings for the foods I have avoided for so long.”

Holly Spagnolo’s sweet potato bake This recipe can be halved or doubled, according to the number of guests. Peel and cut five large sweet potatoes, add to boiling water. Cook on medium heat until soft, about 20 minutes. Drain sweet potatoes and add two tablespoons of butter, one cup whole milk, a quarter-cup brown sugar and one tablespoon of cinnamon and mash until smooth. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the bottom of a glass cooking dish and add the mashed sweet potatoes. Sprinkle the top with brown sugar. Bake 25-30 minutes. Add glutenfree marshmallows to the top as well, and bake another 8-10 minutes.

The earthy blessings of organic living Photos and story by Mara Seaforest

Going back to the basics for whole health

Products at a local store use essential minerals to promote health and happiness. Danielle Dawson, manager of the Natural Marketplace in Warrenton, says the heart of the store is finding natural cures and preventatives for

illness and injury. • Copper is a major medicinal element. The same beautiful metal that gives the rooftops of historic homes their verdigris charm is also a favorite of plumbers. Copper and magnetic bracelets have been used to treat and prevent arthritis for more than a century, Dawson says. And though a 2013

Is copper a conductor of better health? Many believe that it is. 72

WINTER 2017

double-blind medical study showed no arthritis relief from wearing either copper, magnetic or placebo bracelets, many cite personal and anecdotal evidence as proof enough, maintaining that copper relieves pain and inflammation. • Magnesium was a favorite in spy movies when agents needed a way to blow out a doorknob or open a locked box of loot. Health food devotees focus on its healing properties: applied to skin, magnesium helps to balance pH, a basic function of cosmetic care. Inside the body, magnesium supplements help to replace this vital element reduced by some prescription drugs, caffeinated drinks and alcohol. A lack of magnesium in the diet can interfere with the body’s proper absorption of calcium, leading to osteoporosis, stress and insomnia. • One of the most popular beauty treatments on earth comes directly from it, in the form of powered bentonite clay. Mix a small amount of the fine powder in your hand with water or raw apple cider vinegar to make a paste. Spread gently

Magnesium has many uses in natural health care, both topical and internal. over your face. As the mask dries, the skin tingles and tightens. Benefits are compounded when it’s rehydrated with warm water over the sink. Rinse the mask off, pay dry and apply moisturizer.

• Women Defend Themselves • Farmers Markets • Gold Star Experience • Remembering Buckland

May 3-9, 2017 | Serving

Inside

COURT TESTIMONY:

Custody dispute led By Hannah Dellinger Times Staff Writer

a the parking lot of A fatal shooting in rein November was the to Manassas Food Lion dispute, according sult of a heated custody William General District testimony in Prince

Court. 23, is charged with Roberta Edlina Brandon, in the killing of Cordrey second-degree murder Dumfries. of Douglas Jackson, 24,

WARRENTON, VA

Madison Filson’s goal gave Fauquier a dramatic shootout win over Kettle Run. Sports, B1

Vol. 16, No. 18 Prince William County |

| PrinceWilliamTimes.com

That doesn’t happen

Warrenton home on National Register of Historic Places listed for $1.75M. Real Estate, C2

Warrenton Salvation Army deploying team to help victims of Hurricane Irma. Page A8

Nick’s a Padre

often

For the second time in a month, Brentsville ace Leah Shipp was frustrated by local rival Fauquier. Sports, B1

| 50¢

September 13-19, 2017

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Relief efforts

Historic Yorkshire House Celebrate good times

Our 200th year

Vol. 200, No. 37

www.Fauquier.com

After a star career at UNC-Wilmington, former Battlefield High baseball star Nick Feight was drafted and$1signed by the San Diego Padres last week. Sports, B1

‘We don’t want to be Anywhere USA’

Special section debuts inside

June 21-27, 2017 | Serving

Haymarket, Gainesville and

ing lot ded Food Lion park to fatal shooting in crowSupervisors still have questions, concerns about Marshall Code

hearing on During Brandon’s preliminary told the court he asked April 26, her cousin a custody exchange that her to “keep an eye” on A Food Lion assistant didn’t go as planned. he saw Brandon shoot manager told the court a family members made Jackson after other store. the inside scene Brandon’s first Denzel Brandon, Roberta to pick up his supposed cousin, said he was at Garfield police station 5-year-old daughter

the court that WilDenzel Brandon told about 29 per a joint custody liams and Jackson had been dating for anin Woodbridge on Nov. Wilthe couple and Brandon said Nika three years. He testified in February 2016 at court order. Denzel him be the case in a check with him to pick other man “jumped” The other supervisors expressed concerns his child, toldIvancic That proved atoplot to steal a firearm liams, the mother of By James in apartment of the board who will about the historic overlay boundaries and her school in Fairfax. Williams’three other members Writer their daughter up at Times Staff another custody exchange. car duringvote to plan- whether a Marshall Review Board is needed to where to make the ex- from his eventually on the matter. The county The two argued about said he wanted a witness Williams vet changes to structures in the historic district. adding Denzel Brandon of Supervisors approval. Board said, County recommended Fauquier The commission ning Brandon previous physical the of Denzel change, because opposition to the exchange Food Lion proon thethe at theThursday hearing holdtoa public willhim meet her Scott District Supervisor Holder Trumbo But none expressed outright finally told Ro-votealtercation. on it won’t called likely buthe Codesaid Marshall posed father from taking part in discussions Marshall Code. withdrawn The has Road. Hoadly on meeting. The goal of the code is to achieve the viuntil itstoOctober page A7 eye” on him during he owns property on Main because and votingG, “keep an See SHOOTIN berta Brandon ad“There’s already been discussion on changes He owns a former IGA gro- sion for the community set out in the Marshall. in Street that changes meeting. other the District Plan, and there may be one or two building that’s being converted into a ga- opted 2011 Marshall Service supervisors will want to make,” said Marshall cery to allow flexible future development and rerage for specialty cars. District Supervisor Mary Leigh McDaniel.

e of aviation Colgan’s lifelong lov sas Airshow nas on display to open Ma

Western Prince William County

WARRENTON, VA

VOLUME I ISSUE 3 SPRING 2017

| Vol. 16, No. 25 | www.PrinceWillia

mTimes.com | 50¢

Following narrow primary loss, Stewart eyes Senate run

development, to encourage reuse of historic structures, to ensure that new structures are compatible with what’s there and to create regulations that are easier to use and understand. The code replaces existing zoning regulations in Marshall and establishes three new zoning districts — gateway, town and residential — along with a historic overlay.

See CODE, page A5

Pretty

SPRING STYLES

By James Ivancic

YOU’LL LOVE

Times Staff Writer

“I’ve got people in my ear it,” but Corey Stewart, Princetelling me I have a good shot at William County Board visors chairman, said he of Superisn’t ready to say whether the U.S. Senate in 2018. he’ll run for Stewart lost a close Republican primary June 13 against Gillespie to be the party’s Ed nominee for governor in ber election. Ralph Northam the Novemwon his party’s primary day. the same By Jill Palermo The unofficial Writer Times Staff election night returns had known was Colgan Chuck Gillespie with New renderings of the proposed The late state Sen. ns to $35 million stadium for the mostly his contributio 43.74 percent Potomac Nationals were released COURTESY PHOTOS for many things, but June 15. of the roadways. vote to local colleges and 42.50 percent for January at age 90, served Colgan, who died in Stewart and 13.75 Assembly for four in the Virginia General percent for state on the state buddecades. As a lead negotiatorto build Northern Sen. Frank W. get, Colgan secured funding Woodbridge and Wagner. College’s Virginia Community Both Prince By Jill Palermo George Mason UniversiWilliam and FauManassas campuses, and the Va. 234 bypass, Times Staff Writer quier were among ty’s Manassas campus that now runs in front of highway the counties A decision to put a the four-lane new counnewest high school, ty-owned stadium for Stewart won. The Prince William County’s the Potomac name. Nationals to a referendum runner up took which also bears his would likely Colgan served in the push the team out of Prince 59.94 percent of But before all of that, Corey Stewart William World War II. He enCounty, according to Seth the vote in Prince Army Air Corps during in high school and was family has owned the Silber, whose William and 51.26 percent Minor League in listed while still a senior Baseball team since 1984. Stewart noted he ran for Fauquier. near the end of the fightshipped off to Europe re-election for supervisors lieutenant governor in 2013, The Prince William Board sparked Colgan’s lifelong chairman in 2015 and now ing. That experience visors was scheduled to vote of Super2017. governor in particular, military and, Tuesday aviation for on passion whether to place the $35 “I’m kind of tired. I have before he entered polimillion stadito um on the ballot in November. aviation that began long He wasn’t ready to address take a break,” Stewart said. his final days. Speaking to the Woodbridge Civic bid when contacted at home the likelihood of a U.S. Senate tics and endured until last week, Silber said his Association “I’m taking a vacation and Monday morning. A7 family doesn’t I’ll think about it,” Stewart See AIRSHOW, page have time to wait for voters He also wasn’t ready to said. to weigh in on the stadium given the re-election as supervisors say this far ahead if he’ll run for team’s chairman in 2019. with Minor League Baseball. deadline But he noted, “It’s not in my enjoy battling. I’m not going nature to stay out of the ring. I Under its current waiver league, the P-Nats, a Class with the Stewart said during the to just fade away.” his Facebook page that he’llinterview and in a video posted on of the big league WashingtonA affiliate support the Republican the Nov. 7 ballot. als, must leave the 33-year-old Nationticket on has held the Pfitzner who colonel Supervisors Army Stadium “I’ve been very careful how tired were set to vote Tuesday by the end of the 2018 season. a I worded that. I’m going Kahlon, a Gainesville on whether to put the stadium 2002. Sara Townsend, for the Republican ticket Located to referendum. See PrinceWilliam behind the Prince William school educational Mansimran ss owner aiming to be seat since Pentagon – that’s all of them,” Stewart to work middle Times.com for the latest. County to provide parents more and to loos- small-busine dedicated to Army Lt. Col. Jerry D. Dickerson at the National 9/11County Regarding Gillespie, he bench government center on the memorial uponSpotsylvania reflect remembrance Flowers to state office, said “I’ve not used the word said. Prince 2001. lives in Catlett, is mak-souls lost in the terrorist attack at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, or support. It may be old-fashioned choices for their children businesses. William the first Sikh elected Transgender teacheriswho endorse Parkway, Pfitzner has mostly Monday, May 22 184 theagainst to seat dedicated By Jill Palermo $67,000. The memorial for the politics to say that in Arlington. vote leader and that others will en regulations on Virginiamost mon-Memorial vember “will likely kill the metal bleacher seating, is second with in ing a second run Deadline to register to the with follow. It doesn’t work that I’m the Times Staff Writer Danica Roem pulled a Elizabeth Guzman, a City of AlexMaybe it never did.” Austion has raised rests, and lacks fan amenities no back added, because his family deal,” Silber mac Town Center. Principi is a supportway now. for June 13 primary but King journalist man- BY EJ HERSOM PHOTO A. Adams, services will need to er of the stadium administrativeDOD ey so far, about $45,000, quate locker room and practiceand ade- begin efforts to sell For Gillespie to win the $27,000, while Andrew successdeal and voted back . the team this sum- in April backing of Stewart supporters, with $41,000. Foy, former U.S. Army officer who was a andria With Jacqueline Smith’s circuit “got to fight for their support who lives in Woodbridge for both the home and visiting facilities mer if it can’t get against sending the matter last is close behind he’s William trails the rest ager candidacy a few in fundraisinto a new stadium a ballot referendum. and show the same level to 56 percent of the vote teams. ful bid for Prince who announced her about $24,000 later-comer to the race, mitment” to issues such Guzman is ahead Still, Silber said the team of comDemocratic won it with by 2020. The effort died in compared as illegal immigration and in $5,600. would pulled $52,000 likeraising court clerk behind them, several local November. in later, a 4-4 pack, tie with Board Chairman Southern heritage. respect for ly get permission to play of the running for weeks flip is the “If the board votes for this Marshall’s ing, pulling Corey at candidates trying to Two Democrats are Josh King, from January to March 31, according thing to Stewart, R-At Large, and Supervisors Like all incumbents, likely ham- to Townsend’s $32,000. This additional season, through Pfitzner one go to a “Protecting historical monuments to blue have Project. in which the referendum, this is likely 2019, if they were was however, efforts delegate seats from redthe upcoming the chance to claim it. ’s deputy, to the Virginia Public Access not John race, an issue Jenkins, years local have fundraising over,” four ago, only a D-Neabsco deal under way with but nobody was tearing held prohibits and MarSilber told a group of about far behind the down monuments then,” returned their focus to a Fairfax County Sheriffbid against The 13th District, currently also pered by the state law that Stewart. 40 gathered ty Nohe, R-Coles, joining Principi for the new stadium proposedthe county at challengers aren’t too said the Potomac Shores Social in an unsuccessful Del. Bob Marshall, June 13 primary. of the General Assembly incumbent when it comes to monetching solu- at StoneElectroplating bridge atand Removing monuments Barn on voting against putting the proposal on left until the launched Potomac A formal comment period on the and will try by longtime has the most hotly-con- members during raised Town over the country,” said Center. June 15. “If it goes to referendum, doing it rall due toLingamfelte It’sbank. With just six weeks at the WTC. two data center endDudenhefer in 2015 collecting donations the correctness gone mad,” he of Confederate heroes is “political dumped Ivancic By Jamesfrom tions were The ey in the team into things stand: will need it’s the ballot while Republican Supervicleanup plan ended Sept. 8. faces newcom- Republican, local delegate’s said. solid commit- quite possible it won’t quarter and has big day, here’s where in 2018. in $10,515 in the first Gardner. sors Ruth Anderson (Occoquan), again this year. King openwhich theafoWriter now law-making session, Staff are tested primary for any will Times pits that Stewart said that “people the move forward.” chemical ment cleaning incumbent from for off attorney option an the preferred face The took county District, Foy, outpublic Townsend includes 2nd Mauthis are process Marshall Carroll The looking for a fighter. Someone summer – Road. Democrats In the on hand. Wallow Silber appeared at the meeting off Bear reen Caddigan (Potomac), The site is has $42,500 who won’t back down but preferably cleanup.byThat about , a Republi- er Jennifer also lives in race. Four their party’s nomination ed in late February. July, dumping but Pete Candwith Silber said will double down.” “poster” forum was held up the chemical pits as well as the cus of the quarter, about A$28,000 of a forhave reach. the site Del. Mark Dudenhefer leaving his and public defender who the first It is separate from and chemical Guzman June 13 for $4,697of in That, rather than anger, thebetween 1969 to 1980, – to make Supervisor Frank Principi and Tom land (Gainesville) and Jeanine Lawson The eventual cleanup he’s hand. is what drew people to his . 23 at the John Barton Payne underlying contaminated soil would took place timeline work. that apAug.respectively. can, has announced on Springs Road $75,000 in the bank, Sebastian, director of development (Brentsville) voted for it. day school of on mer grounds the than the runner-up said. campaign, for the Woodbridge one Republican in the to face Marshall. Jansen, a description pits and Putting attor- onmore the stadium to voters in Dem- and $39,000 anlandfill cost a little more than $1 million. according to for No- JBG Companies, seat to launch a campaign 31st isDistrict, There’s only slated to be demolished. The Building with illustrations and repthat istwo So far, Steve the Warrenton Center In the Training in cleanup plan. which owns the Poto- See Supervisors in Repub- chemical pits and , page Austion, who lives violence advocate A6 take on of of the Corps and the Another $6.2 million expenditure pears in the proposed to resentatives Laquan anti-gun Stafford Board of vying STADIUM, the race, and are cleanup ney by PRIMARY ocrats long eastern page A4 getting closer.has The pits are about 5 feet in governr, a re- See would clean up the inactive landSee STEWART, page A4 in Lake Manassas, 2019. The district straddles counties Stafford. Austion works Del. Scott of Lingamfelte landfill are a separate undertaking, Virginia Department of Environ- fill and another $619,000 would be 6 feet wide and 5 feet deep. In 1984, outgrowth The WTC, ride-service who lives most cash, about $73,000. anlican mental Quality on-hand to answer Prince William and Staffordtarget for ment relations for the raised the the Cold War, remains an active, according to Chris Gardner, a pubprime spent using the degrading in ground- about 308 tons of soil were excavatLyft and is campaigning the U.S. questions. Four citizens attended. and is considered a though off-limits, federal commu- lic affairs specialist with INSIDE Hillary Clinton company investigation, fea- water of trichloroethene, or TCE, a ed and disposed of at an authorized The remedial INSIDE is Democrats because By Jill Palermo A9 nications installation to this day. In Army Corps of Engineers, which ...................study and proposed clean- compound used as an industrial sol- disposal facility. Calendar sibility ...... Business ......................... The school division’s current Times Staff Writer A5 November 2015, Fauquier County involved in both projects. ..... B3 can be found at the vent. It’s the primary groundwater up plan reports “not ter- ................... Calendar ......................... crimination and Commitment policy on “NondisThe planned cleanup isClassified Only See CLEANUP, page A5 A10 library. supervisors approved tax breaks for A8 ... public contaminant on the WTC site. to Equity” protects abstainedSawyers voted against the delay. Williams Warrenton A majority of Prince We’re ................... Obituaries Classified ........................ students and staff to Warrenton. from the vote while three Vadata Inc. to build a $200 million ribly unique ..A3 B2 Board members said FridayWilliam County School the basis of race, members from discrimination on – Jessie, Raulston other Democrats and for her efforts Public Safety ................... Education ....................... color, religion, national they will vote to expand . B2 and Wilk – voted with the A8 made to Trump’s campaign Mich................... family of the origin, Page state school used be RepubliINSIDE sex, pregnancy, home Puzzle division’s Obituaries ..................... A10 cans her to push the matter back until nondiscrimination policy childbirth or related medical tax dollars should ..A12 charter schools in to add age, marital the June protections conditions, when it was Business ..........................A4 public schools and whether pay for private schools. to expand for gay and transgender students Real Estate ................... Public Safety ................... status, veteran status or disability. thought that lawsuits filed 21 meeting families A3 and staff, all but By Jill Palermo on in igan. A13 ensuring behalf administration Sports ..............................B1 ....................... a.m. The for “vouchers” to help Calendar transgender of the support Puzzles 9:30 Trump measure ......................... A12 the of about students, will be approved today. the five school Her critics worry In Times Staff Writer interviews C6 is enough to expand the members, all Democrats, be resolved, providingincluding two in Virginia, might didn’t DeVos arrived at the ........................ charters, divertClassified Friday morning, Real Estate...................... school policy. The three Republigreater legal clarity on the rain. But the wet weather from will pressure states to open more public schools. ad, A6 bersCommunities Lillie Jessie a classified A10 Diane board mem- can school board members place issue. passport-sized photos ................ Two • To the midst of a steady More ed (Occoquan), of testers offices Sports the than at 24 dropped Sept. ......................... held 600 cash-strapp a of people counter-pro end DeVos the and Raulston and now – Alyson attended .... B1 Betsy pires between 2. (Ne- (Gainesville), absco), Ivancicfrom tax dollars James money Justin........................A9 many Bying Wilk (Potomac) and Loree call 540-347-422 Education with public Shawn Brann (Brentsville)Satterwhite meeting at which the matter was the tense Sept. 7 U.S. Education SecretarySchool, a Prince William keep about 20 protesters ATC Insurance, 310 Broadview • Any criminal records (e.g., grace period on March 5, six-month entourage as they arrived, schools are funded first considered, a (Woodbridge) Times Staff Writer confirmed they will join Williams Deutsch (Coles) – did not immediately and Willie crowd that filled the school sometimes by Farming ...........................A7 To place a classified ad, call in on Ashland Elementary its special efforts to wel- greeting DeVos’sschools matter!” as she approached Charter independently operated, Ave., Warrenton. The clinic board chambers and spilled police report, charging 2018, can apply for a renewal but face Ryan Sawyers return calls into the atrium for but are (At Large) in supporting Chairman for comment Friday. chanting “public Libraries ..........................A6 at the Edward County school known 540-347-4222. begins at 5:30 p.m. No predocument, disposition, etc.) the policy in Fauquier an Oct. 5 deadline to do so. change, which will add sexual entities. children and their fami- the school’s front walkway. is underway An effort The matter is on the agenda ter. Dozens of people spoke L. Kelly Leadership Cenap- for-profit and Opinion......................... A14 orientation and gender come and nurture military for tonight’s meeting, while registration is needed. The against the policy change Donald J. Trump To help them do so, Vecinos Para to help “Dreamers”— indito the..................... the last of the school list of protected • If he or she has traveled abroad, identity several police officers in bullet-proof Appointed by President A12 classes in school DeVos is vote,County lies. clinic is presented by NVFS, divi- to delay a decision year, because six members voted about the sion’sObituaries current Policy vests milled also turned the Manasa single Democratic brought to the U.S. by for- Vecinos announced the following passport and advance parole 060. meeting, which stretched the pres....................A3 on the Public Safety But the April 25 visit in the leafy, upscale Ash- proved without controversial members ofviduals page A6 assistance will be available in FauCatholic Charities, Legal Aid past 2 a.m. who immigrated first before the board last policy change when it was See DEVOS, eign-born more documentation her parents Puzzles ........................... B4 donations September. the on- among the sas-area school — nestled Justice Center, Just Neighbors because of the hefty a brief flash point in illegally — reapply for an extension quier: See LGBTQ, page A5 Real Estate...................... C1 land subdivision — into federal government ’s role in ident’s cabinet • Money order for $495 made and Ayuda. work permits that altwo-year the of with the appointments about Individual • A11 Religion ........................ out to the “US Department of going debate low them to hold jobs. an attorney with Northern In Manassas, a free DACA clinic Sports ............................. B1 Homeland Security” There are an estimated 100 Virginia Family Service are will be held at: • Photocopy of DACA work Dreamers living in Fauquier, accordavailable on a first come, first • Hogar Immigrant Services, 8251 permit (both sides) ing to Steve Church, a member of the served basis on Sept. 20 at 65 Shoppers Square, Manassas, 11 steering committee of Vecinos Para Culpeper St., Warrenton, by • Copies of all prior DACA a.m — 4 p.m., Sept. 15 Vecinos (Neighbors Helping Neighcalling the NVFS Legal Hotline applications and renewals bors), an organization of Latinos and at 571-748-2806. Persons needing to renew must non-Latinos. See DREAMERS, page A5 bring: be will clinic DACA free A • expermit whose 100 the Any of

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WINTER 2017

Making new Yuletide memories Celebrate coming light in a darkening season The Last Word

The distinctive elements of ancient Yule are still very much a part of modern-day celebrations during the “season of light” now upon us. Circular wreaths in today’s Yuletide decorations call to mind the endless cycle of darkness giving way to light that has been celebrated at the winter solstice since ancient times. But the most direct connection is our Yuletide use of decorative lights and candles. Decorations of light may have started as a form of calling for light to return around the time of the winter solstice, just as we speak of “keeping a candle burning in the window” for a distant, luminous loved one whose return we long for. Candles are as well a vital part of Kwanzaa observations and Buddhist meditations. In Judaism, emphasis on light during Hanukkah relates to a compelling story about the miraculous continuation of life in spite of threats and hardship. Christians revere the birth of Christ at this time of year as symbolic of life everlasting. No matter how light is expressed across cultures, it represents hope. A feature of traditional Yuletide is of course the flaming Yule log, another source of light. Originally, an entire tree was brought into the home with ritual solemnity, to be fed into the central hearth

By Mara Seaforest

fire bit by bit until it was reduced to ash. Over time, just a giant log was deemed more convenient. Traditions differed throughout Europe about which kind of tree yielded the best Yule log but it was felt lucky almost everywhere to keep part of the log from one year to start the Yule fire in the next. This act itself was one of hope: there will be a next year. Now we speak of wood and trees, we come to the legendary battle of the Oak King and the Holly King. It seems so odd, yet so perfectly reasonable if you understand the symbolism of both trees. The connection of oak trees with security and the cycle of life was obvious to ancient people. Oaks produced acorns and a reminder of fertility, the continuity of life. Wood from oak trees made strong fortresses. In the hearth, oak burned hottest and longest. The mistletoe plant, from which Druid priests obtained a valued heart medicine, grows only in the highest branches of oak trees. Holly trees are strikingly evergreen in winter. Druids were aware of this tree’s healing properties, too, and favored its wood for their beautiful carvings. During the early days of Roman occupation, the conquerors may have tolerated the Druids’ ritual reverence of the holly, with a nod to their tradition of exchanging holly branches

during their old winter feast of Saturnalia. Those Romans who were Christian may have heard that holly trees appeared wherever Christ had walked. With all of these correspondences in mind, the Celts celebrated a ritual battle at the winter solstice, pitting brothers Oak and Holly to win the favor of their “earth mother” — the ultimate in sibling rivalry. The Oak King always won the battle on the winter solstice, allowing him to “rule” nature with Mom until the summer solstice in June. The Holly King called it quits until then, when the battle would be reenacted, with him the winner as the light began to dwindle again. The people paid respect to both kings by displaying mistletoe and holly. Worth noting: Santa Claus is traditionally pictured with a sprig of holly in his hair, or even wears a holly crown. Is he a reinterpretation of the Holly King? Perhaps sharing symbolic roots with the holly in Celtic lands, evergreen Christmas trees date back to late 16th century Germany. They became popular in England about 200 years later and now they’re found around the world in the homes of many cultures. Their ornaments and colors emphasize the families’ religious or secular beliefs. In a world too often marked by differences, it’s nice to know that some of our traditions unite us, not only with the past but also with each other. This is a way to look to a better future, just as our ancestors did. When you share seasonal greetings with your friends and strangers this year, in whatever words you like best, know that all the symbols we use to show our love for life at Yuletide carry with them a long and beautiful history that is truly universal.

PHOTOS BY CHRIS CERRONE

The ancient Celtic tale of a battle between the Oak King — symbolizing the warm, bright half of the year — and the Holly King — representing the cold, dark half — is still part of our most beloved holiday traditions. Secular and religious songs and poems both recall the pagan birth of evergreens used in Christmas decor. 74

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