Front Porch Fredericksburg ~ May 2018

contents

closeups 5

90 years & counting ... ulman’s jewelry

23

Meet Dr. Yum ...nimali fernando, md

31

23

The Copper Shop still going strong Allen & Pat Green

Porch talk .

4

on the porch...life in fredericksburg Messages

6

master gardeners: plants r us

7

on the trails: erik nelson, planning a pathway

8

I have a friend: coffee & conversation

10

escape!...connect games breakout

11

Makers district: wegner metal arts Poetryman: a poet’s ambition

12

Vino: spring wines

13

season’s bounty: mis en place

14

cooking with kyle: tuna salad everything greens: from the garden

15

fork it over!

16-17

Calendar of events

18

history’s stories.:john lee pratt our heritage: preserve & protect

20

Senior Care: music to my ears

21

mental health awareness month events

22

life in motion: dreams its all energy: emotional well being

24

sophia street pottery throwdown

25

mYSTERY hOUSE STORIES OF FXBG: andy

26

art in the burg: sister act, abstract & moms

27

art of recovery healing power of creativity

28

companions: adventure tales

29

#fredstrong: jessica alexander

30

fredericksburg sketches

31

from my porch don’t overdrive the headlights

...And more!

31

3

have a conversation @b101.5 podcasts

9

Ariel’ Freeman...a few everyday things

19

what’s in a name? ......”the lodge” Cover: “Spring Swallowtail” By David C. Kennedy

www.donmoncho.com 1101 Sophia St, Fxbg, 373-0870 10151 Jefferson Davis Highway, Spotsy, 642-4204 Front porch fredericksburg

with Mr. Archer and Mr. Bass.

This time, Dee knew what was missing from The OUTcast.

Focusing only on the LBGTQ community wouldn’t be enough.

“There are so many people out there who feel like an outcast.

Not just someone who is gay or trans-gender,” said Dee. “I want The OUTcast to become a safe place where anyone who has ever felt like an outsider or has lived outside the accepted social norms can talk about their journey.”

The week of February 12th, 2018, The OUTcast, and five

9

Fresh Made-To-Order Food Family Friendly Meeting Rooms/Private Parties Happy Hour/ 3 bars, 2 inside, 1 outside Outdoor Seating Overlooking Rappahannock River Catering/Take-Out

May 2018

B101.5 podcasts dig deep into the nuance of life in fxbg

by chuck archer

CARIBBEAN TEX-MEX RESTAURANT

2

I T ’ S T IME TO H AVE A C ONVERSATION

B101.5 morning personality Dee Daniels has more to say. After five hours conversing on-the-air with her listeners, what more could she possibly need to say?

In her heart, she knew a conversation was needed but it wouldn’t fit the usually funny, light-hearted banter heard on the Dee In The Morning Show.

In early fall, Dee called a meeting with B101.5 Operations Manager, Chuck Archer, and Market Manager, Mark Bass.

When the meeting ended, it was agreed that Dee, indeed, has something more to say and The OUTcast Podcast was born.

Dee’s original concept, discussed in that first meeting, was a podcast that would feature the journey of local individuals in the LBGTQ community. It would focus on the struggle to find their identity, the pain of being identified as “different”, and the story of acceptance or rejection by family, friends, and the community at large after coming “out”.

But something still wasn’t right.

After an emotional conversation with a friend, Dee hastily called a second meeting

a professional on-air broadcaster. She is a stay-at-home mom and part-time B101.5 promotions assistant who thought it would be fun to explore different families, different styles of parenting, and how every parent ultimately has the same goal, “to not raise jerks”.

After the 4th installment released March 28th, The Impossible Job now has over 1200 downloads.

Dee’s morning show co-host, Ted Schubel, hosts two podcasts. The first, All Business, touts itself as the voice of “shop local”.

Each week, Ted visits a local business and has a conversation with the owners about what it takes to run a small business in the Fredericksburg region. The podcast, recorded on-site, has visited River Rock Outfitters, Towne Cycle, Modern Ballroom Dance, and Jabberwocky Children’s Books and Toys.

The second podcast hosted by Schubel is a rebroadcast of his daily Town Talk

show broadcast on NewsTalk 1230, WFVA. Each day, Ted interviews politicians, business leaders, or members of non-profit groups about issues that affect the Fredericksburg region.

Always with more to say, Dee moonlights on two additional Channel B podcasts. She appears with B101.5 entertainment guru Seanzilla, on the Afta’ Afta’ podcast.

Released every Friday, Afta’ Afta’ rehashes the week’s entertainment news. It’s a free-form, unedited version of the entertainment report heard on The Dee In The Morning Show.

Sunday Mornings With Dee, Mary Washington sponsored by Healthcare, is also a re-broadcast of her weekly Sunday morning half-hour show that airs on B101.5. Sunday Mornings focuses on issues facing today’s families.

It covers a variety of issues including depression, hunger, addiction, brain health, and even how to deal with uncomfortable conversations.

All six podcasts can be found on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Music, Tune-In, and on the B101.5 website at www.b1015.com, keyword “podcasts”.

other sibling podcasts were born and released into the world via B101.5’s “Channel B Podcast Network”.

Each podcast is locally produced and has a unique theme.

One of those podcasts, The Impossible Job, has also become a rising star of the Channel B lineup. Hosted by Laura LaBelle, this podcast covers the misadventures of parenting. LaBelle is not

Chuck Archer is the Operations Manager at B101 & 1230 WFVA

Large or Small, I Sell Them All! Dreaming of Fabulous City Living?

Let’s Make It Happen!

SUZY STONE Mobile:540.847.0630 Office: 540-898-2900 suzystone22@gmail.com C21redwood.com front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

3

contents

closeups 5

90 years & counting ... ulman’s jewelry

23

Meet Dr. Yum ...nimali fernando, md

31

23

The Copper Shop still going strong Allen & Pat Green

Porch talk .

4

on the porch...life in fredericksburg Messages

6

master gardeners: plants r us

7

on the trails: erik nelson, planning a pathway

8

I have a friend: coffee & conversation

10

escape!...connect games breakout

11

Makers district: wegner metal arts Poetryman: a poet’s ambition

12

Vino: spring wines

13

season’s bounty: mis en place

14

cooking with kyle: tuna salad everything greens: from the garden

15

fork it over!

16-17

Calendar of events

18

history’s stories.:john lee pratt our heritage: preserve & protect

20

Senior Care: music to my ears

21

mental health awareness month events

22

life in motion: dreams its all energy: emotional well being

24

sophia street pottery throwdown

25

mYSTERY hOUSE STORIES OF FXBG: andy

26

art in the burg: sister act, abstract & moms

27

art of recovery healing power of creativity

28

companions: adventure tales

29

#fredstrong: jessica alexander

30

fredericksburg sketches

31

from my porch don’t overdrive the headlights

...And more!

31

3

have a conversation @b101.5 podcasts

9

Ariel’ Freeman...a few everyday things

19

what’s in a name? ......”the lodge” Cover: “Spring Swallowtail” By David C. Kennedy

www.donmoncho.com 1101 Sophia St, Fxbg, 373-0870 10151 Jefferson Davis Highway, Spotsy, 642-4204 Front porch fredericksburg

with Mr. Archer and Mr. Bass.

This time, Dee knew what was missing from The OUTcast.

Focusing only on the LBGTQ community wouldn’t be enough.

“There are so many people out there who feel like an outcast.

Not just someone who is gay or trans-gender,” said Dee. “I want The OUTcast to become a safe place where anyone who has ever felt like an outsider or has lived outside the accepted social norms can talk about their journey.”

The week of February 12th, 2018, The OUTcast, and five

9

Fresh Made-To-Order Food Family Friendly Meeting Rooms/Private Parties Happy Hour/ 3 bars, 2 inside, 1 outside Outdoor Seating Overlooking Rappahannock River Catering/Take-Out

May 2018

B101.5 podcasts dig deep into the nuance of life in fxbg

by chuck archer

CARIBBEAN TEX-MEX RESTAURANT

2

I T ’ S T IME TO H AVE A C ONVERSATION

B101.5 morning personality Dee Daniels has more to say. After five hours conversing on-the-air with her listeners, what more could she possibly need to say?

In her heart, she knew a conversation was needed but it wouldn’t fit the usually funny, light-hearted banter heard on the Dee In The Morning Show.

In early fall, Dee called a meeting with B101.5 Operations Manager, Chuck Archer, and Market Manager, Mark Bass.

When the meeting ended, it was agreed that Dee, indeed, has something more to say and The OUTcast Podcast was born.

Dee’s original concept, discussed in that first meeting, was a podcast that would feature the journey of local individuals in the LBGTQ community. It would focus on the struggle to find their identity, the pain of being identified as “different”, and the story of acceptance or rejection by family, friends, and the community at large after coming “out”.

But something still wasn’t right.

After an emotional conversation with a friend, Dee hastily called a second meeting

a professional on-air broadcaster. She is a stay-at-home mom and part-time B101.5 promotions assistant who thought it would be fun to explore different families, different styles of parenting, and how every parent ultimately has the same goal, “to not raise jerks”.

After the 4th installment released March 28th, The Impossible Job now has over 1200 downloads.

Dee’s morning show co-host, Ted Schubel, hosts two podcasts. The first, All Business, touts itself as the voice of “shop local”.

Each week, Ted visits a local business and has a conversation with the owners about what it takes to run a small business in the Fredericksburg region. The podcast, recorded on-site, has visited River Rock Outfitters, Towne Cycle, Modern Ballroom Dance, and Jabberwocky Children’s Books and Toys.

The second podcast hosted by Schubel is a rebroadcast of his daily Town Talk

show broadcast on NewsTalk 1230, WFVA. Each day, Ted interviews politicians, business leaders, or members of non-profit groups about issues that affect the Fredericksburg region.

Always with more to say, Dee moonlights on two additional Channel B podcasts. She appears with B101.5 entertainment guru Seanzilla, on the Afta’ Afta’ podcast.

Released every Friday, Afta’ Afta’ rehashes the week’s entertainment news. It’s a free-form, unedited version of the entertainment report heard on The Dee In The Morning Show.

Sunday Mornings With Dee, Mary Washington sponsored by Healthcare, is also a re-broadcast of her weekly Sunday morning half-hour show that airs on B101.5. Sunday Mornings focuses on issues facing today’s families.

It covers a variety of issues including depression, hunger, addiction, brain health, and even how to deal with uncomfortable conversations.

All six podcasts can be found on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Music, Tune-In, and on the B101.5 website at www.b1015.com, keyword “podcasts”.

other sibling podcasts were born and released into the world via B101.5’s “Channel B Podcast Network”.

Each podcast is locally produced and has a unique theme.

One of those podcasts, The Impossible Job, has also become a rising star of the Channel B lineup. Hosted by Laura LaBelle, this podcast covers the misadventures of parenting. LaBelle is not

Chuck Archer is the Operations Manager at B101 & 1230 WFVA

Large or Small, I Sell Them All! Dreaming of Fabulous City Living?

Let’s Make It Happen!

SUZY STONE Mobile:540.847.0630 Office: 540-898-2900 suzystone22@gmail.com C21redwood.com front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

3

Chris Jones

ON THE PORCH Guest Porch Editorial

Contributing Writers & Artists Rita Allen A.E. Bayne Kevin Brown Collette Caprara Renee Dunn Donna Flemming

Chuck Archer Laurie Black Alison Carlin Mike Costa Christina Ferber Frank Fratoe K. Jeanne Frazer Rich Gaudio Joan M. Geisler Jon Gerlach Rita Girard Alexis Grogan Ralph “Tuffy”Hicks Chris Jones Karl Karch David C. Kennedy Susan Kenney Lenora Kruk-Mullanaphy Jo Loving Pete Morelewicz Vanessa Moncure Patrick Neustatter Sarah Perry M.L. Powers Elisa Pritchard Paula Raudenbush Ashley Rolley Casey Alan Shaw Georgia Strentz James Kyle Synder Amy Umble Rim Vining Tina Will Norma Woodward

Front Porch Fredericksburg is a free circulation magazine published monthly by Olde Towne Publishing Co. Virginia Bigenwald Grogan, Publisher.

The mission of Front Porch Fredericksburg is to connect the diverse citizenry of Fredericksburg with lively features and informative columns of interest to our community’s greatest resource, its people.

Messages from our readers are welcome. All submissions must be received by e-mail by the 19th of the month preceding publication.

Writers / Artists / Photographers are welcome to request Guidelines and query the Publisher by e-mail.

Front Porch Fredericksburg PO Box 9203 Fredericksburg, VA 22403 Ad Sales: E-Mail: frntprch@aol.com Web Site: www.frontporchfredericksburg.com Facebook: @Front Porch Fredericksburg The opinions expressed in Front Porch Fredericksburg are those of the contributing writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Front Porch Fredericksburg or its advertisers.

Copyright 2018 Olde Towne Publishing Co. All rights reserved.

4

May 2018

Ulman’s Jewelry family Business celebrates 90 years

what's the word?

By Clint Manning

by Chris Jones In each of the past two years, I have designated a “word of the year” that I want to focus on as part of my growth and giving strategy. This year’s word is community.

What do you think of when you hear the word community?

When I think of community, I’ve learned to imagine it as more than the people who live on my street or in my subdivision. That is community, but now I see it as something that encompasses those who work, shop, and play here.

Community is the bank teller who deposits my check and wishes me a good day.

Community is my Target cashier who asks about my day as she scans my items.

Community is the person in the car next to me at the traffic light heading to work and I go to the park. All of these people call this area home and in one way or another serve it for the good.

What I love about community is each person's stories. Some people have experiences like mine and others have different tales. One of my favorite things to do is chat with people in coffee shops.

I’m intrigued by what they do and what drives them. As a writer, I’ve walked away with my fair share of Starbucks stories. I have convinced people consider telling them. Some shake their heads while asking, “Who wants to hear my story?”

Others jump and the chance eager to share. I’ve sold the latter to magazines and pitched them to radio producers. The beauty of community and story is learning that we’re not that different after all.

The scary part of community is being exposed, but you can’t truly connect if

messages Front Porch I do want to say how valuable the Front Porch is to me and to others in the community. It is a publication gem that is interesting and fun to read, sharing tales and news of local personalities. I hope that you and your daughter (Amy Bayne introduced me to her at the book fair last summer) enjoy preparing the FP as much as we do reading it.

With warm regards, Anita Holle

Front porch fredericksburg

and such a cornerstone of the business that the RappahannockFredericksburg Rotary Club presented Ulman’s Jewelry the Ethics in Business Award in 2017.

The award is annually presented to a local business person in recognition of his or her exceptional ethical standards as it relates to business practices. Mr. Ulman was recognized for his trustworthiness, compassion, and integrity as his customers are treated like family – in a caring and fair manner.

Congratulations to Jerry Ulman and Ulman’s Jewelry for this historic milestone, and our fingers, jeweled or not, are crossed in the hopes that you remain in business for many more years to come.

you're not vulnerable. You have to get comfortable being uncomfortable.

That means understanding and appreciating opposing viewpoints. It doesn’t mean that we can’t have beliefs.

Community teaches that we can have unity without conformity—be one in purpose but not one in perspective. A former mentor once told me that if you want to learn to love someone talk to them, serve them and pray for them. You’ll find it hard to dislike someone when you’re that invested. It's true.

Whether you’re a praying person, or your internal compass is one of casting light and good vibes, try it.

Take time to understand the differing viewpoints of those in your community, and then seek to understand them.

Let's look at other forms of community. We have networking groups, churches, associations, online groups for everything from book loving and business building to weight loss and activism. If you’re a member of any group or organization, boost your involvement.

Everyone is necessary when it comes to building community. It makes for a better experience whether it’s improving schools through your involvement in the PTA, or the experience of shoppers and diners downtown as a member of the Retail Merchants Association. What we do on a small scale in those groups ripples out and changes lives.

My charge to you this month as you read this issue of Front Porch Magazine from cover to cover is to choose a word Hello Virginia, Thank you so much for featuring our work! My article on "Smart Green Lawns" (February, 2018) has prompted quite a few phone calls to our Virginia Cooperative Extension office for more information.

Tina Will

Hello Front Porch Friends, This month's mystery house (March 2018) is at 1600 Washington Avenue. I love this house. It's right on the canal path and I love seeing it during my morning walks. I am happy to see it

Your Hometown Jeweler Since 1940 that means something to you and that will rekindle your passion in a particular area of your life. Your word could be community, relationships, or family.

Whichever you choose, commit and go all in. I think you’ll discover, as I have, that one word can be a catalyst to create action and effect change.

Chris Jones is a writer, editor, and author who loves to spark interesting conversations with people wherever he goes. You can learn more about Chris at www.ChrisJonesInk.com.

featured in Front Porch, and as always, I love reading the treasure of a magazine.

Thanks Virginia, and company for this wonderful periodical.

XO. Patte Ormsby

Virginia, I love the neighborhood features! (“What’s in a Neighborhood”,

by Jon Gerlach, March, 2018) Kevin Brown What a Great Cover! (March 2018, Norma Woodward, “Umbrellas”) Suzy Woollam

On-Premise Jewelry Repair Large Selection of ESTATE JEWELRY 212 William Street,Fredericksburg 540-373-5513 Mon-Fri 9-5:30; Sat 9-4 jewelboxfredericksburgva.webs.com jewelbox14k@yahoo.com

In an ever-changing world, it’s a pleasure to know that there are still pillars in Fredericksburg that have remained essentially unchanged since 1928.

That year, Ulman’s Jewelry opened its doors for business, and 90 years later, this pillar of the community and “rock” at 903 Caroline Street celebrated its anniversary on April 16, 2018.

Asked what the accomplishment meant to him, the owner, Jerry Ulman, confessed that it meant everything. It was his father’s store, so being able to continue the family legacy after his father’s sudden passing when Mr. Ulman was only a teenager, means a great deal.

Just as noteworthy, the layout and interior of the store hasn’t changed much over the years as all the pristine display cases that border the main aisle and stand against the walls are the original cases Mr. Ulman’s father opened the store with. In those days, things were built to last.

What else in the store hasn’t changed since 1928? Its service and integrity, which Mr. Ulman attributes to what has kept them in business for 90 years.

Now in his 70s, Mr. Ulman is from an era where a man’s word was his bond and a handshake at the close of a business transaction was as good as a signature. While he admitted that people generally go into business to make money, for him, it’s not the end-all and be-all. He and his staff would rather be honest with a potential client than beguile them with half-truths in order to make a sale.

This philosophy is so ingrained in

Clint Manning is the Tourism Product and Event Developer for the City of FXBG

front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

5

Chris Jones

ON THE PORCH Guest Porch Editorial

Contributing Writers & Artists Rita Allen A.E. Bayne Kevin Brown Collette Caprara Renee Dunn Donna Flemming

Chuck Archer Laurie Black Alison Carlin Mike Costa Christina Ferber Frank Fratoe K. Jeanne Frazer Rich Gaudio Joan M. Geisler Jon Gerlach Rita Girard Alexis Grogan Ralph “Tuffy”Hicks Chris Jones Karl Karch David C. Kennedy Susan Kenney Lenora Kruk-Mullanaphy Jo Loving Pete Morelewicz Vanessa Moncure Patrick Neustatter Sarah Perry M.L. Powers Elisa Pritchard Paula Raudenbush Ashley Rolley Casey Alan Shaw Georgia Strentz James Kyle Synder Amy Umble Rim Vining Tina Will Norma Woodward

Front Porch Fredericksburg is a free circulation magazine published monthly by Olde Towne Publishing Co. Virginia Bigenwald Grogan, Publisher.

The mission of Front Porch Fredericksburg is to connect the diverse citizenry of Fredericksburg with lively features and informative columns of interest to our community’s greatest resource, its people.

Messages from our readers are welcome. All submissions must be received by e-mail by the 19th of the month preceding publication.

Writers / Artists / Photographers are welcome to request Guidelines and query the Publisher by e-mail.

Front Porch Fredericksburg PO Box 9203 Fredericksburg, VA 22403 Ad Sales: E-Mail: frntprch@aol.com Web Site: www.frontporchfredericksburg.com Facebook: @Front Porch Fredericksburg The opinions expressed in Front Porch Fredericksburg are those of the contributing writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Front Porch Fredericksburg or its advertisers.

Copyright 2018 Olde Towne Publishing Co. All rights reserved.

4

May 2018

Ulman’s Jewelry family Business celebrates 90 years

what's the word?

By Clint Manning

by Chris Jones In each of the past two years, I have designated a “word of the year” that I want to focus on as part of my growth and giving strategy. This year’s word is community.

What do you think of when you hear the word community?

When I think of community, I’ve learned to imagine it as more than the people who live on my street or in my subdivision. That is community, but now I see it as something that encompasses those who work, shop, and play here.

Community is the bank teller who deposits my check and wishes me a good day.

Community is my Target cashier who asks about my day as she scans my items.

Community is the person in the car next to me at the traffic light heading to work and I go to the park. All of these people call this area home and in one way or another serve it for the good.

What I love about community is each person's stories. Some people have experiences like mine and others have different tales. One of my favorite things to do is chat with people in coffee shops.

I’m intrigued by what they do and what drives them. As a writer, I’ve walked away with my fair share of Starbucks stories. I have convinced people consider telling them. Some shake their heads while asking, “Who wants to hear my story?”

Others jump and the chance eager to share. I’ve sold the latter to magazines and pitched them to radio producers. The beauty of community and story is learning that we’re not that different after all.

The scary part of community is being exposed, but you can’t truly connect if

messages Front Porch I do want to say how valuable the Front Porch is to me and to others in the community. It is a publication gem that is interesting and fun to read, sharing tales and news of local personalities. I hope that you and your daughter (Amy Bayne introduced me to her at the book fair last summer) enjoy preparing the FP as much as we do reading it.

With warm regards, Anita Holle

Front porch fredericksburg

and such a cornerstone of the business that the RappahannockFredericksburg Rotary Club presented Ulman’s Jewelry the Ethics in Business Award in 2017.

The award is annually presented to a local business person in recognition of his or her exceptional ethical standards as it relates to business practices. Mr. Ulman was recognized for his trustworthiness, compassion, and integrity as his customers are treated like family – in a caring and fair manner.

Congratulations to Jerry Ulman and Ulman’s Jewelry for this historic milestone, and our fingers, jeweled or not, are crossed in the hopes that you remain in business for many more years to come.

you're not vulnerable. You have to get comfortable being uncomfortable.

That means understanding and appreciating opposing viewpoints. It doesn’t mean that we can’t have beliefs.

Community teaches that we can have unity without conformity—be one in purpose but not one in perspective. A former mentor once told me that if you want to learn to love someone talk to them, serve them and pray for them. You’ll find it hard to dislike someone when you’re that invested. It's true.

Whether you’re a praying person, or your internal compass is one of casting light and good vibes, try it.

Take time to understand the differing viewpoints of those in your community, and then seek to understand them.

Let's look at other forms of community. We have networking groups, churches, associations, online groups for everything from book loving and business building to weight loss and activism. If you’re a member of any group or organization, boost your involvement.

Everyone is necessary when it comes to building community. It makes for a better experience whether it’s improving schools through your involvement in the PTA, or the experience of shoppers and diners downtown as a member of the Retail Merchants Association. What we do on a small scale in those groups ripples out and changes lives.

My charge to you this month as you read this issue of Front Porch Magazine from cover to cover is to choose a word Hello Virginia, Thank you so much for featuring our work! My article on "Smart Green Lawns" (February, 2018) has prompted quite a few phone calls to our Virginia Cooperative Extension office for more information.

Tina Will

Hello Front Porch Friends, This month's mystery house (March 2018) is at 1600 Washington Avenue. I love this house. It's right on the canal path and I love seeing it during my morning walks. I am happy to see it

Your Hometown Jeweler Since 1940 that means something to you and that will rekindle your passion in a particular area of your life. Your word could be community, relationships, or family.

Whichever you choose, commit and go all in. I think you’ll discover, as I have, that one word can be a catalyst to create action and effect change.

Chris Jones is a writer, editor, and author who loves to spark interesting conversations with people wherever he goes. You can learn more about Chris at www.ChrisJonesInk.com.

featured in Front Porch, and as always, I love reading the treasure of a magazine.

Thanks Virginia, and company for this wonderful periodical.

XO. Patte Ormsby

Virginia, I love the neighborhood features! (“What’s in a Neighborhood”,

by Jon Gerlach, March, 2018) Kevin Brown What a Great Cover! (March 2018, Norma Woodward, “Umbrellas”) Suzy Woollam

On-Premise Jewelry Repair Large Selection of ESTATE JEWELRY 212 William Street,Fredericksburg 540-373-5513 Mon-Fri 9-5:30; Sat 9-4 jewelboxfredericksburgva.webs.com jewelbox14k@yahoo.com

In an ever-changing world, it’s a pleasure to know that there are still pillars in Fredericksburg that have remained essentially unchanged since 1928.

That year, Ulman’s Jewelry opened its doors for business, and 90 years later, this pillar of the community and “rock” at 903 Caroline Street celebrated its anniversary on April 16, 2018.

Asked what the accomplishment meant to him, the owner, Jerry Ulman, confessed that it meant everything. It was his father’s store, so being able to continue the family legacy after his father’s sudden passing when Mr. Ulman was only a teenager, means a great deal.

Just as noteworthy, the layout and interior of the store hasn’t changed much over the years as all the pristine display cases that border the main aisle and stand against the walls are the original cases Mr. Ulman’s father opened the store with. In those days, things were built to last.

What else in the store hasn’t changed since 1928? Its service and integrity, which Mr. Ulman attributes to what has kept them in business for 90 years.

Now in his 70s, Mr. Ulman is from an era where a man’s word was his bond and a handshake at the close of a business transaction was as good as a signature. While he admitted that people generally go into business to make money, for him, it’s not the end-all and be-all. He and his staff would rather be honest with a potential client than beguile them with half-truths in order to make a sale.

This philosophy is so ingrained in

Clint Manning is the Tourism Product and Event Developer for the City of FXBG

front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

5

On the Trails

How Does A Master Gardener Grow? plants r us

planning a pathway: Erik Nelson

By Tina Will Come talk to us! We have loads of information to share.

Tina Will has volunteered with MGACRA for 13 years and lives near Ferry Farm in Stafford County.

Photos by Susan Kenney

How do I start a compost bin?

What's wrong with my plant? How can I start a vegetable garden? What's eating my tomatoes? Answers can be had at our Master Gardener Plant Clinics that are available to the public throughout the growing season. There are 8 of them in our area. It is the place to get lawn, landscaping, or gardening advice, or a plant, weed, insect, or plant disease identified. Several of these have started for 2018, and each is listed on our monthly calendar: mgacra.org/calendar.

Fredericksburg City has 1, Stafford County has 3 (Stafford Market meets on Sunday mornings), Spotsylvania County has 2, and King George County has 1. Most meet on Saturday mornings, Porter Branch and Salem Branch libraries meet on weeknights. DO CHECK THE CALENDAR because they don't all occur every week.

What is a Plant Clinic and where does the advice come from? Good question! Plant Clinics are staffed by Master Gardeners (MGs) and our advice Virginia Cooperative comes from Extension (VCE). VCE serves as the link between Virginia Tech and Virginia State University (VSU) and local citizens by disseminating horticultural and agricultural information and research.

VCE oversees or conducts much of the research that goes into Master Gardener training.

Their website: https://pubs.ext.vt.edu/ can be searched for a particular topic (ex. Powdery Mildew), and our VCE offices will have copies of these publications. Their research-based information spans an enormous variety of horticultural and

6

May 2018

agricultural subjects: Lawn, Weeds, Fruit Growing, Landscaping, Fertilizing, Insect and Disease controls, and other related fields. The research and information they publish is the source of the advice you will get.

VCE reaches the public through the local Agents, their programs, and these clinics. Our local VCE Agent, Guy Mussey, offers many classes throughout the year, but there is also the need to reach as many residents as possible, and Plant Clinics are the way to do that. VCE authorized the formation of the Plant Clinics and the Extension Master Gardener program to meet that need.

Lively discussions ensue when a parent and child come asking for advice on starting a manageable garden, a compost pile, or identifying and insect. Many people bring samples of plants or weeds that need identifying. MGs will use materials on hand to help answer the questions. If a question can't be answered easily the MG will write down the question and email it to our VCE Agent. If a sample is brought that needs more investigation it will be taken and delivered to the Stafford VCE office.

Soil Test kits are available at these clinics and are always suggested when a homeowner brings the 'nothing is growing well,' or 'what's wrong with my plant' statements to our table. We often remind people that good soil is the start of a good garden. That said, there are plenty of other reasons our gardens struggle.

Many of us have heavy clay soil and there are certain things that are essential to know in order to grow anything successfully.

Front porch fredericksburg

This month we introduce Erik Nelson, Fredericksburg City our Transportation Administrator. We asked Erik to share a bit about his career, as well as talk about a major endeavor he is leading - the development of an updated Fredericksburg Pathways (i.e. Trails) Plan.

This document will articulate a vision and plan of action for future development and use of pedestrian and bicycle trails in Fredericksburg.

The process for developing the plan began with the completion of a first draft in collaboration with the Pathways Committee, followed by a public forum in March, neighborhood consultation meetings upon request in April/May, a Planning Commission public hearing on 9 May, followed by a City Council public hearing and adoption of the plan in June.

Erik: “The City of Fredericksburg’s first multi-use trail, the 1.5-mile Canal Park Trail (aka Canal

Path) that winds along the scenic Rappahannock Canal from Princess Anne Street to Fall Hill Ave, was built 35 years ago in 1983.

That is where our city’s Pathways began. Six years later in 1989, I came on board as a City planner.

In 1996, working with the Parks and Rec staff, I wrote the city’s first Pathways Plan, which led to the 1.7-mile Cowan Boulevard Path in 2003. Working again with the Parks and Rec staff, I wrote the 2006 Fredericksburg Pathways Plan which resulted in the 1.6-mile Rappahannock River Heritage Trail, the 2.7-mile Virginia Central Railway Trail, and the 1.4-mile Fall Hill Avenue Trail.

The city has also developed a fitness trail at Dixon Park, and supported development of several natural-surface trails (Quarry, Motts Run, and Smith Run).

This brings us to Spring 2018, more than a decade after the current plan was approved. It is time to update our city’s Pathway Plan to reflect today’s circumstances. In identifying potential

By Kevin Brown

new neighborhood connectors in this plan, we are reaching out to include all our residents in the discussion. During our initial public forum held at the Dorothy Hart Center, the primary concern I heard was, not surprisingly, that citizens are seeking connections between their outlying neighborhoods to historic downtown and the rest of the city. To achieve this end, we will have to overcome the challenge of connecting older developments along State Route 3 and Lafayette Boulevard. These areas were unfortunately cut off from the rest of the city by major roads that were built when automobile access was considered sufficient, and associated pedestrian pathways were not a priority.

One interesting aspect of our trails that was highlighted via citizen input at the public forum was the pathway that Fredericksburg provides for a multitude of long-range bicyclists traveling on the evolving East Coast Greenway, a route that will eventually run from Maine to Miami; as well as the Trans-A America Trail, a route that extends

from Yorktown, Virginia to Astoria, Oregon.

These pedaling adventurers need places to stay and eat. They may need a place to get a bike repaired.

Unbeknownst to many who live in the city, Fredericksburg is a popular waypoint and hosts hundreds of longdistance bicyclists every year with overnight lodging, meals, and logistical support/supplies.

In conclusion, it is always a pleasure to develop and revise plans with citizen participation. These are things that impact the community and need to be implemented with public support. I would encourage any neighborhood or individual who has input to the plan to contact me personally via email at enelson@fredericksburgva.gov.and I also invite everyone to attend and participate in the upcoming Planning Commission and City Council public hearings.

Kevin Brown is the administrator of the "On the Fredericksburg Va Trails" & the "FXBG City Council Public Forum" Facebook Group, a downtown resident & a Military Analyst for Segue Technologies

601 LAFAYETTE BLVD

roxburyfarmgarden.com MAIN: (540) 373-9124 NURSERY: (540) 371-8802

We Have All Your Gardening Needs Since 1929 Come Shop With Us!

front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

7

On the Trails

How Does A Master Gardener Grow? plants r us

planning a pathway: Erik Nelson

By Tina Will Come talk to us! We have loads of information to share.

Tina Will has volunteered with MGACRA for 13 years and lives near Ferry Farm in Stafford County.

Photos by Susan Kenney

How do I start a compost bin?

What's wrong with my plant? How can I start a vegetable garden? What's eating my tomatoes? Answers can be had at our Master Gardener Plant Clinics that are available to the public throughout the growing season. There are 8 of them in our area. It is the place to get lawn, landscaping, or gardening advice, or a plant, weed, insect, or plant disease identified. Several of these have started for 2018, and each is listed on our monthly calendar: mgacra.org/calendar.

Fredericksburg City has 1, Stafford County has 3 (Stafford Market meets on Sunday mornings), Spotsylvania County has 2, and King George County has 1. Most meet on Saturday mornings, Porter Branch and Salem Branch libraries meet on weeknights. DO CHECK THE CALENDAR because they don't all occur every week.

What is a Plant Clinic and where does the advice come from? Good question! Plant Clinics are staffed by Master Gardeners (MGs) and our advice Virginia Cooperative comes from Extension (VCE). VCE serves as the link between Virginia Tech and Virginia State University (VSU) and local citizens by disseminating horticultural and agricultural information and research.

VCE oversees or conducts much of the research that goes into Master Gardener training.

Their website: https://pubs.ext.vt.edu/ can be searched for a particular topic (ex. Powdery Mildew), and our VCE offices will have copies of these publications. Their research-based information spans an enormous variety of horticultural and

6

May 2018

agricultural subjects: Lawn, Weeds, Fruit Growing, Landscaping, Fertilizing, Insect and Disease controls, and other related fields. The research and information they publish is the source of the advice you will get.

VCE reaches the public through the local Agents, their programs, and these clinics. Our local VCE Agent, Guy Mussey, offers many classes throughout the year, but there is also the need to reach as many residents as possible, and Plant Clinics are the way to do that. VCE authorized the formation of the Plant Clinics and the Extension Master Gardener program to meet that need.

Lively discussions ensue when a parent and child come asking for advice on starting a manageable garden, a compost pile, or identifying and insect. Many people bring samples of plants or weeds that need identifying. MGs will use materials on hand to help answer the questions. If a question can't be answered easily the MG will write down the question and email it to our VCE Agent. If a sample is brought that needs more investigation it will be taken and delivered to the Stafford VCE office.

Soil Test kits are available at these clinics and are always suggested when a homeowner brings the 'nothing is growing well,' or 'what's wrong with my plant' statements to our table. We often remind people that good soil is the start of a good garden. That said, there are plenty of other reasons our gardens struggle.

Many of us have heavy clay soil and there are certain things that are essential to know in order to grow anything successfully.

Front porch fredericksburg

This month we introduce Erik Nelson, Fredericksburg City our Transportation Administrator. We asked Erik to share a bit about his career, as well as talk about a major endeavor he is leading - the development of an updated Fredericksburg Pathways (i.e. Trails) Plan.

This document will articulate a vision and plan of action for future development and use of pedestrian and bicycle trails in Fredericksburg.

The process for developing the plan began with the completion of a first draft in collaboration with the Pathways Committee, followed by a public forum in March, neighborhood consultation meetings upon request in April/May, a Planning Commission public hearing on 9 May, followed by a City Council public hearing and adoption of the plan in June.

Erik: “The City of Fredericksburg’s first multi-use trail, the 1.5-mile Canal Park Trail (aka Canal

Path) that winds along the scenic Rappahannock Canal from Princess Anne Street to Fall Hill Ave, was built 35 years ago in 1983.

That is where our city’s Pathways began. Six years later in 1989, I came on board as a City planner.

In 1996, working with the Parks and Rec staff, I wrote the city’s first Pathways Plan, which led to the 1.7-mile Cowan Boulevard Path in 2003. Working again with the Parks and Rec staff, I wrote the 2006 Fredericksburg Pathways Plan which resulted in the 1.6-mile Rappahannock River Heritage Trail, the 2.7-mile Virginia Central Railway Trail, and the 1.4-mile Fall Hill Avenue Trail.

The city has also developed a fitness trail at Dixon Park, and supported development of several natural-surface trails (Quarry, Motts Run, and Smith Run).

This brings us to Spring 2018, more than a decade after the current plan was approved. It is time to update our city’s Pathway Plan to reflect today’s circumstances. In identifying potential

By Kevin Brown

new neighborhood connectors in this plan, we are reaching out to include all our residents in the discussion. During our initial public forum held at the Dorothy Hart Center, the primary concern I heard was, not surprisingly, that citizens are seeking connections between their outlying neighborhoods to historic downtown and the rest of the city. To achieve this end, we will have to overcome the challenge of connecting older developments along State Route 3 and Lafayette Boulevard. These areas were unfortunately cut off from the rest of the city by major roads that were built when automobile access was considered sufficient, and associated pedestrian pathways were not a priority.

One interesting aspect of our trails that was highlighted via citizen input at the public forum was the pathway that Fredericksburg provides for a multitude of long-range bicyclists traveling on the evolving East Coast Greenway, a route that will eventually run from Maine to Miami; as well as the Trans-A America Trail, a route that extends

from Yorktown, Virginia to Astoria, Oregon.

These pedaling adventurers need places to stay and eat. They may need a place to get a bike repaired.

Unbeknownst to many who live in the city, Fredericksburg is a popular waypoint and hosts hundreds of longdistance bicyclists every year with overnight lodging, meals, and logistical support/supplies.

In conclusion, it is always a pleasure to develop and revise plans with citizen participation. These are things that impact the community and need to be implemented with public support. I would encourage any neighborhood or individual who has input to the plan to contact me personally via email at enelson@fredericksburgva.gov.and I also invite everyone to attend and participate in the upcoming Planning Commission and City Council public hearings.

Kevin Brown is the administrator of the "On the Fredericksburg Va Trails" & the "FXBG City Council Public Forum" Facebook Group, a downtown resident & a Military Analyst for Segue Technologies

601 LAFAYETTE BLVD

roxburyfarmgarden.com MAIN: (540) 373-9124 NURSERY: (540) 371-8802

We Have All Your Gardening Needs Since 1929 Come Shop With Us!

front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

7

Ariel Freeman

“I Have A Friend” coffee & conversation

people, places & a few eveyday things

By Laurie Black

Nick Travis and his "buddy," Dicky, get together once a week for stimulating conversation and coffee. The 20 year age difference between them "is not a real difference at all," says Nick.

"We both are from the New York area and we have that "edge" and accent. Our discussions range from religion, politics, history, to whatever crosses our minds!"

Dicky agrees, "Most of the time we have discussions that run the entire gamut of knowledge. We also tell each other our personal concerns without judgements."

Many of their visits also become a trip down memory lane, reminiscing about Coney Island, good New York food, and the New York street games they played as kids.

Nick and Dicky met and became friends through the Senior Visitors Program. Nick first read about the Senior Visitors Program right here in the Front Porch Magazine. He wasted no time filling out an application and registering for volunteer

training. "I wanted to give back to the community and feel this was one of the most worthwhile endeavors." When Dicky heard about the Senior Visitors Program through his daughter, he and his wife decided to join.

Nick and Dicky have had many exciting and interesting experiences in their lives. Dicky is a retired New Jersey police officer, ran for public office, is a grandfather and great grandfather, and according to Nick, "is extremely intelligent and sharp as a tack." Dicky says of Nick, "I find it very easy to talk with him about anything and look forward to his visits. He is presently in training for a service dog and has told me about the program and shown me pictures of the training and his dog, Embry. I am very interested in meeting his new fur buddy. Also, Nick is like me in that he reads voraciously and that leads to excellent discussions."

A true friendship has developed between Nick and Dicky that goes beyond a simple hour-a-week volunteer program.

Nick says, "I find it most gratifying that I am getting at least as much out of my visits as Dicky is!" Nick has a particular passion for helping others in the community. Nick explains, "At present, I am waiting to join the Veteran's Treatment Court which will be new to our area.

As a Vietnam combat Veteran myself, I feel this will be a wonderful program [to volunteer with] as well. It is to mentor veterans who have been accused of minor crimes in the hope of keeping them out of prison. I am well aware myself of the problems veterans have in returning to the civilian world and feel this program should be in every

THE

community!" When asked what he would tell someone considering volunteer service in the community - particularly, the Senior Visitors Program, Nick's response was direct, "Get off the couch and join!!"

One reason many people choose to volunteer with the Senior Visitors Program is because it is so flexible.

Volunteers typically visit once a week for an hour. Volunteers and their senior work out their schedules to find a time that works for both of them: weekends, over a lunch hour, almost any time. If you know a senior who could benefit from having a weekly, friendly visit OR if you would like to volunteer to visit a senior, call the Senior Visitors Program at (540) 3712704 or visit our website at mhafred.org to download volunteer or senior applications. The Senior Visitors Program is a free community service program of Mental Health America of Fredericksburg.

Laurie Black is the Administrative Assistant for the Senior Visitors Program She can be reached at mhafaa@mhafred.org

By Casey Shaw a Few Everyday Things," debuts at Art First Gallery in downtown Fredericksburg where she is the featured artist for May. An opening reception will be held 6-9pm on First Friday, May 4. Freeman's new exhibit showcases her watercolor paintings.

Freeman described a bit of the preparation that went into her current show: "I have enjoyed a love affair with watercolor for some time, and its unpredictability continues to excite me.

Embroidered Tunic

723 Caroline St 899.8077 Daily 10-5:30; Sunday 12-5

Ariel Freeman's paintings are awash in color as she documents the small moments that make life special. It's been more than six years since the Stafford resident exhibited a solo show of her works. Her latest show, "People, Places, and

still life objects in my own unique perspective. They became an outlet to see the beauty of everyday moments."

“Art for me is an opportunity to see beauty in every day moments and communicate that vision to the viewer.

Freeman also adds that, "Most recently I have focused more on people, snapshots of people, places, and things as they are in every day, as a way to to develop a stronger connection to those around me. These glimpses and impressions are unique and fragile and easily lost when overlooked."

Ariel is a native of Texas, received her BS at University of Texas in Austin, and her MS in Nursing, Family Nurse Practitioner at George Washington University. In addition to being an artist, Ariel is a Nurse Practitioner with the Cardiology Associates of Fredericksburg . She lives in Stafford.

Freeman's show will be on exhibit at Art First through May 27.

Casey Shaw is an Artist & a Realtor

donatelifevirginia.org dmv.virginia.gov/drivers/#organs.asp

“This relationship began when I painted my first landscape.

I was awed at the fluidity and how the light and color wash over the page. It was a wonderful and inspirational moment in my life.

“Since then, I have devoted my energies to painting landscapes, flowers, people, and

FREDERICKSBURG LAMP Only Available At

The Copper Shop

People, Places & A Few Everyday Things Art by Ariel Freeman Art First Gallery

371-4455 1707R Princess Anne

Behind Silk Mill Like Us on facebook 8

May 2018

Front porch fredericksburg

Supporting The Non-Profits Since 1997

824 Caroline St Opening Reception, First Friday, May 4, 6-9 9pm

front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

9

Ariel Freeman

“I Have A Friend” coffee & conversation

people, places & a few eveyday things

By Laurie Black

Nick Travis and his "buddy," Dicky, get together once a week for stimulating conversation and coffee. The 20 year age difference between them "is not a real difference at all," says Nick.

"We both are from the New York area and we have that "edge" and accent. Our discussions range from religion, politics, history, to whatever crosses our minds!"

Dicky agrees, "Most of the time we have discussions that run the entire gamut of knowledge. We also tell each other our personal concerns without judgements."

Many of their visits also become a trip down memory lane, reminiscing about Coney Island, good New York food, and the New York street games they played as kids.

Nick and Dicky met and became friends through the Senior Visitors Program. Nick first read about the Senior Visitors Program right here in the Front Porch Magazine. He wasted no time filling out an application and registering for volunteer

training. "I wanted to give back to the community and feel this was one of the most worthwhile endeavors." When Dicky heard about the Senior Visitors Program through his daughter, he and his wife decided to join.

Nick and Dicky have had many exciting and interesting experiences in their lives. Dicky is a retired New Jersey police officer, ran for public office, is a grandfather and great grandfather, and according to Nick, "is extremely intelligent and sharp as a tack." Dicky says of Nick, "I find it very easy to talk with him about anything and look forward to his visits. He is presently in training for a service dog and has told me about the program and shown me pictures of the training and his dog, Embry. I am very interested in meeting his new fur buddy. Also, Nick is like me in that he reads voraciously and that leads to excellent discussions."

A true friendship has developed between Nick and Dicky that goes beyond a simple hour-a-week volunteer program.

Nick says, "I find it most gratifying that I am getting at least as much out of my visits as Dicky is!" Nick has a particular passion for helping others in the community. Nick explains, "At present, I am waiting to join the Veteran's Treatment Court which will be new to our area.

As a Vietnam combat Veteran myself, I feel this will be a wonderful program [to volunteer with] as well. It is to mentor veterans who have been accused of minor crimes in the hope of keeping them out of prison. I am well aware myself of the problems veterans have in returning to the civilian world and feel this program should be in every

THE

community!" When asked what he would tell someone considering volunteer service in the community - particularly, the Senior Visitors Program, Nick's response was direct, "Get off the couch and join!!"

One reason many people choose to volunteer with the Senior Visitors Program is because it is so flexible.

Volunteers typically visit once a week for an hour. Volunteers and their senior work out their schedules to find a time that works for both of them: weekends, over a lunch hour, almost any time. If you know a senior who could benefit from having a weekly, friendly visit OR if you would like to volunteer to visit a senior, call the Senior Visitors Program at (540) 3712704 or visit our website at mhafred.org to download volunteer or senior applications. The Senior Visitors Program is a free community service program of Mental Health America of Fredericksburg.

Laurie Black is the Administrative Assistant for the Senior Visitors Program She can be reached at mhafaa@mhafred.org

By Casey Shaw a Few Everyday Things," debuts at Art First Gallery in downtown Fredericksburg where she is the featured artist for May. An opening reception will be held 6-9pm on First Friday, May 4. Freeman's new exhibit showcases her watercolor paintings.

Freeman described a bit of the preparation that went into her current show: "I have enjoyed a love affair with watercolor for some time, and its unpredictability continues to excite me.

Embroidered Tunic

723 Caroline St 899.8077 Daily 10-5:30; Sunday 12-5

Ariel Freeman's paintings are awash in color as she documents the small moments that make life special. It's been more than six years since the Stafford resident exhibited a solo show of her works. Her latest show, "People, Places, and

still life objects in my own unique perspective. They became an outlet to see the beauty of everyday moments."

“Art for me is an opportunity to see beauty in every day moments and communicate that vision to the viewer.

Freeman also adds that, "Most recently I have focused more on people, snapshots of people, places, and things as they are in every day, as a way to to develop a stronger connection to those around me. These glimpses and impressions are unique and fragile and easily lost when overlooked."

Ariel is a native of Texas, received her BS at University of Texas in Austin, and her MS in Nursing, Family Nurse Practitioner at George Washington University. In addition to being an artist, Ariel is a Nurse Practitioner with the Cardiology Associates of Fredericksburg . She lives in Stafford.

Freeman's show will be on exhibit at Art First through May 27.

Casey Shaw is an Artist & a Realtor

donatelifevirginia.org dmv.virginia.gov/drivers/#organs.asp

“This relationship began when I painted my first landscape.

I was awed at the fluidity and how the light and color wash over the page. It was a wonderful and inspirational moment in my life.

“Since then, I have devoted my energies to painting landscapes, flowers, people, and

FREDERICKSBURG LAMP Only Available At

The Copper Shop

People, Places & A Few Everyday Things Art by Ariel Freeman Art First Gallery

371-4455 1707R Princess Anne

Behind Silk Mill Like Us on facebook 8

May 2018

Front porch fredericksburg

Supporting The Non-Profits Since 1997

824 Caroline St Opening Reception, First Friday, May 4, 6-9 9pm

front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

9

Escape!

THE POETRY MAN

Connect Games Breakout room

- By Frank Fratoe

By Christina Ferber The clock is ticking down, and we are beginning to panic. We are cutting it close with only a few minutes remaining.

Will we ever get out?

I recently had the opportunity to try out our region’s newest hot spot, Connect Games Breakout Room. Located at 1011 Caroline Street in the heart of downtown, this fun activity offers a break from the norm. Owner Kristen Sill opened Connect Games in February of this year in order to help others in our area create unforgettable memories after she cofounded and managed a Breakout Room in Virginia Beach.

“I love watching people interact in the room as they try to escape,” says Sill. “You start to notice different patterns and we all think a different way.

Everyone needs to work together in order to get out of the room.”

Participants begin their experience with a rundown of rules, and then are locked in the escape room with a 45-minute time limit in which they try to escape. The current theme of Connect

Games Breakout Room is “The Fortune in the Parlor,” with a premise of eccentric Mr. Smith misplacing his money that he had hidden years ago. The goal is to discover where the fortune is by solving riddles, deciphering codes, and finding hidden keys. Sill and her team devise all the puzzles themselves, and I can tell you first hand that they are extremely creative.

“Not only am I able to get my creative side out, I love that I get to work with the communities and businesses in the area and actually do the whole team building aspect of it,” says Sill. “It’s great for smaller companies and departments.

We can customize questions based off the company that is playing and integrate them into the game itself.”

Participants have two options when playing. They can go the competitive route by asking for a total of three hints during their session. If they breakout, they have a chance to make it onto the Leader Board.

Where Customer Service and Title Insurance Become One

“However, we know a lot of people just want to have a good time, so we will give you as many hints as you want,” says Sill. I am ashamed to admit that even though our goal was the leaderboard, we needed a few more than three hints.

Connect Games is also available for special events, such as birthday parties, gender reveal parties, family reunions and proposals. They do suggest that participants be twelve or older, but can work with you. They will also customize the game depending on the activity, just as they can with team building activities for companies.

Sill is also working on implementing various levels within the game depending on age and how competitive teams want to be. Room

Become a herald of nature and evoke the morning-star, attempt to help all others defy their sorrow or fear, translate hush in a flower which blossoms after dark,

10

May 2018

540/371-9890

Front porch fredericksburg

BY Collette Caprara THE MAKERS' DISTRICT A magical realm within the Burg, the neighborhood near the intersection of Wolfe and Jackson Streets might appear to be quiet from the outside but it is bustling with activity, creativity, and innovation within, as artists and artisans (some acclaimed nationally and internationally) go about their work.

discover a human language regarding how life endures,

themes are changed every few months.

“It is our goal to give you an unforgettable experience,” says Sill. My team certainly had one, and we did make it out…. with 45 seconds to spare.

Visit www.connectgames.com to find out more.

Christina & her team above didn’t exactly “crush it” but they did breakout!

arouse everyone who cares to feel and rejoice as one, listen for sound coming-on when waves overlap a shore, because then we can learn the pure dialect of wonder.

Frank Fratoe lives & writes in the city.

He has written poems from the heart for Front Porch for the past 10 years.

The Sunken Well Tavern

Jewell Wolterman

AhearnEstateLaw.com

stewart & steve wegner: wegner metal arts

A Poet’s Ambition

12225 Amos Lane, Ste 204 Fredericksburg, VA 22407 540-907-0574 www.elitetitleva.com jwolterman@elitetitleva.com

Wills and Trusts Provide for Incapacity Trusts for Minor Children Wealth Preservation Trusts Avoid Probate

The Makers District

Eat Well Drink Well Live Well 720 Littlepage sunkenwelltavern.com 540-370-0911

Behind one door in the ostensibly quiet “makers’ district” neighborhood on Wolfe Street, sparks are literally flying every day! That would be the studio and foundry of Wegner Metal Arts—the site where the creative genius of twin brothers Steven (upper right) and Stewart (right) Wegner comes to fruition in an enchanting spectrum of bronze sculptures.

It seems that Steve and Steward were destined for a career in art. Their mother was an artist, their older brother was a sculptor, and their father, an engineer, loved the arts and made it possible for them to establish their foundry. “That was a real family event,” said Stewart. “If we were doing a show or had new pieces that we were excited about we’d run over and show mom and dad. They were involved in everything all around.”

Folks who have been enthralled at the artwork they viewed at the Wegner’s gallery on Caroline and William Streets might be surprised to learn that these creations came into being just blocks away. Those unfamiliar with the process of lost-wax bronze casting will also be amazed to learn of the tremendous amount of talent, skill, and effort that is invested in each piece.

In the nearly 40 years that their foundry has been operating, the Wegners have cast thousands of bronze sculptures for artists throughout the country. Each

piece involves creating a rubber “negative” image, casting that in wax, making a ceramic mold which is heated to 1,000 degrees to melt the wax, and, finally, mounting the mold in a gravel pit to stabilize it and pouring in lava-like bronze at a startling 2,100 degree temperature.

Larger works are often cast in pieces which are welded together. For example, the largest to date, an eagle with a 21-foot wingspan was cast in more than 80 sections. The finishing steps for a piece entail adding details, smoothing the surface, applying a patina in a selected color using a torch and misting bottle, and, finally, polishing and waxing the sculpture.

In addition to casting pieces for other artists, the Wegners create their own pieces, often inspired by paintings they have made. In those, the complementary natures of the twins come to light in both their subject matter and treatment.

While Steven often creates scenes of boats and shores with realistic detail, Stewart gravitates toward

complementary styles in collaborative works of art, such as an ocean reef for which Stewart established the structure and flow of the work, while Steven added the fish that inhabit the reef. Of course, the epitome of the twins’ collaboration is in the dangerous and delicate process of pouring molten bronze. “We are in touch and in tune with each other,” said Stewart, “It is almost like a ballet.”

In addition to gracing the homes of their customers, the Wegners’ sculptures have become highlights of iconic locations, including the bust of James Farmer on the University of Mary Washington campus, a sculpture at National Museum of the Marine Corps, and the figures of eight immigrants in the rotunda of Ellis Island.

whimsy, such as his series of monkeys in unusual situations, including one clinging for dear life to a palm tree as he is blown, flag-like, horizontally by a hurricane’s winds. “I love doing shows with my monkeys,” said Stewart. “People will come with serious works of art and I show up with all this whimsical stuff and the crowd just loves it!” (Hurricane Monkey, pictured) “Steven is Mr. Detail and does the final finishing on sculptures while I kind of rough things in,” said Stewart.

The brothers have combined their

The front portion of the studio at 520 Wolfe Street studio serves as a gallery and typically presents more than 70 works of art in an exhibit that is updated periodically.

Visitors are welcome any weekday from 8 am to 5 pm, but, given that the process of creation in the back can get a bit noisy, folks are advised to call 540 373-5 5662 in advance.

Collette Caprara is a local writer and artist.

front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

11

Escape!

THE POETRY MAN

Connect Games Breakout room

- By Frank Fratoe

By Christina Ferber The clock is ticking down, and we are beginning to panic. We are cutting it close with only a few minutes remaining.

Will we ever get out?

I recently had the opportunity to try out our region’s newest hot spot, Connect Games Breakout Room. Located at 1011 Caroline Street in the heart of downtown, this fun activity offers a break from the norm. Owner Kristen Sill opened Connect Games in February of this year in order to help others in our area create unforgettable memories after she cofounded and managed a Breakout Room in Virginia Beach.

“I love watching people interact in the room as they try to escape,” says Sill. “You start to notice different patterns and we all think a different way.

Everyone needs to work together in order to get out of the room.”

Participants begin their experience with a rundown of rules, and then are locked in the escape room with a 45-minute time limit in which they try to escape. The current theme of Connect

Games Breakout Room is “The Fortune in the Parlor,” with a premise of eccentric Mr. Smith misplacing his money that he had hidden years ago. The goal is to discover where the fortune is by solving riddles, deciphering codes, and finding hidden keys. Sill and her team devise all the puzzles themselves, and I can tell you first hand that they are extremely creative.

“Not only am I able to get my creative side out, I love that I get to work with the communities and businesses in the area and actually do the whole team building aspect of it,” says Sill. “It’s great for smaller companies and departments.

We can customize questions based off the company that is playing and integrate them into the game itself.”

Participants have two options when playing. They can go the competitive route by asking for a total of three hints during their session. If they breakout, they have a chance to make it onto the Leader Board.

Where Customer Service and Title Insurance Become One

“However, we know a lot of people just want to have a good time, so we will give you as many hints as you want,” says Sill. I am ashamed to admit that even though our goal was the leaderboard, we needed a few more than three hints.

Connect Games is also available for special events, such as birthday parties, gender reveal parties, family reunions and proposals. They do suggest that participants be twelve or older, but can work with you. They will also customize the game depending on the activity, just as they can with team building activities for companies.

Sill is also working on implementing various levels within the game depending on age and how competitive teams want to be. Room

Become a herald of nature and evoke the morning-star, attempt to help all others defy their sorrow or fear, translate hush in a flower which blossoms after dark,

10

May 2018

540/371-9890

Front porch fredericksburg

BY Collette Caprara THE MAKERS' DISTRICT A magical realm within the Burg, the neighborhood near the intersection of Wolfe and Jackson Streets might appear to be quiet from the outside but it is bustling with activity, creativity, and innovation within, as artists and artisans (some acclaimed nationally and internationally) go about their work.

discover a human language regarding how life endures,

themes are changed every few months.

“It is our goal to give you an unforgettable experience,” says Sill. My team certainly had one, and we did make it out…. with 45 seconds to spare.

Visit www.connectgames.com to find out more.

Christina & her team above didn’t exactly “crush it” but they did breakout!

arouse everyone who cares to feel and rejoice as one, listen for sound coming-on when waves overlap a shore, because then we can learn the pure dialect of wonder.

Frank Fratoe lives & writes in the city.

He has written poems from the heart for Front Porch for the past 10 years.

The Sunken Well Tavern

Jewell Wolterman

AhearnEstateLaw.com

stewart & steve wegner: wegner metal arts

A Poet’s Ambition

12225 Amos Lane, Ste 204 Fredericksburg, VA 22407 540-907-0574 www.elitetitleva.com jwolterman@elitetitleva.com

Wills and Trusts Provide for Incapacity Trusts for Minor Children Wealth Preservation Trusts Avoid Probate

The Makers District

Eat Well Drink Well Live Well 720 Littlepage sunkenwelltavern.com 540-370-0911

Behind one door in the ostensibly quiet “makers’ district” neighborhood on Wolfe Street, sparks are literally flying every day! That would be the studio and foundry of Wegner Metal Arts—the site where the creative genius of twin brothers Steven (upper right) and Stewart (right) Wegner comes to fruition in an enchanting spectrum of bronze sculptures.

It seems that Steve and Steward were destined for a career in art. Their mother was an artist, their older brother was a sculptor, and their father, an engineer, loved the arts and made it possible for them to establish their foundry. “That was a real family event,” said Stewart. “If we were doing a show or had new pieces that we were excited about we’d run over and show mom and dad. They were involved in everything all around.”

Folks who have been enthralled at the artwork they viewed at the Wegner’s gallery on Caroline and William Streets might be surprised to learn that these creations came into being just blocks away. Those unfamiliar with the process of lost-wax bronze casting will also be amazed to learn of the tremendous amount of talent, skill, and effort that is invested in each piece.

In the nearly 40 years that their foundry has been operating, the Wegners have cast thousands of bronze sculptures for artists throughout the country. Each

piece involves creating a rubber “negative” image, casting that in wax, making a ceramic mold which is heated to 1,000 degrees to melt the wax, and, finally, mounting the mold in a gravel pit to stabilize it and pouring in lava-like bronze at a startling 2,100 degree temperature.

Larger works are often cast in pieces which are welded together. For example, the largest to date, an eagle with a 21-foot wingspan was cast in more than 80 sections. The finishing steps for a piece entail adding details, smoothing the surface, applying a patina in a selected color using a torch and misting bottle, and, finally, polishing and waxing the sculpture.

In addition to casting pieces for other artists, the Wegners create their own pieces, often inspired by paintings they have made. In those, the complementary natures of the twins come to light in both their subject matter and treatment.

While Steven often creates scenes of boats and shores with realistic detail, Stewart gravitates toward

complementary styles in collaborative works of art, such as an ocean reef for which Stewart established the structure and flow of the work, while Steven added the fish that inhabit the reef. Of course, the epitome of the twins’ collaboration is in the dangerous and delicate process of pouring molten bronze. “We are in touch and in tune with each other,” said Stewart, “It is almost like a ballet.”

In addition to gracing the homes of their customers, the Wegners’ sculptures have become highlights of iconic locations, including the bust of James Farmer on the University of Mary Washington campus, a sculpture at National Museum of the Marine Corps, and the figures of eight immigrants in the rotunda of Ellis Island.

whimsy, such as his series of monkeys in unusual situations, including one clinging for dear life to a palm tree as he is blown, flag-like, horizontally by a hurricane’s winds. “I love doing shows with my monkeys,” said Stewart. “People will come with serious works of art and I show up with all this whimsical stuff and the crowd just loves it!” (Hurricane Monkey, pictured) “Steven is Mr. Detail and does the final finishing on sculptures while I kind of rough things in,” said Stewart.

The brothers have combined their

The front portion of the studio at 520 Wolfe Street studio serves as a gallery and typically presents more than 70 works of art in an exhibit that is updated periodically.

Visitors are welcome any weekday from 8 am to 5 pm, but, given that the process of creation in the back can get a bit noisy, folks are advised to call 540 373-5 5662 in advance.

Collette Caprara is a local writer and artist.

front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

11

Season’s Bounty

Vino Spring Wines

mise en place almost gone

by City Vino

Rioja wines in all of their styles and colors are great food pairing wines, and are worth considering for your upcoming Spring meals and backyard parties.

Many people may think that Rioja only produces red wine, but this region in Spain also produces whites and roses (called rosados).

Spanish Rosados are made with Grenache and/or Tempranillo, the main red grapes of the region. They are dry, intensely fruity, and have more acidity and body then French style roses. They are great to drink cold on a hot day, and will pair with all manner of cheeses, charcuterie, and appetizers. Take a Spanish rosado along on your next picnic and pair it with sandwiches or fried chicken.

White Rioja is primarily made from Viura, with a bit of Malvasia for blending. Similar to Chardonnay, White Rioja can be heavily oaked or made entirely in stainless steel, or even a bit of both. Unoaked styles have lots of citrus and stone fruit flavors along with some green apple or pear flavors. Pair these wines with salads, sushi, chicken or pork.

Unoaked styles are also great as a base for

WELCOME TO OUR GREAT OUTDOORS It’s Beautiful ~ Night and Day!

white sangria and other wine cocktails. Oaked styles have more body, so they can stand up to food that has more body salmon, grilled l o b s t e r , proteins with rich sauces, and just about anything you'd pair with an o a k e d Chardonnay.

Traditional red Riojas are bold wines that can stand up to bold food.

Made from Tempranillo and Grenache, these wines have a core of red and black fruit flavors, along with rich earthy, oaky, vanilla, and leather notes. As the weather warms up and you dust off the grill, think about pairing red Riojas with grilled lamb chops, grilled sausages or anything with bacon!

Four Types of Wine You Should Be Drinking this Spring.

Rosés: 1.

The 2017 roses are hitting the shelves now and more are arriving daily! From delicate Provence styles with light hints of strawberry and rose, to more robust styles out of Spain, California and South America, there's a rosé for every occasion, taste and budget.

Also, don't forget to mark your calendars for National Rose Day on June 9.

Spanish Whites: Spanish whites 2. provide plenty of flavor and value. If you like Sauvignon Blancs from New Zealand, but want to spend a little less, try Verdejo!

Want a wine to go with seafood? Try Albarino.

Light Bodied Reds: If you are not 3. ready to give up reds, there are plenty of lighter red options that are great by themselves or with food. Try Italian Refosco or Austrian Zweigelt with pizza and tomato-based pasta sauces. You can even chill these wines slightly on warmer days.

Riesling: From bone-dry to sweet, 4.

Rieslings are great food wines. Need a wine for Easter Dinner? Try an off-dry style from Mosel, Germany.

City Vino is located at 810 Caroline St. You can find owners Renee Dunn & Rita Allen on-site to provide answers to all your wine questions

By vanessa moncure

Olde Towne BUTCHER Corner of William & Charles Streets Downtown Fredericksburg 540.370.4105 www.oldetownebutcher.com Hours Monday - Saturday, 9am to 9pm; Sunday, 11am to 6pm Keith Lebor Proprietor

Spring, we’re still waiting on you!

Plenty of onions in garden rows, and most of winter’s leftovers - delicious spinach, kale and turnip greens which should have bolted by now and given up their garden spot for summer plants and seeds, are still producing - we’ll give them another week or so until we till and cultivate the raised bed back garden. Pea shoots are tentatively unfurling in their rows - the potatoes that I was sure had moldered in their hills because of the extended cold are surprisingly beginning to leaf out. And yesterday - surely a sign that spring must be right around the corner - we were able to snap off our first asparagus spear of the year! Spring and summer are when we turn our tastes to the grill, to salad dinners and delicious one-pot almostgourmet meals which don’t take much time or attention to prepare. Probably the most basic culinary skill (after knife use) in your kitchen is the ability to have food pre-prepared and ready to use, known as mise en place, a culinary term meaning “putting in place” - having all ingredients

ready and to hand decreases the amount of time spent assembling meals. Have you ever used a wok while stir frying? I’m sure your recipe calls for first assembling all ingredients, cutting them to a uniform size so they will cook evenly and then importantly to have all sauces and spices at the ready. Your idea of fresh crunchy stir-fried broccoli might actually turn out limp and brown if you have to spend time shuffling through your produce drawer or spice rack while the vegetable cooks on. I would love for the inside of my refrigerator to match the curated look of professional kitchens featured on television - multi-sized covered glass containers full of every wonderful ingredient, dated and labeled. Probably will never happen, but everyone deserves to dream!

SEAFOOD AND CHICKEN PAELLA Paella is my almost-gourmet complete meal in a pot - have your ingredients prepared and assemble when ready to cook - this may be served hot, with seafood cooked in the pot or at room

temperature when you will need to add the seafood just when ready to serve. If shrimp are steeped too long and at too high a temperature, they will get soft and mealy and completely lose their texture and deliciousness. Paella comes from the Spanish word for large iron skillet in which paella is traditionally prepared. This dish can easily be prepared outdoors over a fire or gas grill. Time the cooking of the ingredients properly and the whole meal is finished at once. Serve with crusty bread to soak up all the delicious pan juices!

Prepare following and set aside: (1) cut four ounces of pancetta into one-quarter inch cubes (2)cut ten ounces of chorizo into one-half inch slices (3)skin six to eight chicken thighs (4)chop one and one-half cup onions and finely chop six cloves of garlic (5) clean and slice four ounces of mushrooms (6) chop two and one-half cups fresh tomatoes (7) cut one-half each red bell pepper, green and yellow pepper into one-half inch dice (8) mince one-half to one jalapeno or to taste (9) peel and clean one pound of large shrimp (10) measure out one-half cup frozen green peas (11) clean and have ready one pound of mussels in the shell (12) slice one half pound fresh asparagus into one-inch pieces Have on hand extra virgin olive oil, two cups long grain white rice, salt and pepper, one-half teaspoon of loose saffron, chives and Tabasco sauce To prepare: Using a large saucepan or paella pan if you have one, saute the pancetta and chorizo in two tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat.

Add the chicken and cook for ten or fifteen minutes over low heat - stir in the saffron,onions, garlic, rice, mushrooms, four cups of water, tomatoes, peppers and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover and cook on low heat about 20 minutes or until rice is almost done. Raise the heat to medium, stir the mixture then add the mussels, shrimp, peas and asparagus - cover and continue cooking an additional five minutes or until the mussel shells open and the shrimp is cooked through. Sprinkle with minced chives and serve with Tabasco sauce if desired.

Dive in and enjoy!

Mon-Thurs 11am-9pm Fri & Sat 11am-10pm Sun 11am - 9pm Bar open until 2am everyday

Locally Owned Irish Pub and Restaurant 200 Hanover St. ~ 373-0738

The Soup & Taco, Etc. 813 Caroline St. Fredericksburg, VA

Serving Traditional Mexican, Tex-Mex Food and Something More!!

Tuesday to Saturday

Vanessa is full of great stories and wonderful recipies

Sunday, May 13, 9am ~ 2pm Adults $25.95

12 & Under $12

Call for Reservations

4 & Under Free

Senior & Military Discounts

11am-9pm Sunday 11am-6pm

Phone: 540-899-0969 soupntaco@yahoo.com

540-373-8300 ~ marriott.com/fkrcy ~ 620 Caroline St. FXBG, VA 12

May 2018

Front porch fredericksburg

front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

13

Season’s Bounty

Vino Spring Wines

mise en place almost gone

by City Vino

Rioja wines in all of their styles and colors are great food pairing wines, and are worth considering for your upcoming Spring meals and backyard parties.

Many people may think that Rioja only produces red wine, but this region in Spain also produces whites and roses (called rosados).

Spanish Rosados are made with Grenache and/or Tempranillo, the main red grapes of the region. They are dry, intensely fruity, and have more acidity and body then French style roses. They are great to drink cold on a hot day, and will pair with all manner of cheeses, charcuterie, and appetizers. Take a Spanish rosado along on your next picnic and pair it with sandwiches or fried chicken.

White Rioja is primarily made from Viura, with a bit of Malvasia for blending. Similar to Chardonnay, White Rioja can be heavily oaked or made entirely in stainless steel, or even a bit of both. Unoaked styles have lots of citrus and stone fruit flavors along with some green apple or pear flavors. Pair these wines with salads, sushi, chicken or pork.

Unoaked styles are also great as a base for

WELCOME TO OUR GREAT OUTDOORS It’s Beautiful ~ Night and Day!

white sangria and other wine cocktails. Oaked styles have more body, so they can stand up to food that has more body salmon, grilled l o b s t e r , proteins with rich sauces, and just about anything you'd pair with an o a k e d Chardonnay.

Traditional red Riojas are bold wines that can stand up to bold food.

Made from Tempranillo and Grenache, these wines have a core of red and black fruit flavors, along with rich earthy, oaky, vanilla, and leather notes. As the weather warms up and you dust off the grill, think about pairing red Riojas with grilled lamb chops, grilled sausages or anything with bacon!

Four Types of Wine You Should Be Drinking this Spring.

Rosés: 1.

The 2017 roses are hitting the shelves now and more are arriving daily! From delicate Provence styles with light hints of strawberry and rose, to more robust styles out of Spain, California and South America, there's a rosé for every occasion, taste and budget.

Also, don't forget to mark your calendars for National Rose Day on June 9.

Spanish Whites: Spanish whites 2. provide plenty of flavor and value. If you like Sauvignon Blancs from New Zealand, but want to spend a little less, try Verdejo!

Want a wine to go with seafood? Try Albarino.

Light Bodied Reds: If you are not 3. ready to give up reds, there are plenty of lighter red options that are great by themselves or with food. Try Italian Refosco or Austrian Zweigelt with pizza and tomato-based pasta sauces. You can even chill these wines slightly on warmer days.

Riesling: From bone-dry to sweet, 4.

Rieslings are great food wines. Need a wine for Easter Dinner? Try an off-dry style from Mosel, Germany.

City Vino is located at 810 Caroline St. You can find owners Renee Dunn & Rita Allen on-site to provide answers to all your wine questions

By vanessa moncure

Olde Towne BUTCHER Corner of William & Charles Streets Downtown Fredericksburg 540.370.4105 www.oldetownebutcher.com Hours Monday - Saturday, 9am to 9pm; Sunday, 11am to 6pm Keith Lebor Proprietor

Spring, we’re still waiting on you!

Plenty of onions in garden rows, and most of winter’s leftovers - delicious spinach, kale and turnip greens which should have bolted by now and given up their garden spot for summer plants and seeds, are still producing - we’ll give them another week or so until we till and cultivate the raised bed back garden. Pea shoots are tentatively unfurling in their rows - the potatoes that I was sure had moldered in their hills because of the extended cold are surprisingly beginning to leaf out. And yesterday - surely a sign that spring must be right around the corner - we were able to snap off our first asparagus spear of the year! Spring and summer are when we turn our tastes to the grill, to salad dinners and delicious one-pot almostgourmet meals which don’t take much time or attention to prepare. Probably the most basic culinary skill (after knife use) in your kitchen is the ability to have food pre-prepared and ready to use, known as mise en place, a culinary term meaning “putting in place” - having all ingredients

ready and to hand decreases the amount of time spent assembling meals. Have you ever used a wok while stir frying? I’m sure your recipe calls for first assembling all ingredients, cutting them to a uniform size so they will cook evenly and then importantly to have all sauces and spices at the ready. Your idea of fresh crunchy stir-fried broccoli might actually turn out limp and brown if you have to spend time shuffling through your produce drawer or spice rack while the vegetable cooks on. I would love for the inside of my refrigerator to match the curated look of professional kitchens featured on television - multi-sized covered glass containers full of every wonderful ingredient, dated and labeled. Probably will never happen, but everyone deserves to dream!

SEAFOOD AND CHICKEN PAELLA Paella is my almost-gourmet complete meal in a pot - have your ingredients prepared and assemble when ready to cook - this may be served hot, with seafood cooked in the pot or at room

temperature when you will need to add the seafood just when ready to serve. If shrimp are steeped too long and at too high a temperature, they will get soft and mealy and completely lose their texture and deliciousness. Paella comes from the Spanish word for large iron skillet in which paella is traditionally prepared. This dish can easily be prepared outdoors over a fire or gas grill. Time the cooking of the ingredients properly and the whole meal is finished at once. Serve with crusty bread to soak up all the delicious pan juices!

Prepare following and set aside: (1) cut four ounces of pancetta into one-quarter inch cubes (2)cut ten ounces of chorizo into one-half inch slices (3)skin six to eight chicken thighs (4)chop one and one-half cup onions and finely chop six cloves of garlic (5) clean and slice four ounces of mushrooms (6) chop two and one-half cups fresh tomatoes (7) cut one-half each red bell pepper, green and yellow pepper into one-half inch dice (8) mince one-half to one jalapeno or to taste (9) peel and clean one pound of large shrimp (10) measure out one-half cup frozen green peas (11) clean and have ready one pound of mussels in the shell (12) slice one half pound fresh asparagus into one-inch pieces Have on hand extra virgin olive oil, two cups long grain white rice, salt and pepper, one-half teaspoon of loose saffron, chives and Tabasco sauce To prepare: Using a large saucepan or paella pan if you have one, saute the pancetta and chorizo in two tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat.

Add the chicken and cook for ten or fifteen minutes over low heat - stir in the saffron,onions, garlic, rice, mushrooms, four cups of water, tomatoes, peppers and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover and cook on low heat about 20 minutes or until rice is almost done. Raise the heat to medium, stir the mixture then add the mussels, shrimp, peas and asparagus - cover and continue cooking an additional five minutes or until the mussel shells open and the shrimp is cooked through. Sprinkle with minced chives and serve with Tabasco sauce if desired.

Dive in and enjoy!

Mon-Thurs 11am-9pm Fri & Sat 11am-10pm Sun 11am - 9pm Bar open until 2am everyday

Locally Owned Irish Pub and Restaurant 200 Hanover St. ~ 373-0738

The Soup & Taco, Etc. 813 Caroline St. Fredericksburg, VA

Serving Traditional Mexican, Tex-Mex Food and Something More!!

Tuesday to Saturday

Vanessa is full of great stories and wonderful recipies

Sunday, May 13, 9am ~ 2pm Adults $25.95

12 & Under $12

Call for Reservations

4 & Under Free

Senior & Military Discounts

11am-9pm Sunday 11am-6pm

Phone: 540-899-0969 soupntaco@yahoo.com

540-373-8300 ~ marriott.com/fkrcy ~ 620 Caroline St. FXBG, VA 12

May 2018

Front porch fredericksburg

front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

13

Cooking With Kyle may is salad season by james kyle snyder

Everything Greens

Fork it Over !

news from your garden

an open invitation

By Sarah Perry & Mike Costa

By rim vining

Passing of the Pruners After an amazing year with us, Sarah Bachman is moving on as Downtown Greens’ Horticulture Director to pursue other adventures but has promised she won’t be a stranger. One of the biggest and lasting accomplishments that Sarah helped usher was the beautiful landscaping of edible perennials along the new upper garden path last fall. Purchase of the flora was made possible by a grant from the Ann Page Garden Club. The plants are all starting to come into their own, as are other flowers and pieces of the garden that Sarah helped tend and nurture these past 12 months. Sarah is passing the pruners to Andy McLeod as he settles in as Downtown Greens’ new Horticulture Director. Hailing from Philadelphia, he has spent several years working on vegetable farms and

Continuing to cook by the season is fun! May gives us our first fresh harvest after the long winter. Preparing for the next season is not very hard once you get used to it.

First is knowing when to plant what. There are blogs and web sites about this skill; most of the decisions revolve around the “average last frost” (ALF).

Fredericksburg city sits squarely on the line between the Piedmont area (ALF April 20-30) and the Mountain area (ALF May 10-15). To further emphasize the point, Spotsylvania is firmly located in the Mountain area, while Stafford is snug in the Piedmont area.

Remember, these dates are averages. There are no guarantees that you won’t experience a killing frost after your area’s ALF date. Be prepared to cover your plantings in the early spring if you try to get the plants in the ground early.

Asparagus is great because once you have it in the ground; it will produce for you once a year for the next 25 years.

Roxbury Mills, on Lafayette Blvd, has a great variety of asparagus root stocks available and instructions on how to plant. Experiment and have fun! Plant a few things early, and then more later. A few minutes of planting will produce fresh, available vegetables all season.

May is salad season! Asparagus is up. Radishes are in. Rhubarb is full.The greens are thick like a carpet, and the first of the strawberries are on the vine. Having taken the time in late March to plant, it is time to start the harvest season that will extend late into October.

14

May 2018

We love simple salads. Take any or all of the garden’s gifts, add a quick vinaigrette, and you have lunch. Get slightly creative with a piece of fresh tuna and you will have a picture perfect meal that looks harder to make than it actually is. Many times, I will pick a couple ingredients, like tuna and radish, and search the internet. There are so many ideas out there that drive you in a different creative direction. This month’s recipe is an adaptation of a salad I saw in differing forms and presentation. Using those as a guideline, I came up with this month’s “simple, easy, and delicious.”

In a small bowl, combine 3 TBS wasabi powder, 3 TBS silken tofu, 1 TBS rice vinegar, 1 TBS fresh lemon juice, 1 TBS mirin, and a pinch of S&P. Wisk until smooth and set aside in the refrigerator.

Thinly slice 1 cup radishes (shred if you prefer). Add 2 TBS fresh chopped mint leaves, 2 TBS fresh chopped cilantro, 1 TBS of grated carrots, and 2 TBS of any spicy sprout, like radish. Dress these with 2 TBS lemon juice and TBS mirin then toss to mix well. Put all of the salad in a colander to drain in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.

Serve on chilled plates layering with the salad first then thinly sliced tuna.

Finish with flake salt, or lemon flake salt if you have it. Use the wasabi dressing to decorate the plate. All done! Simple, easy and delicious. Be well.

Front porch fredericksburg

downtown. This hive survived the winter in very good shape. The first week of April when it showed evidence of getting ready to swarm, a split was made. When the parent hive swarmed two days later, I had the good fortune to be there at the time, and the bees had the good manners to temporarily cluster on an easily accessed viburnum branch (see the video on the Downtown Greens Facebook page).

We transferred them into a hive box and then moved them over to the Community Garden by Toyota hatchback limousine service. It will be entirely up to them as to whether they like the new accomodations enough to stay. Unlike traditional livestock, bees are wild creatures and will go where they want.

One thing is for sure though, when it comes to modern beekeeping, it’s probably better to be lucky than to be smart. ~Mike “Bee Guy” Costa

C L THE HAPPY M landscaping. He is also a musician who plays American primitive style guitar. Stop by garden hours any Saturday 9am-Noon or Thursday 3-6pm to meet Andy, volunteer, and/or learn a thing or two about sustainable and organic gardening!

Bee Report Sadly, the two hives at Downtown Greens both succumbed this winter.With sufficient stores and numbers going into the season, the most likelyculprit after post mortem examination, was mite infestation. The varroa mite, a common parasite of the honey bee was introduced from Asia decades ago and has since then become the bane of beekeepers in America and in Europe. When mite loads rose in the fall, the hives were treated but it is likely that the damage was done, as the viral diseases that the mites transmit may actually do more harm than the mites themselves. The word among local beekeepers is that this has been a particularly bad winter, with losses expected to approach 50 percent of hives, exceeding the usual 30 percent loss that we usually experience.

The good news is that a split from the Downtown Greens hives was made last year and located in my backyard

Kids in the Garden The youth gardening programs have started back up! We host two different 7-month long programs for kids ages 0-11 in the upper garden of Downtown Greens, located at the intersection of Princess Anne and Dixon Streets.

The Youth Garden Club is for children ages 0-8 (with guardian) and it meets on Wednesdays from 4-5pm when school is in session and from 10-11am during the summer. No need to sign up, this is a free, drop in program. So bring your little ones out to the garden for some fun in the sun and soil!

The Youth Farm Program meets on Tuesdays from 4-5:30pm and is for children in 3rd-5th grades. This is a program that requires parents to sign up their children, email downtowngreens@gmail.com or call 540371-7315 to register.

Sarah Perry is the Executive Director and official spring flower smeller at Downtown Greens.

Mike Costa is a Famiy Practitioner, a beekeeper & a member of the Downtown Greens Family.

The Only Thing We “Overlook” is the Rappahannock!

Monday ~ Saturday: 11am ~ 9pm Sunday: 12-8pm 1017 Sophia Street

540-899-0140 (ph)

540-899-0141 (fax)

Rand Sompayrac & Richard Moncure, Proprietors

Become a Member

fxbgfoodcoop@gmail.com fredericksburgfoodcoop.com

We live in a region with deep roots, long traditions and an ever increasing roster of events to stretch our imaginations and strengthen our community. Our town, Fredericksburg, has much to offer but most unique among those opportunities is Downtown Greens annual “Fork it Over” Festival Saturday May 19th If you have never been to the gardens and greenspace of Downtown Greens located at the southern gateway to the city please come. Stop in at the corner of Charles and Dixon Streets and see what has happened.

The gardens are open seven days a week and it is an amazing sight to behold in the springtime and it’s free! They have garden hours Thursdays and Saturdays where you can volunteer to help.

They sponsor a Youth Farm Program, a Youth Garden Club, the Marenje Marimba band, an Herbal Arts Collective even Urban Bee Keepers.

I invite you to make it your business to find out all you can about what they do for your community.

Our town is also a commuter community many of whose inhabitants spend too much time in cars and buses and buildings with windows that don’t open so that all their air is “conditioned.”

Your Community Greenspace provides respite from that environment.

This space provides the clean air you breathe and a place to reconnect with nature for free … but not completely.

As more than one organization phrases it: “While we do not have dues or fees … we do have expenses.”

The “Fork It Over Festival” is one of Downtown Greens major fundraisers each year. It is a family friendly open house held at the upper garden with music and games, a splash pool and activities for kids young and old. With a Silent Auction

and Yard Sale event there is always something to take home. And then there is the food… and relaxing beverages!

As a non-profit, Downtown Greens relies on grants, fundraisers and the support of the community through monetary donations and volunteer involvement.

This organization has been working on the gardens for over twenty years. One fundraiser at a time they have purchased, planted and conserved three acres of city property that are now part of The Land Trust of Virginia so corporate entities cannot pave them over and future generations can come enjoy this part of Fredericksburg as it was in the past and will be for the future in spite of an ever changing world.

Their budget is small and their hearts are big.

We get a return on investment in this greenspace unmatched in any other area. Without the trees the birds go away. Without the plants the ground washes away. Without the bees nothing bears fruit.

Think of yourself as a tree or a plant or even a bee.

Come out and support Downtown Greens at the “Fork It Over Festival” on May 19 th 1 – 4 PM. Visit their website at downtowngreens.org and get involved.

There are sponsorships available for the event as well for both individuals and businesses.

Give DTG director Sarah Perry a call and see how you can get involved. 540-371-7315. It is your space and I invite you to enjoy it!

Rim Vining is a volunteer at Downtown Greens

front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

15

Cooking With Kyle may is salad season by james kyle snyder

Everything Greens

Fork it Over !

news from your garden

an open invitation

By Sarah Perry & Mike Costa

By rim vining

Passing of the Pruners After an amazing year with us, Sarah Bachman is moving on as Downtown Greens’ Horticulture Director to pursue other adventures but has promised she won’t be a stranger. One of the biggest and lasting accomplishments that Sarah helped usher was the beautiful landscaping of edible perennials along the new upper garden path last fall. Purchase of the flora was made possible by a grant from the Ann Page Garden Club. The plants are all starting to come into their own, as are other flowers and pieces of the garden that Sarah helped tend and nurture these past 12 months. Sarah is passing the pruners to Andy McLeod as he settles in as Downtown Greens’ new Horticulture Director. Hailing from Philadelphia, he has spent several years working on vegetable farms and

Continuing to cook by the season is fun! May gives us our first fresh harvest after the long winter. Preparing for the next season is not very hard once you get used to it.

First is knowing when to plant what. There are blogs and web sites about this skill; most of the decisions revolve around the “average last frost” (ALF).

Fredericksburg city sits squarely on the line between the Piedmont area (ALF April 20-30) and the Mountain area (ALF May 10-15). To further emphasize the point, Spotsylvania is firmly located in the Mountain area, while Stafford is snug in the Piedmont area.

Remember, these dates are averages. There are no guarantees that you won’t experience a killing frost after your area’s ALF date. Be prepared to cover your plantings in the early spring if you try to get the plants in the ground early.

Asparagus is great because once you have it in the ground; it will produce for you once a year for the next 25 years.

Roxbury Mills, on Lafayette Blvd, has a great variety of asparagus root stocks available and instructions on how to plant. Experiment and have fun! Plant a few things early, and then more later. A few minutes of planting will produce fresh, available vegetables all season.

May is salad season! Asparagus is up. Radishes are in. Rhubarb is full.The greens are thick like a carpet, and the first of the strawberries are on the vine. Having taken the time in late March to plant, it is time to start the harvest season that will extend late into October.

14

May 2018

We love simple salads. Take any or all of the garden’s gifts, add a quick vinaigrette, and you have lunch. Get slightly creative with a piece of fresh tuna and you will have a picture perfect meal that looks harder to make than it actually is. Many times, I will pick a couple ingredients, like tuna and radish, and search the internet. There are so many ideas out there that drive you in a different creative direction. This month’s recipe is an adaptation of a salad I saw in differing forms and presentation. Using those as a guideline, I came up with this month’s “simple, easy, and delicious.”

In a small bowl, combine 3 TBS wasabi powder, 3 TBS silken tofu, 1 TBS rice vinegar, 1 TBS fresh lemon juice, 1 TBS mirin, and a pinch of S&P. Wisk until smooth and set aside in the refrigerator.

Thinly slice 1 cup radishes (shred if you prefer). Add 2 TBS fresh chopped mint leaves, 2 TBS fresh chopped cilantro, 1 TBS of grated carrots, and 2 TBS of any spicy sprout, like radish. Dress these with 2 TBS lemon juice and TBS mirin then toss to mix well. Put all of the salad in a colander to drain in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.

Serve on chilled plates layering with the salad first then thinly sliced tuna.

Finish with flake salt, or lemon flake salt if you have it. Use the wasabi dressing to decorate the plate. All done! Simple, easy and delicious. Be well.

Front porch fredericksburg

downtown. This hive survived the winter in very good shape. The first week of April when it showed evidence of getting ready to swarm, a split was made. When the parent hive swarmed two days later, I had the good fortune to be there at the time, and the bees had the good manners to temporarily cluster on an easily accessed viburnum branch (see the video on the Downtown Greens Facebook page).

We transferred them into a hive box and then moved them over to the Community Garden by Toyota hatchback limousine service. It will be entirely up to them as to whether they like the new accomodations enough to stay. Unlike traditional livestock, bees are wild creatures and will go where they want.

One thing is for sure though, when it comes to modern beekeeping, it’s probably better to be lucky than to be smart. ~Mike “Bee Guy” Costa

C L THE HAPPY M landscaping. He is also a musician who plays American primitive style guitar. Stop by garden hours any Saturday 9am-Noon or Thursday 3-6pm to meet Andy, volunteer, and/or learn a thing or two about sustainable and organic gardening!

Bee Report Sadly, the two hives at Downtown Greens both succumbed this winter.With sufficient stores and numbers going into the season, the most likelyculprit after post mortem examination, was mite infestation. The varroa mite, a common parasite of the honey bee was introduced from Asia decades ago and has since then become the bane of beekeepers in America and in Europe. When mite loads rose in the fall, the hives were treated but it is likely that the damage was done, as the viral diseases that the mites transmit may actually do more harm than the mites themselves. The word among local beekeepers is that this has been a particularly bad winter, with losses expected to approach 50 percent of hives, exceeding the usual 30 percent loss that we usually experience.

The good news is that a split from the Downtown Greens hives was made last year and located in my backyard

Kids in the Garden The youth gardening programs have started back up! We host two different 7-month long programs for kids ages 0-11 in the upper garden of Downtown Greens, located at the intersection of Princess Anne and Dixon Streets.

The Youth Garden Club is for children ages 0-8 (with guardian) and it meets on Wednesdays from 4-5pm when school is in session and from 10-11am during the summer. No need to sign up, this is a free, drop in program. So bring your little ones out to the garden for some fun in the sun and soil!

The Youth Farm Program meets on Tuesdays from 4-5:30pm and is for children in 3rd-5th grades. This is a program that requires parents to sign up their children, email downtowngreens@gmail.com or call 540371-7315 to register.

Sarah Perry is the Executive Director and official spring flower smeller at Downtown Greens.

Mike Costa is a Famiy Practitioner, a beekeeper & a member of the Downtown Greens Family.

The Only Thing We “Overlook” is the Rappahannock!

Monday ~ Saturday: 11am ~ 9pm Sunday: 12-8pm 1017 Sophia Street

540-899-0140 (ph)

540-899-0141 (fax)

Rand Sompayrac & Richard Moncure, Proprietors

Become a Member

fxbgfoodcoop@gmail.com fredericksburgfoodcoop.com

We live in a region with deep roots, long traditions and an ever increasing roster of events to stretch our imaginations and strengthen our community. Our town, Fredericksburg, has much to offer but most unique among those opportunities is Downtown Greens annual “Fork it Over” Festival Saturday May 19th If you have never been to the gardens and greenspace of Downtown Greens located at the southern gateway to the city please come. Stop in at the corner of Charles and Dixon Streets and see what has happened.

The gardens are open seven days a week and it is an amazing sight to behold in the springtime and it’s free! They have garden hours Thursdays and Saturdays where you can volunteer to help.

They sponsor a Youth Farm Program, a Youth Garden Club, the Marenje Marimba band, an Herbal Arts Collective even Urban Bee Keepers.

I invite you to make it your business to find out all you can about what they do for your community.

Our town is also a commuter community many of whose inhabitants spend too much time in cars and buses and buildings with windows that don’t open so that all their air is “conditioned.”

Your Community Greenspace provides respite from that environment.

This space provides the clean air you breathe and a place to reconnect with nature for free … but not completely.

As more than one organization phrases it: “While we do not have dues or fees … we do have expenses.”

The “Fork It Over Festival” is one of Downtown Greens major fundraisers each year. It is a family friendly open house held at the upper garden with music and games, a splash pool and activities for kids young and old. With a Silent Auction

and Yard Sale event there is always something to take home. And then there is the food… and relaxing beverages!

As a non-profit, Downtown Greens relies on grants, fundraisers and the support of the community through monetary donations and volunteer involvement.

This organization has been working on the gardens for over twenty years. One fundraiser at a time they have purchased, planted and conserved three acres of city property that are now part of The Land Trust of Virginia so corporate entities cannot pave them over and future generations can come enjoy this part of Fredericksburg as it was in the past and will be for the future in spite of an ever changing world.

Their budget is small and their hearts are big.

We get a return on investment in this greenspace unmatched in any other area. Without the trees the birds go away. Without the plants the ground washes away. Without the bees nothing bears fruit.

Think of yourself as a tree or a plant or even a bee.

Come out and support Downtown Greens at the “Fork It Over Festival” on May 19 th 1 – 4 PM. Visit their website at downtowngreens.org and get involved.

There are sponsorships available for the event as well for both individuals and businesses.

Give DTG director Sarah Perry a call and see how you can get involved. 540-371-7315. It is your space and I invite you to enjoy it!

Rim Vining is a volunteer at Downtown Greens

front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

15

CALENDAR of events

may 2018….Mental Health Awareness Month, Mother’s Day, & Memorial Day

Paddle a kayak down the Potomac River. @Stratford Hall 1-5pm. contact Jon Bachman at 804-493-1972 or jbachman@stratfordhall.org. $

Trivia @ J Brian's Tap Room, 7p

Tuesday, May 8

Tuesday, May 1

Wil Gravatt & James Byram @ Picnic in the Park, Hurkamp Park 11:30- 1:30pm

May is for Moms @Brush Strokes Gallery, 824 Caroline St.

Kyle Davis @Picnic in the Park, Hurkamp Park 11:30- 1:30pm

Tastings Tuesday in the Bar @Legume. Taste featured wine &/or draft beer, 3-6p

FCCA "A Fine Line" exhbit. Carol Baker & Ruth Golmant in Member's Gallery, 813 Sophia St.

Tastings Tuesday in the Bar @Legume. Taste featured wine &/or draft beer, 3-6p

Red Dragon Brewery Beer & Trivia night .

Penny A. Parrish Abstract Photography Exhibit, CRRL Main Library through out May.

Red Dragon Brewery Beer & Trivia night . 1419 Pr.Anne ST

Wednesday, May 2

Agora Downtown Coffeeshop turns 3! Come celebrate..

Ariel Freeman, "People, Places, & a Few Everyday Things" new exhbit @Art First Gallery, 824 Caroline St. Opening Reception 6-9p.

Rappahannock Area Community Service Board's (RACSB) Mental Health First Aid Training.learn to support someone who may be in crisis.

Bailey Hayes, Rock, @Legume Kitchen & Bar, 715 Caroline St, Live Music, 8-10p

Sunken Well Trivia tonight starting at 7:45pm ~

Saturday, May 5

Thursday, May 3

Downtown Greens Garden 3pm til 6:00pm Help us work the soil, pick weeds, plant & more!

Open Mic with Larry Hinkle Highmark Brewery!, 390 Kings HWY, Happy hour -6:30-10p Live Music at 7:30 Kenmore Inn. f Washington Heritage Museums' Speaker Series@ CRRL main speaker Amanda Isaac, Associate Curator at Mt. Vernon. CRRL, 10a, Theatre Room Enya Agerholm, Country @Legume Kitchen & Bar, 715 Caroline St, Live Music, 7-9p

First Friday, May 4

34 artists have transformed works of art by kindergarten & middle school students into their own pieces of art. completed works on exhibit at the FAM. Exhibit thru June Mother & Son Dance @Dorothy Hart Community Center 6:30-8:30p Meet the Artists @ Community Bank of the Chesapeake, 3-4pm 14th Annual Art of Recovery, a showcase featuring original artwork by adults with mental health challenges. PONSHOP, Caroline St. Runs thru May 27th

Wednesday, May 9

Rappahannock Goodwill Job Fair, 4701 Market St, FXBG 22408, 1-4p, info 540-271-3070 "Mindful You-Powerful Skills" to Handle Stress mindfulness practices for greater mental health wellness. Salem Church Library, 6:30p\

Cinco de Mayo

Sunken Well Trivia tonight starting at 7:45pm ~

Downtown Greens Garden Hours 9-12noon. Help us work the soil,

Thursday, May 10

11th Annual Walk for Mental Wellness, at Maury Park in Downtown FXBG, 9 a.m.

Art in the Park artists & craftspeople hfrom 9a- to 1pm. Hurkamp Park Farmer’s Market, Hurkamp Park Spring Concert on the Lawn! @ Rising Sun Tavern, 2:30-5pm. Enjoy a live spring concert by Colonial Faire FXBG Area Museum's Cinco de Mayo Celebration in Market Square, 6-9pm. evening of live music, dancing, and food.

Squid Inc, Rock/Reggae @ Legume Kitchen & Bar, 715 Caroline St, Live Music, 8-10p

Sunday, May 6

Paintings by Rita and Rae Rose at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Gallery opening reception 11:45 AM.

Monday, May 7

Happy Hour Mondays @La Petite. Bar menu starts at 4pm

Tiny House Living @ Unity of FXBG learn about the Tiny House Movement Film showing followed by discussion with local tiny house owner Brenda Mason, www.SmallerLivingHugeLife.com. Presented

by Food Co-OP. Free. 3-5pm The Adaptations, live at Agora! @ Agora Downtown Coffee Shop, 720 Caroline St, 6-8p Marc Allred, Reggae, @ Legume Kitchen & Bar, 715 Caroline St, Live Music, 8-10p

Sunday, May 13 Mother's Day

Open Mic with Larry Hinkle Highmark Brewery!, 390 Kings HWY, Happy hour -6:30-10p Live Music at 7:30 Kenmore Inn. The Acoustic Onion Duo @ Legume Kitchen & Bar, 715 Caroline St, Live Music, 7-9p

Friday, May 11

Colonial Seafood @ Legume Kitchen & Bar, 715 Caroline St, Live Music, 8-10p

Saturday, May 12

Downtown Greens Garden Hours 9-12noon. Help us work the soil, Annual Yard Sale/Fundraiser @ Heritage House of Virginia, 1113 Garrisionville Rd, 7-12noon Annual Spring Pig Roast and Craft Show at Aquia Episcopal Church, 9a-3p Virginia Renaissance Faire On the grounds of the Lake Anna winery, 10a-5p. , magicians, comedians, music and more fill the stages. $

Night Catfishing at Motts Run Reservoir 7pm - 1p:, 6600 River Road, info 540-786-8989 or visit www.FredParksRec.com Not at Liberty, Rock Jam @ Legume Kitchen & Bar, 715 Caroline St, Live Music, 8-10p

Saturday, May 19

Art in the Park 9am to 1pm. Hurkamp Park, Free admission, be sure to stop by on your way through the farmers market!

Downtown Greens Garden Hours 9-12noon. Help us work the soil,

Tuesday, May 22

Scott Kurt @ Picnic in the Park, Hurkamp Park 11:30- 1:30pm Tastings Tuesday in the Bar @Legume. Taste featured wine &/or draft beer, 3-6p Red Dragon Brewery Beer & Trivia 1419 Pr.Anne

Wednesday, May 23

Civil War Round Table@ UMW Jepson Alumni Exec Center. Historians Rob Orrison and Bill Backus will give their presentation on "War on the Potomac".

7-9p. Reservations 540-361-2105 Sunken Well Trivia tonight starting at 7:45pm ~

Monday, May 14

Happy Hour Mondays @La Petite. Bar menu starts at 4pm

Downtown Greens Garden Hours 3pm til 6pm Help us work the soil,

Friday, May 18

Nerd Nite @ Red Dragon Brewry, 7pm. 1419 Pr. Anne ST.

Tuesday, May 15

Laurie Rose Griffith & Peter Mealy @Picnic in the Park, Hurkamp Park 11:30- 1:30pm Tastings Tuesday in the Bar @Legume. Taste featured wine &/or draft beer, 3-6p Red Dragon Brewery Beer & Trivia night . 1419 Pr.Anne ST

Wednesday, May 16

FAM's Hops and Histroy @ Adventure Brewing Company, 33 Perchwood Dr., 5:30-7p Sunken Well Trivia tonight starting at 7:45pm ~ !

Thursday, May 17

Downtown Greens Garden Hours 3pm til 6:00pm Help us work the soil, Open Mic with Larry Hinkle Highmark Brewery!, 390 Kings HWY, Happy hour -6:30-10p Live Music at 7:30 Kenmore Inn. Adwela & the Uprising, Reggae, @ Legume Kitchen & Bar, 715 Caroline St, Live Music, 7-9p

May is Strawberry Season at Miller Farms Market!

In Locust Grove. Let's get together and learn to bake strawberry shortcake. 9:30-11:30a Comic Book Convention @CRRL Howell , 1-4p.

Indoor Yard Sale, Clothing, Household, holiday, books, crafts, books, jewelry, Bake Sale To benefit Micah's Community Café, Dorothy Hart Community Center, 408 Canal St Traditional 18th-Century Trades Fair @ Stratford Hall. , 9:30a -5p. information contact Jon Bachman at 804-493-1972 or jbachman@stratfordhall.org.

Annual "Fork it Over Festival", 1-4p.@Downtown Greens, of Charles & Dixon. Family friendly music games, a splash pool and activities for kids young and old. With a Silent Auction and Yard Sale Coffee with Cabin Creek at Agora @ Agora Downtown Coffee Shop, 720 Cqaaroline St, 6-8p Jahnel Daliya Folk/Pop/Rock @ Legume Kitchen & Bar, 715 Caroline St, Live Music, 8-11p

Monday, May 21

"The Ripple Effect" a film that follows the story of Kevin Hines, who attempted to take his life, but survived, will be shown at Regal Theater, 7:30p Happy Hour Mondays @La Petite. Bar menu starts at 4pm Trivia @ J Brian's Tap Room, 7p

Thursday, May 24

Tuesday, May 29

Tastings Tuesday in the Bar @Legume. Taste featured wine &/or draft beer, 3-6p Red Dragon Brewery Beer & Trivia night . 1419 Pr.Anne ST

Wednesday, May 30

Sunken Well Trivia tonight starting at 7:45pm ~ Come and match wits against the finest minds in Fredericksburg! Compete for Honor, Glory, and Prizes!!

Thursday, May 31

Downtown Greens Garden Hours 3pm til 6:00pm Help us work the soil, pick weeds, plant saplings or bulbs, move mulch, and so much more!

Downtown Greens Garden Hours 3pm til 6:00pm Open Mic with Larry HinkleHighmark Brewery!, 390 Kings HWY, Happy hour -6:30-10p Live Music at 7:30 Kenmore Inn. featuring drink specials at the copper top bar.

Ellie James, @ Legume Kitchen & Bar, 715 Caroline St, Live Music, 7-9p

Open Mic with Larry Hinkle at Highmark Brewery!, 390 Kings HWY, Happy hour -6:30-10p Live Music at 7:30 Kenmore Inn. featuring drink specials at the copper top bar.

Haylee Hill Soul, R&B, @ Legume Kitchen & Bar, 715 Caroline St, Live Music, 7-9p

Saturday, May 26

Downtown Greens Garden Hours 9-12noon. Help us work the soil, pick weeds, plant saplings or bulbs, move mulch, and so much more!

Steven Gellman, live at Agora! @ Agora Downtown Coffee Shop, 9-11am Vamos, Latin-Indie Rock,@ Legume Kitchen & Bar, 715 Caroline St, Live Music, 8-10p

Monday, May 28 Memorial Day

If you are reading this 250th issue of FPF, thank an advertiser as we celebrate our 21st year of continuous publication!

If you are an advertiser, list your events.

Deadline for June 2018 issue is May 20th. To submit events go to frontporchfredericksburg.com/submit

Rappahannock Pops Memorial Day Concert @ Campus of Mary Washington Hospital, 6p. FREE Happy Hour Mondays @La Petite. Bar menu starts at 4pm Trivia @ J Brian's Tap Room, 7p

Become a Friend Advocate ~ Donate ~ Volunteer

3273 Fans (& Growing) Want You to Join

Front Porch on 540~479~4116 1013 Princess Anne St , FXBG 16

May 2018

Front porch fredericksburg

540-8 899-6 6787

fortemusicstudios.com front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

17

CALENDAR of events

may 2018….Mental Health Awareness Month, Mother’s Day, & Memorial Day

Paddle a kayak down the Potomac River. @Stratford Hall 1-5pm. contact Jon Bachman at 804-493-1972 or jbachman@stratfordhall.org. $

Trivia @ J Brian's Tap Room, 7p

Tuesday, May 8

Tuesday, May 1

Wil Gravatt & James Byram @ Picnic in the Park, Hurkamp Park 11:30- 1:30pm

May is for Moms @Brush Strokes Gallery, 824 Caroline St.

Kyle Davis @Picnic in the Park, Hurkamp Park 11:30- 1:30pm

Tastings Tuesday in the Bar @Legume. Taste featured wine &/or draft beer, 3-6p

FCCA "A Fine Line" exhbit. Carol Baker & Ruth Golmant in Member's Gallery, 813 Sophia St.

Tastings Tuesday in the Bar @Legume. Taste featured wine &/or draft beer, 3-6p

Red Dragon Brewery Beer & Trivia night .

Penny A. Parrish Abstract Photography Exhibit, CRRL Main Library through out May.

Red Dragon Brewery Beer & Trivia night . 1419 Pr.Anne ST

Wednesday, May 2

Agora Downtown Coffeeshop turns 3! Come celebrate..

Ariel Freeman, "People, Places, & a Few Everyday Things" new exhbit @Art First Gallery, 824 Caroline St. Opening Reception 6-9p.

Rappahannock Area Community Service Board's (RACSB) Mental Health First Aid Training.learn to support someone who may be in crisis.

Bailey Hayes, Rock, @Legume Kitchen & Bar, 715 Caroline St, Live Music, 8-10p

Sunken Well Trivia tonight starting at 7:45pm ~

Saturday, May 5

Thursday, May 3

Downtown Greens Garden 3pm til 6:00pm Help us work the soil, pick weeds, plant & more!

Open Mic with Larry Hinkle Highmark Brewery!, 390 Kings HWY, Happy hour -6:30-10p Live Music at 7:30 Kenmore Inn. f Washington Heritage Museums' Speaker Series@ CRRL main speaker Amanda Isaac, Associate Curator at Mt. Vernon. CRRL, 10a, Theatre Room Enya Agerholm, Country @Legume Kitchen & Bar, 715 Caroline St, Live Music, 7-9p

First Friday, May 4

34 artists have transformed works of art by kindergarten & middle school students into their own pieces of art. completed works on exhibit at the FAM. Exhibit thru June Mother & Son Dance @Dorothy Hart Community Center 6:30-8:30p Meet the Artists @ Community Bank of the Chesapeake, 3-4pm 14th Annual Art of Recovery, a showcase featuring original artwork by adults with mental health challenges. PONSHOP, Caroline St. Runs thru May 27th

Wednesday, May 9

Rappahannock Goodwill Job Fair, 4701 Market St, FXBG 22408, 1-4p, info 540-271-3070 "Mindful You-Powerful Skills" to Handle Stress mindfulness practices for greater mental health wellness. Salem Church Library, 6:30p\

Cinco de Mayo

Sunken Well Trivia tonight starting at 7:45pm ~

Downtown Greens Garden Hours 9-12noon. Help us work the soil,

Thursday, May 10

11th Annual Walk for Mental Wellness, at Maury Park in Downtown FXBG, 9 a.m.

Art in the Park artists & craftspeople hfrom 9a- to 1pm. Hurkamp Park Farmer’s Market, Hurkamp Park Spring Concert on the Lawn! @ Rising Sun Tavern, 2:30-5pm. Enjoy a live spring concert by Colonial Faire FXBG Area Museum's Cinco de Mayo Celebration in Market Square, 6-9pm. evening of live music, dancing, and food.

Squid Inc, Rock/Reggae @ Legume Kitchen & Bar, 715 Caroline St, Live Music, 8-10p

Sunday, May 6

Paintings by Rita and Rae Rose at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Gallery opening reception 11:45 AM.

Monday, May 7

Happy Hour Mondays @La Petite. Bar menu starts at 4pm

Tiny House Living @ Unity of FXBG learn about the Tiny House Movement Film showing followed by discussion with local tiny house owner Brenda Mason, www.SmallerLivingHugeLife.com. Presented

by Food Co-OP. Free. 3-5pm The Adaptations, live at Agora! @ Agora Downtown Coffee Shop, 720 Caroline St, 6-8p Marc Allred, Reggae, @ Legume Kitchen & Bar, 715 Caroline St, Live Music, 8-10p

Sunday, May 13 Mother's Day

Open Mic with Larry Hinkle Highmark Brewery!, 390 Kings HWY, Happy hour -6:30-10p Live Music at 7:30 Kenmore Inn. The Acoustic Onion Duo @ Legume Kitchen & Bar, 715 Caroline St, Live Music, 7-9p

Friday, May 11

Colonial Seafood @ Legume Kitchen & Bar, 715 Caroline St, Live Music, 8-10p

Saturday, May 12

Downtown Greens Garden Hours 9-12noon. Help us work the soil, Annual Yard Sale/Fundraiser @ Heritage House of Virginia, 1113 Garrisionville Rd, 7-12noon Annual Spring Pig Roast and Craft Show at Aquia Episcopal Church, 9a-3p Virginia Renaissance Faire On the grounds of the Lake Anna winery, 10a-5p. , magicians, comedians, music and more fill the stages. $

Night Catfishing at Motts Run Reservoir 7pm - 1p:, 6600 River Road, info 540-786-8989 or visit www.FredParksRec.com Not at Liberty, Rock Jam @ Legume Kitchen & Bar, 715 Caroline St, Live Music, 8-10p

Saturday, May 19

Art in the Park 9am to 1pm. Hurkamp Park, Free admission, be sure to stop by on your way through the farmers market!

Downtown Greens Garden Hours 9-12noon. Help us work the soil,

Tuesday, May 22

Scott Kurt @ Picnic in the Park, Hurkamp Park 11:30- 1:30pm Tastings Tuesday in the Bar @Legume. Taste featured wine &/or draft beer, 3-6p Red Dragon Brewery Beer & Trivia 1419 Pr.Anne

Wednesday, May 23

Civil War Round Table@ UMW Jepson Alumni Exec Center. Historians Rob Orrison and Bill Backus will give their presentation on "War on the Potomac".

7-9p. Reservations 540-361-2105 Sunken Well Trivia tonight starting at 7:45pm ~

Monday, May 14

Happy Hour Mondays @La Petite. Bar menu starts at 4pm

Downtown Greens Garden Hours 3pm til 6pm Help us work the soil,

Friday, May 18

Nerd Nite @ Red Dragon Brewry, 7pm. 1419 Pr. Anne ST.

Tuesday, May 15

Laurie Rose Griffith & Peter Mealy @Picnic in the Park, Hurkamp Park 11:30- 1:30pm Tastings Tuesday in the Bar @Legume. Taste featured wine &/or draft beer, 3-6p Red Dragon Brewery Beer & Trivia night . 1419 Pr.Anne ST

Wednesday, May 16

FAM's Hops and Histroy @ Adventure Brewing Company, 33 Perchwood Dr., 5:30-7p Sunken Well Trivia tonight starting at 7:45pm ~ !

Thursday, May 17

Downtown Greens Garden Hours 3pm til 6:00pm Help us work the soil, Open Mic with Larry Hinkle Highmark Brewery!, 390 Kings HWY, Happy hour -6:30-10p Live Music at 7:30 Kenmore Inn. Adwela & the Uprising, Reggae, @ Legume Kitchen & Bar, 715 Caroline St, Live Music, 7-9p

May is Strawberry Season at Miller Farms Market!

In Locust Grove. Let's get together and learn to bake strawberry shortcake. 9:30-11:30a Comic Book Convention @CRRL Howell , 1-4p.

Indoor Yard Sale, Clothing, Household, holiday, books, crafts, books, jewelry, Bake Sale To benefit Micah's Community Café, Dorothy Hart Community Center, 408 Canal St Traditional 18th-Century Trades Fair @ Stratford Hall. , 9:30a -5p. information contact Jon Bachman at 804-493-1972 or jbachman@stratfordhall.org.

Annual "Fork it Over Festival", 1-4p.@Downtown Greens, of Charles & Dixon. Family friendly music games, a splash pool and activities for kids young and old. With a Silent Auction and Yard Sale Coffee with Cabin Creek at Agora @ Agora Downtown Coffee Shop, 720 Cqaaroline St, 6-8p Jahnel Daliya Folk/Pop/Rock @ Legume Kitchen & Bar, 715 Caroline St, Live Music, 8-11p

Monday, May 21

"The Ripple Effect" a film that follows the story of Kevin Hines, who attempted to take his life, but survived, will be shown at Regal Theater, 7:30p Happy Hour Mondays @La Petite. Bar menu starts at 4pm Trivia @ J Brian's Tap Room, 7p

Thursday, May 24

Tuesday, May 29

Tastings Tuesday in the Bar @Legume. Taste featured wine &/or draft beer, 3-6p Red Dragon Brewery Beer & Trivia night . 1419 Pr.Anne ST

Wednesday, May 30

Sunken Well Trivia tonight starting at 7:45pm ~ Come and match wits against the finest minds in Fredericksburg! Compete for Honor, Glory, and Prizes!!

Thursday, May 31

Downtown Greens Garden Hours 3pm til 6:00pm Help us work the soil, pick weeds, plant saplings or bulbs, move mulch, and so much more!

Downtown Greens Garden Hours 3pm til 6:00pm Open Mic with Larry HinkleHighmark Brewery!, 390 Kings HWY, Happy hour -6:30-10p Live Music at 7:30 Kenmore Inn. featuring drink specials at the copper top bar.

Ellie James, @ Legume Kitchen & Bar, 715 Caroline St, Live Music, 7-9p

Open Mic with Larry Hinkle at Highmark Brewery!, 390 Kings HWY, Happy hour -6:30-10p Live Music at 7:30 Kenmore Inn. featuring drink specials at the copper top bar.

Haylee Hill Soul, R&B, @ Legume Kitchen & Bar, 715 Caroline St, Live Music, 7-9p

Saturday, May 26

Downtown Greens Garden Hours 9-12noon. Help us work the soil, pick weeds, plant saplings or bulbs, move mulch, and so much more!

Steven Gellman, live at Agora! @ Agora Downtown Coffee Shop, 9-11am Vamos, Latin-Indie Rock,@ Legume Kitchen & Bar, 715 Caroline St, Live Music, 8-10p

Monday, May 28 Memorial Day

If you are reading this 250th issue of FPF, thank an advertiser as we celebrate our 21st year of continuous publication!

If you are an advertiser, list your events.

Deadline for June 2018 issue is May 20th. To submit events go to frontporchfredericksburg.com/submit

Rappahannock Pops Memorial Day Concert @ Campus of Mary Washington Hospital, 6p. FREE Happy Hour Mondays @La Petite. Bar menu starts at 4pm Trivia @ J Brian's Tap Room, 7p

Become a Friend Advocate ~ Donate ~ Volunteer

3273 Fans (& Growing) Want You to Join

Front Porch on 540~479~4116 1013 Princess Anne St , FXBG 16

May 2018

Front porch fredericksburg

540-8 899-6 6787

fortemusicstudios.com front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

17

history’s stories

JOHN LEE PRATT

By Ralph “Tuffy” Hicks I believe it was 1950 when I first recall meeting John Lee Pratt in downtown Fredericksburg. He was friends with the family and always called me "little tuff man". He was having a talk with my father and grandfather and joking about city government, as my father reminded me years later that John Lee had made the remark that "little tuff man" would be a cog in the wheels of town government. I would never have believed that thirty years later I would be elected to the City Council and remain there for eighteen years. I knew him up until the time of his death in December 1975, and often see his grave site when I visit Oak Hill Cemetery.

Those who did not know John Lee if they saw him, would never think that this man would have such wealth and knowledge. He was born in King George county on October 22, 1879 and always considered himself a farm boy that could fix most anything. His family sent him to the University of Virginia, from which he graduated with a Chemical Engineering Degree in 1902. John Lee was hired by the DuPont Company. Pierre Du Pont became impressed with the young man with lots of energy and new ideas. In 1919 Du Pont selected Pratt to work in his General Motors Corporation looking out for his large investments. John Lee served on the General Motors Board of Directors and became Vice President of a Division. He would continue to serve on the board for 45 years until 1968. It is written that he was one of the best businessmen that the General Motors Corporation ever had.

In 1931 he purchased "Chatham Manor", that he often called his" retirement home" for the sum of $150,000.00 that would be equivalent of three million today.

Pratt and his wife Lillian enjoyed their life at Chatham as he would always say he had come back home. He always was proud to reflect that Washington, Monroe, Madison and Lincoln had visited his home. John Lee and Lillian were quietly involved in the community as philanthropist supporting University of Virginia programs and community programs for young people many of the local children in the community were supported in their education by the Pratts. He was friends with St. Clair Brooks a close neighbor in Falmouth and we would see them walking together up until Brooks death in 1953. Today we have St. Clair Brooks park and Pratt Park thanks to these two men. John Lee loved Fredericksburg and the area. A gentleman and his wife that are remembered for what the gave back not only to the State of Virginia but the entire community.

After the Death of Lillian Pratt in 1947, her extensive jewelry collection was given to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. She had accumulated the largest collection known in the United States of the Peter Faberge' jewelry including five Imperial Easter Eggs that were sold by the Soviet Union to the Pratt's to raise funds for the Soviet state.

Lillian Pratt is buried in Tacoma, Washington the city of her birth. John Lee Pratt died in 1975 at the age of 96 and is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery.

Today Chatham is the headquarters for the National Park Service. A portion of the Pratt estate proceeds went to the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Washington and Lee University and Johns Hopkins University At the time of his death Pratt was said to be the largest shareholder of General Motors stock still owning approximately seventeen per-cent of the large corporation that he helped build.

DEDICATED TO: CHARLES COLLEY, MARY FRAN THOMAS AND LENNIE RODRIGUES

Tuffy is Front Porch's resident FXBG historian

18

May 2018

Front porch fredericksburg

OUR HERITAGE

What’s in a Name?

preserve & protect

mary washington Lodge

By Donna Fleming

By jon gerlach

purchase, restore, and resell the Chimneys and the Wells House.

In 1977, the U.S. Post Office offered HFFI the George Gravatt House on Princess Anne Street along with funds to move it.

HFFI retained ownership of the house until 1982, when it was sold and moved to 108 Charlotte Street. Like every other historic The Chimneys in 1910 structure owned by Fredericksburg’s historic one-ofa-kind houses are physical links to our HFFI, the house was sold with protective nation’s past and make our town the easements and restrictions.

HFFI has saved, restored, and sold special place it is. We are a better community today because people have many properties over the years. Its only cared enough to save these important current holding is the Lewis Store at 1200 Caroline Street.(current HFFI Office) Built pieces of our history.

Early concerns about the loss of in 1749 for John Lewis, father of George so many of the old Fredericksburg Washington’s brother-in-law Fielding Lewis, it is one of the first retail buildings led to the creation of the Historic establishments in Virginia. Over the years Fredericksburg Foundation, Inc. (HFFI) in the building suffered from fires and 1955. In particular, the early 1950s neglect until 1992 when it was abandoned. demolition of the Matthew Fontaine Maury House on Charlotte Street caught the Then, in 1996, the owners, recognizing its historic significance, gave the building to attention of residents. Maury was a famous oceanographer in the 1800s who the HFFI. It continues to be an ongoing was known as the “Pathfinder of the Seas.” project to stabilize and restore the building, which serves as the HFFI office.

After that loss, the new preservation group tried to rescue the The Lewis Store was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. historic kitchen dependency behind the Preserving historic buildings is National Bank of Fredericksburg. The bank crucial to retaining our nation’s heritage wanted to tear it down to make way for its and history.

For nearly 65 years, The drive-through feature. Despite HFFI’s efforts, the bank went ahead with the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation, Inc. demolition, but the group bought the has fought to protect and preserve our bricks and rebuilt the kitchen at the historic city by saving significant corner of Princess Anne Street and the endangered properties.

U.S. 1 Bypass.

The next challenge was a house at 813 Sophia Street, built in 1796 by James Brown, Fredericksburg’s first Silversmith. This house was slated for demolition to make way for a city parking lot, but HFFI rallied to save the building. It now houses the Fredericksburg Center for Creative Arts.

Another early success was the Wells House. Located across from the Silversmith House, this house was built about 1801 and later named for Captain Wells who operated it as a boarding house during the Civil War. Battered during the 1862 bombardment of Fredericksburg, the house required extensive restoration.

The Chimneys, at 623 Caroline Street, was built in the 1770s and acquired by HFFI in 1966. It was sold in 1982, following extensive repairs. A $150,000 Revolving Fund enabled HFFI to

Have you ever wondered about the charming stone and frame house tucked among the trees and shrubs beside the Mary Washington Monument? It tells a story of influence wielded by a group of determined women at the turn of the last century. It also speaks to a remarkable woman, Mary Ball Washington, and our beloved tradition of Mother's Day. Jim Pates, a local attorney who cares about the future of the property, fondly remembers Mother's Day celebrations held around the Monument, a popular Fredericksburg event that was repeated for many years. He is quick to point out that the site has national importance for two reasons: it commemorates a single mother's achievement in raising her young son (the father of our country) after the death of his father, and it was created "as a movement by women all across America to purchase, develop, and pay the cost of erecting one of the first, if not the first, monuments in this country honoring a woman."

In 1833, President Andrew Jackson presided at the ground-breaking ceremony of the first Mary Washington

Monument.

Financial difficulties later derailed the project, and the monument lay incomplete during the Civil War and afterwards, when it was revived by a national women's movement. As the saying goes it really did take a village -- to fund the project -- and overcome political headwinds in Washington, DC. Innumerable small donations from women all across the country helped greatly, along with key support from the newly formed Daughters of the American Revolution. The project was part of a larger sphere of women's activism in the late 19th Century which included the suffrage and temperance movements. The new monument was completed and President Grover Cleveland dedicated it in 1893. Three years later, construction of the caretaker's cottage was finished, known today as the Mary Washington Lodge.

For nearly 70 years the Lodge was home to the well-known Goolrick Family. In 1966, the entire four-acre site including the Monument, Meditation Rock, and the Lodge was conveyed to the City of Fredericksburg as part of a settlement between two ladies' memorial associations

that claimed competing interests in the site. According to the wording of the 1966 Deed, the City is responsible for making sure the entire site is "used and maintained as a park and as a memorial to Mary Washington."

Today, the Fredericksburg Memorials Advisory Commission is charged with fulfilling the Deed's expressed intent, by advising the City concerning "the maintenance and preservation in perpetuity of the monument property as a whole and improvements thereon as a Memorial to Mary Washington."

After a lease with Kenmore Association (known today as the George Washington Foundation) ended in 2011, sole responsibility for maintaining the Lodge fell back to the City. Recently, the Memorials Advisory Commission recommended that the Lodge be sold to a new owner who would promise to preserve the building. Accordingly, today the City is considering carving up the four acre preservation area into separate lots by means of subdivision, retaining the Monument, Meditation Rock and some surrounding grounds, but selling the Lodge to a suitable purchaser who would have to agree to preserve and maintain it.

Some people believe carving out the Lodge from the park, and disposing of the Lodge separately, would violate the spirit and intent of the women's organizations who directed the City to maintain and preserve the entire site for public use "in perpetuity".

Another option is to keep the full 4-acre site intact, in perpetuity, for a public purpose such as a City park, which was the original intent when the City acquired it from the women's organizations in 1966. This might involve building interpretive trails and integrating the Lodge into the visitor experience.

As a third option, the City could convey ownership of everything -- the Lodge, Mary Washington Monument, and Meditation Rock -- to the University of Mary Washington, keeping the whole intact. The Lodge would be a fine housing perk for a visiting scholar. As a matter of fact, UMW stewardship of its namesake site for future generations of Americans just seems "Lodgical" -- pardon the pun.

So what's in a name? Well, quite a lot.

An attorney and retired archaeologist, Jon Gerlach chairs the Architectural Review Board in Fredericksburg.

This article was written by Donna Fleming, with assistance from HFFI volunteers, who has been interested in historic preservation for more than 35 years.

front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

19

history’s stories

JOHN LEE PRATT

By Ralph “Tuffy” Hicks I believe it was 1950 when I first recall meeting John Lee Pratt in downtown Fredericksburg. He was friends with the family and always called me "little tuff man". He was having a talk with my father and grandfather and joking about city government, as my father reminded me years later that John Lee had made the remark that "little tuff man" would be a cog in the wheels of town government. I would never have believed that thirty years later I would be elected to the City Council and remain there for eighteen years. I knew him up until the time of his death in December 1975, and often see his grave site when I visit Oak Hill Cemetery.

Those who did not know John Lee if they saw him, would never think that this man would have such wealth and knowledge. He was born in King George county on October 22, 1879 and always considered himself a farm boy that could fix most anything. His family sent him to the University of Virginia, from which he graduated with a Chemical Engineering Degree in 1902. John Lee was hired by the DuPont Company. Pierre Du Pont became impressed with the young man with lots of energy and new ideas. In 1919 Du Pont selected Pratt to work in his General Motors Corporation looking out for his large investments. John Lee served on the General Motors Board of Directors and became Vice President of a Division. He would continue to serve on the board for 45 years until 1968. It is written that he was one of the best businessmen that the General Motors Corporation ever had.

In 1931 he purchased "Chatham Manor", that he often called his" retirement home" for the sum of $150,000.00 that would be equivalent of three million today.

Pratt and his wife Lillian enjoyed their life at Chatham as he would always say he had come back home. He always was proud to reflect that Washington, Monroe, Madison and Lincoln had visited his home. John Lee and Lillian were quietly involved in the community as philanthropist supporting University of Virginia programs and community programs for young people many of the local children in the community were supported in their education by the Pratts. He was friends with St. Clair Brooks a close neighbor in Falmouth and we would see them walking together up until Brooks death in 1953. Today we have St. Clair Brooks park and Pratt Park thanks to these two men. John Lee loved Fredericksburg and the area. A gentleman and his wife that are remembered for what the gave back not only to the State of Virginia but the entire community.

After the Death of Lillian Pratt in 1947, her extensive jewelry collection was given to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. She had accumulated the largest collection known in the United States of the Peter Faberge' jewelry including five Imperial Easter Eggs that were sold by the Soviet Union to the Pratt's to raise funds for the Soviet state.

Lillian Pratt is buried in Tacoma, Washington the city of her birth. John Lee Pratt died in 1975 at the age of 96 and is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery.

Today Chatham is the headquarters for the National Park Service. A portion of the Pratt estate proceeds went to the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Washington and Lee University and Johns Hopkins University At the time of his death Pratt was said to be the largest shareholder of General Motors stock still owning approximately seventeen per-cent of the large corporation that he helped build.

DEDICATED TO: CHARLES COLLEY, MARY FRAN THOMAS AND LENNIE RODRIGUES

Tuffy is Front Porch's resident FXBG historian

18

May 2018

Front porch fredericksburg

OUR HERITAGE

What’s in a Name?

preserve & protect

mary washington Lodge

By Donna Fleming

By jon gerlach

purchase, restore, and resell the Chimneys and the Wells House.

In 1977, the U.S. Post Office offered HFFI the George Gravatt House on Princess Anne Street along with funds to move it.

HFFI retained ownership of the house until 1982, when it was sold and moved to 108 Charlotte Street. Like every other historic The Chimneys in 1910 structure owned by Fredericksburg’s historic one-ofa-kind houses are physical links to our HFFI, the house was sold with protective nation’s past and make our town the easements and restrictions.

HFFI has saved, restored, and sold special place it is. We are a better community today because people have many properties over the years. Its only cared enough to save these important current holding is the Lewis Store at 1200 Caroline Street.(current HFFI Office) Built pieces of our history.

Early concerns about the loss of in 1749 for John Lewis, father of George so many of the old Fredericksburg Washington’s brother-in-law Fielding Lewis, it is one of the first retail buildings led to the creation of the Historic establishments in Virginia. Over the years Fredericksburg Foundation, Inc. (HFFI) in the building suffered from fires and 1955. In particular, the early 1950s neglect until 1992 when it was abandoned. demolition of the Matthew Fontaine Maury House on Charlotte Street caught the Then, in 1996, the owners, recognizing its historic significance, gave the building to attention of residents. Maury was a famous oceanographer in the 1800s who the HFFI. It continues to be an ongoing was known as the “Pathfinder of the Seas.” project to stabilize and restore the building, which serves as the HFFI office.

After that loss, the new preservation group tried to rescue the The Lewis Store was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. historic kitchen dependency behind the Preserving historic buildings is National Bank of Fredericksburg. The bank crucial to retaining our nation’s heritage wanted to tear it down to make way for its and history.

For nearly 65 years, The drive-through feature. Despite HFFI’s efforts, the bank went ahead with the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation, Inc. demolition, but the group bought the has fought to protect and preserve our bricks and rebuilt the kitchen at the historic city by saving significant corner of Princess Anne Street and the endangered properties.

U.S. 1 Bypass.

The next challenge was a house at 813 Sophia Street, built in 1796 by James Brown, Fredericksburg’s first Silversmith. This house was slated for demolition to make way for a city parking lot, but HFFI rallied to save the building. It now houses the Fredericksburg Center for Creative Arts.

Another early success was the Wells House. Located across from the Silversmith House, this house was built about 1801 and later named for Captain Wells who operated it as a boarding house during the Civil War. Battered during the 1862 bombardment of Fredericksburg, the house required extensive restoration.

The Chimneys, at 623 Caroline Street, was built in the 1770s and acquired by HFFI in 1966. It was sold in 1982, following extensive repairs. A $150,000 Revolving Fund enabled HFFI to

Have you ever wondered about the charming stone and frame house tucked among the trees and shrubs beside the Mary Washington Monument? It tells a story of influence wielded by a group of determined women at the turn of the last century. It also speaks to a remarkable woman, Mary Ball Washington, and our beloved tradition of Mother's Day. Jim Pates, a local attorney who cares about the future of the property, fondly remembers Mother's Day celebrations held around the Monument, a popular Fredericksburg event that was repeated for many years. He is quick to point out that the site has national importance for two reasons: it commemorates a single mother's achievement in raising her young son (the father of our country) after the death of his father, and it was created "as a movement by women all across America to purchase, develop, and pay the cost of erecting one of the first, if not the first, monuments in this country honoring a woman."

In 1833, President Andrew Jackson presided at the ground-breaking ceremony of the first Mary Washington

Monument.

Financial difficulties later derailed the project, and the monument lay incomplete during the Civil War and afterwards, when it was revived by a national women's movement. As the saying goes it really did take a village -- to fund the project -- and overcome political headwinds in Washington, DC. Innumerable small donations from women all across the country helped greatly, along with key support from the newly formed Daughters of the American Revolution. The project was part of a larger sphere of women's activism in the late 19th Century which included the suffrage and temperance movements. The new monument was completed and President Grover Cleveland dedicated it in 1893. Three years later, construction of the caretaker's cottage was finished, known today as the Mary Washington Lodge.

For nearly 70 years the Lodge was home to the well-known Goolrick Family. In 1966, the entire four-acre site including the Monument, Meditation Rock, and the Lodge was conveyed to the City of Fredericksburg as part of a settlement between two ladies' memorial associations

that claimed competing interests in the site. According to the wording of the 1966 Deed, the City is responsible for making sure the entire site is "used and maintained as a park and as a memorial to Mary Washington."

Today, the Fredericksburg Memorials Advisory Commission is charged with fulfilling the Deed's expressed intent, by advising the City concerning "the maintenance and preservation in perpetuity of the monument property as a whole and improvements thereon as a Memorial to Mary Washington."

After a lease with Kenmore Association (known today as the George Washington Foundation) ended in 2011, sole responsibility for maintaining the Lodge fell back to the City. Recently, the Memorials Advisory Commission recommended that the Lodge be sold to a new owner who would promise to preserve the building. Accordingly, today the City is considering carving up the four acre preservation area into separate lots by means of subdivision, retaining the Monument, Meditation Rock and some surrounding grounds, but selling the Lodge to a suitable purchaser who would have to agree to preserve and maintain it.

Some people believe carving out the Lodge from the park, and disposing of the Lodge separately, would violate the spirit and intent of the women's organizations who directed the City to maintain and preserve the entire site for public use "in perpetuity".

Another option is to keep the full 4-acre site intact, in perpetuity, for a public purpose such as a City park, which was the original intent when the City acquired it from the women's organizations in 1966. This might involve building interpretive trails and integrating the Lodge into the visitor experience.

As a third option, the City could convey ownership of everything -- the Lodge, Mary Washington Monument, and Meditation Rock -- to the University of Mary Washington, keeping the whole intact. The Lodge would be a fine housing perk for a visiting scholar. As a matter of fact, UMW stewardship of its namesake site for future generations of Americans just seems "Lodgical" -- pardon the pun.

So what's in a name? Well, quite a lot.

An attorney and retired archaeologist, Jon Gerlach chairs the Architectural Review Board in Fredericksburg.

This article was written by Donna Fleming, with assistance from HFFI volunteers, who has been interested in historic preservation for more than 35 years.

front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

19

Senior Care music to my ears

By Karl Karch

Lexi Grogan’s Pet Sitting Service “Your pet becomes my pet while in my care, and I care a lot!” - Lexi (540-903-0437; lexig0892@gmail.com) On facebook as “lexi grogan’s pet sitting service” Prices: Dogs - $15 per canine per visit Cats - $12 per feline per visit

We normally associate the phrase “music to my ears” as a welcome sound, something pleasing to hear, or good news.

I used to think that as well, that is until I started having constant “ringing in my ears”. So, when the ringing didn’t go away, I researched “tinnitus”, the medical term for this condition. If you are in the medical profession or a researcher, you say “TINN-a-tus”. Patients and laypeople like me prefer to pronounce it as “tiNIGHT us”.

The definition is the perception of sound when no actual external noise is present. I want to share a few interesting things I learned in my research.

I was surprised to read that tinnitus is one of the most common health conditions in this country (American affecting an Tinnitus Association) estimated 45-5 50 million Americans. It can take the form of buzzing, hissing, whistling, swooshing, clicking, or in rare cases music. It can be a temporary or chronic condition. I hear a muted whistling like the sound of boiling water in a tea pot, sometimes very faint and other times rather annoying. Tinnitus is more noticeable in quiet settings and can cause difficulty sleeping. For some, it can eventually interfere with work, personal relationships, and cause psychological stress. According to a recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control survey, 67% of people reporting tinnitus had regular symptoms and 30% report “moderate” to “very big” problems in their life.

Noise exposure and hearing loss are most commonly associated with tinnitus. Tinnitus is more common as people get older (30% have it), probably the result of age-related hearing loss and the cumulative impact of noise exposure.

Exposure to loud noises from certain work environments, gunfire and explosives (military and veterans), loud music (concerts, headphones), and engine noise (races) are other factors causing tinnitus.

20

May 2018

It wouldn’t surprise me if today’s youth experience a high rate of tinnitus (and hearing loss) as they age because of headphone usage. Medicines and ear wax can also cause tinnitus. I attribute my tinnitus to hearing loss resulting from decades of managing in high decibel manufacturing environments, and antiinflammatory (Ibuprofen) drugs.

There are many professed treatment options, but most are ineffective. Because of the combination of moderate hearing loss and tinnitus, I recently decided to wear hearing aids which many tinnitus sufferers find beneficial. Hearing aid quality, size, and technology have improved dramatically in recent years. Mine are Bluetooth compatible and have an application for my iPhone where I can adjust volume, filter out noise, and adjust for environmental conditions such as restaurants, outdoor wind, and lectures. I also have a tinnitus application that plays calming sounds like waves breaking on the beach, soft rain, or a brook rippling in a forest to mask my tinnitus. I recently downloaded a music application to play music through my hearing aids.

With these advances, I envision the old-age stigma associated with hearing aids to decline. So, if you see me be-boppin’ down the streets (well, maybe just head bobbing) in beautiful downtown Fredericksburg, it’s probably because I’m drowning out my tinnitus by listening to music through my high-tech Bluetooth hearing aids (at a very low volume of course). How cool is that! For anyone suffering from tinnitus symptoms, I recommend the American Tinnitus Association website www.ata.org for more information.

Karl Karch is a local franchise owner of Home Instead Senior Care, a licensed home care organization providing personal care, companionship and home helper services in the Fredericksburg and Culpeper region.

Front porch fredericksburg

Mental Health Awareness Month Are You...

Events for hope & healing Better value, more love for your pet than if you kennel board him!

Sick & tired of being sick & tired?

By Christina Ferber

Approximately 1 in 5 adults experience some type of mental illness in any given year, and many of us are no stranger to mental health challenges, whether it involves ourselves or others.

Luckily, we live in a community that strives to help meet our mental health needs, and because May is Mental Health Awareness Month, there are even more collaborative happenings that highlight ways to achieve positive mental health and wellbeing.

First up on the radar is the Rappahannock Area Community Service Board’s (RACSB) Mental Health First Aid Training. On May 2nd and 3rd, the adult curriculum will be offered. This is for anyone in the community that would like to learn more about mental health challenges and how they can better support someone who may be in crisis.

The youth curriculum will be offered May 9th, and again on June 2nd. It is a class for parents, teachers, coaches, or anyone that regularly interacts with youth.

Registration information is available at www.rappahannockareacsb.org.

RACSB is also sponsoring The Art of Recovery, a showcase featuring original artwork by adults with mental health challenges. It opens on May 4th for First Friday and runs through May 27th. “This year, The Art of Recovery exhibit turns 14! It is once again hosted by The PONSHOP Studio and Gallery,” says Michelle Wagaman, RACSB Prevention Services Coordinator.

Mental Health America of Fredericksburg (MHAF) is an organization that works to meet unfilled mental health needs in our community, and their 11th Annual Walk for Mental Wellness will be held on May 5th at Maury Park in Downtown Fredericksburg.

“MHAF is working to reduce the stigma associated with mental health

issues, so that it is easier for people to find the help they Rita Girard, need,” says Director of MHAF. “This walk helps to raise funds to continue our mission to help people find hope and healing.”

Online registration ends on May 1st, but walk up registration is available on the the day of the walk.

Registration is at 9 am and the walk begins at 10 am. Go to www.mhafred.org for more information.

An introductory mindfulness program will be held on May 8th at the Salem Church Library from 6:30pmThe Mindful You8:00pm.

Powerful Skills to Handle Stress focuses on using mindfulness practices for greater mental health wellness. “Mindfulness is a practice that focuses on being active participants in our lives in a compassionate, curious and deliberate way. Mindfulness can help one notice and be more aware of what we are experiencing from one moment to another, as well as serve as a tool to help alleviate stress,” says Larissa Ruuskanen, a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and MHAF Board Member who will be facilitating the program.

To top off this month of mental wellness, The Ripple Effect, a film that follows the story of Kevin Hines, who attempted to take his life, but survived, will be shown at Regal Theater on May 21st at 7:30 pm. Through a collaborative effort between MHAF, RACSB, Trinity Yoga Therapy, Mary Washington Healthcare, and the Community Foundation- Robert Cullen O’Neill Memorial Fund, this documentary highlights Kevin’s personal journey as he attempts to bring hope, healing, and recovery to others by sharing his story. To purchase your tickets and reserve your spot, go to www.facebook.com/events/19064922630 14638/ “The greater Fredericksburg community is fortunate to have so many organizations working together to improve the health and wellbeing of our citizens. Collaborating to host events is just one way we’re partnering to promote wellness”, says Wagaman. “It takes a collective effort to raise awareness of local resources and to build a community of support.”

Go to any of the above listed websites and make May a month of emotional well-being for yourself and others.

Having sleep problems?

Constantly clearing your throat?

Hypersensitive? Panicky?

Sore Neck & Back? Anxious?

Depressed? Fatigued?

Morning Brain Fog? Oral System Balancing –OSBcould be just what you need Visit www.drwaynewhitley.com & watch amazing video testimonies Call for a FREE consultation Dr. Wayne Whitley 540-847-1935

Bring a little sunshine to a senior’s life!

Too many seniors feel lonely and isolated.

Donate to a Cancer Organization

YOU can make a difference by volunteering to visit a senior in the Fredericksburg area.

Volunteer training is provided & no special skills are required.

The Senior Visitors Program is a FREE community service program of Mental Health America of Fredericksburg.

Helping homeless children and families in City of Fredericksburg, Counties of Caroline, Stafford & Spotsylvania 540 371 0831

Visit mhafred.org or call 540-371-2704

front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

21

Senior Care music to my ears

By Karl Karch

Lexi Grogan’s Pet Sitting Service “Your pet becomes my pet while in my care, and I care a lot!” - Lexi (540-903-0437; lexig0892@gmail.com) On facebook as “lexi grogan’s pet sitting service” Prices: Dogs - $15 per canine per visit Cats - $12 per feline per visit

We normally associate the phrase “music to my ears” as a welcome sound, something pleasing to hear, or good news.

I used to think that as well, that is until I started having constant “ringing in my ears”. So, when the ringing didn’t go away, I researched “tinnitus”, the medical term for this condition. If you are in the medical profession or a researcher, you say “TINN-a-tus”. Patients and laypeople like me prefer to pronounce it as “tiNIGHT us”.

The definition is the perception of sound when no actual external noise is present. I want to share a few interesting things I learned in my research.

I was surprised to read that tinnitus is one of the most common health conditions in this country (American affecting an Tinnitus Association) estimated 45-5 50 million Americans. It can take the form of buzzing, hissing, whistling, swooshing, clicking, or in rare cases music. It can be a temporary or chronic condition. I hear a muted whistling like the sound of boiling water in a tea pot, sometimes very faint and other times rather annoying. Tinnitus is more noticeable in quiet settings and can cause difficulty sleeping. For some, it can eventually interfere with work, personal relationships, and cause psychological stress. According to a recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control survey, 67% of people reporting tinnitus had regular symptoms and 30% report “moderate” to “very big” problems in their life.

Noise exposure and hearing loss are most commonly associated with tinnitus. Tinnitus is more common as people get older (30% have it), probably the result of age-related hearing loss and the cumulative impact of noise exposure.

Exposure to loud noises from certain work environments, gunfire and explosives (military and veterans), loud music (concerts, headphones), and engine noise (races) are other factors causing tinnitus.

20

May 2018

It wouldn’t surprise me if today’s youth experience a high rate of tinnitus (and hearing loss) as they age because of headphone usage. Medicines and ear wax can also cause tinnitus. I attribute my tinnitus to hearing loss resulting from decades of managing in high decibel manufacturing environments, and antiinflammatory (Ibuprofen) drugs.

There are many professed treatment options, but most are ineffective. Because of the combination of moderate hearing loss and tinnitus, I recently decided to wear hearing aids which many tinnitus sufferers find beneficial. Hearing aid quality, size, and technology have improved dramatically in recent years. Mine are Bluetooth compatible and have an application for my iPhone where I can adjust volume, filter out noise, and adjust for environmental conditions such as restaurants, outdoor wind, and lectures. I also have a tinnitus application that plays calming sounds like waves breaking on the beach, soft rain, or a brook rippling in a forest to mask my tinnitus. I recently downloaded a music application to play music through my hearing aids.

With these advances, I envision the old-age stigma associated with hearing aids to decline. So, if you see me be-boppin’ down the streets (well, maybe just head bobbing) in beautiful downtown Fredericksburg, it’s probably because I’m drowning out my tinnitus by listening to music through my high-tech Bluetooth hearing aids (at a very low volume of course). How cool is that! For anyone suffering from tinnitus symptoms, I recommend the American Tinnitus Association website www.ata.org for more information.

Karl Karch is a local franchise owner of Home Instead Senior Care, a licensed home care organization providing personal care, companionship and home helper services in the Fredericksburg and Culpeper region.

Front porch fredericksburg

Mental Health Awareness Month Are You...

Events for hope & healing Better value, more love for your pet than if you kennel board him!

Sick & tired of being sick & tired?

By Christina Ferber

Approximately 1 in 5 adults experience some type of mental illness in any given year, and many of us are no stranger to mental health challenges, whether it involves ourselves or others.

Luckily, we live in a community that strives to help meet our mental health needs, and because May is Mental Health Awareness Month, there are even more collaborative happenings that highlight ways to achieve positive mental health and wellbeing.

First up on the radar is the Rappahannock Area Community Service Board’s (RACSB) Mental Health First Aid Training. On May 2nd and 3rd, the adult curriculum will be offered. This is for anyone in the community that would like to learn more about mental health challenges and how they can better support someone who may be in crisis.

The youth curriculum will be offered May 9th, and again on June 2nd. It is a class for parents, teachers, coaches, or anyone that regularly interacts with youth.

Registration information is available at www.rappahannockareacsb.org.

RACSB is also sponsoring The Art of Recovery, a showcase featuring original artwork by adults with mental health challenges. It opens on May 4th for First Friday and runs through May 27th. “This year, The Art of Recovery exhibit turns 14! It is once again hosted by The PONSHOP Studio and Gallery,” says Michelle Wagaman, RACSB Prevention Services Coordinator.

Mental Health America of Fredericksburg (MHAF) is an organization that works to meet unfilled mental health needs in our community, and their 11th Annual Walk for Mental Wellness will be held on May 5th at Maury Park in Downtown Fredericksburg.

“MHAF is working to reduce the stigma associated with mental health

issues, so that it is easier for people to find the help they Rita Girard, need,” says Director of MHAF. “This walk helps to raise funds to continue our mission to help people find hope and healing.”

Online registration ends on May 1st, but walk up registration is available on the the day of the walk.

Registration is at 9 am and the walk begins at 10 am. Go to www.mhafred.org for more information.

An introductory mindfulness program will be held on May 8th at the Salem Church Library from 6:30pmThe Mindful You8:00pm.

Powerful Skills to Handle Stress focuses on using mindfulness practices for greater mental health wellness. “Mindfulness is a practice that focuses on being active participants in our lives in a compassionate, curious and deliberate way. Mindfulness can help one notice and be more aware of what we are experiencing from one moment to another, as well as serve as a tool to help alleviate stress,” says Larissa Ruuskanen, a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and MHAF Board Member who will be facilitating the program.

To top off this month of mental wellness, The Ripple Effect, a film that follows the story of Kevin Hines, who attempted to take his life, but survived, will be shown at Regal Theater on May 21st at 7:30 pm. Through a collaborative effort between MHAF, RACSB, Trinity Yoga Therapy, Mary Washington Healthcare, and the Community Foundation- Robert Cullen O’Neill Memorial Fund, this documentary highlights Kevin’s personal journey as he attempts to bring hope, healing, and recovery to others by sharing his story. To purchase your tickets and reserve your spot, go to www.facebook.com/events/19064922630 14638/ “The greater Fredericksburg community is fortunate to have so many organizations working together to improve the health and wellbeing of our citizens. Collaborating to host events is just one way we’re partnering to promote wellness”, says Wagaman. “It takes a collective effort to raise awareness of local resources and to build a community of support.”

Go to any of the above listed websites and make May a month of emotional well-being for yourself and others.

Having sleep problems?

Constantly clearing your throat?

Hypersensitive? Panicky?

Sore Neck & Back? Anxious?

Depressed? Fatigued?

Morning Brain Fog? Oral System Balancing –OSBcould be just what you need Visit www.drwaynewhitley.com & watch amazing video testimonies Call for a FREE consultation Dr. Wayne Whitley 540-847-1935

Bring a little sunshine to a senior’s life!

Too many seniors feel lonely and isolated.

Donate to a Cancer Organization

YOU can make a difference by volunteering to visit a senior in the Fredericksburg area.

Volunteer training is provided & no special skills are required.

The Senior Visitors Program is a FREE community service program of Mental Health America of Fredericksburg.

Helping homeless children and families in City of Fredericksburg, Counties of Caroline, Stafford & Spotsylvania 540 371 0831

Visit mhafred.org or call 540-371-2704

front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

21

Life in Motion When Dream’s become realty By ashley rolley, DPT

"A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work" ~ Colin Powell

Most kids dream of being a rock star or an astronaut, and then change their mind a million different times. Yes, of course, I did that too; but at the age of 12, I decided I wanted to be a Physical Therapist (PT). At the time, my GreatGrandmother was living in a skilled nursing facility. She was going through Physical Therapy following a hip replacement. Her PT included me in her sessions, explaining what she was doing and why, and let me assist with her exercises. It was that summer that I walked out of the door and began telling everybody, "I want to be a Physical Therapist, so I can help people walk again, as they did for my Gram."

My gram passed away shortly after I got my first acceptance letter to PT school, Marymount University. At that point, I realized that even though she was no longer with us, I wanted to continue to make her proud and fulfill my dream. I spent the next several years consumed with PT school and gaining as much experience as possible.

My First job was in a private practiced directed by Travis Stoner, who is now the Fusion Physical owner of Therapy.

During multiple conversations, I told Travis that I wanted to run my own clinic someday; and his response "we're going to make that happen." I spent the next five years learning the dos and don'ts of managing a clinic and gaining experience in working with cardiac, orthopedic, neurological, and vestibular rehabilitation.

When I got the call from Travis to come to Fredericksburg to check out a facility, I knew my dream was about to become a reality. I took one step in the Lee's Hill facility and instantly knew this place was meant to be mine!

In April 2018, I became the newest member of the Fusion Physical Therapy Team, as the clinical director of Fusion Physical Therapy Lee's Hill, and I could not be happier. Change has always been hard for me, but seeing my first handful of patients in April felt so natural and comfortable; it was meant to be.

Fusion Physical Therapy Lee's Hill caters to a wide variety of patients and aims to restore function and make your day a little easier. We, as a company, pride ourselves in individualized treatment plans and making you feel at home when you walk through the door. We treat orthopedic, neurological, and vestibular conditions, and have an overall interest in your health and well-being.

As I continue to make my dream a reality and help you reach your goals, I leave you with this quote from Walt Disney- "All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them."

Dr. Ashley Rolley, DPT is the clinic director at Fusion PT Lee's Hill Clinic

It’s All Energy

Emancipated Patients

emotional well-being

a fight for life

by christina ferber

By Patrick Neustatter, MD

Thank You Fredericksburg for Your Support Since 1997 May is Mental Health Awareness Month, so let’s focus on our emotional well-being with some Eden Energy Medicine (EEM) Techniques. EEM not only helps to enhance the health of our physical bodies, it can also help to balance our emotional bodies.

One of the most important aspects of energy is that it needs to move in a crossover pattern for us to maintain a healthy balance. The Crossover Shoulder Pull and Cross Crawl reinforce figure eight and crossover patterns throughout the body, and help us to have more energy, enhance coordination and balance brain function to think more clearly. Start with a shoulder pull by placing your right hand on your left shoulder. With a little pressure, push in and drag your hand across your body to the opposite hip.

Repeat on both sides a few times, and then move to an exaggerated walk as you cross over each hand to the opposite knee. If your left knee is up, your right hand should cross over to touch it. Continue this cross-over march for at least one minute.

The Wayne Cook Posture, which was originally created to help stutterers, can help with unscrambling your mind and bring your emotions back in balance.

Sit in a chair and place your right foot over your left knee, with your left hand around your right ankle. Next, wrap your right hand around the bottom of your foot. Breathe in slowly through your nose and raise your body along with your foot on the in-breath, release as you breathe out through your nose. After several breaths, switch sides and do the same pattern again. Lastly, place your fingers together, and put your thumbs right between your eyebrows. Complete the exercise by breathing in and out a few times in that position, and then bring

22

May 2018

Front porch fredericksburg

your fingers to the middle of your forehead. Push in and pull them across your forehead to your temples.

Holding Neurovascular Reflex Points (NV) is an easy way to calm down and get centered. Place one hand on your forehead right above your eyebrows with a light pressure and breathe. While holding this posture, you can also hold specific points with the other hand depending on the emotion you would like to balance. Place your other hand directly behind your eyes to alleviate any thoughts of fear, or behind your eyebrows to lessen panicked feelings. You can also hold the Main NVs with points just underneath your cheekbones in line with your pupils to alleviate any feelings of worry. Be sure to breathe and hold these points for as long as it takes to feel a sense of peace.

Heaven Rushing In helps us tap into the bigger picture and bring more inspiration into our lives. Place your hands on your thighs and take a few deep breaths to ground yourself. Then on an inhale, raise your hands to your sides and over your head, touching your hands above it. On an exhale, bring them down to a prayer position in front of your chest.

On the next deep breath, open them wide to the sky above your head and open yourself to receive inspiration. Stay in this posture as long as you need to. When you are ready, bring your hands to your heart and breathe a few times.

All of these exercises can help us to maintain a better emotional balance, and when our emotions and mental health are in check, we can help our physical body maintain better health as well. For more tips and tricks with EEM visit www.itsallenergywellness.com.

Christina Ferber is a Certified Eden Energy Medicine Practitioner. You

Accepting New Patients Emergency Patients Welcome Participant With Most Major Insurance Plans 131 Park Hill Dr, FXBG, 22401 540-373-0602 fdadental.com

It’s always more fun in the Scenter of Town!

Essential Oils Liquid Herbs Reiki Reflexology Aromatherapy Custom Blending Aroma-Therapeutic Massage Harmonic Resonance Therapy Products ~ Services ~ Classes 907 Charles Street, Downtown thescenteroftown.com

ble at Availa n.com Amazo

There is a life and death struggle taking place at the office of Fredericksburg pediatrician Better known as “Dr. Yum” she is the creator of the Doctor Yum Project – a program that is attempting to wrest kids away from what has become the standard American diet of salty, fatty, sugary foods with refined carbohydrates - that is likely a major contribution to the alarming recent decrease in life expectancy. Instead she is helping them make friends with natural, unprocessed foods, fruits and vegetables.

A Gracious Reception Despite having been featured in national media like the New York Times and NBC Nightly News, I was impressed when Dr. Nimali Fernando answered the phone herself, and was openly welcoming when I asked if I could come and write something for Front Porch.

I went on a Wednesday evening when instructors Wendy and Sarah were teaching parents how to make a healthy noodle stir-fry. Before class they showed me round the office, where you can see the doctor in the carrot, broccoli or blueberry exam room. Or if you’re an infant, in the sweet-pea room.

Located at Spotsylvania Courthouse, the office is boxed in by what they are fighting against - Burger King on one flank, Mc Donald’s on the other, and a Taco Bell in the making just behind, seeming to threaten and overshadow the little vegetable garden behind the office, where kids learn how to grow vegetables.

And are encouraged to sample anything ready for eating.

The Rules We were joined by Dr. Fernando, slim and elegant in her long overcoat coat, she explained how the endless parade of kids seen in the office with health issues related to poor diet and being over weight – pre-diabetes, constipation, attention deficit, knee pain, high blood pressure – prompted her to start a nutrition education program when she didn’t have time to instruct all her patients one-onone.

Explaining that “feeding is a developmental process” that involves all the senses (so put your toddler in just a diaper and let them have at it she says) she criticizes using food as a reward or punishment.

It interferes with development of healthy habits – “don’t tell your child ‘eat some broccoli then

you can have the desert.’ They’ll think the desert is the good stuff.”

She also spelled out the principals parents need to follow.

Be proactive - so you always have healthy foods available.

Be consistent - so the child gets the same unflagging message.

Be brave - which means the parent has to have the chutzpa to be in charge at meal times. To determine what the child eats. Not vise-versa.

Attending the class was Tiffany D whose daughter was overweight and prediabetic. “Our pediatrician kept telling us it was ‘too much juice’, but we weren’t drinking juice. When we got to Dr. Yum she pointed out things we were eating, like Chobani yoghurt, that has lots of sugar. “It was like eating ice cream.”

When she started cooking fresh foods – which wasn’t nearly as hard as she expected – and sending her daughter to school with the left overs for lunch, her daughter lost 20 pounds, and her blood sugars corrected. “And I lost forty pounds” she told me – and they both had a large energy boost.

Over-ffed to Death There is no question the massive rise in childhood obesity (from 6.1 per cent for kids 12 – 19 between the early 1970’s to 20.6 percent in 2013-14), that has prompted the NIH to warn “childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st centaury” makes the Doctor Yum Project a life saving venture, that not just parents need to take note of.

See her website at https://doctoryum.org, and book (written with expert on eating disorders, Melanie Potock CCC-SLP – “Coach Mel”) Raising A Healthy Happy Eater – a stage-by-Stage Guide to Setting Your Child on the Path to Adventurous Eating.

Patrick Neustatter is the Medical Director of the Moss Free Clinic.

front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

23

Life in Motion When Dream’s become realty By ashley rolley, DPT

"A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work" ~ Colin Powell

Most kids dream of being a rock star or an astronaut, and then change their mind a million different times. Yes, of course, I did that too; but at the age of 12, I decided I wanted to be a Physical Therapist (PT). At the time, my GreatGrandmother was living in a skilled nursing facility. She was going through Physical Therapy following a hip replacement. Her PT included me in her sessions, explaining what she was doing and why, and let me assist with her exercises. It was that summer that I walked out of the door and began telling everybody, "I want to be a Physical Therapist, so I can help people walk again, as they did for my Gram."

My gram passed away shortly after I got my first acceptance letter to PT school, Marymount University. At that point, I realized that even though she was no longer with us, I wanted to continue to make her proud and fulfill my dream. I spent the next several years consumed with PT school and gaining as much experience as possible.

My First job was in a private practiced directed by Travis Stoner, who is now the Fusion Physical owner of Therapy.

During multiple conversations, I told Travis that I wanted to run my own clinic someday; and his response "we're going to make that happen." I spent the next five years learning the dos and don'ts of managing a clinic and gaining experience in working with cardiac, orthopedic, neurological, and vestibular rehabilitation.

When I got the call from Travis to come to Fredericksburg to check out a facility, I knew my dream was about to become a reality. I took one step in the Lee's Hill facility and instantly knew this place was meant to be mine!

In April 2018, I became the newest member of the Fusion Physical Therapy Team, as the clinical director of Fusion Physical Therapy Lee's Hill, and I could not be happier. Change has always been hard for me, but seeing my first handful of patients in April felt so natural and comfortable; it was meant to be.

Fusion Physical Therapy Lee's Hill caters to a wide variety of patients and aims to restore function and make your day a little easier. We, as a company, pride ourselves in individualized treatment plans and making you feel at home when you walk through the door. We treat orthopedic, neurological, and vestibular conditions, and have an overall interest in your health and well-being.

As I continue to make my dream a reality and help you reach your goals, I leave you with this quote from Walt Disney- "All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them."

Dr. Ashley Rolley, DPT is the clinic director at Fusion PT Lee's Hill Clinic

It’s All Energy

Emancipated Patients

emotional well-being

a fight for life

by christina ferber

By Patrick Neustatter, MD

Thank You Fredericksburg for Your Support Since 1997 May is Mental Health Awareness Month, so let’s focus on our emotional well-being with some Eden Energy Medicine (EEM) Techniques. EEM not only helps to enhance the health of our physical bodies, it can also help to balance our emotional bodies.

One of the most important aspects of energy is that it needs to move in a crossover pattern for us to maintain a healthy balance. The Crossover Shoulder Pull and Cross Crawl reinforce figure eight and crossover patterns throughout the body, and help us to have more energy, enhance coordination and balance brain function to think more clearly. Start with a shoulder pull by placing your right hand on your left shoulder. With a little pressure, push in and drag your hand across your body to the opposite hip.

Repeat on both sides a few times, and then move to an exaggerated walk as you cross over each hand to the opposite knee. If your left knee is up, your right hand should cross over to touch it. Continue this cross-over march for at least one minute.

The Wayne Cook Posture, which was originally created to help stutterers, can help with unscrambling your mind and bring your emotions back in balance.

Sit in a chair and place your right foot over your left knee, with your left hand around your right ankle. Next, wrap your right hand around the bottom of your foot. Breathe in slowly through your nose and raise your body along with your foot on the in-breath, release as you breathe out through your nose. After several breaths, switch sides and do the same pattern again. Lastly, place your fingers together, and put your thumbs right between your eyebrows. Complete the exercise by breathing in and out a few times in that position, and then bring

22

May 2018

Front porch fredericksburg

your fingers to the middle of your forehead. Push in and pull them across your forehead to your temples.

Holding Neurovascular Reflex Points (NV) is an easy way to calm down and get centered. Place one hand on your forehead right above your eyebrows with a light pressure and breathe. While holding this posture, you can also hold specific points with the other hand depending on the emotion you would like to balance. Place your other hand directly behind your eyes to alleviate any thoughts of fear, or behind your eyebrows to lessen panicked feelings. You can also hold the Main NVs with points just underneath your cheekbones in line with your pupils to alleviate any feelings of worry. Be sure to breathe and hold these points for as long as it takes to feel a sense of peace.

Heaven Rushing In helps us tap into the bigger picture and bring more inspiration into our lives. Place your hands on your thighs and take a few deep breaths to ground yourself. Then on an inhale, raise your hands to your sides and over your head, touching your hands above it. On an exhale, bring them down to a prayer position in front of your chest.

On the next deep breath, open them wide to the sky above your head and open yourself to receive inspiration. Stay in this posture as long as you need to. When you are ready, bring your hands to your heart and breathe a few times.

All of these exercises can help us to maintain a better emotional balance, and when our emotions and mental health are in check, we can help our physical body maintain better health as well. For more tips and tricks with EEM visit www.itsallenergywellness.com.

Christina Ferber is a Certified Eden Energy Medicine Practitioner. You

Accepting New Patients Emergency Patients Welcome Participant With Most Major Insurance Plans 131 Park Hill Dr, FXBG, 22401 540-373-0602 fdadental.com

It’s always more fun in the Scenter of Town!

Essential Oils Liquid Herbs Reiki Reflexology Aromatherapy Custom Blending Aroma-Therapeutic Massage Harmonic Resonance Therapy Products ~ Services ~ Classes 907 Charles Street, Downtown thescenteroftown.com

ble at Availa n.com Amazo

There is a life and death struggle taking place at the office of Fredericksburg pediatrician Better known as “Dr. Yum” she is the creator of the Doctor Yum Project – a program that is attempting to wrest kids away from what has become the standard American diet of salty, fatty, sugary foods with refined carbohydrates - that is likely a major contribution to the alarming recent decrease in life expectancy. Instead she is helping them make friends with natural, unprocessed foods, fruits and vegetables.

A Gracious Reception Despite having been featured in national media like the New York Times and NBC Nightly News, I was impressed when Dr. Nimali Fernando answered the phone herself, and was openly welcoming when I asked if I could come and write something for Front Porch.

I went on a Wednesday evening when instructors Wendy and Sarah were teaching parents how to make a healthy noodle stir-fry. Before class they showed me round the office, where you can see the doctor in the carrot, broccoli or blueberry exam room. Or if you’re an infant, in the sweet-pea room.

Located at Spotsylvania Courthouse, the office is boxed in by what they are fighting against - Burger King on one flank, Mc Donald’s on the other, and a Taco Bell in the making just behind, seeming to threaten and overshadow the little vegetable garden behind the office, where kids learn how to grow vegetables.

And are encouraged to sample anything ready for eating.

The Rules We were joined by Dr. Fernando, slim and elegant in her long overcoat coat, she explained how the endless parade of kids seen in the office with health issues related to poor diet and being over weight – pre-diabetes, constipation, attention deficit, knee pain, high blood pressure – prompted her to start a nutrition education program when she didn’t have time to instruct all her patients one-onone.

Explaining that “feeding is a developmental process” that involves all the senses (so put your toddler in just a diaper and let them have at it she says) she criticizes using food as a reward or punishment.

It interferes with development of healthy habits – “don’t tell your child ‘eat some broccoli then

you can have the desert.’ They’ll think the desert is the good stuff.”

She also spelled out the principals parents need to follow.

Be proactive - so you always have healthy foods available.

Be consistent - so the child gets the same unflagging message.

Be brave - which means the parent has to have the chutzpa to be in charge at meal times. To determine what the child eats. Not vise-versa.

Attending the class was Tiffany D whose daughter was overweight and prediabetic. “Our pediatrician kept telling us it was ‘too much juice’, but we weren’t drinking juice. When we got to Dr. Yum she pointed out things we were eating, like Chobani yoghurt, that has lots of sugar. “It was like eating ice cream.”

When she started cooking fresh foods – which wasn’t nearly as hard as she expected – and sending her daughter to school with the left overs for lunch, her daughter lost 20 pounds, and her blood sugars corrected. “And I lost forty pounds” she told me – and they both had a large energy boost.

Over-ffed to Death There is no question the massive rise in childhood obesity (from 6.1 per cent for kids 12 – 19 between the early 1970’s to 20.6 percent in 2013-14), that has prompted the NIH to warn “childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st centaury” makes the Doctor Yum Project a life saving venture, that not just parents need to take note of.

See her website at https://doctoryum.org, and book (written with expert on eating disorders, Melanie Potock CCC-SLP – “Coach Mel”) Raising A Healthy Happy Eater – a stage-by-Stage Guide to Setting Your Child on the Path to Adventurous Eating.

Patrick Neustatter is the Medical Director of the Moss Free Clinic.

front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

23

Stories

Sophia Street Pottery Throwdown

of fredericksburg

Meet a few of the Festival Artists

win downtown gift certificate

Andy

By elisa pritchard

The second annual Sophia Street Pottery Throwdown will be happening on Sat June 9th from 10am5pm on the 1100 block of Sophia Street.

The Throwdown will consist of arts, music and hands on activities for the whole family. The event will be held rain or shine.

As promised this month we are going to continue to introduce you to some of the many artists that will be participating in this year's event.

Christina Bendo (above) is a functional potter currently making wood fired pots in Star, North Carolina. After earning her B.A. at the University of Mary

Name This House

Washington, she worked for three years as studio assistant to Trista Chapman at Sophia Street Studios. She has been a resident at LibertyTown Arts Workshop, the International Ceramics Studio in Hungary, STARworks Ceramics, and Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts.

Scarlett Pons (center) of scarlettwares is a self-taught potter with a degree in Architecture. She designs and makes each piece in her country studio in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Each of her ceramic items are either hand-built or altered wheel thrown pieces. Scarlett is inspired by contemporary architecture and home products from the Bauhaus era. Her work follows the modern thesis of "Form Follows Function" or in her words, "Inspired modernism for everyday life". All her pieces are functional pieces for the home and garden. Her work can also be found at her and her husbands, Gabriel Pons, downtown store PONSHOP studio.

Art is a Gift from the Heart Artists: Beverley Coates, Lynn Abbott, Penny A Parrish

D.D. Lecky is inspired by nature and by patterns and strives to create tactile surfaces that you can't resist dragging a thumb over. These patterns are often based in nature, but she is just as likely to base them on medieval armor rivets or corset structures. She combines these patterns with one another and with leaves from her gardens pressed into the soft clay surface to create a contrast between order and chaos.

Despite all of this high design, she is deeply committed to making objects that can be used everday. She wants to make pottery that people don't reserve for only special occasions, but will pull out for a family meal or leave on the counter to hold fruit. She strives to make useful shapes that celebrate everyday life.

Christine Lush-R Rodriguez (right) is a Teacher-Artist. After learning how to work in clay in high school (1978-80). I

didn't have one.

received a BS in Art Ed. and did 26 years of teaching Art/Ceramics in several states.

“I have always loved the ocean as well as plants. They are the inspiration for my clay work. I love taking a small detail and repeating it hundreds of times to create a texture, like on my barnacleware.”

Christine’s work can be found at Artful Dimensions Gallery at 922 Caroline st.

Misha Sanborn began her career in pottery as an apprentice for local potter, Dan Finnegan. At his pottery shop in downtown Fredericksburg, Misha learned to throw functional stoneware.

She later became the artist-in-resident at LIbertytown Arts Workshop where she created her own line of functional pottery and taught pottery classes.

Misha continues to work at Libertytown in her own studio, where she creates wheelthrown pots, decorated with various slips and high-fired in a gas kiln.

Elisa Pritchard is an artist living in FXBG

Andy was once married, but separated five and half years ago. He has six children and two grandchildren. He became homeless most recently when the place he was living got condemned.

Being homeless is rough, he said. "You have to find places to hide and put a tent. Some people look down on you because you are homeless." He wants people to know when they look at people on the street that "we are trying our best."

Andy, 53, grew up in Fredericksburg. He has a sister and two brothers, one of which is his twin. He has been homeless off and on for about six years.

As a child he enjoyed playing football with the neighborhood kids. He liked riding bicycles and walking around town. He started working for his dad's roofing company at 13 and began to learn about shingles, framing, plumbing, sandblasting and welding. He worked up until about seven years ago when he began to struggle with health problems. When he started to become disabled, he could no longer afford a place to stay.

Andy's family moved to Mississippi for about 10 years, but returned in the 1990s. He is most proud of what he has done in his life to help others. This month, he used his limited check to put another man in a motel, last week he helped a lady get her car fixed and this winter gave a coat to someone who

"I would love to have a home. That would make my whole entire life better," he said. "I like decorating my yard, and planting flowers. I would decorate the house and make the neighborhood prettier.

“There is not much place to go during the day, except Micah, he said.

Then, you are back out on the street until dinner. After dinner, you are on the street until dark and then you go to your tent.

You go to sleep and then start the day all over again.

"The streets would be a lot better if people just had a place to be, even if its just a place to have recreation, play cards and stay out of trouble," he said.

Submitted by Micah Ecumenical Ministries, a Christ-Centered Community supporting people experiencing chronic homelessness and identifying pathways to sustainable housing. Contact 540479-4116; www.dolovewalk.net; facebook

Identify this mystery house and you could win a gift certificate from a downtown merchant. Here’s how: Email frntprch@aol.com, Subject: mystery house, Identify house address, Your name, address, email.

The poem below is a hint of the location of the mystery house. Good Luck!

Last Month’s House: 1600 Franklin St The Winner of “Yankees in the Cornfield”, by Emmett Snead is Fran Barrett So Snug, So Old, So Beautiful You are looking across the famous street, showing quite a disposition, with such an expression, quite like the schoolmarms, who inhabited you so long ago.

Willie and Annie the sisters, who lived and taught their students, inside your peach and green walls, standing so proud since the Fall of 1891.

Sisters look down from their photo perches, on the plastered walls of old, gazing through the windows to the "Rising Sun Tavern," so bold.

You used to have a steeple, rising so tall, but we aren't sure where it went, some suspect the flood of '42.

You and your neighbors so long and narrow, sitting hip to hip, ah the secrets you hold in your gardens, I'm sure would make me flip!.

“Vertical Splash at Chatham,Beverley Coates

Daily hours 10 to 6. Artist on site Saturdays 540.371.4099 810 Caroline Street, Downtown Fredericksburg 24

May 2018

Front porch fredericksburg

front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

25

Stories

Sophia Street Pottery Throwdown

of fredericksburg

Meet a few of the Festival Artists

win downtown gift certificate

Andy

By elisa pritchard

The second annual Sophia Street Pottery Throwdown will be happening on Sat June 9th from 10am5pm on the 1100 block of Sophia Street.

The Throwdown will consist of arts, music and hands on activities for the whole family. The event will be held rain or shine.

As promised this month we are going to continue to introduce you to some of the many artists that will be participating in this year's event.

Christina Bendo (above) is a functional potter currently making wood fired pots in Star, North Carolina. After earning her B.A. at the University of Mary

Name This House

Washington, she worked for three years as studio assistant to Trista Chapman at Sophia Street Studios. She has been a resident at LibertyTown Arts Workshop, the International Ceramics Studio in Hungary, STARworks Ceramics, and Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts.

Scarlett Pons (center) of scarlettwares is a self-taught potter with a degree in Architecture. She designs and makes each piece in her country studio in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Each of her ceramic items are either hand-built or altered wheel thrown pieces. Scarlett is inspired by contemporary architecture and home products from the Bauhaus era. Her work follows the modern thesis of "Form Follows Function" or in her words, "Inspired modernism for everyday life". All her pieces are functional pieces for the home and garden. Her work can also be found at her and her husbands, Gabriel Pons, downtown store PONSHOP studio.

Art is a Gift from the Heart Artists: Beverley Coates, Lynn Abbott, Penny A Parrish

D.D. Lecky is inspired by nature and by patterns and strives to create tactile surfaces that you can't resist dragging a thumb over. These patterns are often based in nature, but she is just as likely to base them on medieval armor rivets or corset structures. She combines these patterns with one another and with leaves from her gardens pressed into the soft clay surface to create a contrast between order and chaos.

Despite all of this high design, she is deeply committed to making objects that can be used everday. She wants to make pottery that people don't reserve for only special occasions, but will pull out for a family meal or leave on the counter to hold fruit. She strives to make useful shapes that celebrate everyday life.

Christine Lush-R Rodriguez (right) is a Teacher-Artist. After learning how to work in clay in high school (1978-80). I

didn't have one.

received a BS in Art Ed. and did 26 years of teaching Art/Ceramics in several states.

“I have always loved the ocean as well as plants. They are the inspiration for my clay work. I love taking a small detail and repeating it hundreds of times to create a texture, like on my barnacleware.”

Christine’s work can be found at Artful Dimensions Gallery at 922 Caroline st.

Misha Sanborn began her career in pottery as an apprentice for local potter, Dan Finnegan. At his pottery shop in downtown Fredericksburg, Misha learned to throw functional stoneware.

She later became the artist-in-resident at LIbertytown Arts Workshop where she created her own line of functional pottery and taught pottery classes.

Misha continues to work at Libertytown in her own studio, where she creates wheelthrown pots, decorated with various slips and high-fired in a gas kiln.

Elisa Pritchard is an artist living in FXBG

Andy was once married, but separated five and half years ago. He has six children and two grandchildren. He became homeless most recently when the place he was living got condemned.

Being homeless is rough, he said. "You have to find places to hide and put a tent. Some people look down on you because you are homeless." He wants people to know when they look at people on the street that "we are trying our best."

Andy, 53, grew up in Fredericksburg. He has a sister and two brothers, one of which is his twin. He has been homeless off and on for about six years.

As a child he enjoyed playing football with the neighborhood kids. He liked riding bicycles and walking around town. He started working for his dad's roofing company at 13 and began to learn about shingles, framing, plumbing, sandblasting and welding. He worked up until about seven years ago when he began to struggle with health problems. When he started to become disabled, he could no longer afford a place to stay.

Andy's family moved to Mississippi for about 10 years, but returned in the 1990s. He is most proud of what he has done in his life to help others. This month, he used his limited check to put another man in a motel, last week he helped a lady get her car fixed and this winter gave a coat to someone who

"I would love to have a home. That would make my whole entire life better," he said. "I like decorating my yard, and planting flowers. I would decorate the house and make the neighborhood prettier.

“There is not much place to go during the day, except Micah, he said.

Then, you are back out on the street until dinner. After dinner, you are on the street until dark and then you go to your tent.

You go to sleep and then start the day all over again.

"The streets would be a lot better if people just had a place to be, even if its just a place to have recreation, play cards and stay out of trouble," he said.

Submitted by Micah Ecumenical Ministries, a Christ-Centered Community supporting people experiencing chronic homelessness and identifying pathways to sustainable housing. Contact 540479-4116; www.dolovewalk.net; facebook

Identify this mystery house and you could win a gift certificate from a downtown merchant. Here’s how: Email frntprch@aol.com, Subject: mystery house, Identify house address, Your name, address, email.

The poem below is a hint of the location of the mystery house. Good Luck!

Last Month’s House: 1600 Franklin St The Winner of “Yankees in the Cornfield”, by Emmett Snead is Fran Barrett So Snug, So Old, So Beautiful You are looking across the famous street, showing quite a disposition, with such an expression, quite like the schoolmarms, who inhabited you so long ago.

Willie and Annie the sisters, who lived and taught their students, inside your peach and green walls, standing so proud since the Fall of 1891.

Sisters look down from their photo perches, on the plastered walls of old, gazing through the windows to the "Rising Sun Tavern," so bold.

You used to have a steeple, rising so tall, but we aren't sure where it went, some suspect the flood of '42.

You and your neighbors so long and narrow, sitting hip to hip, ah the secrets you hold in your gardens, I'm sure would make me flip!.

“Vertical Splash at Chatham,Beverley Coates

Daily hours 10 to 6. Artist on site Saturdays 540.371.4099 810 Caroline Street, Downtown Fredericksburg 24

May 2018

Front porch fredericksburg

front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

25

Art of Recovery

Art in the Burg

Healing power of creativity

Sister Act, Abstract & Moms

Double Take Paintings by identical twin sisters Rita and Rae Rose (above) will be displayed at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Fredericksburg Gallery, 25 Chalice Circle,. from May 6 through June 24.

The opening reception is May 6 from 11:45 AM until 2 PM. The reception is free and open to the public.

Each work in this exhibit is painted by both sisters simultaneously, as they stand next to each other in front of the paper, brushes in hands.

The brushwork by each sister has free reign across the surface of the paper. They primarily work on paper, secondarily on canvas, and use watercolor and acrylic paints. Sometimes they add ink and other material to their mixed media paintings.

They begin each painting by agreeing to a 'felt meaning", a concept, thought, or story they use as a guide. The stream-of-consciousness of the unfolding drama of the brush dance allows them freedom of interpretation, which they feel is important to the process. Progress develops by verbal cues as well as the nonverbal dance.

The sisters increasingly keep the images abstract, which they feel involves the viewer more in interpretation.

Likewise, they refuse to give literal titles to their work to aid in imaginative involvement by the viewer.

26

May 2018

According to Rita, their minds are so attuned to one another that they never argue about the direction of a painting.

In fact, neither sister remembers ever having an argument with each other over anything.

Rita and Rae have lived close to each other most of their lives. In planning their retirements, both families bought lots at Fawn Lake. They built nearly identical houses, and each prepared a nearly identical bedroom for their aging father. When their Dad finally came to live with them, in 2006 they decided to paint together every day they could, and the practice has continued for more than a decade. They are the most prolific artists each month at the Fredericksburg Center for Creative Arts (FCCA), on Sophia Street. ~Patricia Smith

Abstract Photography Show The first time I heard the term "abstract photography" I was confused.

You take pictures of something or someone. The only "abstract" photos I had were mistakes that were out of focus. I had a lot to learn.

#11, Penny A. Parrish The Fredericksburg Photography Club, of which I am a member, had a session on "abstract photography" a few years ago. So I began researching the subject. The most exciting thing I found is

Front porch fredericksburg

that there is no specific definition of this art form. This gives the photographer much leeway in composing pictures. Most "experts" suggest that if you can readily identify an object in a picture, it is not an abstract photo. Some images are "found" meaning the photographer sees something that is captured as is, but the lines and colors and format leave the viewer guessing as to what they are looking at.

Other abstracts are "created" when a photograph is enhanced or manipulated with software, creating a different result.

The challenge was on. I learned how to create fun geometric designs on my computer that began with a photo I took. But more often I found myself looking for images that others often do not see.

The square photo here is a "found" image - this is exactly what I saw. The rectangular image is "created" by taking a fairly boring photo and playing with it in Photoshop Elements.

The month of May will feature 20 of my abstract photographs on display in the atrium of the Fredericksburg branch of the Central Rappahannock Regional Library (1201 Caroline Street).

The show is interactive: each image is identified only with a number, and viewers are encouraged to flip up the tag and discover what the subject of the photo actually is, or how it began.

To learn more about abstract photography, or photography in general, the Fredericksburg Photography Club welcomes new members. Meetings are the second Tuesday of the month at 7:00 pm at the Dorothy Hart Center. For more information, check out the website at www.fbgphotoclub.com. Come join us and expand your horizons! ~Penny A Parrish

"May Is for Moms" April showers have brought May flowers, but Brush Strokes Gallery (824 Caroline St) offers visitors an opportunity to explore Mother's Day gifts beyond the traditional and temporal bouquet--original art that will last a lifetime and serve as a constant reminder of the love and gratitude of those they cherish.

Vases, Megan Crockett In this month's exhibit, the gallery's painters and photographers will join glass artisans, ceramic artists, and jewelry crafters, to present a spectrum of 3-dimensional creations. Artwork in the exhibit include whimsical birdhouses that may recall treasured moments spent together in nature, pendants, necklaces, and earrings that will always be a symbol of loved ones, surprising and pleasing popup books, and pottery that can adorn mothers' homes.

"May Is for Moms" will be displayed through May 27, and visitors will have an opportunity to meet and speak with the gallery's artists at its opening reception on Friday, May 4, 6 to 9 pm. ~ Norma Woodward

by Amy Umble mental illness, and experience community support. " Art can be so John healing," said Butler, coordinator of RACSB's crisis stabilization services.

"Art is a method of journaling, to share life experiences. It provides a safe haven for expression of feelings, hopes and dreams.

Although art can be judged, art doesn't judge. The Art of Recovery helps society in general to look at people beyond their “Flowers-P Peace”, H. McDonald disability and for folks Recovery is messy, and it looks with disabilities to not be defined by those different to each person. When substance disabilities." abuse and mental health therapists ask PONSHOP Studio and Gallery is individuals to paint their journey to open Monday through Saturday from 10 recovery, some use a bright palette to create a vision of hope.

Others sketch their demons. For each, art offers a way to express the struggles that accompany mental illness.

Each year, Rappahannock Area Community Services Board honors the role creativity plays in mental wellness by holding the Art of Recovery exhibit. The 14th show begins May 4 at PONSHOP Studio and Gallery in Fredericksburg.

An “Geishas”, Mary Kate Tosick opening night exhibit will be held Friday, May a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 4, from 5-9 p.m. A reception featuring live p.m. music, poetry, readings and art will begin For details, contact Amy Jindra at at 6:30 p.m. in the gallery's courtyard.

540/373-7737 or The show is organized by artofrecovery@rappahannockareacsb.org. members of Kenmore Club, a psychosocial Or learn more online at rehabilitation program operated by www.rappahannockareacsb.org.

RACSB. The exhibit coincides with National Mental Health Month and will be on Amy Umble is the Public Information display through May 27.

Officer at RACSB The Art of Recovery will feature 45 pieces from 40 artists. Artwork includes original drawings, acrylic and oil paintings on canvas, as well as mixed Art of Recovery Exhibit media and video. All of the pieces will be Opening Reception, First Friday, May 4 available for purchase.

Ponshop The Art of Recovery provides a 712 Caroline St forum for artists living with mental illness to gain confidence in their abilities, address misconceptions surrounding front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

27

Art of Recovery

Art in the Burg

Healing power of creativity

Sister Act, Abstract & Moms

Double Take Paintings by identical twin sisters Rita and Rae Rose (above) will be displayed at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Fredericksburg Gallery, 25 Chalice Circle,. from May 6 through June 24.

The opening reception is May 6 from 11:45 AM until 2 PM. The reception is free and open to the public.

Each work in this exhibit is painted by both sisters simultaneously, as they stand next to each other in front of the paper, brushes in hands.

The brushwork by each sister has free reign across the surface of the paper. They primarily work on paper, secondarily on canvas, and use watercolor and acrylic paints. Sometimes they add ink and other material to their mixed media paintings.

They begin each painting by agreeing to a 'felt meaning", a concept, thought, or story they use as a guide. The stream-of-consciousness of the unfolding drama of the brush dance allows them freedom of interpretation, which they feel is important to the process. Progress develops by verbal cues as well as the nonverbal dance.

The sisters increasingly keep the images abstract, which they feel involves the viewer more in interpretation.

Likewise, they refuse to give literal titles to their work to aid in imaginative involvement by the viewer.

26

May 2018

According to Rita, their minds are so attuned to one another that they never argue about the direction of a painting.

In fact, neither sister remembers ever having an argument with each other over anything.

Rita and Rae have lived close to each other most of their lives. In planning their retirements, both families bought lots at Fawn Lake. They built nearly identical houses, and each prepared a nearly identical bedroom for their aging father. When their Dad finally came to live with them, in 2006 they decided to paint together every day they could, and the practice has continued for more than a decade. They are the most prolific artists each month at the Fredericksburg Center for Creative Arts (FCCA), on Sophia Street. ~Patricia Smith

Abstract Photography Show The first time I heard the term "abstract photography" I was confused.

You take pictures of something or someone. The only "abstract" photos I had were mistakes that were out of focus. I had a lot to learn.

#11, Penny A. Parrish The Fredericksburg Photography Club, of which I am a member, had a session on "abstract photography" a few years ago. So I began researching the subject. The most exciting thing I found is

Front porch fredericksburg

that there is no specific definition of this art form. This gives the photographer much leeway in composing pictures. Most "experts" suggest that if you can readily identify an object in a picture, it is not an abstract photo. Some images are "found" meaning the photographer sees something that is captured as is, but the lines and colors and format leave the viewer guessing as to what they are looking at.

Other abstracts are "created" when a photograph is enhanced or manipulated with software, creating a different result.

The challenge was on. I learned how to create fun geometric designs on my computer that began with a photo I took. But more often I found myself looking for images that others often do not see.

The square photo here is a "found" image - this is exactly what I saw. The rectangular image is "created" by taking a fairly boring photo and playing with it in Photoshop Elements.

The month of May will feature 20 of my abstract photographs on display in the atrium of the Fredericksburg branch of the Central Rappahannock Regional Library (1201 Caroline Street).

The show is interactive: each image is identified only with a number, and viewers are encouraged to flip up the tag and discover what the subject of the photo actually is, or how it began.

To learn more about abstract photography, or photography in general, the Fredericksburg Photography Club welcomes new members. Meetings are the second Tuesday of the month at 7:00 pm at the Dorothy Hart Center. For more information, check out the website at www.fbgphotoclub.com. Come join us and expand your horizons! ~Penny A Parrish

"May Is for Moms" April showers have brought May flowers, but Brush Strokes Gallery (824 Caroline St) offers visitors an opportunity to explore Mother's Day gifts beyond the traditional and temporal bouquet--original art that will last a lifetime and serve as a constant reminder of the love and gratitude of those they cherish.

Vases, Megan Crockett In this month's exhibit, the gallery's painters and photographers will join glass artisans, ceramic artists, and jewelry crafters, to present a spectrum of 3-dimensional creations. Artwork in the exhibit include whimsical birdhouses that may recall treasured moments spent together in nature, pendants, necklaces, and earrings that will always be a symbol of loved ones, surprising and pleasing popup books, and pottery that can adorn mothers' homes.

"May Is for Moms" will be displayed through May 27, and visitors will have an opportunity to meet and speak with the gallery's artists at its opening reception on Friday, May 4, 6 to 9 pm. ~ Norma Woodward

by Amy Umble mental illness, and experience community support. " Art can be so John healing," said Butler, coordinator of RACSB's crisis stabilization services.

"Art is a method of journaling, to share life experiences. It provides a safe haven for expression of feelings, hopes and dreams.

Although art can be judged, art doesn't judge. The Art of Recovery helps society in general to look at people beyond their “Flowers-P Peace”, H. McDonald disability and for folks Recovery is messy, and it looks with disabilities to not be defined by those different to each person. When substance disabilities." abuse and mental health therapists ask PONSHOP Studio and Gallery is individuals to paint their journey to open Monday through Saturday from 10 recovery, some use a bright palette to create a vision of hope.

Others sketch their demons. For each, art offers a way to express the struggles that accompany mental illness.

Each year, Rappahannock Area Community Services Board honors the role creativity plays in mental wellness by holding the Art of Recovery exhibit. The 14th show begins May 4 at PONSHOP Studio and Gallery in Fredericksburg.

An “Geishas”, Mary Kate Tosick opening night exhibit will be held Friday, May a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 4, from 5-9 p.m. A reception featuring live p.m. music, poetry, readings and art will begin For details, contact Amy Jindra at at 6:30 p.m. in the gallery's courtyard.

540/373-7737 or The show is organized by artofrecovery@rappahannockareacsb.org. members of Kenmore Club, a psychosocial Or learn more online at rehabilitation program operated by www.rappahannockareacsb.org.

RACSB. The exhibit coincides with National Mental Health Month and will be on Amy Umble is the Public Information display through May 27.

Officer at RACSB The Art of Recovery will feature 45 pieces from 40 artists. Artwork includes original drawings, acrylic and oil paintings on canvas, as well as mixed Art of Recovery Exhibit media and video. All of the pieces will be Opening Reception, First Friday, May 4 available for purchase.

Ponshop The Art of Recovery provides a 712 Caroline St forum for artists living with mental illness to gain confidence in their abilities, address misconceptions surrounding front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

27

Companions Adventure Tales

by Alison Carlin

“Smiley”

with your resident dog at our shelter.

Many of our canine resident that go on Adventure Tails tend to be adopted within the same week.

Essentially, the Adventure Tales program allows you to "adopt a dog" through this type of volunteerism for the day! To participate, you must be 18 years of age or older and fill out a quick packet. Dogs can be "checked out" as early as noon and must be returned to the shelter no later than 5:30 p.m.

Many people who have participated in this program find it reward and tend to come back in to help socialize our animals in this fun way.

The Fredericksburg SPCA found loving homes for more than 1,600 cats and dogs last year. Every pet that enters the care of this shelter is uniquely different and there are some pets need a little more care than their peers, to include underage kittens and adult dogs.

We'd love to have you support the programs we have that benefit these pets, such as Adventure Tails and foster care.

It's a great way to get involved without having to commit to regularly coming into the shelter to volunteer.

Adventure Tales “Bingo”

Alison Carlin is the Community Outreach and Volunteer Coordinator for the SPCA

“Stevie” involve yourself with the Fredericksburg SPCA. During any given month, our organization sends about 65 dogs out to explore the town. This is a great way to better socialize our canine residents and get them noticed by members of the public. Some of the many places you can take our shelter dogs are Petco, PetSmart, Tractor Supply, area parks (Alumn Springs and Loriella Park are close by!), and even Starbucks for a Puppacino! Additionally, you may also go to your home for a visit as long as you have completed a proper meet and greet May 2018

“Your pet becomes my pet while in my care, and I care a lot!” - Lexi (540-903-0437; lexig0892@gmail.com) On facebook as “lexi grogan’s pet sitting service” Prices: Dogs - $15 per canine per visit Cats - $12 per feline per visit

Front porch fredericksburg

#FREDSTRONG Jessica Alexander

by Joan M. Geisler

Better value, more love for your pet than if you kennel board him!

Old Town’s Greatest Tour 35 Monuments, Markers, & Attractions AND the Fredericksburg Battlefields Weddings Reunions Shuttles Parties Group Outings Fredericksburgtrolley.com

Adventure Tails is a free community program and an easy way to

28

Lexi Grogan’s Pet Sitting Service

540-898-0737

#FREDSTRONG showcases and highlights the inspirational men and women of the 'burg that help us stay strong through nutrition, fitness and with a positive mindset. Because strong people make for a strong community.

Taking Fitness to the Next Level How much do you want to change in your life?

How badly do you want that change?

Do you want to get to the next level in health, fitness, flexibility, determination?

Jessica Alexander, a holist health coach and personal trainer and owner of Verdant Wellness Studio is just what you need.

J essica will help you focus on building your foundation and challenge and support you every step of the way.

Joining the Marines at age 18, she worked 4 years overseas as a security guard for the Embassies. While in the Marines, she met her husband David. Now they reside in Fredericksburg with their 5 children.

With each child, Jessica, like many women, struggled to lose the weight, regain her strength and stamina. She essentially became her own client.

Jessica holds many certifications in nutrition, personal training and group instruction.

“I have experienced for myself the healing power of good nutrition, physical activity and sound spiritual intentions on the body and mind. You cannot separate the two. When we balance our everyday life, the food we eat will become balanced too.” Jessica tells her clients. “If your work/home life is out of balance, chances are your diet will be too.”

This is what leads to emotional eating and a sedentary lifestyle. There is a reason STRESSED spelled backwards is DESSERTS.

Verdant Wellness Studio caters to women only to help improve their strength both physically and mentally.

Jessica helps her ‘ladies’ with time management and helps them put themselves on their own schedules and make themselves a priority.

“I teach them to put themselves priority #1 for 1 hour a few times a week.”

Is this the total package of help that you need?

Find more information and schedule a consultation at her facebook page. facebook/verdantwellnessstudio. or call Jessica Alexander at 347-907-0856

BUT you can be helped.

“Peach”

Jessica created Verdant Wellness Studio more than 8 years ago in her home. She finds so many women are intimidated and uncomfortable at a public facility. When they come to her home, they relax in the comfortable setting and achieve a greater fitness level because they are not afraid that they are not the “picture perfect’ woman to enter a gym.

“My clients become family. It is a very nurturing bond.”

Joan Geisler is a Habit Coach, A Behavioral Change Specialist.

Visit her New Website at www.8020healthyhabits

front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

29

Companions Adventure Tales

by Alison Carlin

“Smiley”

with your resident dog at our shelter.

Many of our canine resident that go on Adventure Tails tend to be adopted within the same week.

Essentially, the Adventure Tales program allows you to "adopt a dog" through this type of volunteerism for the day! To participate, you must be 18 years of age or older and fill out a quick packet. Dogs can be "checked out" as early as noon and must be returned to the shelter no later than 5:30 p.m.

Many people who have participated in this program find it reward and tend to come back in to help socialize our animals in this fun way.

The Fredericksburg SPCA found loving homes for more than 1,600 cats and dogs last year. Every pet that enters the care of this shelter is uniquely different and there are some pets need a little more care than their peers, to include underage kittens and adult dogs.

We'd love to have you support the programs we have that benefit these pets, such as Adventure Tails and foster care.

It's a great way to get involved without having to commit to regularly coming into the shelter to volunteer.

Adventure Tales “Bingo”

Alison Carlin is the Community Outreach and Volunteer Coordinator for the SPCA

“Stevie” involve yourself with the Fredericksburg SPCA. During any given month, our organization sends about 65 dogs out to explore the town. This is a great way to better socialize our canine residents and get them noticed by members of the public. Some of the many places you can take our shelter dogs are Petco, PetSmart, Tractor Supply, area parks (Alumn Springs and Loriella Park are close by!), and even Starbucks for a Puppacino! Additionally, you may also go to your home for a visit as long as you have completed a proper meet and greet May 2018

“Your pet becomes my pet while in my care, and I care a lot!” - Lexi (540-903-0437; lexig0892@gmail.com) On facebook as “lexi grogan’s pet sitting service” Prices: Dogs - $15 per canine per visit Cats - $12 per feline per visit

Front porch fredericksburg

#FREDSTRONG Jessica Alexander

by Joan M. Geisler

Better value, more love for your pet than if you kennel board him!

Old Town’s Greatest Tour 35 Monuments, Markers, & Attractions AND the Fredericksburg Battlefields Weddings Reunions Shuttles Parties Group Outings Fredericksburgtrolley.com

Adventure Tails is a free community program and an easy way to

28

Lexi Grogan’s Pet Sitting Service

540-898-0737

#FREDSTRONG showcases and highlights the inspirational men and women of the 'burg that help us stay strong through nutrition, fitness and with a positive mindset. Because strong people make for a strong community.

Taking Fitness to the Next Level How much do you want to change in your life?

How badly do you want that change?

Do you want to get to the next level in health, fitness, flexibility, determination?

Jessica Alexander, a holist health coach and personal trainer and owner of Verdant Wellness Studio is just what you need.

J essica will help you focus on building your foundation and challenge and support you every step of the way.

Joining the Marines at age 18, she worked 4 years overseas as a security guard for the Embassies. While in the Marines, she met her husband David. Now they reside in Fredericksburg with their 5 children.

With each child, Jessica, like many women, struggled to lose the weight, regain her strength and stamina. She essentially became her own client.

Jessica holds many certifications in nutrition, personal training and group instruction.

“I have experienced for myself the healing power of good nutrition, physical activity and sound spiritual intentions on the body and mind. You cannot separate the two. When we balance our everyday life, the food we eat will become balanced too.” Jessica tells her clients. “If your work/home life is out of balance, chances are your diet will be too.”

This is what leads to emotional eating and a sedentary lifestyle. There is a reason STRESSED spelled backwards is DESSERTS.

Verdant Wellness Studio caters to women only to help improve their strength both physically and mentally.

Jessica helps her ‘ladies’ with time management and helps them put themselves on their own schedules and make themselves a priority.

“I teach them to put themselves priority #1 for 1 hour a few times a week.”

Is this the total package of help that you need?

Find more information and schedule a consultation at her facebook page. facebook/verdantwellnessstudio. or call Jessica Alexander at 347-907-0856

BUT you can be helped.

“Peach”

Jessica created Verdant Wellness Studio more than 8 years ago in her home. She finds so many women are intimidated and uncomfortable at a public facility. When they come to her home, they relax in the comfortable setting and achieve a greater fitness level because they are not afraid that they are not the “picture perfect’ woman to enter a gym.

“My clients become family. It is a very nurturing bond.”

Joan Geisler is a Habit Coach, A Behavioral Change Specialist.

Visit her New Website at www.8020healthyhabits

front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

29

Fredericksburg Sketches 606 Caroline Street Old Town Fredericksburg 373-7847 We are happy to support the Fredericksburg Area Community Supported Agriculture Project - your source for local organic produce.

Shares for the May through October Season are still available.

www.gemstonecreations.org

Give a Child Something to Think About

Books, Games, Amusing Novelties 810 Caroline Street (540) 371-5684

Plan on spending some time just looking all around the shop, or sit down for a spell, and have Allan tell you about the many items that hang from the walls, on the floor and ceiling, a true history of the city, both artistically and historically. Allen was a hippie, an honest to goodness hippie, and he and his beautiful wife Pat, who served for many years on the Fredericksburg School Board, the Park Authority, and who taught school, both in the

SKETCH #43: “Detail of a Door on Caroline Street”

This month’s sketch is by guest artist Paula Raudenbush.

Paula is a wonderful artist who, after a career in advertising and marketing, is enjoying the chance to truly explore her talents. She maintains a studio at LibertyTown where you can see her work which includes some incredible botanical drawings and she teaches classes in a variety of media, including a current class on drawing with colored pencils.

Casey Alan Shaw is a local artist and Realtor. He exhibits his original artwork and limitededition prints at Art First Gallery in downtown Fredericksburg and at www.caseyshaw.com.

Front porch fredericksburg

By Jo Loving

by georgia Lee Strentz

I love looking through the results of this group’s outings.

They not only include unique visions of the Fredericksburg skyline, but they also often include gems like the drawing above where an artist takes the time to really look at some of the smaller details that we might otherwise walk right by without noticing. The beautiful result is a small piece of art that is both charming and personal to the artist.

May 2018

don’t overdrive your headlights

By Casey Alan Shaw

You will often see Paula around town as the ringleader of our local chapter of the international “Urban Sketchers.” It’s a very laid-back group of local artists who meet up on occasional weekend mornings or afternoons and disperse through our charming little ’Burg with sketchbooks in hand.

30

From My Porch

Copper Shop: Alive & Well

Tuesday - Saturday 10-5 Wednesdays until 6:30 and by appointment

Where Fredericksburg Gets Engaged

M-Sat. 10am-6pm; Sun. 1pm-4pm

A visual Celebration of our community

DOWNTOWNERS

Have you ever been someplace you walked into, looked around, sat down, and just never wanted to leave anytime soon? Well that is the Copper Shop, at 1707 Princess Anne St.,in the Silk Mill Courtyard, a short walk in our "Downtown" of course .I even saw “antique” copies of Front Porch news in the shop.

Combine this with the smiling face of the in-house copper-smith, Allen Green III, who has so many interesting, museum-like, nostalgic, Fredericksburg artifacts, beautiful copper products, and stories to tell. He and his dad, Allen Green II, created the beautiful Fredericksburg Lamp, which hangs in homes in all fifty states and in 97 foreign lands. Miniatures have been sent as a Bicentennial Gift from the City of Fredericksburg to the President and Governors of the United States.

Allen was born in Fredericksburg, as was his wife Pat Green, and they raised their two children here, near where you can visit Allen's historic family homeplace, now called "McDuff- Green Park," in Stafford, donated to and operated now by the Stafford Park Authority.

In keeping with the creative couples colorful past, Allen's family traveled at one time when he was 16, to live in the Caribbean, honing his artistic talents. Pat's dad restored a school bus and let Pat and several of her girlfriends take off out West, after high school graduation for an extended trip to California! Now here is a couple truly meant for each other. The shop reflects creativity, as it is so interesting you might forget the gorgeous copper products Allan makes, including the newest lamp, the First Night Lamp, with the reflecting back, named in honor of our Fredericksburg First Night celebration. All of the tools are custom made for the creation of this unique lamp.

city and Stafford County, radiate love and enthusiasm for our town and people!

Did I mention the building where Allen hangs out is fabulously interesting.

Allen is a truly talented man,as he creates art in many forms. Perhaps Allen will tell you about the painting he put on a T-shirt in Viet-Nam for Bob Hope in person, at one of USO shows Bob did when Allen served in the armed services.

There is a gorgeous Fredericksburg lamp waiting to go home with you! I just bought one for a friend who was moving (my 5th lamp purchase in my 40 years in Fredericksburg.)

My Dog Bailey thinks I have lost my mind when I get the 3 wheel bike out.

See you on the bike trails,with our interesting Front Porch Magazine and a cool....warm.....drink! ~Gal About Downtown

The Copper Shop Hours 10:30-5 5:00/Monday-S Sat. Allen Green III, proprietor 1707 Princess Anne St., Silk Mill Inn Courtyard

“It's like driving a car at night.

You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” ~E. L. Doctorow My maternal grandmother was the one who took me to get my official driver’s license. I was finally 16 and used her Cadillac Coupe de Ville as the test vehicle. “What was I thinking?” was my primary thought, as I looked at the land yacht. On the way to the DMV, we reviewed everything. Grama, book in hand, quizzed me. I answered everything as I should. Then she came up with a statement that was not in the book (“it should have been in the book,” she said).

“Do not ever overdrive your headlights.”

It was in the book, but it was sandwiched between wording about stopping distances, illumination, and such. I aced the written test, and then headed out with the test administrator for the practical portion. Parallel parking? A cinch. Using mirrors, backing, accelerating, braking – yes. Observing stop signs - of course!

Then, as we had finished the test and were heading back to the office, I ran over a curb as I was turning. Instant failure!

“Come back tomorrow and you can do it again,” said the administrator.

“You passed everything. Just watch that curb.” I was in tears. Grama and I made the trip back the next day, and I passed. Hallelujah! As I drove her back home that evening, my grandmother, pleased that I had passed, had one last thing to say to me before she left, “I’m proud of you. But remember, don’t overdrive your headlights.”

Life is that way, too. Setting goals is wonderful. Stretch goals are even better. In achieving them, though, meeting interim goals will work to get you there. Lately, I’ve been overdriving my headlights, metaphorically speaking. In so doing, I’ve missed a lot. I haven’t been enjoying the journey. I’ve created unnecessary stress. The whole shebang does not have to be done at the same time. So, the wisdom of my grandmother came floating in on a memory: “Don’t overdrive your headlights.” This memory was triggered recently as I was reading. I came across the quote from E. L. Doctorow, above. So, there you have it.

I’m slowing down, going as far as my headlights illuminate, making the whole trip that way. This journey will be much more pleasant.

The other day, I was in my typical hurry. I had been shopping and was

headed home to cook dinner. The dog needed to be walked. I needed to prepare for a presentation the next day, and a party later. So many things needed my attention. As I rounded a curve on the back road in our small town, two older men flagged me down. “Ma’am, can you jump our car? We need to get on the road, and the battery won’t turn over.” I stopped, helped them, and we went our separate ways. Two days later, I saw one of the men walking down the sidewalk as I headed home by a different route. He recognized me. The car windows were down. “God Bless You,” he said, as he smiled and enjoyed his walk.

Now, if I had been “overdriving my headlights,” on the day they flagged me, I wouldn’t have stopped and helped them, and would have missed the blessing of this man, in the process. Now, I have a good feeling, with the joy I felt as he bestowed his heartfelt thanks. So, dear reader, remember this: take your time, enjoy life, and “don’t overdrive your headlights.”

Jo Loving is on her porch today, enjoyed a slower pace. She is watching the horses, chickens, geese, and children next door. The scene is beautiful, the sounds bring peace and pleasure, and on the gentle wind, a hint of jasmine awakens sweet memories. Yes, life is good when you don’t overdrive your headlights.

front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

31

Fredericksburg Sketches 606 Caroline Street Old Town Fredericksburg 373-7847 We are happy to support the Fredericksburg Area Community Supported Agriculture Project - your source for local organic produce.

Shares for the May through October Season are still available.

www.gemstonecreations.org

Give a Child Something to Think About

Books, Games, Amusing Novelties 810 Caroline Street (540) 371-5684

Plan on spending some time just looking all around the shop, or sit down for a spell, and have Allan tell you about the many items that hang from the walls, on the floor and ceiling, a true history of the city, both artistically and historically. Allen was a hippie, an honest to goodness hippie, and he and his beautiful wife Pat, who served for many years on the Fredericksburg School Board, the Park Authority, and who taught school, both in the

SKETCH #43: “Detail of a Door on Caroline Street”

This month’s sketch is by guest artist Paula Raudenbush.

Paula is a wonderful artist who, after a career in advertising and marketing, is enjoying the chance to truly explore her talents. She maintains a studio at LibertyTown where you can see her work which includes some incredible botanical drawings and she teaches classes in a variety of media, including a current class on drawing with colored pencils.

Casey Alan Shaw is a local artist and Realtor. He exhibits his original artwork and limitededition prints at Art First Gallery in downtown Fredericksburg and at www.caseyshaw.com.

Front porch fredericksburg

By Jo Loving

by georgia Lee Strentz

I love looking through the results of this group’s outings.

They not only include unique visions of the Fredericksburg skyline, but they also often include gems like the drawing above where an artist takes the time to really look at some of the smaller details that we might otherwise walk right by without noticing. The beautiful result is a small piece of art that is both charming and personal to the artist.

May 2018

don’t overdrive your headlights

By Casey Alan Shaw

You will often see Paula around town as the ringleader of our local chapter of the international “Urban Sketchers.” It’s a very laid-back group of local artists who meet up on occasional weekend mornings or afternoons and disperse through our charming little ’Burg with sketchbooks in hand.

30

From My Porch

Copper Shop: Alive & Well

Tuesday - Saturday 10-5 Wednesdays until 6:30 and by appointment

Where Fredericksburg Gets Engaged

M-Sat. 10am-6pm; Sun. 1pm-4pm

A visual Celebration of our community

DOWNTOWNERS

Have you ever been someplace you walked into, looked around, sat down, and just never wanted to leave anytime soon? Well that is the Copper Shop, at 1707 Princess Anne St.,in the Silk Mill Courtyard, a short walk in our "Downtown" of course .I even saw “antique” copies of Front Porch news in the shop.

Combine this with the smiling face of the in-house copper-smith, Allen Green III, who has so many interesting, museum-like, nostalgic, Fredericksburg artifacts, beautiful copper products, and stories to tell. He and his dad, Allen Green II, created the beautiful Fredericksburg Lamp, which hangs in homes in all fifty states and in 97 foreign lands. Miniatures have been sent as a Bicentennial Gift from the City of Fredericksburg to the President and Governors of the United States.

Allen was born in Fredericksburg, as was his wife Pat Green, and they raised their two children here, near where you can visit Allen's historic family homeplace, now called "McDuff- Green Park," in Stafford, donated to and operated now by the Stafford Park Authority.

In keeping with the creative couples colorful past, Allen's family traveled at one time when he was 16, to live in the Caribbean, honing his artistic talents. Pat's dad restored a school bus and let Pat and several of her girlfriends take off out West, after high school graduation for an extended trip to California! Now here is a couple truly meant for each other. The shop reflects creativity, as it is so interesting you might forget the gorgeous copper products Allan makes, including the newest lamp, the First Night Lamp, with the reflecting back, named in honor of our Fredericksburg First Night celebration. All of the tools are custom made for the creation of this unique lamp.

city and Stafford County, radiate love and enthusiasm for our town and people!

Did I mention the building where Allen hangs out is fabulously interesting.

Allen is a truly talented man,as he creates art in many forms. Perhaps Allen will tell you about the painting he put on a T-shirt in Viet-Nam for Bob Hope in person, at one of USO shows Bob did when Allen served in the armed services.

There is a gorgeous Fredericksburg lamp waiting to go home with you! I just bought one for a friend who was moving (my 5th lamp purchase in my 40 years in Fredericksburg.)

My Dog Bailey thinks I have lost my mind when I get the 3 wheel bike out.

See you on the bike trails,with our interesting Front Porch Magazine and a cool....warm.....drink! ~Gal About Downtown

The Copper Shop Hours 10:30-5 5:00/Monday-S Sat. Allen Green III, proprietor 1707 Princess Anne St., Silk Mill Inn Courtyard

“It's like driving a car at night.

You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” ~E. L. Doctorow My maternal grandmother was the one who took me to get my official driver’s license. I was finally 16 and used her Cadillac Coupe de Ville as the test vehicle. “What was I thinking?” was my primary thought, as I looked at the land yacht. On the way to the DMV, we reviewed everything. Grama, book in hand, quizzed me. I answered everything as I should. Then she came up with a statement that was not in the book (“it should have been in the book,” she said).

“Do not ever overdrive your headlights.”

It was in the book, but it was sandwiched between wording about stopping distances, illumination, and such. I aced the written test, and then headed out with the test administrator for the practical portion. Parallel parking? A cinch. Using mirrors, backing, accelerating, braking – yes. Observing stop signs - of course!

Then, as we had finished the test and were heading back to the office, I ran over a curb as I was turning. Instant failure!

“Come back tomorrow and you can do it again,” said the administrator.

“You passed everything. Just watch that curb.” I was in tears. Grama and I made the trip back the next day, and I passed. Hallelujah! As I drove her back home that evening, my grandmother, pleased that I had passed, had one last thing to say to me before she left, “I’m proud of you. But remember, don’t overdrive your headlights.”

Life is that way, too. Setting goals is wonderful. Stretch goals are even better. In achieving them, though, meeting interim goals will work to get you there. Lately, I’ve been overdriving my headlights, metaphorically speaking. In so doing, I’ve missed a lot. I haven’t been enjoying the journey. I’ve created unnecessary stress. The whole shebang does not have to be done at the same time. So, the wisdom of my grandmother came floating in on a memory: “Don’t overdrive your headlights.” This memory was triggered recently as I was reading. I came across the quote from E. L. Doctorow, above. So, there you have it.

I’m slowing down, going as far as my headlights illuminate, making the whole trip that way. This journey will be much more pleasant.

The other day, I was in my typical hurry. I had been shopping and was

headed home to cook dinner. The dog needed to be walked. I needed to prepare for a presentation the next day, and a party later. So many things needed my attention. As I rounded a curve on the back road in our small town, two older men flagged me down. “Ma’am, can you jump our car? We need to get on the road, and the battery won’t turn over.” I stopped, helped them, and we went our separate ways. Two days later, I saw one of the men walking down the sidewalk as I headed home by a different route. He recognized me. The car windows were down. “God Bless You,” he said, as he smiled and enjoyed his walk.

Now, if I had been “overdriving my headlights,” on the day they flagged me, I wouldn’t have stopped and helped them, and would have missed the blessing of this man, in the process. Now, I have a good feeling, with the joy I felt as he bestowed his heartfelt thanks. So, dear reader, remember this: take your time, enjoy life, and “don’t overdrive your headlights.”

Jo Loving is on her porch today, enjoyed a slower pace. She is watching the horses, chickens, geese, and children next door. The scene is beautiful, the sounds bring peace and pleasure, and on the gentle wind, a hint of jasmine awakens sweet memories. Yes, life is good when you don’t overdrive your headlights.

front porch fredericksburg

May 2018

31