Pasture Talk

P. O. Box 11816 Blacksburg, VA 24062 o: 540-961-2015 nrvmagazine@msn.com www.nrvmagazine.com

PUBLISHER Country Media, Inc. Phillip Vaught MANAGING EDITOR Joanne Anderson ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Sabrina Sexton ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Kim Walsh DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Dennis Shelor WRITERS Joanne Anderson Karl Kazaks Krisha Chachra Emily Alberts Jennifer Cooper Becky Hepler Melody Warnick Nancy Moseley PHOTOGRAPHERS Kristie Lea Photography Kevin Riley Always and Forever Photography Tom Wallace Silver Pebble Photography

Nathan Cooke, CBM © 2020 Country Media, Inc. Country Media, Inc. will not knowingly publish any advertisement that is illegal or misleading to its readers. Neither the advertiser nor Country Media, Inc. will be responsible or liable for misinformation, misprints, or typographical errors. The publisher assumes no financial liability for copy omissions by Country Media, Inc. other than the cost of the space occupied by the error. Corrections or cancellations to be made by an advertiser shall be received no later than 5 p.m. the 20th of each publishing month. No claim shall be allowed for errors not affecting the value of the advertisement. Paid advertising does not represent an endorsement by this publication. Content cannot be reproduced without written consent from Country Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Real Estate advertised in this publication is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act of 1968. T The beloved American artist Norman Rockwell lived and worked in his early career in Arlington, Vermont, where my grandfather was a friend of his and my mom played at his house as a child. All through the 1940s, he painted gentle scenes of love, compassion and tenderness he saw around him while World War II raged. In the 1960s, things from every day life inspired the pop artist movement, with Andy Warhol’s CocaCola bottle and tomato soup can along with his sculptures of Brillo boxes and Del Monte boxes. All the while, the war in Vietnam raged. Our long-time MayJune theme of Festivals, Fairs and Events has morphed into Fresh Air in 2020. We have some of the finest, clearest, cleanest fresh air, perfect for picnicking, mushroom hunting, fishing and growing an herb garden. Cars ‘n Trucks is in its 2nd year as a MayJune theme, and I participated in both articles. I went to the car wash with one vehicle, and Josh Larrick, one of the nice gents at Advance Auto, replaced the battery in my truck. Once that was reliable, my neighbors, Harry and Joan Behl, and I met at Abby’s for lunch, tailgating over hot dogs and philly cheesesteak sandwiches and watching the traffic go by on N. Main St. in Blacksburg.

There may well be many more flower and vegetable gardens this summer if seed sales at Blacksburg Feed and Seed and Blacksburg True Value Hardware are any measure. Both places report seed sales are way up over last year. Paint sales must be on the rise as well because I know many people, myself included, who are painting walls, chairs and decks at home. What hasn’t changed at NRV Magazine is our commitment to deliver interesting, informative articles with excellent photography and advertisers who long for your business enough to step out and buy an ad. They understand the adage “it takes money to make money,” and I encourage every one of you to flip through these pages and choose three advertisers to patronize. Small business is a small, yet very important and collectively very large, cog in the economic engine which makes everything else hum. While we go about our lives in the unusual circumstances in which we find ourselves, let’s be alert to those scenes of love, compassion and tenderness. Let’s celebrate simple things in which the pop artists reveled. Challenging times ebb and flow, on a small personal scale and big global scale and every scale in between, and we can find joy and comfort in gentle scenes and familiar logos, as well as family, neighbors and friends.

Joanne Anderson ManagingEditor jmawriter@aol.com