FLOWER POWER ON DISPLAY

FLOWER POWER ON DISPLAY

By Leonard Shapiro

It’s always time to stop and smell the roses, though I’ve never been much of a flower aficionado other than to admire their beauty, and particularly so when they start their spring blooming all around the local countryside.

Still, with my wife and ZEST cohort, Vicky, out of town and the annual Daffodil Show taking place at Buchanan Hall recently, I had a chance for total immersion in both the fine art of creating floral arrangements, then seeing the finished product on display, with photos in this issue to prove it.

In the spirit of full disclosure, Vicky is a member of the Piedmont Garden Club. She arranged for me to watch the club’s entry for the inter-club category entitled “Birds of a Feather—Swan Dive” being put together by Piedmont member and master arranger Betty Ann Trible, with the advice, counsel and helping hands of several other club members. The finished product even had swan feathers in the flowery mix, courtesy of Ben Rogers, Heronwood's farm manager who was kind enough to collect them from ponds on the property.

A story on that stunning arrangement with a bizarre, but happy ending can be found inside this summer issue of Country ZEST. It’s accompanied by photos of Betty Ann’s eye-popping result, along with several other spectacular daffodil creations on display at the show.

Our cover hopefully will lead you to stories about the Blunt family, including Middleburg native Melanie Blunt, clearly making a significant difference in her home town, and her husband Matt, the former governor of Missouri now an honorary and honorable Virginian.

A current government employee recently transferred to Washington Street. Tina Brooks, a Marshall native, is the new postmaster at the Middleburg post office. Read all about her, then check out the story on another dedicated public servant, popular Middleburg police officer Lt. Shaun Jones, back in action after undergoing a major dose of chemotherapy earlier this year.

There’s a new director of resident services over at Windy Hill, and we’ve got photos from the foundation’s successful recent gala at Salamander that raised over $150,000. And how about the opening of a new Glory Days Grill in Warrenton. It’s co-founded and owned by long-time Middleburg resident Richard Danker and is the popular restaurant chain’s 40th location.

And so, as you head to the beach, the pool, the mountains, the interstate, the airport, we hope you’ll also take the time to put even more ZEST in your life and take along our latest summer issue. Sharing is definitely allowed.

Leonard Shapiro Editor badgerlen@aol.com