My Birthday Weekend

Yet again we had another stifling weekend and yet again I lacked any intense energy to go in pursuit of any strenuous activity, yet I didn't want to stop indoors. Rob wasn't coming up until later in the day on Saturday so I decided to go exploring locally. There were a couple of small villages which had piqued my interest so with the AC blasting out in Stuart and carrying my smaller and lighter camera, off I set.
The first place was Rectortown. I remembered I'd been here many years before and it had a Maidstone Rd running though it which was significant to me as my home town in England is Maidstone. Apparently George Washington visited here and frowned in disapproval upon the local inn which served alcohol.

It was a pretty little place but I couldn't stay long as I only had a couple of hours on this morning's excursion, but I was happy I'd remembered the place correctly and intend to return soon as I also recalled that fresh watercress grew in the stream. I want a big bag of that.

On the way out, I came across this old building at Lost Corner. Abandoned, but it's surrounding area was a little too busy for me to try and enter so I had to be content with external photos.

Some very cool stuff was piled up around its walls which kept me happy for a while but I was very aware of vehicles passing by and staring at me.

Along the railway track I noticed another vintage building so I strolled along to that. I really didn't have time to check out this building thoroughly but I shall be returning soon to investigate.
Since time was of the essence I jumped back into Stuart and headed for nearby Delaplane. This place was the first station which used the railroad to transport troops to the First Battle of Manassas. There was less here than at Rectortown but I did have a nose around an antique store there.

I nosed around pretty quickly. The prices were astronomical, my purse wasn't going to be opened here.

Awesome sign on a business across the road.
I rushed home after receiving a text from Rob who had arrived at the house, and then had to wait a whole afternoon, evening and night before I got my birthday present from him. To help pass the time though we did have plans and went to Manassas to meet with MJ and Martin where we watched Cowboys and Aliens, which was utter poo, and then went to dinner at Unos.

 I got a free dessert for my birthday, a giant peanut butter cup, which I did manage to share a little of, albeit begrudgingly, and MJ and Martin very kindly paid for dinner. It was a wonderful evening.
I thought I was handling the 'no present situation' pretty well but was getting anxious the next morning when Rob showed no signs of wanting to get up, even when a breakfast at the diner was offered.
Finally he emerged and after my shower I rushed out into the living area not even bothering to dry my hair. I love presents!

I was delighted and impressed to get this very cute little Minneapolis Moline tractor. It was the same size as my other little tractors and being my all time favorite make, it took prime position at the front. He also had got me a very cute card which was special since he hadn't bothered with cards in his past.

Unwrapping the long awaited cuckoo clock. Rob told me he'd bought a stack of cuckoo clocks on Ebay, hoping to find one that he could repair and get working so he could give it to me. Aaaah. I'll take photos of the other clocks when I next go down to Gordonsville.

Very happy with my clock, I absolutely love it.

Here's a little video of it cuckooing and the music, Eidelweiss. It is so nice to hear one going off in the bedroom and the other calling back from the lounge. Makes the house more of a home.
We spent the rest of the day lazily, having lunch in Marshall and then watching the whole series of A Cook on the Wild Side which I'd ordered a few weeks back. Before too long Rob had to leave and he was a little miffed because there was no food to pack up for him to take back home. He'd gotten used to taking home my cooked leftovers from our meals but this weekend we'd eaten out each day. Poor Rob, he's got to wait a whole week!
After I'd waved him off Kota and I went for a stroll down to the pond to feed the fishes. We ended up running nearly all the way but it felt good after being so sluggish recently.

As the sun went down I snapped a few last shots and then Kota and I sat on the bench watching the last of the light fade away while listening to the insect songs build up around us. A last sprint back to the house and we both arrived puffing and ready to flop into bed. The end of a lovely birthday weekend.