Mum comes to Marshall Part III

During the month of October The Plains was displaying an imaginative collection of scarecrows throughout their small village. It was another excellent reason to stop and have a meal at one of their small restaurants and afterwards stroll around viewing the creations. There were more than I have pictured below but these are the ones we liked best.

 This was outside the wool shop, love the knitted candy corn.

 This was outside an art shop and was Mum's favorite I think.

 I liked this display the best, outside a restaurant. Very clever and the expressions are marvelous.

 Only a plastic mask but the face is hilarious.
These displays all made it through Hurricane Sandy so they must have been taken indoors or protected during the storm. We were so pleased to see them intact after those horrendous winds.

I also had to find time to put up my fall decorations so while Mum was sorting out some of her purchases one afternoon I got out the boxes.

After an hour or so I was done and feeling very festive and autumnal. I adore the mouses running along the hallway and up the kitchen walls and will likely leave those there for some time. Dear little Rosie thought they were real and spent a while charging at them until the novelty wore off as they never ran from her.
I had wanted Mum to witness a good old American storm but we weren't expecting a superstorm like Sandy. Because we'd not read any newspapers or watched hardly any TV, we were living in our own little world and only found out about the impending storm from the wool shop in The Plains.

 We were a little skeptical until we watched the weather report on TV so we stocked up with water, wine and plenty of food and waited. Stuart was filled with gas in case I couldn't get any after the storm and as we sat watching TV I think Mum wasn't really accepting that this was going to be a humdinger. I'd even removed all the hanging ornaments from the dogwood tree, the patio furniture was stowed away in the shed and my plants were put on the ground close to the house. We had some wind but Mum reckoned the storm was going to pass us by.

 The lights twinkled cheerfully as night crept in and as it got darker the winds got stronger. By late afternoon Mum was apprehensive and I was pretty sure that we were going to lose power soon. The lights flickered on and off and then at 8:30 went out for good. I lighted candles and lanterns and we sat on the sofa listening as the wind got stronger and stronger, howling around the house and roaring through the trees. We could hear branches and God knows what being thrown against the back of the house and I prayed the windows would hold, but I played it down and didn't let Mum know that I was actually quite anxious. A couple of times I put on a jacket and checked outside but after the second time the wind barreling through the branches was too alarming and I stayed indoors. We went to bed with the winds still thrashing around the house but both being good sleepers we soon drifted into deep sleep.
The morning didn't reveal much damage. Thankfully our trees had been spared and as I walked about it seemed only Stuart had been walloped, with a coat of soggy leaves.

 We decided to go into town for breakfast but as we went down the hill we saw a tree was blocking the way with its branches caught in the power line, tugging it downwards.

We saw Kit, a neighbor, sawing up another tree crossing the road, and he explained that the one across the hill couldn't be touched, as per Dominion Power's instructions. We'd have to wait for the linesmen to come. I walked down to the bottom of the hill and flagged down an SUV who told me the road was completely blocked each way by more downed trees and flooding. Looked like we were going to be trapped for a while. Matt and Tom, the other neighbors came down to help Kit so Mum and I wandered back up the hill frustrated at not being able to leave the house. Later in the day I decided to heat up some leftover stew on the fire and chopped up a few potatoes to cook then mash. As we settled down to begin watching the fire cook our meal, I got a call from Maggi who let us know that the men had cleared the tree regardless of Dominion's warning, and we were free to leave! We jumped in the car and drove down the road at the bottom of the hill but we found the road blocked by a tree but also by wonderful linemens trucks as they were fixing the power cables. We turned around and after about 20 minutes of traveling bumpy and muddy dirt tracks we got to Marshall where we enjoyed the best omelette ever. I was also amazed to find Mike, a guy who I'd worked in a diner with a few years ago, was working at the diner and his family had actually owned it for more than 10 years. We had a chat with lots of hugs and a promise from me to drop in one evening. We left with very full tummies and drove back to Meadow House. As we climbed the hill we spotted orange lights twinkling through the french doors. The power was back on! It really had turned out to be a fabulous evening!

Mum comes to Marshall Part II

 We did decide to go to a 'city' for one day as we both love trains and I wanted Mum to see the B&O Rail Museum in Baltimore where they were holding a Civil War Day. This is a great museum with some superbly renovated engines and many interactive displays. The layout had improved since my last visit but I was surprised not to see a large turnout for this event, although it meant better viewing for us.

This was Alan, a volunteer, who was extremely helpful and knowledgable

 Alan giving a tour of thr turntable room but unfortunately we had to leave soon after he started as we were due to board the steam train for our ride to Mount Claire. We were excited as we clambered up the steps but couldn't believe it when not even 10 minutes later we'd reached our destination. No wonder the tickets were cheap.
After a quick tour around the house, we wandered around the Civil War displays.

 This gentleman explained how the tools in front of him were used to treat the soldiers who had venereal diseases. Apparently they were cured after one treatment or chose not to disclose any following attacks as soldiers never came back for a follow up. Not surprising looking at those instruments...

 Mum next to my favoritist train in the world, the 490. I'm going to buy one of these when I win the lottery and travel round the world in it.

This is the 1604 Alleghany, Mum's favorite train, the most powerful American steam locomotive ever built. I'll buy her one of these so she can follow me on my trip.
We were so engrossed in the locomotives that we realized we only had 20 minutes before the museum shut for the day. We rushed to the shop for souvenirs but were crushed to discover that there were no postcards of the trains in the museum, no booklets about the place, in fact nothing at all to commemorate our visit. We'd loved our trip but when we got home I sent an e-mail to the museum lamenting about our day. Here it is, and I also attached 2 photos of our favorite trains.:

Dear Sir/Madam,

My mother has traveled from England for a visit and I was extremely excited to take her to your glorious B&O Museum in Baltimore on Sunday October 14th. I last came a couple of years ago to meet Thomas and walk around and on this most recent visit I was delighted to see how wonderfully the displays in the the Turntable room had been improved from my last trip. The layout and presentation of your museum is exemplary and it's obvious how cherished these trains are. We spent the day thoroughly enjoying every aspect of our trip, from a ride on the train, the Civil War displays, lunch and climbing in and out of engines and carriages.
The day sped by and we realized we only had 15 or so minutes before the museum closed for the day. We walked to the gift shop and were very disappointed to find absolutely no informational brochures or small booklets on your museum that could be purchased. No postcards of any of the trains here at all. Both of our favorite trains, the 490 and the 1604 Alleghany had no mention or any images in the shop. We actually couldn't believe it and inquired at the register where we were ruefully informed that our eyes were not playing tricks on us, and many others had also expressed their dismay. Why oh why do you not have any literature or images available in your store? There must have been many deeply dismayed folks as ourselves that have left your fine establishment and their final impression has been one of regret that there were no colorful postcards/posters of these amazing vehicles to show or mail to friends or family, or a brochure/booklet with information about the museum to read on the way home. Thank God I took some photos myself that I can now print for my mother to take home, and I shall have to do some research on the internet regarding train models as your web site is also sadly lacking.
We walked back to our car impressed at how wonderful it was to even have trains in the parking lot, but once again feeling sad as we discussed our lack of souvenirs of our favorite trains. So I've attached a couple of images for you to get started.
Please please, start blowing your own whistle, you have an incredibly memorable museum, don't let people forget their visits.

Sincerely,

Not a nasty letter in any sense but I never received a response which has really upset me. I sent another e-mail yesterday but don't expect a reply to that either. A sad yet typical example of customer service these days. I'll post a report if I ever hear from them, but as things stand now, I shan't be returning to the museum to give them more money. I'll just bring out my 490 pictures to moon over occasionally.

So I've been hounded by a couple of readers wanting to know about poor Mum's stitches so here's the story. When she shut the bathroom door firmly, a bunny ornament that had been nailed to the wall above the door fell down and landed on her head. There was quite a lot of blood coming from the wound but after applying pressure I managed to stop it which I was really relieved about as I'd been ready to call 911. I sat her on the sofa for a bit with a fleece round her but coudn't see the wound clearly so decided we'd have to go to the emergency room. And I'm glad we did. Mum had wanted me to just clean it but I was petrified about infection and as it turned out she had to have 3 stitches in her noggin.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=noggin

 

Mum was a real trooper and handled the whole episode extremely well. The doctor was superb and only shaved a tiny bit of hair away. We were given some ointment to put on it and told to have it checked after a few days and then stitches could be removed after 10 days. It healed quickly and never once had any redness. And she had blue stitches which matched her jeans, which was nice.

Poor Mum was more concerned about not being able to wash her hair as the ointment was quite greasy but she held up well and I was very impressed at how well she dealt with the whole incident. I'm sure some of my younger friends wouldn't have held up so well.

Mum comes to Marshall Part I

So with the house spic and span and mold issues finally resolved I was ready for Mum to arrive. My wonderful boss had set me up with a new laptop and internet as I would only be going into work one day a week and working a couple of days each week from home, as well as having a couple of days each week as vacation. I was really looking forward to Mum's visit as the last time we'd seen eachother was for Dad's funeral and it was going to be wonderful to have some happy times to spend with her. We had made no plans to see all my friends, we were both feeling that this was our time and we didn't really want to have our precious time with traveling to other peoples' houses or entertaining them ourselves. We spent all our time shopping, visiting local villages and towns, enjoying the fall colors of the countryside and simply just 'hanging out together'. There's no way I can remember what we did each single day of the month so this will be the highlights of the things we enjoying seeing together.

 We spent some time wandering around Marshall, looking at the antique and junk shops. We laughed at how everywhere we went there were stinkbugs. Mum, like me, didn't find them or their smell offensive and actually found them quite amusing, the way they bombed around sounding like little Messerschmitts and strolling casually across anything we wanted to look at. Mum loved the crafts on display in the stores and particularly the face on this little figurine. She wanted to buy it but we discovered it was missing part of a hand so decided not to.

Kota was very happy to see Grandma again.
We also went to a little local village called Orlean where we had a delicious simple lunch of soup and a sandwich.

 We nosed around the little craft shop there where Mum was delighted to find silk orange lanterns, something she couldn't find in England. We actually found more in Michaels and Joanna's Fabrics later so she went home with quite a large bunch.

 We had a fit of laughing in a Hallmark store, so loud that the staff couldn't contain their curiosity and had to come and investigate. We'd been looking at the cards and noticed that the Christmas cards were already out. I'd found a really pretty one with lots of sparkly bits and glitter on it and commented how I'd like to get that one for Christmas. So Mum said she'd get it for me and send it to me from her! We then tried to find that I could send to her but we were howling so much with the comic absurdity of picking out our own cards that we didn't manage to find one. We were still giggling in the car on the way home.

 Mum was pleased that I'd be cooking simple meals at Meadow House, neither of us are into rich fancy foods, so I threw together a stew in the crockpot. We had 8 different veggies in there besides the steak and I have to say it was delicious. Mum had mashed potatoes with the skins on for the first time, something I do all the time, and loved them. Rosie was fascinated with the heating elements in the oven and Kota joined Mum at the table for our meal.

 Mum was very taken with the next village along from Marshall, called The Plains. Robert Duvall lives here so we drove past his vast ranch on one trip here. We came to The Plains a few times as Mum loves the feel of the place. It has a couple of superb restaurants which we ate at a few times but Mum was most taken with the yarn shop there.

They had a knitting circle where even men sat clacking away with their needles. So many beautiful garments were hanging throughout the shop and the choice of wools was amazing. Lynn who runs the shop was extremely helpful and Mum bought wools to make scarves for herself and her friend Joy. I asked about knitting classes which they hold regularly, so I'm now thinking about fitting those somewhere into my free time during the winter months. Lynn also told us about a material shop in Marshall which I had no idea existed. We visited that too and was overwhelmed with the beautiful fabrics and trimmings filling the rooms. We also discovered a little quilting shop in Warrenton so that with these three little stores, Mum was quite overcome and singing the praises of the good ole USA. Nothing like these in England apparently!