Fredericksburg Sketches 606 Caroline Street Old Town Fredericksburg 373-7847
A visual Celebration of our community
By Casey Alan Shaw
www.gemstonecreations.org
FXBG’ERS meet jack rowley
Where Fredericksburg Gets Engaged
Give a Child Something to Think About
"Great leaders inspire others to reach for the stars, and sometimes they bring back the moon." ~ Unknown
Books, Games, Amusing Novelties M-Sat. 10am-6pm; Sun. 1pm-4pm
SKETCH #37: Moonlight on St. George’s This month at Art First Gallery on Caroline Street, I am the “featured” artist in the front of the Gallery. It is my first solo show in three years and this “sketch” was one of the first pieces I created for the new show. I still call it a sketch because, even though it is painted using oil paint, it was created on paper and it is a bit more experimental than if it was a finished painting. For this particular show, I took the opportunity to expand my horizons a bit and tackle some landscapes, mostly local scenes of the Rappahannock. This particular work I’m including because it was sort of a transition piece for me it still featured a local landmark, but the focus is less on the building and more on the atmosphere around it. With many of the other works in the show, I’ve abandoned my usual architectural focus entirely to let the natural beauty that surrounds our historic downtown take center stage. I hope you get a chance to stop by Art First and take a look. Let me know what you think. I’m sure I’ll continue to focus on sketching local buildings … that’s what inspired me to create so much art work over the past few years. But, for this particular show with the landscapes, you’ll see a side of my art that I haven’t shared before. Casey Alan Shaw is a local artist and Realtor. He exhibits his original artwork and limited-edition prints at Art First Gallery in downtown Fredericksburg and at www.caseyshaw.com.
Your Hometown Jeweler Since 1940
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
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November 2017
Front porch fredericksburg
I’m just a small town girl
by georgia Lee Strentz
Tuesday - Saturday 10-5 Wednesdays until 6:30 and by appointment
810 Caroline Street (540) 371-5684
From My Porch
After meeting Jack Rowley, I am sure this quote was written about him. If anyone can bring back a moon or inspire those around them to do so, it would be Jack, I am told by a little bird, (also a tireless volunteer member of our local Host Lions Club). His compassion is boundless. Many people in the club felt it was time Jack found out just how much his fellow Lions respect, admire and appreciate his nineteen tireless years of humanitarian work for the citizens of our Fredericksburg area. They want him to know that without his hours of devotion,and leadership, so many children and adults in our town, would not reach their potential, and go without even basic necessities of life. Jack hails originally from Maryland, where he grew up, graduated from the University of Baltimore, got his law degree and met his wife Patsy . They married and he began his career as a corporate executive moving them from Maryland to New Jersey, to Virginia ,Alabama, Connecticut, NY state, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Chicago, all while
raising four children. Fast-forward,when Jack left the corporate world many years later in 1999, he and Patsy started looking for a place to relocate and make a life change, They were looking for a certain size town, perhaps historical, and a bonus would be if it were close to their four children and five grandchildren. They visited our charming, historical town and it won their hearts, and it also happened to be close to most of their family. When they settled on their house, the attorney said, "When you get your horses settled, give me a call, as I think you might like to meet a group of outstanding people in our Host Lions Club here in Fredericksburg." Jack and Patsy got the horses settled, and Jack called the attorney. The rest is history as they say, nineteen years ago. An interesting point of fact about the Lions Club, in 1999, the Lions Club was an all-male organization. Jack nominated the first woman as a new member in 2004, and now today there are 12 women members. One of the wonderful projects the Lions Club sponsors, is the hearing and vision tests for children in our Fredericksburg City Schools. If the parents cannot afford glasses, the Lions Club buys the glasses for the child. The Lions Club members are trained to use the vision machines they bought to use for these wonderful,"life saving" tests, Jack has been a very active member for many years in The United Way, having served in most of the leadership roles. He Has been on the Stafford Economic Development Authority representing Hartwood District for fifteen years. He is director of the Rappahannock Area Community Services Board, and the Germanna College Education Foundation.. Jack is also is on The Board of Trustees for Mary Washington Healthcare. Jack asks that you come and see him and perhaps buy a tree for Christmas on Plank Road, right next to Big Lots, starting the Sat. after Thanksgiving. Call 540-226-4551 to volunteer to help sell trees! Christmas ornaments will be be sold through the Lions in our Fredericksburg schools
Whew, need a nap on my porch in the Fall sun, with an October issue of Front Porch!
By Jo Loving Living in a small town, one of the keys to survival was your imagination ~ Nick Nolte I grew up in a town in Florida’s Panhandle. Everyone knew my father or grandmother, and, in our neighborhood, everyone was everyone’s child. Whatever you said or did was subject to either praise or criticism, or punishment, as warranted. The families in our neighborhood viewed all children as their children, and we knew that we had best mind our manners or we would meet with the wrath of whichever parent happened to catch wind of the infraction. Much of the time, I escaped to the solitude and quiet of the treehouse and my mind. I was a quiet and solitary child. I’d spend hours there, reading about adventures in faraway places, writing poetry, daydreaming, doing homework, and using my slingshot with chinaberries from the neighbor’s tree. I was a stealth sniper, picking off anyone who intruded on my peaceable kingdom. Sometimes, it was my brother who felt the sting; sometimes, the neighborhood boys, who were being boys, making lots of noise and picking on my baby brother (who, I might add, may have deserved it, but he was my brother, after all). I’m not sure they ever knew where the sting came from – they didn’t know I was up there, as I was not given to a lot of noise-making. In any case, they didn’t come after me, so I was left to enjoy my lair (which, incidentally, was my brother’s treehouse, but that’s another story). I was an introvert – still am, to a certain extent. Such was my introversion that when I graduated, my father sent announcements to our neighbors, some of whom expressed that they didn’t know he had an older daughter. I had lived there since 2nd grade. My younger sister and brother were much more outgoing and were well known. You see, I was the dreamer, the quiet girl, the one who never brought home a pile of friends. I had friends, but I tended to enjoy one-on-one friendships, rather than groups. But in my imagination, I traveled. I was a sophisticated lady in France, or Spain, or Italy – somewhere in Europe. In my dream life, I threw lavish parties, invited muckety-mucks, and had beautiful music – always music, of a variety of genres. Long, intellectual and philosophical conversations flowed at these imaginary parties. A few years later, I would move from my small town with my children, carve out a life in a larger metropolitan area, travel, and, although I couldn’t exactly describe myself as sophisticated
and didn’t throw lavish parties – I attended many. I came out of my shell – sometimes, at least. The children enjoyed their exposure to a broader world, and, now grown, with children of their own, are at home in nearly any setting: small town, big city, whatever. After decades in this metropolitan life, I retired and moved back to the Florida Panhandle – to another small town; not the one in which I had been raised – that town had grown beyond its small-town sensibilities by then. So now, I live in a small fishing village that has a single traffic light, a grocery store, a couple of convenience-type multi-purpose stores, a couple of gas stations, a couple of hardware stores, a few bait shops, a couple of laundromats, a post office, and a gazillion churches. Much to my dismay, I like it here. I like the fact that people know about one another and care about one another. I like the river, its everchanging and never boring nature. I love belonging to a community. This, in my treehouse-imagining, was never an option I had entertained. Do I miss my metro area? Absolutely! I especially miss Fredericksburg, its natural beauty, its historic significance, its proximity to the nation’s capital and its cultural events. But since I’m retired, I can travel to see and do whatever I like. I visit Fredericksburg, DC, Maryland, and other places throughout the world. But when I come home, it is to my comfy cottage, with my husband and dog, to the friends I’ve made here, and to the river. I’m still a dreamer, but this life we have is better than my dreams. Jo Loving is on the porch this evening, ever the dreamer, planning her exotic travels, watching and listening to the neighbor’s menagerie of miniature horses, a pig, a full-sized horse, numerous chickens and geese, and their many children. Life is good in this small town!
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