The House & Home Magazine : July/Aug 2017

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your complete home resource guide and lifestyle magazine Essex • Northern Neck • Middle Peninsula • Gloucester • Richmond • Williamsburg

Stay Cool WITH SORBET

A Croquet Field of Dreams Edwards Virginia Smokehouse A Tender’s Open and Shut Life Knot Rite! www.thehouseandhomemagazine.com

July/August 2017

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July/August 2017

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Janet Evans Hinman

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ne of life’s greatest pleasures is watching our young people grow into fine human beings. Academic achievements are rewarding, sports accolades are a bonus, but when our kids evolve into the thoughtful, kind and caring citizens they are meant to be, it is uniquely satisfying. And it doesn’t happen by accident. It takes careful attention from parents, teachers, coaches, friends, neighbors and community leaders, as well as hard work and cooperation from the young people themselves.

The end of a school year is a season of awards.

Recognition is given to outstanding performances in a variety of activities. But the wider world rarely gives awards recognizing the simple success of being a good person — honorable, diligent, helpful, loving. And being a fine human being is no small achievement in today’s world.

Let’s make sure it doesn’t go unnoticed.

In a 2014 commencement address at the University of Texas, Naval Admiral William H. McRaven reminded the school’s 8,000 graduates of the university’s slogan: “What starts here changes the world.” He notes that the average American will meet 10,000 people in a lifetime.

“But, if every one of you changed the lives of just ten people, and each one of those folks changed the lives of another ten people, just ten, then in five generations, 125 years, the class of 2014 will have changed the lives of 800 million people … over twice the population of the United States. Go one more generation and you can change the entire population of the world — eight billion people,” he said. “If you think it’s hard to change the lives of 10 people, change their lives forever, you’re wrong,” he added.

Adm. McRaven went on to advise the graduates

that sometimes lives are changed by a good decision, an encouraging word, or a worthy deed.

With that in mind, congratulations to all the young people preparing to march out and change the world in ways big and small. We are proud of you. And special thanks to the folks who help them along their path. Well done!

Now that graduation season has passed, we can enjoy the next few months watching our kids prepare to take on fresh challenges and adventures, whether it’s a new grade level, college, a new job, or more grown-up responsibilities. It’s sure to be a happy and sentimental time, infused with optimism and nostalgia, and we don’t want to miss a minute of it!

In other business, this issue of The House and Home Magazine celebrates some of the delights of high summer. We investigate the fun of croquet on the lawn, then we chill out with some recipes for fruity sorbets and granitas. Of local interest are stories on bridge tenders and the unique red crab. We also feature an article on decorative knots, and highlight a regional institution with nationwide appeal, Edwards Virginia Smokehouse.

Our new and improved website is coming soon; be sure to look for it. As always, you can view our digital magazine at www.thehouseandhomemagazine.com. Enjoy this vacation season with family and friends. Whether you’re at the beach, sitting by the pool, or relaxing in your own backyard, take along your copy of The House and Home Magazine. We hope our stories entertain and inform. Make a note to pay a visit to one of our advertisers; they present the finest goods and services our area has to offer and they appreciate your business. Read on!

Congratulations Graduates!

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July/August 2017

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PUBLISHER James L. Blanks EDITOR Janet Evans Hinman CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Captain Bob Cerullo Janet Evans Hinman Kathryn Murray Dianne Saison Blake Slusser Deb Weissler Tyler C. Wind, M.D. ART DIRECTOR/DESIGNER Kirstin Canough ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE James L. Blanks: 804-929-1797 Cindy McBride: 540-229-6038 JLB Publishing, Inc. JLB PUBLISHING, INC. P. O. Box 2564 • Tappahannock, VA 22560 Office: 804-929-1797 • Fax: 1-888-747-2267 thehouseandhomemag@gmail.com

The House & Home Magazine is a free, four-color publication that specializes in providing home ideas, real estate, and lifestyle articles.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission from JLB Publishing, Inc. The information contained herein are opinions of sources and interviews.

JLB Publishing Inc. claims no reliability or accuracy to any information contained within. The House & Home Magazine is published for reference purposes only and is not materially responsible for errors.

The House & Home Magazine is published bimonthly and is distributed at over 500 locations throughout Essex, Northern Neck, Middle Peninsula, Gloucester, Richmond, and Mechanicsville as well as subscriptions, direct mail, and trade shows.

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July/August 2017

Contents

The House & Home Magazine • July/August 2017

www.thehouseandhomemagazine.com

14 13th Annual

46 The Great American

72 Red Crabs

18 A Croquet Field

52 Joy’s Garden 54 Callao Coffee Café 58 The Intriguing

80 Fine Properties 92 Small Incision.

Preakness Party of Dreams

24 Knot Rite!

28 7th Annual Derby Day

34 A Tender’s Open & Shut Life

40 Stay Cool

Ham Man Odyssey

Lemione-Griffith House

64 Seniors & Pets

A Culinary Adventure for Seafood Lovers

Big Relief.

What you should know about endoscopic carpal tunnel surgery

Man’s best friend in more ways than one

with Sorbet

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July/August 2017

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13th ANNUAL to benefit

Rappahannock Community College Educational Foundation Michael Douglas and Dixieann Chapman

Annual Preakness Party fundraiser nets $90,000 for the RCC Educational Foundation’s Mission

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n the beautiful afternoon of May 20, over 350 friends of Rappahannock Community College (RCC) gathered at historic “Millmont” on the shores of the Rappahannock River in Middlesex County for the 13th Annual Preakness Party. The event raises funds for the RCC Educational Foundation’s mission that focuses on providing an affordable and high quality RCC education for residents of the Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck.

Guests gathered to bid on silent and live auction items, enjoy food and drink from the very best local wineries and restaurants and watch a live feed of the Preakness Stakes on large television screens. A best hat contest during the festivities brought out the competitive spirit in many of the guests who donned enormous, colorful hats.

“The RCC Educational Foundation is so grateful to the event guests who support our mission to provide an affordable and high quality education to students in our economically challenged region,” said Sarah Pope, RCC’s Dean of College Advancement and Executive Director of the RCC Educational Foundation, Inc.

July/August 2017

The mission of RCC is to provide access to high quality educational experiences for members of its community, preparing them for success as learners, employees, and citizens of the 21st century.

Avery Wengler and Jackson Neal

Lauren Radabaugh and John Koontz

Brenda and Roy Gladding “We are amazed at their generosity as this year’s Preakness was the highest netting in the 13 year event history,” noted Pope.

“The Preakness fundraiser is successful because of the dedicated volunteers on our steering committee, including co-chairs Sue Farmar and Joni Lawler, our corporate sponsors, and the beautiful setting of the event venue provided this year by Marilyn and David South.”

The auction raised a record $90,000 to support RCC student scholarships and College programs.

In all, nine local restaurants donated their time and food for the event, including Eckhard’s Restaurant, Indian Creek Yacht & Country Club, Java Jack’s Coffee House and Restaurant, Lancaster Tavern, The Steamboat Restaurant at the Piankatank Golf Club, Stratford Hall, The Tides Inn, Tommy’s and RCC’s own Culinary Program, led by Chef Hatley Bright.

The Preakness Party also boasted several local wineries, including Good Luck Cellars, General’s Ridge and Ingleside, while Angelo’s restaurant in Montross sponsored the bar and the Chesapeake Bay Ice Company sponsored ice for all drinks. H The House & Home Magazine

Leslie Norris, RCC English professor, and Lisa Merritt, RCC Biology professor 15

Roger Anglin, Lisa Roberts, Arnie and Kathy Schulberg, Jody Anglin, and Judy and Pete Mansfield

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July/August 2017

Thank you to the 2017 Preakness Party Sponsors FIVE STAR SPONSOR

The Charles E. and Claire V. Sutcliffe Education Trust

3 STAR SPONSORS

Bank of Lancaster and Virginia Commonwealth Bank B.H. Baird Insurance Chesapeake Bank and Chesapeake Bank Wealth Management EVB Union Bank & Trust

RCC President Elizabeth Crowther presents Marilyn and David South, event hosts, with a pen and ink drawing of their home Millmont by artist Kathy Humphreys

2 STAR SPONSORS

Bevans Oyster Company, Inc. C&F Bank Eagle River Construction East West Investment Advisors, LLC Essex Bank Essex Concrete Corporation Frederick Northup, Inc. Jackson Neal, Jack Neal, Eugene Duffer Trust Northern Neck Lumber Co., Inc.

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Drew and Alicia Walker, Mike and Muriel Phaup, and Ernesto and Mariah Gonzalez share in the fun of the event

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A CROQUET

field of dreams

By Captain Bob Cerullo

If you build it, they will come!

“The first day I played, I realized the game was complicated enough that it was going to take me a while to learn how to play it and even longer to learn the strategy of the game,” he said. “And that is what I fell in love with.”

From left to right: Rich Watson, Wendy Hope, Macey White, Adrienne Lucke, and Jan Paul Hope 18

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ne might imagine, while driving down the treelined gravel road to what suddenly comes into view as a vast space of solid green grass, that someone has discovered a hidden corner of what might have been the playground of some PreRevolutionary War estate. Nestled between the Piankatank and Rappahannock rivers, this parcel may have belonged to an unknown colonist who brought with him his vast wealth and British traditions.

The reality is that just a half-dozen years ago, the land was an old peach orchard.

About five years ago, Macey White was invited by a friend to join him on a trip to play croquet. Macey had played around with the game as a child, with a traditional wooden croquet set so many children have received as Christmas gifts. The bent wire hoops and varnished wooden balls came neatly packed, along with varnished wooden mallets in a handy wooden rack. White, like so many generations of children, had found it impossible to really control the ball on the relatively rough turf of even a wellmaintained lawn. Macey White said, as a child he was always frustrated by the fact that he could never really control where the ball would land. The croquet set was relegated to storage.

White assumed that his friend was taking him to a backyard game of croquet and was surprised when he learned he would be participating in a formal croquet game at a serious croquet court.

White said that from the very first moment he took a modern-day croquet mallet in hand and hit the first ball, he knew he would grow to love the game of croquet. It was love at first sight. What he probably did not know at the time was just how deeply involved in croquet he would become and how quickly.

White said that he wished he had discovered his passion for the game of croquet when he was in his twenties.

In a very short time, he was traveling to croquet tournaments in Florida and anywhere else he could play. He was surprised to discover croquet is not a child’s game or a game for geriatrics. It is an The House & Home Magazine

adult game. “The first day I played, I realized the game was complicated enough that it was going to take me a while to learn how to play it and even longer to learn the strategy of the game,” he said.

“And that is what I fell in love with.”

The more White played, the more he liked it and the more he became “addicted” to the game. White has become a nationally ranked croquet player. Last year, he played in fourteen tournaments.

The United States Croquet Association (USCA) has a system called the Grand Prix, which ranks players based on their winning scores in games throughout the year played at places like the Meadow Club in South Hampton, NY, at the Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina, at clubs in Florida, at a host of resorts up and down the East Coast, and at Mission Hills in Palm Springs, California. White ranked seventh in the top sixty 2016 Grand Prix of croquet.

Like the Ray Kinsella character, in the 1989 blockbuster fantasy movie Field of Dreams, White had a dream. His dream was to become a highly skilled croquet player and to one day bring croquet to Hartfield, Virginia.

Soon, White interested friends like John Priest in playing croquet. Before very long, he and his friends got together to form what is known as the Chesapeake Bay Croquet Club located in Hartfield. The club is located on State Route 3, just off Twiggs Ferry Road, between the Piankatank River Bridge and the Hartfield firehouse.

White and some of his friends played at a court in Mathews, Virginia, but the turf needed work to bring it up to championship standards. They considered renovating the old court in Mathews; however, White said it was going to cost

Macey White about to shoot the ball through a wicket.

Photo courtesy of Bob Cerullo.

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Special greens mower cuts grass to smooth short length.

Photo courtesy of Bob Cerullo.

(left) Score is kept track of on colorful score board. (middle) The peg is a short pole used as a part of the croquet course. (right) Serious croquet players use a variety special mallets, some are wood and some are metal. Photos courtesy of Bob Cerullo.

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more to bring the court up to standard than it would have cost to build new courts in Hartfield. “We chose to build eight courts because you can run really nice tournaments on eight courts,” he said. “Eight courts make us the secondlargest croquet venue in the United States.” The CBCC is run according to the rules and regulations and standards of the United States Croquet Association.

The club’s goal was to build a worldclass croquet venue. Members started out with little more than Ray Kinsella had in the movie. In the case of the Chesapeake Bay Croquet Club (CBCC), there was no ghost of long-dead baseball player Shoeless Joe Jackson calling out from the cornfield for Kinsella to build a baseball field.

Rather, it was the contagious passion of Macey White for the game of croquet that was the driving force to turn an old peach orchard into what is now the secondlargest croquet venue in the country.

The Chesapeake Bay Croquet Club is converting the old peach-packing shed near the courts into a handsome clubhouse. When completed, the clubhouse will have bathrooms, locker rooms, an 1100 square-foot common area, a lounge, a

July/August 2017

kitchen and a wet bar for social gatherings.

According to John Priest, club vice president, the social side of croquet is a wonderful part of the sport. He says he constantly meets delightful and interesting people at the social gatherings as well as the games at the CBCC. In addition to the soon-tobe completed clubhouse, the group has facilities for as many as 120 members and guests for sit-down dinners, dancing and other events. The meals that are served at various events will always include local seafood as a choice for dinners, as well as home-cooked breakfasts and courtside lunches every day.

To play croquet, there must be grass.

Not just any grass, but grass that is highly manicured to a point of perfection in excess of even some of the finest golf course greens. Croquet also requires the courts to be level. CBCC first removed all the trees from the proposed two-acre field, then called a ground-leveling contractor to use a special bulldozer that is laser guided to bring the ground to a level of plus or minus one-quarter inch. Once level, the ground had to be planted with a special grass to achieve the carpet-like croquet court surface.

White encourages those who feel they might have an interest in playing the modern six-wicket game of croquet to stop by the club on a Wednesday or Sunday afternoon. He promises to provide interested people with a brief summary of how the game is played and get them involved in a doubles game with an experienced player who acts as coach.

The coach will provide the beginner a hands-on demonstration of how to hit the various shots of croquet and guide the new player through a game or two of real croquet. The club endeavors to provide a fun atmosphere where beginners will not feel pressured. They will have fun while learning what the various croquet terms are about, as well as how the game is played and basic shots like a “roquet” and a “croquet.” The club will provide the professional-quality mallets needed and of course the “wickets” or hoops through which the colored balls will be hit.

White contends that you cannot get any sense of how intriguing and exciting the game of croquet is until you have actually had a mallet in your hands and played the game several times. He says that the American version of croquet is a faster game than what is played in The House & Home Magazine

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Britain. He believes the American version of croquet requires more strategy and is a faster version, at about 70 minutes per game compared to the average two hours it takes to play the British version.

Regulation croquet courts are 105 feet long by 84 feet wide and CBCC has eight.

Each court has six wickets or hoops that are made of five-eighths inch steel and made to provide about one-eighth inch of clearance for the ball to pass through.

You start the game at one end and try to score as many wickets as possible before time runs out. Good players can hit their opponents’ balls and send them to places on the court that allow them to score many wickets in one turn. There are four colored balls in the game, and they play in the order of blue, red, black and yellow. Blue and black play together as a team, and red and yellow play together.

In singles, you would play both balls on a team and in doubles each person would play one ball.

If you hit any other of the three balls in play with your ball, including your partner’s ball, that is called a “roquet.”

You then take your ball in hand and place it against the ball you hit and you get two more shots. White warns that you never, ever put your foot on one ball and hit it. That is a major no-no in the sport of croquet and not an advantage. The player first goes around the course in a clockwise direction getting the ball through each of the wickets. The direction is reversed at the center stake and played in a counter-clockwise direction.

White is quite expert at making the croquet balls do incredible things. He demonstrated that he could hit two balls, one placed behind the other in what is called the “croquet shot,” and cause each ball to go just about anywhere on the court he wanted them to go. Croquet players can also jump their ball over other balls they don’t want to hit. That kind of expertise has placed him in the top ranks of Grand Prix croquet.

For anyone interested in playing croquet, White and the CBCC members encourage you to visit on a Wednesday or Sunday afternoon (after 1 p.m.) and watch or participate in a game or the social events associated with croquet play — like wine and wickets or cookouts on the grill. Priest points out that the CBCC has an active social agenda. CBCC has three major tournaments this year during 22

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Carefully manicured and level lawns are an essential part of the game of croquet. which six-wicket and golf croquet will be played and will attract players from all over the US and Canada. After the games, there will be receptions featuring such things as steamed crabs, rockfish and oysters, as well as red meats, poultry, and veggies for the vegans. White points out that for many people the social aspect of the sport is equally important as the actual game.

White admits he wants to play well, but enjoys the social aspect too. He says croquet combines the challenges of chess, pool and golf, all in one non-impact sport played outdoors.

Croquet is a great low-impact exercise for both the body and the mind.

The lawns are a full-time job for the grounds keepers at the CBCC. They use mowers specially designed for golf courses to keep the Bermuda grass trimmed to 0.15 inches. It must be mowed three times a week and watered daily in summer. White says the lawn is the key to the game of croquet. The lawns at the CBCA are world class and competitive with the best in the United States.

The Chesapeake Bay Croquet Club in Hartfield is a fascinat-

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ing and elegant venue on the way to being one of the best croquet clubs in the country. They built it and people are coming. It is well worth a trip to see how a game that has its origins in history going back to the 1300s in places like Ireland, England, France and Italy is played. No one is entirely sure where it all started. However, its very longevity tends to prove that it has been enjoyed by men and women of all levels of socioeconomic standing for centuries. It is called croquet, but the real name of the game is fun for adults of all ages.

For more details, email Macey White at maceywhite@ gmail.com, or find the Chesapeake Bay Croquet Club on Facebook. Get information about the sport of croquet online at www.croquetamerica.com/. White says come on down to the Chesapeake Bay Croquet Club and try your hand at playing the game. You too might, as Macey White did, find what is obviously a great joy in life. The good news is White and the members of the Chesapeake Bay Croquet Club are eager to share that joy and welcome visitors on Wednesday and Sunday afternoons starting at 1:00 p.m. H

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Spotting a pleasure boat sporting the moniker Knot Rite, my first thought was “that’s not spelled right.” Then it occurred to me that the word rite was quite correct, for tying a proper knot is a rite of sorts and one that has been practiced for eons.

Knot Rite!

By Deb Weissler

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ith exotic names like Turk’s Head, Monkey’s Fist, Lark’s Head, and Cuckolds’ Neck, a knot (and other rope work) can be fashioned exactly right or hopelessly wrong. They are as old as humankind and practically everyone living today has tied one. I pondered that fact as I thought about their impact on the world. In fact, without knots the world would quite literally fall apart. Since the dawn of time, we’ve fashioned some form of knot to help hold our world together.

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July/August 2017

Nothing is more bewildering or fascinating to a landlubber than watching the deft moves of a seasoned sailor as they create ties, hitches, and bow lines when making their vessel fast to a dock or mooring.

Spotting a pleasure boat sporting the moniker Knot Rite, my first thought was “that’s not spelled right.” One of several homophones to be sure; the English language is filled with them: right, rite, wright, and write in this case. Then it occurred to me that the word rite was quite correct, for tying a proper knot is a rite of sorts and one that has been practiced for eons.

The history of ropes and knots, splices, lashings, and hitches began in the dim past and little is known about their origins.

Ancient humanoids used fibers and vines and ingeniously tied this material together. Their own twists and turns likely supplied the first examples that gave man his first idea about knots.

Prehistoric carvings and decorations feature knots of various forms in their friezes, proving ropes and rope work have been interwoven into many facets of man’s daily lives.

Tradesmen perfected the art while songs and stories praised their strength and steadfastness. Ancient Greek tales of great odysseys wouldn’t be complete without their Gordian Knot; the Bible mentions ropes in dozens of verses; and knots appear as symbols and badges of ancient Celtic heraldry, to name a few examples.

Still, despite their intrinsic link to mankind, at first glance it’s hard to imagine how anyone could fill eight volumes with over 1,900 handwritten pages and drawings about knots. Yet Henry North Grant Bushby (1863-1926) spent more than two decades creating a voluminous tome entitled Notes on Knots that was never formally published but now resides in the library gallery of the prestigious Mariners Museum in Newport News.

Thanks to the generosity of his daughter, Dorothy, who donated her father’s manuscripts in 1957, Bushby provided The House & Home Magazine

a detailed discussion of rope work, along with carefully handdrawn illustrations. Drawing on often obscure sources and careful research, the volumes advance through mankind’s countless link with knots and, unless your life has revolved entirely around Velcro and slip-on shoes, you can begin at your own feet.

Your shoes were likely the first knots you ever learned to tie.

The shoelace or bowknot is a simple half-hitch with those twin bunny-ear loops that keep your feet snugly wrapped, but with an ingenious release that can free them in an instant. Glance in the mirror and you may find more knots—the belt on your morning robe, the knot in your necktie, your plaited braid or your favorite sweater. Whether cotton, twine, wool, acrylic, or nylon, everyone is held together with knots. Even that loaf of bread waiting on your dining table may be tied into a knot.

From surgical stitches to suspensions bridges, the world depends on knots and cordage. They may be ancient technology but are indispensable in today’s world. On NASA’s Mars rover, Curiosity, cables are bundled and tied down with a form of reef knot, used by mariners for thousands of years to trim their sails. Closer to home, in a region that revolves around rivers and creeks, the humble knot is invaluable to working and pleasure boaters alike.

Nothing is more bewildering or fascinating to a landlubber than watching the deft moves of a seasoned sailor as they create ties, hitches, and bow lines when making their vessel fast to a dock or mooring. At sea, a boat’s speed is measured in knots.

Today’s onboard electronics take the guesswork out of knowing how fast one is moving, but for centuries mariners used a variety of rope techniques to determine their speed.

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By the 17th century, seamen measured the speed of their vessel using a device called a Dutch or common log. A coil of rope tied with evenly spaced knots, and attached to a wedge-shaped piece of wood, was lowered from the stern and allowed to float behind it. The line played out for a specified period of time as determined by an hourglass. At the end of that time, the rope was pulled aboard and the number of knots on the rope between the ship and the wood counted. The ship’s speed was said to be the number of knots counted. A knot, or one nautical mile, was standardized in 1929 at 6,076 feet; 796 feet longer than a land mile.

To pass the long hours of a ship’s voyage in the days of sail, seamen from England, Spain, and other great sailing nations kept busy between watches tying decorative knots, which they would sell to residents and travelers at seaport towns. Most seamen were illiterate and rope was plentiful. Knots were a product of boredom.

Knot boards, bell ropes, lanyards, buttons, boat fenders, chest handles, hammocks, even candlesticks and chalices were intricately woven from Manila rope, hemp, and rattan. This fancy work provided extra income for seamen and useful and decorative items for hanging inside or outside one’s home.

These remnants of maritime culture have all but vanished; a few fine examples carefully curated in museums and private collections. Today, the International Guild of Knot Tyers brings together people with interests in knots and knotting techniques.

With over 800 members worldwide, Guild members come from all walks of life.

Begun in England with just 25 individuals more than three decades ago, the Guild hosts meetings, knotting events, and festivals to help promote the practice, science, and art of knotting. Sadly, as the generations pass, the number of practitioners wanes.

In Wake, in Middlesex County, Guild member Fred Dant has been enamored with knots since he was a teenager in the early ‘60s. Hanging out at Garrett’s Marina, Dant’s grandfather taught him how to create a proper eye splice (a permanent loop in the end of a rope). Dant would watch for boaters returning to the marina that had a mess of tangled, ragged lines and would offer to make them a perfect splice for a dollar apiece. Once he had enough 26

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money to fill his five gallon gas can, he would fill his skiff’s motor, and off he’d go, until he ran out of gas and needed a tow home.

At seventeen Dant enlisted in the Navy and became a boatswain’s mate, where he learned to tie more knots. He admired a fellow sailor’s Turk’s Head key fob and learned how to tie it, half hitches, and other decorative knots. Mustered out, Dant became involved with teaching Boy Scouts how to knot, collected knot tying books, and began making Monkey’s Fists and knot boards he sold as fast as they were finished. In the 1990s, he taught knotting classes throughout the region that were extremely popular. Now an active septuagenarian, Dant continues to accept commissions and is still tied up in knots!

“Anyone can learn to tie a knot,” says Dant. “Check out the Guild’s website and you will find links to some of the best knot tying sites on the web. There are clubs all over the world, including the USA.” The Internet is filled with video tutorials and numerous books have been written on the subject. As you glance around, how many knots do you see? It’s impossible to think about our world without acknowledging the humble knot.

If you’re not into boating or tying your own knots, just look around at our ever-popular coastal décor. Pillows, rugs, bedding, cocktail accoutrements, art work, and clothing all sport a variety of decorative knots.

So, do sailors actually tie knots? Dant laughs and offer’s his sailor’s perspective:

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A splice is put in.

A rope made fast to an object with a hitch.

Two ropes are bent together.

A knot is put in, made, or cast in a rope.

A sailor takes a turn and he belays.

He claps on a stopper.

He slacks away and casts off a line.

He clears a tangle.

He opens a jammed knot.

He works a Turks Head or a Sinnet.

But the only time he ties is when his voyage is over and he ties up to a wharf.

We think that says it all!

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Special thanks to Fred Dant, who taught me how to tie a proper Monkey’s Fist years ago.

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SEVENTH ANNUAL

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Derby Day

July/August 2017

THANK YOU FOR MAKING THE SEVENTH ANNUAL “WINE & RUN FOR THE ROSES” WINE AUCTION AT THE MUSCARELLE MUSEUM OF ART A HUGE SUCCESS

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n just seven years since its inception, Wine & Run for the Roses has become a notto-be-missed event for wine and derby aficionados from throughout the region.

In these seven short years, the museum has raised over $2.2 million to support the programing of the Museum. In that time, world-class exhibitions and educational programs have been made possible due to the volunteers, patrons and sponsors of this stellar event.

A special thanks to all of our sponsors, including MCV Foundation VCU Health as the presenting sponsor this year. Thanks also go to our fantastic auctioneer Mark Motley with our color man Butch Barr who provided knowledgeable and lively commentary during the live auction of the event. We also want to thank our Master Sommelier Fran Kysela who served as master of ceremonies. Our gratitude is extended to the wonderful sponsors of the event.

Don’t forget to mark your calendar for the Eighth Annual Wine & Run for the Roses on May 5, 2018!

For more information about the event is available at www.wm.edu/muscarelle/wineauction.

About the Muscarelle Museum of Art The Muscarelle Museum of Art is located at 603 Jamestown Road on the campus of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. For more information, call 757-221-2700 or visit www.wm.edu/muscarelle. The Museum is open from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and noon until 4:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. The Museum is closed on Mondays.

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Gwynn’s Island Bridge. Photo by Harold Weissler.

OpenLIFEShut A Tender’s &

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y fingers tapped impatiently on my steering wheel as I waited for the Gwynn’s Island Bridge to close. It was the second time that hot summer day I had been caught by an opening. As I glanced up at the tiny tender’s shack perched atop the structure, I couldn’t help but wonder what the bridge tenders did up there all day when not opening and closing the bridge.

In talking to others, it’s a common thought shared by many who wait at similar barriers across southeastern Virginia. Hidden from view at the water’s edge, at that moment the bridge tender has complete control of both vehicular and maritime traffic. Does he feel that sense of responsibility and is he aware of the impatient drivers waiting down below? I decided to find out.

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By Deb Weissler

Jim Landerkin, veteran bridge tender at both the Gwynn’s Island and Eltham bridges, is well aware of the motorists backed up down below. Many are lifelong neighbors. Others are seasonal or visiting for the first time. A few provide unexpected drama.

“We’ve had automobile drivers run through the gates,” Jim laughs, “which is kind of surprising because there is a red light and bell on the mainland and island sides, plus a physical barrier that comes down. Quite often a pleasure boater will misjudge the eleven foot nine inch clearance at median high tide, snapping off an antenna mast or fishing poles, or they may hit the fender system.” The tenders have seen it all.

Manned twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week by employees of U.S. Facilities, the 204 foot swing span opens more than 3,000 times a year to allow the Coast Guard, watermen, and pleasure boats to traverse the

July/August 2017

A bridge tender often catches tiny snapshots into people’s personal lives as they drive over or pass through their bridge. It’s a unique perspective and one of the fringe benefits of the job.

maintain bridges and structures in their road network. Two counties in Virginia, Arlington and Henrico, also maintain their own road networks.

Bridge tending requires skills and training best left to a specialized workforce. In a competitive bid process, U.S. Facilities Inc. currently has an operations contract for Gwynn’s Island and Eltham bridges, as well as the Benjamin Harrison Bridge in the Richmond District.

There are eight moveable bridges in Virginia: Gwynn’s Island; Eltham Bridge in West Point; Benjamin Harrison Memorial Bridge in Hopewell; James River Bridge in Newport News; Coleman Bridge in Gloucester; Berkley and High Rise bridges in Norfolk; and Chincoteague Island Bridge. Six of the eight bridges are manned full time, and both the Gwynn’s Island and Eltham bridges fall under the purvey of VDOT’s Fredericksburg District.

U.S. Facilities employs four full-time bridge tenders to man the Gwynn’s Island Bridge: Landerkin, a thirteen year employee retired from Newsday; Ed Crocker, a twenty-one year employee who once manned the Eltham Bridge full time; James Mitchem a thirteen year veteran

and retired firefighter from Newport News Shipbuilding; and Brent Nelson, who has been employed by U.S. Facilities for two years.

There are also four part-time on-call tenders if needs arise. Three of the eight tenders are currently certified to open the Eltham Bridge.

At first glance, the life of a bridge tender may appear dull and lonely, and there are certainly long hours spent gazing out at the horizon between openings.

Rotating shifts enable the four tenders to experience both daytime and nighttime traffic, weekdays and weekends. But the four are quick to say that they stay busy with a variety of tasks and training. They also have some of the best views in southeastern Virginia.

“We have log books that record the daily activities, reports to file if there is an incident, open and close the bridge on demand, housekeeping, and routine light maintenance on the bridge house itself,” says Landerkin, pointing out his daily duties. James Shaw, U.S. Facilities Safety Officer, adds, “Monthly we do a short tool box talk. They go through regular safety training, first aid including being CPR

swift currents of Milford Haven Inlet that flow under the Gwynn’s Island Bridge in Mathews County.

The tenders monitor channel 13 on the marine band VHF radio so that boaters can alert the tenders when they require an opening. The Coast Guard can come through at any time of the day or night, and work boats often head out well before dawn. In summer, pleasure boat traffic accounts for the vast majority of the daily openings.

The Virginia Department of Transportation maintains bridges and structures on state-maintained roadways, except in cities that

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Gwynn’s Island tender house. Photo by Harold Weissler.

certified, and flagger training. During bad weather, we may implement an emergency action plan.”

To qualify as tender, one must pass a Virginia State Police security background check, spend ten days performing ten openings, and then undergo a verbal exam. Knowledge of hand tools and the ability to climb ladders is a must. Most jobs are filled by word-of-mouth and retirees and veterans are always desirable.

Despite having to wait for the bridges to open and close, it was not always so easy or convenient for travelers to access the other side. Let’s look back at the way it used to be.

Gwynn’s Island Bridge For most Mathews County residents there’s always been a bridge across Milford Haven, but that has not always been the case. The first bridge to link the island to the mainland was completed in 1939.

Prior to the mid-1880s, residents relied on canoes and skiffs to get across. Many had horse-drawn vehicles stabled at various points on the mainland to which they rowed to and from, towing their horses behind.

In an interview with a local newspaper some years ago, the late Thomas E. Edwards recalled how he used to feel sorry for their horse because winter days were certainly cold, but claimed the horse didn’t seem to mind. “When first he was learning to swim the channel, he tried to keep his head out like a man. But after he got used to it, he got smart and would just lazy along, expecting us to pull him.

Many is the time he would just lie on his side in the water with his head a little ways out, and we would have to pull him the whole way,” Edwards recalled.

In 1883, the residents of Gwynn’s Island and folks on the mainland decided that a ferry was in order. A benefit dinner kicked off a fundraising effort and by 1885 a hand-powered cable ferry, large enough the carry two buggies and a small cart, had been installed. Hired ferrymen or residents operated the vessel as needed.

With the advent of gasoline engines, the hand-powered ferry was upgraded with the addition of a boat with a 5hp motor that was lashed alongside. This conveyance was eventually retired when a larger ferry made the crossing from Callis’ 36

July/August 2017

Wharf to Cricket Hill. Later, a state-owned and operated ferry took over until a bridge over Milford Haven Inlet was built 1939.

At 729 feet long with a 204 foot moveable swing span, this bridge carries an average of 2,400 vehicles a day and opens to marine traffic more than any other moveable bridge in Virginia.

Opening and closing takes six to ten minutes, depending on the size and speed of the vessel passing through its eighty foot opening.

Eltham Bridge For those who relied on the Eltham Bridge prior to 2007, frustration and impatience was par for the course. Vehicular traffic over the Pamunkey River, linking New Kent County and the town of West Point, often experienced long delays during openings. Countless barge traffic, destined for the paper mill upriver, required the bridge to open several times a day. Once a barge was sighted at the point where the York and Pamunkey rivers converge, the bridge would open regardless of the vessel’s speed. It often took a quarter hour or more for the barge to reach the bridge and one could snatch a nap while waiting.

With an average of 19,000 vehicles daily, any opening created miles-long backups.

The first two-lane wooden Bruce Bridge was built in 1926, replacing ferry service across the river. Residents remember the nail-biting trip across as laden log trucks thundered by in the opposite and extremely narrow lane. The old span was replaced in 1957 but, over the years, time and exposure to the elements

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Eltham bridge tender house. Photo courtesy of VDOT.

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Eltham Bridge opening for tug and barge with crane.

Photo courtesy of VDOT led to frequent maintenance issues.

Its low deck clearance required openings for even the smallest vessels heading upriver. At 2,337 feet long and with a vertical clearance of just eleven feet, its swing span was no longer adequate. A higher, wider, moveable bascule bridge would limit the number of openings and traffic disruptions, and rail service to the paper mill would no longer block the highway at the foot of the bridge.

The current Eltham Bridge was built in 2007. At 5,357 feet long and a fifty-five foot vertical clearance, the bridge rarely has to open. The U.S. Coast Guard allows VDOT to request four

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hours advance notice from mariners prior to opening the span.

This allows VDOT to notify motorists of potential delays. Even though it opens infrequently for marine traffic, it is opened twice, once a month (first on shore power and then on generator) for general maintenance, cleaning, and bridge tender training.

The tender house is no longer staffed full-time, but U.S. Facilities provides on-call personnel as needs arise. Opening and closing the bascule bridge (think teeter totter) takes 15-20 minutes, based on the size and speed of the vessel passing through.

In addition to bridge maintenance, log trucks crossing the bridge drop enormous amounts of debris on the bridge daily.

Who’s responsible for cleaning up the mess? “VDOT cleans it up once a month and before every opening,” says Alvin Balderson, VDOT Bridge Maintenance Program Manager. “We pick up the large debris by hand and rent a sweeper truck to clean up the smaller stuff. It’s a public roadway so it’s our nickel”, and ultimately the Virginia taxpayers’.

The off-seasons bring the tenders some down time to occasionally read or reflect. Nature provides an ever-changing landscape. A bridge tender often catches tiny snapshots into people’s personal lives as they drive over or pass through their bridge. It’s a unique perspective and one of the fringe benefits of the job. H Special thanks to Kelly Hannon, VDOT Communications Manager, for providing technical information and liaison between VDOT, U.S. Facilities, and myself that made this story possible. Thanks to the Mathews County Public Library.

July/August 2017

U.S. Facilities Inc. bridge tenders: L to R: Jim Landerkin, Ed Crocker, and Brent Nelson. Photo courtesy of U.S. Facilities Inc.

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Stay Cool with

sorbet

A Refreshing Summertime Treat

By Janet Evans Hinman

To make a smooth and refreshing sorbet, you only need a basic template to follow and a little creativity. The golden rule of sorbet? Start with good fruit and don’t goof it up.

But, if you do, no worries

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HOW TO MAKE SORBET hen you have a glut of fresh fruit, warm WITH ANY FRUIT summer days and a little initiative, Makes eight servings (one quart) sorbets are the answer. This frozen Ingredients: delight is usually made with fruit and is almost • 2 pounds fresh fruit (4-5 cups after prepping and slicing); always dairy and fat free; but the strictest defini• 1 cup sugar; • 1 cup water; tion is simply a syrup of sugar and water that’s • 1 to 4 tablespoons lemon juice. churned and frozen — sometimes in an ice Directions: cream maker, but you can make it with a If using an ice cream maker, freeze the machine’s freezer bowl good stand mixer or food processor and for at least 24 hours before making the sorbet. Wash and dry the time in the freezer. fruit. Cut away or remove any rinds, peels, pits, seeds, stems, or other To make a smooth and refreshing sorbet, non-edible parts of the fruit. Slice the fruit into bite-sized pieces. You you only need a basic template to follow should have around five cups of chopped fruit, though a little more or and a little creativity. The golden rule of less is fine. sorbet? Start with good fruit and don’t goof Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer it up. But, if you do, no worries! Sorbet’s over medium-high heat, stirring gently once or twice. Simmer until the sugar closest cousin is granita, a slushy, fruity is completely dissolved in the water, about five minutes. Remove from heat confection which stops just short of a and allow to cool. snow cone. And who doesn’t love a good Combine the fruit and 1/2 cup of the cooled simple syrup in a blender, the snow cone in the summertime? When bowl of a food processor, or in a mixing bowl with a hand blender. Reserve the you feel the need to stick your face in remaining syrup. Blend the fruit and syrup until the fruit is completely liquefied the freezer every hour or so, granita is and no more chunks remain. the way to go.

If your fruit contains small seeds (like strawberries or raspberries), or is very fiWith ice cream, a combination of brous (like mangos or pineapples), strain it through a fine-mesh strainer to remove fat, protein and sugar all influence the solids. Gently stir with a spoon as you strain, but don’t force the solids through texture, but with sorbet, sugar is the the strainer.

Test the sugar levels with the egg-float test. Stir in one tablespoon of lemon juice. star of the show. Sugar doesn’t just Taste the sorbet base and add more lemon juice if it tastes too sweet and bland. sweeten sorbet, it’s also responsible Cover the sorbet base and refrigerate until very cold, at least one hour or overnight. for the sorbet’s structure. When you Pour the chilled base into the bowl of an ice cream machine and churn. Condissolve sugar in water, you get a tinue churning until the sorbet is the consistency of a thick smoothie. Transfer syrup with a lower freezing point the sorbet to freezable containers and cover. Freeze for at least four hours, until than water alone, and the sweeter the the sorbet has hardened. To serve, let the sorbet soften for a few minutes on the syrup, the lower the freezing point counter, then scoop into serving bowls. becomes. As water starts to freeze in a syrup, the unfrozen water becomes, Sorbet Variations in effect, a more concentrated syrup.

After simmering the simple syrup to dissolve the sugar, add any of the folThis process continues until you have lowing to infuse the syrup while it cools — fresh herbs, cinnamon sticks, vaa bunch of small ice crystals in a sea nilla beans, cardamom, fresh ginger, lavender, or any other aromatic ingrediof syrup so concentrated that it’ll never ent.

To improve texture and for a pop of flavor, add one to three tablespoons really freeze. of wine, beer, or other liquor along with the simple syrup when blending You can test the sugar levels in a sorbet the fruit. base with an “egg-float” test. Wash and dry To add creaminess, blend 1/4 to 1/2 cup of any of the following along a large egg. Gently lower the egg, still in with the simple syrup when blending the fruit: coconut milk, heavy its shell, into the sorbet base. Look for just cream, evaporated milk, yogurt, buttermilk, sour cream, or any other a small nickel-sized round of shell to show favorite creamy ingredient. (If you don’t mind adding fat calories.) above the liquid. This indicates that you have the perfect balance of juice and sugar. If you see Without an Ice Cream Maker less shell, stir in a little more sugar syrup. If you see If you have an ice cream machine, good for you! Just more shell (quarter-sized), stir in a little water or fruit pour the mixture into the bowl and let the machine do juice. Store leftover simple syrup in the refrigerator. all the work. If you don’t, pour the mixture onto a You can use it for cocktails later, or as a sweetener for cookie sheet with raised sides and freeze until set. iced tea.

Then break up the frozen mixture and blend Sorbet recipes often call for alcohol, sometimes as little in the food processor until smooth. Freeze as a tablespoon, to improve texture. Alcohol reduces the and blend again for an ultra-smooth mixture’s freezing point, thus making the sorbet softer and consistency.

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who doesn’t love a good snow cone in the summertime?

When you feel the need to stick your face in the freezer every hour or so, granita is the way to go.

easier to scoop. And the more alcohol you add, the softer the sorbet gets, until you add so much that the mixture’s freezing point is literally too cold to freeze in a conventional freezer. (You start hovering around this danger zone when you use more than five tablespoons of 80 proof alcohol per quart.) Also, it’s important to note that alcohol-fortified sorbets are less stable, so they melt fast and have a tendency to re-freeze harder and icier than when they were first churned.

As a part of a healthy diet, sorbet is the clear winner over ice cream, although it’s a good bet that you’re not choosing your dessert for its health benefits. Most sorbet has zero fat, as opposed to ice cream — most of which has about five to seven fat grams per 2.5-ounce serving. Sorbet has about 80 calories per 2.5 ounces, compared to ice cream’s 140-150 calories. Sorbet has more sugar than ice cream, and less calcium, vitamin A, and iron; but sorbet is significantly higher in vitamin C (because it’s loaded with fruit). H 42

July/August 2017

STRAWBERRY-BLACK PEPPER SORBET Makes 12, 1/2-cup servings

Ingredients: • 1 cup sugar; • 1 cup water; • 2 tablespoons coarsely crushed black peppercorns; • 6 cups sliced strawberries (about two pounds); • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice.

Directions: Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan; bring to a boil, stirring occasionally until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Stir in peppercorns; let stand 20 minutes.

Strain sugar syrup through a fine sieve into a bowl; discard solids. Place half of sugar syrup, half of sliced strawberries, and fresh lemon juice in a blender and process until smooth. Pour pureed mixture into a bowl. Repeat the procedure with remaining sugar syrup and sliced strawberries.

Pour mixture into the frozen base of an ice cream maker.

Process according to manufacturer’s instructions. Spoon sorbet into a freezer-safe container. Cover and freeze four hours or until firm. (You can also follow the instructions for processing the sorbet without an ice cream maker.)

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PINEAPPLE SORBET (Mango, melon, or a combination, works well in this recipe too.)

Makes nine 1/2-cup servings

Ingredients: • 1 small pineapple, peeled, cored and cubed (5 cups of mango or melon, or a combination, are good substitutes); • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice; • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar; • Mint sprigs for garnish.

SPIKED PEACH LIMEADE GRANITA Makes about eight, 1-cup servings

Ingredients: • 4 cups water; • 3 cups peach slices (about three medium peaches); • 1 1/3 cups sugar; • 6 mint leaves; • 1 1/3 cups fresh lime juice; • 3/4 cup rum; • Extra peach slices; • Fresh mint sprigs.

Directions: Directions: Cut fruit into two-inch cubes. Place fruit and lemon juice in a food processor; process until smooth. Add sugar; process one minute or until sugar dissolves.

Pour mixture into the frozen bowl of an ice cream machine and process according to manufacturer’s instructions (or follow instructions for processing without an ice cream maker). Spoon sorbet into a freezer-safe container. Cover and freeze one hour or until firm.

Serve and garnish with mint sprigs.

Combine first four ingredients in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer for five minutes.

Cool and discard mint. Place half of peach mixture in a blender; process until smooth. Pour pureed peach mixture into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish. Combine remaining peach mixture, juice and rum in a blender; process until smooth. Add to baking dish.

Freeze eight hours, or until firm. Remove mixture from freezer; scrape entire mixture with a fork until fluffy. Scrape and stir until desired consistency is achieved. Garnish with peach slices and mint sprigs.

WATERMELON MOJITO GRANITA Makes eight servings

Ingredients: • 6 cups watermelon cut into 1-inch cubes; • 3/4 cup light rum (can substitute water for a non-alcoholic version); • 2/3 cup lime juice (about eight limes); • 1/2 cup sugar; • 1/2 cup loosely packed mint leaves (about 10 large leaves).

Directions: Place all ingredients into a large pot or bowl.

Puree in a blender until smooth. Transfer pureed mixture into a 9x13-inch baking pan covered with plastic wrap and place it in the freezer. Freeze for one hour. Using a spoon or fork, scrape the ice crystals that have formed around the edges of the pan and stir the mixture well. Return the pan to the freezer. Repeat the scraping and stirring process every hour until the mixture is slushy and frozen (usually 3-4 hours). Transfer granita to a freezer-safe container. Serve with a garnish of mint.

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July/August 2017

BASIL LIMONCELLO SORBET Makes one quart

Ingredients: • 1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves, plus additional baby leaves for garnish; • 1 1/2 cups sugar; • 1 1/4 cups fresh lemon juice (from about eight lemons) plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon zest, plus additional zest for garnish; • 1/2 cup corn syrup; • 2 tablespoons limoncello; • Pinch of salt.

Directions: Place basil leaves in a medium bowl. Pour two cups of boiling water over the leaves and steep for at least 20 minutes.

Remove basil leaves, squeezing them over the water to release all of the juices.

Prepare a large bowl of ice water and set aside. Pour the basil water into a small saucepan, add the sugar and bring to a boil. When the sugar has dissolved, remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice and zest, corn syrup, limoncello and salt. Transfer to a medium bowl and set in the bowl of ice water. Stir until cold.

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Pour the lemon mixture into an ice cream machine and churn according to he manufacturer’s directions, or follow instructions for processing without an ice cream machine. Transfer to a freezer-safe container and store in the freezer until firm, three to four hours. Scoop the sorbet into serving dishes and garnish with lemon zest and fresh baby basil leaves.

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Edwards Virginia Smokehouse 46

Edwards Virginia Smokehouse President Sam W. Edwards III

The

Great American HAM MAN Odyssey

By Janet Evans Hinman

T

he story of Edwards Virginia Smokehouse encompasses all the elements of the American dream.

A local icon and a regional favorite, the multi-generation family run company has earned national success and garnered international acclaim, and it stands as an example of perseverance and triumph in spite of great tragedy. Not to mention that Edwards offers some really tasty hams.

Like the tendrils of wood smoke and the essence of peanuts that infuse its hams with local flavor, the business is saturated with the character of rural landscapes and neighboring waterways, and steeped in traditions that reach back to the very foundations of its unique home place.

Hams have been produced in America since the settling of Jamestown more than 400 years ago. Pigs were not native to the Jamestown area, but were brought to the

July/August 2017

Edwards Bacon Edwards

Sausage

Surryano Hams

colonies of Virginia from England and Bermuda to raise for food and the sport of wild boar hunting. The climate of Virginia was so perfect for raising pigs, that they rooted, ran and rutted, feeding on acorns and hickory nuts and reproducing in such numbers that they became a nuisance.

So the settlers rounded them up and transported them to an island in the James River later known as “Hog Island” in Surry County, where they became an easily caught source of protein, available all year long.

Since Native Americans had been curing venison long before the settlers arrived in Jamestown, they taught the newcomers to preserve meat with salt, smoke and time. Their methods of curing venison were adopted by the white man and used to preserve the meat of the plentiful razorback hog. Together, the natives and settlers would slaughter the animals in the fall, wash them and rub them down with salt, smoke them, then let them age through the winter and into the spring, allowing the salt and the changes in temperature to turn raw muscle into bacon and ham.

The fortunes of Jamestown, and neighboring Williamsburg, rose and faded, and rose again. In 1925, Colonial Williamsburg opened as a tourist attraction, and visitors were streaming across the James River. Local entrepreneur Captain Albert F. Jester ran the ferry that delivered the mail as well as human and automobile cargo. His pilot and son-in-law was S. Wallace Edwards Sr. Wallace, as he was known, had grown up on an Isle of Wight farm and moved to Surry, where he raised peanuts and pigs and processed the animals into bacon and ham in his backyard smokehouse. The pigs wandered the peanut fields, gorging on goobers the harvesters had left behind.

The peanuts made the pigs’ meat rich and fatty, and it matured into juicy, delicious hams. One day it occurred to Wallace Sr. that perhaps he could combine his jobs and The House & Home Magazine

make extra money selling food to the passengers. Soon, his homemaking, ham-cooking wife, Oneita, was sending him off each morning with a boxful of sandwiches wrapped in butcher paper. Word spread and soon tourists from all over the United States and the wider world were asking, “Where can I get this ham?” By 1926, Edwards was selling whole hams to restaurants and country stores, directly and through a mail-order catalog. That first year they processed 55 hams.“I won’t say we were dirt poor, but back then, hams were survival,” said Edwards Virginia Smokehouse President Sam W. Edwards III, widely recognized as one of the nation’s foremost authorities on cured ham.

Over the next decade, the Edwards family built other smokehouses, adding 1,500 square feet here and 10,000 there, as the need arose. The smokehouses had roofs shaped like teepees as an homage to the Native Americans who had kept the settlers alive. The family added a ham kitchen on the back of the house, with a concrete floor with a drain in it and a stove big enough to cook four hams at a time — two per giant pot. Christmas was (and still is) the busiest time of year for the business. For a time in the 1920s and ‘30s, Onieta would cook between 100 and 150 hams, which she boxed and decorated for the holidays. They called them Wigwam hams (still named so today), and the boxes carried an etching of a teepee with smoke drifting from its peak.

Around 1940, Edwards Sr. built a slaughterhouse just outside Surry. He used trailers with corrugated metal sides and roofs to carry racks of carcasses through town to a cutting room, where men in white aprons and street hats carved them into hams and hocks and bellies. The slaughterhouse was later converted to a facility for curing, smoking and aging hams.

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Wallace Edwards Jr. (seated), and Sam Edwards III

S. Wallace Edwards Sr., David Huber, John Appel and Wallace Edwards Jr., delivering Christmas hams.

The original smokehouses, like the Wigwam brand, honored the people who helped the early settlers survive.

Edwards Jr. had found the quirks of nature to be too limiting and unpredictable, so he brought the process inside, designing rooms that mimicked optimal outdoor temperatures.

When he took over the business from his father in the late ‘50s, he studied which year produced the best hams, then created aging rooms that duplicated that weather. The Edwards curing process is a combination of measurement and

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skill. It requires the right balance of air flow, temperature and humidity, as well as the human qualities of taste, touch and sight. This process takes years to learn and perfect.

“Dad always said we’re constantly learning little things about what we can do to make it better, from the raw materials to the wood, to the times and temperatures you have to adjust, because Mother Nature always throws you a curve,” Edwards III says. “You’re not just applying step one, two and three, you’re using your sense of touch, taste and smell to make decisions about tweaking the process.”

The younger Edwards grew up in the business and studied hard alongside his grandfather and father. He swept floors, split wood, hefted heavy hams, shoveled room-sized grease traps, evaluated pig breeds, and sniffed, sampled and felt products in various stages of the process. He remembers learning to drive a truck, schooled by his grandfather, who grew up using mule carts around the ever-expanding farm.

“He would sit beside me and call gee, haw and whoa, for left, right and stop,” Edwards III said.

He eventually went off to the University of Richmond, where he earned a degree in business, and at age 21, came back home and begged his dad to turn over the reins of the operation. In the meantime, the company opened its first ham shop in Surry, launched its print catalog, developed new products, expanded its wholesale efforts nationwide, opened another shop in Williamsburg, and introduced the first evolution of its website.

All the while, Edwards III was thinking about ham. In the 1990s, when customers insisted that meat be lean, and the airwaves were overrun with ads for “The Other White Meat,” pig farmers changed their stock to commodity pigs, raised on concrete floors, fed grain, and artificially bred to be lean. The meat got paler, there was no fat on the outside, the marbling nearly disappeared and it became harder to make a good Virginia ham. “They bred out the flavor and then would add the flavor back in,” he said. “It was so lean it tasted like turkey.”

July/August 2017

On January 19, 2016, a devastating fire leveled the Edwards’ Surry facility.

No American success story is without an element of tragedy, and Edwards Virginia Smokehouse has now seen its share.

About 125 firefighters from 12 companies in the region spent two days battling the blaze.

So Edwards searched for new suppliers, seeking those that kept at least some of the fat in the pig. “When you’re dry-curing a ham, you can’t have it too lean or it comes out like jerky,” he said. Edwards soon connected with Patrick Martins of Heritage Food USA, who was instrumental in extending the “slow food” movement to American meat products. The slow food movement, promoted as an alternative to fast food, supports a return to old-fashioned methods and products — food that is local, seasonal and sustainably grown.

Martins supplies Edwards with hams from pasture-raised, antibiotic-free heritage breed pigs, predominantly Berkshires. It’s a satisfying commitment, explained Edwards. “You’re preserving the breeds from possible extinction and you’re supporting the small family farms that raise them,” he said. Heritage hogs are allowed to roam, root and rut; it’s what they do. “And a happy hog just tastes better,” he added. “A stressed out hog doesn’t produce as good a flavor profile.”

By 2008, Edwards’ search for happier hogs had led to the introduction of The House & Home Magazine

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Edwards Virginia Smokehouse employees gather in front of the retail shop in Surry. the company’s signature product, the Surryano ham, aged from 18 months to four years. It’s so buttery and delicious that it’s prized by chefs across the country. The name is a play on Serrano ham, the expensive Spanish version made from acorn-fed pigs. Judging from the reaction of the fine-dining community, the demand supports what Edwards has known all along — that a Virginia-made ham can measure up to

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the best in the world.

Each year, a portion of vintage Surryanos are made from hogs fed a diet of up to 30 percent peanuts. “The oil from the peanuts gives the ham a unique flavor and texture — you get moist, satiny, rich, smooth and sweet tastes to the tongue instead of the burn of salt,” says Keith Roberts, Edwards’ sales manager. “I say the regular Surryano is like ham-flavored butter, and the peanut-

fed is like ham-flavored silk.”

Edwards products are revered among home cooks and the foodie elite. They can be found in grocery stores like Kroger and Wegmans. They’ve been featured on the Today show and served up in award-winning restaurants from California to New York, as well as throughout the South in Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia, among others.

However, no American success story is without an element of tragedy, and Edwards Virginia Smokehouse has now seen its share. On January 19, 2016, a devastating fire leveled the Surry facility, decimating the 90-year-old family business and depriving Surry of one of its largest employers. The blaze caused no injuries, yet destroyed the entire complex and took with it thousands of ham products, as well as priceless family artifacts. About 125 firefighters from 12 companies in the region spent two days fighting the fire. The family, along with employees, friends and neighbors could only stand by and watch as a local legend went up in smoke. No cause was ever determined.

Edwards stoically vowed to rebuild and within days began formulating a plan. The company first worked to distribute inventory that had been stored offsite, and then began finding facilities in North Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky and Missouri which could produce hams according to Edwards’ recipes and specifications. The business set up temporary office space and storage facilities and relied on its catalog division. Today, finished products are brought to the headquarters in Surry and then delivered or shipped out to customers. “We’re still in survival mode,” Edwards said. In spite of the challenges, the company is making progress toward recovery.

By necessity, the company’s model is now one of brand manager and distributor, instead of manufacturer. Day to day operations are in the hands of Sam W. Edwards IV (Sammy), vice president, and Tom Sutton, quality control and food safety manager. Edwards III and Roberts travel the country visiting hog farmers, ham houses, food shows, restaurants and upscale retail operations like Taste in Virginia, Williams-Sonoma in California, Dean & DeLuca in New York and Central Markets in Texas. The duo analyzes July/August 2017

breeds, evaluates quality control, markets their products and demonstrates why Virginia ham is so special. Edwards recalls a presentation at Bloomingdale’s in New York in the 1980s. “We got set up to begin our demonstration, but it wasn’t long before customers and employees started noticing hickory smoke-infused menswear.” Edwards is used to it.

He retains a sense of optimism while facing the long road ahead. “We were overwhelmed with encouraging letters, emails and phone calls,” he said. “It opened our eyes to how people feel about what we do. It peaked our desire to keep doing it.” To that end, Edwards is fully committed to return to manufacturing.

“We now have an opportunity to modernize the whole plant, product flow and food safety. I’m still enthusiastic about it,” he said.

“You can’t keep a good ham man down,” Roberts added. H For more information about Edwards Virginia Smokehouse, visit www. edwardsvaham.com. For customer service, call (800) 290-9213; or for retail/catalog information, call (800) 222-4267.

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Joy's Garden A Mathews Artist Painting Her Own Backyard

The Garden Party, plein air oil on canvas, prints available

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hile chatting and enjoying a garden party, artist Dorothy Fagan painted a vibrantly colored oil painting capturing the joyful spirit and camaraderie of the guests.

She returned to her studio in Mathews satiated and inspired.

Part of her new series, My Own Backyard, Dorothy also painted the homecoming of the Freya, a sailboat at the Mathews Maritime Foundation, a workboat at the home of her painting mentor, Bob Mayo on the Piankatank; and kite flying on the beach at Bavon with her grandchildren. Seeing herself in the symbolism of images in her paintings she quips, “Oh go fly a kite! My free-ya workboat is on the beach with the kids!”

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Seeing the Creator’s whimsy in her paintings, Dorothy writes inspirational stories that engage readers in finding the Creator in day-to-day life. Sharing inspiration and fostering creativity comes naturally. She loves speaking to groups, sharing stories, and engaging others. Prints of her paintings and stories are available on thepaintinglesson.com.

More valuable than art are the friendships. They are the “heart connection” with others that inspires her. Imagining the women ~ wearing their garden party ~ colorful hydrangea, butterfly blouses, water lily jackets, Dorothy began painting fabrics. Remembering herself printing fabrics in high school, she knew she’d come home.

Since moving to Mathews 17 years ago, Dorothy perfected her artistry as a landscape painter, painting en plein air along the creeks and marshes of the Chesapeake Bay region of

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Virginia. In 2013 she traveled to France for an artist’s residency at Musée de La Grande Vigne in Brittany, Provence, and Paris. Without speaking a word of French, she connected heart to heart with people from all over the world through her art.

From this powerful experience, she wrote a book, Discovering Joy’s Garden, to give others an armchair artist’s residency. Wishing to Venezia Dream, oil painting, prints available have the creative freedom of an artist’s residency all the time, in 2015 she crafted a creativity retreat in Tuscany to find out if she could absorb the Tuscan lifestyle into her art and life forever.

The process she used in Tuscany is written in her book, CreativSOUP, in simple recipes with coloring and journaling pages inspired by her French and Tuscan artwork. Both books are available on Amazon.

Dorothy returns to Tuscany this fall to take a “Muses of Tuscany” retreat group. Each person will create a custom creativity retreat with a blend of Italian cooking lessons, watercolor journaling, plein air painting, Tuscan dinner parties, wine tastings, and exploring the tiny hilltop village where Dorothy’s newly adopted Italian family reconnects heart and mind. Space is still available.

Fagan’s oil paintings and fiber art are in corporate and private collections in the U.S., Canada, Singapore, Jordan, Italy, France, and Great Britain, including Musée de La Grande Vigne in Dinan, France, Boston Children’s Hospital, Camp LeJeune Mental Health Center, City University of New York and Longwood University Art Museum. She is represented

by Chasen Galleries in Richmond, Prince George Art in Williamsburg, and Stewart Gallery in Dorothy Fagan wears A Lily Pond Gloucester. H of My Own kimono jacket

Hand painted kimono jacket with oil painting inspiration for fabric panel

Florence Vista, oil painting, prints available

World on a String, plein air oil on canvas, prints available

Dorothy Fagan Collection is on the Middle Peninsula Artisan Trail Network.

Her Studio by the Pond, 110 Skipjack Lane, Cobbs Creek is open by appointment.

Call

804-366-0990. Visit dorothyfagan.com to learn more. or text

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Garden party painting live with the Garden Club

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C allao C of f ee C a f é A New Eatery at the Crossroads in Callao

By Kathryn Murray

The bagel and lox offering is one that says New York flavor is right here on the “Neck”

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hen you reach the light, you’ve reached your destination. The newest restaurant offering in Northumberland County is the Callao Coffee Cafe. It’s in a great location, has exceptional decor, outstanding service, and oh, by the way, the food is very good.

The brainchild of David Fine who co-owns this endeavor with his wife Sharon, the plan was to provide New York-style food options not found elsewhere on the Northern Neck. Add to the special menu the history of the building, and this is different. The building once housed the local hardware store and the adjoining space, which is now a real estate office, was once the post office. The main portion which contains the café displays an extensive antiques and collectibles collection (available for purchase), and provides a setting unlike any other on the Northern Neck.

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Since opening in July of 2016 this restaurant has only gotten better.

Consistent effort to keep customers happy along with high quality food is the daily goal. Open seven days of the week, all year ‘round, there is no need to worry if they are open. They are open. Hours are 8:00am-4:00pm, Monday through Saturday and 9:00am4:00pm on Sunday. These hours make it easy to stop in daily, even if it is just for a quick coffee.

The seating options sprawl through the space. The main cafe area which is close to the kitchen includes booths, tables, and high tops.

Across from those seating options is a large set of sofas surrounding a significant coffee table with room to spread out. This is the perfect place to grab a cup of coffee, read through the newspaper, or catch up with a friend. There are two areas with large tables, so big groups can always be accommodated (reservations requested, please). And everywhere there are interesting items to catch your eye if you are inclined to browse or perhaps shop.

If you have a group that wants to get together for a meal, the café has room for groups up to 24, provided you call in advance to make reservations and work through details. It is a wonderful option for a family get together, maybe a bridal shower or a birthday party, a church group sharing a meal after the service, or even a book club meeting.

Start your day with one of the coffee options you find here.

From mild to medium, bold to Hawaiian, you will find something that suits your morning needs. Just recently, cappuccino and latte have been added to the menu for those who would prefer their java a bit jazzed up. The bagel and lox offering is one that says New York flavor is right here on the “Neck” and is very popular. Then again, you may find that one of the specialty muffins baked fresh by Sam, the cafe’s cook and baker, are more to your liking. Keep in mind there are also fresh-baked cinnamon buns, homemade bread pudding and real Key lime pie.

Well, maybe not all these are for breakfast, but you never know.

The cafe takes advantage of local produce and our seafood heritage. On the menu are offerings that include vegetables from nearby farm stands

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Just recently, cappuccino and latte have been added to the menu for those who would prefer their java a bit jazzed up.

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and a newly-introduced special of “crab pie” which has become a really “hot item.”

Angela, the manager, will take your order. She also oversees the staff, who are friendly and helpful during your visit. Lunchtime offerings include a variety of paninis as well as sandwiches made on croissants. Shrimp and chicken salad made fresh daily are either served on a bed of lettuce or are made up as croissant sandwiches.

Every day there are a number of delicious soups from which to choose.

The New York offerings most requested are the pastrami panini or the Nathan’s hot dog. An over-the-top option is the “Jersey Boy,” which is a corned beef Reuben panini topped with a jumbo Nathan’s hot dog. There’s even homemade New York cheesecake to top this off if you still have room.

To show how responsive the Callao Coffee Café is, menu items such as gluten free bread and a gluten free dessert have been added for special diet needs. Coming soon to the menu will be sugar-free home-baked pies. On a slightly different note, but showing concern for customers, a ten percent contribution from your billed total may be made to your local church or charity when you come in on Sunday. Be sure to let the staff know you would like to take advantage of that program.

The adjoining real estate office also houses the Northern Neck Information Center. There in the corner is a great collection of materials that can be picked up for free. They include brochures covering most significant locations in the Northern Neck that you might want to know about. At the same time, you can check out some excellent current real estate offerings that might help you find your home on the Northern Neck For breakfast or lunch, Callao Coffee Café should be on your list.

Food, service, atmosphere, shopping diversions, real estate, and local information are all under one roof.

There’s so much to get out of this single stop at the crossroads of Callao. Time to try this new café! For more information please call 804-529-5478. The address is 25 Sandy Street, Callao, VA 22435. H The House & Home Magazine

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David Griffith, and his dog Halo, in the front yard of the Lemon-Griffith House.

Photo by Dianne Saison.

The Intriguing Lemoine-Griffith House

By Dianne Saison

one clear day Griffith was photographing the outside of the house for his records.

When reviewing the film, he noticed the distinct image of a tall man looking out one of the ground floor windows.

There was not a living soul inside the house at the time.

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hen David Griffith began his search for property where he could store his growing menagerie of antiques and collectibles, he expected something simple. Instead Griffith ended up with an unforgettable house that has led him on a historical adventure — inspiring new friendships, unearthing old secrets and bringing a community together.

Griffith’s journey with the historic home began in 2011, when he purchased the house at auction, nearly sight unseen. Located at the corner of Mulberry Rd. and Route 3 in Emmerton, the large, white-frame Victorian farmhouse had lain dormant for years, falling into disrepair.

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Oscar M Lemoine, 1841-1897, circa 1875. He was the husband of Maria Braxton Lemoine and lived in the house until his death in 1897. Photo courtesy of David Griffith.

Ben Griffith, (L-R) Emma Griffith, Esther Lemoine, Katherine Griffith and Stage Lemoine Griffith in a 1905 family photograph. Photo courtesy of David Griffith.

“I liked the house immediately, but it was in bad shape and it turned out that there was a whole lot more work than I thought there would be,” Griffith said.

After resurrecting the shallow well on the property, Griffith turned on the water and it was an instant flood — with leaks pouring from the ceilings, door jams and just about everywhere in the house. After taking out the old water heating system and putting in new heat pumps, Griffith started to clear an upstairs bedroom, where he would stay while he worked on the rest of the expansive house.

The first night Griffith slept in the room, he began to notice the unexplained phenomenon that is now an accepted part of the home’s personality.

It started small, according to Griffith, with a tape measurer flying off a sill.

Then Griffith noticed his dog, Halo, would neither go upstairs to the third floor nor downstairs to the basement.

Halo also began barking at rooms, and the black labrador was rarely known to bark. Then, electronics Griffith brought into the house began to malfunction, doors would inexplicably open or close The House & Home Magazine

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and motion sensors would go off with nobody in the room.

Perhaps the most intriguing happening, on one clear day Griffith was photographing the outside of the house for his records. When reviewing the film, he noticed the distinct image of a tall man looking out one of the ground floor windows. There was not a living soul inside the house at the time.

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The incidents, which Griffith describes as “overwhelming” at first, piqued his interest into the grand home’s history.

Recalling his first visit from Richard Thomas, a local businessman, farmer and politician, Griffith was amazed when Thomas told him that the house he had bought was known as the LemoineGriffith house. It was a quirk of fate, and

although Griffith had no relation to the original owners of the house, he had a good place to start his research.

Enlisting a friend from Heathsville to help with research and genealogy, Griffith found that the house not only had strong ties to many prominent local families, but also that one of its early residents, Emma Lemoine, is the namesake behind the town of Emmerton, of which the house is a focal gem.

The site where the current home sits was once part of a much larger tract, totaling 80 acres. The first site included a general store and post office where the current Jerusalem Baptist Church stands, as well as a smaller, two-story house with just a pair of rooms on each floor.

Early records show that The Reverend Thomas Corbin Braxton first came to the property in 1832 after a rift in the congregation at Farnham Church, where he was a pastor. Braxton, whose grandfather was Carter Braxton, one of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence, shepherded 143 parishioners to the site and a new church was erected. The congregation grew so quickly that by 1840 they had to build a larger facility down the road. By 1868, the general store had become a staple to the community and John Staige Braxton, the Reverend’s son, purchased the entire property.

In 1876, Braxton’s daughter, Maria, married Oscar M. Lemoine, a returned Confederate soldier, businessman, boarder at the family home, and the son of a prominent local merchant. Oscar’s unmarried younger sister Emma, of Emmerton fame, lived with the family at the home and would remain there for her entire life, even after Oscar’s sudden death at age 56 in 1897.

In 1887, the house was significantly expanded to include spacious, highceilinged new sitting rooms, bedrooms and reception areas. In 1899, Lemoine’s daughter, Olivia Staige, started a new era in the house after marrying Benjamin Griffith, who (along with his brother) had recently taken over the general store. In addition to Griffith’s Store, the brothers ran a local tomato cannery, as well as a Plymouth, Chevrolet and DeSoto car dealership.

Griffith and Lemoine had two daughters. The eldest, Katherine, married William Tayloe Murphy, Sr., in 1923.

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A sky view picture of the Lemoine-Griffith House.

Photo courtesy of David Griffith.

Murphy was a direct descendent of William Tayloe II, builder of historic Mount Airy in Warsaw. In 1928, the younger sibling, Emma, married Walter Vance Hall, Sr. After working for his father-in-law at the auto dealership, Murphy, Sr., went on to become the third President of Northern Neck State Bank in Warsaw, as well as a Virginia delegate and State Treasurer.

After Benjamin’s death in 1935, Staige moved to Warsaw and the Lemoine-Griffith house was purchased by the Clark

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family, who lived there until 1975. After the Featheralls, Runningers, and others, briefly called the house home, it fell vacant — where it lay quietly deteriorating until its inevitable rescue by Griffith.

Griffith’s foray into the home’s history also led him to some grim discoveries, painting a startling backdrop which could be the impetus behind the unexplained activity in the house.

“A lot of people have died here,” Griffith said, going on to explain that there were multiple grave sites on the location,

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Ben Griffith’s Birthday Party in 1928, Pictured are Richard Lee Griffith, (top row l-r), Edwin C. Griffith, William Fairfax Griffith, Katherine Griffith Murphy, Phillip Smith Griffith, Staige Lemon Griffith, Ben Griffith, Amy Northup and Walter Randolph Griffith. Edurie Brown Hutt, (bottom row l-r), Frederick Deane Goodurin, Frederick Northup, Taylor Murphy, Sr., and guest. Photo courtesy of David Griffith. including those of Oscar Lemoine, Maria Braxton, their son Randolph, and other family members. In addition, parishioners are possibly still buried in the land from when the old church was located in the front yard.

Illness was also no stranger to the family, who built a sunroom on stilts and telephone poles on the second floor when Benjamin Griffith was diagnosed with tuberculosis, to which he would eventually succumb.

In addition, there have been two suicides on the property.

Griffith found that a gun discovered by a previous occupant told its own strange tale. The gun was found buried in a can in the backyard, and the firearm’s serial numbers date back to the year of one of the alleged suicides. Why bury the gun in a can?

No one lived to tell that tale.

Griffith’s inquiry into the house has led him to more than just its intriguing history, his research has also paved the way for some of the most meaningful friendships of his life.

Griffith discovered that Emma and Walter Vance Hall’s son, who was born in the house and lived there until the age of six, still lives in the region. The younger Vance Hall and Griffith became fast friends, with Hall spending countless hours discovering and sharing family photographs and records.

Hall, who loves the house and its roots deeply, had arranged for those family members still buried on the property to be resettled at the Farnham Church, years before Griffith took over the property.

In a rare peek at history, Hall shared his grandmother Staige’s diary, which shed light on much of the daily functions at the house, including the “calamity” of 1925, when over 500 62

gallons of water flooded the house after the bottom of a cistern on the upper floor dropped out. “Such a mess I never want to see again,” Staige wrote. “Everything drenched — some of the dining room plaster fell!”

Vance also found the original china sets that the family had used a century ago for dinner service, gifting them to Griffith, who proudly displays them. In addition, Griffith became close friends with the Clarks, who generously shared their stories of love, laughter and family in the historic home.

Since purchasing the home, Griffith, an accomplished electronics designer and collector of “all things old,” has done the bulk of renovation and preservation on his own.

From wainscoting to paint, drywall and flooring, Griffith has resurrected the grand home. He upcycled wood from The Middleton House, which was just two doors down and had been abandoned after a house fire in 2000. The rescued paneling matches and compliments the home’s existing walls and ceilings in both the entrance hall and the sitting room to the right of the entrance. The kitchen boasts modern appliances, while still favoring the Victorian beauty of the original architecture.

Griffith tastefully furnished and decorated the front sitting room with more period antiques, as well as many other finds that he has accumulated along the way. The entrance hall is filled with period pictures of past residents in their heyday, and on display are some of the more interesting items that Griffith has discovered, including the aforementioned mysterious buried gun. Upstairs, the large, bright bedrooms retain their airy feel, keeping in line with nearly all the 18x18, July/August 2017

high-ceilinged rooms in the house.

The stunning view from the unusual third-floor central tower is both dizzying and expansive, showcasing the views of the county beautifully.

Griffith has also lovingly brought the front porch, which was destroyed during a snowstorm in the 1980s, back to its stunning glory.

In 2015, Griffith and his wife, Darlene, hosted an open house for the community to rediscover the LemoineGriffith House. Since then, they have welcomed many curious visitors eager to discover the home’s history.

Although Griffith continues to work on the home, its metamorphosis is nearly complete and he looks forward to enjoying it with friends, family and the community in the future. “There are so many people who have helped expand on the house’s history, and I am grateful for them all,” Griffith said. “This house, the people — this is Emmerton.”

For more information on the Lemoine-Griffith house, contact the Richmond County Museum at www.co.richmond. va.us/museum.htm, or email David Griffith at dwgriffith55@gmail.com. H

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(left) The entranceway of the Lemoine-Griffith House. (right) The front parlor room of the house, decorated with David Griffith’s heirlooms and antiques. Photos courtesy of Dianne Saison.

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SENIOR LIVING

SENIORS

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PETS

Man’s Best Friend in More Ways Than One

By Blake Slusser

T

he adage that a dog is a man’s best friend is true in so many ways.

There are days in your life when you walk into your home and your dog or cat may be the happiest family member you greet. There is something about their unconditional love and adoration that is just good for your heart and soul. In fact, many studies have been dedicated to the health benefits associated with pet ownership, especially in aging populations.

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After retirement, your day to day routines tend to look a whole lot different than they once did. You may celebrate the fact that your dress clothes must only be dusted off for church and weddings, but the change in routine can also be difficult for many. However, when you have a pet in your life, there are many routines that remain unchanged. If you own a dog, you find that you still need to walk the dog several times a day.

For our cat people, that hour before bed watching TV with your cat beside you may be the most relaxing moments of your day. We also know that there is no sleeping in with a cat. For an animal that seems to sleep most of the day, a cat seems incredibly concerned if its person sleeps any length of time longer than usual.

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The act of caring for animals (walking dogs, feeding horses, etc.) actually improves one’s physical fitness. Taking walks, lifting and carry supplies, or even cleaning up after your animal requires muscle strength and dexterity. The act of doing this on a daily basis can improve bone and joint health as well!

The activity levels associated with pet ownership also have a positive impact on a person’s blood pressure and cholesterol (triglyceride) levels. Just think, the next time your dog sits by the door for a walk he isn’t the only one benefiting from this act.

The Pets for the Elderly Foundation provides further statistics on its website about the health benefits of pet ownership. When compared to those without pets, pet owners had 21 percent fewer visits to the doctor, were less likely to die from heart attacks, and even suffer fewer headaches. Pet owners who underwent surgery also had significantly shorter recovery times.

There is also a social aspect in which pet ownership is extremely beneficial. Loneliness is one of the most difficult conditions older populations face and this seems to be drastically reduced by having a companion pet. The comfort, affection, and sense of security associated with pets allows us to cope more effectively through the loss of loved ones. Not only do pet owners have increased feelings of personal security and purpose, they are also less likely to experience depression.

Pets can be an integral part of a person’s social network.

Most pet owners will admit that they often talk to their furry friends, and that petting their animals remarkably improves the owners’ moods. Pet owners also expressed that they had reduced feelings of isolation. Talk therapy is a useful tool for many mood disorders. Imagine how often pet owners have the opportunity to participate in this type of therapy with their non-judgmental, accepting fluffy companion.

The discourse between owner and pet is not the only way in which pets help their owners socially. Dog owners may, at the urging of their pet, take more walks around their neighborhoods than they would otherwise. On these walks, they may interact with other dog walkers, building casual, yet consistent relationships. They may also find that they stop and talk to neighbors in their yards that they may not otherwise talk to. A friendly dog tends to provide the easiest of introductions. How many Hollywood movies start with a guy’s dog running up to his future wife?

Horse owners often flock together to provide safety and companionship for trail rides. There are even online communities where horse enthusiasts build friendships through the sharing of tips and tricks in caring for their trusty steeds, learning about illnesses, or even purchasing new equipment. For horse people looking for face to face contact, there are even local senior riding groups with monthly meetings.

While animals such as cats may not provide the physical fitness advantages that are common in dog and horse owners, their owners also benefit from living in their midst with reduced anxiety and stabilized hormone levels. Think of how high oxytocin levels rise when watching YouTube videos of “cats and cucumbers” and imagine the joy of living with that day to day. (If you haven’t had a chance, please take the time to search cats and cucumber videos.)

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When a pet owner shares experiences with a beloved animal, the joy they receive from their pet on a daily basis radiates from them.

Unfortunately, as we age, so do our animals. You may come to the point that when your animals pass, you see the opportunity to break free of the constraints, rid yourself of the pet hair, or have concerns about your ability to care for a new, younger animal. It’s pretty clear that while living animal-free at an advanced age may be tempting, the health benefits provided by animals are most significant to us as we age.

Adopting a new animal can be challenging at any age, but especially for the elderly. In several cities throughout the United States, animal shelters have started programs pairing shelter animals with seniors who may have given up on the thought of having pets after their aged companion passes away. In a lot of cases, pairing older pets with seniors has proved to be beneficial. These older pets tend to be calmer than their younger counterparts and the costs associated with initial vaccinations and neutering are no longer a concern. These adoptions can be life saving for both the pet and the owner.

Aside from the health benefits, one of the greatest gifts a pet gives its owner is joy. When a pet owner shares experiences with a beloved animal, the joy they receive from their pet on a daily basis radiates from them. The joy could come from comical personalities and behaviors, affectionate mannerisms, or even just the knowledge that it is nice to be needed.

Finding joy is one of our major quests in life. As humans, much of our joy is found in, among other things, companionship, health, and security. Our furry and feathered loved ones definitely do their part to help provide us with this joy and the research definitively shows that our pets are good for our hearts in more ways than one. H 66

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A feast of red crabs

Red Crabs

By Captain Bob Cerullo

A Culinary Adventure for Seafood Lovers That day’s remarkable catch was none other than live Atlantic deep-sea red crabs caught off the Atlantic coast from as far south as North Carolina to Nova Scotia in the north.

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n a bright, balmy day, a fishing trawler offloaded her catch of crabs at Hampton, Virginia. At first it seemed routine, then it became apparent the crabs that were being offloaded were bright red.

Watermen routinely harvest Chesapeake Bay blue crabs, and as they are taken from the water, they are most definitely not red. Raw Chesapeake Bay blue crabs are a kind of bluish grey until they are steamed, at which time they turn an orangey red. The crabs offloaded that day were a little larger than even the familiar big Jimmies (males) harvested in the Chesapeake Bay, and although appearing to have already been steamed, were wriggling and snapping and very much alive. That day’s remarkable catch was none other than live Atlantic deep-sea red crabs caught off the Atlantic coast from as far south as North Carolina to Nova Scotia in the north.

Unlike the tremendously popular Chesapeake Bay blue crab that lives

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Red Crabs are often available from Graham and Rollins Seafood Market.

in relatively shallow water, the Atlantic deep-sea red crab (Chaceon quinquedens) lives in cold deep water. It should not be confused with the Alaskan king crab, although it might be a distant cousin.

The red crabs like to stay at about 38 degrees Fahrenheit all the time. The average red crab is about one to two pounds. That is a good-sized crab when you compare it to the popular Chesapeake Bay blue crab. The red crab has an orange-red color in the wild and has spindly legs. They are bigger than the blue crabs living in the Chesapeake Bay. The Atlantic deep-sea red crab does not have swimming paddles like the blue crab that is sometimes referred to as “the beautiful swimmer.� The red crab can reach a maximum weight of 3.75 pounds.

Dissimilar to the blue crab that produces offspring in multiple years, the red crab produces offspring only once every two years. The red crab has a lifespan of up to 15 years, while blue crabs unusually do not live longer than three years.

It was lobstermen who started bringing up red crabs caught in their lobster traps in the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1964, Andreas Holmsen, professor The House & Home Magazine

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of resource economics at the University of Rhode Island, conducted the first study of the crustacean. Commercial fishing got started in the early 1970s. In a survey conducted in 1974, it was found that between offshore Maryland and eastern Georges Bank, the standing crop was an estimated 59 million pounds.

The red crab has been described as the “other big crab.�

The red crab is one of several related species of crustaceans that live in various deep stretches of the Atlantic. Red crabs flank the edge of the continental shelf from Nova Scotia south to the Gulf of Mexico. Blue crabs are called swimming crabs because they can use their paddle-like rear legs to propel themselves through the water. Red crabs have no choice but to walk along the sea floor. Most live at greater depths than do the king crabs.

At the depths where red crabs live, there is little or no light to navigate, and water temperatures hover around 38 degrees. The red crabs scuttle across the ocean floor at depths from 600 feet to a mile deep. Often the red crabs must rely on food that sinks down from the surface. The carcasses of dead whales sometimes provide a kind of nutrition bonanza that the crabs can sniff out from long distances away.

You may have already eaten red crabs without realizing it. Some big seafood restaurants have featured them as part of their crab Alfredo. Red crabs are very popular with many Asians. Some 3,000 pounds of red crabs are shipped to Asia weekly in specially equipped airplanes with special tanks.

At the Seafood Market in Hampton, Virginia, some Asians

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have been known to buy van-loads of red crabs.

Atlantic red crabs can live two to three weeks if held in properly aerated tanks in 38- to 48-degree water. On ice, their shelf life is three to four days before black spots start to appear on their bodies, something that doesn’t happen to blue crabs.

The Atlantic Deep Sea Red Crab Company, operated by John Williams, runs four specially equipped red crab harvesting boats. Three run out of New Bedford, Massachusetts, while the other, the Hannah Boden, has run out of Newport News. The Hannah Boden was featured in the reality TV show “Deadliest Catch,” where it braved eight-foot waves in the Bering Sea. The four boats fish deep-sea habitats off the coast of Maryland, New England and the Mid-Atlantic Bight. (The MidAtlantic Bight is a coastal region running from Massachusetts to North Carolina. It contains the New York Bight.)

The boats go out for about ten days at a time and are equipped with 600 four-foot-high traps that are round, in comparison to traps used for blue crabs.

The crabs are hauled live into onboard tanks filled with 38-degree water. Once on shore, they are either processed immediately or held live in tanks.

Williams said, “We’re the first fishery on the East Coast to be Marine Stewardship Council certified sustainable, separating us from the cheap imports from all over the world. There is no question that sustainability is the wave of our future.”

Essentially, the equipment used for harvesting red crabs is similar to that used for the king crabs. Crews drop lines of 150 traps similar to, but larger than, those used to catch blue crabs. The traps are placed on the ocean floor in roughly 2,000 feet of water, where the red crabs can crawl right in. Williams’ boats bring in an estimated three million pounds of red crabs every year, with a value of more than $3 million. Compared to the blue crab harvest in Maryland of about $50 million a year, red crabs are a minor but potential growing market.

Discerning diners can enjoy red crabs caught off the Virginia coast and served at the Graham and Rollins Seafood Restaurant at 509 Bassette Street in Hampton (757-250-2303, info@ grahamandrollins.com). Red crabs are The House & Home Magazine

Johnny Graham, President of Graham and Rollins Seafood in Hampton, Virginia, is an expert on red crabs and local seafood. Photo courtesy of Graham and Rollins Seafood.

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Unlike the blue crab, the red crab does not swim because it does not have swim flippers.

Photo courtesy of VIMS.

not always in season. Call to make sure red crabs are in stock before traveling to buy them.

The meat is somewhat sweeter, and there is more of it on a red crab, compared to a blue crab. Chefs experienced with red crabs say that cooking them differs from cooking blue crabs, which are typically steamed whole and picked clean once cooked. Atlantic red crabs, they say, are better if cleaned before being steamed. Because the bodies are bigger, steaming them whole tends to overcook the claw meat. However, some cooks recommend steaming them the same way you would blue crabs. Asian chefs prefer to split them, then grill them.

The one drawback presently is the much shorter shelf life of the red crab.

Hopefully, new equipment presently under construction in Hampton will alleviate this problem and make marketing live red crabs much more practical. At the Atlantic Red Crab Company’s plant in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the fresh red crabs are sent either to the plant’s cooler, which is 76

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Blue crab aficionados may find it hard to even try red crabs, but it is worth the effort. Red crabs have a similar, but more delicate taste than blue crabs capable of holding 75,000 pounds of live crabs at 38 degrees until they are needed for processing, or directly to the processing line. For cooking, the crab sections are put into a large stainless steel container where they are cooked for 11 minutes at 212 degrees. The cooker holds two 328-pound containers at a time and can cook 3,000 pounds of crab per hour. Claws are cooked separately from “clusters,” which are the shoulder/leg sections. The cooking is carefully controlled by an alarm that sounds when the cooking is finished. The crab sections are then removed from the cooker and placed into a large ambient water tank for 15 minutes to bring the temperature of the cooked meat down to 75 degrees. Once cooled down, the crab sections are placed into a second large “chiller” tank where the meat is brought down to 32 degrees.

This takes about 25 minutes. To maintain quality processing, each step is carefully monitored. Once cooked, the parts are sent to the various sections. Some go to the fresh line for processing/packaging, while others are sent to the brine tank for freezing into 40-pound cases of shoulder/leg sections.

The product that is to be fresh-frozen goes to the brine tank and is held at zero degrees. In addition to brine freezing, the plant also has a nitrogen tunnel capable of flash-freezing crab products to minus 140 degrees in minutes.

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Blue crab aficionados may find it hard to even try red crabs, but it is worth the effort. Red crabs have a similar, but more delicate taste than blue crabs and are a healthy, low-fat, high-protein, seafood that tastes a lot like lobster.

Speaking from my own experience as an amateur cook and one who would rather eat crabs than filet mignon, the only drawback to red crabs is that they don’t travel well. Within a day or less they may develop brown spots. The conclusion seems to be that unless you buy them fresh and cook them the same day, fresh-frozen red crab sections are the way to go. Flash-frozen red crabs are being marketed by the Atlantic Red Crab Company. The best source for information about buying red crabs in Virginia is Johnny Graham, owner of Graham and Rollins Inc. in Hampton, Virginia. For that matter, Johnny Graham has an encyclopedic knowledge of a wide variety of seafoods available in Virginia. You might say he knows his crabs, red or blue. His seafood market and restaurant serves a delicious she-crab soup as well as a variety of seafoods. Graham is optimistic that soon red crabs will be a familiar sight at seafood markets all across Virginia and beyond.

For more information about red crabs visit www. atlanticredcrab.com. H

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Area Map

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Lisburne

7971 Glass Road, Ordinary, VA 23072 Offered for Purchase $2,500,000 Lisburne, circa 1810 is a breathtaking waterfront estate, encompassing 70+ acres with significant frontage on Vaughan’s creek – a tributary of the Severn River in Lower Gloucester County. The Manor House is surrounded by glorious formal gardens in a park-like setting, which includes towering magnolias, mature boxwood, old garden roses, heirloom perennials and a staggering number of mature azaleas which meander through the woodland at the water’s edge. This one of a kind historic treasure has it all! Stables, Fenced Paddocks, Pastures, Tennis Courts, In-ground Pool, 3 Bay Garage, Garden Cottages, Pier, Gazebos and much more. Lisburne has been featured numerous times on the prestigious Historic Garden Week in Virginia Tour and in legendary magazines, such as: Colonial Homes and Southern Accents.

Shown by Appointment Only.

Scan QR Code for more information on Lisburne

If you are in need of a realtor who brings dynamic, proactive and artful representation to the table in a warm, professional and highly detailed manner, please contact me by phone or email at: 804-445-5500 or karinandrews@howardhanna. com.

I would be delighted to meet with you, at a time that is convenient for you, to discuss your real estate buying or selling goals.

I diligently serve buyers and sellers of Historic, Waterfront, Farm and Equestrian Properties in the Chesapeake Bay Region of Virginia and beyond!

SOLD- Carousel- 8495 Freewelcome Lane, Dutton, VA

40+ acres on the Piankatank River at Dutton, Virginia.

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Karin Andrews R E AL E S TAT E

EXPERIENCE DILIGENCE RESULTS

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Direct: (804) 445-5500 KarinAndrews@HowardHanna.com

www.KarinAndrewsRealEstate.com

HOWARD HANNA WILLIAM E. WOOD | 5208 MONTICELLO AVE WILLIAMSBURG, VA 23188 | OFFICE: 757.299.0550

Selma - Offered for $1,800,000 514 Amherst Street, Winchester

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Offered for $1,100,000

8493 Freewelcome Lane, Dutton

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Historic Estate on 78+ Acres circa 1808

Retreat

4783 Herring Creek Road • Aylett, VA 23009

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Offered at $1,150,000

uilt in 1808 as a two-over-two with an English basement, Retreat has grown into a gracious living space with additions between the original construction & 1867 - a wonderful example of country living at its finest. A lane lined with dogwoods, red maples, plane trees & red cedars leads to a Georgian house which sits on 8 acres of park surrounded by 70 acres of woods & crop fields. The current owners renovated, upgraded or replaced all major systems over the yrs to assure comfortable living & meticulously maintain the estate enabling it to display the deserving historic elegance of a true Tidewater VA manse. To continue & protect the beauty

SKIPPER GARRETT CELL: 804-370-4080 AGARRETT7@AOL.COM WWW.SKIPPERGARRETT.COM

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of this property, the owners have placed it under a Conservation Easement.

The estate house has 4 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, spacious formal & informal rooms with original random width pine floors throughout, original front doors & all original mantels. The kitchen was updated in 2013 with Jenn-Air appliances, granite countertops & cork flooring, keeping the solid pine cabinets. Additional dependencies include a smoke house, guest cottage, 4-stall barn, pool & 2 detached garages.

The location of Retreat is ideal – 45 minutes to Richmond & 45 minutes to Fredericksburg; 1 hour 20 minutes from Williamsburg.

BETSY STANLEY BETSYSTANLEY1472@GMAIL.COM CELL: (804)347-3488 WWW.BETSYSTANLEY.LNF.COM

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H E A L T H

SMALL INCISION.

Big Relief.

What you should know about endoscopic carpal tunnel surgery

By Tyler C. Wind, M.D. Orthopedic Surgeon A Riverside Medical Group Physician

“I was concerned about getting back to farming and running our produce stand.

The surgery turned out to be a breeze. I followed orders for being careful but I was back at it in a couple of days.”

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arpal tunnel syndrome is a common neurological disorder with symptoms that include numbness, tingling, weakness and pain in the hands and fingers that can range from mild to severe. The good news is that there are safe and effective treatments that can relieve symptoms and restore strength and ease of movement.

Treating Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

The first line of treatment includes nonsurgical approaches such as anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen, cortisone injections, wrist splints and physical therapy to improve mobility or modify problem movements. If symptoms persist, a surgical procedure is recommended to avoid permanent nerve damage. Carpal tunnel release can be accomplished with a traditional, open surgical procedure that requires cutting the palm open What it is and why you get it and working within a comparatively large area of the hand.

The carpal tunnel is a narrow passageway An alternate procedure, and one I use with in the wrist formed by small bones, tendons virtually all patients, is endoscopic carpal and ligaments. The median nerve, which tunnel release. Using one very small incision runs down the arm and forearm, enters the in the wrist (called a single portal technique) hand through this narrow space. Carpal we guide a tiny tube with surgical tools and tunnel syndrome occurs if the nerve a camera attached – an endoscope – into the becomes compressed as it runs through the portal and cut the carpal ligament, releasing passageway. Along with repetitive motions pressure on the median nerve and relieving and certain patterns of hand use, the disorder symptoms. can also be the result of genetics, hormonal Risks and complications for the endoscopic changes during pregnancy or chronic health procedure are very low and recover time is conditions like diabetes.

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H E A L T H “After retirement, my wife and I moved to Merry Point to be shorter compared to open surgery. Patients have less pain in near the water which we greatly enjoy. Because I had some major the incision area because of the size and location, and a faster orthopedic surgery related to my knee and shoulder, the carpal recovery of grip strength. As a result, patients can get back to tunnel procedure was a lesser concern. But at the same time, I was their work or other activities sooner. feeling a lot of tingling in my fingers, wrist and elbow, especially Carolyn Sisson after waking up. I fit the carpal tunnel release in between the other surgeries figuring I might as well get everything taken care of.

Within 24 hours after Dr. Wind’s procedure the tingling stopped and hasn’t returned five months later. I have been particularly impressed with the incision, which is only 3/8 of an inch long and completely invisible in the wrist after healing”. Craig Soule, retired mechanical engineer

In their own words Recovery times, symptom relief and overall outcomes can vary from patient to patient, but many people experience a significant reduction or elimination of symptoms and get back to their life more quickly than expected: “The shooting pain in my hands was worse at night to the point where I couldn’t sleep. I probably could have handled the pain, but not the exhaustion. Because I do fairly strenuous field work, I was concerned about getting back to farming and running our produce stand. The surgery turned out to be a breeze. I followed orders for being careful but I was back at it in a couple of days. I only wish I had done it sooner”. Carolyn Sisson, vegetable farm owner

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As with all medical conditions, the first step in carpal tunnel syndrome is getting an accurate diagnosis. If it’s determined that you have the condition, non-surgical treatments are generally the next step unless symptoms are severe. In all cases, it’s important to be treated as early as possible to prevent permanent nerve damage.

Tyler C. Wind, M.D. is a native of Tappahannock, which is where his practice, Northern Neck Bone & Joint Center is located. He has specialized training in hand surgery as well as joint replacement, sports medicine and working with complex fractures.

He is currently the only orthopedic surgeon in the Northern Neck performing endoscopic procedures for carpal tunnel release. For an appointment with Dr. Wind, please call 804 443-8670.

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JOIN US FOR

Sippin’ & Shuckin’

to benefit Ledwith-Lewis Free Clinic FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22ND 6:00-9:00PM

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hrough the creative leadership and vision of Ledwith-Lewis Free Clinic’s Board of Directors member, Sue Farmar, and through the generosity of Ingleside Winery, Fletch Flemer, and B.H. Baird Insurance, an exclusive evening is being offered Friday, September 22, 2017, at historic Wirtland in Westmoreland County. Built in 1850 by William Wirt, Jr., the son of former U.S. Attorney General William Wirt, Wirtland is currently owned and graciously offered by C. Fletcher (Fletch) Flemer, III. Wirtland is one of the finest examples of rural Gothic Revival architecture and is considered one of Virginia’s most significant houses of its style. The home, along with its Victorian landscaping, is the perfect setting for Sippin’ and Shuckin’ in support of services at the Ledwith-Lewis Free Clinic.

Dr. James Ledwith founded the Free Clinic in 2005 and over the past 12 years the Ledwith-Lewis Free Clinic (formerly the Tapphannock Regional Free Clinic) has been providing primary care, women’s wellness, specialty care, healthy living programs, and free prescriptions to residents of the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula regions of Virginia. In 2016, the Ledwith-Lewis Free Clinic provided over $8.5 million in free services. Fifty-three percent of the patient population resides in Richmond and Westmoreland counties.

Sippin’ and Shuckin’ offers guests an opportunity to sample a selection of Rappahannock oysters, along with the award-winning Ingleside Virginia Brut (Methode Champenoise sparkling wine) in the ambiance of the Wirtland wine cellar, before moving upstairs to the formal living room and parlor for an entertaining evening of fine food, cocktails, music, and auction items.

Anything and everything is possible when individuals, committed to those who need a helping hand, come together to make a difference for those in need. Sippin’ and Shuckin’ is a fine example of residents of the Northern Neck of Virginia doing it right!

For ticket information and to learn how to become an exclusive Sippin’ and Shuckin’ sponsor, contact Sue Farmar at (804) 333-4013.

Historic Wirtland Estate 6073 Leedstown Road, Oak Grove, Va 22443

From left to right. Back row: Chris Flemer - Ingleside Winery, Michael H. Faulkner Executive Director LLFC Free Clinic, Fletch Flemer - Ingleside Winery / Wirtland, Rick Farmar - B.H. Baird Insurance, Lisa Andrews - LLFC Board President, Sue Farmar Event Coordinator & LLFC Board Member.

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(Editor’s wife’s note: Women may find the content of this article irritating. I encourage them to skip over it. Women who chose to read it are implored not to use the author’s behavior as a standard for their husbands—former, current or future.)

By T. Patrick Cleary

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xcept for a torturesome week on a cruise ship with a former wife, my maritime experience has been limited to brief excursions aboard small vessels, which is to say, canoeing on ponds and creeks. With this in mind, you can appreciate my concern when my current better half began referring to me as “the old salt.”

Salt, the Bible instructs us, is to be thrown in the street and trampled underfoot if it has lost its flavor. I don’t know whether we’ve been married so long that I’ve lost my flavor, but being trampled underfoot is not on my bucket list. I go out of my way to avoid trampling-related injuries and death; it’s one reason I don’t shop on Black Friday or run with the bulls in Pamplona or attend European soccer matches (as an additional safety measure, I don’t watch them on TV, either.)

It may have been purely coincidental, but about a week or two after being labelled “the old salt,” I was assigned to purchase some along with a short list of other staple goods. I was suspicious because the missus doesn’t trust me in any kind of store without supervision. The grocery run would be my first solo-shopping expedition in recent memory.

My wife had carefully recorded items on the list in an order that would facilitate their efficient retrieval and my rapid

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return for assignment of other duties.

The flaw in her logic—and she knows this— is that I’m not one to do anything in a logical manner. I submit to you that if matter and anti-matter coexist, then it’s only logical that logic and anti-logic coexist. Those of us who live in the “antilogic” category are a poorly-understood lot simply doing our part to maintain equilibrium in the universe.

I had left my cell phone at home to preclude any grocery item locating app from popping up and directing me. I don’t know if such an app exists, but the cell phone is an evil invention and I wasn’t taking any chances. Sans cell phone, I was free to navigate the grocery store the way I do everything else— in a completely random fashion.

I’ll admit that I had difficulty finding the salt. I was searching for a cylindrical blue container with a little girl and umbrella on it. I even remembered the tag line: When it rains, it pours. Like most guys, I’m not keen to ask for directions, but after a couple of minutes of looking without success, I reckoned that asking for directions inside grocery stores doesn’t really count.

Arriving at the salt section, I was surprised to learn how many salts were now stocked in addition to the girlwith-the-umbrella kind. I’m no chemist, but salt is salt, at least if my 5th grade

science teacher was telling the truth. I’ll accept that there are plain-labelled salts in iodized and non-iodized forms along with their name-brand counterparts. But, alongside them was Kosher salt, sea salt, grinder salt, flake salt, and finishing salt.

There was gray salt and “lo salt” which contains 66% less sodium so it’s not really salt at all. There was Himalayan salt, Sicilian sea salt, and Hawaiian sea salt. In what must be a nod to the 1960s, there was even “smoked” salt. And leave it to the French to try to corner the salt market by dishing up sodium chloride under a variety of fancy French names such as fleur de sel, gros sel, and sel gris.

Since the item on the list was described only as “salt,” I could have been technically correct bringing home any of the varieties except the aforementioned “lo-salt.” I wanted to prove to the wife that I was a capable shopper, and wanted to avoid a return trip to the store, too. I did my best to anticipate what a logical person would do, and I bought one of each. Now we’ve got enough salt for the foreseeable future and plenty to trample underfoot, too. I might live in the antilogic, but I can cross over from time to time. Just ask my wife. H T. Patrick Cleary is a freelance writer and humorist whose wife graciously allows him to live with her in Williamsburg, VA. July/August 2017

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