Evince Magazine September 2021

Aubrey & Justin Rose

Reaping the Fruits of a 400-Year Experiment p5

Page 2 September 2021

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Evince Magazine Page 3

Editor’s Note Gathering Together

T

he editor’s picture

(above) shows how hard

I worked researching information for this issue of Evince.

The truth is Aubrey Rose pictured on the cover made the task not only very easy but extremely pleasant. On top of that, she gave me a history lesson on Virginia wine that you can read on page 5.

If you’re thinking about celebrating Virginia Wine Month in October, start planning now.

Read Dave Slayton’s “Pairing Virginia Wine and Food for the Perfect Tasting Party” on page 7.

Then try the recipe that Annelle Williams suggests on page 21, “Double the Pleasure: Pair Great Food with Outstanding Wines”.

If you need to relax after that, snuggle up with a great mystery, The French Paradox, that takes place in Virginia wine country.

Diane Adkins’ review is on page 18.

Cooler weather beckons us to gather outside and enjoy the

company of others with food, drink, and music. For a list of events you might want to attend, read the Calendar on page 8.

The first day of fall is September 22.

On that day, “Summer Evaporates into Autumn” (page 22) so enjoy these remaining days.

Sincerely, Credits: Amber Wilson: hair; Catherine Saunders: skin care and makeup; Genesis Day Spa & Salon, 695 Park Avenue, Danville.

Janelle Gammon: nails; Salon One 11, 111 Sandy Court, Danville.

CEO / Publisher / Andrew Scott Brooks Editor / Joyce Wilburn (434.799.3160) joycewilburn@gmail.com Copy Editors Jeanette Taylor, Larry Wilburn Contributing Writers Diane Adkins, Sara Davis, Lewis Dumont, Adam Goebel, Scott Jones, Telisha Moore Leigg, Linda Lemery, C.B. Maddox, Carla Minosh, Bernadette Moore, Dave Slayton, Cheryl Sutherlin, Joyce Wilburn, Melody Warnick, Annelle Williams, Mack Williams Art & Production Director Demont Design (Kim Demont)

On the Cover: Photo of Aubrey Rose by Consociate Media.

Finance Manager Cindy Yeatts (1.434.709.7349)

September 2021

Marketing Consultants For ad information contact a marketing consultant listed below.

Content

3 Editor’s Note

10 Re-Gifting Karma

14 Trivia Night

11 Exceptional Customer

16

4:32

18

Book Clubbing

submitted by Scott Jones

by Linda Lemery

Spotting

Service

by Joyce Wilburn

Voice 12 The of Readers & 5 Aubrey Justin Rose

7 Perfect Tasting Pairing Virginia Wine and Food for the

Party

by Dave Slayton

8

Calendar

The French Paradox: A Wine Country Mystery

by Ellen Crosby review by Diane Adkins

the 21 Double Pleasure

Reaping the Fruits of a 400-Year Experiment

by Joyce Wilburn

Fiction by Telisha Moore Leigg

13 Change Your Don’t Change Your Location

Attitude

by Carla Minosh

Why I Don’t Buy Everything on

Amazon

by Melody Warnick

Pair Great Food with Outstanding Wines

by Annelle Williams

22

Summer Evaporates into Autumn

by Mack Williams

Lee Vogler Director of Sales and Marketing (434.548.5335) lee@evincemagazine.com Kenny Thornton Jr, Account Executive (434.250.3581) kenny@showcasemagazine.com Kim Demont Graphic Design, Marketing (434.792.0612) demontdesign@verizon.net evince\i-’vin(t)s\ 1: to constitute outward evidence of 2: to display clearly; reveal syn see SHOW Deadline for submission of October stories, articles, and ads is Tuesday, September 21, at 5:00 p.m. Submit stories, articles, and calendar items to joycewilburn@gmail.com.

Editorial Policies Evince is a free monthly magazine with news about entertainment and lifestyle in Danville and the surrounding area. We reserve the right to accept, reject and edit all submissions and advertisements.

EVINCE MAGAZINE 753 Main St. Suite 3, Danville, VA 24541 www.evincemagazine.com For subscriptions to Evince, email info@evincemagazine.com.

Cost is $24 a year. © 2021 All rights reserved. Reproduction or use in whole or in part in any medium without written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited.

Page 4 September 2021

Evince Magazine Page 5

Aubrey & Justin Rose

Reaping the Fruits of a 400-Year Experiment

by Joyce Wilburn

Aubrey Rose, a member of the Virginia Wineries Association Board, began her term of office in August. Photo by Joyce Wilburn.

“T

homas Jefferson was

one of the most notorious

wine growers, so a lot of the credit usually goes to him,” responds Aubrey Rose, a member of the Virginia Wineries Association Board, when asked about the beginning of the wine industry in Virginia four hundred years ago.

Although Jefferson earned an honored place in history books as a statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, musician, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States, his skills growing grapes and producing wine are best forgotten. “Jefferson planted French vinifera vines and they did not take well to the soil,” explains Aubrey, a 2004 graduate of the University of Virginia, founded by Jefferson. “Phylloxera (an insect pest native to Eastern America) attacked and killed his vines and he was not successful,” she says while sitting in the tasting room at Rosemont of Virginia near Lake Gaston on a rainy August morning. Aubrey continues the history lesson, “People started planting grape vines again in the 1800s, but then Prohibition happened (1920-1933).” The constitutional ban on alcoholic beverages was a serious blow to the fledgling wine industry.

Joining in the conversation, Justin Rose, Aubrey’s husband and former President of the

Virginia Wineries Association, continues the story, “In the late 60s and 70s plants were brought from Europe for the vineyards in the Northern Virginia area.”

The strong agriculture tradition in Virginia probably inspired the wine pioneers to say, “’Let’s try this again’,” remarks Aubrey.

What might have started as a hobby to make wine for personal consumption in the 1700s has evolved into big business throughout the state. “There were 120 wineries in the early 2000s and now there are over 375,” says Aubrey as she opens a map of the state showing where each is located. Because the state of Virginia spans 430 miles from the mountains to the coast, it has a diversity of climates, soils, and air flow to support a variety of grapes.

Justin expounds, “Originally, most of the vineyards were in the northern part of the state and in the Charlottesville area, because in the warmer climate of the south Pierce’s Disease (PD) thrives. That was always a concern this far south.” Thinking about the different types of soil, he adds, “Virginia wine is regionalized with certain varieties growing better in particular areas and not in others.

For example, the sandy soil of the Eastern Shore produces great chardonnay grapes and in the Shenandoah Valley, cabernet sauvignon grapes grow really well.” Aubrey quickly interjects, “But there are other varieties such

as cabernet franc that do well across the state.” As a result of this vital information, more vineyards are starting to pop up where the best grapes can grow instead of where most people live. That is the opposite of what happened in the beginning.

The young couple credits the Virginia Wineries Association with providing the education and research for wineries to succeed in a competitive market. Aubrey was recently appointed by Governor Ralph Northam for a four-year term on its Board. In the

months to come, she and other Board members will decide how to allocate the money received from the excise tax on the sale of wine (forty cents a liter). “The funds are funneled back into the Virginia wine industry, which is fantastic,” says Aubrey, adding, “It’s used for research, education, and marketing.” She believes the popularity of Virginia wines is growing and the future of the industry is bright. It’s true that the vines Thomas Jefferson planted died, but his dream of producing quality wine that he considered a necessity of life is alive and well.

The Roots of Virginia Wine

Information from “Beyond Jefferson’s Wines: The Evolution of Quality Wine in Virginia” by Richard G. Leahy and www.virginiawine.org.

• 1619 The Virginia House of Burgesses passed Acte 12, requiring each male colonist to plant and tend to at least ten grapevines.

• 1762 Charles Carter had 1,800 red and white grape vines at his James River plantation.

He received a gold medal from the Royal Society of Arts in London for being the first Virginian who successfully grew grapes and made at least ten hogsheads of wine.

• 1770 Thomas Jefferson planted 2,000 acres of grapes at Monticello.

• 1830 Dr. Daniel Norton propagated the Norton grape that made a quality table wine.

• 1873 The Monticello Wine Company was founded in Charlottesville and its Virginia claret based on the Norton grape won national awards.

• 1920-1933 Prohibition was

enforced and the hangover lasted for decades.

• 1960s The renaissance of the Virginia wine industry began.

• 1970s There were six Virginia wineries.

• 1980s The Virginia Farm Winery Act established tax and regulatory status for wineries.

The Virginia Winegrowers Advisory Board was formed to give direction. The Virginia Winegrowers Productivity Fund provided money for research and marketing.

• 1990s Research improved the wine quality in Virginia and winery tourism became big business. In 1995, there were forty-six Virginia wineries • 2021 There are 375 Virginia wineries. Vintners and vineyards across the Commonwealth are now reaping the fruits of a 400year experiment.

Page 6 September 2021

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Evince Magazine Page 7

Pairing Virginia Wine and Food for the

Perfect Tasting Party

by Dave Slayton

a member of the Master Court of Sommeliers

A glass of vermentino pairs well with carciofo: sauteed shrimp, tomatoes, artichokes, feta cheese and sherry over linguine prepared especially for this photo by Joe & Mimma’s Italian Restaurant. Photo by Joyce Wilburn.

T

he list of gold medal

winners at the 2021

Virginia Governor’s Cup competition included familiar names such as Barboursville Vineyards, Michael Shaps Wineworks, and CrossKeys Vineyards.

Barboursville Vineyards’ 2019 Vermentino Reserve won gold again. Vermentino (vurmen-teeno) is a white wine grape grown under various names around the western Mediterranean. It is most often a light-bodied wine that is almost always dry with pear and green apple flavors. It pairs well with seafood and vegetable dishes like grilled artichokes. The Italian entrée, carciofo, with sautéed shrimp, tomatoes, artichoke, feta cheese, and sherry over linguine, is one I want to try with Vermentino Reserve.

Barboursville also received gold for their 2019 Sauvignon Blanc Reserve. They used cloned New

Zealand plants to produce the grapes. It has herbal and citrus flavors of grapefruit, lemon, and lime. These flavors and high acidity make it a match for grilled asparagus with parsley, sautéed green beans and mint, and big salads topped with basil. Try Sauvignon Blanc Reserve with fish, chicken, and pork, especially if they have citrus sauces.

CrossKeys Vineyards’ 2017 Petit Verdot earned gold. Petit Verdot (“peh-tee vur-doe”) is a fullbodied red wine that originates in Bordeaux, France. It is a blending grape in red Bordeaux wines. Try it with beef, lamb, and pork dishes.

I’ve read that a beef dish with mole sauce will make a good match for Petit Verdot. I’ll try it.

Michael Shaps Wineworks won gold for their 2017 Cabernet Franc. It, too, is a blending grape from Bordeaux, France.

This wine is known for its earthy scents such as forest floors, wet leaves, and wet rocks. One may

detect red fruit flavors such as cherry, raspberry, or cranberry.

Another flavor/scent characteristic that may be noticed is that of bell pepper. The high acidity of Cabernet Franc makes it a possible match for tomato-based dishes, vinegar-based sauces like eastern North Carolina BBQ sauce, or meals with black beans and lentils. This wine pairs with roasted chicken, pork roast, beef, sausage, lamb, and veal.

A little closer to Danville, Homeplace Vineyard in Chatham has won awards also. Their chambourcin won a bronze medal in 2012 and a silver medal in the 2016 Atlantic Seaboard Wine Competition. This delicious wine has a spicy taste and pairs well with barbeque or Italian foods.

Homeplace Vineyard offers two dry white wines, viognier and vidal blanc. The viognier has a buttery, creamy flavor with delicious pear notes and a light, tasty oak finish.

It received bronze medals in the

2014 and 2016 Atlantic Seaboard Wine Competition. The vidal blanc with hints of pineapple and grapefruit earned gold at the 2016 Atlantic Seaboard Wine Competition. Homeplace also has a sweet traminette, a variety similar to reisling that earned a bronze medal in the 2015 Virginia Governor’s Cup Competition.

Their most popular white is Old Green Tractor, a blend of viognier and traminette with Granny Smith apple on the palette and a crisp, clean finish, perfect for porch sipping. The Old Green Tractor won a bronze medal at the 2013 Virginia Governor’s Cup Competition.

As Julia Child might say, “Bon appétit.” And I’ll add, “Cheers!”

• For a complete list of Gold Cup winners, visit www.virginiawine. org.

• For more information visit www. thehomeplacevineyard.com and read the March 2015 cover story at www.evincemagazine. com.

Page 8 September 2021

September

Calendar of Evince

Abbreviation Key

September 1 thru 30

• AU = Averett University, 434.791.5600 www.averett.edu • DMFAH = Danville Museum of Fine Arts & History, 975 Main St. 434.793.5644 www.danvillemuseum.org • DSC = Danville Science Center, 677 Craghead St. 434.791.5160 www.dsc.smv.org • PA = Piedmont Arts, 215 Starling Ave., Martinsville 276.632.3221 PiedmontArts.org • The Prizery = 700 Bruce St., South Boston, 434.572.8339 www.prizery. com • LHM = Langhorne House Museum, 117 Broad St. Danville, open by appointment for fully vaccinated visitors 434.793.6472

Caswell Council for the Arts 40th Juried Art Show: adults 18+ in Virginia & North Carolina are invited to enter Exhibit is Nov 13-Dec 11. caswellarts.org 336.694.4474

Ongoing Guided Walking Tours: Millionaires Row, Holbrook Street and Tobacco Warehouse District. 434.770.1974 www.danvillehistory.org DMFAH: self-guided audio tours Camilla Williams Exhibit: Exhibit features her opera costumes including Madame Butterfly. DMFAH Danville Civil Rights Exhibition: The Movement on permanent display.

DMFAH DSC: Learn about “Water”--its chemical makeup, the power it can generate, and the ecology of the Dan River. “Go!” highlights the intersection between the physics of machines and the biology of the human body.

The J.T.-Minnie Maude Charitable Trust Creativity Lab is a makerspace offering hands-on access to craft and design tools.

September 3 Puzzle Swap: free 11am Bring jigsaw puzzles to trade with others.

Main Street Art Collective, 326 Main St. Danville

Ducks on the Dan. Danville Riverview Rotary Club. Photo courtesey of Jim Mullins.

September 4 Pour Paint Workshop: 11am $40 Melissa Dalton will lead in creating 2 pour paint pictures. Main Street Art Collective 326 Main St. Register.

434.602.2017

September 6 Labor Day

September 6 thru October 4 Forms in Clay: Mondays 6:30-9pm $95 for DMFAH members/$105 for others. Call 434.792.5355 to register.

September 7 Eat Out to Help Out: God’s Storehouse annual fundraiser.

Participating restaurants will donate 10% of their total sales from that day to God’s Storehouse. www. godsstorehouse.org

September 9 thru 12 Blue Ridge Rock Festival: Blue Ridge Amphitheatre Danville – sold out

Ribs, Rhythm & Blues Festival: Carrington Pavilion, 629 Craghead St. Danville 4-10pm $25-$200 www.eventbrite.com

September 11 & 12 Free DMFAH Admission

September 11 thru 25 Firefly Yoga on the Lawn: Saturdays free DMFAH Call to register.

September 17 thru 25 Danville Pittsylvania County Fair: 1861 Milton Hwy, Ringgold, VA 434.822.6850

September 10

Ring-Making Class: Susan Pomposini will teach how to make four rings. 11am $40 Main Street Art Collective, 326 Main St. Register 434.602.2017 Ducks on the Dan: Riverview Rotary MLK Bridge to the Crossing at the Dan pedestrian bridge 10am Habitat for Humanity Brunswick Stew: ready at 11:30am Tickets can be purchased at the Restore, 2805 Riverside Dr. Danville 434.793.3630 www.danvillehabitat. org Wine Festival & Rib Burnoff: Homeplace Vineyard, 568 Rigney Circle, Chatham noon-6pm $10/15

September 19 Handel’s Messiah: Danville Area Choral Arts Society First Presbyterian Church, 937 Main St free

September 20 Trivia Night: See page 14.

September 22

Savory September: A Stroll Down Starling: a progressive dinner at One Starling and Piedmont Arts, Martinsville. Each location will feature live music, food and cocktails. 6:30-10PM $40 Flip Flop Friday: Homeplace Vineyard, 568 Rigney Circle, Chatham, $6 live music: Michelle Motley & Friends food trucks 6-10pm

First Day of Autumn

September 11

September 1 thru 26 Wanderlove: A Stitch in Time Exhibition: Riverwalk in Danville; DMFAH

Starry Night Sunflower Painting: Melissa Dalton will lead. Main Street Art Collective 326 Main St. noon $40 Register 434.602.2017 Airport Open House & Young Eagles Rally: Danville Regional Airport 9am- 2pm free plane rides for kids ages 8-17. Register. www. youngeaglesday.org.

September 17 God’s Pit Crew Golf Tournament: Goodyear Golf Club. 434.836.4472

September 18 Cars & Coffee: hosted by Old Dominion Classic Sports Car Club.

See classic cars, sports cars, muscle cars, and more in the parking lot at Crema & Vine, 1009 Main St. Danville 9-10:30am 434.548.9862

September 25 & 26 Old 97 Rail Days: Enjoy lifelike landscapes of towns, mountains, rivers and more as N-scale trains

Evince Magazine Page 9

animate the scenes with realistic activities. Walk through a fully restored Norfolk and Western caboose along the train tracks and check out a miniature version of the Old 97 wreck scene. All this included in DSC’s regular exhibit admission On Saturday only, gallery admission is 50% off.

Saturday 10am-5pm and Sunday 11am-2pm

We’re

Danville Museum OF FINE ARTS AND HISTORY

July 4 - September 28, 2021

on Danville!

Donna Gibson Owner

A STITCH IN TIME

Community Knit Fiber Art Yarn Bombing Exhibition Along the Danville Riverwalk

September 25 30th Annual South Boston Harvest Festival: outdoor street festival in historic downtown from 9am5pm www.soboharvestfest.com 434.575.4208 sdavis@southbostonva.us Basket Weaving: taught by Mary Howell 11am $35 Main Street Art Collective 326 Main St. Register.

434.602.2017 Bluegrass by the River: 2 Witches Winery & Brewery, 209 Trade St. Danville 5-9:30pm $20 advance tickets only; benefits Project Lifesaver www.bluegrassbytheriver.com

HOLLEY & GIBSON REALTY COMPANY

This DMFAH community fiber knit exhibition created by 25 community partners during the pandemic, is installed along the 11 entryways to the 13 mile Danville Riverwalk Trail. This Yarn Bomb installation is located in the River District and is accessable from the busteling Historical Craghead Street with its restaurants and coffeeshops.

Download the Distrx app (Apple Store) to locate and view installation sites

339 Piney Forest Rd., Danville, VA 24540

Office: (434) 791-2400

A Stitch in Time

Fax: (434) 791-2122 Visit our website at

www.holleyandgibsonrealty.com

October 16 - November 21, 2021

Crossroads: Change in Rural America 24 Reid Street, Chatham VA 24531 Mon-Sat • 11am-2pm | Sun • 2-4pm

October 1 thru 3 Country Music Festival: Darius Rucker, Toby Keith + more. Blue Ridge Amphitheatre, Danville www. blueridgecountryfest.com

Why should revitalizing the rural places left behind matter to those who remain, those who left, and those who will come in the future? All Americans benefit from rural America’s successes.

We can learn great things from listening to those stories. There is much more to the story of rural America!

This exhibition is made possible by DMFAH, Smithsonian Institution, Virginia Association of Museums, and Crossroads Community Partners: Old Dominion Agricultural Complex, Reid Street Gallery, Chatham First, and Pittsylvania County Historical Society

Free Yoga on the Lawn with Firefly Yoga Saturdays • 9:00 am • Bring a mat • fireflydanville.com to register

• Camilla Williams | Danville’s Diva • Tobacco Trade that Built Hearth & Home • The Movement: Danville’s Civil Rights • Danville Between the Lines 1861-1865 Exhibitions

The Civil War

Exhibits at the Museum | 975 Main Street, Danville VA Monday - Friday | 10am-5pm Sat | Noon-5pm • Sun | 2pm-5pm 434-793-5644 • info@danvillemuseum.org 975 Main Street, Danville, VA danvillemuseum.org

Page 10 September 2021

Re-Gifting Karma

by Linda Lemery

“Didn’t we give that away to the Lemerys at least ten years ago?” Photo by Linda Lemery.

A

fun aspect of gathering

together is the chance

to give gifts. In my decluttering world, that means transferring some of my household treasures to others.

When we’re travelling to another state, there’s more opportunity to divest ourselves of more stuff, because the people we see less often deserve even more love.

For example, some years ago we were given a disc golf goal by friends in Madison, Wisconsin (see picture.) That Christmas, we gave it to our disc golf-playing son, Jason. He and partner Chelsea were in an apartment with no place to put it other than on their second-floor balcony.

Presumably they would have aimed the disc/Frisbee from inside their apartment, but if they had ever missed a shot, it would have then sailed out into the air and hit something else in its path, likely ending badly.

Therefore, we kept it in Danville.

When our disc golf-playing younger son, Dave, and wife Jill bought a house with another disc golf-playing couple, his older brother donated the disc golf goal to them as a housewarming gift.

As I write this, we are hauling the disc golf goal back to its Madison, Wisconsin city of origin to live with Dave and Jill. Karma lives.

We also gathered 240 items for other friends we would see on this trip: a former nurse manager (4), my college roommate (23 + 100 vegetables), a former Chicago teacher (10), our younger son and wife (67) and their housemates (3), our Beaver Island friend (4), a long-lost cousin (4), and the Beaver Island resale shop (25).

Incoming items acquired: a truly superior Michigan-brewed French toast maple syrup stout that we found in Ohio. (We liked

it so much that I went back and bought three more six-packs), 2 quarts of oil for the van, 8 CDs, 1 penguin candle holder, 1 jacket, 1 ceramic bird, 1 magnifying glass, 6 cornhusk dolls, 3 big clay pots and 5 saucers, 4 cloth napkins, 2 pillowcases, 1 glass case, 14 books, 16 T-shirts, 3 crossword puzzle books, 11 blue jeans. This brings the incoming trip items to more than 100, but we’re still on the trip so totals are fluid. We’re reshuffling outgoing and incoming items every time we stop to visit someone.

Maybe in a few years our younger son and daughter-in-law can transport the disc golf goal back to our elder son in North Carolina.

Or maybe it will go back to its original donor in Madison. Things tend to travel full-circle. I’m envisioning us or our younger son and wife sneaking over to the original donor’s house in the dead of night and setting up the

disc golf goal in their back yard.

I’m imagining the next morning’s dialogue at the recipient home: Wife: Honey, there’s a disc golf goal in our back yard.

Husband: Didn’t we give that away to the Lemerys at least ten years ago?

Wife: It’s found its way back.

Husband. How did it get here?

Wife: Honey, some things I just don’t even want to know.

Currently, with less than half our trip over, who knows what else we will acquire. Life is a gift, full of small things we can have fun passing on to others. We need a new dehumidifier. Maybe we will run across one on our way home.

But the best gift of all is gathering, reconnecting, and laughing together over our shared human foibles. That karma is priceless.

About the Author: Linda Lemery (llemery@ gmail.com) lives and writes in Danville, Virginia. She welcomes reader comments.

Evince Magazine Page 11

Spotting Exceptional Customer Service

by Joyce Wilburn Jacob Patterson

E

ven though I haven’t

shipped anything by

UPS recently, I received exceptional customer service from one of their employees.

Driver Jacob Patterson was making a delivery to Wilson Lawn & Garden in Danville, when I happened to be in the parking lot. I was trying to unload a heavy push mower from the back of my pickup truck, when the UPS truck pulled in behind me. Jacob jumped out of the UPS truck and rushed over to ask if he could help.

Of course, I said, “Yes!” As I walked to the store entrance pushing the mower, Jacob gathered the boxes from his truck for delivery inside the store. We met at the door and he held it open for me with one hand while balancing his boxes in the other.

I’m sure all the people on Jacob’s delivery route receive the same exceptional customer service. Thank you, Jacob! You were the bright spot in my day.

Evince wants to encourage and recognize exceptional customer service.

When someone gives you exceptional service, please let us know. In 300 words or less, tell us what happened. Email your story to joycewilburn@gmail.com.

Page 12 September 2021

Voice of Readers

This Issue Sponsored by

I receive positive emails and verbal comments on a weekly basis about the wonderful work done by our team of volunteer writers and contributors. We usually don’t have room to print these remarks, but because of our fantastic advertisers, there is space this month. I save every email and am happy to share with you a sample of what has arrived in my inbox over the past few months.

life, I eat a lot of salads. This one was as delicious as it looked. The dressing is easy to make and has a delicate, lovely flavor. I was so taken by that salad that I have made it five more times for guests.

I intend to make it again for guests later this week.

Please continue to support our advertisers with your visits and purchases. They support Evince so it can be free to you, our readers.

To read back issues of Evince, visit www.evincemagazine.com.

I also like to cook Annelle’s recipes and have always been pleased with the results. That’s why she won a national recipe contest!

Dear editor: I’m writing in praise of Annelle Williams and her wonderful recipe for Strawberry Salad published in the May 2021 issue of Evince, page 13.

I’ve enjoyed reading these recipes over the years but seldom plan far enough ahead to be able to put them on the table. I was struck by the fact that I actually had everything on hand to make the Strawberry Salad and made it for part of our dinner one fortuitous day in May. (Thanks to having leftover glazed pecan pieces and fresh mandarin oranges, figuring out how much onion to substitute for shallot, and my daughter-in-law leaving me a bottle of rice wine vinegar.) This salad was incredible. Because I’ve been on a diet for my whole

Thanks so much for a great, easy, and delicious culinary experience.

Keep the recipes coming!

Best, Linda Lemery

To the editor: We saw the article and pictures (July 2021 page 7 Richard & Neda Haymore: Playing Tennis with a Mural). Thanks! It has become a topic of conversation among our friends and acquaintances.

Neda Haymore Seeing Richard play tennis with a mural on his basement wall was inspiring. Photographer Michelle Dalton had fun watching his quick movements and trying to capture a picture of Richard and the moving tennis balls. Of course, she succeeded!

To the editor: Huge thanks to you. I’m honored, truly and deeply, for the

opportunity to be in the magazine (August 2021 page 4 Brandon Lee Adams: Making Music and a Home in Danville).

Brandon Adams It was my pleasure listening to you play and hearing your story. Thank you!

To the editor: Thank you so very much, Joyce. Your inclusion of my Danville work is a great honor and so very, very kind! (July 2021 page 7 and page 29 A picture of the mural Phil painted is shown on the front cover.) Danville was my old art stomping grounds and I hope and wish for its return to greatness!

Phil Ramsey I’m glad we could update readers on your whereabouts.

Danville is reinventing itself and you probably wouldn’t recognize it. This is your invitation to visit. Bring your paintbrush!

To the editor: I’m sitting here with the May issue of Evince and enjoying it very much -- thinking I need to get down to Brookgreen Gardens right away! (May 2021 Wine Spot: Does Your Wine Taste Like Stones? page 9) Kathy Hurt I agree. Dave Slayton always has good ideas of places to go and wines to sip.

Evince Magazine Page 13

Don’t Change Your Location

Change Your Attitude

by Carla Minosh

If you make a conscious decision to love where you live, for what it is, and look for what you want, you will find it.

A

lthough both my husband

and I were born and

reared elsewhere, (my husband hails from Florida, and I am from Massachusetts) we have both chosen to make Virginia our home. Tom relocated because of his work and I moved to Virginia for him!

When looking for an historic home to restore, we focused our search on Virginia. Once we discovered the city of Danville, we knew that we had found our forever place.

Over the years we have worked tirelessly to restore our big house on Main Street, even taking on a house across the street that had burned in the middle of one cold December night. We scoured local salvage yards for potential house parts, becoming familiar faces at those places in Richmond. We utilized a nearby

foundry to cast metal pieces that were missing on the building, hired local labor and bought local lumber and supplies.

We were delighted to discover the charms of Danville and its vibrant social scene. The city offers many opportunities for engagement from wine festivals to the local symphony. There are art shows, shrimp festivals, Octoberfest celebrations, as well as Derby Day and a pavilion for live music. The weekly farmers market is unique because it is held in a massive indoor space, a perfect cover from the scorching summer sun and equally welcome on foul weather days. There is literally something for everyone here and we have spent the last twenty-one years weaving our lives into this community. As compared to the

Why I Don’t Buy Everything on

Amazon

by Melody Warnick

A

fter reading Carla

Minosh’s story, Don’t

Change Your Location, Change Your Attitude, (above) it seemed appropriate to reprint the following article that originally appeared in the March 2017 Evince.

The list of things I’ve purchased from Amazon.com over the years is a little shocking: hair conditioner, Mexican vanilla, maple syrup, adhesive stars, Dansko sandals, doll clothes, microfiber cleaning cloths, an apple peeler, a bathroom scale, and two headboards, to name about a month’s worth. And I bought all this stuff without ever vacating my couch, which for a busy working mom seems like one of the miracles of modern life.

So it took a little convincing for me to recognize that my buying habits are killing my city.

Yours probably are too. All over America, gutted Main Streets stand as memorials to a slower time when commerce happened in a physical place instead of just in cyberspace, when residents simultaneously bought socks and chatted with their neighbors.

Eventually, though, we didn’t want an intimate, neighborly shopping experience anymore. We wanted more stuff for less money, right now, and so local downtown businesses were slowly edged out by chains and the internet.

If shopping were purely about my money and my time, I’d do all of it online. Of course. But as I researched my book This Is Where

regions in which each of us grew up, we find Danville to be the most interesting and welcoming place, the place where we choose to spend the bulk of our free time, our vacations, and our holidays: our home.

And yet we see a curious progression over time, where people will inexplicably leave.

They will find themselves yearning for something more, something bigger, fancier, more exciting, or more relaxing. What they don’t realize is that Danville is actually just right; it’s your attitude toward any place that determines your experience with it. Every town has challenges and change, frustrations and things that will never change. They all have some degree of crime and some degree of decay. Utopia does not exist in any city or town in America, but, when you fully engage with a city like Danville, you will find it to be just right.

I spend my days teaching kids, through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, how to love their looks, their brains, their bodies, and their lives. I want them to believe

in themselves and their abilities.

It’s all about focusing on what you do love and choosing not to focus on what you don’t love and can’t change or what will never change. To capture the helpful thoughts and move aside the unhelpful ones. It’s a “glass half-full” approach, with the understanding that there will be days where the glass is less than half full and even days when it is mostly empty, but those are the exceptions and not the rule.

However, I also choose to take the advice of my chemical engineer cousin, Kris, who pointed out that the glass is always full, you just can’t always see it.

Sometimes half of it is full of air, and that is something.

If you make a conscious decision to love where you live, for what it is, and look for what you want, you will find it. The thing that is always there, even if we don’t always see it, is the sense of community and the opportunities for making and maintaining relationships with some of the nicest people who make Danville a place to love fully: our forever HOME.

You Belong, I learned about something called the “local multiplier effect”: when you shop at a locally owned, independent business, three times as much of your money circulates in your town than if you spend the same amount at a chain. According to one study, $14 of every $25 spent at a locally owned retailer stayed in the city. At a big chain, only $3.50 did.

It’s not just my money. My shopping decisions affect my entire town. And so I decided to make a more concerted effort to buy local in my town of Blacksburg. The surprise was that it wasn’t nearly as time-consuming and inefficient as I feared. At Imaginations, the toy store in Blacksburg where I decided to buy birthday gifts for my kids’ friends, the store clerks helped me pick items, then wrapped them for me, the ultimate two-fer.

Actually, as with many of the behaviors that foster community

and build towns, buying local turns almost everything into a two-fer. You shop and see people you haven’t seen in a while. You shop and get in a little walking.

You shop and feel like a hero for preserving what makes your town great. It’s maybe not as quick as one-click ordering from my couch, but it accomplishes what really matters.

Page 14 September 2021

Trivia Night submitted by Scott Jones

1. Rapper Flavor-Flav starred in VH1’s Flavor of Love. Of what seminal rap group was Flav a member?

2. What did my true love give to me on the 10th day of Christmas?

3. Who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for less than eight minutes of screen time in the movie Shakespeare in Love?

4. Who played Sarah Reeves on the Fox TV show Party of Five?

5. With whom did rocker Kurt Cobain have a child?

6. Big Love was an HBO series about a fundamentalist Mormon family in Utah who practice polygamy. Who played Bill Henrickson, the patriarch of the family?

7. In Greek mythology, who killed his father and made love to his mother and later hanged himself?

8. Who was the mischievous fairy in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream?

9. Who first recorded the song L-O-V-E in 1965? His daughter covered the song in 1991.

10. Who played The Lov-ahs, the hot-tub-loving couple, Professors Roger and Virginia Klarvin, on SNL?

1. How many keys are on a standard piano?

2. How many stripes are on the U.S. flag?

3. Which Apollo spacecraft was the first to land on the moon?

4. How many people signed the Declaration of Independence?

5. What is the value of pi to 5 decimal points?

6. How many films have been released as part of the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World franchise?

7. According to a 1981 song by Tommy Tutone, what is Jenny’s phone number?

8. What dystopian novel, written

by Ray Bradbury, considers a world in which books are outlawed?

9. How many moons orbit Mars?

10. How many hours is California ahead of Hawaii, based on their respective time zones?

Answers to Numbers 1. 88 2. 13 3. 11 4. 56 5. 3.14159 6. 5 Jurassic Park; The Lost World; Jurassic Park; Jurassic Park III; Jurassic World; Jurassic World; Fallen Kingdom 7. 867-5309 8. Fahrenheit 451 9. 2 10. 3

All You Need Is Love

Numbers

Answers to All You Need Is Love 1. Public Enemy 2. ten lords a leaping 3. Dame Judi Dench 4. Jennifer Love Hewitt 5. Courtney Love 6. Bill Paxton 7. Oedipus 8. Puck 9. Nat King Cole 10. Will Ferrell & Rachel Dratch

z

oom in to Trivia Night on Monday, September 20

at 7:00 p.m. For more information, email scott.jones@ richmond.edu.

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Page 16 September 2021

4:32 fiction by Telisha Moore Leigg

A

llan,

I know you never really had that affair with Carmen Bakerlynn, who was pretty, with a crooked front tooth, who worked as a cashier at the lumberyard.

I’m sorry I screamed in the middle of Hardee’s on Highway 58 in South Boston next to the Shoney’s that’s been gone for years now. I know you didn’t do it because we caught you before anything happened, but some days, I wish you had.

Allan, I guess about three years before your daddy died, in the storefront pulpit of the church he named Monroe Street Holiness Church, your daddy leaned forward from his tallboy chair and said, “If there is kindness, there is love. If there ain’t no kindness…” Martin Ross shrugged his shoulders and shook his head sadly, then shouted out without any warning or explanation “Ephesians 4:32” and then sat down with a jolt, sitting down with old knees into that chair--like something too strong and divine had pulled his string like a toy and there was no more fight left in him. We sat waiting for more, our Sara maybe three or four still sucking her thumb and looking at me wide-eyed, but there was no more.

We weren’t particularly close, your daddy and me, back then.

But it was your father who told

me where you and Carmen were.

“Come on, Fallen-gal, get in,” he said, “I’ma do y’all a kindness.” I left Sara with Mean Keisha and Mandy Blue, while he revved the engine in the driveway. And he drove me, just 20 or 21, and pregnant, ready for sadness, out past the Creighton Farm, years before you put a billboard sign there, years before the Creightons lost their boy in that mad crash, before there was anything but grass and the blur as we passed it. He drove me to the back of the town’s then one dry cleaners looking for you, Allan.

cleaned something and when he began one of these tasks, we knew to go home.

That was about 9:30 a.m., on a third Sunday, and there were maybe seven people there.

There was Martin, you, me, Sara, and the baby I was carrying but lost, the two homeless men from the street. Your daddy had homemade ham sandwiches and deviled eggs with sweet pickles, a spread he put together.

But I made them or he shamed Bitty, your mama, into making those sandwiches because she wouldn’t come (as she said) to that godforsaken old barber shop he called a church. Either way, that was your daddy’s whole sermon. The rest of the hour, he sat and prayed with his head in his hands. Then at benediction, he got up and swept the dust from the dropped ceiling he fixed because of a bad rain a few months back, or he washed a window, or he...fixed something,

Martin Ross never asked for an offering and those homeless that sometimes came in certainly couldn’t have contributed. We never thought to put anything in. And your father was a terrible preacher. I mean if the Word didn’t do the work, Martin Ross’s sermons wouldn’t aid it, but there was something about how he in Sunday light went without an utterance, and he fixed, tended, and held his tools for his service.

You didn’t do nothing, Allan, in the front seat of your old green Toyota pickup truck. In fact, you were already crying, and Carmen looked scared into the headlights when we came around back. I know, Allan; I know. We hadn’t been doing well then, the stress, the sadness, Bitty getting more and more ill, your father couldn’t live forever saving us, and I was never as sure as you of love. I don’t blame you.

The only benevolence Bitty ever did was to tell your daddy, Martin Ross, about the phone call she overheard between you and Carmen; it had a weird tone, and her boy wouldn’t look her in the eye. Her telling wasn’t any kindness to me.

Sometimes, we felt so bad for your daddy, Martin, we would

bundle up the girls and take them to hear him preach, all five minutes of it. The Monroe Street Holiness church is closed now, like they closed that Woolworth on Main Street, and the furniture store they turned into a used car dealership. That’s how it was when old places became defunct if we let them. That Woolworth, just like your daddy’s church, they put large sheets of paper to cover the windows so people would not bust them out. And no one ever did.

Anyway, I sometimes wish we hadn’t found you behind that dry cleaners, how I would have said forgiveness, but not really meant it, you know. How you had been so sad. But today, I saw you power washing the deck after your shift at the lumberyard, the girls shrieking in laughter at the screen door when a little water reached it. I know now how time is a warrior for kindness too. Today, I hold your eyes through the kitchen window and I think of your father’s sermons. Allan, I always wanted to ask your daddy why he didn’t let it go, the church, way before he died in it, way before he realized that no one won’t never coming, not Bitty, no real congregation either, but I didn’t, cause that calling was sacred, like we never mentioned that green pickup truck or why you cried--the powerful truth of what’s not said.

Fallen

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Page 18 September 2021

Book Clubbing

Everyone seems to have a motive as Crosby masterfully ties the story of Jackie Kennedy’s life— her romance with Luc, the paintings she has bequeathed, and her writing—to the other threads of a complicated plot.

The French Paradox: A Wine Country Mystery

by Ellen Crosby review by Diane Adkins

W

hen Ellen Crosby wrote her

first Wine Country book,

it was to be a stand-alone mystery. Sixteen years later, this is the eleventh in the series set in Loudoun and Fauquier Counties in the heart of Northern Virginia’s wine-making region and featuring Lucie Montgomery, owner of Montgomery Estate Vineyard.

A hallmark of the series is the way Crosby uses actual historical events to weave the story of her fictional characters. Crosby had always wanted to write something about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis because Jackie frequented Middleburg to ride horses and foxhunt for many years. Stymied in the early stages of writing, Crosby was delighted to discover an article in the New York Times about

Jacqueline Bouvier’s year in Paris when she was a twenty-year-old student. That provided an historical link to Lucie Montgomery, whose grandfather lives in Paris and has appeared before in the series.

Lucie discovers by reading her grandmother’s diaries that her grandfather Luc had an affair with Jackie while she was in Paris. He was with her when she purchased some paintings by a relative unknown, Élizabeth Vigée Le Brun.

Jackie pens thoughts about the artist that are discovered in items she leaves to an old Middleburg friend, Cricket Delacroix. Le Brun has been recently re-discovered during a revival of interest in female painters who worked during the time of the Old Masters and the National Museum of Women in the Arts is to receive the

paintings from Delacroix.

Meanwhile, Parker Lord, an old friend of Lucie’s as well as of Cricket and Jackie, and a landscape designer of some note, has published a book about climate change and is receiving death threats as a result. He has agreed to look at some sickly grapevines for Lucie. The next morning, she discovers his body in her vineyard.

There is no dearth of possible suspects for the murder. Even Lucie’s sister Mia, an artist who is employed by Cricket’s daughter, Harriet, to paint a mural at Cricket’s estate, is not above suspicion.

Reading the other books in the series provides an education into winemaking in general. In this book, the focus is more on the challenges presented by the shifting climate of Virginia and what that might mean for the future of winemaking, an industry so important to Loudoun County.

It’s to Crosby’s credit that these rather disparate plot threads do not feel contrived. She has centered those concerns into the lives of the characters, therefore, they feel an organic part of the story. The result is one of the best of her well-crafted series of novels.

Diane S. Adkins is a retired Director of Pittsylvania County Library System.

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Evince Magazine Page 21

Shrimp and Artichoke Pasta with Feta 4 servings

1 1/2 lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined (medium-large size) 4 T butter, divided 1 tsp. Italian seasoning salt and pepper 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 lb. linguini pasta, cooked according to package directions 1 (14 oz) can artichoke hearts, rinsed, drained and cut in half 1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, sliced zest and juice of one medium lemon

1/3 cup wine that is being served with dinner 2 tsp. vegetable broth mix or the amount of vegetable broth mix to make 2 cups-but reconstitute in only one cup of water 1/4 cup sour cream 1/2 cup marinated cubed feta, drained (If you can’t find marinated feta, use regular feta and cut into cubes.)

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Add 2 tablespoons butter to large sauté pan over medium heat. When butter is melted add garlic and stir for about 30 seconds. Add shrimp in one layer (may have to cook shrimp in 2 batches). Add the Italian seasoning and lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook until shrimp begins to turn pink ~2 minutes. Turn shrimp and cook another minute.

Remove shrimp to bowl leaving sauce in pan.

In same pan with sauce add remaining butter and wine. Simmer until wine is reduced by half (only takes a couple of minutes). Add lemon juice and vegetable broth mix. Add sun-dried tomatoes and artichokes.

Stir until all are heated through. Remove from heat and add sour cream stirring to combine. Finally, add shrimp to pan and stir until shrimp are coated with sauce. Put pan back on low heat until shrimp are warmed.

At the last minute add the feta and gently stir.

Pour drained pasta into serving bowl. Pour shrimp, tomatoes, artichokes and sauce over top. Garnish with lemon zest and Italian parsley.

Double the Pleasure Pair Great Food with Outstanding Wines

by Annelle Williams winner of the national 2002 Sutter Home Recipe Contest

A

t my house, we normally

drink whatever wine is on

hand with whatever dish I happen to prepare. I don’t even adhere to the white-winewith-seafood rule all the time.

However, pairing thoughtfully and tastefully can make a huge difference. There are a few rules I follow when I have time to plan and shop for the appropriate wine.

1. Don’t let the intensity of either the wine or the food overpower the other.

2. Serve light-bodied whites with light fish, pork and chicken dishes.

3. Enjoy full-bodied red with red meat.

4. Sip sparkling wine with cheeses.

5. Pair sweet wines with sweet foods.

6. Match the wine with the sauce on a meat.

7. Drink what you like. That’s the most important rule and my personal favorite Prosecco goes with everything any time of day or night.

This recipe is for a dish suggested by Dave Slayton (page 7) to pair with the Vermentino Reserve Gold Medal Winner at the 2021 Virginia Governor’s Cup competition.

This dry white wine is good with seafood and vegetables like artichokes and feta cheese, so it is perfect for this dish. I used the same wine in the sauce to give the wine and food a complimentary flavor.

Page 22 September 2021

Summer Evaporates into Autumn

by Mac Williams

W

hile making a recent

grocery trip, I noticed

the dry face of the dam near the Robertson Bridge, not even a trickle of excess water flowing over the top. At the same time I noticed a street cleaning truck, its brushes rotating furiously, but it was a dry scouring minus water. Where Park Avenue meets Memorial Drive, there lies a slight natural depression that is usually closed to traffic when flooded by excess rain and nearby river water. The river was low so imagine my surprise upon encountering a small pool developing there. After all, the river was low, the dam’s stone was dry, and there had been no rain for days.

From an adjoining street, Park Circle, a shimmering, thin sheen of water cascaded down, gradually deepening the pool in that asphalt-lined depression below. I figured someone on that street must have experienced a

dreadful plumbing mishap. Then, I thought of it no more.

Returning home on the same route, I spied the top part of a water gusher absorbing the early afternoon sun’s rays. A little way down the road, I saw children in swimsuits (in this case, splash suits) jumping up and down in the erupting water released from a fire hydrant at one end of Ballou Park. This object of their joy had been the source of that unusual pool farther down the hill on such a dry day.

The next morning, I drove along that same route. The pool in the asphalt depression was gone, along with the shimmering wet sheen that had trickled down Park Circle. The children had vanished, and the top of the fire hydrant was again secured in place. It was as if the water, the children, and their squeals of delight had evaporated into the hot summer air.

• The first day of fall is Wednesday, September 22, at 3:21 p.m.

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Page 24 September 2021