Surprise visitors

Yes, actually two! The first visitor was Sophie, a lady I knew for many years but had never met. She is a marvelous accomplished quilter. For many years she was posting monthly quilt block patterns on BLOCK LOTTO. Her patterns were fun, easy to follow and I learned a lot. I even won a few times. One is hanging in my living room and I am looking at it right now. It was so much fun.

Right now she is driving criss-cross around the US and luckily she decided to stop in Virginia. She arrived shortly after lunch.

We had no trouble finding things to talk about. After a while it was time to drive to the James River Cellars and Winery. That was the place where she was staying for the night, a free "camping" place for the night, booked through Harvest Hosts. Because it is free you should purchase something. Fair enough.

In Summer they have an event "Fridays at the Pavilion" from 6 to 9 with a live band. Since we wanted to do a "tasting" (the purchase) we had to be there before 7 pm when they stop doing that. 

The flights were very nice and we all had selected differently from the large list. The board was nice because they could put the abbreviated names on it. 

It was time for Sophie to take care of Jonny, her 19 year old cat. At home we watched a little TV in the loft but when I went downstairs at one point I almost got a heart attack. The second visitor!

There was a baby snake wiggling on the floor. I was barefoot and it looked like a baby copperhead. Poisonous. The babies are supposedly worse than the adults. I didn't have my camera, so could not take a photo for identification. I did not want to take my eyes off of it because if it would disappear (like behind that chest of drawers) I would not be able to sleep.

I found a large plastic pitcher and managed to put it upside-down over the snake. Then I looked for something heavy to weigh it down. Now I definitely could not identify it any more. At this point I called to James upstairs what was happening.

As you can see in the above photo, I got a large piece of alufoil and taped one edge to the tile. Now I could pull the jug gently with the snake over the foil. Then I pushed the edges of the foil all up. 

Finally I remembered that the snake expert, who had taken care of the adult copperhead on our back patio a few years ago, had used a bucket similar to that yellow one which we had in the garage. I carefully put the jug with the foil into it.

Next morning we decided to have a look. We carefully removed the jug.

And then the foil. When I took several photos, the identification said that it was a "brown snake". Harmless. So we released it outside. And yes, I felt much better.

When Sophie came we went to Lewis Ginger Botanical Garden. There was some construction going on for a new exhibit. This looks like it is going to be a turtle in the shallow pond. There was a man in the turtle working on it.

Here is only a collection of my photos. This plant was in the orchid house. Its flower looked just like the ones on my houseplant which has totally different leaves. I was curious.

Reminders what make make a good perennial in our yard. Trying to simplify our lives.

After a while it got quite hot and it was also lunch time. We decided on JJs Restaurant close to our community because we know we can sit outside in the shade. It was lovely and we enjoyed the food.

After a cup of coffee at our house it was soon for Sophie to leave. She had to find her next place for the night. 

Today, Memorial Day, we are quite lazy. I made great progress on the monthly church newsletter and decided to spend a little time in my sewing room. A girl has to have fun sometimes. James was ready to start "his yearly job" of wrapping the Chrismons which are done.

I think I was the lucky one twice.

After some rain we also had some time on the front porch. Love looking at my container with the three different kind of fuchsias. 

The next two photos were taken on May 18 of our two hydrangeas. We were eagerly waiting for them to bloom. We had been very happy when we had seen the first sign of a flower because last year we had none. Not even one which was probably because of false pruning by the landscapers.

These were taken Saturday, after our house was power washed, something the HOA schedules. Oh no, heart brake. There must have been some chemical. I tried to wash them down as good as I could once I noticed it. Now, fingers crossed.

And this is it for now. Wishing you all a very good week.