Whew! One of the hottest summers I remember, particularly for the month of June, has grabbed our attention. I am looking forward to fall and hoping for cool down soon. Cooler weather can’t come fast enough, at least for me.
I complain a lot about Tidewater summers. The humidity and high temperatures have always caused me to “lay low.” I grew up in northern Ohio on the cooler shores of Lake Erie country and when I first arrived in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1959 for college at Randolph Macon Woman’s College I thought I had arrived in the tropics. I never acclimated. I stayed in Virginia and I still feel hot. All these many years later, I still think I am living in the tropics.
But I managed to have some fun this summer in spite of mostly being housebound enslaved in air conditioning. I did manage to take in a few air conditioned events that deserve attention.
The first weekend in June featured the annual Arts in the Middle art show at the historic Hewick Plantation just outside of town. Middlesex Kiwanians offered their usual golf cart transportation to and from the parking lot in an adjacent field, which helped cut down on the walking. We enjoyed a Saturday afternoon stroll through the many exhibits and the concert under the tent.
Another Urbanna historic colonial home was featured in June by the Rivers Club that held a beautiful garden dinner party to kick off the summer season on the front lawn of Lansdowne. Col. A.B. Gravatt was the gracious host. As an aside he welcomes any and all groups to host affairs at Lansdowne, which is most generous and it shows off our charming town of Urbanna for many people to enjoy.
Also, in June I attended a matinee play at the Lancaster Players mystery, not one of their best productions, probably because the script was poor to begin with, and June ended for us with an excellent program on Bacon’s Rebellion and the ensuing escape of native Americans into the Dragon Run Swamp to seek protection. The program was sponsored by the Middlesex Historical Society.
Jim Robusto presented a program in July on the Mills House at the Urbanna Museum on the first Saturday in July. He often will present historical programs at the museum for groups visiting Urbanna so keep that in mind if your group would like to be so informed. Also in July John Reid, GOP candidate for lieutenant governor, spoke at Lisa Carter’s home at a barbecue cookout on Watling Street later that month.
A neighbor, Kevin Jones and his wife, both lawyers from Richmond and neighbors of ours in the summer and weekends on Kent Street, sponsored an outdoor concert later on in the month and the music went on for hours. We attended and I think half of Richmond was in town that day and many said they had shopped in local stores while in Urbanna. All this is good news for our local businesses.
Husband Chip turned 87 the end of the month and is now fully retired after almost 60 years of serving his clients. We celebrated with children and “grands” and gave thanks for all the blessings in life. The secret to happiness is not to ruminate over what you don’t have, but to simply rejoice at what blessings you do have and leave it at that.
We are all looking forward to the Urbanna Founders Day ceremony coming up on Aug. 2. I hope everyone is planning on coming to Urbanna for this special day when we celebrate our town’s history.
To celebrate the spirit of the day, I have even purchased a colonial dress this year and I hope to wear it at the special musical program at Urbanna Baptist Church that morning. I’ve tried on the outfit and I think I look silly. And, worse, fat! If you see me, promise me you won’t laugh? Perhaps you too will want to dress up in colonial garb? It’s fun to honor our past along with forgiving our ancestors for any mistakes that they made in building the new republic.
Now, what I’m really excited about. All summer I have been working on my first mystery story which I hope to begin to serialize in 10 parts in the Sentinel starting next week titled “The Amazing Mitchell Map Muddle.” I wrote the story in the hopes of educating more people about our precious Mitchell map and I hope you will read and enjoy my tale.
The story is, of course, set in Urbanna but entirely fictional and all my marvelous characters are a figment of my imagination and any similarities to any actual person is entirely circumstantial.
I hope you enjoy my tale! I sure had fun writing it!
