I like to explore and tell descriptive stories about places. I also make jewelry, music and mixed-media art.
May, 2023, A and V We roll into New Orleans at night, crossing the Pearl River after sundown on our way from Virginia to Texas. The crescent moon floats above, guiding us into the Crescent City for what could be a couple of hours or an overnight. This is a spontaneous detour, one we decided […]
Read More New Orleans, a slight returnMay, 2023 While at Stanimal’s hiker hostel, the manager, Bugs, suggests I check out the Russell Museum in downtown Waynesboro while I’m here. This is not something that I have time for, or would have even planned, but I am going downtown. After visiting the local herb and stone shop, Pyramid – which is fairly […]
Read More Waynesboro, part 3: The Russell Museum… and a Charlottesville outroSHE WORE A GREEN LYCRA DRESS TO THE WAREHOUSE PARTY The parties were funded by DuPont as it set up on a spring basin near the river. The scene had been Basic before that, it was all metal. Then came the industrial dance all-nighters and occasional death rock and harsh noise. It got huge, over […]
Read More Waynesboro, Part 2: A Walk Along the RiverMay, 2023, Afton and Waynesboro, VA INTERSECTIONS and PORTALS I’m standing at Rockfish Gap of the Blue Ridge, looking east as Interstate 64 descends toward the Virginia piedmont and Charlottesville. To the west, the highway drops in to the Shenandoah valley. Here the Blue Ridge Parkway meets Skyline Drive, to the south and north respectively, […]
Read More Rockfish Gap and Waynesboro, part 1: CROSSING and ARRIVALDecember 27, 2022 The winter storm blew through before Christmas, freezing pipes and ponds across the Atlantic coastal plain. After a few cold dim days, the temperatures rose and sky cleared up again. Necessary is a nature walk and a visit to a ruin, before returning to Hampton Roads and home tasks. The Neuse River, […]
Read More Milburnie falls and dam ruins on the NeuseA man in a three-cornered hat, amid the howling wind, turns toward a kid and says “sorry, the stocks are closed today” …then he walks away. Then the kid disappears, and I stand alone by the stocks in the windy lot. It’s two days before Christmas, and a winter storm is pushing through Virginia. Temperatures […]
Read More Winter winds in WilliamsburgCamping near Pungo, Virginia Beach, with my parents, loblolly pines stand over us, offering little shade in the bright, humid air. A small canal encircles the campground, connecting water to Muddy Creek and the shallow Back Bay. A mile or so from here, Grace White Sherwood lived, farmed, and probably swam, 300+ years ago. Grace’s story is famous in Hampton Roads, an herbalist and farmer in colonial Princess Anne County known as the “witch of Pungo” and the only* person convicted of witchcraft in Virginia, surviving her “ducking” trial by swimming to the shore.
Curvy 2-lane roads take us through floodplain and forest, with watery ditches on both sides. Occasionally there is a church, horse training center, or boat landing. Our campground, North Bayshore, is at the end of such a road, adjacent to the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge. We rent a canoe from camp and float down the canal to Muddy Creek, in the Refuge. It would be very easy to slip out into the network of waterways and spend a day out there exploring…
If you like dinosaurs, this is a story for you! Mark Cline says we are experiencing the future right now. In an early morning hour near Natural Bridge, Virginia, I stand outside the Dinosaur Kingdom II, meeting the artist who created this attraction and many other fibrous sculptures and installations. Next to us, motors whir […]
Read More A Tail of Two Dinosaur Roadside Attractions (and the SLIGHTLY fibrous nature of time)Late July, 2022 I’m back at the mountain family property at Fancy Gap, Virginia, clearing paths and finishing construction of the stone labyrinth. There have been storms; trees have fallen, and mushrooms are growing all around (including in the labyrinth). I’m learning to identify these mushrooms, so if you know these species, let me know […]
Read More Mushrooms and a rainy season in southern AppalachiaRoanoke, Virginia was initially called Big Lick, when it became a settler community in the 1800s, from the salt marshes by the river that would attract wildlife. The Warrior’s Path, and then the Great Wagon Road, came through this valley, forking here toward the south and west, serving as foundations for future transportation corridors like […]
Read More The Quest for Blooming Rhododendron near Roanoke, part 2: Stars, returns, and moments of esctasy
arianna's creative travels 