October skies Keep your eyes on the skies this month and you may be lucky enough to stumble upon clouds of migratory monarchs wending their way to Mexico. Like the legendary rain of golden ginkgo leaves in one shimmering fall, I have heard tell but never witnessed this particular phenomenon, though solitary stragglers fueling up […]
October skies Keep your eyes on the skies this month and you may be lucky enough to stumble upon clouds of migratory monarchs wending their way to Mexico. Like the legendary rain of golden ginkgo leaves in one shimmering fall, I have heard tell but never witnessed this particular phenomenon, though solitary stragglers fueling up […]
Paying homage to the pepper The long, strong days of sunshine are slipping away, and nighttime falls silent as the insects finish their summertime symphony. Every environmental cue carries one message to the plant world: FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED. If you haven’t bloomed yet, bloom. If you need to be pollinated—you better find a bee. […]
Stacey Smith with Maia, age 7 and Hall, age 4. Photo by John Robinson. Upside of a downsize Challenge: Moving to a smaller home and embracing the change The sad state of our economy has forced many to downsize, adjust and rethink how they live. Stacey Smith of Charlottesville recently made the tough decision to take […]
Houses aren’t often described as “specific.” But the Locust Grove home of Richard Berdel and Mable Kinzie is just that. Inside and out, it’s a response to very particular demands, from a tricky site to its owners’ specialized pursuits. Richard Berdel and Mable Kinzie stand in the acutely angled point of their triangular house—a deck […]
Everyone’s saying it, and the low interest rates prove it: It’s a buyers market and a great time to buy a second or vacation home—if you can afford it. Just like every other sector of the housing business, though, the vacation-home market has fallen victim to the financial meltdown. Priced under assessed value, this […]
Though it’s small, we expect a lot out of the bathroom. It’s a place where we go to escape, to groom, to pamper, and to well, you know. If you’re a renter, or living in a small space, you most likely only have the one bathroom to share. We can’t lock the door and ask […]
The 300-square-foot studio apartment where Sean Santiago lives is not easy to find. Hidden behind an iron gate and an urban, ivy filled garden, the space is a refuge for the local designer, writer and photographer. In it, he’s created a home that tells a story of who he is and what he likes. Photo […]
The fog was just starting to clear off the tops of the apple trees on a recent morning when
You probably have not heard of Nathan Broaddus, or his calm, thoughtful bedroom recording project Evenings. But Broaddus, a talented 21-year-old UVA student studying French and Music, may very well be the “next big thing”—we small town music writers are always on the lookout for it—to come out of Charlottesville music. Though he has no […]
In 1996, John Kiers bought an abandoned 100-acre farm near Staunton. He planted 20 acres of it with grape vines in 1999.