September 2011: Your Kids

Despite the massive construction site not 50 yards from their Fry’s Spring front porch, Rob and Adrienne Dent maintain a joyfully serene home. Just inside the front door, the family’s shoes are neatly tucked into old wooden post office mailboxes. Their children, Laurel (7) and Alden (6), drag out a painted vintage suitcase and happily […]

September 2011: Pushing the Envelope

“This is a statement about the future,” says builder Bill Jobes, sitting in the dining area of the house on Lankford Avenue that his company just finished. Behind him, large windows wrap around the house’s southeast corner. A close look reveals that their sills are unusually deep, due to extra-thick walls. That thickness—plus a pervasive quiet […]

September 2011: Get Real

By now, saying that this real estate market is difficult has a certain broken-record quality. But even getting a refinance loan is “tougher than it used to be,” says Phillip Mahone, co-owner of Mahone Mortgage, LLC in Charlottesville. “The biggest issue right now is the decline in property values.”  In fact, according to Zillow Inc., […]

September 2011: Rental Rescue

I’m always fascinated by the people on those house hunting shows on television. I watch couple after couple immediately give up on some beautiful, affordable homes due to a few cosmetic imperfections. They wish the family room wasn’t carpeted, the kitchen had lighter cabinetry, and the dining room wasn’t adorned with sheep and maidens frolicking […]

All hands on deck

It all began with a party. Two summers ago, two of PK Ross’ roommates were celebrating August birthdays and one enlisted her help to decorate for the party. They hung strings of lights under the eaves, then draped window shears overhead to create a relaxing canopy. Since then, they’ve added a few side tables, flowering […]

Back to (film) school

Earlier this year, I received an e-mail from the lead mentor at Light House Studio, the film mentoring program to which students show up never having held a camera, and sometimes leave with an acceptance letter from a prestigious film school. Jason Robinson, the mentor, said the studio was running a program for advanced students wherein the kids would create music videos over the course of a week for songs by local musicians, and would I be willing to let the kids make a video for one of my songs?

Small Bites

 Know your farm, know your food The third annual “Meet Yer Eats” Farm Tour is Labor Day Monday, September 5 from 10am-4pm. This is your chance to visit three to five (that’s about all you’ll be likely to manage in a day, figuring in travel times) of 19 participating area farms. Buy a car pass […]

Wine schooling

As pleasant as the sleepy and sparsely populated summers are here, the start of school injects energy back into this brainy little town. If you’re anything like me, you get student envy: wistfully thinking back to brand new Trapper Keepers and 5-Subject notebooks. The good news is that with your compulsory education complete, you can use your free time to learn while you drink.

Restless Farewell

She is the kind-hearted folk queen, more of a traditionalist, who, having recognized greatness in her counterpart, introduces him and his less palatable, but perhaps more brilliant, songs to the world. His twitchy affect is softened by her gorgeous trill, her wacky, glowing grace. We’re jealous that she got him and he got her, but they seem to love each other, and that, in turn, makes them both lovable.