Autumn’s Paintbrush: Virginia’s Fall Foliage

By Ken Wilson Suddenly all the gold I ever wanted Let loose and fell on me. A storm of gold Starting with rain a quick sun catches falling And in the rain (fall within fall) a whirl Of yellow leaves, glitter of paper nuggets. Robert Francis, from “Gold” You can take a drive, take a […]

Volunteers Serve Our Community

By Marilyn Pribus – Volunteers are always at the heart of any community from folks giving time to their church or children’s activities to those helping persons escape domestic violence to the musicians who mounted the Concert for Charlottesville last month. In fact, the catalog of local volunteer efforts is nearly endless from working with […]

How Green Sells Homes

By Ken Wilson – “If you have two exactly identical homes side by side, and one of them makes a $1,000 worth of power a year, and the other one doesn’t, shouldn’t that thousand dollars count?” Coming from Greg Slater, Associate Broker with Nest Realty, that’s no idle question. Slater is on a mission—an educational […]

Price Your Home to Sell

By Celeste M. Smucker – What is the best price for your home and how do you know? When all is said and done, the price is what the buyer is willing to pay and the seller is willing to accept. However, before the negotiation can begin, the home must go on the market, get […]

Join the Fun!  54th Annual Parade of Homes Continues this Weekend

By Celeste M. Smucker – The best of the best of Charlottesville’s new construction is on display again this weekend—Saturday and Sunday, October 7 and 8 from noon to 5:00 p.m.—at the Blue Ridge Homebuilders Association’s (BRHBA) 54th Annual Parade of Homes, featuring  41 homes from 17 builders. Everyone is invited and even if you […]

Fall Family Fun:  Orchard Hopping in Central Virginia

By Ken Wilson – Fall colors and fall flavors go together. Fall is when we go leaf-peeping and pumpkin picking, when we make apple sauce and pumpkin butter, when we enjoy stunning colors by day and mouth-watering pies at night. Fall is also festival time at area orchards, of which we have aplenty. “Apples have […]

Drinking Local: Distilling Spirits in Central Virginia

By Ken Wilson – As an underage college kid, Ian Glomski made “crappy” beer in his mother’s house. As an adult he makes whiskey in an alternative school—a former school, that is. Let’s not get the wrong impression. What Glomski is up to in the former Henry Avenue Learning Center in Charlottesville, and what an […]

Burning Wood for Heat

By Marilyn Pribus – There was a time when people heated with separate fireplaces or stoves in most rooms, burning wood or coal. People still appreciate such heating devices and see fireplaces with their cheery flames as very desirable.  In fact, having a fireplace gives properties an edge when they are on the market. Still, […]