Yard Sales

When I thought of shooting yard sales it seemed like a great idea....a slam dunk.  In truth it was one of the hardest topics I have tackled.  It was not difficult to find yard sales, heck, they are every where....it is just that I had more people than ever before decline having their picture taken.  I know that everyone wants to look their best especially if they might end up in the paper, but there were a lot of ladies this time who told me that they had not fixed up...except at the Knights of Columbus sale.   I guess that makes sense...I don't suppose too many people get all ready just to go out to yard sales.  We have a friend who likes to say, "I can get ready or I can go, but I can't do both!"  I do think, however that all of the people who are in this blog look great.  Thanks to them!

It seems like yard sales are a staple of normal living in the Pepper and probably everywhere else.  They seemed a likely place to see another face of Culpeper.  The first Saturday I went out hunting for yard sales, I did not have to go far.  Just a little way down Belle Ave. I saw  a sign on a street post.  I followed the signs and Bingo!... there was a yard that was full of treasures!

Bright and early in the morning and just before customers were arriving I found Sarah who was a rookie at yard sales and Stephanie Matlock who is a yard sale veteran.  I thought the prize of this sale was the custom made Chris Cooley jersey for a little girl.  If it would have fit anyone in my family, it would have been gone immediately.

Knights of Columbus Council 6328 Culpeper

yard sale

It was my luck to run into a giant yard sale sponsored by the Knights of Columbus.  Let's see who was there.

Lots of people, lots of space, lots of stuff.  This is about half of the sale.

Here is an interesting lady.....first note that she has a fist full of money and then I will tell you more.  Did I mention that she had a fist full of money?   ......  Oh yeah.   She is Joan Depue and she is a Pastoral Counselor to the poor and needy at Precious Blood Catholic Church here in the Pepper.  Of course she and I hit it off because I was formerly in charge of the school counseling for Fairfax County Public Schools.

I just know I am going to get this wrong, but here goes.  These men are John Brown who is retired from retail management and human relations and Mr. Depue who is retired FBI.  If anyone wants to contact me with more information....I am interested because there is a gap in my notes. 

Here is a busy man.  He is Dan Larson and he works at MASCO and Target.

These ladies told me that they are "yard sale regulars"  and that they find treasures all the time.  They are Anita Ryan, Sandy Colwell and Shannon Williams.  You may want to note that Shannon is holding crutches but I want to tell you that even being hurt did not slow her down even a tiny bit.

I had just taken two pictures of this lady when she stopped mid sentence and exclaimed, " You can't use my picture!  I am supposed to be at work!"  So I am using this picture instead.  Shame, shame.

Here is 4/5ths of the Ryan family.  There is a really cute mom missing because she did not feel like she was her best for a picture....our loss.  On the other hand, the dad is Hugh Ryan with his three handsome sons, Mason, Benjamin and Noah.  Hugh is a stockbroker at Scott and Stringfellow.  He is also an original, born and raised right here in the Pepper.

OTHER YARD SALES

I don't run into people very often who are as sweet as this lady. This is Lynn Meney at her yard sale with her granddaughter Faith Johnson who is from Pennsylvania and visiting grandma. About ten feet behind me was a customer who did not want to be in the picture, but who told me that she "loved" my pictures in the Culpeper Times.  I "love" compliments whenever I get them.  :)

Here is a fun couple, Jason and Jennifer Spence.  They were at it bright and early.  Jason is working on his certification to be a personal trainer.  Jennifer is teacher and special education chairperson at Rappohanock High School.  My wife was the special education chair at Woodson High School....instant connection. 

So.........I was driving and saw preparations going on for this yard sale.... almost all clothes.  There were three ladies sorting through the clothes so they could put them out in and orderly fashion.  I walked over and gave them my card and explained that I was doing a blog on yard sales and wondered if I could take their picture.  One lady translated to the other two and they all nodded and said it was ok.  I thanked them and walked over to the street so that I could get the necessary perspective.  When I turned around this is what I found.....lots of clothes, but no ladies.  If you looked closely you will see the back of one of them right behind the tree.  They were all hiding there while I took the picture.  Never a dull moment.......

Now this is pretty neat.  These two ladies are out checking out yard sales as part of a church project.  Their church is furnishing an apartment for some people and these two have purchased a number of things to donate to that cause.  Tamika Thomasson, a teacher assistant is on the left and Tia, her step daughter is on the right.  Tia is a sophomore at Eastern View.

I had heard that it was not a good idea to have a yard sale on a holiday weekend.  These folks proved the exception to that rule.  We got the entire team together for this picture.  Tina, in white, is the czarina of this yard sale.  From left we have Andrea, Angella, Tina and Darby (cool name, that one!).

Here is the big finish...in the time that I have been looking at yard sales in the Pepper I have, as a rule,  found only two or three people at a time at a sale.  This one hit the jackpot.... it is Tina's and it was crowded.  I hope she made a fortune.  On the other hand, I hope we see one of these folks on "Antiques Roadshow!"

That is it for now.  Be sure to check out my weekly  contribution to the Culpeper Times.  It is called, "Rich Crowley's Snapshots of Culpeper." 

If you would like to contact me with suggestions or ideas, my email is:

facesofculpeper@gmail.com



Faces of Summer

I have had a theme for each of my last few blogs....like people at TJMAXX etc. I have a couple of other blogs in the mix for the future with themes, but looking around at all of the interesting people on the streets, in parking lots, in stores, at the park etc I decided to just take a group of miscellaneous shots and publish them. It has been quite interesting and a lot of fun. Let's check out a few.

This is a great way to start. You just have to love the bright colors Mindy Elliott is wearing, not to mention those incredible eyes! It is hard to not like this woman! I ran into her at Famous Footwear and she came close to selling me the entire store. She agreed to be photographed but after each shot, she had a different deal to tell me about....and they were all great deals! I went in for a pair of casual shoes which I bought and I ended up buying my grandson a pair of shoes half price!! He wasn't even with me and is only one year old. I would have been way out of my league if my wife ha not been with me. Talk about a super saleswoman!!!!!! She has been with FF for 14 years.

How about this hot green jeep?????   Maureen Watts is exactly the right woman to own it.  She was so full of life.  If you look very closely you can see that she has a bandage around her right elbow.  She had just had blood taken before I met her because she wants to do volunteer work. She studied nutrition at the University of Northern Colorado.  Her husband is a Veterinarian Doctor at the clinic located at Clevenger Corner.  She chatted with my wife and I and was a delight!

Oh, wow!  I still get a bit of a knot in my stomach just looking at this picture.  I was driving on North Main and saw Gregor Giesmann pruning his tree from the top step of his ladder.  I whipped around because I wanted to take this very picture, or I would have settled for a action shot of him falling.....just kidding.  That was the last thing I wanted and so I did my shooting in a hurry.  Here is one of the really fun things about doing this blog....you get to meet the most interesting people.  Gregor is originally from Berlin, Germany and is a retired teacher of art.  He taught at the University of Massachusetts....pretty cool. 

I just love this face shot.  This is Katelyn Astete.

Left to right are Brayden, Amanda and Allison.

This lady just simply made my day.  She knew about my blog (in fact she is an official follower)  and about Rich Crowley's Snapshots of Culpeper that is published weekly in the Culpeper Times.  This is Amanda Martin and she is an assistant project manager for Hitt Contracting.  They are building Terremark.  She is also a blogger and is shortly going to send her blog address to me so I can check it out.  I might even hook back up with her and her sister to get a picture of a tattoo they share for a later blog.  We had a great time talking.   BTW...does she remind anyone else just a bit of Merisa Tomei?

My kind of woman!!!  I was keeping my eyes open for good pictures for this "Summer Faces" blog and who do I run into but Jeanette Tigney.  Those who know me or follow me on this blog know that I am a regular at 7-11 with the Super Big Gulp being my drink of choice.  I looked over at the next machine and there was this attractive young lady getting a giant Slurpee.  Man, I would have a headache for an hour if I drank that.  After checking in with her boyfriend, we went outside where she demonstrated perfect Slurpee form for me.  Jeanette was a good sport.  She is a stylist at "Fantastic Sam's" hair salon.

This isn't exactly a traditional picture of a face, but let me digress for a minute.  In the 1980's I was an administrator at Fairfax High School in Fairfax City, VA.  At that time there was a young man named Chuck Shewbridge who was a student there.  Most boys want to be remembered as a bit of a problem in high school and he is no different, but Chuck really was a great kid.  So was his sister for that matter, and his parents were neat people too.  When my son moved here, Chuck was one of the first people he met at his ice cream stand near Safeway.  Anyway.....Chuck (CJ whatever) is one of the very few people that I have a history with in Culpeper. He has opened a second stand on North Main or Rixieville Road just down from the high school...this is it.  Here's hoping it is a great success!

Stopping by for a nice treat was this international family.  The dad is Mario Rink from Germany; the mom is Mireya Mironoz who is from Puerto Rico; and their children are Sebastinon  and Fabian.  Mario is in heating and air conditioning.  I do believe that Culpeper is changing and that we are richer for it.

These two brothers are characters....talking to them was like being in the middle of a comedy routine and they are funny.  It doesn't look like it here, but they both have the same twinkle in their eyes. They are Chris and Josh Alan and they work construction for SW Rogers. They are darn proud of that 87 Mustang that they are in front of and they should be.  I hope they catch this when it shows up in the newspaper.

This man is a fixture at Yowell Park early in the morning.  He is Rick Robey and he is an avid bird watcher.  When I asked him what birds he had seen, he reeled off a list that was pretty long and included some that I had never heard of.  Rick is also the minister of a local church, Kingdom Hall on Rixeyville.  He and his wife moved here a couple of years ago from Brooklyn, New York.  She came to the United States from Japan just eight years ago.  Rick is currently talking with the Culpeper authorities to see if he can sponsor some birdwatching walks through the park.  I think it is a great idea.

WE HAVE HAD A LONG STRETCH OF REALLY HOT WEATHER AND I WANTED TO CRUISE AROUND THE PEPPER AND SEE JUST WHAT PEOPLE WERE DOING ON A 100 DEGREE DAY. 

This is Tim Betton and he is new to the Pepper as of February.  He came to us from Pittsburgh by way of Maryland.  He is in absolute direct sunlight; is sopping wet; and just as happy as he can be.  He is polishing his car!  Man, it is almost 100!  He says he doesn't mind the heat so much!  I guess not, but I quickly headed back to my air conditioned car.  Tim is a pharmacologist who is a patent examiner. 

Shirley Racy went out on a 100 degree day to get gas.  Hmmmm, we do all need gasoline come rain or shine I guess. She is retired from working at the Early Learning Center for 12 years.  She is a true native and was born right here.  I have to admit that she looks like it is about 70 degrees.

Katlyn Wright is the first person I ran into who was doing what I think is something normal on a 100 degree day.  Of course it helps that she is 18 and just graduated from Eastern High and is not employed right now.  Be that as it may.... she is headed to the swimming pool!  Ta Dah!

As I expected......no one went to Mountain Run Lake Park when the temperature is so high. 

Good jobs, guys!

One thing I knew for sure was that some people had to work outside regardless of the heat.  This is Todd Kinsin on the tractor.  He said that he liked to work outdoors best because it gives him a sense of accomplishment.   He works for Premier Sports Fields Maintenence which is a subcontractor to the Culpeper Parks system and maintains the sports complex next to Eastern View.  Exactly 12 noon for this picture.  Whew!

I thought about what other business are going regardless of heat or cold or storm or anything else.  I decided it was selling used cars.  I pass the Priced Right Car Sales all the time and so I went over to see if they were selling.  You bet your boots they were.  Here is Claude Whited all ready to sell me a primo used Cadillac. He has owned this lot for the last 12 years.

Let's see.....Neither rain nor snow nor heat nor gloom of night ....nope that is the US Postal Service and I found out that I cannot take pictures of mailmen in their uniforms.....hmmmm.....I think I had a fast one pulled on me with that one.  Anyway, UPS doesn't let those things stop them either.   Did I say it is 100 degrees?

These guys are incredible.  I found them out in front of Chili's about 4 pm and they had been there since 11am!  It was so hot and these guys were selling raffle tickets to support the Brandy Station Vol. Fire Dept.  They had more big things planned on into the night.  Most of them are still smiling....quite a dedicated group.  We have J.D. Bailey, Savannah Smith, Peggy Bailey and in back, Jeff Bailey.  They have my respect.....and since I bought some raffle tickets from them I have been sitting by the phone planning how I am going to spend the $3000 prize money.

THE BIG FINISH

There was not the slightest doubt in my mind that a 100 degree day would not deter men from being out on the golf course at Culpeper Country Club.  These guys were participating in a seniors tournament and they were a great bunch....a lot of fun and very cooperative, especially considering the heat.  Left to right, Ross Taplett, Red Jenkins, Jim Ruffner and Pokey Buchanan.  Heat or no, these guys were enjoying themselves.  When you've got guys named "Red" and "Pokey"  you know you have some lively bunch.

This has been a particularly interesting group of people.  I always ask the people I am shooting if they  grew up in Culpeper and the majority did not.  However, many are from Orange, Remington, Spotsylvania or somewhere close, but this time we had two people from Germany, one from Puerto Rico and a man whose wife had fairly recently come from Japan.  Interesting! 

That is it for now.   Comments can be sent to:

facesofculpeper@gmail.com

Be sure to watch for Rich Crowley's Snapshots of Culpeper which appears weekly in the Culpeper Times.

T.J.MAXX comes to town

Well.......it happened.  T.J.MAXX finally opened right here in the Pepper. I don't know about anyone else's household, but there was clearly excitement in mine.  For years when we lived in Fairfax my wife would come home from shopping at T.J.MAXX and would announce: "Crowley, you don't know how much money I just saved you!"  I like saving money and imagined my bank account growing larger and larger with each shopping visit.  Meanwhile her closet began to fill to the brim and nice decorative pieces were added to our home.  Then we moved to the Pepper with no T.J.MAXX..... Flash forward four years and here we are with T.J.MAXX in Culpeper and my bank account started growing and growing again.....or so I thought.  All of those years of saving and I was pretty sure that I was ready to buy a new car...I have kind of liked the new Ford Taurus and I knew I could get a nice one for about $30,000... so I headed to the bank to withdraw the money we had saved from shopping at T.J.MAXX.  Much to my surprise...well you can see the rest of the story below.  On a serious note....my wife looks great in the clothes she finds at this store.  As my granddaughter says, "Grandma is always so put together."  There is no doubt that it is nice to not have that empty building staring at you everytime you go to that shopping center AND there are people there.......all the time.

I have not spent any time inside a TJMAXX store and so I thought I would blog about it and see what the fuss is about.  So let's see which Faces of Culpeper can be found at this store.

The first shopper I ran into was Lori Spencer.  Lori has been a swimming instructor for the last thirteen years.  She is happy that this store is now in our town.... heck, just look at her face. 

Just to prove that shopping at TJs is not limited to women, I took a shot of these two good looking young men getting some duds.  Ben May just graduated from Easter View High School and is working this summer at the hospital.  His friend, Eric Hilt just graduated Culpeper County High School and he is working at Ledo's this summer.  Both of these guys are going to continue their studies at Germanna Community College.

This is the almost famous Capri Brown.  Just kidding about the famous part, but she might be someday....she has that special pizazz!  She has a daughter who is just seven months old and she is engaged.  If I understood correctly, she has been working for T.J. MAXX for 5 years.

On my second visit to the store I ran into this cute and fun size lady in the parking lot.  She is Michelle Finchan and she is a stay at home mom who has two kids...both girls.  She had stopped by just to look around.

I discovered that T.J.MAXX is not just a clothing store like I had previously thought.  In fact they have just about everything except that Ford that I want.  Her are Elycia Clifford who's is visiting from Germany where her husband is stationed, her son Brandon and her friend and local resident (at least for now) Brooke Durbin.  They were perusing the jewelry counters.

This lady is very happy about the new store in town even though she is from Orange.  That's a suburb of Culpeper anyway, isn't it?  She is Pam Shilling and she was just a tad shy about having her picture taken, but I don't know why....this is a great picture!  She has a son and two daughters at home.

 

This is Kathy Caole looking all summery and spiffy.  She is looking for clothes for her little one.

This happy looking lady is Brittany Jenkins and she is checking out the shoes.  She is a mom, attends Germanna and works at Ledo's.....whew!

There are more things to look at and buy than just clothes.  Here Valerie Jessup is checking out some stylish purses.  She is a mom of three.

Here are some people shopping for a princess.  If you could only see the eyes on this baby you would be amazed at how beautiful they are.  Her name is Hannah and she is being held by her mom, Shannon.  Their friend is Brandy who is a police officer in Fairfax County....uhhhh, yes ma'am!

These folks came from Orange specifically to visit T.J.MAXX.  They are grandparents and are with their granddaughter.  They are Dale Leonard, McKenna and Terra Devine which is one of the more interesting names that I have run into.  Terra volunteered that, "Getting T.J.MAXX is the best thing that has ever happened to Culper."  She is not alone in that opinion.  Dale is in construction and Terra owns the "Gypsy Willow" in Orange.  She described it as a store that sales collectibles, antiques, bath oils and soap, and gypsy clothes.  She also has a tanning salon attached.  Must be quite a place.

On my last visit to T.J.MAXX for this blog I ran into this couple and I am glad I did.  Not only are they attractive, they were interesting and fun.  I think I will release special info and note that she is expecting in January.  These nice people are Noah and Rachel Lester.  What is really cool is that they are celebrating their second anniversary right near here.  They are from Woodbridge and are celebrating at the Inn at Meander and so they are on vacation and decided to stop at T.J.MAXX. They learned about the Inn where they are staying through a website called Living Social.com.  They are getting their vacation at half price and it includes some cooking lessons plus a special five course meal that will be served tonight!  They were pretty pleased and it sounds to me like the deal of the century!

You can just tell that this lady is a bundle of fun.  She is Maureen McLoughlin and she moved here one year ago from Ocean City, New Jersey to be a full time grandma.  She is enjoying the kids. 

I took one look at this lady and knew she was a school person.... and I was right...she is a school psychologist for Culpeper County Public Schools.  There is just something special about people who have given their lives to helping kids.  She is obviously making good use of a little time off this summer.  Her arms were getting pretty full.  She is Cindy Scott and what a sweetheart she is.   She performed a little quick therapy on me and sent me on my way a happier man.

Pregnancy seemed to be the order of the day.  This little woman is due in the next few days and she is out shopping.  I bet she is looking for new post pregnancy clothes.  She is Deborah Pica and she moved to the Pepper a year ago from Maryland.  She and her husband already have a little girl and this time it is going to be a boy!  Not every woman would let me photograph them in this condition, but Deborah knew that she looks darn cute. 

NOW.....LET'S PRETEND

For the big finish let's pretend for a minute.  Given the way I started this blog I was going to end it with my cute wife staggering out of T.J.MAXX with arms loaded with bags and barely able to stand.  Do you have that image?  Good....because that is the only image you are going to get.  That would have been too much effort and no doubt would not have looked half as good as you imagined.  

That's it for now.  

 Send comments to  facesofculpeper@gmail.com  

Be sure to look for "Rich Crowley's Snapshots of Culpeper"  weekly in the Culpeper Times.