Tattoos Of Culpeper.... Again!

I have been doing my "Faces" blog now for five years.  I have featured hundreds of people, sometimes with themes and sometimes random.  This is the third blog about people in the peper who sport tattoos.  I have to admit that I find them interesting and always enjoy meeting the people.  This blog should burst any misconceptions about who gets tattoos,  because all kinds of people do.  Almost everyone that I ask to photograph for any of my pieces readily agrees.  The longer I do my blog, facebook and "Snapshot" the easier it is because so many know my work.   However, this time I had two ladies turn me down....that is unusual.  They were both heavily and tastefully tattooed and would have really added to the blog.  Too Bad!  A number of people including a tattoo shop owner expressed the opinion that not as many men are getting tats now as women.  The shop owner told me that his business runs about 20% men and 80% women.  That validated my experience.  When I thought I was done I counted by gender and found that I had 12 women and 6 men.  Sooooo ....  I went to where there are always tattooed guys, Golds Gym. Sure enough.

Well enough conversation let's get to it.... Tattoos of Culpeper.... Again!

When I went to Golds Gym to find guys with tats, Nick Swett was the first guy I ran into.  He is a big guy... about as tall as I am but a whole lot bigger.  He works hard at that!  He is a construction worker and works out four or five times a week.  He told me that his tattoos below left were all tribal.

And this one is an  "old token Indian" tattoo if I understood him correctly.

Then I  cracked up when I saw this tattoo on this tough guy. Let's see, tribal, Indian and Pig Pen.  Works for me!



MAKING LEMONADE

Shortly after one of our massive rains of the summer I was driving past Yowell Meadow Park and spotted Nicole Vissone fishing.  I have seen alot of people in general fishing this year and several of them were young woman, but Nicole was fishing with her boyfriend and they were not fishing in the pond.... they were fishing in the flooded areas of Yowell Meadow Park.....AND they were catching fish!  Talk about being given lemons and making lemonade!  When I stopped to talk to them I saw some  tattoos peeking out on Nicole in a couple of places and we had to talk.
Nicole is a student at Germanna studying police science.  In the meantime she works for the school in security. 

See, a little peek on the leg! 

And on the back

And a gun and roses on the thigh!

She has quite a display of quality work from the back.  When someone has so many tattoos, I get general information about them and their email on the spot and then send them a copy of the pictures.  I asked them to tell me about the tats so that I can explain them here on this blog.  Unfortunately I was not able to get an explanation from Nicole.  Maybe the email address I had was wrong, but Nicole if you see this, please email me and tell me about the art.

This is Allen Jenkins who works at Lowe's.  Until he joined Lowes, he spent most of his life breaking and training horses. He still does that as his second job.  Like everyone's, Allen's tattoos tell  stories.  His first tattoo on top came when he was 19 and he really liked the tv show, "The Saint."  As I recall that was the symbol they opened the show with.  The cross was designed by his Godmother at a time when he needed a reminder of the real direction in his life. 

Tiffany Yowell... beauty and beast?

I met Tiffany Yowell at Dick's Sporting Goods a couple of months ago when I was looking for a "Face of the Week"  which was then a new feature on my Facebook page.   I also call that  "Faces of Culpeper" but I added "by Rich Crowley."   Who would not want to feature this face?  Tiffany  told me that she had been  a "pretty good" soccer player and so googled her.  There were several newspaper articles about her achievements on the soccer field including a ton of awards and recognition for her skill.  A couple of times her "aggressive play" was mentioned.  I thought to myself, "This young lady has the face of an angel and the competitive heart of a beast!"  I don't know her well but she was a college scholarship athlete until injury forced an early retirement.  Then to top that off she shared with me that she had seven tattoos.  Seven!! By the way.... in real life she is a full time student at Mary Washington University.

Here is one tattoo with several facets.  There is a piano keyboard.... she plays piano.  There are music notes to represent her families' love of music and the words, "in the arms of an angel" which is the favorite family song.


On Tiffany's foot is a soccer ball representing her love for the game that she played long and well.

On her shoulder is this message in memory of her grandpa.

This butterfly is made from the her initials along with her mother's.

And finally.....

This was added right after the first surgery she had on her knee.  There would be two more surgeries before she was done.

That is a lot of tattoos on this woman and she told me that she is not done. 

BFF

Brittney Wright and Tiffany are, as they say, BFFs.  She attends JMU studying health science.  Brittney has the best planned tattoo that I have ever seen.  Talk about long range planning.  I will explain it below.


This obviously is two baby elephants with their trunks joined to make a heart.  Brittney told me that someday she would marry and have two kids. Not 1 or 3 but 2!  At that point she will have the names of each added above an elephant.  She certainly is a forward thinker!!

Michael Cregger works at Automotive Options and among other things is an excellent detailer.  The tattoos on his forearm represent peace and love.  Michael's passion in life is skateboarding.  His tattoo "One Love" is his dedication and love for skateboarding....plus when he finds the right woman he can tell her that it is for her.  :)

I met Tracy Shipe outside of the 7-11 on the corner where you turn to go to Mountain Run Lake Park.  I commented on her tattoos and we were off and running.  I asked if I could shoot them and she  suggested that we do it at Mountain Run Lake Park instead of in the parking lot.  She has a great deal of symbolism in her art and so I will quote below what she wrote me about it.

"The leaf symbolism refers to mother earth."

This can be hard to see at first, but it is a beautiful

woman with tattoos on her face.

A giant plus for me was Tracy telling me that she has not let her friends photograph
 her, but with me it was different because instantly we shared the same
energy.  Yeah!  I will take it!

 In black is Jorge Perez who works construction... his tattoos honor friends that have died plus some honor his Mom and Dad.

     CJ Fincham  in red works for Presidential Detailing  and says that he has allowed his arms to be a "sketch pad" for tattoo artists.  They are complex and interesting and random. 

One of the things that I love about summer is that if you are looking for tattoos, they are right out in the open.  I noticed this one in Target on the arm of Katie Beatty who works at the animal hospital.  As you can tell there are two roses, but what might not be quite as clear is that above the roses is the name of Katie's daughter, Ava Rose.

On July 4th I ran into Robert Hawkins at the car show on E. Davis.  Robert has his share of tattoos which he acquired in "various cities."  Robert left Culpeper in 1966 and worked as an iron worker until her retired and returned here in 2013.

I was delivering a magazine to one of my wife's friends and saw 

Jessica Stull walking down the street to her home.  We had to talk!!

This arm of Jessica's is serious business!  The tattoos represent the past, present and future. In no real order.... the roses represent Alice in Wonderland. The bird represents  freedom.

Jessica is a paramedic (EMPT) for Prince William County and she continues to live her life in spite of the

pain she carries with her.   

WOW!





I ran into Taylor Radan at the post office.  She was trying to address an envelope to her husband, her baby was tired and fussy, and I wanted to talk about her tattoo.  I might have been the straw that broke the camel's back, but talk about a gracious woman......she stopped and gave me all the information that I needed.   Taylor is a stay at home mom whose husband is deployed in Kuwait. She wrote me this about her tattoo:  "The lock and key symbolize a nine year long friendship.  We have not seen each each other for years but our friendship never faded, so I got the tattoo to show that we would always be friends."

If you have followed me on any of my outlets (blog, facebook, "Snapshot of Culpeper) you will have seen this guy before.  He is Antonio Yates and he is the owner of  Antonio's Classic Barber Spa.  In addition he is a competitive body builder with a competition coming up in October.  He told me that his tats are all  religious and tribal.

This is Amy Mariyasov and obviously some one hurt her so badly that it was like a spike through her heart...... pretty sad.  She works at the 7-11 near Mt. Run Lake Park. 

This man lives not too far from me and was moving into his new house when I spotted his arm and came back to talk to him.  This is James Pennell who works (if I got this right) at Workers Builders First Source. He and his wife have three kids.  His tattoo wraps around his upper arm and honors two fathers: God and our biological fathers.  In actuality the inside part of his arm is in respect for his father in law who died too soon. 

This is Jennifer Bywaters  who owns an online business making handmade jewelry.  Mosts of her products are for children and some that I saw were very clever as well as attractive.  Her business is called BBbead boutique.  You can reach her by email at BBbeadboutique@gmail.com.  She had her tattoo done shortly after her baby was born.  It is a mommy and baby bird together. 

Jessica Wester Marks has quite a few tattoos, but this one is obviously the one most noticed.  It is a butterfly and cherry blossoms.  

Juan Lord only has three tattoos.  This one is a beautiful  picture of his deceased mother. 

Juan is in the Air Force and currently going to school. 

These two are the initials of his children.   I have to note that Juan's arms are big enough to tattoo an aircraft carrier on. 

Miarra Robinson is a hair stylist at the Hair Cuttery.  She was in a big hurry when I asked her to pause just a second for a picture which she graciously did.  All of our communication was by email and got a little confused at times.  The scissors on her forearm are obviously acknowledgement to her career which she loves.  The tattoo near her collar bone says "Strong woman, in Hindi."

Russell Furr is a Master Plumber who lives in the Peper with his wife and three kids.  He told me that all of his tattoos are "Bio mechanical designs"  and that the artist is Thom Little.  These tats are pretty complex and a bit scary.

This happy face  belongs to Tracey Farrar who has a total of five tattoos.  This one was the most visible.  Tracey is a single mom and a sign language interpreter.  We can't see everything here, but the flowers are hibiscus and iris and in there somewhere is "I love you" in sign.

Kendall Peters is a Tanning Consultant at Tan City .  She has just this one tattoo and her sister has a matching one.  It demonstrates their bond forever. 

THIS IS A SPECIAL MAN AND SO I WILL MAKE HIM MY BIG FINISH FOR THIS BLOG.

Frank Whorton works in Federal Security.  He was previously in the military but left because of the severe wounding he received in Afghanistan.  He is a true wounded warrior who has gone through much difficult work and pain to get where he is today.... he still has a ways to go.  When I talked with him he seemed to have a great attitude.  I am personally impressed with him and grateful to him for serving all of us.  Besides, his dead lifting is impressive.  

This, of course, the Grim Reaper siting on a clock that is ticking someones' time away.  You will notice that it has two red lines running down from it.  Frank said that when they had completed the tattoo, that his blood was running down his arm just like that and he got the artist to grab some red ink and make it permanent.  

THAT IS ALL FOLKS.... HOPE YOU ENJOYED IT!   IT WILL BE SEEN BY THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE AND YOU ARE ONE OF THEM.

SOME FRIENDLY REMINDERS:

1. This is one of three photo related presentations that I do about Culpeper, Virginia.

2. Be sure to check out my newest and very hot facebook page:   Faces of Culpeper by Rich Crowley

3. The Culpeper Times runs a weekly feature called,  Rich Crowley's Snapshot of Culpeper.  It is located inside the front cover and you cannot miss it. 

4.  A bit of education..... my last name is pronounced,  CRO  LEE the first part is just like the name of the black bird.

Feel free to write me at   richcrowle@gmail.com

Summer in Culpeper....with some teachers, a principal and other cool people. 2015

This blog started differently than it ended up.  I intended to do a summer blog on teachers.  There was one big problem.... I couldn't find them.  Where do you find teachers?  In the school, right? Well not so much in the summer.  If they are not there then they could be almost anywhere.  It seems like teachers should check in with someone... maybe me...I needed them.  Anyway, I wanted a whole bunch of teachers and was very lucky to get as many as I did  (this group probably qualifies as a "bunch") and fortunately I found great ones!  The good news is that in the meantime I ran into some other really cool things and people that I wanted to photograph like: border guards at Mountain Run Lake Park,  the fun staff at a tanning spa, agreeable golfers,  and the guys working at CJ's Ice Cream (No way those guys don't sneak just a little ice cream.  But one is the owner's son so, who cares?) and so on.  It probably turned out to be a bit more fun with the mixture we ended up with.

Let's get on with it, but be sure to take it one step at a time.  

A School Principal

Since three fourths of my career was as a high school administrator, I wanted to be sure to get a picture of a principal busy working during the summer.  Although I live very close to Culpeper County High School I have never met the principal, Jeff Dietz.  So I made an appointment with him. We had a nice conversation "talking shop"  as he put it.  He has the same personality as all the good principals have that I worked with.   When you start talking about school his eyes light up.  He has been the principal at CCHS for ten years and has been an educator for twenty.  He and his wife have four kids and the oldest is 19 years old and a student at UVA.  Two more are in high school and the youngest is in elementary school.  Jeff will be busy this summer seeing to it, along with his staff members who are there during the summer, that everything is ready when the kids come back.  As certain  in life as death and taxes.... is the fact that the students will come back to school, ready or not. Among other things, Jeff will have seen that: the building is in good shape; that he has a qualified teacher for every subject; that each teacher has a room each period and that two teachers are not accidentally scheduled in the same room; that there is a seat for every student every period; that the classes are balanced by period and within county size limits; supplies have been ordered;  all the computers are working; AND that as many kids as possible get the exact schedule they want.  I know I overlooked some things but I got most of them.  People often wonder what school employees do when the kids are not there..... I can tell you that they work and that they have to be very detail oriented.  CCHS will have almost 1100 students next year. 

Let's look at some of the teachers I found.

Mandy Tuel Roberts is a third grade teacher at Farmington Elementary School.  She has just completed her third year and loves her job.  When I asked her what her favorite part of the job is, she quickly replied that it was watching the kids learn and grow.  She is taking graduate courses this summer working on her Master's degree.

Just as I was coming to the realization that I was not going to find enough teachers to complete a summer blog on just teachers, I passed this attractive couple coming out of UPS.  On a lark I asked,  "Any chance that one of you is a school teacher?"  The man said, "She is."  What luck!  A teacher indeed!  Julie Switzer is the new French teacher at Culpeper County High School.  She has been in town about six months and comes to us from Northern Pennsylvania.  Her "friend" is Tim Moniz  (they are good enough friends that they stood fairly close for this picture, or maybe very close).  Tim is the manager of a yacht club in Boston.  Welcome to the Peper!

I went to Floyd T. Binns to catch a couple of teachers as they left summer school for the day.  These two very graciously stopped and chatted with me.  They are spending a good part of their summer helping students who, for one reason or another, need a little extra work.  On the left is Sheryl Simpson who teaches sixth grade math.  She has taught in the Peper for seven years.  Her own two children have provided her with five grandkids.   Nice!   Connie Hadley is also a math teacher, and teaches at Culpeper County High School.  She has taught there for four years and teaches Algebra 1 and 2.  She has twin 19 year olds.

Every school that has a teacher like Khaled El-Nemr is very lucky.  I was told that he is the kind of guy that readily helps new teachers;  is a master of technology; is always willing to share his knowledge; and on and  on.  Here he is on his summer vacation.  He is teaching summer school, but the school day was over and he got into casual clothes and began planting flowers to make his school look prettier... it is not his job, he is just one of those guys.  He teaches advanced math classes to middle school students and really enjoys that work.  He is originally from Palestine and he and his wife have a three year old.

Now people will know how this bit of gardening happened.  Nice!

I saw these three having a picnic at the park honoring our war veterans and naturally saw a perfect picture that I could take.  It became doubly perfect when I discovered that the mom is a teacher!  Add to that, she is close to friends of ours from Fairfax that we have known since the 70's and who moved to Culpeper at least 20 years ago, and you have a small world, even for Culpeper.    She is Mandy Kalec and she is a reading coach at Emerald Hill Elementary School.  She works with students in Kindergarten through Fifth grade.  She is with her daughters Noelle and Emmy Brown.
  It doesn't get better than this!

Here is a husband and wife team of teachers. Shaun Summerscales teaches 6th grade US History and 8th grade Civics.  Melissa teaches 6th grade English.  They were expecting four days after I took this picture.



One of the first summer programs that I visited was "Kid Central"  held at Culpeper Middle School.  There I observed Linda Gray who is a para-educator working with some kids.   During the school year Linda works at Farmington Elementary School.  (note: I have never included underage children in my blog unless they are with their parents.  This is an exception because each of these children has a media release.)



LET'S LEAVE OUR  EDUCATORS FOR THE MOMENT
Here are some other people I wanted to include who are working hard, but enjoying their summer.


I have wondered if tanning salons get any business in the summer.  I mean, it is hot and sunny out side and a lawn chair in the back yard would get the job done.... or so it seems.  So I dropped into Sun Tan City to talk with them and see if any customers were in there. Yep, in fact there were a lot of customers and most of their booths were occupied.  I guess it is good preparation for the beach, or maybe the best way to tan evenly or  perhaps a lot of other reasons.  At any rate I was wrong, wrong, wrong. However once inside I ran smack dab into these two colorful charmers,  Keeley Jones who is enrolled at Germanna in the nursing program is on the right and Courtnie Thomas who is  the manager is on the left.   We had a fun conversation and honestly...... I was lucky to escape without a new tan for both me and my camera.

When it gets hot I always head for CJ's ice cream stand to do a little cooling off and to see who else is there.  I have mentioned a couple of times that Chuck Shewbridge, the owner,  is a friend of mine who I have known since he was about 15 and I wasn't.  That is his son, Jake up there on the left doing a great imitation of his dad at the same age. Jake attends Culpeper County High School and helps out at the ice cream stand during the summer.  Sahas Thumma is the other guy who was working when I stopped by.  He is a student at Radford.

I have to admit that sometimes I run into the very most interesting and totally unexpected things imaginable.  I was thinking about pictures for this blog and realized that I had never gone to Mountain Run Lake Park in the evening....always during the day.  So I drove out and pulled in almost exactly at 8 pm.  As I crested that first hill on the way in, out of the corner of my eye I detected  movement in the woods.  I slowed way down and peered since it was dusk and saw a man in complete camouflage. He was wearing a jacket with some gear strapped on it and one of those floppy wide brimmed hats.  In that lighting he was not easy to see.  Besides it was about 90 degrees and very humid.
I determined to park and walk in there and see what he was all about.  That probably would not have been a great decision.  However, I did not need to because these three were in the parking lot and were very open in talking with me about what they were doing.  

Left to right:  Agent Miguel Calderon, Supervisor Adam Aviles, Agent  Wilbert Flores
Here is the shocker two of them are agents with the United States Border Patrol normally assigned in Texas and Arizona and it turns out that they were practicing "trailing and tracking." There were others still in the woods. Apparently there is a training facility in Front Royal and they use Mountain Run Lake Park for their exercises because it is a large open area with various types of terrain.
There is a K-9 component to this activity and the two dogs here are very accomplished.  They were not, however, crazy about being in the same picture so I took each team's picture seperately.

                                                               Agent Flores and Prins-e                    

        

                                                                                      

Agent Calderon and Falko  

                                                                      

That turned out to be quite and adventure.  I doubt that very many people know that these excercises take place in our town.  

Here are some more people at summer sport or leisure.

Summer is always great for golfing so I dropped by the Culpeper Country Club and found these two guys hard at it.....well maybe just at it, forget the hard part.  They stopped for a minute for me and were very gracious and fun.  Turns out that Win Carithers on the right is a past president of the Country Club and currently sits on the Board.  He is golfing with Scott Hine who works with him at Integrity Home Mortgage.   It was a great golf day and after sharing a golf story with me they got back to business. 

This is a great lady!  I interrupted her run at Yowell during the midday with the temperature near 90 for a picture.  Most people would have told me to get lost, but she stopped and, as you can see, graciously gave me a beautiful smile.  In the days when I was running I always hated to stop because it broke my momentum and my concentration and it was hard to get it back.  This is Traci Fowler and she is a good sport.  She also reminded me that I took a picture of her with her friends five years ago when I was building my very first Faces of Culpeper photo blog. I believe that this is the fifty fourth of these blogs.

There is nothing on a hot day like a nice cup of ice cream or better yet of frozen yogurt as is the case here. This pair of mother/daughter look alikes, Susannah and Sophie Barnes stopped at Sweet Frog in the heat of the day to cool down a bit. 

IT IS TIME FOR THE BIG FINISH.... REALLY BIG

School days, school days, good old golden rule days!

 Can anyone believe it is time for school to start?  Of course we all know that we are starting school much earlier than normal in Culpeper.  The snow days have just kept pushing us farther and farther into June, but the real advantage is better preparation for the AP and SOL tests. Our kids will have more weeks of instruction to prepare them for these very important tests.  Good call School Board! These two children checking out their school are brother and sister and undoubtedly the cutest elementary students in all of Culpeper.  Of course I am biased in favor of my own grandchildren, Nathan and Charlotte.

Well that wraps it up boys and girls.   I hope you found some things to make you smile.  By popular demand my next blog will be tattoos again.  

Don't forget to look for my piece (it is hard to miss) in the Culpeper Times called,   Rich Crowley's Snapshot of Culpeper.

And finally I have really jump started my Facebook Page called (guess what?) Faces of Culpeper.  It is going like gangbusters and is fun.  Be sure to visit and like it.

Rub a Dub Dub, Three Men in a Tub

I recently had a reader drop me a note suggesting that I feature more local merchants in my blogs.  Although it is rare for me not to have several merchants in each of my "Faces of Culpeper" blogs, I will work on having more.  However, as I thought about local merchants, the nursery rhyme in this blog title came to mind.  It goes: "rub a dub dub three men in a tub and who do you think they be?  The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker and all rowed out to sea."  I thought it would be a great idea to find those three occupations and feature them as Culpeper merchants.  There were a couple of problems.... I could find no candlestick maker, and I discovered that most meat is delivered to the stores already cut.  Oh, well.... if you look carefully you will find a butcher, a baker and a cheese maker and that will just have to do.  I have also thrown in a few entrepreneurs and some other cool people.  So..... let's get to it.

Summer is here!

First a tip of the hat to summer..... it is here and it is hot!  These two were cooling of by rowing at Mountain Run Lake Park.  I don't think they know that I took this.  If you know them.... please let them know.

The Butcher 

Alright!  Here is the butcher already.  This is Will Gaines and he has been a butcher and now also meat manager for Martins for eleven years.  He has been in Culpeper as long as they have.  I often note Culpeper people that have long commutes somewhere.  In a reversal,  I will tell  you that Will commutes an hour to get here for work every day.

Park Workers

It stayed cold here for a long time and the leaves were late in coming out.  My wife and I walk in Yowell Meadow Park almost every day and often comment on how well the park is maintained.  Occasionally we see men on lawn mowers racing across the open spaces, but rarely if ever see the guys who work on the trees and who see that certain areas are nicely maintained.  This morning I discovered these guys at the "Kennifer" memorial, just about to get in their trucks and head out.  They had to have started work very early. That memorial, by the way, commemorates a couple of Culpeper residents who were attendants on the airplane that was crashed in Pennsylvania on 9/11.  These men are:  Shane Breeding who has worked for the city for 15 years, Mike Wright (7 years) and Andy Newman (26 years).  I would love to be able to photograph all the workers who keep that park up, but for now these three will have to represent them.  Thanks, guys!

Presenting Culpeper Photograph

 In March of 2014 I took a great shot (he said humbly) of East Davis Street in the snow.  Here my wife Andrea and I are presenting a framed copy to Group Sales Director, Tom Spargur and Editor, Anita Sherman to hang in the office of the Culpeper Times. 

Wizards at TechBox

I needed something copied off a thumb drive that was invaluable to me and I wanted to be sure to take it to a place that I was confident could handle it.  I decided to try the TechBox and I was not disappointed.  In addition to getting my job done, I had a nice conversation with the store manager, Larry Brown (that is Larry in the middle) and discovered that he is originally from Iowa.  Since I am originally from Idaho we had something to connect us since lots (make that LOTS) of people mix those two states up. I often have people tell me that Idaho is not really a Western state.  What??!!!

Anyway.......the two handsome dudes with him are technicians, Chris Burg on the left and Devin Hopkins on the right.  I am pretty sure that they can fix anything thing computer related.  Know what else is interesting?   They have a part of the store dedicated to products for lefties..... you know, left handed people.  There are things like: a left handed computer keyboard; left handed can openers, left handed scissors and serving spoons, and the list goes on.  One last thing is that they have a children's book about being left handed....very cool. 

The Baker

Moving Meadows Farm on E. Davis Street is a great store to visit.

Right on the premises they mill their own wheat.

Here are the two types of wheat they use.  On the left is Hard White Wheat and on the right is Hard Red Spring Wheat which is higher in protein.

Wally Hudson uses his unique mill to grind the wheat.  Notice it is in the street window so that you can watch the process.  He even posts the times in the window when he will be grinding so that you can plan to be there and watch.
I have known for a while that the Moving Meadows Farm had opened their store on E. Davis.  I finally stopped in and am very glad that I did.  This place is fun.  Wally and Amy Hudson are the owners and they make the very best bread from start to finish right in the store so you can observe it.  Besides they offer free delicious samples of the various kinds of bread. It is a great place to take kids for a fun and tasty bit of education.

They also sell fresh meat that they have raised on their farm.  They have: beef, goat, chicken and turkey plus farm fresh eggs.

New Yoga in the Peper

This woman is a very ambitious entrepreneur.  Her intent is to impact the wellness of the citizens of Culpeper in a positive way.  She has just opened a studio downtown and the name of  her business is Pranapiloga.  The name comes from "pran" (vital energy/life force) and a combination of pilates and yoga.   Her name is Rebecca Elsen and her motto is breathe-believe-become.  Rebecca is demonstrating a couple of traditional yoga positions here.  Note that she is in jeans and a tshirt.  That is because she wants everyone to know that her approach is welcoming and casual.  "This is a studio for everyone... all shapes and conditions ..... yoga is for every 'body'."  At noon on the first Wednesday of each month she offers a "get acquainted" free session.  She is located at 133 East Davis Street, Suite 360 Downstairs.  You can contact her at  info@pranapiloga.com  or just drop in. 

Retiring Teachers

I think that many of the heroes of our time are teachers.  Monica and Kim Williams have given their lives to the children of Culpeper and now they are retiring after long careers in the Culpeper County school system.  Kim has completed 42 years of teaching in public schools with all but three being in Culpeper.  Monica is right behind him with a total of 40 years of service, 39 of them in Culpeper.  Kim has been an art teacher plus a track and field and cross country coach.  Monica has been a kindergarten teacher for thirty eight years.... bless her heart.  Can you imagine how many  Culpeper lives have been touched by these two?   However, there comes a time to move on and now is the time for the Williams.  When they first came to Culpeper they were the first people from out of state (Pennsylvania) to be hired by our school system. They were so unique that the newspaper did a story complete with pictures of them in their apartment creating lesson plans.  In the near future they will be moving to West Virginia where they are going to be ski instructors at the Canaan Valley resort.  That doesn't sound too bad!  Good luck folks and thanks for all you have done for our kids.

Rolling Thunder

I guess everyone knows that each Memorial Day there is a gathering of motorcyclists at the Vietnam Memorial in DC.  Many of the participants are veterans of the Vietnam War.  I was lucky to catch these two returning from the event and pulling into their driveway.  I asked if they would let me get a shot of them to commemorate that activity and they graciously agreed.   They are Dwight and Desiree Cox and they have been going to Rolling Thunder since 2001.  They told me that the best part of it is how appreciative and emotional people are.  Dwight is a union electrician.

Sweet Frog

Linda Kidd came to Culpeper to open  a store and the store she picked is a winner! She opened Sweet Frog four years ago and it has been part of the buzz ever since.  If you are not familiar, Sweet Frog is a premium frozen yogurt bar with several flavors and endless toppings.  You create your own combination.  If you haven't been..... what are you waiting for?  It is located in the strip mall right next to the Suntrust bank.


Trolley Bus

I am making this one extra large because I think one of the fun quaint things about Culpeper is that our bus system consists of trolley car facsimiles.  AND....... because I have wanted to get a picture of one of them and the driver forever so now having it, I am making it big!  This is Austin Faulkner and he has been driving for Culpeper the last three years.  Before that he was a union crane operator for thirty five years.  He and his wife, Sheila have been married for forty nine years!  That is a pretty good life I would say. 

Coupon Tease

Just a little tease about a product that will become available in the near future.  I can tell you that it is called Coupon Crank and that it will be a money saver for merchants and customers.  This is DJ Moberley who is the creator  and entrepreneur
. 

The Cheese Maker

This rounds out my three men in a tub scenario.  There are many talented people in the Peper and this guy is certainly one of them. He is Jeffery Mitchell and in actuality he is the owner of the Culpeper Cheese Company which really makes him a wine and cheese merchant and a major Culpeper entrepreneur.  Before entering this business Jeffery worked for Kodak and also was a very skilled photographer in his own right, who worked providing stock photos for the news media. I asked him to hold one of his photos for my "faces blog".  This shot  of the Capital is the only one he had in his store, but it is a goodie.



Now for the BIG FINISH!!



Mellifera Homestead

This is one of the most enlightening visits I have made while creating this blog.  Chris and Vy Goddard are most interesting people.  They are in the process of following a "back to basics" concept of living and product creation.  They are the creators and entrepreneurs of Mellifera Homestead.  In their brochure they say that "we try our hardest to do what is healthiest for us, our animals, our bees, and our environment."  They keep bees and chickens plus they grow a garden.  They estimated that fifty percent of their summer veggies come from their garden.

These guys have five beehives and that number is growing.  After they harvest for themselves, they sell the surplus at the Culpeper Farmers market and upon request.  They are members of the Northern Piedmont Beekeeps Association. 

Vy is engaged in making products made from natural sources.  Some of these are: Beeswax Lip Balm, Beeswax Lotion Bar, Beeswax and Tallow Balm, and Homemade Soap.  

To learn more about them and their products you can contact them at:  vy@melliferahomestead.com

That does it for this edition....number 52 of the Faces of Culpeper series.  You may find it interesting to know that to date we have had over 44,000 visits to this blog!  

My  Faces of Culpeper Facebook page is rapidly building quite a following... so be sure to check it out.  I just started a "Face of the Week" feature that is already proving to be a draw.  Let me know if you would like to be a featured face. 

AND

Don't forget that every single week I have a large picture in the CULPEPER TIMES NEWSPAPER.  My piece is called "Rich Crowley's Snapshot of Culpeper" and is the first thing you see when you open the cover page.