Fall at last?

Well, there are signs that fall is almost here.  We have had some beautiful days and some nice cool nights.  Unfortunately we have still been having some heat and dry weather.  However, it feels good to know that full blown fall is just around the corner.  Here is a picture of me and my wife Andrea at Kelly's Ford Inn on one of those beautiful days.



In this edition I found people at random that I had not published before and got their picture so that we all can get to know them.  First I want to feature new neighbors in my neighborhood.  These folks are the  Brausen family and they just moved in this last month.  They came from Minnesota by way of Hay Market.  They are Joe and Shantelle and kids.

I decided that I wanted to stop in the "Grey Ghost Tactical" store on Sperryville Pike and meet the people there.  They were friendly and I was on my best behaviour for obvious reasons.  These guys have some serious armament.  Brett on the right is the owner and Billy is on the left. 

Just outside of the gun shop I ran into these two engaging young ladies. They are Angelica Hartley who works right there at Fantastic Sam's and Dawn Jenkins.  Dawn and I struggled just a little trying to determine the exact words to describe what she does.  We decided on "woman about town."  She is a social spirit that one is.  These two were fun!

Just down the street is a cool looking building that houses "Randy's Flowers."    I  entered through the door with a sign that said, "Don't let the dog out."  Inside I met a character.  He started kidding from the first minute we started talking and kept right on going until I left.  I am not sure that I got any straight answers, but I do  know that his name is Randy and that he has been in the flower business here in Culpeper for thirty three years.  Donna is his right hand person.  They are both great people.

I have to admit that for some time I have been checking out the shop on Main Street that says, "Studio C".   I watched the work progress as the work was being finished on the inside until it became obvious that it was a photography studio.  I have lived here for three years and have only met one professional photographer in that time.  I determined to make it a point to stop in and meet the owner.  Day after day as I drove by I would think that I really needed to make a stop there.  Sooooo I finally did!  I found a really nice photo studio and a kindred spirit.  I have mentioned that I had a photography business as a second occupation for 32 years and so I know how hard it is being a professional photographer.  The owner and chief photographer is Timothy Carlson and we had a good time chatting and talking photography.  He is a genuine guy!  Of course I took his picture.  I even put his head squarely in a frame.  No extra charge for that.  I have a feeling that I will drop in there another time. 

Further down Main Street I ran into Taylor Bennett, a guy in a white shirt and tie.  There are not too many of those here in the Pepper and so I had to know just what it is that he does.  It turns out that he has a exceptionally cool job.  He has been the assistant golf pro at the Culpeper course for six years.  I'll bet there are lots of people who would like that job.

I went to visit a lady I know at the Culpeper Rehab Center which also is an assisted living facility.  I have noticed this man sitting in his wheel chair just outside the front door several time before.  This time I decided to stop and talk to him.  I am glad that I did.  He is Thomas Houstan and he is a resident there.  He formerly was a truck driver and is a very engaging and interesting guy and he has not family in the area.  I like him and will never pass him again without a chat. 

One day I decided to drive outside of town to "Yoders" to buy some bulk popcorn.  Oh, yes...bulk popcorn is the only way to go....I am particular and was looking for some exceptional popcorn.  When I got there I realised that the store I had gone to was actually the "Ole Country Store and Bakery."  Just a slight confusion.   Anyway, it was perfect and I bought two different kinds of popcorn and they are both better than anything you can buy in a supermarket.  Delicious!!!  The young owner of this store is Al Esh.  If I understood right, he is originally from Kentucky.  Anyway, there are lots of good things in that store to buy. 

I was not the only customer in the "Ole Country Store"  and one young lady caught my eye.  She had "school teacher" written all over her.  Not just school teacher but "elementary school teacher."  They just exude enthusiasm and positive attitude.  Sure enough, this is Meghan Kimec who hails from Richmond and she has just begun her first year of teaching.  She is a special education teacher in the first grade at Farmington Elementary School.  My wife supervised a special education program in Fairfax county and so we have a bond with others working with that group of special children. Good luck!

I own an old Victrola that I would very much like to restore.  I am constantly searching for someone who can do that.  I was near an antique mall and went in to see if there was anyone who knew of such a person.  No one did, but I was lucky to go in there that day and meet some neat people.   First I met Linda and Wanda antiquing away.  They were not so sure that they wanted to have their picture taken, but after we talked a little, they decided it was ok.  They taught me something that I did not know.  They had both worked for several years at a Wrangler Jeans plant nearby.  I had no idea that Wrangler used to have a facility in the area.  It is just interesting to know. 

Also in the mall I met this couple who are betrothed to be married next year.  They are, Robert Downie (no, not that one, but everyone including me feels compelled to ask) and Jessica Uhlig.  He is a gemologist (no doubt good news for the ring) and she is an office manager for an advertising agency. 

I think I am going to wrap up this blog right here.  As always it was fun meeting new people.  Hey, check out "Rich Crowley's" Shapshots of Culpeper"  in each edition of the Culpeper Times.

If you have suggestions, comments, ideas etc you would like to share with me, please write to me at

facesofculpeper@gmail.com     You will need to copy and paste that address.

If you are featured in this blog and would like a copy of your picture, just write to me at the address above and I will email it to you.

Faces of Culpeper ...... scenes of summer and school begins!

END OF SUMMER?

If we mark the end of summer as the time when kids go back to school, then here we are!  However, we still have some hot days and good times ahead.  I have to admit that this particular blog is a bit of a hodge podge of Culpeper scenes and faces, but fun for me none the less.  I have, as usual, met some really great people.  I think the best thing for me to do right now is jump in.

I have a total of eight grandchildren and four of them are in the area.  I love to take them to the parks and so I have a bit of a soft spot when I see a grandpa and grandchild out having a good time together.  This is Collis Garrett who is a life long resident of the Pepper and his grandson.  Collis retired from Coca Cola clear back in 1986 and has been a sign painter ever since.  One thing I know is that this guy is a good grandpa!

A sure sign of summer is the annual lemonade stand that pops up somewhere.  These kids were quite the entrepreneurs.  I stopped and bought a cup complete with a slice of lemon.  I am pretty sure that it was the first cup they sold.  Gracie is their babysitter.

I have mentioned before that my wife and I try to be at Yowell Meadow Park by 7am each day for a walk.  What I have not told you about yet is a Culpeper Crowley tradition that my son started.  It is our Saturday Morning Breakfast Club.  Every Saturday morning he and I go to IHOP with his 3 year old daughter for breakfast.  She calls it "Going to the breakfast office."  The three of us are the core group but lots of Saturdays we are lucky enough to have another grandchild or perhaps a mom, a grammy, or an aunt or uncle join us. After breakfast we head to a park so the kids can burn off some energy. Lately we have been going to the Mountain Run Lake Park to feed the geese, ducks and fish.  It was on one of these trips that I ran into Shunette Henson and her preschool kids.  She has a small and personal preschool she calls, "The ABC Learning House" and it is right here in the Pepper.  When I called to her on the pier to ask her about taking the picture she knew right away who I was and had seen my blog.  I love it when that happens.  She had her group out on a field trip to the park.  She was teaching them as they observed.  I enjoyed watching that!

Further around the lake this group was set up with food, fishing poles, chairs etc. to enjoy a day in the shade at the park.  They were very relaxed and having a good time.  They are the Hamiltons and the Staats. 

Lately I have seen some signs that slowly but surely we are seeing new building growth in Culpeper.  Here, for example, are some men who were working away on the new Suntrust building which is near Target and Martins. 

 

I saw this guy working on this house and I could not help but humming, the Drifters and James Taylor's song, Up on the Roof.   "When this old world starts getting me down and people are just too much for me to take.  I climb way up to the top of the stairs and all my cares just drift off into space.  .....Up on the Roof."  Somehow I don't think he was humming the same song.  If he was, it was in Spanish.  I wonder how that sounds!  However, it is encouraging to see how many houses are being built by the 

K Hovanian Company right now.  A fair number of them have sold signs.

This next person is Nicholas Rodrigues and he is the owner of Pipe Workz which is a plumbing company.  When I needed some plumbing assistance I looked for a local plumber and found Nicholas.  It was my lucky day.  He was fast, efficient, personable and reasonable.  I would certainly recommend him. 

BACK TO SCHOOL

Culpeper County Public Schools has a program for parents the day before school starts.  I live very close to Culpeper High and Middle Schools.  In fact if I had a good enough arm I could throw a baseball over the conservation area (I call it, "the bog") and into the tennis courts.  I got wind of this program and since I am always looking for Culpeper faces, realized that there would be a cornucopia of Culpeper residents (Peperheads) at this event.  Interestingly enough, I asked everyone from parents to school staff to kids what the official name of this event was.  Seriously folks, no one knew.  They unanimously said that it had "something to do with parents meeting the teachers day.....or something like that."  So I will use that catchy title and call this section of my blog:

Parents Meet the Teachers Day

This was much cooler than I anticipated and a lot of fun for me.  If you have read my profile then you know that I am a retired educator....42 years in public schools.  All but six of those in administration.  So I love these events.  I almost always enjoyed meeting the parents.  I will tell you in all honesty that there were a lot of great people there.  Lets face it.... everyone who attended had a commitment to good education and the well being of their children.  Let's meet some of them. 

The very first people that I ran into in the parking lot were the Ellis family.  They were friendly and on their way out having already met with their son's teacher.  The son is Jacob and he is entering one of those "tween" grades.  He is a sixth grader and so new to the middle school.

 

Next I ran into Patricia Ruffner and her two kids, Andre who is in the eighth grade and Makayla who is entering the sixth.  The kids were very polite and best of all, Patricia had seen my pictures! 

This dad is Darren McMeans with his two children and a friend of his daughter.  Look how great the soft sunlight looks highlighting their hair. :)  This crew includes Kyle who is in the second grade, Shana who is in the seventh and her friend, Hayley Kisiel who is also in the seventh. 

This family is actually doing what you are supposed to do at this event....they are meeting with a school staff member.  They appear to be having a great time doing it.  They are the Odham-Ford family and there are three kids representing the eighth, sixth and K-1 grades.  This is our first glimpse of a person who actually works at the school in this blog and to be honest, I tried to not bother the actual teachers with picture taking.  They had far more important things to do.   But I do have to comment that I respect teachers very very much.  Our future is in their hands as they teach our children.  I have heard that the teachers in CCPS are very dedicated.  This person is Kristine Helme.

This lady simply made my day.  She informed me that she is a "follower" of my blog.  That means she always reads it.  We had never met.   She also reminded me that it had been two weeks since I posted and so I hustled right home and started loading this.  She is Krista Mosby and her kids are: Sophia who is in the eighth grade and so in her last year of middle school; Sam who is entering middle school in the sixth grade and Carter who is in the second.  I saw lots of second grade boys yesterday and that makes me believe that the second grade will be hoppin this year.

I really wanted to get a picture of some high school kids in the hall near their lockers, so here's that picture.  These handsome guys were joined by their moms. 

Mr. O'Brien's classroom was nearby and he graciously let me take some pictures while he talked to kids and their parents.  He teaches social studies including the ninth grade honors course.  First we have Nisha Morton and her mom Mrs. Morton. Their third grader, Xavier Morton was also there.

I admired the way Mr. O'Brien related to the parents and kids alike.  Here we have Carson Levy who is a ninth grader and his mom Suzanne Levy.

I took one last pass through the cafeteria before I went to the Guidance office.  Things had begun to slow down, but there were still people coming in.

I decided to wrap my visit up in the school counseling or guidance office.  I have mentioned before that I retired from Fairfax County Public Schools last October.  I taught for three years in Idaho before coming to Fairfax.  While in Fairfax County I was a school counselor for three years, a Director of Student Services (Guidance Director ) for 26 years at three different high schools and the for the last nine years of my career I was the Coordinator of School Counseling for the approximately 730 counselors in that system.  So in addition to the kids, my real love in schools is guidance and counseling.  I dropped in to see John Bridges who is a middle school counselor and who was meeting with the Curro family.  From the left Doreen, Joseph and Richard and of course John Bridges.  He certainly is a positive guy! 

So that was an evening well spent!  I put my camera away and headed for home.  I did not even get off the school grounds before I saw this group changing a tire.  Well, to be honest, Ryan McCormack was changing the tire and he had a covey of supervisors.  I just knew there was a story here so I stopped.  They told me that the car belonged to Adam Hughes and that he was an awesome teacher (they must have repeated that "awesome teacher" part ten times) and that "they" (read that as Ryan with bountiful supervision) were changing the tire for Mr. Hughes.  In my mind I could just imagine Adam sprinting from his car to the building and explaining to the principal that he had a flat tire and the principal rolling her eyes.  OK, Mr. Hughes, old buddy....here is the proof and you can take it to the bank!!!! I know it did not happen that way, but it is more fun version than having him there in plenty of time which no doubt was the way it came down.   AND I am sure that you are a great teacher and certainly one who engenders loyalty.  By the way the supervisory crew consisted of Debbie and Caitlyn McCormick and Ryan's friend, Lacee Zones (a name with star potential if there ever was one!).  I think that Ryan must be a good guy!

That is it for this time.  Be sure to tell your friends about the "Faces of Culpeper" blog.  If you would like to comment, or make a suggestion, or give me ideas for future blogs, just contact me at:

facesofculpeper@gmail.com  You will need to actually print this address on your email...for some reason you cannot just click on it.

By the way, if you are in one of these pictures and would like me to email you a copy just let me know.  No charge, of course.

Faces of Culpeper ...... Summer in the Pepper

                                               Hot town summer in the city
                                               Back of my neck gettin dirty and gritty
                                               Been down, isn't it a pity
                                               Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city

                                               Lovin Spoonful

                  

  My Granddaughter and I beating the heat with
 a Tropical Smoothie

   It has been beastly hot so far this summer here in the Pepper.  We have had record highs and I don't think anyone has thought it has been much fun.  I decided that since I spent time out talking to people when it was freezing last winter, that it would be interesting to go out in the community to see what some of the people do to avoid the heat.  Hmmmm that presented a problem...if people are avoiding the heat then they are not out where I can see them doing it.  Did that make sense? Still  I moved bravely on.   I was out there with my camera mostly alone on the really hot days.  So I looked inside as well as outside to see what was cooking (no pun intended).   Here is how it went:

I had given up on finding even a single person out and about on one of the 98 degree days and  so headed over to UPS to mail a package.  As I drove past Starbucks a lady was lounging on the chairs out in front.  It was 98 degrees mind you and she was enjoying life as though it was 70!  I had to find out about this person who was so comfortable in the heat.  She is Cindy Wenzel and she has been a trainer at Golds Gym for the last three years.  She has done lots and lots in the world of physical fitness from teaching gymnastics to teaching taekwondo to being a massage therapist and on and on.  She is very interesting AND she did not think it was all that hot.   Oh, did I mention that she is a graduate of Culpeper County High School and so a genuine native?

Reassured that people were outside I headed down the road and found Rose and Mark at the gas station where they were just making sure that all the fluids were proper in that big ol red Dodge pickup of his.  They are brother and sister, by the way.

I decided I would wait until early in the next morning to see who was out. It seemed that  one way people were avoiding the heat was by doing what they needed or wanted early in the day before the real heat hit.  Sure enough here was Wendy, at the park by 7 am to get her run in.

And Martin doing sit ups for crying out loud!!!  Tummy looks good, though.  He has worked at Masco Cabinets for the last 20 years. 

 

A little later I found Steve standing in the shade making calls on his cell phone.  I commented on the scooter or bike or whatever and he told me his friends had just given it to him for his birthday.  I, on the other hand, am lucky if I get a card or even an email on my birthday. 

I have made note in this blog before about how people feel about their dogs in this town.....possibly a tad over the edge in some cases.  Guess what I found?  When it gets hot the groomers at Pet Smart get busy.  No one wants their dog to get too hot so .....off with their hair!  Here are Julia and Mary making these dogs comfortable.  These two have such great personalities that they could even work for a dentist, but they are lovin what they do.

Nothing to do with the heat but this pretty girl and her dog were doing some serious shopping and I could not resist shooting these two great faces. Adriana is holding her dog, Daisey.

I guess I better admit it right now.....I am a 7-11 junkie.  I usually make my way there every day for a Big Gulp and sometimes a lottery ticket.   On hot days I might go two or three times.  Sooooo, with that as my frame of reference, I was absolutely sure that on these 98+ days there must be a line in front of the soft drink fountain and the Slurpee machine at 7-11.  I will admit that I only went three times (and each time got a Big Gulp for myself), but no one, zzzeeeeeroo, nada, peeps were getting drinks or Slurpees.  What is wrong with you people?   So the third trip I decided to hang around until someone showed up to get said drinks.  I stood around for twenty minutes with my camera and Big Gulp waiting....... no stalking, by the soda machine.  I was seriously starting to get strange looks. I told the clerk I was giving up.  Just as I turned my head to talk to her, there was a rush on the Big Gulp machine....well two people came but that constituted a rush in my book. 

 

This is Steve who works for Republic Services.  This guy is a lot faster than he looks. He slipped in, got a drink and was over to the counter before I realized that he was just who I was waiting for and he had a drink in his hand.

This is Melissa!!!!  Yeah!!!! Getting a Big Gulp! Whoopee!!  I knew she was out there somewhere....I just had to wait for her.  She is a good soul.  She is a home care provider and works for the Rappahanock Service Board. 

I pondered where else people might be on a scorcher?   I had the answer.... Dairy Queen having ice cream.  I zipped over there and sure enough there were people at four of the tables.  However, not a drop of ice cream had been ordered.  Well, it was the lunch hour and there were lots of hamburgers and fries.  I  knew that people really came in droves at night for ice cream but I left for a few minutes and came right back to find Jojuan White, who works for the state police department, proving me right once again!  People do get Dairy Queen to cool down.  As you can tell she was a great sport.

On Saturday I checked back downtown and discovered these three old timers just outside the post office sitting in the shade where it was a bit cooler.  The two on the right say they have been friends for forty years. All three are Culpeper natives.   Shhhhh, we are going to ignore the sign or at least they are.

I have wanted to go into Janal Leather ever since I moved here.  Well, this was my opportunity.  This is Janice Kraus the owner of the well air conditioned store.  They have lots of cool stuff like cowboy boots and jackets etc. 

I also went to the famous Farmers' Market right across from the depot.  Here is Stacy Geppert and her girls talking with Al who has a goat dairy.  He has quite a variety of cheeses for sale.  Stacy says they are wonderful.....

Well.....seems that everyone was handling the heat in their own way, but mostly by staying inside  and/or avoiding the serious heat.   However, in addition to the heat refugees,  I found a very neat man I want you to see and meet.  The other day I was driving on 29 right by McDonald's when a big car pulled up next to me.  I glanced over and the driver waved which is a bit unusual.  I waved back and then took a moment to look at his car.  WOW! It was a 1983 Cadillac!  That is back when a Cadillac was a Cadillac.  This gentleman has taken such great care of this car that I would dare say that he has taken loving care of the car.  I was just going to the middle of town, but I drove clear over near Merchants Tire just to jockey to be next to him at the stop light and ask him to pull over for a picture.  What a sweet guy he is.  He is:  Reverend Marvin E. Jackson, Sr.  and he is a Baptist minister.  He represents his position well.  It was my honor to meet him.

 

TA DAH!!!  BIG ANNOUNCEMENT AND GOOD NEWS!

The Culpeper Times will be running one of the pictures from my blog and my comments every week.  We are calling it,  Rich Crowley's Snapshot of Culpeper.  Be sure to look for it.  This lady arranged for our association.  Her name is Anita Sherman and she is very cool.  She is the editor of the Culpeper Times. 

Well that is it for this time.  Be sure to send comments, thoughts, questions, suggestion etc. to me at:

facesofculpeper@gmail.com

PS  If a picture of you appears in my blog and you would like a copy be sure to contact me at the email above and I will send it to you absolutely free.

Faces of Culpeper ..... Fourth of July Celebration...faces and more faces

I made my first real visit to the Pepper three years ago on the Fourth of July.  My son and daughter in law took us to the Fourth of July parade and fireworks display and we had a ball.  We were already building a house here, but at the parade we got a taste of the fun, small town aspects of Culpeper.  My wife and I grew up in Idaho and had Fourth of July parades in our home towns that were somewhat similar, but had lots and lots of horses, and even some floats.  So this one was different, and it had its own charm.  We have not missed one parade since and don't ever plan to.  This year we even brought friends from out of town.
The Fourth of July is an opportunity for us to reflect on what we have.  It is so important for me personally to understand that I live in a country that has been so richly blessed.  We have freedoms that many other countries cannot not even dream of having.  God Bless America !!!
                                                                                
                                   THE PREPARATION

I took the time to go to Yowell Meadow Park (I just can't stay away) on Friday July 2nd, to catch the preparations that were being made.  I was back on Saturday morning to witness final touches and then back again for fireworks.  I attended several, but not all, of the planned activities.  The events provided a cornucopia of faces.  I shot many people under conditions that did not allow me to get their names.  Even so, I was able to get several names to go with those Faces of Culpeper.  This will be the largest number of pictures that I will ever put on this blog at one time.   Fasten your seat belt and let's jump in.....

I thought it might be fun to check out some of the preparations that were being made for the events that were going to occur in Yowell Meadow Park.  Yowell is normally kept very tidy for our enjoyment, but for this celebration extra efforts were made to make the park a showcase. I took a camera on our morning walk on July 2nd and here is what I found....

I found these guys moving tables so that the covered areas could be used for other reasons.  From left to right they are James, David and Gary.  Gary has worked for the town for 29 years and has 22 months (but who is counting) until he retires. 

A little later I found David trimming the trees branches.  He is clearly a multi tasker.

Next I came upon Ron Johnson.  There was no detail too small to overlook.  He takes pride in presenting the park at its best. 

As we were getting getting ready to get in our car and leave we ran into our friend Marlys  Houston, (whom I will picture later and who had told me earlier that I "better be doing some pictures of the Fourth,") who introduced us to Erick Kalinga who was the Chairman of the Fourth of July Festival Committee.  He was a very friendly guy and clearly had come ready to work .  Even the boss chips in on this effort.

I returned in the evening to see if people were still working and to give my final approval on the condition of the park.  It was pretty much empty and quiet but these guys were still working on getting nets set up for the annual soccer tournament.  From the left are Tim, Shaun and Ryan.  Tim told me that this soccer tournament has been going on for 15 years.  I asked him how many of those years he had worked on it.  He replied that he had been here for all 15 years.  I said, " I guess that makes you the grand old man of this tournament."  He said, "It makes me the grand young man of this tournament."  He looks youthful enough that I certainly would never argue that. 

Things looked terrific.  There were neat and tidy rows of flags and garbage cans.  Oops!  One garbage can had fallen out of formation.

Our little lake took on the aura of patriotism.  It made me feel good.  At the fireworks display the next day this area and the rest of the park would be filled with approximately 8,000 people!

Even the bridge was decked out in red, white and blue.  I convinced Mickey Hicks who was walking through the park to pose for me to make a more interesting photo.  He obliged.  Look closely..... he's there.

Andrea and I came back to the park on Saturday morning for our walk.  Talk about cool!  We had to park our car a little ways away and walk to Yowell, but we had the walking path all to ourselves!  It was a beautiful morning, plus the park was pristine.  When we got to the entrance to no one's surprise, there was Beth the Director of the Office of Tourism putting on the final touch.  The big show was about to begin. 

 

THE PARADE

The downtown streets were lined with people filled with anticipation for the one and only annual Fourth of July parade.  Many of my pictures will not have names of people for obvious reasons, however I will comment occasionally.

These people were nicely dressed for the parade....they get the best dressed at the parade award.  Pat and Paul on the left are from Pennsylvania and Carol and Mark are locals.  They stood near where I and my family were.  I took this picture just before the parade started.  You can sense their excitement.

These parade watchers are Kim and Linda.  Kim, on the left is from Northern Virginia and Linda is a Culpeper resident. Kim has a pretty nice camera and I was expecting serious competition for the good shots, but she went easy on me.  

AND AWAY WE GO!!!!!!!

I cannot help but break in here and comment.  This obviously is an anonymous group of marchers.  Right now I am having a serious debate with myself on whether to call them "The Flags of Culpeper" or "The White Shirts of Culpeper."  Please feel free to register your vote.

A face only a mother could love on the left, of course.

I am not sure I understand this....  are Barbara and Dick one half of the passengers in the car above, or members of the Board of Supervisors below or what?  Is it possible that this is Dick dressed up as Uncle Sam and Barbara is on the sideline laughing?   Help me!

Debbie Yowell and company.

Andrew, Jocelyn (youngest parade observer?) and friend Justin

                                                               No comment!

Ditto !

Melts on the street, not in your hand.

This one of my favorite entrees!  If you want to show off your baby, 

what better place than a parade?

Here is a trio of Peperheads....my mother in law, my daughter in law and my granddaughter!

Here is my favorite recent graduate .... class of 2010.... Bonnie Hansen.  Bonnie had (notice I said, "had") two friends, one of which was the Mad Hatter (what do you expect, I mean really?), who were to parade with her as characters from Alice in Wonderland.  The others did not show but Bonnie did not let them rain on her parade (Ha!) and marched without them.  I respect that kind of confidence!

These were the only horses in the parade.  We need to work on that!  With all the horses in this area and all the riders, this parade should be loaded with horses.  I will start the effort right here.   ALL RIDERS AND THEIR HORSES ARE WELCOME NEXT YEAR.  SADDLE UP!

In my mind this guy is the most important person in the parade.  At least I'll bet that those who walked behind him thought so.  Apparently he was the parade's official pooper scooper following those BIG Clysdales.  Although I was not privileged to observe his technique I certainly hope he was paid well.

Now this is an old Ford!  Somewhere around 1950 I'd guess.

OK...early on I promised that I would have a picture of Marlys Houston who was the Vice Chairman of the Culpeper Festival Committee.    Here she is in some kind of contraption that does not look like it was meant for human beings.  I told her that it reminded me of the "The Tale of Two Cities" and the carts they used to take people to the guillotine.  She retorted that by five o'clock on Saturday afternoon she felt like she was on her way to the guillotine (with a cooler?).  Ah come on!  "It is a far far better thing that I do than I have ever done....." etc.

I have a hat very much like this man's.  My daughter in law hates my hat, but I immediately recognized this guy as a man of refined taste.  I put my straw hat on and sauntered over to convince him that because we were wearing similar hats he should agree to having his picture taken.  He recognized a brother and quickly agreed.  Now comes a quiz.    What line of work do you think he is in?   Hint.....he is most actively employed at Christmas time.   Give up?   He is a Santa  Claus.......who'd a thought?!!!  Well, you would have known if his beard was more grown out like it is in the holiday season.

THE FIREWORKS DISPLAY

We didn't get our crew to the fireworks display very early...... we only had about 15 minutes to spare.  I still wanted to get some pictures of people who were there.  Soooo I set my camera for low light and headed off.  This is a very small group of the approximately 8000 people at park for the show.

This is the line waiting for funnel cones about 10 minutes before fireworks started. Good luck!

This bevy of beauties asked me to take their picture.  They told me that they all graduated in the CCHS Class of 08.  Class is right!  They had to be the very best dressed for the fireworks. 

This man was a little shy about having his picture taken  !!!!!!   Funny he doesn't appear bashful.  He is what this night is all about.... having fun while sporting the red white and blue!!!!!

 

THE CAR SHOW

So Sunday morning I got up before church to visit the car show and see what faces I might find.  I have to say that I was really surprised at the size of the show.  I am pretty sure I heard there were 89 cars.  I was impressed!

Here is Julie and her kids.  Her husband was a judge in the antique category.

These guys are about the right age to really appreciate many of these cars....in other words about my age.  Many of these old cars were rodding around when we were a bit younger.  We saw them on the road, for real!  Ken on the left is retired.  Bob, a UVA professor, is the man in the center and Karl on the right is also a retired guy.  That meant that three of the four of us had hung up our spurs but loved the cars of our era! 

Even as early as I was there, the streets had begun to be crowded.

My first car was a 1955 Ford so  I went up the street looking for one.  There were tons of old Chevys of all kinds and Pontiac muscle cars.   I even saw a Nash Rambler, and then an old Chrysler, but no 55 Fords.  In fact it felt like maybe we were a little short on Fords, but then I ran into a bunch of them including several Thunderbirds.  I was almost at the end of the street when I spotted that familiar chrome design that told me I was looking at the front end of a 1955 Ford.  It was cherry!  The owner had made a few modifications, but I had my fix just by seeing it.   There were three guys admiring it and they represented three generations.  A grandfather, his son and his grandson.  They are: Scott, Dan and Robert Montgomery.  I have even written a song called (you guessed it) "55 Ford."  The last few lines go:  "I left my hometown, I've traveled around and I've owned a lot of cars since then, but I would trade them all away, to sit on top of the world one day....in my 55 Ford." !!!!!!!   

THE END

Whew, that was a loooongg blog, and that's it for now.  If you would like to comment, converse, offer suggestions for future blogs etc. contact me at:

facesofculpeper@gmail.com

Oh....  if there is a picture of you that you would like, you may request it by writing to me at the same email address above.  I will email the picture to you.