View from the Mountain

The tomato race concession

It is time to admit it, my friend Mike whipped me once again in the great tomato race.

The race has been over for a long time. Mike decided to use early varieties this year.

He actually had a ripe tomato nearly two weeks ago.

My first ripe one which was also damaged by tobacco worms would qualify for a June 30th tomato award which is certainly before July 4th.

Mike even gave me another chance as his regular varieties came in June 28th a couple of days before my ripe one.

All I can say is wait until next year.  I'll have some area experience under my belt.

I don't plan to lose again, but Mike is pretty crafty.  We have to call for some independent monitoring.

It is a wonderous thing to have homegrown tomatoes.  They are one of the most prolific vegetables around.  I only have three plants which went into the ground on May 5th, and we will be swamped with tomatoes.

This year's tomato ritual is going to have a much better result than last year's bitter harvest.  I don't even mind losing as long as I have lots of tasty tomatoes.

A disappearing American icon, the appliance store

They have been part of the American landscape for as long as I can remember.  When I grew up in Lewisville, NC, there was one across the street from us.

When we moved to Roanoke, Va in 1989, we bought our appliances from a small store at Apperson and Electric Road.

We were pleased that we did not have to pay for the appliances until they were actually delivered.  We had moved from Maryland where it seemed a deposit was required in order to talk to a salesman.

Roanoke was a pleasant surprise.  There were still people who knew their products and could actually explain all the features, and actually work with you on getting them delivered and installed at a convenient time.

Recently our Maytag washer started leaking.  A visit from a repairman confirmed what has become so common these days.  It was going to cost such a significant amount for the repair, that it made more sense to buy a new machine.

Based on a recent experience with a rental home in Cornelius, NC, we knew two things.  One we were going to search out a small appliance store and two we would not be buying another Maytag.  While Maytag's purchase by Whirlpool might fix the reliability problems, we do not want to be the people to confirm this.

Finding a small appliance store was not a problem.  We just went back to the place we bought our last applances.  It happened to be Tarpley's in Salem, VA.  They are one of the few locally owned appliance stores left in the Roanoke area.

After visiting the Roanoke Farmer's Market on Saturday morning, we headed to Salem.  We suspected Tarpley's would close by one.

We spent several minutes learning that top loading washing machines are going to disappear within a few years. We talked about reliability and about our need to have delivery at a specific time.  It did not take long to close the transaction.

The next Tuesday morning the delivery men showed up.  They worked with me when at their suggestion, I decided to blow out our dryer vent line with a leaf blower. 

They were also patient with my wife while she cleaned the floor under the new machines.  Tarpley's even agreed to hold our fully function dryer while we tried to donate it to charity.

All in all buying our new appliance was as pleasant as it cold be.  In a few years,  we will let you know what we think of Fridgerdaire appliances. 

It would be wonderful if appliances lasted as long as the Hot Point ones that my mother had when I was a child in the fifties.  That just doesn't happen these days.

Why we travel?

I was happy this past Saturday the see clear skies. That's not often the case for a summer day in Roanoke.

Our signature view always inspires me, but as I have said before I do have wanderlust of the soul.

I often wonder while driving along the crowded lanes on Interstate 81 where everyone is going and why they are on the road?

We all have our reasons, or we would not be burning $3 per gallon gasoline.

There's another Realtor® in our Cape Carteret, NC office who also has a Virginia mountain retreat.  I joked to him the other day, that we should form a team and call it the Coastal-Mountain boys since we both alternate between Virginia and North Carolina. 

He wants to be on a mountaintop, and I want to be in boat crusing the Intracoastal Waterway.

We have enjoyed the cooler mountain weather in Roanoke, but in the last couple of days the humidity has been as bad or worse than it is at the coast.  At least at the coast, we usually have a breeze.

People travel to have a change in attitude, climate or to visit relatives.  They get in the car for all sorts of mundane or strange things.

We just took a trip which managed to cover the visiting relatives base and to take care of our almost antique Mercedes 450SE which now can legally cruise the streets of Mount Airy, NC.

It was nice to be on the road in all old time car loaded with a big V8 and lots of memories.  I cannot imagine being stuck in one place, but that time will come.

Waitress, tricked into another Chick flick

As we waited for the show to start, I happened to notice that I was the only guy in the theater except for a guy "couple."

That is usually a bad sign.

However, i will admit to enjoying Kerri Russell's portrayal of a pie making waitress trapped in a terrible life.

The one real surprise in the movie was Andy Griffith and his portrayal of "Old Joe."  Andy was terrific.

The husband in the movie was more than a little anonying so I was glad to see him get his just "desserts."

Changes at the Roanoke Farmers' Market

Saturday June 23, we headed down to the Roanoke Farmers' Market to look for a bird feeder to replace the one destroyed by some local raccoons.

Unfortunately the little hardware store on the market was out of our favorite feeder.

We ended up in one of our standard visits to the market where we wander from stall to stall searching for the best produce.

The most noticeable change in the market would be the new blue and white awnings.

I have written about the market a number of times, including a morning visit in 2005, a spring trip searching for tomatoes, and a fall harvest post where you can see the old awnings which were yellow and white.

I even have an earlier market web album which you can compare to the web photo album that I did of our market visit on June 23, 2007.

Lots of things change at the market, but some stay the same.  Julia was still on her corner selling irises.  Most of our favorite vendors were still there with the exception of Garden Mountain Farms. 

The good news is that another vendor, Sandy River, had replaced them and was selling tasty pork and chicken products that I can grill.

There was music on the market sponsored by Ukrops, and there was another group playing on the corner by the hardware store.

We got bread from On the Rise Bakery along with green beans, cantaloupe, corn, new potatoes, and flowers.  We got our items from a variety of the vendors.

The Roanoke Market is a treasure and unique in many respects.  I hope it continues to grow and prosper.

I wish we could find something like the Market down on the Southern Outer Banks, but the vegetable growing season starts and ends early down there, and we just do not have enough people to sustain a market like Roanoke's.