Some of my Collector Plates Collection

Many years ago my Dad and I started collecting these themed plates - they were the "beanie baby" craze f the day, only alot more costly.

FLOWER BOY Plate - one of the most popular images associated with DeGrazia.

After we moved to New Mexico Ted DeGrazia became my favorite artist.

FLOWER Girl Plate

On a visit to Tucson, AZ we visited his studio and chapel - Gallery in the Sun. It was so peaceful and spiritual.

This one is very interesting.  THE UNEXPECTED PROPOSAL Plate by Norman Rockwell, depicts George Washington as the man, not the public figure.  

Want to see many, many more with full descriptions?  Just copy and paste the link.  Enjoy!!

http://tinyurl.com/2arxa9a

Driving the Blue Ridge Parkway, Part 3 (Peaks of Otter, Poplar Forest, Natural Bridge, Stonewall Jackson’s Home, and Virginia Military Institute)

Day Two of our Virginia drive was as lovely as Day One.  First we went to the Peaks of Otter: Sharp Top, Flat Top, and .  These peaks are . They were a short drive from Roanoke.  However, we were terribly disappointed that we could not hike up Sharp Top!  It would have taken around 3 hours.  So we satisfied ourselves with nice pictures from the Peaks of Otter Lodge.  Besides, Bill’s real interest for the day was the next stop, Poplar Forest, also a short drive from the Peaks on VA 43. 

Bill especially wanted so much to complete his picture of the great man, Thomas Jefferson.  We had seen Monticello two years before when we visited my sister Julie and niece Erika in Falls Church.  We are both in awe of the man’s genius.  It was in the gift shop there where Bill found a special silver ring for me, a replica of what the British ambassador gave Jefferson’s daughter when he was Minister to France.  The ring reads, ‘J’aime et j’espere’…I love and I hope. 

The Forest is the retreat home for Jefferson.  He designed it from the Italian villa influences he got from his European sojourn.  It was inherited by his wife from her parents and by him when she died from the birth of their second child.  He finished building it during his second presidency after which he retired to it.  It is octagonal in shape and completely balanced in design.  And, as he often said, that was where he found peace in his writings and his thoughts. Like Monticello, it is a delight to behold!

(Here is a view of the Peaks of Otter as Jefferson saw them, minus the highway)

Natural Bridge, on the other hand, is not mad-made, it is a natural wonder.  For the last 500 million years, it has been a continuing work of art by Cedar Rapids.  The bridge was carved out from the giant rocks as the stream flowed through. US 11 sits on top of the natural bridge so we can now say, ‘We drove on top of the Natural Bridge’.

Furthermore, the letters ‘GW’ are inscribed on the rocks about 23 feet from the stream’s surface at the middle below the bridge. It is said that Washington and other presidents marveled at it and Jefferson purchased it from the British. Finally, all around the grounds are 1,600 year-old trees that have died and are in the process of becoming petrified. It was worth the hefty price we paid for entry.

 The owners of the attraction have so commercialized the place, it is unbelievable!  The fee included a tour through an old and low quality wax museum and factory and a practically empty Toy Museum. The unusually large gift shop and the two restaurants were also practically empty.  But just like paying for a buffet, we tried to get more than our money’s worth. So we went through every single one of them.

Because of this we arrived in Lexington, Virginia way past 5 PM.  We missed the open hours of the only home Stonewall Jackson owned.  He was the Confederate general who was accidentally killed by one of his men. They say that had he not died, the Confederacy would have won! I do not know whether the origin of the word ‘stonewalling’ can be found from his military tactics and strategy.

We were so disappointed that we could not get in but, as we walked around, we found an alley to the back and we were able to take some decent photos.  Then we decided to look for the Virginia Military Institute which Jackson was supposed to have founded.  Sure enough, just a few miles away, stands the venerable institution with his statue in front of the main building.  The architecture of the buildings is unlike any we have seen of colleges and universities.  They stood proudly like a militarily sound castle.

When we finished, it was already past 6 PM and our GPS said we would be back at the Green Mountain RV Park in four hours!  It was a tiring, long day but definitely very enjoyable.   The next morning I couldn’t help but take pictures of the campsite we have come to call home for the past three weeks.  We had a big patio for entertaining and the park had a 9-hole golf course.  It was the first time we had one so we bought our very own golf clubs! The park also had a golf cart parade and a great big shindig during Memorial Day.

And Lenoir, North Carolina was also a great host for us.  The Caldwell County Public Library let us borrow all the books, magazines, and DVDs we wanted.  And the city of Lenoir, North Carolina allowed us to use the Aquatic and Fitness Center! Every Friday evening we also got to dance at the free Concert at the Park.  Finally, we will always remember it as the home from which we made six days of discovery driving through the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway!  You have to plan to make this trip, too!

Next Stops: Great Smoky Mountain Natinal Park, Cherokee, North Carolina, Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Knoxville, Tennessee

Family Vacation Photos - Are You In There?

I like browsing through our old photos. I got this idea of putting up several photos of my mug in my other blog, Lina's Backyard but can you believe it - there isn't much photo of myself in our whole collection of photos!

I asked a friend of mine who is an avid photographer about how many photos of himself in his vacation album and he told me that out of the few hundreds photos of his vacation in Beijing last December, he was in the photos for about 15 photos!

I didn't fare much better -  because we only use one camera between the three of us, and the camera is always being monopolised by me; there were so few photos of me but of course there were plenty of Raimie's. I do wish there were more photos of the three of us, like the one I posted here, but then, I don't really like asking for strangers to take photographs of me!

Driving the Blue Ridge Parkway, Part 2

Yesterday we came back from our drive through the Virginia Section of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Day One was to the Blue Ridge Music Center just beyond the North Carolina-Virginia border, the Meadows of Dan and its charming stores, the historic Puckett Cabin, the famously beautiful  Mabry Mill (above), and the bustling mountain city of Roanoke, Virgnina, where we stayed overnight.  

Right after the Blue Ridge Music Center, where there is music playing every day, we found the Peaceful Hearts Alpacas, an alpaca farm with a new one-month old baby alpaca.  At the gift store Bill bought for me an alpaca hat for winter days.  I had always wanted one because, though lighter than wool, it is as warm!   They told us to not miss the Nancy Candy Store at the Meadows of Dan and there we sampled some of the 40 flavors of fudge! 

Aside from tasting good, they had some witty packaging! We bought one that had the word ‘LUSTY’ boldly printed on a bright red wrapping and an explanation that reads …’3.5 oz of impure thoughts disguised as deliciously luscious, all-natural premium dark chocolate.’ Another one that is headlined as ‘No Weight Gain Chocolate’ had  this warning: ‘Manufacturer guarantee is void if packaging has been tampered with, opened or torn.  No consumer serviceable parts inside.  May cause weight gain if incorrectly used.’

On the way to Mabry Mill, we chanced upon the Puckett Cabin.  Olena Puckett was a famous midwife in the area in the late 1800s.  Legend has it that she assisted in giving birth to about a thousand babies in fifty years (she lived to be102) for which services she was paid about a $1 each. It is said that she would travel on foot to miles away when called.  But the interesting twist to her story is that, although she gave birth to twenty-four children herself, none of them survived beyond infancy.

Mabry Mill is the most photographed (and painted) scene in the Blue Ridge Parkway.  The picture at the top of this post is enough justification.  It does not need words. The Mabrys were jacks of all trade so the property had a blacksmith shop etc. The small place depicts to this day the way subsistence farmers lived during those days, especially in how water was managed.

Roanoke is a charming city of 300,000.  I was extremely delighted to discover that their cathedral is colored yellow!  The Central Square is always a beehive of activities, it seems.  The night we were there, it was cordoned off for a private party and the band could be heard and seen from all the restaurants around.  So we had live music from the Tavern where we had some local pizza and wine for dinner. 

And when we went back to our motel, a big star shone from atop the mountains around the city.  I found out the next day that it was the Roanoke Star, always all lit up at night! It is the world's largest freestanding illuminated man-made star, constructed in 1949 at the top of Mill Mountain. It stands 88.5 feet tall with 2,000 feet of neon tubing that requires 17,500 watts of power.

After construction of the star, Roanoke was nicknamed "Star City of the South".  The city changes the colors of the star to symbolize certain events.  It started out as all-white.  It became red, white, and blue for six years after the Twin Towers Attack and all white again after the Virginia Tech massacre. Now it turns red when there is a traffic fatality in the city.

Next Stops:  Day Two with Peaks of Otter, Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest, the Natural Bridge, Stonewall Jackson’s home, the Virginia Military Institute, and more of the walls of rhodies, Virginia's state flower, along the way..  

Traveling On A Full Stomach

Apart from getting a JR Pass for our long distance train travel in Japan, there is one more thing that is pretty convenient to be enjoyed while zipping around in the trains and shinkansens and that is the eki-ben (train station lunch boxes).

More information about these awesomely delicious and convenient packed lunches can be read here: Appreciating Japan Through Ekibens.

Some of the eki-bens we enjoyed during our previous trips: 

Our eki-ben bought at Shin-Osaka station, eaten on our journey from Shin-Osaka to Hakata in Kyushu taking the Hikari shinkansen.

Our eki-ben bought at Hiroshima station - with octopus and oysters. They sure don't skimp on the ingredients. There were so many oysters in my paddle-shaped bento. We bought these bento during our trip from Shin-Osaka to Kanazawa on the Thunderbird, and then jumping on the Noto night train from Kazanawa to Tokyo.

Our eki-ben bought in the train SL Ban Etsu Monogatari-Go, on our trip from Aizu-Wakamatsu to Niigata. Getting a ride on a steam locomotive was an awesome experience for us and eating lunch while the train were puffing along ravines and rivers, and eating good food while enjoying the scenery was an awesome experience. We even got a souvenir inside the bento box in the form of a paper train cut-out.

Our dinner bento bought at Niigata station. Fish roe is Zaini's favourite. We ate these on the on the Joetsu Shinkansen Max Toki to Ueno station.

Eki-ben in an earthenware bought in Karuizawa. Either this bento is really famous at the station or because there were no other choices, but when we were there, a long line was formed immediately when a stall was set-up offering this delicious meal. Most commuters bought no less than two and I think they bought it to bring back home.

A bento bought at Tazawako station before our onward journey to Nyuto Onsen.

We will look forward for more eki-ben adventures during our next trip. The eki-ben sold at the train stations change seasonally so it'll be fun to try out new eki-ben throughout the four changing seasons. Don't you agree?

Oishi Buffet on Legs At Midori?

Should we go to Oishi Buffet on Legs at Midori Japanese Restaurant, Putrajaya Marriott Hotel & Spa this weekend?

A friend who has been living in Japan for three years is coming back to Malaysia on June 5 and will be staying at the resort for a few days. I was hoping to meet up with her and family on Sunday, the day after her arrival before she head off to her hometown. Zaini mentioned that perhaps we can head to Midori  for their buffet and maybe we can go there after going to his cousin's wedding earlier in the day.

Midori is having this promotion every Sunday for patrons to enjoy a Japanese buffet experience with a range of food presented by service associates at your table. Featuring appetisers, sushi, sashimi, tempura, teppanyaki, robatayaki, nabemono, soba, udon, chef’s creations and desserts – the whole works and all market fresh. It is priced at RM55++ per adult and RM33++ per child for lunch and dinner. 

But of course, I don't think my friend would want to join us for dinner at Midori. She already ate so much Japanese food in Japan for three years!

Driving the Blue Ridge Parkway-Part 1

The Blue Ridge Parkway is an All-American Road that runs for 469 miles (755 km), mostly along the famous Blue Ridge, part of the Appalachian Mountains. Its southern end is on the boundary of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and travels all the way north to the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. It is a very scenic drive and, although not a national park, has become the most visited single unit of the National Parks System. This year it celebrates its 75^th anniversary.

Driving straight through would take about 10-12 hours. We covered the parkway from our Lenoir, North Carolina campground in six parts in this sequence: 1) Blowing Rock,  2) Grandfather Mountain and Linn Cove Viaduct, 3) Asheville to Linville Falls, 4) Meadows of Dan to Roanoke, 5) Roanoke to Humpback Rocks, and 6) Asheville to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. This post is about the first three. Part 2 will be about the rest.

The town of Blowing Rock is only about thirty minutes away from our campground. The normal population is 1,500 but during the tourist season in summer it balloons to about 10,000.  It takes its name from an unusual rock formation which juts over 1,500 feet (460 m) above the Johns River gorge. Due to the rock's shape and size, wind currents from the gorge often blow vertically, causing light objects to float upwards into the sky. In fact, in winter they say that snow falls upwards in Blowing Rock. 

According to legend, two lovers from the Cherokee and Catawba tribes were on the rocks when the man received a notice to go into battle. When his lover urged him to stay with her, he became so conflicted that he threw himself off the blowing rock. The woman prayed to the Great Spirit to return him.  He complied by sending a gust of wind which blew the man back up the cliff, landing him safely on the rock.

Another popular tourist attraction in Blowing Rock is the Tweetsie Railroad Theme Park, which is home to the only remaining fully-functional steam engine train in North Carolina. Visitors to Tweetsie can ride the train for three miles (5 km) and enjoy the mountain scenery and the other park rides. But the town itself has so many quaint little shops.  I found masterfully crafted paper-like gold earrings for my two teenage granddaughters  on a huge sale!

Grandfather Mountain, on the other hand, has been designated by the United Nations as an International Biosphere Reserve. It has seven environmental habitats for black bears ,river otters , cougars , bald eagles, golden eagles , and white-tailed deer.  The flamboyant Catawba rhododendron is blooming at the lower elevations! The huge purple blossoms will progress toward the high peaks by late June.  And it will be a spectacle!

But it is most famous for The Mile High Swinging Bridge which was built to give visitors easy access to the breath-taking view from Grandfather Mountain's Linville Peak. The 228-foot suspension bridge spans an 80-foot chasm at more than one mile in elevation. But it was so cold and windy I could not cross the bridge.  Sigh.  Another opportunity lost. On the way down, we met this old man with a banjo that was made in 1912, bearing the famous Earl Scrugg’s signature, selling jams and apple butter on the side of the road. 

Further down the Parkway at MP 304 is the Linn Cove Visitors’ Center where we found our shining blue stainless steel water bottle bearing the words, ‘I support the American National Parks System.’  You can view the Linn Cove Viaduct from the center.  The viaduct is a 1243-foot concrete segmental bridge which snakes around the slopes of Grandfather Mountain. It was completed in 1983 at a cost of $10 million and was the last section of the Parkway to be finished.

The next leg of our drive through the Parkway was from Asheville.  We trekked up the Parkway through the Folk Arts Center, a nice edifice exhibiting quality products from North Carolina’s most prized craftsmen. There, we met Lee Entrekin with his Dreamwind Flutes and Andrea Williams with her handwoven scarves, stoles, and purses. It was a very impressive collection of crafts, very expensive, however. And you know how frugal I am!

Next on the Parkway at MP 364 was Craggy Gardens. It would have been spectacular had the rhodies been in full bloom but they were just starting.  Blue Ridge Parkway is literally lined with walls of the plants that are as big as trees.  Thus the best time to visit is late June to early August to see pinkish purple everywhere or fall for the other deciduous trees’ yellows, reds, and golds.

Then Mt. Mitchell, the highest peak on the East Coast at 6,700 feet is at MP 355.  Climbing up the observation tower my heart pounded so much and I realized I was already out of breath.  This gave me a scare and I will write about ‘Keeping Fit while Cruising’ in my next thought piece. But I got a good treat after… wonderfully hot chili and dogs at the restaurant at the top!

Then we let Crabtree Meadows, Little Switzerland and the North Carolina Mining Museum whiz by because it was already getting late and it will take us more than an hour before we can get to our campground after the last stop at Linville Falls at MP 334. These waters cascade down from the Linville Peak of Grandfather Mountain, all of 2,000 feet.  After a brisk hike on the trail to the falls, we got back to Lenoir at about 8:15 PM, just in time for the library’s close to take out our movie for the night.

This covers the section of the Parkway with the highest concentration of attractions, from Asheville to Blowing Rock, North Carolina. There must have been nearly ten tunnels that dotted this portion.

Our next stops will be the mile 0, the southern end, and the Virginia section. The Blue Ridge Parkway is truly a great road to drive!