Calm even in the flurry of activity

During the busyness of December, getting swept up in all the preparations seems inevitable. Sometimes I feel the last weeks of the year are a blur of family dinners, company, Christmas preparations, and Christmas celebration.

Last week I spent time purposely looking for some of the small things of life that could easily be missed in the all bustle. Taking the focus off the overall rush helped me slow down, at least for a while.

Here are some of my favorites sights last week:

• A horse, blanketed against a frosty morning, hitched outside a store
• Christmas trees stacked in bunches in a lot
• Canada geese winging South over a pond
• Lights twinkling high in the mountains from houses decorated for Christmas
• A crackling fire warming a chilly night
• Children singing Christmas carols

Spend some time this week looking for the details of life in our beautiful valley.

Merry Christmas!

~~Colleen

Time and Coffee

Let me tell you a bit about why I named this blog “Over a Cup of Coffee.”  If you’re like me, you can barely find the time to do laundry, let alone enjoy a leisurely cup of coffee.  In the fast paced whirlwind of a world that we live in now, it’s become a luxury to spend more than a few minutes doing the things we love to do.  In fact, it has become a luxury to sit down for a few precious minutes to sip on a cup of coffee, warm and soothing from the inside out.

For me, the thing I love to do the most is learn.  I love to learn.  About anything.  I could have spent another five years in college if I could have taken out that many loans.  In college, my job was to learn, and it was great.  Spending long hours in the library, I would read books on sociological theories like Erving Goffman’s dramaturgy or Emile Durkheim’s structural functionalism.  In my art history classes, I learned that Michelangelo’s first commissioned painting job was the Sistine Chapel ceiling (which, incidentally, you can tell it was his first painting job; the first panel has such minute detail that it gets lost from view by onlookers below—Michelangelo ended up correcting this slightly throughout the painting process, so by the time you reach the last panel, the Creation of Adam, the image is much more viewer friendly).  I learned about ancient Greece and Odysseus’s adventures, and how his insider status as a mortal birthed by the goddess Athena made him into one of the greatest heroes in ancient times as well as modern day.  In my astronomy classes, I learned that the Aurora Borealis comes from a surplus of electrons and ions brought on by solar flares and carried to Earth’s atmosphere by solar winds.  These electrons and ions in the magnetosphere of Earth are energized and move along the magnetic field lines to the poles of the atmosphere, or the North and South poles, thus explaining why we see the Auroras in areas closer to the poles of the Earth and accounting for their nickname, “The Northern Lights” (even though technically speaking, there are “Southern Lights,” too).

And now, I find myself a college graduate, and I no longer have access to the same rich intellectual tools that once were at my disposal, down the pathway, thirty paces from my dorm room hall.  It is no longer my job to simply learn about the things I want to learn about.  Now I have a nine to five job with a 401K plan, bills to pay, insurance for my car and my life, dentist visits to schedule, dinners to cook, a husband to plan our lives with.  My circle has changed as time has gone by.  As a New York City taxi driver from the book, “Taxi Driver Wisdom” so simply put it, “Time goes.  That’s it.”

So, I named this article and themed it as such in hopes that I can do both: work to live and learn for fun.  To be perfectly honest, I’m probably writing these entries more for me than for anyone else, and even though my reasons are somewhat selfish, I hope those of you who catch these blogs enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them.  My goal is to teach something in each entry, whether it be consequential or inconsequential, in a way that would fit both my lifestyle and yours, and takes the same amount of time to learn and read as it does to drink a cup of coffee.  After all, that’s all that most of us seem to have time for these days.

Winter on the Mountain

The first time I saw the view from Skyline Drive it was winter. Gone were the brilliantly-colored leaves hovering above the trees. The sky was clear and the view was fabulous. Never during any visit to Shenandoah National Park since have I been quite as impressed as I was with that first trip across the ridge. Perhaps it was first-timers syndrome; but I believe the drive is most beautiful in winter when the forests, a rich and lovely green in spring and summer, do not hide the view of the Valley below.

I was glad that my dad’s first visit to the mountain was during winter. I wanted him to see it as I first had. He was equally impressed. Last winter he, my husband, children and nephews hiked the trail at Bearfence Mountain. I wasn’t with them on that hike, but I recall the enthusiasm upon their return. The view from Bearfence is breath-taking at any time of year. In winter, with a 360-degree, unobstructed view, it is indescribable.

In winter the forest critters are foraging for food and may exude more bravery in making an appearance. But even if you don’t catch a glimpse of one of the park’s spotted skunks or white-tailed deer, you’ll have jolly time looking for their tracks in the snow.

George Washington National Forest offers trails less traveled, but none-the-less beautiful and peaceful. My husband and I love to travel over the mountains to the west of the Valley. This ridge has a wilder look about it than the highly traveled Skyline Drive.

As you are looking for winter activities, don’t forget winter hiking. The same trails you hike in the warmer months can produce a whole new world under a blanket of snow and ice.

Practice winter safety–these tips from park rangers:
Dress warm and in layers.
Fill up your tank with gas before you drive the park.
Watch for black ice on the parkway.
Don’t feed the animals. It can provoke them, and it destroys their natural instinct to search for food.

Shenandoah Perspectives

We’re adding to our family of Shenandoah Living bloggers. Meet Colleen Dixon, a local freelance writer. Check back frequently to read about her perspectives on Valley life.

The Land of Sweets

The Rockingham Ballet Theatre is performing the Nutcracker this weekend in Cole Hall at Bridgewater College. If you’ve never attended one of these performances, you are missing a real treat, and I’m not talking about the Land of Sweets and Sugar Plums.

The Rockingham Ballet Company is made up of local kids (mostly girls) from Rockingham and Augusta Counties primarily. They are taught and directed by Susan Muterspaugh, who puts on a professional show. Really. It’s impressive what these young people can do.

The Russian dancers are always my favorite; but the clowns are cute, too. The costuming for this show is fabulous. It makes me want to put on a tutu and spin. (That wouldn’t be pretty. I promise I won’t.)

This year Amber Hertzler of Dayton plays Clara. Amber is a great dancer. I don’t know how long she’s been dancing, but I would guess about 10 years.

Each year Ms. Muterspaugh hires professional dancers to perform the roles of the Sugar Plum Fairy and her prince. This year’s fairy is from NYC, Mary Ellen Beaudreau, and has performed at the Washington Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and Boston Ballet, among others. Her partner, Nathan Madden has been a finalist in one of the most prestigious ballet competitions in the world.

Performances are Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. Tickets are reasonably priced at under $20 for adults and under $10 for students and can be purchased in advance at the Hardesty-Higgins House in Harrisonburg, Backstage Video in Bridgewater, and Randy’s Music Shop in Broadway. For more detailed information, visit the Rockingham Ballet Theatre online.

H’burg Homes Tour

It’s a first for the ‘burg. This holiday season Harrisonburg will show off Old Town with its first annual Homes Tour.

An area of downtown with about 200 historic homes was designated as a National Historic District in 2007. Four homes will be featured in this year’s tour, with an option to end the evening at the Joshua Wilton House B&B for drinks, appetizers and dessert.

The tour begins with a self-guided tour of the Hardesty-Higgins House, where visitors can purchase tickets for the four private homes tour and the optional Joshua Wilton grand finale. The Hardesty-Higgins House is free and open to the public. It serves as Harrisonburg-Rockingham Visitor’s Center and houses the Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance (HDR) offices.

“A number of people have observed that Harrisonburg does not have a holiday home tour, the way a number of other communities do. We made it one of our priorities for the 2008 holiday season and have been hard at work planning the tour since spring. We’re hoping for a great turn-out,” says Eddie Bumbaugh, executive director of HDR.

For more information about the homes on the tour, HDR’s site.

Holiday Treks

There’s so much to do in the Valley this Christmas season, I am discovering. So you’ll notice that I’m filling up our blog with holiday treks around the Valley.

From Home Tours to Christmas parades, the Valley is buzzing with activity. Several holiday-themed plays are in progress. “A Christmas Carol” is at Wayside Theatre in Middletown and “The Santa Diaries” is playing in Staunton at American Shakespeare. Many of the Valley’s museums are having special exhibits. Towns are having tree lightings. Some events offer free hot chocolate and cookies. Music abounds. Several downtown areas are having special holiday shopping events with live entertainment.

Visit our online calendar for a long list of holiday activities for you and the family or friends. Many are FREE!