Through My Lens & Monday Murals - NC State University

click on photos to enlarge

Free Expression Tunnel . North Carolina State University . Raleigh

This tunnel was pretty interesting & colorful...so much to read!

Linking with Through My Lens & Monday Murals

Can I get you to vote for me please?!

Rest In Peace EG Camera Girl

click on photo to enlarge

No Willy Nilly today...just learned a few hours ago that our blogging friend Tina of East Gwillimbury Camera Girl was in an accident and has passed along with her husband. She will be missed.

Signs, Signs & A Good Fence

click on photo to enlarge

Peachtree Valley Road . Roanoke

Linking with Good Fences & Signs, Signs

Vote for me please! You can vote once a day, just click the "save vote" button...thanks!

Orvis Outlet Coming To Roanoke

Downtown Roanoke

I took this photo back in December 2014 during the Dickens of a Christmas parade. You might remember it, you might not, no biggie! Anyways, a few days ago I was contacted by Orvis about an outlet opening up here and will actually be the only outlet in Virginia, lucky us! They asked me if I'd like to share the news and I said "sure, why not?!" So here's the details for those who live nearby:

Orvis Opens Outlet Store in Roanoke and Celebrates with Grand Opening Festivities

What: Orvis, the premier outfitter for the outdoor lifestyle, will be opening an outlet store at its Distribution Center in Roanoke, VA. This outlet location will offer a 30-70% discount on all products, with all sales final. From Tuesday, March 1 – Sunday, March 6, Orvis will offer a customer appreciation event to celebrate the store’s Grand Opening, including:
· Refreshments and snacks for customers
· Meet-and-greet with the outlet manager and staff

When: Tuesday, March 1 – Sunday, March 6
Store Hours: Monday - Saturday: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Where: Orvis Service Center
1709 Blue Hills Drive
Roanoke, VA 24012


More about The Orvis Company:
Since 1856, Orvis has been the premier outfitter for the outdoor lifestyle with a mission to inspire a deep connection to adventure and wonder in the outdoor world. The brand’s passion originated with the field sports of fly-fishing and wing shooting. Today, Orvis has grown to include a wide range of outdoor products and activities that are backed by the company’s outdoor knowledge and credibility sourced from the many decades of personal experience on the water and in the field. From improving Orvis products and experiences, to staying connected to what’s happening in the industry and larger world, the company’s curiosity keeps the brand exploring, learning and discovering. The extensive product assortment includes the world’s finest fly-fishing and wingshooting gear, high-quality sportswear for men and women, travel accessories, gifts, home furnishings, dog beds and much more. Orvis international headquarters are in Manchester, Vermont. Orvis operates multiple catalog titles, three websites, more than 80 retail stores in the U.S. and the U.K., and serves a network of over 400 authorized dealers worldwide. To learn more, visit www.orvis.com.


It looks like a place worth checking out!

Vote for me please! Just click "save vote" under my description! Thanks. You can vote once a day :)

Tuesday's Treasure - Farmville Baptist Church

click on photos to enlarge

132 North Main Street
Built 1914 & renovated/enlarge in 1960.
I've never seen a church like this one before, have you?

And now a special treasure just for Tom!

Blue Ridge Blvd . Blue Ridge

This little antique store is just around the corner from where I live. The people inside are so nice and lots of little treasures to find!

Linking with Tom's Tuesday's Treasures

On a side note, remember last weeks post about the slave cabins? Well the Board of Supervisors still aren't listening and have moved the cabins ahead of schedule and have started tearing up the beautiful hill :(

Can you please vote for my picture? This is the view taken from that hill a couple of years ago, now on it's way to destruction.

Through My Lens - Sun Rays

click on photos to enlarge

Yesterday was rainy and foggy all day long. I was cleaning up the kitchen in the afternoon when all of a sudden sunlight was beaming through my windows. I went outside and snapped a few pics off my deck. It was beautiful and the first time the sun showed up all day, just as it was going down. Better late than never!

Linking up with Mersad's Through My Lens

Willy Nilly Friday 5 No. 72

click on photos to enlarge
Some sights around Roanoke:

1)

The Patrick Henry Hotel opened in 1925. There are many stories of it being haunted!

2)

I liked this view of the bare tree against the building :)

3)

The Rescue Mission

4)

Bayou Snowballs in the City Market Building

5)

St. Andrew's Catholic Church

That's my 5 this week! I hope you will play along...post 5 random things and link up, then visit others! Thanks so much and have a great weekend!



Linking up with Cath's

Signs, Signs & A Good Fence

click on photos to enlarge

Along the Blue Ridge Turnpike . Botetourt County
These were taken at the end of January...a few days after our winter storm.

Along Lee Hwy . Troutville

Linking with Signs, Signs & Good Fences

Tuesday's Treasures - Saving Greenfield Preston Plantation I

click on photos to enlarge
These were taken in June of 2012:

This is the little road that leads up the hill to the slave cabins & kitchen which our greedy Botetourt Board of Supervisors are bent on ruining. Please see Monday's post for important information regarding this....

I have been digging through all my archived photos for every picture I have taken at Greenfield. Had I known that we could stand to lose it, I would have taken so many more but I thought these buildings would always be here, right on this beautiful hill where they were built.

I always wondered how long these tracks have been here. Were they made by wagon wheels way back when the Preston's lived here or are they more modern? That is the slave cabin building to the right.

The slave cabin. The structures are safe. They will be restored, BUT the Board of Supervisors have made a deal to move them, then level this hill, then sell this land and build a shell building for a prospective new business to move in. This area is huge. I believe I read somewhere that there is over 900 acres so why this hill? Land is not in short supply here. And why won't the Board of Supervisors listen to the public they represent?

This view! This is the view from the cabin. Isn't it spectacular?! I saw it written on one of the signs at the protest on Sunday that "Greenfield is the Soul of Botetourt." I do believe this is true.

Inside the cabin. We've never been able to get inside as the cabin and kitchen have always been locked up and the windows covered with wire. I took these through little nooks and crannies of the cabin so they didn't turn out real well but you can at least get an idea of what it looks like inside.

My boys...look how young they look 3 1/2 years ago!

Several feet away from the cabins sits the kitchen. I showed you this on Monday but it was loaded up on a trailer waiting to be taken to it's new home :( The citizens of Botetourt & beyond are making enough noise to try and stop this nonsense so it sits, waiting...hopefully to be put right back on it's original spot. Although they have already ruined much of the area's beauty already with their relocation project. It just sickens me.

The old kitchen's chimney. Look at that beautiful stone & brick work!

Please stop by Friends of Greenfield Preston Plantation's Facebook page for more info on this situation and ways you can help save this historical site!

And the day comes to an end...I am so happy to call Botetourt County my home.

I am linking with Tom's Tuesday's Treasures ...I know, I know, it is Wednesday...running late here! We ended up with some snow on Sunday night/Monday morning...lost power sometime in the night Monday but Appalachian Power was quick to get it back on for us...internet went down too, Comcast wasn't as quick...anyways, today is gorgeous, sun is shining, birds are singing, it will warm up and is just like spring outside, expect for that blanket of snow that covers the yards! Snow day again today for us...I guess some of the roads are still bad...ended up with 10+ inches...that was kind of a surprise!

Through My Lens - A Peaceful Protest

click on photos to enlarge

The old kitchen at Greenfield...

Some of you might recall that Greenfield is one of my favorite places here in Botetourt County. I've blogged about it on several occasions HERE

On this hill, sits slave cabins and this old kitchen. We moved here in 2008 and I had heard the county had planned on restoring the old buildings...some day...I never saw anything take place until just recently, very sneakily I might add that the Board of Supervisors have taken it upon themselves to decide to move the buildings and level the hill that they have sat on for nearly 200 years. For what you might ask? To build a shell building for a prospective business to come in and rent...some day...

Anyways, thank goodness for a few good people of Botetourt who don't want this to happen (count me in that camp) and have caused quite a commotion. They are trying to have this fight heard nationally. Sunday they staged a "Peaceful Protest" to save the buildings and keep them right where they belong, on that hill. I am happy to say that I, along with my boys were there to be part of this...

We had just arrived and I was surprised by the long line of cars that turned out!

You can see here the "Jeffersonian Terraces" where they planted their food crops way back when...

A couple of local news stations showed up...

This man, Linnie Gregory was in charge and has worked tirelessly at fighting for these buildings/hill.
This woman is Shirley Lewis. She is a descendant of slaves who lived here.

This Pastor came and blessed the land and us.

It literally makes my heart ache to see this. This is the first time I have been back to Greenfield upon hearing about the moving of the buildings. I just couldn't bring myself to see it like this.

Please visit Friends of Greenfield Plantation's Facebook Page for more info on what is happening and to keep in the loop. Please like the page while you are there. You can also follow them on Twitter

Watch this moving video:


For the rest of the week I am going to post pics from my archives of this beautiful spot and hopefully it will be preserved, right where it's history took place.

Linking with Mersad's Through My Lens

On a funny note:

Upon arriving at the protest, Dalton said "You don't have a peaceful protest. You go to whoever is in charge and say: "Hey, take that off of there and put it back where it was!" That child cracks me up! Wish it were so easy!

Willy Nilly Friday 5 No. 71

click on photos to enlarge
Some random snaps from Farmville (yes..still sharing Farmville pics...I just loved the place so much!)
1)

2)

3)

We wanted to eat here but they closed just as we were making our way across the street...maybe we just looked too rowdy for them ;)

4)

5)

Found out in someone's yard...this is a college town afterall...

That's my 5 this week!! Now it is your turn...post 5 randoms, link back and visit others!


I'm linking with Cath