Patsy Pridgen

How to Save at the Grocery Store: Paper Products

Posted on April 23, 2026 by patsypridgen

“Please don’t squeeze the Charmin!” Mr. Whipple used to tell us in the company’s ad. Don’t buy it either, I say, unless it’s one of the small luxuries you allow yourself. There are better deals on toilet tissue.

I’m perfectly happy saving a few dollars by purchasing Angel Soft, especially this week when it’s on sale at the Harris Teeter where I shop (and incidentally, where all the other items I talk about today are located).

Toilet tissue comes in different sizes of rolls and different numbers of rolls per pack, which means you should examine the bar codes to determine an accurate price comparison.

For example, this week at Harris Teeter, a package of six-mega rolls of Charmin is 0.081 per SQFT (I assume that means square foot). The 8-mega roll of Angel Soft, without the sale price, is 0.039 per SF (square foot). Charmin costs 0.042 cents more per square foot than Angel Soft at its regular price. These are the numbers that count.

You can use the same bar code comparison when buying paper towels. The first thing you want to do, though, is to be sure you’re picking out a paper towel that allows you to tear a half sheet at a time. Big savings since a lot of times, you don’t really need a whole paper towel.

Can you see where both Bounty and the Harris Teeter brand show you the “pick a size” option?

Now you’re ready to compare prices. Let’s look at the bar codes.

Bounty paper towels are 0.098 per SQFT (square foot). The Harris Teeter brand is less than half that price at 0.046. Bounty may be the “Quicker Picker Upper” but I’m buying Harris Teeter pick-a-size paper towels.

There’s really no need to look at bar codes when buying paper napkins. The number on the package tells the story. Why pay $4.99 for 200 Bounty napkins (even if they’re called “serviettes”) when you can buy the same number of Harris Teeter quilted napkins for $3.79?

I go even cheaper and purchase the Harris Teeter everyday napkins. Fifty more napkins and 80 cents less than the Harris Teeter quilted type.

One final paper product to analyze: facial tissue or–to call it what’s actually a brand name–Kleenex. As with napkins, what you need to look at is the number stated on the box.

Both Kleenex and the Harris Teeter brand contain 60 tissues in each box. Guess which one I’m buying?

As you can see, store brand paper products are less expensive than the name brands you’ve seen advertised. If you can give up your allegiance to Charmin and Bounty, most likely you can save money.

Remember I’m talking paper products. We all have certain items we can’t part with. I want French’s mustard and Heinz ketchup. No compromise here. I try to catch these condiments on sale.

But saving money on paper products is one way to ease the sticker shock we all experience these days at the grocery store.

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Azalea Season in Rocky Mount, NC

Posted on April 10, 2026 by patsypridgen

Our broke town couldn’t afford to light up City Lake for Christmas this year, but Mother Nature has taken care of spring decorations. Look at the azaleas.

I love azalea season in my Greystone neighborhood. I have a yard full of different varieties and usually add at least one a year–or occasionally, several. Sometimes I’m matching others in a bed, and sometimes I see a new color I like! In my opinion, there are no wrong landscaping choices when it comes to azaleas.

I like to ride around town, too, to look at the variety of azaleas in other yards. Recently, I found my way to Sycamore Street, a place of fond memories. Growing up in the country in Edgecombe County, I enjoyed a bit of city life when I’d spend the night with my uptown cousins, who lived on this street. Those days are long gone–the cousins moved to Texas in the late 1960’s–but the azaleas up and down Sycamore Street are still in bloom.

From Sycamore Street, it’s a short drive to the Meadowbrook Park neighborhood, adjacent to Meadowbrook Road, where my husband grew up. Here I found this stunning display of a variety of azaleas.

West Haven is a historic neighborhood in Rocky Mount, and so many of the homes here have mature landscaping, which sometimes means huge azaleas. Most of this house was hidden behind these lovely azaleas at the edge of the front yard.

Leaving the West Haven neighborhood, I passed by Lakeside Church, where I stopped to take in the beauty of the steeple, showcased behind a bed of multi-colored azaleas.

This display of azaleas coupled with a blooming dogwood tree caught my eye as I drove through the Englewood subdivision. After azaleas, a blooming dogwood tree is a close second in my book of favorite springtime beauties. And what’s more typical in eastern North Carolina than dogwoods and azaleas growing under tall, skinny pine trees.

The residents of this house in the Westridge neighborhood use white azaleas for foundation shrubbery, just like my mother did years ago in front of our brick ranch out in Edgecombe County. Pretty! I also love the American flag on a very high pole in the yard.

I don’t understand people, usually non-Southerners, who say azaleas aren’t worth planting because they don’t bloom that long. The blooming complaint may be true, but once their glory days are over, you still have nice shrubs in your yard.

And oh, how beautiful azaleas are when they bloom.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged garden, gardening, nature | 2 Comments

Money-Saving Tips for the Grocery Store

Posted on March 10, 2026 by patsypridgen

Do you experience sticker shock these days at the grocery store? I know I do. I’ve learned some strategies, though, to save money, starting with the two staples we all run out to buy when the storm’s a-coming, milk and bread. Let’s talk about milk first.

Note: The grocery items here are from either Harris Teeter, where I do most of my shopping simply because it’s the store closest to my home, or the nearby Food Lion, which I pass on my way to Target. The prices are current as of March 10, 2026. As we all know, prices can change.

Now, back to milk. The gallon of 2% on the left is a brand called Highland Crest and is found on the bottom shelf of the milk cooler at my Harris Teeter. It’s 40 cents cheaper than the Harris Teeter brand found on the shelf above.

Unfortunately, there’s quite a bit more of a price difference with name brands. I say unfortunately because I am fond of the Maola company. My Uncle Norman used to work for this outfit years ago here in my hometown. But my loyalty doesn’t go so far as to pay $2.00 more at Food Lion for Maola milk that to me tastes the same as the Harris Teeter Highland Crest brand.

On to bread, another item where I save money. My one requirement for a loaf of sandwich bread is that it be 100% whole wheat. I want a loaf that’s fairly soft, but I tend to toast slices for most of my sandwiches, so I’m not locked into paying significantly more for a loaf of bread just because it’s the softest on the shelf.

The one-pound loaf of bread on the left is the Harris Teeter store brand, found on the top shelf of the bread aisle. Without the sale price, the Harris Teeter bread is $1.70 cheaper than the comparable Nature’s Own brand. With the sale price, there’s a savings of $2.09.

At $4.79, the price of a one-pound loaf of Sara Lee sandwich bread at Food Lion is even higher than Nature’s Own at Harris Teeter. The comparable Harris Teeter loaf of bread on sale is a whopping $2.29 cheaper than the Sara Lee brand.

Now there are items where I don’t buy a store brand but wait for a sale. Saltine crackers are an example. A box will last my husband and me for maybe three months, so it’s not something I buy every ten days or so, like milk and bread.

When I see a good sale on Zesta, the saltines I’ve always eaten, I’ll pay the extra cents. Currently, there’s such a sale at Harris Teeter. At regular price, there’s a significant $2.20 difference for a 1 lb. box of Zesta saltine crackers versus the comparable Harris Teeter brand. With the sale price, even on both, the difference is only 50 cents. Time to buy a box of Zesta saltine crackers!

The only grocery store cookie I purchase with any regularity is Stauffer’s ginger snaps. If you haven’t tried them, don’t–they’re addictive. If you’re already as hooked as I am, then watch for the frequent sale price on this delicious cookie at Food Lion.

I’ve never found the Stauffer’s brand of ginger snaps at Harris Teeter, and for me, this cookie has to be Stauffer’s.

I like to save money, and the grocery store is one place where it’s not that hard to do so.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged food | Leave a comment

What’s Happening in February

Posted on February 28, 2026 by patsypridgen

Yesterday marked my 49th wedding anniversary. Flowers from the husband greeted me as I entered the kitchen for my morning coffee.

What with my anniversary and Valentine’s Day, I get spoiled in February. I just enjoyed a box of assorted chocolates a couple of weeks ago–except for those with the cream centers, which my sweet husband volunteered to eat. (Note: I left him four or five, but he’d eaten all but one before I could take this picture.)

February hasn’t been all candy and flowers, though. Cold weather has kept me inside, so I’ve used the time to clean out my dresser drawers. One junk drawer in a bedroom should be enough, I decided, not the several I had.

See these two small wicker baskets full of coins that were in the drawer? What’s interesting to me is the number of pennies in each. I plan to hoard them since I recently wasn’t given the three cents due me in change at Dollar General.

Is this the new norm? Should I keep a record of when I don’t get my change back in pennies so that once it adds up to a nickel I can ask for that? Would the cashier have let me leave owing the Dollar General three cents?

Not a budget buster, of course, but something to ponder….

How are your daffodils looking this year? I think the January/February ice and snow storms, unusual for where I live, did a number on mine. So far, they’re not blooming nearly as well as last year, and the flowers aren’t standing at attention as they usually do.

I have a friend who says she talks to her daffodils, warning them that if they bend over, she’s going to cut them and bring them in the house. They’ll end their lives in a vase! I guess I need to get out my scissors.

“You never know where the church van will take you.” That’s a quote from my Methodist minister, who’s talking about day trips taken by a group of us retirees named the Lamplighters. This month, we visited the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh to see an exhibition called “The Story of Esther.” As you may know, Queen Esther saved her people, the Jews, from annihilation in ancient Persia.

If you’ve never read the book of Esther in the Old Testament, I encourage you to do so. It’s only ten chapters and a great story, full of intrigue and plot twists. The Jewish festival of Purim is based on the story of Esther.

The drawing card of the Raleigh exhibition is a painting by Rembrandt, titled “A Jewish Heroine from the Hebrew Bible.” Though Rembrandt doesn’t explicitly say the subject of his work is Esther, it’s widely believed that here he’s portraying her as she gets ready to go before her husband, King Ahasuerus, to set in motion a plan to save the Jews.

Jan van Steen, a contemporary of Rembrandt, also painted scenes from the story of Esther. “The Wrath of Ahasuerus” depicts the undoing of the villain Haman.

We (the Lamplighters) spent almost two hours touring the exhibit. As always, when I’m in an art museum, I took lots of pictures.

Esther Reading the Royal Decree by the Studio of Salomon Koninck

A short post today for a short month.

I’ll leave you with a picture of two of the best rewards of a long marriage, grandchildren with their granddaddy, my husband of 49 years.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, history | Leave a comment

Three Nights in London that Turned into Four

Posted on February 7, 2026 by patsypridgen

From Tromso, Norway, we’d planned to fly to London to spend an extra three nights on our trip before returning home. We had two items on our agenda: a visit to the Churchill War Rooms and a guided tour of London’s famous art museum, the National Gallery. We easily made it to London, but it took an extra day to get home.

An ice storm in the States resulted in canceled flights, including one we’d scheduled to get to Raleigh-Durham Airport after three nights in London. Oh well, we decided, if we have to be stuck somewhere for an extra day, London is a good place. We had a couple of bad moments, though, when the hotel we’d been staying in for three nights was unavailable for a fourth. Really? I pictured myself homeless or sleeping at the airport.

However, it was January, hardly the height of tourist season. We easily found another hotel within walking distance from the first and wheeled our suitcases down the street for a one-night stay at the Palace Strand.

**Lobby of the Clermont at Charing Cross, our first hotel . We’re smiling because we haven’t yet been told we can’t stay another night.**

We’d signed up for a guided World War II walking tour in addition to seeing the Churchill War Rooms. Our guide explained in detail The Battle of Britain Monument, located on the Victoria Embankment overlooking the Thames. From July through September of 1940, England’s Royal Air Force defended the country against air raids by the German air force, the Luftwaffe. Their heroic effort prevented the invasion of Great Britain by the German army.

The focus of The Battle of Britain Monument is something called the “Scramble,” a depiction of airmen running towards their planes after orders to intercept the Lufwaffe.

London still suffered heavy damage from German bombing during what is called the Blitz, which lasted from September 1940 through May 1941. St. Paul’s Cathedral was somehow miraculously spared although everything around it was destroyed, as depicted on The Battle of Britain Monument. Terrible times for the British.

On our way to the Churchill War Rooms, we passed a Royal Guard, stationed at the entrance to a garden that would eventually lead to Buckingham Palace. So very British!

This was our third trip to London, but with seeing Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, the British Museum, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and other main attractions, we’d never made it to the Churchill War Rooms.

Winston Churchill, a complex and often controversial leader, served his first term as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the critical war years of 1940-1945.

Today, the basement of a building in London that was used as a shelter for the British military command during World War II is open to the public. For six years during the war, scores of men and women worked here around the clock: the War Cabinet, Chiefs of Staff, Map Room officers, Joint Intelligence staff, and support personnel such as secretaries, orderlies, and guards.

Of course, Churchill himself camped out here, even maintaining a bedroom.

We wandered through the halls, looking into rooms preserved since 1945, now staffed by mannequins.

It was early evening when we left the Churchill War Rooms, and the London Eye was lit up. On our first trip to London years ago, we’d taken a ride on this giant enclosed Ferris wheel, which allows a panoramic view of London.

Also of interest on our way back to our hotel was a demonstration protesting the Iranian government.

The second item on our to-do list was a visit to the National Gallery, London’s huge art museum.

We’d signed up for a guided tour, expecting to be part of a large group. Since it was January, however, my husband and I were the only two. A private tour for the less expensive price of a group tour! We did give a generous tip to the poor guide, who said he usually has 20-plus people at a time in the summer.

Despite the fact that he had an audience of only two, our guide skillfully led us through the museum in a chronological fashion. From Raphael, a famous Renaissance painter, to Picasso, the most modern artist in the National Gallery, we saw a lot of great art in two hours.

Raphael’s *Saint Catherine of Alexandria*

Caravaggio’s *Salome with* *The Head of John the Baptist*

The National Gallery has several paintings by Vincent Van Gogh, a favorite artist of mine. This painting, titled A Wheatfield with Cypresses, reminds me of his more famous Starry Night.

Two other famous paintings at the National Gallery are Van Gogh’s Chair and Sunflowers.

The National Gallery is free to enter so is available to all. We stumbled upon a group of schoolchildren on a field trip with their teacher, who stood in front of a painting explaining its significance. Not an experience I had growing up in Edgecombe County!

A visit to London never disappoints, even when you’re there a day longer than you planned.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged churchill-war-rooms, england, europe, london, travel, united-kingdom | Leave a comment

Northern Lights and Northern Norway

Posted on February 1, 2026 by patsypridgen

Our goal was to see the Northern Lights. Why else travel to a part of Norway within the Arctic Circle in the bitter cold of January? We saw the aurora borealis in all its glory, but the lights turned out to be just one part of the spectacle of this trip.

The Northern Lights were strong enough to be visible to the naked eye, but, as is the case, can be seen better through a camera lens. Here are just a few of the photos my husband and I took during the three nights when the lights were at their peak.

We were on board the MS Spitsbergen as part of an HX expedition called Ultimate Norway–Arctic Exploration under the Northern Lights. The ship sailed in the Norwegian Sea, which is a gateway to the Arctic Ocean. Brrr.

We set sail from Tromso, a place in northern Norway I’d never heard of before this trip.

Before getting on the boat, we toured Tromso, which is actually a lovely city of 78,000, making it the largest city in northern Norway. Here’s an ariel view of the city I took after riding a cable car to the top of Big Rock Mountain.

I felt Tromso was the last I saw of real civilization for the next six days. Once on board the ship, this trip became an expedition, which I learned involved suiting up in ship-issued boots and heavy winter gear, boarding a rubber boat called a zodiac, and zipping out to a frozen island to walk in the snow. Out of my comfort zone, for sure, although I managed to smile for the camera.

There is only about five hours of daylight in January in northern Norway, so one of our hikes took place in the dark. We were issued head lamps and walking sticks and rewarded with a bonfire at both the beginning of the trek and the end.

Kayaking was an activity for the adventurous. I enjoyed watching from the safety of the ship.

In fact, as the week wore on, I didn’t feel the need to bundle up and motor off to an island to see the sights. The views from the ship were sufficiently amazing.

There were some excursions to small villages. We visited the historic island of Tranaya, on the south coast of Senja. There we saw a wooden church dating from 1773, a parsonage, a guest house, and a herd of sheep.

In a village named Svolvaer, we learned about the salting and drying of cod, which is big business in northern Norway. A local explained the process and showed off his drying racks.

Henningsvaer was another picturesque village we briefly visited. I learned Norwegian buildings are often painted red simply because it’s a cheap color to buy.

One sign of civilization: a Methodist church. Rare, since most Norwegians are Lutherans.

I always try to sample the food and drink of a country when I visit. A distinctly Norwegian dish I ate in a restaurant in Tromso was bacalao. It contained cod with potatoes, onions, tomatoes, and olives. I rated it three stars, but the tour guide sitting across from ate every bit of his.

An interesting beverage I had was glogg, a mulled wine. I chose the without-the-vodka option, by the way, since it was noon and I don’t like vodka. I was advised to garnish it with raisons and almonds, which made it a little difficult to drink, in my opinion.

A different kind of trip for me, for sure. Northern Norway in January is a frozen beauty that offers winter sports for the adventurous. For everyone, there’s a chance to see the glorious Northern Lights.

After leaving Norway, my husband and I traveled to London for what we thought would be a three-night visit before flying home. More about that in my next post.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged europe, northern-lights, norway, travel, tromso | Leave a comment

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Posted on December 30, 2025 by patsypridgen

On this December 30, five days after Christmas, you may have already taken down your tree and boxed up all the decorations. Not me. I cling to the twelve days of Christmas, the time that begins on December 25 and ends on January 5th.

Many years ago, I was lucky enough to inherit a 12 Days of Christmas set of drinking glasses from a grandmother. Picking one out for my daily iced tea is a small way I continue to celebrate after December 25. I try to use the appropriate day, which sometimes means looking in the dishwasher if someone else has taken a glass out of turn. Not everyone, I realize, is as Type A as I am about matching the glass to the day.

What else do I do to celebrate these days after Christmas? The baking is over, but goodies that escaped the clutches of visiting grandchildren (and their parents) are still around the house. My festivities continue!

I did change the runner with the Christmas tree design in the dining room, mainly because I want to enjoy the redbird pattern for a while.

My mother always left her tree up until “Old Christmas,” which falls on January 6 and corresponds to the end of the twelve days of Christmas. I guess my tendency to hold onto Christmas past December 25 is partly due to her influence. My trees will probably come down about the same time as hers used to.

I’m retired these days, so I can enjoy the calm after the storm, the twelve days of Christmas that begin when the merchants have obviously declared the season is done.

Now that the hustle and bustle of getting ready for Christmas is over, I have time to notice what’s happening in my gardening world. I was a little disturbed to spot the daffodil shoots already poking their heads up in the backyard. Has the weather been that warm?

These spring bulbs seem to emerge earlier every year. I shouldn’t be seeing signs of daffodils during the twelve days of Christmas, right?

The amaryllis bulb I planted in a pot and put indoors in November, naively thinking it would bloom by Christmas, has only a shoot that looks similar to those on the daffodils outside. I bought this bulb, which was dug out of someone’s yard, at a garden club sale. Evidently, I should buy one of those waxed types sold in the big box stores if I want a flowering amaryllis during December. I think the bulb likes the light and the humidity in my bathroom, though.

These leisurely days leading up to Old Christmas have given me more time than usual to read. I’ve enjoyed both an old book, Rosamunde Pilcher’s Winter Solstice and a current New York Times bestseller, The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. As you can see from my bookmark, I’m still savoring The Correspondent.

The start of a new year falls within the twelve days of Christmas, and so as tradition would have it, I need to pause this week and consider resolutions. I stenciled a small cutting board at a ladies’ luncheon this past summer, the sort of thing women often feel compelled to do at these events. Once home with it, I almost relegated my not-so-great result to a closet, but instead, I put it on a table in my bedroom where I see it every day.

I’ve decided the words I painted on this plywood board provide as good a resolution as any going into 2026.

I hope you’re enjoying the peace of the twelve days of Christmas. Happy New Year as well!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged christmas, family, holidays | Leave a comment

No Marshmallows Allowed at My Thanksgiving Table

Posted on November 22, 2025 by patsypridgen

At Thanksgiving, my mother made the best oyster dressing with a recipe I never pinned her down on, and her home-cooked collards were seasoned just right with country ham.

Her cranberry, however, she slid straight out of the can, plopped on a plate, and sliced at the last minute. That jellied, ridged cranberry is one of the two dishes of her Thanksgiving dinner where I think I’ve raised the bar.

Here’s how I’ve improved the straight-from-the-can cranberry side.

Cranberry Gelatin Salad (Yields 8-10 Servings)*

1 package (6 ounces) cherry gelatin to be dissolved in 1 and a half cups of boiling water

1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple

2 cans (14 ounces) whole berry cranberry sauce (Do NOT use that ridged gelatin stuff without the berries)

1 and a half cups of seedless red grapes, sliced (I half mine, you can decide how big you want your chunks of grapes.)

1/4 cup chopped pecans

In a large bowl, dissolve the gelatin in the boiling water. Stir in the pineapple and the cranberry sauce. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Then stir in grapes and pecans. Pour into a 2-quart serving dish. Refrigerate until firm.

*I would give credit for this recipe if I could remember where I copied it from. Thank you, somebody, somewhere.

The dish can easily be made a day or so ahead, which comes in handy on the busy cooking day of Thanksgiving. It’s super easy to assemble; other than dissolving the gelatin, no turning on the stove or oven.

Best of all, everyone loves it!

When it comes to cooking, I do believe in fast and easy. Unlike my mother, I buy my collards already cooked. They’re more expensive, but it’s such a time-saver. My dressing is Stove Top. I fix two boxes, doctoring up one by adding a can of drained oysters. It’s as close to Mama’s dressing as I can get.

I love the 1986 edition of the Rocky Mount Junior Guild cookbook, A Dash of Down East (in the picture above). It contains real recipes for real people. The sweet potato casserole recipe, my other improvement in Mama’s Thanksgiving menu, comes from this book.

As you can see, I’ve upped the number of sweet potatoes to use and made myself a note as to which casserole dish to use each year. Thank you, Gail Brown Bishop, for this recipe. You’ve saved me from melted marshmallows on plain sweet potatoes.

I know the sweet potato casserole recipe calls for a lot of butter and sugar. But hey, it’s Thanksgiving. Maybe just exercise some portion control.

In other fall news, the squirrels–or maybe rabbits?–are at it again: gnawing on my plants. I set out several ornamental cabbages a couple of weeks ago. Some are flourishing; others have been attacked. Arrgggh! I read somewhere that used coffee grounds and bone meal deter critters, so I’ve used both around my plants.

I guess sometimes my treatments work and sometimes they don’t.

I’ve eliminated deer as likely culprits here as these plants are in the fenced-in backyard. So far, the deer have been content to munch on what’s outside the fence in the side and front yards. No evidence yet that they’ve leaped over the fence, which my deer-hunting husband has informed me they can do.

Anybody else involved in battles with plant-eating squirrels and rabbits?

On a final note, yes, I’m still writing cozy mystery novels. I have a rough draft of a fourth, tentatively titled Mother and Murder. Right now, it’s with my Beta readers, my husband and daughters. I’ve already been advised I spelled Chic-fil-A wrong. Being a former English teacher, I spelled it Chick Filet. I guess I never look at the logo when I eat there.

I’m hoping this fourth book will be ready for publication by early spring. More about the plot later. I may print the first chapter here and you all can be my Beta readers. Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged food, holidays, recipe, recipes, thanksgiving | Leave a comment

A Virginia Trip

Posted on October 18, 2025 by patsypridgen

An unexpected bonus on my recent trip to Hot Springs, Virginia, was a visit to Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. I didn’t realize this historical World Heritage site was directly off the interstate near Charlottesville. Why not stop?

My husband and I signed up for the 45-minute guided tour of the first floor of this most unusual colonial plantation home. Like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson was a Renaissance man–curious about lots of different subjects. The foyer of Monticello is evidence of his many interests.

Our guide told us Jefferson had a clock in every room, a bit unusual for the times. Here’s the one in the foyer, called the Great Clock, designed by Jefferson, and still functional today.

Where Jefferson retired at night was especially interesting. He designed an alcove bed between his study and bedroom.

About 60% of the furnishings on display in Monticello are original. We were told these boots were actually Jefferson’s.

Monticello is the first colonial home I’ve seen with a skylight. There are 13 total.

Our guide said the dining room’s mustard color is an authentic reproduction. I never thought of this shade of yellow as a colonial color. Bright!

The three portraits hanging in the parlor are of Jefferson, John Adams, and George Washington.

Once the tour was over and we left the house, we walked the grounds and found the Sally Hemings cabin. Sally Hemings, you may recall, was the slave with whom Jefferson had several children. She bargained for their children to be freed, and the four who survived to adulthood were given their liberty.

Today, there are lots of descendants from the Jefferson/Hemings family.

We stood outside the Jefferson gated cemetery, where the largest tomb was of course Jefferson’s. Prior to his death, he left specific instructions concerning the obelisk he wanted over his grave. Surprisingly, the three accomplishments engraved do not include his presidency.

Evidently, he was prouder of writing the Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, along with founding the University of Virginia.

I saw this simple marker in the cemetery. Hinton is my maiden name. Maybe I’m related to Thomas Jefferson?

Before I forget, our destination, the Omni Homestead, in Hot Springs, Virginia, was as lovely as people had told me it would be.

We were there for my husband’s business conference–and to spend a couple of days with these sweet granddaughters. A little history in the making here.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged history, monticello, omni-hotel-in-hot-springs, politics, thomas-jefferson, travel, virginia | Leave a comment

Whatever Is Lovely

Posted on October 10, 2025 by patsypridgen

What do you do when you find out your city government has overspent by millions of dollars and is now going to raise your utility bill in a feeble attempt to balance the budget? You save your outrage until the state auditor’s report is finished and instead rejoice in the glorious fall season.

Start your dose of “up” by enjoying autumn leaves that have turned beautiful shades of yellow, orange, and red. Visit the mountains, as I did, if you can’t wait for the view at home.

A warning, though. Trying to hit the peak of the fall foliage season in the highlands is tricky business. Forecasters may or may not predict the best weekend, and also the colors vary according to elevation. On Beech Mountain in North Carolina this past weekend, the first in October, the peak was close.

Here’s a roadside view on the Blue Ridge Parkway between Blowing Rock and Boone, NC. Who cares whether the leaves are at their showiest? Plenty pretty for me as I rolled along the twists and turns of this special highway.

I stopped to take a picture of the humble goldenrod, growing everywhere along the Park Way roadside. Nothing says fall to me more than the presence of this wildflower.

A fall trip to the mountains wouldn’t be complete without a stop at the apple stand. They’re not cheap, but these apples seem healthier and taste better to me than the grocery-store ones with the waxy coatings. My favorite this year is the Golden Delicious variety, which, crazy as it sounds, have a hint of pear flavor.

Back home, I celebrate the October fall holiday, Halloween, with a few decorations I pull out of the attic each year. A tree limb I once picked up in the yard is adorned with that orange stretchable spider-web stuff and lit with a strand of orange lights. My husband and I plug up the Halloween “tree” every night while we watch TV or read.

The fireplace mantel gets a dose of easy fall decorating, too. After Halloween, I’ll remove spooky items and leave the fake fall foliage up through Thanksgiving. Yes, my living room might be a little tacky for some tastes, but I like to think it’s cheerful.

Speaking of cheerful, zinnias are the flowers that keep producing long after other summer bloomers are gone. I picked this arrangement yesterday, and there are more where these came from. (The harvest-gold phone is no longer connected, in case you’re wondering. The grandchildren have enjoyed playing with it over the years.)