Abraham Lincoln In his Times by David S Reynolds book review. Honest Abe was truly an amazing man.

Several weeks ago I found some time to check out a few books at our local library. I was looking for garden history books about Monet and Vita Sackville-West, neither of which were fruitful checkouts as both were missing. I had no intention of reading about Abe, especially a 1,000 page book. I assembled a list of potential books to read, one being a different David Reynolds book with glowing reviews, so the author was on my radar. I happened to notice this book about Lincoln, so here we go...

I will start by saying this is not really a review as I'm not going to be critical one way or the other but it is more of a description of my enlightenment. This book is very detailed and begins with the birth of Abe and ends with his death. It does not cover much about the ins and outs of the horrors of the Civil War but it highlights significant battles and Abe's involvement. The life of Abe has been thoroughly recorded in history and after reading the book I understand why. Our President Lincoln was indeed a significant historic personality who somehow managed to survive through the long war years.

After reading this book, my general impression of Abe was that he was indeed honest and didn't waver on his commitments or beliefs having strict moral character and fortitude. Our government before Abe sounded disheveled, mismanaged, and full of rowdy behavior. It was said that only Honest Abe could have pulled off uniting the States while freeing the slaves. He was not an uppity man, he was the salt of the earth. Self educated and eventually becoming a good lawyer and ultimately a wise statesman. He is a good example of what is called the American Dream. His life experiences were varied and he had direct contact with a wide range of social classes. The people could relate to his speeches as they were mesmerizing, well thought out, and to the point. Photos of Abe in his later years of life show his increasingly worn appearance throughout the continuation of the Civil War (estimates of 520,000 soldiers died but records were not accurate especially concerning confederate soldiers and slave deaths. Some calculations put it closer to over 1 million and included death from diseases).

Being a life long Virginian, I have been to the Lincoln Memorial several times and the experience is like no other. Climbing the stairs one feels as if on hallowed ground, Lincoln bigger than life, his importance illustrated by his size. It indeed is a fitting structure in honor of this truly amazing man.

During the 4 years of Lincoln's presidency, 1961 - 1965 many other societal projects were occurring. We mainly think of Lincoln as bearing the weight of the war but the country was also experiencing rapid expansion. He believed strongly in infrastructure so he was promoting the railroad while directing distribution of tracts of land through the Homestead Act to hopeful poorer families (sadly greedy prospectors took advantage of the program). Shockingly, when he took office, there was no uniform banking system, money was being produced in different designs by the states. He signed a National Banking Act to have one currency. There was no oversight in agriculture and he created the USDA. A large group of mid-west and west coast states were still territories which gradually were being converted into States (adding more drama concerning States rights to own slaves or not). Of course his biggest accomplishments were ending the war, freeing the slaves while preserving the Union, and adding the 13th Amendment to the constitution.

My family, Tobacco pouch from Virginia factory after war

Also of interest in the book were his relationships with this wife, friends, business associates, and government officials. I gathered that he was at ease with meeting the unknown head on, eager for new experiences and a master at working through difficulties. It is striking to realize he was able to absorb himself in the greatest of responsibility during this chaotic time in history and not have a stroke or be assassinated. He never seemed to heed warnings of his likely demise from his many enemies, putting duty before all else. Self-sacrificing even though so many died on his watch. 

Even Lincoln was not perfect. The Indian crisis out West was not a priority and their lands continued to be distributed to white settlers. He replaced his generals frequently because they either didn't follow instructions or for losing battles which caused the war to drag on. Progressives and civil rights leaders were critical of his slowness to end slavery. Ultimately, he saved the union while freeing the slaves from the lawful designation of them being human prisoners for life as mere property.

My family, Confederate Vet and family after war

It took me about 4 weeks to finish the book and it inspired me to watch Abraham Lincoln 3 part series produced some time ago by the History channel and research my Virginia family history a bit more. 

~Rebecca

2024 Year in Review - Crazy year - Seniors - Cats - Estates - Hard Work

Who knew getting old was this much work! Now I know why people retire at 65, because one must take care of their aging parents and pets, file for social security, find new insurance, sell real estate and basically set up one's future so you can ease into it! I've yet to see the easing but the summation of this past year has been "one thing after another" but there is always a silver lining as so many people have come to my rescue this year!

The first few months of 2024 started pretty calmly and then snowballed into a complete nightmare. My husband was living in Tennessee caring for his 93 year old father and everything that could break at our house in Virginia did. We're big DYIers and rarely hire anyone because often it does not turn out like it should. In early Spring the power went out and I was hauling in wood for the stove. Things calmed down and were going along pretty well until the grass started growing. The belt on the lawn mower broke. I had someone tell me they were coming several times to replace it and never did so the grass kept growing - a lot! I had to find someone to mow the lawn which was a bit of a disaster. A kind gentleman showed up with a push mower for 2 acres. After 6 hours, 3 stop and start rains and the sun beginning to set, I let him go and there was still 1 acre left to mow! Retrospectively it seems like such an easy thing to work out but everyone already has mowing commitments and it was impossible to find someone urgently over Memorial Day weekend. 

During that time the water heater began to leak and the compressor on the Heat and Air broke. Next up was opening the pool which was totally not doable by myself. I don't even remember what else happened but I was bailing in a boat, sinking in a swamp -- totally losing it. Finally we decided enough was enough and it was time to either get divorced or move my father-in-law in with us. Of course he did not want to leave his home and that was another hurdle. We ended up proposing a 2 week vacation which at least got him willingly out of his house. It was frightening driving him 6 hours but we did make several stops (one being ice cream) and it went smoothly. After being at our house for 3 days, he told us he wanted to live with us and to sell his house. We all cried!

Bob is very little trouble and still gets around but can't be left alone. The biggest responsibility is that I have been managing his home located out of state. We discovered there was no insurance on the house! The first trip to check on this house was intense. I had a long list of tasks to accomplish to list his house with a realtor. The heat and air was not working when I arrived. A lot of time was wasted hiring a disreputable company that ripped me off straight away (my worst google review of 2024) but I did find a great company to fix it and also found a wonderful tree cutter who did an excellent job. My Aunt who lives nearby helped me and supplied FOOD so I ended up enjoying my time with her and the wonderful realtor that brought me coffee to seal the deal. Brittney Riddell has helped me in so many ways, letting people into the house to buy items and picking me up after selling Bob's car at Carmax. During the horrible rain that nearly wiped out Asheville several bridges were washed away near Bob's house. When the realtor finally could even get to the house she had to bail out the crawl space. A neighbor of Bob's has also helped me greatly, coming to my rescue many times! I am so thankful these angels dropped into my life.

To add more drama, when Bob found out that I was at his house he got angry that I did not take him with me and went on a hunger strike. After a week of preparing his house to sell; hiring an assortment of companies while cleaning, painting, selling items online, gardening, stuffing my car full and general craziness I was told Bob was at the ER. I was driving home and my husband called saying his Dad passed out from not eating. Luckily the home health care worker caught him. So I drove 6 hours to Virginia straight into the ER. Talk about exhausted. He remained in the hospital for observation for 3 days. 

After moving Bob to Virginia we had to transfer his Veterans healthcare which amounted to wiping the slate and starting all over. Setting up medical care, prescriptions, and home health care. The VA has some great benefits but the systems takes time and persistence to set up through the Richmond office. They have a wonderful VA Clinic in Charlottesville and after a few months we were assigned a geriatric doctor that comes straight to the house! He also hooked Bob up to a local day care program at JABA which he really enjoys. They have qualified caregivers, live music, meals, and programs to keep him active. He was even dancing the other day which we never thought we would see given the doctors said he would not make it through the year! Also through the VA we have home health care come several days a week to assist him.

The icing on the cake was my year end deadline to finalize my friend's estate that I've been working on since 2023. I really thought I could complete this process alone, but the complexity of her brokerage account financial statements got me in the end. No unsurmountable issues until the accounting struck. In the end I wanted to blow my brains out. I consulted with an accountant, watched tons of videos, and even attended an online Q and A session. I did everything imaginable but still could not balance the financials. How hard could it be? It's just MATH! I like math. It drove me to near insanity and finally with a week left in 2024 (after searching for a week), I found a CPA and handed my completed accounting over and ran screaming into the night. It was like giving up a child. I had invested so much time and energy into this. Apparently this last step is a beast and very few accountants will fool with it. I'm ending the year sweating as I've not heard that she has been successful. I hope she can find the error!

Another side project that I've been working on since the Summer is getting free solar panels installed. It is a pilot program through our local energy company and LEAP that ended in 2024 so the clock was ticking! They were turned on 12/23. It's a basic system and we'll only see 1/4 - 1/2 of our usage covered but I've been committed to solar for a very long time. It's a pretty exciting moment for me and a positive way to end a year of chaos and trauma. This is my annual environmental commitment that will last for 30 years! We'll be in our 90's when they pull the plug if we make it that long.

My mother has been living with us for 4 years now. She is still very independent and has her regular weekly drive route that she navigates safely. We volunteer for Friends of the Library and she mainly watches the chaos from afar. We upgraded her tablet at Christmas so she is amazingly tech savvy at 89. She also helps me package items for my online selling sites and it's a mystery how I continued to sell through thick and thin and had the best year ever.

In the Spring I discovered my long time vet had retired and had not been happy with the vet staff for some time so I switched my 3 aging cats to a new clinic. A frightening process but the staff is kind and the vet is excellent. Our cats have arthritis, 2 are on blood pressure meds, one has IBS, another is hyper-thyroid. $$$$. We have reminder alarms for pill management going off morning, noon, and night for people and cats!

Anthony ran into a technicality at the first of the year with his job working out of state and eventually had to retire a year earlier than planned. He finalized his Medicare and social security and will collect his first check January 2025. Because I'm not retirement age I had to search for private health and dental insurance. Adding another duty to the roster. We also have an insurance angel that helps our entire household. Thank goodness for Mr. Trout.

Being "the year of Bob", we ended it with getting him a Virginia license that allowed him to vote and get a fishing license. He really wants to get out this Spring by a Lake! 

Without the help of several key people, I don't believe I would be sitting here typing this. here were some kind souls that really bailed me out!

The happiest new year to all and keep the faith. Day by day, hour by hour, keep plugging. This too will pass, and it did, 2024 is toast!

~Rebecca

Annual Historic Garden Week in Virginia begins April 20th, 2024

In 2 weeks, Historic Garden Week in Virginia begins. April is a lovely time of the year to check out area homes and gardens. Local Garden Clubs throughout Virginia host the annual week long tours. A really nice guidebook is available at select outlets or you can view it online.

I always seek out locations that are more nature centric. Some tours focus more on home interiors but regardless, one is sure to get a blast of what is blooming in Virginia as you stroll through neighborhoods.

After reading the tour book, I've decided this year I'll be traveling to Orange and Madison Counties on 4/20. A short drive from Charlottesville to explore five historic properties that feature natural landscapes, all under land conservation easement. The properties foster habitat for bird, animals, and insects with wildflower meadows and native plantings. I also have a potential family connection to one of the homes. Genealogy can be tricky but my family immigrated to Madison and there might be some history to discover given one historic home originally belonged to an individual with our family name.

Another interesting option is a neighborhood walking tour in Norfolk on 4/25. Four homes and three gardens will be featured. There are two other nearby public gardens you can add for separate fees but it sounds like a full day as is. Keep an eye out for the amazing arrangements garden club members create!

Richmond offers several tours on different days. The one that sounds most interesting to me is the walking tour through the River Hill subdivision of the Westover Hills neighborhood on 4/24. Six homes will be open, overlooking the James River in a really pretty part of Richmond. Also do not miss Maymont if you have extra time. Historic Tuckahoe is also very interesting.

Get out and about and enjoy the beautiful Spring weather in Virginia!

~Rebecca