Benbow’s Farmhouse and the Mormons

This past Spring, a friend of mine, Judy Z, gifted me with a piece from her David Winter Cottages collection. She gave me Benbow’s Farmhouse and described it as having a very interesting connection to the Mormon church.

Researching further, I found that Benbow’s Farmhouse by David Winter Cottages was made to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the arrival in 1837, to Britain, of the first missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1840, Apostle Wilford Woodruff of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon or LDS) stayed with John and Jane Benbow at Hill Farm (Benbow’s Farmhouse) in Castle Frome, Herefordshire, and baptised many converts to the new religion in the farm pond. John Benbow himself had became a member of the Church and was responsible for the first printing of the Book of Mormon in Great Britain.

The image, David Winter – Benbow’s Farmhouse, was originally uploaded by Edna Barney. It is posted here from Barneykin’s account.

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Flight of the Bumblebee

Some say that these bees should not be capable of flight, however … this bumblebee received his flying specs from the Master Engineer. As the old song says, … “farther along, we will know all about it.” For now, earthly engineers must continue to delve into the Master’s plans, and bit by bit human knowledge will be enriched.

The image, Flight of the Bumblebee, was originally uploaded by Edna Barney. It is posted here from Barneykin’s account.

Visit Neddy’s Archives for more of Edna’s writings.

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A Soldier’s Lament

This is one example of graffiti that occupying Union soldiers left upon the walls of Blenheim in Fairfax, Virginia during the War Between the States. This photograph is from the attic, however when wallpaper was recently removed from the main floors of the old Greek Revival farmhouse, graffiti was discovered everywhere. This “Soldier’s Lament” records:

4th Month

No money

No whiskey

No Friends

No Rations

No Peas

No Beans

No Pants

No Patriotism (underlined)

“Blenheim,” located at 3610 Old Lee Highway, Fairfax, Virginia, is a brick home built by REZEN WILLCOXON about 1858, to replace an earlier frame dwelling. This 12-acre former farm, includes a cemetery for several generations of the Willcoxon family who lived here. Blenheim is renown for its outstanding examples of Civil War soldier graffiti. It is currently being restored. The day we were there, a recent tropical storm had left many downed trees, but no damage to the structures.

The image, Soldier Graffiti, was originally uploaded by Edna Barney. It is posted here from Barneykin’s account.

Visit Neddy’s Archives for more of Edna’s writings.

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Kara Says

Bee Kind to Our Earth.

Kara is standing on the bank of Pohick Creek, a tidal tributary stream of the Potomac River. Pohick Creek forms in the vicinity of Burke, Virginia and flows approximately thirteen miles, past Grandma’s house, before emptying into the Potomac River at Pohick Bay at Lorton, Virginia. Pohick Bay empties into Gunston Cove with Accotink Bay.

The image, Poster Child, was originally uploaded by barneykin. It is posted here from Barneykin’s account.

Visit Neddy’s Archives for more of Edna’s writings.

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Awaiting the Return

My Bluebird of Happiness

Yesterday, Captain Cliff and I put up another Bluebird house. I never stop hoping for the return of my Bluebird of Happiness.

I’ve only seen about a dozen bluebirds in my entire life. At my old house, a long time ago, I often saw a flying blue streak at the bottom of the ravine which I knew had be a bluebird as there is nothing else in nature that brilliantly blue. But, as for seeing a Bluebird up-close and personal, I think the third time I actually saw one was the very day that I moved into this house. I peered from my new kitchen window and one was sitting on the deck rail. He sat there a long time and then, away he flew, as if to signal “mission accomplished.” I never saw him again. Then about two or three years ago, about this time of year I spotted one again on the deck rail. When I looked more closely, there I discovered at least a dozen on the deck and in the trees. Yes, we were infested with Bluebirds. Then, they all flew off – never to be seen again. Almost every year since, I have put up a new Bluebird house, but they’ never come to stay.

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I am celebrating by playing with my new iPhone on this exciting New Year’s Eve of 2008. I even made my own docking station tonight.  See my iPhone dock above. I made it myself and was so proud until Katy Blue jumped onto my desk and knocked it over. CATS! ROTFL. 😉

I went down to the Apple Store yesterday to complain that my iPhone was not working. The Apple geeks (very sweet young women) told me that I was clicking too many things at once – causing the iPhone to freeze and crash. Oh yeah? Cliff says, “oh yeah, that’s exactly what she does all the time, with everything that doesn’t respond immediately.”

Anyway, they were so nice and helpful, and I was so relieved to be assured by a genuine Apple geek that my iPhone was not defective, that I went ahead and purchased the iPhone case she recommended. I think I like having the iPhone encased, as it is now. It’s a bit bigger, not as sleek, but it seems easier to handle and hold onto.

When she sold me the new white case she also tried convincing me to purchase the iPhone dock. I didn’t feel that I would need it. I already have three docks that I have been using for my iPod Touch – one Apple dock for my home theater, one Bose Sound Dock, and one iPod dock that came with my Cambridge Soundworks radio. She described how this iPhone dock sits next to the computer and charges and syncs the iPhone.

Well, once I came home I have been feeling the lack of not having an iPhone dock sitting next to my laptop. It is quite amazing. I have been using my computer to charge my iPod Touch without a dock for the past year, and never felt I was missing anything. Now I feel I must have a dock for my iPhone. The seed of want has been planted into my brain.

I spotted a little cardboard card box on my desk and then found an exacto knife to cut a slot for my iPhone to rest in. Now I know that I really do need that Apple iPhone dock. This makeshift contraption of recycled cardboard is not going to suffice for long, especially with marauding cats on the prowl. Next time I’m at the mall … Apple Store, here I come.

The image, My iPhone Dock, was originally uploaded by barneykin. It is posted here from Barneykin’s account.

Visit Neddy’s Archives for more of Edna’s writings.

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My New iPhone

Here I am with my new iPhone that I just unwrapped on Christmas Day. Cliff purchased it at the Apple Store in Pentagon City, with the assurance that it was all set up and ready to use. No such luck!

Here it is on the 27th of December and I am still working to get it set up. Nothing is ever easy is it? Called AT&T and was told they were closed. Does that mean I am to be without a phone the entire weekend? Finally – the Apple Store where we purchased it, advised me to contact AT&T on my iPhone at “611!” Cool! That worked and I now have a working iPhone.

Part of the problem was ME! I had set the iPhone to transfer calls to my home phone. Then I forgot that I had done that. Embarrassing! Even if the iPhone didn’t work, the iPod part of the Apple iPhone was doing fine, as it downloaded my tunes, contacts and photographs from iTunes. Great! Then the nice lady at AT&T’s 611 number told me that the maps were the most fascinating thing to her. I tried them, and she is right. Absolutely too easy for words to describe. Of course, I already had that feature on my iPod Touch, but never used it, as when I need maps, I thought, was when away from home and no Internet connection. Now, supposedly, with the iPhone I am connected to the world at all times. At least, I hope that is the case. I guess I should go somewhere just to find out.

Well, I do need to get to my car and see if I can manage to get the BlueTooth enabled. It doesn’t look easy. The car manual has 25 pages instructing how to do it. I may have to take the iPhone and car to the dealership, but we shall see. Can a 67-year-old do this type of thing on her own?

Pavarotti singing on my TV in the background is the DVD that I received last Christmas, 2007. The Maestro is performing Christmas music at the cathedral in Montreal. Still haven’t found time to play my new DVD from Scotland – The Transatlantic Sessions. Perhaps I should stop blogging, Tweeting, Flickring, and Facebooking for a few minutes.

I wonder what AlphaInventions.com would think of all this. I cannot understand how it works either, but it does.

The image, Edna, was originally uploaded by barneykin. It is posted here from Barneykin’s account.

Visit Neddy’s Archives for more of Edna’s writings.

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Transatlantic Sessions 3

I am thinking about the DVD I ordered myself the other day and wondering if I am going to get what I expect. I have no idea if I got my order right. I have been wanting the “Transatlantic Sessions 3” folk music recording from Scotland, but it has been so difficult to figure it out. Is it a CD, a DVD, and which volume do I want? The Album Covers all look the same. I think I want Volume 2, but what I ordered has only one DVD. I ordered it at Amazon and it lists nothing about the tracks that are on it.

I have had so much difficulty, as I could not find a DVD recording that would play on American DVD players. Finally this week, I found one labeled “NTSC.” However, it is also labeled Video-DVD. If “Video-DVD” means that new-fangled DVD that has video on one side and CD on the other, that will be a problem for my Bose Theater system, as it does not recognize those, and goes bezerk. I guess I will play it on my laptop first to see what it is exactly.

Would not most music afficianadoes say that “Transatlantic Sessions 3,” “Transatlantic Sessions 3, Volume 1” and “Transatlantic Sessions 3, Volume 2” are really weird names for folk music albums? Who would have thunk that’s what they are? Maybe they aren’t after all, and I am about to find that out. I will really be disappointed. Then I will have to download RealPlayer onto my computer so I can listen to the album on the Internet here: RTÉ Television.

You can see a wonderful performance here in this video of “Saint Anne’s Reel,” at the bottom of the page, and know why I am wanting this album: Aly Bain and Jerry Douglas.

This will be my Christmas present from Captain Cliff even though he does not know it. Last year he gave me a DVD of Pavarotti singing at the Cathedral in Montreal. It was a difficult album of music to find, so I had to do it myself, as Captain Cliff would not have had the patience.

I already ordered the wrong CD of Irish music this week. I wanted the album with “Grace” on it, and the search engine took me to “Amazing Grace,” and I got confused. There were no audio clips, so how could I be sure? Perhaps I will like the wrong album that I ordered. Anyway, I found that the Irish Tenor album I want is out of production and has to be purchased “used,” and for triple bucks.

Here is my collection of YouTube Videos of: Transatlantic Sessions 3. See … you could spend the rest of your life right hear at this post listening to my music, if you were crazy too.

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The Joy of Home Ownership

Today was a five trip to the mall day for poor Captain Cliff and me. The first trip Cliff went to Home Depot to replace a rubber gasket on the garbage disposal sink drain and and a new flush valve for the upstairs toilet. When he fixed the toilet, it ended up leaking, so he had to go back to Home Depot for another repair part. When that job was finished he tackled the kitchen sink gasket which required disassembling the garbage disposer. When he broke the garbage disposer in that process, he made trip number three to Home Depot to buy a brand new appliance.

Once the kitchen and bathroom were fixed it was time to tackle the computers. None of our four had been able to get onto the Internet for more than 24 hours. We were desperadoes. I had been spending hours troubleshooting, running virus scans, phoning the Internet Service Provider. I finally decided the modem was probably giving up the ghost but when I went buy a new one, the sales person I talked to suspected that my problem was not the modem, but was a virus. After all, we had networked four Windows computers together, and since they were not Macs, everyone knows we are vulnerable. So home I went without a new modem.

When I arrived home without toting a new modem, Cliff took off on the fifth mall trip of the day for Best Buy and a new modem, while I was running new virus scans. When he returned I had to phone our ISP, Cox Communications, for help with installing it. That’s when Cox Technical Support decided to send a ping to our old modem, and got it to working. They told us we didn’t need the new modem that we had purchased on the fifth Mall trip of the day.

We found ourselves back on the Internet, and all is right with the world. Now I am writing to tell the world of my exciting life and the blessings of being virus-free. Tomorrow is another day – at least a “one mall trip day” as we must return the unneeded modem to Best Buy.

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Voice Mail Emails

I think it is really cool that my telephone provider, Cox Communications, has begun sending my telephone voice mails to me in emails. When I first began receiving the emails telling me to click or download, I was afraid to do so, thinking they were some sort of malware. I finally investigated and opened one and found it to be wonderfully convenient.

When I play the message in my Internet Gmail account, it even opens up in its own dedicated Google audio player. If I play it on my computer it opens in iTunes, which is a bit of an inconvenience as I have to remember to delete it from iTunes. Then I am fearful of deleting my music by mistake. I haven’t figured how to get it to automatically open in Windows Media Player; I am just remembering to always play those voice messages from my Internet account.

I find it much more convenient to listen to my telephone voice mail this way, then having to dial in and listen. It is especially convenient when we are travelling as we don’t have to call home to listen to see if there are any messages for us. They show up on my laptop, and my iPod Touch – which of course I never travel without. They are my constant companions.

Thank you Cox Communications. Will wonders never cease on this Highway of Discovery – Route 66?

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