Charlottesville, Virginia

Charlottesville is a beautiful community. Emily and Joe are just getting settled into their new place.

This is the front of their townhouse-style apartment.

This is the back - a virtual forest of very tall trees.

You can sit in their screened in patio and watch the squirrels play.

If we had been watching the news or listening to the radio we would have heard the warning, but for us it went down like this -- The rain began to fall. My family knows how much I love a good rain storm; I figured the moisture had cooled the air enough that I could open the back sliding door so we could listen to the drops hitting the leaves. I left Emily and Randy watching out the back and went to the front to watch the rain from that direction.

Anyone know the meaning of torrential? In seconds the front parking lot was a river and the wind began whipping, throwing leaves and branches in a tornado-like spiral. I heard Emily's cry from the back, "The trees are cracking, get away from the window!" She ran to cover A.J. who was playing on the living room floor.

The 50-mile-an-hour winds only lasted a few minutes, but left quite a mess of downed trees.

I hope the driver wasn't in this car.

The power was out for the next couple of hours - so we played games by lantern light.

We woke to the sound of choppers, shredders, and mulchers. By mid-day everything was pretty much cleaned up and Charlottesville looked as good as new.

Picture Day

Pillows, blankets, and a couple of reflectors. Randy made Emily's back porch into a portrait studio.

Add one cute baby...

And voila!

Aaron Joseph at (almost) 4 months.

We drove to see the University of Virginia "grounds". Don't you DARE call it a "campus"!

Joe entering his law school.

The "grounds" provided a great backdrop for their family pictures.

A self-shot picture of the five of us.  It's clear that Randy barely made it!

A.J. and I spent a lot of time getting to know each other as we drove here and there from place to place. I'm quite certain he knows his Gammie now.