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Fourth Annual Soup, Salad and a Seminar
Winter Sessions at Santillane 99 Housman St. Fincastle

Hymnal Christmas Angels-Saturday, Dec. 5: 11:00-1:30
Limited to first 10 participants.
Cost: $23 includes materials and lunch
Make your very own holiday keepsake! Participants will create a X-mas angel out of old hymnals. A clever and beautiful treasure to enjoy for years to come.
Boxwood Mantle or Table Centerpiece, Saturday Dec. 12
11:00-1:30, Limited to first 12 participants
Cost: $27 includes materials and lunch

Using seasoned boxwood and other natural materials, participants will create a beautiful floral centerpiece or mantel decoration.

Must pre-pay and register by email rmorningglory@msn.com, make checks out to Santillane and send to Lissy Merenda, 99 Housman St., Fincastle, VA 24090.

Directions for Santillane may be found on the web site, Santillane .com

Adrian Crounauer made famous in "Good Morning Viet Nam," now lives in Botetourt and will portray Kris Kringle in Showtimers"Miracle on 34th Street."

Adrian Cronauer of the movie "Good Morning Viet Nam" made famous by actor Robin Williams portrayal of his radio career in the armed forces, now resides in Botetourt County. After serving the Pentagon as a specialist in MIA and remains recovery as a Bush administration appointee, Cronauer and his wife of 40 years, Jeane, have located to the Fincastle area.

He is currently going through his Viet Nam materials and MIA materials and donating the non-classified items to Texas Tech University where they have a Viet Nam War museum, he said. He remains actively involved with his time in the military.  "We are going on a Caribbean cruise as a guests on a Veteran's Cruise  and I will be a  speaker," said Cronauer.

The Cronauers have a beautiful home and love the rustic location full of wildlife, birds and a happy squirrel who seems to have adopted the Cronauers or at least the bird feeder. They also have the most spacious and wonderful smelling cedar lined closet. How appropriate for Kris Kringle and the Mrs!

Cronauer has spent the better part of his life using his deep voice for service and career. He actually moved to Roanoke Valley over forty years ago in 1968. He was part of Showtimers then and well he fell in love with that beautiful costumer, Jeane, while he participated in the theater group. A lawyer by trade, he moved around the Northeast a bit before the stint in Washington, DC.

He is letting his hair and beard grow and well he has a nice size for a Santa as Jeane pointed out with a pat to his belly one night when we met in CVS. "Miracle on 34th Street" will play the following dates at Showtimers on McVitty Road in SW Roanoke County.

December 2 - 13

Wednesday - Saturdays 8 p.m.
Sundays 2 p.m.
Extra performance
Saturday, Dec 5
2 p.m.

Ticket prices:
$12 adults
$5 ages 18 & under

For Box office ticket information To order tickets, call our box office at

(540) 774-2660

(877) 336-9294, toll-free.

Colonial Elementary began a day of service to honor veterans on this Veteran's Day November 11, 2009. The ceremony featured students, a teacher, the principal and the music teacher and an area Veteran. For the rest of the day field trips are scheduled to  a Roanoke VFW Hall on Grandview Avenue where  the Mayor of Roanoke will make a proclamation. those attending will be from the Colonial Kindergarten, First and Third grades will travel to the Virginia Veteran's Care Center to honor and sing to the veterans and the Fourth and Fifth grades will be at the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford to honor the veterans there. The second grade sang two special songs and had to cancel their field trip to the VA hospital due to hospital policy concerning  children and the spread of Swine Flu.

SCA members lead the student body and guests in the pledge of allegiance. Principal Tammy Riggs and music teacher Jessica Wright sang the National Anthem in harmony. Afterward, teacher JoAnne Perkins, a  veteran, spoke of her service in the US Air Force, her husband as a Viet Nam veteran and the other three generations of her family that have been in every major war WWII, WWI and the US Civil War.

Sgt. Shane Fletcher, a Colonial parent, of the Army's 101 Airborne and a specialist who trained the Iraqi Army spoke of his tour. "A suicide  bomber pulled up beside our truck and exploded." He showed a picture on the power point of his burning truck. He and another soldier from Lynchburg ran back into the fire and pulled out their comrade from the flames. All three injured, but all three survived.

Fletcher urged the students to thank a Veteran for all they have done to preserve American freedom. While he was in Iraq, Colonial continued to send him care boxes that meant a lot to him and to his fellow soldiers. He presented Principal Riggs with a "Challenge coin" a symbol of someone or in this case a school, that has done a good deed.

Riggs then announced and the SCA recognized with a framed certificate, the Veterans in the audience. They were:

Jim Brown, Army; Robert Wolfe, Army; Randy Holman, Army National Guard; Jason Rider, Marines; Bill lovern, Army; WH Simpson, Army; Daniel Fitzwater, Army; David Deel, Navy; Roger Beatty, Army; Gordon Edwards, Navy; Randall Beckner, Navy; John  Mareen, Army; Ken Holton, Marines;Rick Winfield, Navy; Shane Fletcher, Army; Derek Norwinski, Air Force; Michael Vaughn, Navy; Lucky Vance, Marines; JoAnne Perkins, Air Force.

At the conclusion, Riggs charged the students to not consider the weather, but rather the purpose of their mission to honor veterans on this day. The students then departed to go on the respective field trips to honor the service of area veterans.

Pat Moss on the left with Rachel Nichols of the Apple Barn Gallery in Buchanan.

Pat Moss is a well known artist more commonly as P. Buckley Moss and she was in Buchanan on Sunday November 8 at the Apple Barn Gallery on Main Street. The Apple Barn Gallery is owned operated by Rachel Nichols of Troutville.

Moss is famous for her country scene paintings containing spindly legged Amish and Mennonites and animals. Her art is a source of collection by fans across the nation and the world. On Sunday she didn't want to talk so much about her art, but about life and inspiration.

She said, "I had Dyslexia and school was a source of failure for me, but I had Art. My advice to parents of children who have learning disabilities is to concentrate on what you do well and you will find success in what special talents you have." To read more about her life.

She will leave soon to spend a month etching in her Tuscany villa.  Born in 1933 and the mother of 6, Moss likes to spend time with family. Last year she took 21 family members on a Mediterranean cruise she sponsored for her Moss Society members.

Interestingly, Tuscany is one of her favorite subjects and she shared these glimpses of her life. "My mother was Silicilan and three of my children have married Italians." She is a neighbor in Tuscany to Frances Mays, who wrote "Under The Tuscan Sun" which became a hit movie starring Diane Lane.

"That is our town in the movie. with the exception of the nude statue which was made of paper mache and covered when not being filmed. It is really as beautiful as it looks. Frances has a shrine in her wall like the one in the movie. My granddaughter is the  girl who runs into Lane in the movie scene." She has a view of ancient history as well. " When I look out, I see in the valley below the place where Hannibal drove the Romans into the lake."

She signed prints for folks who came to the Gallery to see her as well as the framed paintings on the walls that are for sale.  JRHS icon and coach of 48 years, John Shotwell dropped in to get prints signed and to meet Moss.

"I come down here every time I travel south," she said. Moss lives most of the year in the Waynesboro area and travels to Radford to see one of her daughters via  I-81.

Another favorite place in Buchanan?  "I always eat at the North Star.  The food is great and prices reasonable."

A picture paints a thousand words and Ron Lucas of Fincastle has written an epic with the renovation of "Academy Hill," a Victorian home built by J. Figgatt circa 1872. The property is also known as "Bolton's Hill" because the Bolton family, an important Fincastle family, owned it for years during the early to mid 20th century. It has gone through several owners since and the house was a shadow of its former glory until Ron Lucas purchased it and began a total makeover for the grand old lady.

The property was part of a larger parcel that at one time that crossed Church Street and encompassed acreage surrounding Godwin Cemetery. For many long time residents the name Academy Hill is more associated with the other side of the road and other local landmarks, but according to the deed and courthouse documents, these are the property's facts of the old times.

The house is easily seen from US 220 the Roanoke Road just south of Fincastle on the hill behind the Happy Food Mart. With recent construction, renovation and acreage clearing, the house with the newly painted rust colored tower, has a 360 degree view of Fincastle and environs. It is spectacular.

There are 14 rooms in the house that Lucas gutted down to a skeleton and re-framed, re-leveled  and rebuilt so that the sturdy old home is now restored to better than her former grandeur. "This is a 19th century home upgraded to twenty first century code standards," said Lucas.The renovation began on May 15 and Lucas hopes to finish by the end of October. He has added a two car garage and restored the front wrap around porch as well. The porch beckons for wicker and oak rockers and baskets of Boston Ferns to waft lazily on the breeze and polite conversation and laughter to be served up with iced tea.

The elimination of scrub hardwoods, underbrush and cedars restored the best of all-- Mother Nature's painting that surrounds the home on every turn. The quaint town of Fincastle, rolling hills, mountains and an infinite blue sky on the day of the interview indicated though the interior of the home was gorgeous what lies beyond in the scenic landscape is inspirational.

"We have restored every baseboard and trim in the house," Lucas stated. The task has has been monumental but Lucas believes that whomever purchases the home that will be marketed as a family dwelling or Bed and Breakfast will be happy with the restoration. For a gallery of the pictures Lucas took during the restoration, click here. The photos of the colored room walls are prior to the restoration.

Genevieve Journell, a couturier who has a shop called Catrina Fashion's in Troutville, sews and designs beautiful gowns and wedding dresses and it is no wonder she had an honor bestowed upon her by the Association of Sewing and Design professionals to create one of the half scale models. The ASDP sent the following press release:

"The Association of Sewing and Design Professionals announced the premiere exhibit of Vionnet Identique at the Association's convention October 18, 2009, Hilton at Indian Lakes Resort, Bloomingdale, Ill.
The exhibit includes thirty-eight half-scale styles designed by the world renowned couturier
Madeleine Vionnet as featured in the book, "Vionnet," by Betty Kirke."

"Kirke is being awarded a lifetime achievement award for her work in the fashion industry and particularly for her book on Vionnet," said Journell from her studio which is filled with beautiful ball gowns , evening gowns and wedding dresses.

Currently a Vionnet exhibit is being held in Paris which Journell plans to see. It opened this past summer and is described as, "Vionnet, dubbed the “couturier of couturiers”, is being honoured with an exhibition, opening today "( June 24, 2009) at Les Arts Décoratifs in Paris, which spans her work from the setting up of her house in 1912 to the glory years of the Thirties," featured in the London Telegraph on June 24, 2009.

Each model will be represented in the toile or muslin drape and also in the fashion fabric similar
to the original full scale model of the period. A noted master designer of the Art Deco era,
Vionnet's innovative work is timeless and was a major influence upon the Golden Age of
Couture. This is the first major U. S. presentation of Vionnet's work in the half-scale, and
coincides with a significant French exhibit on Vionnet at the Musee de les Arts Decoratifs at the
Louvre in Paris.

Association members submitted both a sample toile and a fashion sample using authentic
fabrications and technique. Many of the designs feature silks and intricate handwork
details and Vionnet's famous geometric patterning which emphasized the beauty of the bias cut.
The designs are in the half-scale, and displayed on half-scale forms through an arrangement with
Dress Rite Forms, Skokie, IL.

Journell made a reversible cape with fur collar in half scale for the exhibit. The garment is featured in the Kirke "Vionnet" book. Journell has been a sewing professional since 1991. She takes on work by appointment. From the results of her labors featured in her studio, she is a creator of highly finished garments with trimmings, beading and precise line and seam. The gowns are absolutely stunning and have been worn by Prom queens to beauty queens to beautiful brides. There is little wonder why she was chosen to  create for the important exhibit on Vionnet.

"Not only have the sewing and design professionals gained new insight into the genius of Vionnet's work, but through the exhibit, others will also be able to better understand her brilliance. Seeing the garments on a 3-D form really accents the visual beauty of her incredible work," continued the press release.

Journell is a former national president of the organization and  a member of the Association of Sewing and Design Professionals that is a non-profit organization, providing education and networking for those working in the sewing and design profession. For
information on membership in the Association of Sewing and Design Professionals, please
Contact: membership@sewingprofessionals.org

James River House is located on Main Street in Buchanan near the bridge over the James River. It has now opened for business after extensive renovations. Built circa 1870, the Historic Inn features five bedrooms and a basement suite as well as a balcony overlooking the street. Prices range from $89 per night to sleep three to $300 per night for the whole house that sleeps 12.

River recreation is readily available, hunting is also near by. Plenty of spots to dine along Main Street and shopping for antiques and collectibles are all in town. Roanoke is 30 minutes away and Lexington about the same. Movies play on Friday and Saturday nights at the Buchanan Theatre. A variety of quaint churches line Main Street for those who want to make a Sunday service. So the James River House is a great tourist addition to the town!

Twin River Outfitters on Lowe Street  are the proprietors. To make a reservation call, 540-261-7334.

"2,500 school kids from 54 different preschools, elementary schools and home school groups will be venturing to Ikenberry's farm in western Botetourt this fall in a six week period," announced Gwen Ikenberry, the family representative on hand to  greet the children. On Monday morning October 5, 79 of the students came from Greenfield Elementary School to learn about apples, pumpkins, colonial life in a cabin and to go on a hayride and view nature while hearing interesting facts about flora and fauna that one might find in the orchard. That trip also included six color associated coordinated scarecrows with pumpkin heads. Olivia Turner, a student in Mrs. Godsey's kindergarten class announced "I like the scarecrow Olivia Orange best,"-- naturally!

Indeed, the Standards of Learning are reinforced  with a trip to the Ikenberry farm and orchard off Haymakertown Road. Gwen Ikneberry asked some of her friends to help teach at the Apple classroom, the Pumpkin classroom and the cabin. Her cousin, Paul Craft drove the hayride tractor and her husband's aunt, Jean Craft helped guide students from the hayride to the cabin and the well oiled operation even had a bell ringing to announce the time limit on each classroom.

The circa 1790 cabin had its own historic Interpretor, Mrs. Kip Burton, dressed in Colonial garb who described a typical home arrangement for a young child in 1790. She talked about how different the times were then and schools were a luxury on the frontier, so most children were taught by their mothers.

Appropriately, the children sat on apple crates in each of the classrooms since Ikneberry's is known for apples and peaches! Cindy Bailey even taught the children a finger play about 5 Little Pumpkins sitting on a Gate in her Pumpkin classroom.

After visiting all four learning stations, the students, parents and teachers had bag lunches under the shade of walnut and other hard trees next to the historic cabin. Thus ended a beautiful day on the historic acreage  that invited the youngsters to take a step back into yesteryear as well as learn about agriculture, plants and animals.

Botetourt County Historical Society  presented  two awards, The Emily G. Honts Heritage Awards to local historians on Saturday night October 3 at the Fifth Annual Founder's Day dinner.  The awards went to the late Harry Fulwiller, Jr who penned "Buchanan, Virginia: Gateway to the Southwest" and Troutville author of numerous local histories including "Town of Troutville" and several family genealogies, Mary Ann Rader Obenshain who was on hand to receive the award. John Rader, President of the BCHS, introduced the evening and Weldon Martin, Executive Director acted as facilitator and also introduced former Sweet Briar president, Elizabeth Muhlenfeld who spoke on "The Civil War Through Women's Eye's."

Saturday, October 3 was almost perfect for Mountain Magic in Buchanan.  With the exception of a stiff breeze on Saturday afternoon that blew items around in a few of the display booths, every thing else went on with out a hitch. Several thousand people took advantage of the beautiful weather and available parking on the carnival grounds to enjoy Buchanan at its finest.

Blue Skies overhead, good food, music,art, crafts and plenty to look at accompanied by a few politicians handing out promises and some really terrific antique cars gave the visitor a chance to spend a couple of hours in the quaint Gateway to the Southwest to the south or Gateway to the Shenadoah to the north! Beautiful Buchanan, Virginia at its best!

Here's some pictures of the activities.