Columns & Blogs

I wound up my column last week by asking, “Who is going to step up to the plate?” I was talking about community maintenance; the art of tending neglected spaces. Let me share a few of the tools that volunteers find beneficial.

Often, the first step in community maintenance is simply determining who owns the property. Prince William County provides the County Mapper connecting you to lots of other data, too, like tax information, zoning, overlay districts and much more.

Good morning – Capital Caring is starting a new program and is need of artists, musicians, people with certified pet therapy animals, and regular, amazing people with time to share to bring wonder of creating something beautiful to their patients. Contact Rachael at 703-957-1785 or [email protected].

· BEACON Adult Literacy needs volunteers to work with ESL adult learners. No prior experience is needed as you will be given all the tools needed to make a successful partnership with your student. The next training is August 23rd. Please call Caroline at (703) 368-7491 to learn more.

August means the end of summer and the start of school is right around the corner. While you might feel you need to cram each weekend full of school supply shopping, there are still other fun, educational opportunities to be had.

Take your kids and travel back to the Civil War, hike through historic trails while looking for wildlife, or spend a day seeing American history in the eyes of a Marine. Educational opportunities are endless with this list of both fun and informative places to visit before the school doors open

We’ve lived in our home for 24 years. We redesigned it, rearranged it, and built an addition on it. We moved the kitchen from a tiny hot room upstairs to a large room downstairs that we created out of the two lower level bedrooms. We extended and widened the driveway, built a garage, replaced the roof, and installed new windows and siding over that span of time.

We re-built our home a little by little, remodeling by removing walls and ceilings, installing new wiring, plumbing and insulation as we went. Every piece of woodwork is hand stained, as is every door. We learned to garden. We learned as we went sometimes out of necessity like when water seeped into the family room and I (not we!) dug down to the footers. I learned to parge on that project, wedged in a narrow trench between the driveway and the house.

We’ve lived in our home for 24 years. We redesigned it, rearranged it, and built an addition on it. We moved the kitchen from a tiny hot room upstairs to a large room downstairs that we created out of the two lower level bedrooms. We extended and widened the driveway, built a garage, replaced the roof, and installed new windows and siding over that span of time.

We re-built our home a little by little, remodeling by removing walls and ceilings, installing new wiring, plumbing and insulation as we went. Every piece of woodwork is hand stained, as is every door. We learned to garden. We learned as we went sometimes out of necessity like when water seeped into the family room and I (not we!) dug down to the footers. I learned to parge on that project, wedged in a narrow trench between the driveway and the house.

I’m going to ask you to work a little bit today. Normally, I blend links into my column so you can just click if you want more information, but the links are not obtrusive, Today, I’d like you to take a few minutes and click these links. Try to keep an open mind. Try not to let what you already think influence you.

These thoughts, ideas, stories and images are shaping my opinions: