Tag: history

My Vacation Part 2: the Williamsburg Winery and Historic Jamestown

Last week my husband and I went on vacation. We split our trip up into several stages so we could see and do more things (read part 1 here).

We stayed at the Williamsburg Winery for the 2nd stage of our journey. My husband had picked out the Wales Room for us, and oh, was it beautiful! We were greeted by beautiful paintings and tapestries and a suit of armor!

Once we were settled in we drove to Historic Jamestown to see what we could see. We went to the Jamestown Settlement to look through the museum and walk through the recreated settlement. The amount of time and money spent to bring this incredible project to life boggles the mind!

We saw the recreated boats that the settlers used, explored the fort, and walked through the Indian village. Always on the prowl for fibery goodness, I learned from the reenactors about twining, which is how the Native Americans in this area made yarn.

Back at the hotel we had the most wonderful dinner and slept in the most comfortable hotel bed I’ve ever experienced.

Come back to hear about the last part of our vacation tomorrow: Colonial Williamsburg!

In the mean time, please enjoy this most beautiful brick wall.

bricks

I Love You

Well, I suppose everybody will be posting about today being Valentine’s day. Or Singles Awareness Day. Or whatever fancy name you’ve cooked up for it yourself. Which brings me to wonder why in the world we picked a random day to celebrate love? Did people just decide that the winter was so long and dreary that they needed an extra holiday to cheer them up?  And, of all possible subjects, why do we celebrate love on this random wintry day?

Well, according to all-knowing Wikipedia (yes, I know it’s not a scholarly source. But I don’t care), the origins of Valentine’s Day date back to the 5th century when Pope Gelasius I (Who in the world was he??) instituted it as a day to honour Christian martyrs, specifically 2 martyrs named Valentine (believe it or not people actually used to use that name!). Through the years the reason for the day was forgotten and changed until now we celebrate love (specifically between lovers) on February 14. Enjoy the day!