No word on whether the couple plans to come back and share vow at Wintergreen Winery’s Verandah, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea since they are doing weddings there all of the time now!
You didn't have to be getting engaged to enjoy the annual festival, young and old get in on the fun each year. And if you weren't into stomping grapes, there was plenty of food, music and of course WINE!
The Romp, Stomp, and Chomp celebration signals the unofficial end to summer. Though fall doesn’t officially begin until September 22nd.
Lovingston
Nelson County, VA We first told you about Democracy Vineyards officially opening back in August of 2009. They’ve been producing award winning wines ever since. But one thing they didn’t have until recently was an official tasting room for folks to drop by and check out their wines when in the area. That all changed over Labor Day weekend as Democracy’s brand spanking new tasting room opened complete with a celebration and their annual blessing of the harvest presented by Dr. Eugene Thomas of Clarendon United Methodist Church. A few finishing touches remain to be completed, but all in all it’s ready to go!
The Nelson County Ruritans also returned to cook up their burgers and dogs along with Turtle Zwadlo and his fellow band members, Yankee Dixee, sharing their special blend of mountain folk music.
A couple checks out the wines at Democracy Vineyard's newly opened tasting room on Mountain Cove Road just outside of Lovingston, VA.
Above, August 2009 story on Democracy Vineyards in Nelson County Life Magazine. Click on the pages above to read.
NCL Juniorette Publisher Peyton Stafford even checked out the newly opened tasting room. Still now quite ready to sign the tasting counter just yet!Lot's of neat memorabilia covers the walls at Democracy as you enter the new tasting room.
According to their website, Democracy is open weekends until Thanksgiving from 11 am to 5 pm Saturday, 1 to 5 pm Sunday and noon to 5 pm Monday holidays.
Wintergreen Resort
Nelson County, VA
I’t s a good thing the Blue Moon came on Friday night and not Saturday night. Cloud cover certainly would have spoiled it for sure! NCL Mountain Photographer Paul Purpura camped out for a little while Friday evening as the rare Blue Moon started rising over the Rockfish Valley of Nelson County.
In this shot Paul used his super duper telephoto lens to get up close on the August 31st Blue Moon. Depending on which calendar you go by, it will be at least 2015 before we see another one.
The following blue moons occur between 2009 and 2021. These dates use UTC as the timezone; exact dates vary with different timezones.
[edit]Seasonal
Using the Maine Farmers’ Almanac definition of blue moon (meaning the third full moon in a season of four full moons), blue moons occur
August 31, 2012
August 21, 2013
May 21, 2016
May 18, 2019
August 22, 2021
Calendar
Blue Moon of August 31, 2012 View From Guayaquil, Ecuador
Unlike the astronomical seasonal definition, these dates are dependent on the Gregorian calendar and time zones.
Two full moons in one month (the second of which is a “blue moon”):[16]
2009: December 2, December 31 (partial lunar eclipse visible in some parts of the world), only in time zones west of UTC+05.
2010: January 1 (partial lunar eclipse), January 30, only in time zones east of UTC+04:30.
2010: March 1, March 30, only in time zones east of UTC+07.
2012: August 2, August 31, only in time zones west of UTC+10.
2012: September 1, September 30, only in time zones east of UTC+10:30.
2015: July 2, July 31
2018: January 2, January 31
2018: March 2, March 31
2020: October 1, October 31
The next time New Year’s Eve falls on a Blue Moon (as occurred on 2009 December 31) is after one Metonic cycle, in 2028. At that time there will be a total lunar eclipse.
Art & Photo Image By Kathy Versluys from the Acorn Inn : This image called Brainstorm is just one of several on display now at the Flying Fox tasting room in Afton.
Afton
Nelson County, VA
Most of us here in Nelson know Kathy Versluys and her husband Martin as the owners of the Acorn Inn B & B. Many know Kathy’s work as a professional photographer. And now people get the chance to see her artistic side as well. “Kathy has graciously shared her works with us for the next 6 weeks. We love her work – nice variety of subjects and almost all of them just make me smile,” said Lynn Evans, co-owner of Flying Fox Vineyards.
Another of the artworks by Kathy on display now in the Flying Fox tasting room.
Mugshot via NCSD : 39 Year Old Francis Quiros has been sentenced in connection with the December 2011 murder of Amy Holden of Nelson County.
Lovingston
Nelson County, VA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: August 28, 2012
RE: Nelson County murder defendant gets 25 year prison sentence
FROM: ANTHONY MARTIN, COMMONWEALTH’S ATTORNEY
After hearing testimony from Kathy Woods, Amy Holden’s sister, about how the murder affected her and her family, the Judge sentenced Quiros to 40 years in prison and suspended 15 years meaning Quiros will have to serve 25 years in prison. There is no parole in Virginia.
Upon Quiros’ release from prison, the remaining 15 year sentence will not have to be served unless Quiros violates his probation rules. After he serves the 25 year sentence, he will then be on probation for 20 years and was ordered to have no contact with any members of the Holden family as a further condition of his probation.
Nelson County, VA
August is outta here! Part of Labor Day Weekend will be dry. Unfortunately, we will be dealing with some tropical rainstorms courtesy of what was hurricane Isaac.
Tommy talks more about it in his audio weather. And, a look back at the numbers for August. Listen above!
Photos By NCL Mountain Photographer Paul Purpura : In spite of continual rain, a respectable crowd still braved the showers to attend the Virginia Craft Brew Festival this past Saturday afternoon on the grounds at Devils Backbone Brewing in Roseland. Above Denise Moldenhauer of Roseland chats it up with a friend at the festival.
The 2012 Virginia Craft Brewers Festival is designed to bring together all qualified and interested Virginia Craft Breweries as an opportunity to promote the Virginia Craft Brewing Industry and the Virginia Craft Brewers Guild. The event featured the Virginia Craft Beer Cup competition in 5 Categories with the cup being awarded to the best overall brewery.In addition to plenty of craft beer on hand, several live bands played throughout the day. Several other outdoor events including cycling competitions will take place over the weekend into Monday on the grounds at Devils Backbone Brewing.
Photos By NCL Mountain Photographer Paul Purpura : Roughly 300 participants will converge over the weekend for the USTA Senior District Tourney that kicked off this past Friday at Wintergreen Resort.
Wintergreen Resort
Nelson County, VA
A few hundred senior tennis players will be continue hitting the courts this weekend at Wintergreen Resort as the USTA Senior District Tournament takes place at their Devils Knob facility. People from all over the region are here to participate.
Tournament action continues through the weekend and wraps up on Monday.
Conventional football wisdom says that young teams with new offensive schemes take a while to gel….
So much for conventional wisdom.
It was truly a night for the record books as the Nelson Governors exploded out of the gate to start 2012 with a dominating 64-47 road win over the Dragons of William Monroe. Behind a crushing performance from an offensive line that features just one senior, the Govs rolled up over 700 yards and nine touchdowns on the ground (that’s not a typo, folks). So dominant was the ground attack that Nelson didn’t attempt a single pass.
Leading the way on offense was senior quarterback Tyler Vest. Operating out of the team’s newly installed pistol offense, Vest ran through, around, and over the Dragons for 454 yards, the second best effort in Nelson history and the fifth highest in Virginia high school history. Vest also reached the end zone six times. Adding balance to the assault was running back Devonte Turner, who bolted for 257 yards and three scores.
The evening marked the unveiling of an impressive multi-million dollar athletic complex at William Monroe, but the evening did not go as the overflow crowd had hoped. The contest was tight early, with Monroe countering Nelson’s punishing ground game with a quick-hitting, balanced attack. The Dragons and Govs traded touchdowns twice during a hard fought first quarter before Nelson seized the momentum and put its foot on the gas- hard. The Govs lead gradually ballooned to 64-31 before both teams emptied their bench, allowing Coach Mark Wells’s team to gain valuable playing time for the backups while the Dragons added some cosmetic scores late.
As is often the case in season openers, the Friday night air was filled with penalty flags, and unfortunately most of them were directed at Nelson. Correcting the mistakes which led to the abnormal number of penalties will obviously be high on the team’s priority list in practice this week as the team puts this game in the rear view mirror and prepares for Central Senior of Lunenburg. However, the fans who made the trip north from Nelson, to witness history, won’t likely forget this game anytime soon.
Isaac is the nearest storm in cue that may affect portions of the US in the next few days. Another Atlantic storm lurks as well.
Until now the start of hurricane season back on June 1st has been quiet. With soon to be hurricane Isaac, that’s about to change. Exactly where he will come ashore in the US is still unknown, though better projections will probably be in place by Saturday of the coming weekend. As of Thursday evening Isaac was still a tropical storm, but after clearing Cuba in the near future, it will probably rise to hurricane strength.
Current position and 5 day projection for Isaac. Some meteorologists believe a likely turn up the eastern seaboard is not out of the question. In addition to Isaac, TS Joyce is meandering out in the Atlantic. Though it's believed she will hook right out to sea before hitting the US.
As with any tropical system, many changes will take place before a better track estimated landfall are known.
