Front Porch of Piney Hill B&B

Way back when, in about 1969 or so, my Cousin Wiley and I went to play in the woods and he got us lost. He was older and he was in charge, so yes, by default, he got us lost. We were missing most of the day and my mom had her friends and the local police out looking for us. Toward the end of the afternoon, we found our own way home and sat on the porch waiting for everyone else to come back from their search. I think it was my younger sister, Janet’s, birthday. I know we had hot dogs for a late lunch, because I’ll never forget how good that pig-face-cow-bowels-lips-butt-and-other-uck tasted on that Wonder Bread bun. Needless to say it was the last time I set out for the wilderness with Cousin Wiley.

Sitting in the wilderness with him is a different story. Wiley and his partner Hank own and manage one of the top B&B’s in Virginia. Piney Hill Bed & Breakfast sits nestled between Skyline Drive and Massanutten. The wraparound porch is the place to sit for spectacular views of both. I could go on and on about their place, but I’d sound biased because he’s family, and there are so many great reviews out there that do a fine job of saying all that.

What matters to me is how being there makes me feel. When I cancelled my 2008 move to LA at the last minute, I made two phone calls, one to the friend I was not coming to work with, and one to Wiley and Hank. I needed to get away from everything that had brought me to making that decision and everyone who knew me and step back to reassess where I would go from there. I arrived at their place in a heap of exhausted tears, and within 10 minutes was sitting around the kitchen table hanging with my innkeepers and a bunch of other guys I’d never met. Wiley got tickled about something he’d said and couldn’t stop giggling and before long the lot of us were swept away into that uncontrollable laughter. That’s just the kind of guy he is ~ down to earth, no pretense, real, and with a sense of humor that reflects his outlook on life. I like to think I’m like him, but I don’t know. He comes by it all so naturally. Hank, as the author of this Sunday’s AssociatedContent.com Travel article says, is a riot. He’s also a fantastic cook and well, just a love. I know the lawnmower story is true as I have seen him on it and have photos as proof.

Real was what I needed when I stepped off my own planned course of reality and flipped it inside itself. Real. Comfortable. Accepting. Safe. Cared for. Yes, this, from the little boy who got us lost in the woods and then threatened to leave me there when I cried. I yearn to be there still when I am feeling lost or lonely or like the world is too big or too mean. To be where laughter sits on the other side of the table and to hear the summer sounds of the country: crickets, cicadas, frogs blending together in the darkness of a land illuminated only by the fireflies that glow throughout the night.

Hank and me and Wiley

Piney Hill Haven

Lazy Susans at Piney Hill B&B

Morning Coffee with the Cows

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Everything you read about caffeine will tell you, it’s the devil. Like the orgasm that almost was, caffeine gives you a false energy boost, then knocks the wind right out of your sails and leaves you flat, exhausted and crying for more. Along with that, it slows your intestinal flow to a crawl and turns your teeth a lovely shade of brown.

So going off the medical diagnosis that the bitch that inhabited my body for close to three years was irritable bowel syndrome and learning that coffee is on the IBS ‘no’ list, I decided to limit my intake from 6 cups a day to a mere two.

I’m a huge advocate of holistic health and to be honest, my own interpretation of the label IBS is, quite frankly, a doctor’s discreet way of saying, baby, I Be Stumped. After months of agony, clearing a 1200$ deductible and going for every test imaginable and coming up with nothing, being handed the diagnosis of IBS, a prescription for laxatives, and a wave goodbye just isn’t my idea of an effective course of action.

Ready to just give up and give in to a life in pajamas on the couch, I took a friend’s advice and tried the Activa Challenge. And what do you know . . . almost immediately, things improved. So I dumped meat from my diet, kicked up the yoga, started probiotics and digestive enzymes. Monday, November 2nd, on my way into work, I realized that, for the first time in almost 1092 days, my stomach was flat ~ as in, not bloated to the size of a bowling ball. It brought me to tears so intense I almost had to pull the truck over to get it together.

Just lately, I’ve added visits to the chiropractor and an electromagnetic wave-producing contraption called the the zapper, which is supposed to kill anything that doesn’t belong to me. This morning, at Daisy’s 5:15am wake up nudge, I opened my eyes feeling awake, alert and alive. Whatever alien invaded my body seems to be on it’s way out and there’s room in there now for me. I stood out in the dark of my backyard, under a full moon’s glow, and said a big thank you, but what I really wanted to do was let out a big howl and dance around naked.

Positively energized, and with enough stamina to manage a 40- minute prana yoga workout and spend the evening loading the truck for a trip to Salvation Army, I think I may have finally crawled out from under the rock.

In the past month or so, I’ve switched my coffee habit to tea. While it’s not as thick, creamy or comforting as coffee, a little Chai in the morning does a body good ~ or at least doesn’t do it quite as bad, especially when you use the same tea bag throughout the course of the day. And though I’m not going to get the ‘oh baby’ rush I could get from the coffee, it’s hard to resist a hot liquid beverage with a tagline that rivals those I’ve seen in the “About Me” section of eHarmony. Honestly. I don’t know whether to drink it or take it to bed.

But at least I have the stamina.

©2010 the orange chair. All Rights Reserved.

The only thing that makes it better is if it’s Saturday or Sunday. Because that’s when the succulent smells of barbequed pork ribs and barbequed chicken waft over the hill and through the dale, causing mouths to water and bellies to rumble.

Lisa and Leo’s Chicken & Ribs sits on the corner of Rts 250 and 208 in Louisa County just off the Ferncliff exit of I-64 – but only on the weekends. Armed with a big ol’ barrel barbeque grill, a hand-lettered sign, a tent to provide shade, and a homemade rub recipe and marinade unlike anything I’ve had before,  Leo and Lisa drive from their home in Waynesboro and set up shop outside the Exxon each weekend and have managed to create a growing little business out of a big passion for grilling.

Former residents of Kents Store, with relatives still in the area, they admit it would be easier to keep a location closer to home, but it’s back to the the Louisa/Fluvanna area they come each weekend, and each weekend they find themselves close to selling out of both ribs and chicken.  And once they do, and the grill is shut for the evening, they’re off to visit the family and spend a few hours in their own backyard . . . probably with the mouth-watering smell of the best ribs & chicken I’ve ever eaten still wafting through the trees, carrying a reminder of what’s best about summer.

Lisa & Leo's Ribs & Chicken!

Leo shares his passion for the grill & a few ingredients, too.

If you’re passing through Louisa on I-64, or you’re in Louisa or Fluvanna or anywhere within 100 miles, I’m telling ya,  . . . go see Lisa and Leo!

©2010 the orange chair. All Rights Reserved.