Winter's Walk - A Christmas Missive

No time like the present for this year’s missive. I’m usually stirred by the Winter Solstice with thoughts of nature but this year found me preoccupied with lists and plans. For the first time in more than 2 decades, I am spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my four siblings and their families. Three generations are coming together in Blowing Rock, North Carolina to celebrate anew and my heart is glad.  As is my habit I took a winter’s walk this morning. The following words are the stream from my musings. 

      The mountains are breathtaking in their sturdy presence, a backdrop to birds and soft sounds quietly caroling the arrival of Christmas Eve; as moss-covered stones, glistening white bark, inky red berries, and evergreens, still rooted deep in the earth, chime in to punctuate my Winter’s Walk.  A symphony of nature, to ground our hearts and souls and bodies in this present moment, of Christmas 2019, of Christmas, come again and circling to a clear awakening of 2020 vision. Let our hearts be glad, our souls be merry, our minds released to allow peace and a frolicking sense of mirth and perhaps even a bit of mischief. Joy, oh joy!  Let it reign, for Christmas has come again to lighten our darkness, so we may see our world and ourselves as we truly are, and to shine a light on a pathway forward. 

Merry, Happy, Joyful Christmas to All 

My Second Act (and 3rd, and 4th, and) - September 2019

It has been a busy fall with preparations for bike rides, and opening night at Palette Home in Richmond for 'CHOOSE JOY:  POEMS & PAINTINGS', the joint art/poetry show in which my friend, artist Mary Kathryn Woodward, and I paired my poems with her original paintings.  We couldn't be more thrilled or grateful for the tremendous support from EVERYONE!  The paintings and accompanying poems will be hanging for the month of October, and my poetry books (3rd act!) will be available for purchase; so please stop by or peruse the selection online.  Read the interview with Mary Kathryn and me for the Palette blog here. We answered these blind and it is amazing how similar our answers were!

Anne and Mary Kathryn at Palette Home

If you have enjoyed our bike excursions, or simply ridden along in your mind, I think you will find that her paintings and my poems capture the essence of how nature can make us feel more joyful and more alive.  This is one of THE MAIN REASONS my second act (after a 22-year career in the field of Institutional Fixed Income Sales) as Founder of BASKET & BIKE thrills me each and every time I hear someone exclaim how much they've needed the pause we provide on our bike excursions and picnic rides. 

THANK YOU TO BRENDA PARKS HUGHES FOR CAPTURING MY SECOND ACT!
www.acttwostories.com

To tell you a little more about my shift from the corporate world to a small business entrepreneur, I invite you to watch this YouTube video, by former Richmond news reporter, Brenda Parks Hughes.  Now a North Carolinian, Brenda has created a beautiful YouTube Series called actTWO Stories:  Reinventing the second act of life.  From Erica Julien who took up fencing at age 66, to Roscoe Friday, Jr, who traded a real estate license for a police beat, Brenda wants to introduce you to folks who have reinvented their lives in the hopes it will help you reinvent yours.  Brenda and her friend Nancy came on our Signature Ride this past summer, and Brenda brought along her camera and microphone to capture my actTWO!  I am honored to have spent the day with these women and to have my story shared in the hopes it may inspire someone else who is questioning joy in work.  It is out there!  Just watch the video here.  And be sure to sign up for more of Brenda's stories.

With Love from Virginia, Anne

GET CLOSE TO THE EARTH - EARTH DAY 2019

Today is Earth Day.  Every single living thing needs the Earth.  For us, breathing clean air, and walking with bare feet upon the earth opens us up to healing properties inherent in its core.  Mindfully, the earth is an energetic being that suffuses us with vitality and continual rebirth when we are in connection with it. From Fields of Study - Minerals Under Your Feet - 

"Minerals aren’t just objects we collect and use in our lives for healing but they are literally within the earth on which we walk. Throughout history, sacred sites as well as some cities have been constructed on top of earth and rock that have a high level of certain minerals. Our ancestors knew how to tune into the landscape and the vibration of the earth, and harness the power of the land."  

If we begin locally, at home, where a love of Earth can blossom and flourish, we are actually making a global impact and improving the health of ourselves and the planet.  Here are six simple things you can do today that will really make a difference:

1. Plant a tree

2. Don't flush pharmaceuticals down the toilet

3. Stop using pesticides on your lawn, let the violets grow!

4. Turn off your car when idling for longer than 10 seconds

5. Take a leisure walk or bike ride, noticing nature, breathing fully

6. Teach a child to explore a small corner of your world

Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods:  Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, comments on the benefits of regular exploration of a small, local area. 

"The dugout in the weeds or leaves beneath a backyard willow, the rivulet of a seasonal creek, even the ditch between a front yard and the road --- all of these places are entire universes to a young child."   

This was certainly the case for me in Sanford, North Carolina, on Hermitage Road where we DID have a ditch running between our front yard and the road.  It would flood up to the foundation during heavy rains.  It was the place I explored with my childhood friends, and my father and I would discuss our Pooh and Piglet sightings. 

Further, Louv recommends, we go to these places regularly, to watch life, and wait.  He reminds readers of the Native American saying, "It is better to know one mountain than to climb many."   Author Louv will be a guest in Richmond next week at Words & Wisdom, a book and author event put on by the Senior Board of Children's Hospital Foundation, titled "A Nature-Rich Life".   Tickets are still available if you hop quickly and call the Foundation at 804-228-5827. 

On Earth Day I leave you with a link to that National Geographic Kids Article - 5 Reasons Why You Should Love the Earth,these six simple things you can do, and a wish. 

Let today be the first day of the rest of your life with a new devotion to honoring and protecting the intrinsic synergies we have with our planet Earth. 

50 Years of L O V E - JULY 2019

In 1969 Virginia Tourism introduced the iconic “Virginia is for Lovers” campaign. Born during the era of Woodstock, free love, and justice, this slogan has stood the test of time, and 50 years later become a symbol for inclusion and welcome. Virginia, as a tourist destination, has become the place for LOVE; and lovers of all manner of people, places, and passions.   Drive by any welcome center (or other public space) and you will see LOVE signs, decorated to represent what there is to love about a particular region in Virginia, like this nod to pollinators at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens.

LOVE sign at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens

At Basket & Bike we are BIG lovers of Virginia, of leisurely bike rides along her pastoral paths and down her artful avenues. We love nature, picnics, and Virginia wine.  So when my 50th Birthday rolled around on July 28, I knew summer was the perfect time for Basket & Bike to align with Virginia Tourism to celebrate 50 Years of LOVE and announce a pretty spectacular promotion! Keep reading to find out more.

These photos below are from my 50th Birthday “Palate Picnic” this past Sunday at Upper Shirley Vineyards. Good friends Beth Norfleet and Mary Yvonne Faulkner, owners of Palate Picnics with whom we craft our custom Picnic Rides, along with dear friend Mary Kathryn Woodward and my friends at Upper Shirley, treated me to a 50th Birthday Picnic along the banks of the James River.  It was beautiful, peaceful, and relaxing.  What a special day and one I will always treasure. Look at those fun favors and decorations, including the African Black Soap from Afram Stone, friend Mavis Asare's local business, for all our guests.

Upon hearing the Virginia is for Lovers slogan would be 50 years old in 2019 I wanted to do something big to keep the party going. I’ve always liked that I was born the summer of 1969.  It felt cool to be born eight days after the lunar landing; to be the youngest of five with two much older “hippie brothers” strumming their guitars and my sister, eighteen years my senior, wearing bell bottoms and platform shoes. Their music was my music, and they were my icons.

So with a big thank you to them and to my mom for all the wonderful birthday parties she threw for me, I’m celebrating my 50th birthday and the Virginia is for Lovers 50th Anniversary by offering 50 days of specials with Basket & Bike excursions. From August 1 through the first day of fall, September 20, book our Signature Ride at Upper Shirley Vineyards or our Discover Downtown Richmond Tour for just $50pp. Use code “50love” to experience a leisurely day on a “bike with a basket” and rekindle your love for Virginia and the lessons she shares. Learn about the cultures, from our indigenous ancestors to the countless other people who have found love on these shores, and hear about a river that continues to echo with promise and renewal. Join us and Ride • Savor • Connect along the Virginia Capital Trail, with a snack in your basket, the freedom of the bike in your legs, the promise of Upper Shirley wine at the finish, and sing a big old HAPPY BIRTHDAY to LOVE.  

“I have decided to stick to love...Hate is too great a burden to bear.” ...Martin Luther King, Jr

To celebrate 50 Years of LOVE, Virginia Tourism is offering specials and events all year long. You can tap into any of them by checking out the calendar of events here. We live in a social media culture where its easy to share a heart icon but the essence of true LOVE for all mankind, for kindness, decency and a devotion to doing our part for a better world requires us to take up our own little corner of the tapestry and weave a bit of connection.

Use ‘50love’ for $50 Excursions this weekend, and through September 20, when you book our signature ride, discover downtown RVA, or full day bike rentals on www.basketandbike.com

With love from Virginia,

Anne

PS For $50 off a custom Picnic Ride like my 50th Birthday Picnic at Upper Shirley contact us and say 50Love before September 20!

Birthday Cookie on James River Map napkin from the Palate Picnics