This 'n that on a Friday night

The jousting tournament is this weekend at Natural Chimneys in northwest Augusta County. It's fun to take in the ambiance and watch the modern-day jousters with the backdrop of the North River and the decades-old natural chimneys. Damsels and knights will roam the Shenandoah Valley this weekend....

It's the 3rd annual Wine and Jazz Festival this weekend at the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton. Saturday's fun is doubled in the surroundings of Ireland, England, Germany, Western Africa, and pioneer America in the central Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

Sinkhole repairs continue in western Augusta County in the spring of 2011 where there have been sinkholes on I-81, Rt. 250 west of Staunton, Rt. 254, and back roads.

The Score radio program hosted by colleague Norm Leahy interviewed fellow blogger Jim Bacon on tonight's show. Bearing Drift colleague and boss Jim Hoeft was also part of the program.

As a home school mom who spent 16 years educating my children at home, I suggest you will enjoy this article about the world's 15 most extraordinary home schoolers. Note that #3 is Francis Collins from right here in Staunton. The article said:

Francis Collins is best known for his leadership of the Human Genome Project, which completed a genetic map of the entire human genome in 2003. Collins grew up on a farm in rural Virginia, where he was homeschooled until the sixth grade. An outspoken Evangelical Christian, Collins published The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief in 2006, arguing for the compatibility of science and Christian faith. In 2007 Collins formed the BioLogos Foundation to ”contribute to the public voice that represents the harmony of science and faith.” President Barack Obama nominated Collins to the position of Director of the National Institutes of Health in 2009. Collins accepted the nomination and was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

What a legacy....

Former President George W. Bush will host the "Warrior Open," a golf tournament in October for U.S. military members wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. My respect for this man continues to grow even as the years pass since he left the White House....

The exhibit "Jed Hotchkiss, Valley Mapmaker," will be on display at Staunton's R.R. Smith Center for History & Art's History Gallery through December 31, 2011. If you know nothing about this fascinating right-hand man to Confederate General Stonewall Jackson, you must make time to visit the museum to see the exhibit. The Hotchkiss house is located on East Beverley Street in downtown Staunton. My husband is reading a book right now about Jedediah Hotchkiss that he bought at the Green Valley Bookfair ... a book full of the mapmaker's amazingly accurate maps of the Valley compiled during the Civil War....