I am changing my blog host service

I am still blogging, for those of you interested. I added a bunch of Panama entries a couple of weeks ago, which finishes the Panama stuff, for now. I also added some entries from a tour of restored old homes in the Warrenton, NC area. I’ll be continuing to add entries from time to time and activity should pick up when we visit Greece.

I have decided to move blog hosting services from Posterous to WordPress.  The web addresses are similar, but if you are accustomed to going to the old Posterous site directly, I won’t be updating things there.  I have migrated my previous posts to the WordPress site, so they should be available in both places.

There will certainly be a learning curve as I get used to this site’s idiosyncrasies and I may play with the format (theme) to see if I can find one I like better.  One good aspect is that my spell checker is working on this site!

The new site address is:  donstravelblog.wordpress.com

One more Warrenton Home

This is one of the most beautiful homes on Main Street, Warrenton.   Many of the grand old homes here were built for summer usage by plantation owners in the area.  In order to keep them somewhat cool, many were build one room deep, allowing good cross ventalation.  So while the house looks enormous in our eyes, it is really just a wide one-room-deep building.  Still big, but not what you might imagine.

The walkwy to this house splits into symetrical paths lined by ancient boxwoods leading up to the front door.

The view from the front porch landing towards the street.

The trim molding is magnificient in this house as well.  Here in the dining room are two matching built-in units.  Both feature the same lines excpet that unit on the left unit has a door that leads to the master suite and the one on the right is all shelves and cabinets. It is a very beautiful room.

Here in the living room (parlor?) you can see the same features of the dining room room built-ins replicated here that showcase two sets of mirrors/lights/chests.

Straight through the foyer and out the back of the house is this incredible screened in porch.  Looking out over a nicely landscaped back yard, it is a peaceful and comfortable space.  I would be hard pressed to leave this place.

This home was donated to the Methodist Church (next door) and is used as the parsonage!  Now that’s nice digs.

Shady Grove – Magnificent Restoration

This is Shady Grove. The owner has done an incredible job of restoring this house. It is located a few miles outside of Warrenton, not far from Cherry Hill.  It was opened for viewing recently as part of special tour benefiting Preservation Warrenton.

This is the front room. Look (zoom in if you can) at the molding around the windows.  Truly amazing stuff.  Many years ago, when the original owners decided that they wanted to build a place in Warrenton, they removed all the molding for use in their new home in town!  When this structure was purchased by it’s current owner, is was a decrepit shell. The new owner tracked down the house in Warrenton where the molding had been moved, and got permission/samples of the old molding and had it reproduced for the restoration!  Below is a picture of the opposite corner of room where the molding dresses two adjacent doors.   When asked how long the restoration took, the owner, a retired elementary school principal, said that he bought the place in 1979 and has been working on it ever since!

For several years, early in the restoration, this room served as the workshop.  I imagine it was a great workshop, I would have hated to turn it into a living room. It has provided me some great ideas for building a shop at the lake.

Out the back door is a terrific brick patio. Though not a restoration of the original house plan, it is a wonderful space to enjoy the outdoors.  Luly is getting ideas here, too.  The grounds feature outbuildings rescued from other properties and an herb garden.

Historic Homes Tour – Warrenton

This is Cherry Hill, a historic home outside of Warrenton, NC, built around 1830.  They host concerts there, I think it’s more like piano recitals.  There is no concert room.  The grand piano is in the central hall and you just take a seat in one of several rooms decorated with period pieces, or one the stairs in the hall.  I haven’t been to one, but I imagine the ladies should wear hoop skirts.

Not sure how you could maneuver a hooped skirt in these rooms.

These front “windows” are actually doors that, when opened, provide a completely unobstructed connction to the great outdoors! Notice that the upper panes of glass do open.

Check out the front porch, I want one like this.

Leaving Sundowner Island and Bocas del Toro

We were up before light to leave in the little-boat-that-could for Bocas town and my flight home.  We were graced with a beautiful sunrise that started with a small fierce red glow in the east and ended with a glorious sky filled with drama and colors more intense than anything I think mankind has created.  Quite a send off and not something an iPhone camera can capture accurately.

After take off, we flew over Hospital Point, down Isla Solarte and past Frankie and Terry’s Sundowner Island.  Click on the photo to get the largest image you can.  You should see two bays off the main body of water.  The one on the right is Discovery Bay.  With several boats and rooftops visible, it is home to their good neighbors, Bill and Paula, and Mark and Deb. To the left of Deicovery Bay is Sundowner Bay. The lone vessel in that bay is Frankie and Terry’s sailboat.  Sundowner Island is the first half of that green clump to the left of the sailboat. They are close to Isla Solarte but on an island of their own.

Pretty flowers on Hospital Point

Here is a selection of cool flowers, all blooming at Hospital Point.  Greg told me what they were called, but, alas, I have forgotten their names. Enjoy their beauty and call them what you wish.

See the full gallery on Posterous

This is a fig tree

This is one ginormous fig tree. That is an actual, full scale Frankie standing next to it.

Holy Instant Cave, Batman!

These bats chew the central stalk of a Royal Palm frond to cause the sides to drop, forming a nice tent-like shelter. Who needs a damp, creepy cave when you can have a nice beachfront abode?  This one is at Hospital Point.

The Pineapple Crop

Frankie and Terry have been growing food on their island since they began settling it, and this is some of their latest crop of pineapples.

See the full gallery on Posterous

The little boat that could

This is Frankie and Terry’s boat.  It is the only one of its kind in Bocas town. The most popular kind of small boat is a panga.  Pangas are narrower, faster, “tippier,” and, most importantly to many people, fill up with water when it rains. Filling up with rain is not a good thing for boats. When that happens, the boats grow an affinity for the bottom of the sea! To keep this from happening, you have to have a battery powered, automatic bilge pump always at the ready.  These things have a bad habit of failing in an amazing number innovative ways.

Terry’s boat is a type called self-bailing. The floor of the boat is above the water line and there are actually holes in the stern of the boat that let the rain water drain out – Brilliant!  It was his father’s fishing boat and they had it packed into a shipping container in Florida and shipped to Bocas. It was not a FedEx job.

This little boat hauls a load, not fast, but steady.

This pic is from a trip that began at the dock by the good old Riptide floating bar.  Turns out, the local lumber yard will deliver materials and load them on your boat moored right by the Riptide. So, you order your materials, go have a beer, or two, and wait for the material to arrive.  Not bad.

This particular time, it was loaded with all the wooden siding for the the bodega, quite a load.  When we climbed aboard to head home there was about 8″ of water in the boat! Ack! Remember those holes in the stern, yea, the water goes both ways. Gas tanks were floating, batteries aswim.  The ever-calm one (that would be Terry, not Frankie) did not hesitate, in we climbed, several more hundred pounds of cargo. The little-boat-that-could stayed afloat and off we went, moving slow. Once the boat was moving forward, water can exit those holes in the stern and slowly that sinking feeling ebbed.