So We Headed South,

my driver, HM* (Husband of Mine, aka His Majesty) and I.

Now that we have returned from the warmth of the south it seems but a dream.  I am back to the harshness of ice and snow and bitter cold.  But I've got photos to prove my existence (you know, Viewer Dear, my presence) in southern climes.

Here to begin:
Virginia.  This segment of the journey began with a funeral (of a cousin of mine) in the very area where I was born and raised.  Though it was a sad event, there were good aspects:

I got to see my Sis Shish
and the guy with whom she's been living for more than a half-century.

He's the one who taught his dog, Ernie, to shut the door after he comes into the house.




I got to see my Dear Old Neighbor Man (Also named Ernie, but not named after the dog) and the dear neighbor woman, Ruth Ann, with whom he's been living for at least seventy years. (I'd like to keep upping the years and the lengthy relationships; but, Reader Dear, I think this one wins the prize!) 
















I got to see the river, the beloved river!

I got to see my dear LTF and her mother. I got to see the photos that still hang on the wall at 535 Kerry Lake Drive, where they've hung throughout most of our history (history of the one pictured there in the upper left, and mine).

At the funeral, too, there were additional dear ones to see.  

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But, ultimately, the HM and I, we were headed for a warmer spot.

We crossed the Mattaponi River (formed by four small rivers: the Mat and Ta which form the Matta River, and the Po and the Ni which form the Poni.  It seems quite superfluous, Reader Dear,  to explain that where the Matta and the Poni converge, you have the Mattaponi***

We bypassed the hundred-and-some-year-old paper mills of West point, Virginia, as the sun was setting.

We spent the night in Richmond, Virginia,

The following night we were in Summerville, South Carolina,
where the warmth of the weather permitted us to enjoy an outdoor supper at a sidewalk table!
I chortled! I rhapsodized!

I verified that south was the proper direction to be headed!

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*Thought by some to be a more deserved, dignified, and downright decorous title than the formerly used title of Yard Man]),.

***You're welcome, Dear Reader, for this small lesson entitled The Mattaponi River: It was named by Native Americans before there was a State of Virginia, or even, possibly,  a United States of America, for that matter.  It's one that has fascinated me since I was a child.