Cooperative Living October 2016 - 6

Mailbag
'OLD RAG' ESSAY A REAL TREAT
FOR READER
Wow, what a treat it was for me to read
the essay by Deirdre Conroy on Old Rag
Mountain in the September issue. It's
no wonder she won your contest. Her
words flow from her
pen onto the page
with such beauty
that she captured
me from the
moment I began to
read her story.
Every single
sentence captivated
me and I couldn't
put it down until
the end. There
was one thing,
however, that I
didn't care for - it ended!
Thank you Dierdre, for your talent and
thank you, Cooperative Living, and my
co-op, Community Electric, for having a
contest to bring out the talent of such
wonderful young people.
- Cathie Stewart, Suffolk
THANKS FOR THE MAGAZINE
I so enjoy getting your magazine. It's
" worth every penny in gold, " to quote an
old-fashioned saying.
I especially enjoy the stories about the
different towns all over Virginia.
I learn new facts and ideas from the
magazine each issue, and I particularly
enjoy the reader recipes, also.
So I thank everyone involved in doing
the magazine. Keep up the good work, and
thanks so much!
- Barbara Utterback, Triangle
WhatzIt?
Make your best guess at this photo of a
familiar but unidentified object. Send it in
writing with your name, address and phone
number to WhatzIt?, c/o Cooperat ive Living,
P.O. Box 2340, Glen Allen, VA 23058-2340; or
guess online at www.co-opliving.com under
" Contests. " Dead line for entries is Oct. 14. All
correct entries will be put into a drawing and a
winner announced in the January 2017 issue.
The winner will re ceive a check for $25. n
4 | Cooperative Living | October 2016
SAY CHEESE ALWAYS
BRINGS A SMILE TO
READER'S FACE
One of the first things I do
NOTE
EMAIL
WRITE US!
when I open the magazine is
look for the Say Cheese page!
It always brings a smile to my
face. I've sent copies of it to a
friend of mine in assisted living
in Richmond and she
says it always cheers her
up to see that page!
- Elizabeth J. Cullinane, Winchester
MORE CLARIFICATION ON
UPCOMING GENERAL ELECTION
Some versions of the August
edition of Cooperative Living
published information about absentee
voting for the Nov. 8 general election.
A letter in the September Mailbag
corrected some of the information in
the August article; however, further
explanation is in order.
Absentee voting for the Nov. 8 general
election began on Friday, Sept. 23.
There are two ways to vote absentee: in
person, or, by mail.
To cast an absentee ballot in person,
go to your local voter registration office
on or after Sept. 23 and request to vote
absentee in person. Be certain to have a
current photo ID with you. After
confirming that your registration is valid,
you will be given an absentee ballot
application. After completing the
application, you can vote on the spot,
either by paper ballot or electronic ballot,
depending on the voting system used in
your municipality. The deadline for
in-person absentee voting is 5 p.m.,
Saturday, Nov. 5. Registrar offices will be
open that Saturday to accommodate
ADDRESS
We want to hear from you - comments,
opinions, suggestions. Your letter must be
signed and legible. We reserve the right to edit for
grammar, style and length, with a 250-word maximum
for acceptance. Write: MAILBAG, P.O. Box 2340, Glen
Allen, VA 23058-2340; or email mailbag@co-opliving.com.
Please include your name and city/town of residence, with
Mailbag as the subject.
in-person absentee voting.
If you want to vote absentee by mail, the
deadline to submit a mail-in application is
5 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 1. This deadline is
necessary to give the registrar time to mail
the absentee ballot and associated material
to you and for you to complete the mail-in
ballot and return it to the registrar. Your
mail-in ballot must be received by the
General Registrar by the time the polls
close on Election Day, 7 p.m., Tuesday,
Nov. 8.
The 5 p.m. Nov. 1 deadline referred to
in the August Cooperative Living is the
deadline for applying for a mail-in ballot,
not the deadline for submitting a mail-in
absentee ballot.
To summarize:
* Last day to register to vote in the Nov. 8
general election: Oct. 17.
* Absentee voting began: Sept. 23.
* Last day to apply for a by-mail absentee
ballot: Nov. 1.
* Last day to cast an in-person absentee
ballot: Nov. 5.
* Election Day: Nov. 8, 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
If you are concerned that you will not
be able to go to the polls on Election Day,
Nov. 8, or, if you have any other question
The August
WhatzIt? was
human hair and
reader Darinka
Cruz of Dale
City was our
$25 winner.
Congratulations,
Darinka!
 DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS?
www.co-opliving.com
That Old Mountain
by Deirdre Conroy
There is a melancholy in the fields of
the Virginia countryside in the morning,
a feeling almost bittersweet in its
familiar ache.
As the cover of night inches away, the
grass changes from an aqua back into
deep green as the sun burns off the
morning fog.
It must have been around 4 a.m.
when we set off, coffee mugs clutched
in our palms, trying to slow the early
October chill from sucking all of the
feeling out of our fingers. The car ride
began sleepily, heads supported by
spaghetti-weak forearms, but gradually
we grew more buoyant and excited as
we flew down empty stretches of
highway. We howled into the milky
morning sky.
Part of me always longs for the
beauty of twilight to stay, although my
love for the richness of the morning
coloring in autumn battles that longing.
The contrast between the spiraling
reds off the trees against the stark,
dewy green of the grass is enough to
make one blink to steady the focus,
and swoon in the vibrancy of the lateyear
shades.
We set off into the dark. I imagined
how we looked from a distance - the
little orbs of light from our headlamps
bobbing away into the trees. As it was
my first time up this particular trail, we
were careful as we picked our way
16 | Cooperative Living | September 2016
among the boulders. There was a
quiet in the woods, a feeling that we
were up even before the birds. I
struggled between staring up to the
glowing pinpoints of stars in the sky,
seeing them as a map of sorts through
the darkened woods, and watching
my footing along the technical singletrack
path.
Peaceful
Morning
Hike
There is a unique peace and
stillness earned by an early morning
hike, different from the regular hustle
and bustle of the forest by daylight. In
the rosy dim, we reverted into a
primitive, natural state of movement.
Instead of words, we used body
language to communicate twists in
the trail. The only thing to break our
focus was the steady crunch of leather
boots on the gravel underfoot.
I had thought getting up quite that
early would be a rough start, but the
movement in the crisp air had a
feeling of rightness to it. My mind felt
sharp, my legs strong, the weight of
my pack nonexistent. We followed
one switchback after another, until my
heart rapped against my ribcage.
We stopped to catch our breath at
a small, unassuming break in the
trees, only to be astounded by the
view in front of us. It was a ruddy,
gorgeous impressionist painting
smeared across the backdrop of the
Blue Ridge Mountains. In that
moment, I could truly imagine their
magnitude in the years when they
gave the Himalayas a run for their
money. I could sense the amazement
of the first Anglo settlers setting
eyes on these mountains for the first
time. I could see the history of
Appalachia steeped in the folds of
their ridgelines.
www.co-opliving.com
PHOTOS COURTESY OF SHENANDOAH NATIONAL PARK
http://www.co-opliving.com http://www.co-opliving.com http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living October 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cooperative Living October 2016
