Belle Mount Vineyards Rep Says Northern Neck Wineries Not Worth Our Time

While we were at the incredibly boring wine festival in Kilmarnock, we had a chance to talk to one of the reps for the Belle Mount Vineyards who was very convincing that the Northern Neck Wineries were not worth our time. We believe him as far as Belle Mount goes then. He claimed to speak with reasonable authority for the other winery owners in the Northern Neck as well. Well, there we do not believe him.

We had a two fold purpose for visiting Kilmarnock today. One was to check out how the area puts on events, which didn't even hit lackluster, and to stir up some interest on our upcoming project of an on line driving tour of wineries. Here is the great thing about our on line tour, it costs the owners nothing but some of their time to allow us to photograph their winery and also to give us some history and background about the winery. We designed a flyer to hand out in order to start the interest. Well we never made it past Belle Mount as the rep was not capable of listening to us and and could not see past one part of our flyer. He proved to not be worth our time. The event was not worth our time as it was a major disappointment.

So instead of talking to the few other wineries that were at the event, we just left in disgust. So now we will contact the other wineries of the Northern Neck and see if they are interested in free promotions and if they want to be included in our tour listings. Belle Mount will not be on our list from this point forward.

Kilmarnock Wine Festival, Boring Times

We decided to take a small trip over to the Kilmarnock Wine Festival today, June 27th, 2009. It was truly a very boring event. Hardly anyone there on either the vendor side or the customer side. If you were not aware of this event, there was no loss in that. We've seen several events held in Kilmarnock and let's say this one was right up there with the rest. Kilmarnock is a pretty area, but their events are not worth the time of day.

Historic St Luke's Church, English Chamber Organ

We have created another slide show. This one is about an incredible English Chamber Organ from the 17th century. This particular piece is housed at the Historic St Luke's Church in Smithfield, Virginia. This organ still works but has less than 100 plays left to it. It takes 3 people to play this piece. Historic St Luke's is trying to raise about $64,000.00 for the restoration and replication of this organ. We are asking those of you who can afford to make contributions to the fund to please do so. To learn more about the English chamber organ and where to send your much needed donations please CLICK HERE for the link.

If you send a donation to them and send us a copy of the receipt showing proof of the donation, we will send you a full size picture file of the organ that you can use to print out or take to a photo lab and have a picture printed to a size up to 16 by 20 inch prints. We maintain the copyright to the work, but we are allowing this with a proven donation to Historic St Luke's church. Thank you.

Kalmar Nyckel Exclusive Photo Shoot

Here is a slide show of some of the pictures we took of and on board the Kalmar Nyckel. The ship is incredible at every level. We will have a web site up soon featuring all the pictures we took. In the mean time, enjoy.

White Cloud Yacht Slide Show Exclusive

While we were in Yorktown last weekend, June 20th, 2009, we had permission to shoot this ship up close. Here are the photos for everyone to enjoy.

7th Virginia Regiment, Pictures From May 30th Event

Here are a number of pictures from the May 30th event of the 7th Virginia Regiment while they were at the Historic Court House Circle. If you missed them while they were here in Gloucester, there is another opportunity to catch them on the 4th of July in Yorktown. They will be spending the day there doing their live encampment interpretations for everyone. They do a fantastic job, so be sure to take some time and to meet them.

The White Cloud Boat, 69th Largest Yacht In The World, Across From Gloucester Point Beach Today

The White Cloud could be seen from the Gloucester Point Beach today, June 20th, 2009. She is the 69th largest yacht in the world as listed by Power and Motor Yachts. Click Here to view the report. She was previously owned by a Dutchman who liked to sail her around the world. She is now American owned and equally sailed around the world by her new owner.

We had a chance to do an extensive photo shoot and we will bring the pictures to you as soon as we are done processing them all. She is a beauty in every sense of the word. True elegance throughout.

Hampton Blackbeard Festival Web Site Is Now Up

We promised to bring you an update when we had our new site up for the Hampton Blackbeard Festival. Well it's now up and ready for viewing. Though it is not yet complete, it has over 100 pictures, 24 videos including music videos, and plenty of links. We took over 600 pictures and over 30 videos and we are still working on getting through it all. The site will continue to expand over the next few weeks, but please take the time to start viewing it now. There is a lot to see on the new site. CLICK HERE to go to the new site now.

Uncle Sam Picture, A Global Hit

While we were in Yorktown Virginia during the Memorial Day services, there was a very nice gentleman dressed as Uncle Sam, an American Icon figure. Since we posted pictures of him on some of our sites, we have been getting hits from all over the world of people interested in seeing this photo. Though this is not new to us, it does tell a story of world interest in Americanism, patriotism, democracy and our way of life. The United States is still viewed as the world leader in many areas. Chuck Thompson and TTC Media handles a lot of American history and media that attracts a lot of international attention. We put one of our photos from the Battle of the Hook into the public domain about 6 months ago and it has since been distributed to the world in 365 different languages and gets rave reviews.

It seems easy to be down in the dumps during these economic tough times, this is why it is important to realize that despite these tough times, there is still plenty of rainbows that we should all be proud of as the United States of America is comprised of all of us here in this country. It is not our Government, it is "We The People". Remember, it was our forefathers that said no to repression. It is the true heart of American Spirit. Americans have always overcome the obstacles put before us. So even though we are going through tough times, it is the American Spirit that will get us out of it all.