Friday, June 02, 2006

Firsts

Buy Fred's Book-Slow Road Home

A number of years ago I was doing research on Floyd County. We wanted to buy property there and I spent countless hours thinking up different ways of wording it in search engines. We never did get the land, although we came very close to buying a mountain..sigh. It was so beautiful.

The research was still worth all the time. I found so many beautiful things about Floyd and Virginia that I still like to think about. The best thing to come of my research was a little place called Fragments of Floyd. First of all, I'd never seen a blog before I saw his, so my first experience with the blog world set the standards pretty high. He is the quintessential blogger. Fred is a writer, photographer, husband, father, grandfather, lover of canine, lover of nature; an artist at life. He does life really well. He LIVES.

He has written a book which is really an extension of his blogging. It's sort of..."Moveable Fragments." Fred First is the author, if I didn't say so already. Fred has a way of expressing his soul. When you read his words, you think "yeah...yeahh..YES! that's it exacty." He gently persuades you that there could be nothing more important in life than lying on your back in the tall grass watching a hawk making circles over the mountains.

I guess you may have noticed that I am a big fan. I am. I think he's a wonderful writer; exactly the type of writer I just love. I also think he's a wonderful person. He talked to people in his church (a realtor) for me, a complete stranger, to help us try to find land. He found out what he could about property near him for us. Oh, to live on Goose Creek. When I decided to try my hand at blogging, he was the first person to comment on my blog and he did so immediately upon learning that I'd started it.

While I have not met Fred personally, he remains one of my favorite people. :)

If you get a chance, go to Fred's Blog and just enjoy his words. You can almost smell the Floyd County air. If you love it as much as I do..buy the book.

Tell him I said hi. :)

11 comments:

fred said...

Yo, Lisa! Thanks for the kind words, and I have a suspicion you will enjoy the book. Maybe I'll have a reading somewhere close enough you and the family can come. I do hope so!

Anonymous said...

What a lovely tribtute. I have bookmarked the site. I can't believe you were going to buy a mountain. How beautiful and wonderful. You could have a blog "Up on Lisa's Mountain". It's a shame you're not a Walton :o)

I keep laughing in rememberance at my mum with those firemen. You reminded me when you said how glad I must be that she is safe now. Tee-hee you'll have to read my reply to your comment to understand what I am blathering about. ta ta.

Lisa said...

Fred, I would love that. You'll have to be sure to let me know if that happens.

Sarah, You know Deb lives very near Walton's mountain. I'm a couple of hours away. Your comment made me giggle, as often happens. lol "Up on Lisa's Mountain." Yes, I will have to remember that. hehe

I'm off to read your reply....

Hulda said...

oh my! you are so lucky to know an author. :) I am shure he write lovely books. And thanks for all your comments on my last post. I really love it! You are so kind to me. :) The rain came this afternoon, and spoiled my plans of some gardening. I have to wait for tomorrow to hang the shelf on the wall.

Lisa said...

I enjoy your blog so very much! It is a pleasure to comment. I think I've done something wrong to my security settings, however, because sometimes when I'm trying to load your blog my computer freezes. :(

As they say in America "Bummer"...sorry you didn't get to garden or hang your pretty shelf. I've done some work today. I made a new cloth and put new (old) things on it near my front door. It is too dark to get a picture but the sun comes there in the evening, so maybe I can get one then.

I vacuumed the house and dusted a few surfaces (not all of them lol) so that I could enjoy sitting and sewing without guilt. :)

Cindi said...

Well, I just laughed about Walton's Mountain. My Daddy was born in Wyngina and grew up in Schyler. He knew the Hammond's. One of the sisters lives in Vinton. My oldest sister used to work with Jim at U.VA. Lisa you know Deb lives near my folks. They live in Lyndhurst, they have a farm. I grew up near where Deb lives.

Lisa said...

That's really neat, Cindi. I didn't realize that you grew up up there. I did know that "Erin" lives in Vinton. I used to know a really awesome site for Walton fans. Anyway, that's very cool!

Anonymous said...

Great description of Fred. He was my first introduction to blogging as well and he paved the way via inspiration for me to take on doing WVTF radio essays as well. We all grow better by way of eachother's help.

Lisa said...

That's wonderful. I'll have to keep an ear out for you on the radio.

Lisa said...

Oh, after responding to your post, I clicked on your profile...I am already a reader of your blog! I found you through Fred's blog ages ago and have commented a number of times. I'm so tickled you visited mine.

Anonymous said...

Lisa, I'm a regular reader of Fragments, too. Is that how you happened to find me? I can't remember how we actually met up in blogland?

I did some proofreading for his book. It was so interesting. He says things the way I think inside about them...but they just don't come out that way!

We're just gonna have to have a meeting of all the VA bloggers one day!