I went to Winchester and all I brought you was this firescreen

Our long weekend in Winchester, Va. turned out pretty nice. We mostly hit the big historical sites, places like Abram's Delight (built in 1754, it's the oldest standing home in the town), an office George Washington used when he worked as a surveyor for Lord Fairfax, and a home Stonewall Jackson used as a HQ for a few months during the Civil War. But probably out of all the places we visited, my favorite was probably the Handley Library, the main library for the city.

I like where I work, but this place just feels like a library. You can't help but want to read when you walk in and start moving through the stacks of a beautiful historic building like this one.

But by far the highlight for the weekend was really the night of the 4th. It was raining off and on most of the afternoon and into the night, so we decided to skip out on the concert with Survivor taking place at a park just outside of town. We went to the downtown area searching for a good place to eat and found a nice---and pretty cheap---Thai place. Afterwards, walking back to our car we came across a small concert in the town square featuring a Bluegrass/jazz quartet. During an intermission they handed out door prizes donated by area businesses and somehow I won this firescreen.

I guess this was the grand prize, because the other two prizes were a gift certificate for a local eatery and a road atlas. I'll probably give this to my mom, since I don't have a fireplace of my own. If she doesn't want it maybe I'll sell it on ebay and donate the money to charity.

Excelsior