Thinking of snapping green beans and remembering my grandmother

By Lynn R. Mitchell

            Watercolor by Jill Pritchett

A friend posted this picture on Facebook today and a flood of memories washed over me as I looked at the flowery loose-fitting dress, the probably-handmade apron, and the weathered hard-working hands busy at work snapping green beans. I remembered sitting on my grandparents’ porch as a child with my grandmother, my mom, and often some of my aunts as they snapped or peeled or did whatever was necessary for whatever fruit or vegetable was in season.

“Many hands make for light work.”

The Twelve Days of Christmas … Day 1: Olde Richmond’s Christmas of yesteryear … Miller & Rhoads holiday windows and Legendary Santa

By Lynn R. Mitchell

How I do miss the department stores of downtown Richmond from years past. The Nordstrom and Macy’s of the day were Miller & Rhoads and Thalhimer’s, multi-story buildings that faced Broad and Grace Streets and sold clothing, toys, household items, and more.

Every year at Christmas, those stores became magical as they transformed into winter wonderlands, destinations for thousands of Virginia residents who traveled to Richmond to look in awe at animated displays inside the huge plate-glass windows, and visited inside for shopping, dining, or to visit Santa.