Big Island, VA

In Bedford, Virginia this weekend you will see a lot of flags on display as we honor and remember the men and women who fought for our freedom. There will be many events in Smith Mountain Lake and the surrounding areas, but here are a few you may not want to miss!

Wreath Ceremony Memorial Day

At the National D-Day Memorial, they will be holding a "Remembering Their Sacrifice" ceremony. There will be free admission from 10 am until noon with the laying of the wreath beginning at 11am. This is all leads up to the 66^th Anniversary of D-Day on June 6^th. There will be tours throughout the day. In the evening, the Memorial will remain open with a special nighttime illumination honoring the sacrifice that was laid down in Normandy 66 years ago and to give tribute to the veterans who survived.

Event Leading To Memorial Day

Of course Memorial Day means lots of backyard barbeques and fun activities! If you are looking for some great food and a good time don't miss the Second Annual Crawfish Festival at the Bower Center! The festival begins at 5:30pm on May 29^th. At last year's event, festival goers downed over 1200 pounds of crawfish, gumbo and crawfish eutoffee with red beans and rice! Come and enjoy Cajun music, Zydeco and the blues!

Another great way to start out summer is with some amazing strawberries! You can enjoy these sweet treats at the Scott Strawberry Festival at Scott's Strawberry Farm in Moneta. Rain or shine the event will be held! There will art and craft vendors, food, music and the guest of honor: strawberries!!

Bedford has a rich history. If you want to reside where history lives, call Vicki Millehan! She is your local real estate expert! If a lakefront home is more what you dream of, ask her about the great properties available on Smith Mountain Lake!

For the first time in months, I really believed that Spring is on it's way. I've been stuck exercising, doing some business, but mostly inside after recovering from knee replacement surgery in late November and taking a step backwards after exercising too much.

For those of you who don't know our area of Central Virginia, we are very close to the Blue Ridge Parkway, park of the National Park System, a road that runs through Virginia into North Carolina. We live only 20 minutes from the parkway. It is a beautiful area all of you have to come visit someday! We love it here and never tire of the area! And in fact, the Peaks and lake are part of my picture I use on this page.

The Blue Ridge Parkway is a gorgeous stretch of narrow road with gorgeous mountain views, places to stop and views from overlooks looking out into the valleys below. Close to us is a lodge with rustic restaurant, Peaks of Otter Lodge, overlooking a lake and mountain, Sharp Top.

The lake was constructed with WPA money during the last major depression.

We have mountain views from our house in Goode and never tire of the views.

For the first time since my surgery, we hiked around the lake to see if I could do it. We used to love to do this with our two dogs, who both died this past year, both 14 years old. We miss them terribly!

The topography is not terribly steep, but you have to climb over roots and up and down some hills.

I finally feel like a new woman. I made the climb easily and finally feel like I am 80% back to better than normal.

Spring has really come this week in more ways than I can imagine and I am uplifted. FINALLY!

Norma Brandsberg, GRI Marks Realty Co., Inc 4119 Boonsboro Rd., Ste. 205 Lynchburg, VA 24503 home office(540) 586-9496 cell phone (434) 426-0837 toll free (800) 551-0975 norma@normasells.com

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