Active Rain/Tomato Blog

Virginia and I have been in Southern California since Thanksgiving Day spending a long holiday with our daughter, Taite.  We did our fair share of sight seeing on Friday, taking in the sights in Corona del Mar, Newport and Laguna. It was especially fun since Taite has just gotten her real estate ...

Well, I’ve been making my list and checking it twice and the answer is always the same - books are at the top of our list for holiday giving.  Who says you can’t sell real estate and read at the same time?!? Over the next few weeks, I thought I would share a number of our favorites, in several di...

Tomorrow an Alexandria temple and an Alexandria church will share a Thanksgiving service - just as they have done for at least 30 years.  Temple Beth El and Christ Church Alexandria, once neighbors on Washington St., celebrate each November with a service of remembrance and thanks followed by a r...

Ok, so you've done your annual fireplace inspection and now you're ready to buy firewood.  Follow these smart woodburning tips for a great, crackling fire1) Always check your source.  Buy your firewood by the cord or rick instead of a whole truckload and you'll get exactly what you pay for.  A st...

Just four days from Thanksgiving we still have hydrangeas blooming in our front yard - the last flowers of fall.  But now, instead of pale blues and pinks, the colors mirror the surrounding trees.  We'll cut some this afternoon and enjoy their dried beauty long into winter. The Last Flowers of Fall

Today we said goodbye to Mr. Mac, our 20 year old 20 lb orange red mountain lion of a cat.  We were not Mac's first family but we were his last and nobody loved him better. Mac came to us after losing his original homeowner to cancer.  He made a brief stop at my brothers but another, far less man...

Winter is fast approaching and there are six things to check before you cozy up to the fire.  It's not particularly glamorous or fun but there are definitely things that you need to check out on a yearly basis before you even begin to think about chestnuts roasting on an open fire . . . . Spring ...

October 2009 home sales in Alexandria's Old Town neighborhood show identical DOM (days of market) as in October 2008 and an increase of one in the number of sales. The exciting news is that the average sold price shows an 8.8 percent increase from $611,462 in October 2008 to $670,236 in October 2...

Joy Jackson, a Maryland woman who stole millions from area homeowners in a rogue mortgage swindle has been sentenced to a 12 prison term.  Operating out of Lanham, MD, Jackson's scheme touched hundreds of vulnerable homeowners in Northern Virginia, the District and Maryland. The Metropolitan Mone...

Blogging the frugal life style does not belong only to the "experts."  Indeed, individuals in Alexandria and Northern Virginia are contributing to the blogging landscape with a wide variety of offerings on how to survive - and thrive - in what some have called "lifestyle deflation." Some of the b...