All posts by Eric Robert Nolan

Eric Robert Nolan graduated from Mary Washington College in 1994 with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. He spent several years a news reporter and editorial writer for the Culpeper Star Exponent in Culpeper, Virginia. His work has also appeared on the front pages of numerous newspapers in Virginia, including The Free Lance – Star and The Daily Progress. Eric entered the field of philanthropy in 1996, as a grant writer for nonprofit healthcare organizations. Eric’s poetry has been featured by Dead Beats Literary Blog, Dagda Publishing, The International War Veterans’ Poetry Archive, and elsewhere. His poetry will also be published by Illumen Magazine in its Spring 2014 issue.

Downtown Fredericksburg, Virginia, June 2017

My Fredricksbud declined my offer to bring him an Official City of Roanoke, Virginia, commemorative mug.  (You’d figure those things would be in higher demand.)  So I brought him a … fidget spinner!!!  There it is, below … fidgety-spinning, I guess.  All jokes aside?  The allure of these (surprisingly pricey) fad toys is entirely lost on me.  That thing entertained me for less than two minutes.  (And it is generally agreed upon that I have the mind of a child.)

 

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Falmouth Bridge heading west into downtown.

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George Street looking north to Caroline Street.

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Caroline Street.  I must say that the entire town looks far better than when I last spent a lot of time here in 1995.  There are more and better stores, and the downtown area even looks better maintained.  Of course, the mid-1990’s economy wasn’t doing so well.

Pictured below is Goolrick’s Drugs.

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The reopened Sammy T’s!

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Looking west up Hanover Street from Caroline Street.

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At Benny Vitali’s on Caroline Street.  The pizzas and individual slices there are twice the normal size.  It seems like a decent marketing device; how many Mary Washington College students wouldn’t want to order a giant pizza?  The pizza is cheap and damned good too.

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A mural on Sophia Street.

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The corner of William Street and Princess Anne Street, heading west.

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The Confederate Cemetery (and Fredericksburg City Cemetery) as seen from Washington Avenue.  My apologies for including this — for some reason, I’ve always really liked speeding car shots.

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Actual quote from my Roanoke landlord:

Actual quote from my Roanoke landlord:

“Erik’s not from around here. You might be able to tell that.”

Was it my accent?  The fact that I was commenting on how beautiful the mountain sunsets are?  (I gather lifelong residents might be less inclined to make that slightly touristy observation.)

When I shared the above on Facebook, my BritBud up in NoVa commented, “I hear ya.”

 

Route 3 East through Spotsylvania County, VA, June 2017

I hate to say it, but what you see below is now the last nice looking stretch of Route 3 East toward Fredericksburg.  It’s as though New York has come to Central Virginia, but not in a good way.  Just past this monument after Salem Church Road, there is a long, garish clutter of retail space that is typical of the “strip development” you would find on Long Island.

I’m honestly happy if the growth of Fredericksburg’s retail and service sectors have driven job growth.  (Hey, I used to live here.)

But it ain’t pretty.  I can’t help but wonder if the planning and zoning folks for Spotsylvania and Fredericksburg could have done a better job.

 

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“Gone But Not Forgotten,” John William Waterhouse, 1873

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A mountain in Southwest Virginia

Off I-81 North from Roanoke, maybe?  Or was it I-64 East?

Given my lifelong penchant for getting lost, I’m probably lucky I made it home to sit here struggling to remember …

 

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Throwback Thursday: the “WKRP in Cincinnati” theme song!

I didn’t watch “WKRP in Cincinnati” (1978 – 1982) when I was a kid; it was a show for adults.  I loved the theme song just as much as anyone else, though.

This was just meant as a catchy tune for the show’s opener — but it was such a cool and popular soft-rock number (performed by Steve Carlisle), that a full-length version was released as a singe in 1979.  It reached number 65 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart in 1982.

 

Cover to “Grendel: War Child” #7, Matt Wagner, 1992

Dark Horse Comics.

 

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A few quick words on the Season 3 premiere of “Fear the Walking Dead” (2017)

I’m going to go ahead and commit horror-nerd heresy here … at this point, I think I enjoy AMC’s “Fear the Walking Dead” more than “The Walking Dead.”  The characters feel more “real,” and the stories move far, far faster.

Last night’s first episode was a hell of a lot of creepy, disturbing, pathological fun — enough for me to give it a 9 out of 10.  And to make it a little cooler, we’ve got a couple of terrific “that guy” actors in supporting roles.  The first is “Band of Brothers” and “24” alumnus Ross McCall, the second is “The Following’s” Sam Underwood.

Good stuff!

 

 

Cover for “Grendel: War Child” hardcover, Matt Wagner, 1993

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Random Rabbit Returns!

Hey, my neighborhood’s home-crashing hare is back!  I call him Random Rabbit because he has no burrow — he just randomly selects backyards to occupy.  He was my guest for a while, but then he ambled across the street and inhabited another backyard.  (I think he was annoyed by my picture-taking.)  I think he just crashes random residences like a big, weird, puffy white houseguest.  (Think Kato Kaelin.)

Roanoke’s ecosystem puzzles me.  This is a slow, truly torpid prey animal who seems to have little healthy apprehension about other animals.  He’s doing just fine, though.  A nearby pit bull usually just gives him a wary stare … maybe dogs and cats are afraid of him because he’s so huge?  This picture doesn’t do him justice — he’s the biggest rabbit I’ve ever seen.  He’s probably about the size of General Woundwort from “Watership Down.”

[Update, 6/5/17:] Okay now all my friends are telling me he is very likely an abandoned pet.  So I might start feeding him.  My pals are recommending “dandelions, lemon balm, and carrot tops.”

I myself am just relieved that other people can see him.  I was harboring a pet hypothesis that he was my equivalent of “Frank” from “Donnie Darko.”  (He’s almost as big.)

 

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