Richmond, Virginia

June 5th to the 6th

Richmond, Virginia.
I called up Norie Burnet from my US Servas book. Bob Luitweiler initiated US Servas in 1948. He was a conscientious objector, and believed we could bring peace, learn, and share with other people by meeting them in their home. I decided to become a member of US Servas on my travels across country for that exact reason Bob describes, to learn about different places through the people who actually live in the towns. So when I looked up in my book of where to stay next, I was attracted to Norie’s information, it said, "peaceful woodland home surrounded by trails and gardens, paint watercolors, love plants, and people." I left a message describing who I was and Norie called right back, said that it would be all right to stay with her. A few driving hours later, leaving behind the small town of Luray, the Shenandoah River, and the Appalachian mountains, I arrived to her beautiful home in Richmond. Norie opened the door and said, hey, lets go to the Museum of Modern Art, there is a good show, new paintings just added to the museums collections, Impressionists paintings. So we left Lucha in her screened in cedar gazebo out back and went to the Museum. We had a wonderful time sharing stories and looking at art. She gave me a tour through the historical parts of Richmond, I met one of her four sons, shared wonderful meals, and the best was a grand tour of her amazing and famous moss garden. Norie has been written up in many garden magazines for, what she calls her, Garden of Eden, famous for it’s variety of mosses that flow gently like water through the garden. It was so refreshing and inspiring to spend time with Norie. She was like an instant new friend, we had so much to share with each other. It was a little hard to leave the next morning. I took one last glance at her garden noticing the suns rays shining magically throughout the nooks and crannies illuminating the magic and wonder of Norie’s Eden; feeling safe, loved and nurtured I was ready to drive on to my next adventure.