ZES ST T & Sty t lel
Country
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of NOTE
ZEST & Style ZES ST TStytlel &
Country
Personalities, Celebrations and Sporting Pursuits
for the hummingbird.
© 2021 Country ZEST & Style, LLC. Published six times a year
Distributed and mailed throughout the Virginia countryside and in Washington and at key Sporting Pursuits and Celebrations
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MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 798 Middleburg, Virginia 20118 PHONE: 410-570-8447 Editor: Leonard Shapiro, badgerlen@aol.com Art Director Meredith Hancock Hancock Media Contributing Photographers: Doug Gehlsen, Crowell Hadden, Sarah Huntington, Missy Janes Douglas Lees, Karen Monroe and Tiffany Dillon Keen
Contributing Writers: Daniela Anderson Emma Boyce Sean Clancy Philip Dudley Mike du Pont Carina Elgin Valerie Archibald Embrey Jimmy Hatcher M.J. McAteer Peter Leonard-Morgan Joe Motheral Jodi Nash Tom Northrup Melissa Phipps Pat Reilly Linda Roberts Eugene Scheel Anita Sherman John Sherman John Toler Leslie VanSant Jimmy Wofford Louisa Woodville
For advertising inquiries, contact: Leonard Shapiro at badgerlen@aol.com or 410-570-8447
ON THE COVER We have a small studio, though it looks quite large when looking from the outside and seems rather spacious on the inside. However, the actual staging area is fairly tight, with the determining factor being the width of the backdrop. This issue of ZEST has four wonderful subjects on the cover who all had to be fit into the frame of the camera as well as the confines of the backdrop. To complicate things, I wanted to have them arranged around an antique table. You may not believe it, but I’m about 15 feet away from this cover shot. The distance allowed me to compress the composition and get them all into the photo while keeping anything outside of the background out of the image. The camera was my trusty Nikon D850 with a Nikon 24-120 f4 lens. The image was shot at 110 mm, which compresses the composition, and set at f8. Photo by Doug Gehlsen, styled by Karen Monroe of Middleburg Photo. / Country Zest and Style
/ @countryzestandstyle
/ @countryzestand1
www.countryzestandstyle.com 4
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BE ON THE LOOKOUT through this Country issue of
Country
He appears in two ads and the first two readers to find him (one each) will receive a gift from THE RED TRUCK Rural Bakery, with locations in Warrenton and Marshall. Send your reply to badgerlen@aol.com
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IT’S FABULOUS FEBRUARY
t’s February, time to celebrate my favorite month of the year. Multiple family birthdays and anniversaries, Valentine’s Day, Super Bowl Sunday and, for Country ZEST, it marks our fourth year publishing.
For the Middleburg area’s vibrant African-American community, it’s also time to celebrate Black History Month. We’re including a number of stories relating to that important topic, including pieces on the vital work being done by the Afro-American Historical Association of Fauquier County in The Plains and the 60th anniversary of the desegregation of Loudoun County’s public schools. We’re also focusing on another demographic—men and women in their 20s and 30s, many educated in local schools, public and private. They’ve returned to this area to raise families, pursue careers and contribute to many worthy causes. All are second or third generation. As for the next generation, there’s a story on the Piedmont Symphony Orchestra showcasing three immensely talented teenage musicians at its annual Young Artists concert, Feb. 13 at Highland School. For the first time, the PSO also has added a young composer element. The orchestra will perform a movement from one of his works, and Russian Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. (On a personal note, growing up, P&W was not my favorite. My parents often recalled once taking me to Carnegie Hall for a performance, with dancers on stage to visually enhance the music. But my folks had to deal with a hysterical four-year-old—me—every time the wolf showed up.) But I digress. John Sherman’s hilarious Letter From Paris is a must-read on a near-disastrous rehearsal dinner when he and wife Roma owned the Ashby Inn. Same for a feature on a local dentist with a collection of electric guitars, all lovingly hand-made by him. He plays them, too. Middleburg has some real straight-shooters, including three members of one family who are sporting clay champions. There’s a terrific tale from Jimmy Hatcher on another intriguing outdoor pursuit—sled dog racing—and a confrontation on a local country road between Huskies and horses that thankfully ended up with no harm, no foul. We love local students writing for the magazine, with delightful contributions from an aspiring Wakefield ballerina and a budding Foxcroft race car driver. Finally, we’re welcoming two additions to our formidable freelance contributors. Joe Motheral, a prolific Leesburg-based writer with numerous articles and several books to his credit, makes his ZEST debut. So does Eugene Scheel, a renowned Waterford historian, author and mapmaker who knows more about our unique corner of the countryside than anyone on the planet. So here’s hoping you enjoy our winter issue. As always, we’re delighted to add a bit of ZEST to your reading pleasure. Leonard Shapiro Editor badgerlen@aol.com
MIDDLEBURG SUSTAINABLE COMMITTEE| Winter 2022
