Words, music, images and more from Jim Barnes
Jimmy O’Connor and his family were living in a townhouse in Sterling, Va., 10 years ago when they felt the urge to move west.
“We had a growing family and were looking for more space — not only more space within the house, but more space outdoors — more trails and more trees,” he said.
Instead, they found what they were looking for just a couple of miles north in Sugarland Run, a compact community of 2,062 homes in eastern Loudoun County.
Pat Bour described it as “scary” in 1983 when she and her young family moved from suburban Maryland to CountrySide in eastern Loudoun County.
“There was nothing when we moved out here — no malls, no other HOAs, nothing. But once I got here, I loved it,” Bour said. “We’re retired now. We have no plans to move. I’m going to stay here until I’m taken out feet first.”
Ridgetop Coffee & Tea is not your ordinary coffee shop.
The Washington Post, August 13, 2017
When visitors enter the Children’s Science Center, they are greeted by two distinct sides of the small museum.
To the left is the Experiment Bar, where children conduct science experiments, assisted by family members, staff members and volunteers. To the right, mounted on the wall, is an enormous periodic table of elements showing the names of the museum’s major benefactors.
The Experiment Bar is one of the most popular features of the center, which offers interactive scientific activities for children and their families. The element wall honors the donors who helped open the center, marketing director Dorothy Ready said.
The Washington Post, July 9, 2017
Local painters, poets and musicians will celebrate the transition from winter to spring in a presentation of original works Saturday on the Sterling campus of Northern Virginia Community College.
The event is the culmination of a months-long collaborative process, in which eight pairs of poets and artists created poems and paintings around the theme “Springtime in Winter.”
The Washington Post, March 19, 2017
When Ruth Everhart was a senior at a small Christian college, she and four of her roommates were held captive and brutally raped at gunpoint by two masked intruders.
Although she survived the ordeal, she was filled with shame and worried that she had been “ruined” — in the eyes of God, her family and the man she might one day marry. Her devastating experience shook her faith in God, and eventually led her to break with the conservative Protestant denomination in which she had been raised.
Last year, Everhart, 59, of Sterling, published her memoir, “Ruined,” in which she recounts the crime in detail and traces the twists and turns her life took in the months and years that followed. She tells how that journey took her through dark places — a breakup with her boyfriend, an affair with a married man, and conflicts with friends and family.
The Washington Post, Feb. 12, 2017
About 250 Loudoun County residents from an array of local religious groups — Baha’i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Unitarian Universalist — came together Nov. 20 for an evening of food, fellowship, prayer and entertainment. Organized by Loudoun Interfaith BRIDGES, the eighth annual Day of Thanks was held at Crossroads United Methodist Church in Ashburn.
“Thanks” was the theme, but the event was also a celebration of Loudoun’s cultural diversity. Many of the organizers and guests emphasized the importance of people from different faith groups coming together to gain understanding and build relationships.
Washington Post, Nov. 27, 2016
Hundreds of voters showed up at Potowmack Elementary School on Oct. 28, stated their address, logged on to an election website and cast their vote for president of the United States.
Although their votes won’t decide who will be the next president — it being a mock election — students at the Sterling school got a taste of how America’s brand of democracy works.
Washington Post, Nov. 6, 2016
When Sandra Kovacs Stein noticed that ravens were building a nest on the Purcellville water tower near her home, she began taking pictures of them.
Karen Schaufeld would watch eagles carry fish and other small creatures back to their nest on her property near Leesburg.
Cheryl Somers Aubin was moved by a newspaper story about a Callery pear tree that somehow survived the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and was buried under the rubble of New York’s twin towers.
During a celebration of local authors and food sources at the Cascades Library in Potomac Falls on June 18, the three women told of how the majesty and mystery of nature inspired them to write their books for children. They were among more than two dozen writers who participated in the first “Eat Local, Read Local” event, which helped kick off the library system’s summer reading program.
Washington Post, June 26, 2016
Jim Butts says he has witnessed countless changes in the 44 years he has been volunteering for LINK, a nonprofit organization that delivers emergency food to families in Sterling, Herndon and Ashburn. One thing has not changed, however: Despite the prosperity that has come to the region, there are always people who don’t know where they will find their next meal.
Butts and other longtime volunteers have helped keep the faith-based group running for decades without any paid staff members. Hundreds of other volunteers — including businesses, church youth groups, Scouts and intellectually disabled students — join them every month to help combat hunger in Northern Virginia.
Washington Post, May 15, 2016