THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 17, 1997 TAG: 9701150127
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Staff writers Eric Feber, John Henry-Doucette, Kerry Sipe
LENGTH: 83 lines
June and Maurice Clifton of South Norfolk and Sherrill and Harry Tillman of Western Branch have prize winning yards.
Their yards were chosen at the end of the year by a panel of Master Gardener judges to win the Chesapeake Environmental Improvement Council's yard-of-the-month competition, held each month during the spring, summer and fall.
Recent winners have included Ginger and Mark Harrop of Indian River, Dale Spruill of Deep Creek and Tom and Delores Chyczewski of Great Bridge.
In a recent CEIC press release, the judges said they found a lot of variety in examining each nominated yard.
It was trees and more trees that swayed them to select June Clifton's home, where she has lived for more than 50 years.
When asked about the abundance of greenery around her home, Clifton simply replied that she loves trees. In fact, the former Portlck School traffic guard said one prize tree, a holly tree, was grown from just two leaves given to her by her good friend Thelma West.
In addition, judges said the Clifton homestead ``exudes a cozy and tidy appearance that has been lovingly cultivated for a lifetime.''
Judges were struck by the habitat for birds and small animals that the Tillmans created in what they termed a ``boldy natural setting'' in Western Branch.
Sherrill Tillman said she tries to design her landscapes using perennial native plants. She and her husband have planted more than 450 bulbs including daffodils, tulips and hyacinths. She said she enjoys adding various colors and textures to her yard.
Some of the tricks she uses to bring about a beautiful yard include using a soaker hose for deep irrigation and to cut down on bugs and fungus and using a chlorine bleach and water solution as an alternative to harmful chemicals, pesticides and herbicides.
Both the Tillmans and the Cliftons received a $50 gift certificate from White's Old Mill Garden Center, a certificate and a sign denoting their property as a ``Yard of the Month.''
To nominate a yard, contact the Special Programs office of the Chesapeake Parks and Recreation Department at 382-6411. LeReview of LeChip
It's cookie time.
And the Girl Scouts are touting this year's new product - LeChip - as ``a chocolate chip hazelnut cookie made with oatmeal and a chocolaty bottom coat.''
From the confines of our Battlefield Boulevard laboratory, we at The Clipper took LeChip for LeTestRun. (Related story, Page 8.)
The cookie has a diameter of about two inches and thickness on par with a Chips Ahoy or a Pecan Sandy. LeChip, fancy French for ``The Chip,'' has an oatmealy-brown body with a scattering of chocolate chips and hazelnut chunks. Chips and chunks alike are easily visible to the human eye. The real surprise to LeChip is the chocalaty bottom, revealed when LeChip is turned over in LeHand.
``Oh yes,'' said Deloris Moyler, after ingesting LeChip. ``They were good. They were very light. Very tasty. Melted in your mouth.''
``It tasted OK,'' said writer Eric Feber, normally a reviewer of instruments, voices and the like, has been eating for most of his natural life. ``But I expected a little more of a hazelnut taste. It seemed like a glorified chocolate chip cookie.''
Staffer Janelle La Bouve set Feber straight.
``It's pretty good,'' she said.
Since the chip does not actually seem to be the dominant flavor in LeChip, the cookie may have been hastily named, though LeChocolatyBottomCoating probably tested poorly.
In short, says the staff, LeChip is no Thin Mint, but it's a LeAOK addition to the returning standards Girl Scout cookie-buying Americans have come to love. Don't expect miracles
When Mayor William E. Ward introduced Chesapeake's new city manager to business and civic leaders assembled at the first Leadership Breakfast at River Crest Community Center last week, he took pains to place expectations at a realistic level.
John Pazour, the new manager, came to Chesapeake from Aurora, Colo., he said. That's in the west, not the east.
``He's not the messiah,'' the mayor said.
Ward said Pazour will be a fine city manager, but not to expect him to perform miracles.