Pleasant Living Magazine

Reaching Virginia's Northern Neck

and Middle Peninsula

Welcome to Pleasant Living, the magazine that celebrates the heart and culture of Virginia’s River Country.

Since 1989, we’ve published the unique voice of Virginia’s Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula—life inland and along the Rappahannock, James, York, and Potomac rivers. Folksy, intelligent, nostalgic and contemporary, simple and elegant, PL presents a fresh, uncomplicated point of view that captures the essence of this very special place. No other publication offers the singular perspective that we do. For over two decades (we celebrate our 21^st anniversary this summer!), PL has become a name spoken around dinner tables throughout the region.

We cover a diversity of topics—about people making a difference, about food and health, nature, gardening, history. We publish book and art reviews, poetry, commentary, essays and memorable images by regional photographers. We write about ideas and about what makes life here unlike any other place.

There are many publications out there singing the praises of the new ‘high life’ on the Bay, the ultra-expensive yachts and houses. Pleasant Living speaks of something else—an experience that can’t be bought.—PL reader

If you want to know what it’s like to live in the villages, hamlets and towns many call God’s Country—if you want to know the character of the people who make this region so distinct, and if you love good writing, read us and you’ll see. Our artful style and genuine voice bring readers back year after year.

We’d love to hear from you. Write and let us know what you think—about the magazine, about living in the River Country, about life! Here’s to pleasant living!

In mid-February, we learned that Ruby Lee Norris, our oldest and most distinguished columnist and feature writer, has become ill.  Today, March 8th, we are saddened to hear that she has passed away.

Mother, grandmother, educator, essayist, columnist, poet, gardener, historian, civic, church and community citizen, and very special human being- Ruby Lee lived a remarkable and memorable life.  She distinguished herself in so many ways during her long life that even a lengthy catalogue of her contributions would fail to capture the kindness, goodwill, and the blessings she brought to her community and to those who knew her.

She contributed a gardening column, poetry and various essays to Pleasant Living in almost every single issue since July 1991, and readers have applauded her spirited work over the past two decades.  Writing from her home at Sandy Hook's Pine Grove, Topping, Virginia, her column captured the beauty of the seasons, the wildlife, flowers and gardens that surround her.  As a master gardener herself, she taught us the names of the most obscure flowers, ferns and grasses, how to make a garden thrive and make it beautiful, as well as how to enjoy all the beauty.  She taught us the history of trees, the history of her community, and the history of her own life, reaching back to a time when the River Country world was a very different place.  We have Ruby Lee to thank for documenting at a personal level a disappearing generation that otherwise would be a dying memory.  Rereading her work, it doesn't take long to realize that she was in touch with the natural world and with her community at a soul level, and that she was blessed with the skill and the desire to share this rich mine of knowledge and history with her readers.

Ruby Lee Norris opened a large, picture window to nature and to the past, and we have been blessed with the good fortune to look through it.

In our May/June 2012 issue, we plan to publish a tribute to Ruby Lee Norris in a way befitting her contributions to this magazine and to her community.  We invite our readers- those who knew Ruby Lee and those who didn't- to contribute their comments and memories.  Write to us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or mail to Pleasant Living , 5 S. First St., Richmond, VA 23219 by April 15, 2012.

After I left for the navy and was living on my own, my father would occasionally send me letters handwritten on his three-part business memo forms with the Pruett Jewelers logo at the top. A few times, he forgot to separate the copies and left the carbon paper between the sheets, probably harried and overwhelmed as he usually was and rushing to make the postal deadline. His letters passed on the news from home, newspaper clippings, a message from mom, bits of wisdom he garnered from his Great Depression years upbringing, and sometimes a victory or loss he had experienced in business. He also wrote to let me know he was thinking of me, and if I was lucky, there was a check for $25 or $50 enclosed. He was a thoughtful and generous man. 

Not long ago, I started writing a letter to each of my children to share some fatherly thoughts, advice and family history, and I decided to handwrite them—partly in honor of my dad, but also to present them in a form my children have rarely experienced. With the advent of computers, text messaging and e-mail, it seems that few young people know the pleasure of receiving a handwritten letter, and fewer still have written one. Who has the time to handwrite letters anymore when you can make a quick call and hear the voice?  But there’s a power, distinctiveness and artful quality to the truly singular hand of the writer, something precious to be treasured and kept to read again.  Perhaps my kids will find this letter in the back of a drawer a few decades from now, and maybe it will have special meaning for them—and perhaps it will bring a memory to life. 

We hope you have the pleasure of receiving a handwritten letter this year.