Blue Ridge Country

For years Phyllis Speidell and John H. Sheally, II blended their photos and words covering news and features for The Virginian-Pilot, Virginia's major metropolitan newspaper. Six years ago their love of feature work led them to a second career in writing for regional and national magazines and working on book projects.

John grew up splitting his time between Hopewell, Va., and his grandparents' farm in Henderson, N.C. While he was following the mule plow, Phyllis called Philadelphia home in the era of Dick Clark's "Bandstand."

John went on to four years as a Navy photographer, following a career goal he'd set when he got a Brownie camera for his eighth birthday. Phyllis finished school in Pennsylvania knowing she wanted to write, spent some time in human resources and taught college courses in literature and writing before moving to Virginia and joining the newspaper 24 years ago. When he's not behind a camera, John's likely to be behind the wheel or under the bonnet of a Morgan. Regarded as a national expert on the unique British sports cars, he's authored four books on the marque.

Together they've covered political figures, old ships, NASCAR heroes, operatic tenors, southern rock bands, sports figures, historic preservation and fine arts – all intriguing. But like most journalists they find many of our features have side and back stories the readers never see – until they blog. Here they hope to share what venerable broadcaster Paul Harvey called "the rest of the story."