The Professor in West VA

Like many photographers, I love unusual lighting effects. Here's Professor Poland in the crisp sunlight on our West Virginia Field Trip.

Events page updated for June

I updated the calendar page for Spiritual Singles, as I do every month. I see there is only one classified ad this month, and that's from EMDR therapist Nancy Brutsche. Nancy is one of the founders of Spiritual Singles and was the president of the group when I first started working for them about a decade ago.

West Virginia Photos Online

I've posted a basic page for the Kanawha Valley Campaign Civil War Tour. Later I'll add more photos and descriptions of the military actions.

We were fortunate to have as our tour leader Professor Charles Poland, author of The Glories of War, which deals with the West Virginia campaign in detail.

Lily Haiku

The lily scattered
pollen across the table
before it faded.

Squirrel of the Month

Since I'm calling this blog "The View from Squirrel Ridge," I feel I need to show a picture of a squirrel every month or so. It's not hard finding squirrels to photograph because they visit our deck to eat bird seed.

Relative blogs

Thanks to Sitemeter I see that my nephew Elias Fallon has a blog and he links to mine. And I see on his that his dad Larry also has a blog.

Kanawha Falls

Kanawha Falls can be seen from Route 60 at Gauley Bridge, WV. During the Civil War, high swift water here prevented the Union Army from trapping General Floyd's troops.

Today the scenic area is popular with tourists. I noticed the Glen Ferris Inn nearby.

An old power plant interrupts the view but this spot is still worth a visit. The pounding of the water is impressive.



Nearby is Cathedral Falls. Frank and I stopped here for a few minutes and a young couple pulled in and asked if we would take their picture. We did, and they took ours in return.

Carnifex/fax/fix Ferry

The proper spelling of Carnefex Ferry is open to debate. The original spelling was Carnifix, the state park is spelled Carnifex, and it's sometimes spelled Carnifax.

No matter how you spell it, this park is worth a visit. Not only was a Civil War battle fought there, but the scenery is lovely.



Carnifex Ferry State Park is not far from West Virginia's Hawk's Nest State Park, Babcock State Park, the New River Gorge, Summersville Lake, and Gauley Bridge.
West VA State Parks Map


A spectacular view is just a short walk from the parking lot.

Bryce Mountain News

Our library here at Bryce Resort is having a book sale tomorrow (May 27). On July 1 we will hold another book sale in connection with BryceFest 2006.

Our neighbor Don's house is for sale and Coldwell Banker Four Seasons Realty is holding an open house tomorrow.

Oh, and on Wednesday May 31, local editor and internationally-known photographer Bernie Boston will speak on Photojournalism. Bernie placed second for the Pulitzer Prize in Photography on two occasions, first in 1968 for the Vietnam-era "Flower Child" and later in 1987 for an image of Coretta Scott King at the unveiling of a bust of her husband in the Capital Rotunda. The program will be held at the Basye-Orkney Springs Rescue Squad at 7 PM.

Signs Seen on Our Trip

Here are some signs from our Kanawha Campaign Field Trip. Some of these are historical and some (like the first) are more indicative of today's culture.

On the right, Hooters, Karma Salon, Dirtbusters, and a martial arts school were among the businesses next to the site of the Battle of Mud River, also known as the Battle of Barboursville.

Battle of Barboursville, July 13, 1861

Battle of Scary Creek, July 17, 1861

For this battle lecture, we parked next to Scary Creek Paintball Games.




Between Hawk's Nest and Carnefix Ferry we passed this billboard warning of the "World's Largest Speed Trap."

Carnefix Ferry

Our Route: Kanawha Campaign Tour

Here's the route we took through West Virginia as we followed the Kanawha Valley Campaign of 1861. Even those who are not interested in history will find many of these places well worth a visit just for the gorgeous scenery.

• Rendezvous at Point Pleasant, WV


• Park near Hooters to study the Battle of Barboursville


• Scary Creek


• Gauley Bridge


• Chimney Corner


• Cross Corners


• Carnifex Ferry


• Hawk's Nest State Park (spent night and lecture at Golf Course)


• Kanawha Falls


• Sewell Mountain

Main Union Invasions Into Virginia

I'll be posting more pictures of the trip here at webcroft.blogspot.com and on CivilWarFieldTrips.com.

The romance of lions

My daughter Marie just returned from safari and wrote about it in her blog. She wrote about seeing some mating lions and got a sudden increase in hits - apparently people were searching for porn and found her site instead. Well, they were probably disappointed. No dirty photos there.

Marie posted some pictures of big cats from a previous trip to Africa at http://homepage.mac.com/mjavins/PhotoAlbum1.html. Speaking of big cats, you can help some of these noble wild beasts at http://bigcats.care2.com.

Hawk's Nest in West Virginia

On the second night of our Civil War tour, we stayed at Hawk's Nest State Park. It overlooks the New River Gorge and has a hotel and restaurant.
Hawk's Nest State Park, Ansted, WV

The hotel was not fancy but after all, it is a state park. Service in the restaurant was a bit slow but the view was excellent.

There are plenty of attractions to visit nearby and some spectacular scenery. Highly recommended.

Dr. Poland's Advanced Civil War Class

Our Group in West Virginia, May 21, 2006

How many students would drive 6 to 8 hours for a class? And how many would meet for class at 6:45 AM?

The participants in NVCC's HISTORY 298, Advanced Civil War

Picture: My Dog in the Car

Guppy was happy to leave the kennel and come home! He and Ben stayed at Seven Bends Kennel while we went to West Virginia. The kennel and veterinary office recently moved to Hisey Avenue in Woodstock. Their new building is all on one floor which is good for Guppy. He is long and short-legged and has problems climbing stairs.

Back from West Virginia

We spent the weekend on a Civil War tour of the Kanawha Valley sponsored by Northern Virginia Community College. The weather was great and the scenery was spectacular. The trip is one of a series led by history professor Charles Poland.

Our meeting place was Tu-Endie-Wei State Park in Point Pleasant. This was a 6-hour drive for us because it is all the way across West Virginia on the Ohio River. In the photo above you can see the state of Ohio across the river. The park is located where the Kanawha River meets the Ohio.

The Union Army floated down the Ohio and into the Kanawha in 1861. Their aim was to secure the Kanawha Valley for the U.S. and to go from there into Virginia. Dr. Poland wrote about this campaign is The Glories of War.

The campaign took them into the rugged mountains of southern West Virginia - very hard on the soldiers but spectacular in scenery for us. I'll post some of my favorite scenery from the trip so check back. Also I'll post a photo tour on my Civil War Field Trips website.

Re-enactor

Portraying a Civil War Soldier

Living History Demonstration, Mt. Jackson, VA

Last weekend a festival in Mt. Jackson included some reenactors who kept children fascinated by showing them their camp equipment. I chose to photograph this gentleman because he was slim like an actual Civil War soldier would have been. He's holding a metal cup.

Mortons in 1900

Early this year I wrote about ancestors on the Morton side of my family. I just came across my grandmother and her parents on the 1900 Census for Lapeer County. Grandmother is listed as:
123B 76 37 1B . . 19 19 Morton       Leora       Daughter       White Female Apr 1880 20 S
. . . Michigan       New York       Michigan . . . Teacher (In sch)       7 . Y Y

Her siblings are also listed. Her father John Morton's occupation is "Hardware."

Grandmother lived to be almost 89 and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Hadley.

Our waterfront property is listed online

The backyard fronts a cove

Our waterfront house at Glebe Harbor is listed at Realtor.com.

I hope to get back down there soon and do a little more fixing up. Also, we'd like to walk over to the beach which is on the widewater Potomac River.

I liked the ramp to the deck - easier than climbing stairs when you're carrying groceries or walking the dogs.

Seeing Things

Yesterday I suddenly saw a thread-like thing right in front of my right eye. Only it wasn't actually floating in the air, it was inside my eye, but the illusion that it was four inches in front of me was so realistic that I waved my hand up there trying to brush it way. It looked a lot like the line in this picture with some vague blotches around it:


Effects added in Adobe Photoshop(R)
Fortunately we were in Winchester so we were close to my opthalmologist's office. (At home it is over an hour to his office but Frank had been to an appointment in Stephen's City so I had driven us to Popeye's for lunch.) Now this was not the first time I had seen "floaters." I recalled that when it happened a few years ago, I called my eye doctor in Woodbridge and he said to come in right away. (This was before we moved to the Shenandoah Valley.) Floaters are usually harmless but occasionally they are a warning of a detached retina.

Well, yesterday Dr. Viti was out of his office but he was due back soon so Sue in his office said to come on over. Frank drove (glad he was with me!) and before long the doctor dilated my eyes and examined them using an uncomfortably strong light. He explained that floaters often occur as the eyes age but he asked a couple of times if I have diabetes. (As far as I know, no, but my dad and his sister had it in their later years so it is something I should get tested for.)

I won't go into the explanation but you can read about it at aboutfloaters.com. If you suddenly get floaters, you should see an eye doctor promptly. Their office should get you in right away for this.

While looking for a good site to share I also found a Pubmed article that mentions carnosine used to treat eye disorders. Those eye drops were available over the internet until recently but last time I looked they had been recalled. The FDA doesn't like supplements that are as effective as drugs because they can't require the testing that prescriptions are subject to. (I am choosing words carefully here; don't want to sound like Kevin Trudeau, although some of what he writes makes sense.) No doubt the carnosine eyedrops will come back some day as expensive prescription items. (Sigh!) In the meantime you can buy carnosine capsules and take them daily to benefit in hopes of preserving your eyesight.

Funny thing, I first found out about carnosine being good for eyes when I was researching a treatment for my dog's cataracts. Then I learned that it was also good for healing the digestive system. It's a natural supplement made up of two amino acids, but if you search Pubmed.gov or Google Scholar you learn that it holds the promise of being a wonder drug.

Festival Season in the Shenandoah

Every weekend there are a number of community festivals to choose from in the Shenandoah Valley. We enjoyed the recent one at Blue Ridge Community College. There were craft vendors, some animals, plants for sale, refreshments, and live music.

Shenandoah.com

Extraterrestrials? Llamas?

Frank likes Funnel Cake

The Walnut Ridge Boys

This girl loves to dance!

Guppy on the Deck

Guppy is still the best dog I know. He doesn't hear much anymore and he has cataracts but he's been my friend for a long long time.

He was the star of my first website, Guppy the Puppy.

Wagon Wheel with Narcissi

It's May and flowers are blooming. Not that long ago we had snow up here on the ridge.

We've been landscaping a bit and Frank just painted the exterior of the chalet.

A few minor changes

I updated the CSDA page to reflect a change in the meeting topic for May.

I also cleaned up the list of ads in Formsite for Spiritual Singles. Both Spiritual Singles and the CSDA are nonprofits in the DC area.

By the way, you can find my earlier posts under Archives (below left) which are arranged by month. Last month's archives (April 2006) are here.

Mother's Day - Remembering my Mom

Eleanor Suiter

My mother died a couple of years ago and I still miss her. She was a sweet and loving person who had a good word for everyone she met. There's a brief notice about her on the University of Chicago Alumni Magazine site.

She did not dwell on the past but in her older years she had a few favorite stories about her childhood. One was a memory of summer vacations spent in a beach home on Lake Michigan. Her father remained in Chicago to work during the week. He had a boat and used it to travel to the beach house for the weekend. Mother remembers standing on the beach watching for his boat to appear on the horizon, becoming excited as it drew near.

Their regular residence was in Riverside, Illinois. Mother went to the University of Chicago where she met my father. She said that in order to take their honeymoon they borrowed her father's car - it was the early 1940's and not every young person had a car. While traveling (I think they were in Upper Michigan) she phoned her parents and was told that they needed the car back! Her father had been called back into active duty by the Navy because the war in Europe was heating up.

They were again on vacation when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Her father was stationed in Florida and she and my dad were visiting him. They went to the beach together and a boy selling papers was calling out "Pearl Harbor Attacked." "Oh my God!" said my grandfather. "I've got to get back to the base!"

Later my dad joined the Navy too. Like many other women, my mother had to worry about both her husband and her father until the war finally ended. After the war both my dad and grandfather got jobs with the Veteran's Association. My parents settled in Northern Virginia and lived out their lives there.

Marie goes on Safari

Marie Javins is on her way back to Africa for a safari. I hope that she has a good time and that she gets some more good photos of wild animals.

Speaking of photos, Peggy's blog has pictures of her trip to Kentucky and North Carolina.

Phil Sheridan on Poverty and War

Someone wrote to me after viewing my page on Sheridan's 1864 Campaign. They wanted to know the source of this quote:

"Death is popularly considered the maximum of punishment in war, but it is not; reduction to poverty brings prayers for peace more surely and more quickly than does the destruction of human life, as the selfishness of man has demonstrated in more than one great conflict."

Phil Sheridan

This quote is from Sheridan's Memoirs as posted by the Patton Historical Library. Sheridan wrote this as a comment on the instructions he received from U.S. Grant in November 1864 which led to "the burning" in the Shenandoah Valley. Here are Grant's words:

"Do you not think it advisable to notify all citizens living east of the Blue Ridge to move out north of the Potomac all their stock, grain, and provisions of every description? There is no doubt about the necessity of clearing out that country so that it will not support Mosby's gang. And the question is whether it is not better that the people should save what they can. So long as the war lasts they must be prevented from raising another crop, both there and as high up the valley as we can control."

See Amazon's list of books on the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign.

The Scenic Route from New Jersey to Delaware

When we visited Marie in April she suggested that we take the Cape May Ferry on the trip home. This takes longer than the turnpike but is much more pleasant.


U.S. Route 9 actually crosses on the ferry. You make your reservation ahead of time and at the appointed time you drive onto the ferry. Since the trip from Cape May to Lewes takes over an hour, you leave your car and visit the restaurant or just enjoy the view of the Delaware Bay.

We were fortunate because the rainy weather had cleared up and we were able to enjoy the crossing. The water was a bit choppy and a staff member said that it had been really rough on the previous day. But the ferries do not cancel just because the weather is bad.

At one point the captain announced that there were dolphins ahead, and sure enough, we could see them leaping.


Of course, we saw plenty of sea birds too. There is a sign on the ferry asking you to not feed the gulls. I imagine they could become a nuisance.

The official site for the ferry is www.capemaylewesferry.com. The ferry connects the historic towns of Lewes and Cape May so it is popular with tourists as well as travelers.

"Mom" balloon is 20 years old

As Mother's Day approaches, I want to share with you this recent photo of a balloon that my daughter Lynn gave me 20 years ago.

She recalls that she was working at Crown Books when she got this for me. Since then I have moved twice, taking the balloon with me. It has stayed inflated all that time.

The Dik-dik has been delivered

Marie has finished her book "Stalking the Wild Dik-Dik" and it is now in the hands of her publisher. Congratulations, Marie!

Is the Shenandoah River Endangered?

Our beautiful Shenandoah River has been listed as one of "America's Most Endangered Rivers of 2006" by AmericanRivers.org.
Recent fish kills bear this out.

The Friends of the North Fork lists ways that you can help the river. And on June 9, 2006, the Pure Water Forum will host a discussion at Orkney Springs.

Pond at Orkney Springs

Antidote Radio

A woman sent me a link to a site about her weekly radio show addressing environmental health issues, AntidoteRadio.com. She has some interesting links including

• Climate Crisis - An Inconvenient Truth


• Camp NoStink
  


• A scholarly book about vibrators
  


• Non-toxic Pest control
  


• Greenpeace reports on the impact of toxic chemicals on reproductive health
  

Javins and Javens genealogy

Recently I received a few comments for the Javins Family History Comments Page. One writer was descended from William Ray Javins in West Virginia and another is a member of the Pennsylvania Javens clan going back to John Javens, 1767.

I check Ancestry.com for Javins immigrants and they are mostly from England and Ireland.

Beach on the Potomac

Dawn at Glebe Harbor

This beach is a short walk from our house on Egret Court.

See SunnyHarbor.com for more photos.

View from the Creek

Waterfront homes on Egret Court

Both of these houses in Glebe Harbor are still for sale. Our neighbor's house is on the left and includes a dock. Our property is on the right and is listed at $399K through Hutt Realty in Montross (Virginia).

My pretty daughters

Lynn and Marie Javins, 1967

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Marie and Lynn, December 2005

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Note to Googlers: If you came here via a search engine and don't see what you expected, try the archives or use the search box at the upper left to search my blog.

In honor of Marie's birthday I scanned in a portrait from almost 40 years ago. Her big sister Lynn is holding her for the photographer.

Marie and Lynn

Although Marie was born with her feet turned inward you wouldn't know it now. She's traveled a lot, even going around the world by herself.

When she was an infant I massaged her little ankles every day to keep them supple until she was big enough to have them put in braces for a while. The treatment worked well and by the time she was old enough to walk she learned to walk normally and hasn't stayed still since.

70th Anniversary of Virginia State Parks

As camping season opens, the state of Virginia kicks off a celebration of 70 years of state-run parks. On June 15-18, the state will offer a "special" on state park entrance fees, rolling them back to 1936 rate of 10 cents!

Virginia State Parks are scenic and offer a variety of activities.

Here you see Marie Javins researching a campground for the updated version of Tent Camping in Virginia.

And below are the acknowledgments from the book. Some of you will know some of these people.

Flowers along Killmon Road, Basye, VA

Routine updates

I posted the upcoming events for Spirtual Singles and added a link to their hosting service, VirtualAvenue!.

Yesterday I updated an old page on AOL's server which I used to host the little cartoon that I'm now using for my logo. I created it at abi-station.com.

Food Allergy Awareness Week

Food Allergy Awareness Week (FAAW) is May 14 - May 20, 2006. The foods that account for 90% of all food-allergic reactions are milk, egg, nuts, fish, shellfish, soy, and wheat.

I am allergic to three of those (milk, soy, wheat) and to some kinds of nuts and fish. There are also other foods that I can't eat, but I have never had a life-threatening reaction. Both of my daughters have some food allergies too. Frank's grandson Ryley is allergic to peanuts. I've had occasional reactions to peanuts but my allergist said this was due to mold, which is often found on peanut products.

View of Bryce Resort, Virginia

Bryce Resort as seen from Killmon Road