Mid-October on Skyline Drive

The leaves are turning color a little earlier this year, perhaps due to the dry weather. Unfortunately, some of them are going straight to brown, but there are plenty of yellows and reds at the higher elevations of the Blue Ridge.

Shenandoah National Park is still open, at least for now. Our national politicians are squabbling over budget cuts, and the government is partly shut down. The private companies that run the restaurants and lodges at the park are advertising that they are open, and autumn is their busiest season. I was pleased to see that park rangers are still on duty, although I believe their talks and tours are suspended. 

I went up there on Tuesday. Plenty of other people were there there, although it was not as crowded as it will be on the weekend.

 This couple was having wedding pictures taken.

I didn’t see much wildlife until we got to Big Meadows. 

At some of the overlooks, the sun was in my eyes, so I did not try to take pictures. At others, I took advantage of cloud cover to grab some snapshots.

Bird Art for Wednesday

Although I already posted some images from this season's Art At the Mill, I have some pictures of art with birds in them for Wild Bird Wednesday. 

I refrained from buying any artwork this time. I still have paintings from previous shows that I have never hung.

Many of these are by local artists. I hope you enjoy them.

Decorations at Flotzie’s

Soft Serve Ice Cream Stand, Luray

Wordless

Mount Jackson’s New Mural

A postcard-style mural in Mount Jackson was recently painted on the side of a building on King Street. I’ve been watching it take shape from the new dog park. 

Here’s a closer look at the lettering, which features local landmarks. 

Mount Jackson was named for Andrew Jackson when he was a hero of the War of 1812. Located along the historic Valley Pike, it is known for its apple industry, covered bridge, and Route 11 potato chips.

Monday Murals

Cityscapes: Europe 2000 and 2001

As I mentioned in Friday's post, I went through old images to find some cityscapes. These are from trips to Europe in 2000 and 2001. 

I haven’t traveled internationally since then. After the 911 attacks in 2001, airline travel became less comfortable and less fun. Not only did the extra security measures mean more standing in line, but the airlines lost money and decided to make up for it by making seats smaller and offering fewer services. I have flown within the USA to visit relatives, but even these flights were not comfortable.

Frank and I went to France and Belgium in the year 2000. I had been to Paris once before, on an educational tour with a group from Northern Virginia Community College. We visited Belgium because Frank’s daughter Susan was there with her husband, who was stationed there with the army. We enjoyed having them as our tour guides.

A year later, we returned to Europe for two reasons. One was that Marie was spending time in Berlin as part of her first world tour, and  the other was that Susan had her first baby. 

We also made a visit to London on that trip. 

Mosaic Monday

Little Frogs and Dogs

What are these people looking at?

Fortunately, they were glad to show me. There were tiny frogs in the creek under the bridge. This is in the Carrier Arboretum.

Can you see the little frog? It’s on a rock. The next one is on a leaf on top of a rock. It seemed like there was one on almost every rock!

Now I’ll turn the post over to Charlie.

Hi, it’s Charlie! Something happened that I don’t like. The mornings got very cold. I don’t wanna get up out of my chair when it’s cold, but Mom insists that I go out for a walk. I wish she would make the sidewalk warmer so that my paws don’t get cold.

Here’s a picture of the river that I saw when we went to Seven Bends State Park this week. The trees are starting to look yellow.

One day I went to the veterinary and got my nails trimmed. They gave me a bandanna for being brave. .

Today we went up to Basye to play in the dog park. Sadie went too. 

I ran really fast and got tired. Now it’s time to go to bed.

La Tour Eiffel

A local photography group has the theme of “Cityscapes” this week. My first thought was, “I don’t have very many.” because most of my city pictures are limited in scope, such as showing a particular building or, people walking together. Then I remembered my European trips from decades ago. This picture is from Paris in the year 2000.

Back then, I was not using a digital camera. I did have the foresight to have my film scanned to disk or CD at the time of processing. I was already enjoying Photoshop or Photo Deluxe, which was an early predecessor to Photoshop Elements.

I guess I’m telling my age, but that’s okay. I have passed the point of being able to pretend that I’m young.

Living History with Captain Mercer’s Company

 French and Indian War Weekend

These pictures are from an event in Winchester on Sunday. It seemed a little odd to see “our side” dressed as British soldiers, but they are dressed for a war that ended in 1763, thirteen years before our Declaration of Independence.

Historians consider the French and Indian war to be related to the Seven Years War that took place in Europe. In North America, the French and British were in competition for territory and trading rights. Although Britain won the war, they decided to keep a standing army in North America and tax the colonies to pay for it. Your may remember how that turned out.

You may have seen my recent post about Fort Loudoun in Winchester. The town is proud of its association with young George Washington, who had an office in Winchester and supervised the building of the fort.

I always enjoy seeing the costumes at living history events. This pretty lass was kind enough to pose for me.

Canada Geese at Jim Barnett Park

On Sunday, I went to an event in Winchester and decided to visit Wilkins Lake to see if there were any birds the photograph. At first, I was disappointed because I only saw a few geese across the lake. Since I was already tired and the temperature was very hot, I considered going back to the car.

I heard a honking sound in the shadows to my right, and as my eyes adjusted to the light, I could see there were Canada geese and a couple of ducks in the little creek. So here they are.

Views at the Arboretum Pond

JMU in Harrisonburg 

Wordless / Mosaic / H2O