Several Dogs and a Bold Kitty

This is Annie, the ophthalmologist’s dog. I shared her picture before, but she has grown since then. It was nice to see her again. I got a prescription for a new pair of glasses, to replace the ones that were prescribed by America's Best. Those did not work for me at all.

Next is a young cat who has appeared on our street. Deborah was concerned that it looked very hungry, but then a neighbor started putting out a bowl of food for it. 

On Thursday I saw the cat napping in the middle of the street. I coaxed it over to the other side, but then it crossed the street and followed me home. Charlie was watching through the storm door so I’ll let him tell the rest of the story.

<< The cat came in our yard. After Mom came in the house, it looked at me for a while. I like cats so I tried not to scare it. It came up on our porch.

I talked to it using my squeaky voice. I wanted Mom to let it come in, but she didn’t.

It looked right in the door, but it went away. I didn’t see it today, but it rained all day. Maybe it was in somebody’s house.

I’ll tell you what else happened this week. I saw my friend Sadie on Monday at the vet’s office, but I haven’t seen her since then. I heard she has to rest for a few days.

We had some warm days this week. Mom took me to the dog park in Strasburg and there were other dogs there.

This is Athena and Rosie. Athena‘s brother was there too. We had fun.

I hope you are having some fun. If you aren’t, go to a park! 

Walking Past an Ice Cream Shop

Front Royal, VA

The bench is designed to look like it has whipped cream and a cherry on top.

I took this picture in December and realized that I should hurry up and post it because people are taking down their holiday decorations. I’ve taken down most of mine, except for a string of lights around a railing that got so tangled when I put it up that I’m not sure I’ll be able to get it back off!

Skywatching at a Construction Site

A few pink clouds are enough to tempt me to stop and take a picture. Yesterday I was driving home just before 5 PM when I saw the sky getting interesting. I turned off onto a road which temporarily ends at a housing project under construction.

Looking back towards the west, I saw the sign for Starbucks. 

Mallards at Indian Springs

After physical therapy on Monday, I stopped along Indian Spring Road in Woodstock to take pictures of ducks.

This is near Indian Springs Wetlands, which I wrote about six months ago. Indian Springs was used for water by Native Americans as they traveled along an old Indian path that ran between Canada and Georgia. This path was eventually used by settlers and evolved into the Valley Pike, now US 11. 

Wild Bird / Water Wednesday 

My Little Girl in her Wonder Woman Shirt

Marie, Long Ago

Links: 

• Marie Javins Named Comics Industry Person of the Year
• Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday

The Big Dog Area

Yesterday I posted a picture of a church in Mount Jackson that was near the dog park. We went to the “Big Dog” side of the dog park to check out the improvements that were made recently. One is a shelter, any the other is a ramp for the dogs to run up.

No other dogs were there. Charlie inspected the park and seemed to approve.

Mosaic Monday

Methodist Church in Mt. Jackson

This is Mount Jackson UMC. I took the picture from the dog park, and originally I was going to include pictures of Charlie at the park, but I see that the website with the church history may change or disappear, So I will quote from the history page here. (The domain name recently expired.) 

The original church was built in 1786 at Red Banks, three miles north of Mount Jackson. At some point the congregation "moved to a small building on Orkney Grade in Mount Jackson. The congregation numbered some of the very best citizens, both from the town and the rural districts.”

Later they "worshiped for some years in a schoolroom located on the ground now occupied by the Veterans Memorial. That property use to be the home of the old Mount Jackson Town Office. Sometime after leaving this location, the group worshipped in the vine-clad brick church now known as the Union Church. There the congregation grew and flourished, and it became evident that a new church would have to be acquired in which to hold worship services."

The present building "was built on Orkney Drive (then called Doyle Street) in 1884. The land (one fourth acre) was purchased from L. Triplett, Jr. and Laura, his wife, for two hundred twenty-five dollars. In the 1930’s Rev. Lambert, helped by his members, remodeled the original structure and added the memorial windows."

A new building was added in 1985, and restoration of the sanctuary was completed three years later.

Caturday and More

This has been an ordinary week compared to the excitement of Christmas. I had a number of end of year tasks, including a frustrating search for a payment that I was supposed to have received from a retirement account. (After you reach a certain age, the IRS requires that distributions be made from any IRAs that you have.) I wound up spending an hour on the phone trying to find out why that distribution never reached my bank. Apparently they sent it to some other account that was not mine! Mutual of America has promised to find out what happened and get my money to me.

It’s been cold, but most afternoons have been mild enough to take Charlie to one of the parks for a walk. He’ll give you a brief report below this picture for Caturday. I edited it in Picsart and then added an extra border in PhotoEditor.

Hi, it’s Charlie! I don’t really like having my picture taken, but Mom says she needs them for my report. Here I am at the state park. We went there twice this week. We also went to a Riley Park in Woodstock, but icold that day so we didn’t stay long. I went to day boarding twice, and I went to Sadie‘s house. I like Sadie‘s house the best because we get to play and run. I get to use her toys and eat one of her dog biscuits. Maybe more. She doesn’t mind, but sometimes she doesn’t like when I sit on her mom‘s lap.

Sadie has a lamb toy and look! I got one for Christmas! I haven’t gotten the squeaker out yet but I’m working on it. 

We had some big winds here. Mom had to pick up some things that blew in the yard. I still have to go outside, but we don’t stay out long when it’s windy.

The birds still come to the feeders, especially the lady cardinal. 

The last picture shows me at Sadie’s house. 

First Day Event at the Park

Many parks and even our national forests encourage people to come to a First Day Hike. This is a way to celebrate the first day of the new year by getting outdoors for a hike. Here in Virginia, it has become enormously popular.

Seven Bends State Park held four scheduled ranger-led hikes, beginning in the early morning. I did not go to one of those, mainly because I can’t walk very far at this time. However, staff was there all day, so when Charlie and I arrived in late afternoon, the parking lots were still almost full. Ranger Wesley said a couple hundred people had been there. I am impressed by how many people came out to hike on a cold winter day.

I take Charlie there once or twice a week because he loves it and it is not far from home. We have to cross a small bridge over the North Fork. Sometimes it floods, and you can’t get there, but we’ve had a drought for a while, so the river is quite low.

The beach in the foreground is often under water. It is covered with small shells.

Photo of the Year 2025

The City Daily Photo Theme for January 1st is Photo of the Year. Each year I have trouble picking out one image for this challenge. I’ve shown some of my possible choices over the past few days, and I’ll show the rest of my runner-up photos below. 

First, here’s my photo of the year and I want to explain it. It may look like two pictures, but it is a bookstore window with a reflection of the old county courthouse. A flag in the window says “Abide No Hatred,” and if you look closely, you can see demonstrators in front of the courthouse. This was on. “No Kings Day” in October. 

Britannica states that almost seven million people participated in demonstrations nationwide. It’s the historic importance of this event that inspired me to spotlight this picture. 

Almost a year ago, similar protests took place across America. People came out in our small town to express their beliefs. Significantly, groups have been demonstrating here every week, often twice a week. 

My first runner-up for photo of the year is a winter scene from January. There are many farms here in the Shenandoah Valley.

Other winter photos that I like.

Black and White.

A floral picture that’s different than most.

A few that I find sweet.

I hope your new year is off to a promising start. I did not make any new year resolutions, but instead, I followed a suggestion to pick out a single word that is meaningful to me right now. My word is Resilience.

🎵 “Here in my heart, I do believe,

  We shall overcome someday.”