A Flag of Peace

Front Royal

Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday

Symmetry in Grayscale

It seems like the word for symmetry should be something that is a palindrome. Come to think of it, the word for palindrome should be something that is spelled the same frontwards and backwards. 😆 

Mosaic Monday

Most of these pictures have been shown previously.  

Black and white lends itself to pictures with interesting composition, doesn’t it? 

From Gobblers to Gold Stars

Yesterday I drove to the town of Broadway to a temporary exhibit honoring soldiers lost in recent wars. it was at the high school there, which turned out to be a huge complex.

Murals

The school's athletic teams are called The Gobblers. It's not the most heroic name, but it refers to Rockingham County's status as a major turkey producing county. The mural is not realistic, and I've never seen a turkey in those colors.

I found the exhibit, which was only there through today. It’s the Gold Star Tribute Wall, which is made to be deconstructed and shown around the country. It honors fallen soldiers and their families from the wars in the Gulf, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Each gold star has the name of a soldier. It was sad to see. Standing there with the sun in my eyes, I did not notice the background of gravestones. It's just as well. All these people died too young, and in some cases, for no lasting benefit.

A Fairly Short Critter Post

Charlie has already gone to sleep so he won’t be writing a post tonight. I’m ready to fall asleep myself so I’ll make this short.

The first picture shows Charlie as we cross the North Fork. If you look closely, you can see the reflection of his harness in the window.

Next, we see a cat with a special effect from PicsArt.

The hummingbird was moving fast, as they often do. This was an automatic picture taken with a Birdfy camera. 

The final picture shows an ice cream treat that Deborah got Charlie in Edinburg today. She and Frank went with me to finish putting final touches on the condo and then we took a ride. Charlie really enjoyed the ice cream and little dog biscuits.

Enjoy your treats!

September Fishing

North Fork of the Shenandoah

Our mornings have been cool, but the afternoons have been warm, even hot. It’s great weather for being down at the river.

A Field in Shanksville

Flight 93 National Memorial

It’s been three years since I visited this site in Pennsylvania. It’s been 24 years since the 911 attacks. An entire generation has grown up since then. 

I have written about this memorial and about the 911 anniversary before. I keep thinking that this will fade from memory with the passage of time, but traumatic events leave their mark.

When I visited the memorial, I viewed the exhibits but did not listen to the audio recordings. It would’ve been just too much to handle emotionally. I also did not visit the tower in the picture, preferring to see it from a distance.

September Blossoms

Sharing with Garden Affair / Image-in-ing  / Wordless Wednesday

De-stressing on Dickey Ridge

Shenandoah National Park

Yesterday I had a long session at the dentist. I had two teeth filled, but that involved five surfaces. It wasn’t terribly painful, but it took a long time and I left with sore gums and a big dent in my bank account.

Since I was in Front Royal on a beautiful day, I went to Skyline Drive, which is so close to town that people walk there. Four miles later, I was at Dickey Ridge Visitor Center.

A ranger was finishing up a talk about bears. I didn’t mind that I had missed it because I’ve heard it before. They do it almost every day. I chatted with the ranger and took a picture of a bear skull.

Inside the visitors center, another park ranger was helping visitors plan a hike.

I browsed through the gift shop. I liked this toy bird, which was identified as a peregrine falcon.

I haven’t seen one up close in the wild. Another visitor center has a model of one on display.

Usually I drive farther south through the park, but I decided to just relax there for a while. I strolled around outside, sat on a bench for a while and took pictures, even though I have hundreds of images of the views there from previous visits.

I overheard a woman tell her husband she saw an eagle, but it looked like a vulture to me. It’s hard to say for sure because it was soaring through the sky, too far away to see any details. I’m not an expert, but I have watched an awful lot of vultures, particularly when we lived next to a lake. They soar in a relaxed way on air currents, and appear to be enjoying a great time.

I’ll show you some pictures of vultures from previous posts.

Mosaic / Wild Birds

Fern Mural

Fairfax, VA

Sharing with Monday Murals.

I don’t go to Northern Virginia very often, mainly because the traffic between here and there is usually frustrating. It might take me 90 minutes to get there, but two hours to get home.

Last week I decided to make the trip because there are things that I just can’t find in my area, and most refrigerated foods are not available for shipping. I wanted to go to Mom’s Organic Market, which carries specialty items for those of us with food allergies. Some of these things I used to be able to get in Front Royal or Winchester, but not anymore. Even Wegman’s and Whole Foods stopped carrying these products; they are becoming so big and corporate that I guess they only stock items that fly off the shelves. (They are not located in my area either, but they are 20 minutes closer than Mom’s.) 

Well, five months ago, I saw pictures of this mural on Denise’s blog. I made a mental note that I should stop in Fairfax and get photos of it. It was easy to remember that she said it was on Fern Street because it’s a painting of ferns.

I struggled with getting the entire mural in one photo. I could not stand on the sidewalk across the street because there were paving trucks parked there, blocking the view. I wound up using the panorama feature on my phone. That left the roof line looking distorted, but I was able to straighten it out using the SKRWT app. 

Part of the mural is blocked by trees and a fence. Here are pictures of the end sections so you can get a closer look.

Yesterday at the Germanic Heritage Museum

This museum is an old farm that has been preserved as an example of farm life in the Shenandoah Valley. Many of the early settlers came from Germany, usually passing through Pennsylvania before coming here. This farm is only open to the public by appointment or on the annual open house day, which was yesterday.

I have been inside the house before, but I thought Deborah would like to see it because she enjoys visiting historic homes. I did not go inside this time, but walked around the property with Charlie while Deborah and Frank toured the house.

Here are some scenes that I viewed on our walk.

Sharing with the H2O Linkup

My 2019 Post on this Museum