Farmers’ Luncheon

New Market, VA

These folks were at a restaurant table near mine. I guessed they were probably farmers. Then one of them gave a short speech and said he regards the others as friends, not just poultry producers. I assume he was their sales rep for a supplier, and that they have occasional lunch meetings to talk about the business.

The Shenandoah Valley produces substantial amount of poultry. I was not paying much attention to what they ordered, although I heard one man say he wanted a cheeseburger, which is kind of amusing since this restaurant is known for its fried chicken. I suppose you might lose your appetite for chicken if you deal with it every day.

Hollingsworth Road Reopens

The low-water bridge on Hollingsworth Road reopened today after the river level went down and debris was cleared out of the road. Some other roads in the Shenandoah Valley are still closed. This particular bridge is a little higher than some of the older ones.

Looking downstream. 

The bridge this afternoon.

Looking upstream toward the swinging bridge.

Virginia’s Department of Transportation maintains footbridges near low-water bridges that tend to flood. This allows residents to walk out so that they are not isolated from essential services. There are a number of swinging bridges over the Shenandoah River. 

Debris that washed up against the bridge.

Our part of Virginia did not suffer the degree of hurricane damage that many places did. We had plenty of rain, but not the horrific quantity that fell in the mountains of North Carolina. There are a number of crews from this area who are helping with the relief efforts for our southern neighbors.

“Look for the helpers.” — Mister Rogers

Wet Week Wednesday

I'm running low on photos for the Wild Bird Wednesday linkup. We’ve had rain almost every day for over a week. I really can’t complain because many other places got devastated by a hurricane, and the damage here was minor by comparison. Some of our roads are still closed by flooding though.

You could easily miss seeing the little bird on top of the streetlight. I spotted it in the parking lot of a home improvement store where I was walking Charlie because it was too rainy to go to the park. The store allows dogs to come in, but we were mostly walking outside under the overhang. Charlie found some things to sniff, particularly places where other dogs had been. A beagle finds this very interesting. 

They had a large display of pumpkins outside.

A Hazy View of Lake Arrowhead

 From Skyline Drive

Wordless / CDP Theme: Blue

Berryville Mural, Rainy Day

Clarke County, VA

This is a new mural by Amanda Horn. The photo is slightly distorted because I had to use panorama mode due to being in an alley where I could not stand back far enough to get the whole thing in a frame.
 

The mural and the painting on the pavement are in Hogan’s Alley, named for John R. Hogan, who served as town manager. 

While I was there getting wet, I snapped a few other pictures, including some flowers.

Linkups: Floral and Murals

Glass Blowing in Wardensville

Yesterday, Dakota Glassworks held glass blowing demonstrations. I watched how a small glass pumpkin is made. 

West Virginia is well-known for handcrafted glass. The art itself is over 2000 years old. I won’t give a full description, except to say that it involves several ovens of different temperatures, and multiple trips to and from the ovens because glass is only flexible at certain temperatures.

In the early stages, the glass is red hot. I could briefly glimpse flames. The studio got quite warm.

A mold, seem here on the floor, is used to give the glass a ribbed shape, so it will become pumpkin-like when inflated.The artisans are getting prepared for autumn sales.

Sharing with Mosaic

Over the Mountain to Trout Pond

Here we see Charlie waiting for the kennel attendant to fetch him for day boarding. I leave him there two days a week so that he can feel safe while I go to appointments or off on a day trip. On this day, he was concerned because we had to wait a few minutes and he tends to get anxious. There’s a particular chair that he likes to hop up in. I guess having a special chair is reassuring. Soon Miss Kayla appeared and he trotted off with her.

 I went off to run an errand and then crossed the mountain to see an exhibit. After that, I went to Trout Pond Recreation Area run by the Forest Service. I’ve been there before, but it was over a year ago. I saw a deer on the way in, but didn’t get a picture because I was driving, so here is a photo of a deer from a different day.

The entrance to Trout Pond was unmanned and there is a self-pay station. The rate was a dollar more than I remembered and I didn’t have the exact change so I wrote a check. I also tried the QR code, but there was no cellular signal on my phone so it didn’t work. After I filled out the provided envelope, I realized that it was stuck shut from moisture, so I wound up trimming off the end and putting my check inside and folding it up.

One of the notices said the restroom was not in service. Sometimes I think our forest service must be under-funded because their facilities always seem to have problems and are not as updated as the national park facilities.

I drove to Rockcliff Lake and it was pretty much deserted. Children are back in school now so the beach area was very quiet. I did notice that there were vehicles in the campground.

The swimming area is marked off with ropes and floats.

The lake was very clear. I could see minnows and salamanders in the water.

I saw three large snail shells on the beach, grouped together like someone had placed them there. They do not look like any snails that I saw as a child, so I wondered if they might be an invasive species. Well, I just did some looking on the Internet for snails in West Virginia, and found that these could be Chinese mystery snails, which are considered invasive, and were, in fact, the subject of an attempt to clean them out of Rockcliff Lake some years ago. Apparently they were accidentally introduced by someone dumping an aquarium. The snails are imported to keep aquariums clean. 

Well, that was a rabbit hole that I went down as I composed this post and decided to look up the snails. I’ll show you a few signs of the changing season.

Can you see the little woolly caterpillar? The ID feature on my iPad says this a is a Hickory tussock moth. 

Before I close this post, I’ll share a picture of Charlie that I filtered in Picsart. Let me add that I certainly hope all my blog friends are safe. I know that some of them were in the path of Hurricane Helene as it tore through Florida and the Carolinas. Roads were destroyed by flooding, along with buildings, and electric power is still out in many places. I appreciate all the first responders and the crews who are working to get services back to affected communities.

Rainy Day Art Show

Millwood, VA

On one of this week’s rainy days, I went to “Art at the Mill.” Here we see raindrops in the mill race above the dam. The next scene is taken from a window in the mill.

This art sale benefits the Clarke County Historical Association. It lasts for two weeks and there’s always a selection of wonderful artwork.

I resisted the temptation to buy anything this time because my home is small and the walls are already covered with pictures.

Weather and Dog Anxiety

After a dry summer produced a drought and water use restrictions, we were glad to get some rain. Some of it was produced by a tropical storm, and now Hurricane Helene is causing flooding in Florida. We don't know how much rain we will get from it as it comes north.

Fortunately for our Sunday event at Seven Bends State Park, rain did not come that day, although it was cloudy. I helped with setting up tables and checking in ticket holders, but did not stay for the concert because I needed to get back to Charlie. He has separation anxiety and I don’t have a dog sitter on weekends. He is now okay for an hour to 90 minutes, but my volunteer shift was for two hours so I came right back home. I could see that he had been running in circles panting and drooling, poor thing. 

We’ve been doing separation training very slowly because he has other anxieties as well. We started with me being in the other room or just going out the door and coming back in, and then staying away a little longer. Worrying about his anxiety gives me anxiety too, but I try not to show it.

State Park staff did a great job putting up autumn decorations in front of the stage. Beats on the Bend is a fundraiser to support park activities.

Since I’ve been talking about Charlie, here’s a picture of him, very alert as usual.

And here is a selfie of me that I took today after voting. Virginia has early voting now and I took advantage of it so that I don’t have to stand in line on election day.