Virginia Bluebells along the Gokotta Trail

Seven Bends State Park

Although I was tired this afternoon, Charlie really wanted to go out for an adventure, and we didn’t take one yesterday because it rained just as I was preparing to go. I’ve been working on my taxes for a few days, and I was ready for a break this afternoon. I’ve seen pictures showing that bluebells are blooming, so we headed for the state park. 

The flowers are blooming along the river.

The redbud trees are blooming too. It was a lovely day!

Entertainment

Well, I missed City Daily Photo’s Theme Day. It’s always the first of the month, and I forgot to post a picture for it. I suppose I could say that birdwatching was a form of entertainment, but the bird pictures I posted were taken automatically so that would be a stretch.

My entertainment these days is pretty subdued. I read things on the Internet, and I go for rides and explore places. That’s pretty much it.

I used to go to shows, though. We went to some Broadway shows when I was a child, because my aunt was a singer in some of them. As an adult, there were long stretches when my budget did not allow for shows. Much later, there was a year when I went to many popular concerts, probably because I had access to quite a few free tickets. I worked for a company that had a number of season tickets to Wolf Trap Center and the Nissan Pavilion (later unglamorously named the Jiffy Lube Center, after its sponsor). 

A few years ago, I came across my collection of those tickets and grouped them together to take photos before I threw them out. 

Some of these shows were great! There’s a few that I don’t remember. 

Starling, Grackle, Squirrel

At the Birdfy Feeder

It’s easy to get the starling and grackle confused when you can’t get a good look at them. They both look black on a cloudy day, But let the sun come out and you see that they have iridescent feathers. The starling looks speckled, and often travels in a large flock. Their beaks are both pointy but different in color, and the grackle has bright eyes that look cartoonish.

I can’t resist showing another picture of the grackle because it looks funny when it gets close to the camera.

The squirrel also gets close to the camera, usually so close that all that shows up in the photo is fur! Here’s a shot which finally showed part of the face.

Flowers that Bloom in the Spring

Spring Bulbs and Phlox

Redbud

Phlox

Trout Mural

Waynesboro, VA

This mural is called “The Lure.” The artist goes by the name Humble. 

Monday Murals

Credit it for the photo goes to my daughter Lynn. You can read about the artist on the Visit Waynesboro site.

250 Years …

Of No Kings

The Freedom Truck is a mobile museum about the American Revolution. On Friday I saw it parked in Middletown, and even though I didn’t have much time, I made a brief stop to see the exhibits.

Coincidentally, “No Kings” protests took place yesterday throughout the country and even overseas. Huge crowds showed up in large cities, and even my small town’s event drew over 300 participants. 

I drove past, and only got a few pictures through the windshield. Walking over to get better shots would probably have required more effort than I could handle, unless I parked illegally which I did not want to do. 

The focus of the demonstrations has expanded due to the attacks on Iran. Most people don’t want a war. I realize that current readers are aware of this, but future readers may come across this blog and not understand the time frame.

Speaking of war, today is Vietnam War Veterans Day. I happened to glimpse an event at the Veterans Memorial in Middletown, and realized what it was. I stopped and took a few pictures. 

Most of these people are members of the SAR, Sons of the American Revolution. The town’s mayor is in the group shot and I don’t know if he’s a member or simply there in his official role. 

I’m glad that SAR put on this event. Many Vietnam veterans are around my age, and that war was hard on my generation. Not only did people die, but soldiers who came back had a high rate of illnesses and post-traumatic stress. They had to struggle to get recognition that their health problems were due to the war, including to “Agent Orange “ defoliant exposure. 

Thank you for your service. Let’s hope for peace!

Note: I try to keep my posts fairly short, so I often leave out things that I might say in conversation. Also, I took a lot of pictures over the past three days, so I combined quite a few into collages (mosaics). 

It’s Late March and Early Spring

A Beagle Report

Hi from Charlie, here to tell you about my week. It was a good one because I got to visit Sadie several times. That’s more fun than going to daycare at the vet’s because Sadie and I play and eat snacks. I get to sit on Miss Deborah’s lap and go for a walk. Then Sadie and I take naps.

Mom got a new garden flag. She wanted me to pose with it, but I was tired of having my picture taken.

We went to several parks this week. Here’s two pictures at the county park

Isn’t that a beautiful dog? We didn’t get to play though.

One day we went for a ride and saw farm animals. Cows look interesting, but if you get close, you see they are big and scary.

I saw some pigs. They looked like they were having a good time.

Today we took Miss Deborah and Mr. Frank for a ride. She gave me a peanut butter cookie, and later Mr. Frank gave me half of a hamburger. He took the other half home to Sadie.

Our weather’s been cold and hot and cold again. Mom says the cold is almost done because it’s spring. I hope things are good where you are!

Missed the Selfie, Caught the Curves.

This first picture is the result of a mistake. I wanted to get a photo for the Weekend Reflection challenge, so when I spotted a reflection of myself, I snapped a picture. Oops, my head was cut off in this shot! I liked the curves sp I cropped it drastically.

I took a second picture from a few steps back and got the selfie. The funny thing is, I like the first image better. It looks quite graceful for a truck wheel!

Prescribed Fire at Wolf Gap

Smoke on the mountain! I knew what it was because I had seen an announcement that the forest service was going to do a prescribed burn at Wolf Gap.

Yesterday I was driving home from recycling coupled with Charlie’s afternoon outing, and I could see the smoke from Woodstock.  I decided to take a closer look, so I drove out to St. Luke.

Let’s go west just a little ways and take another look.

I discovered some back roads that I had not driven before, and saw some nice farms. I’ll study the map and go back again to explore.

Earlier Post: Bringing Fire Back to the Mountains

Linking to: Skywatch

Who Lives Here?

Today I was driving down a back road when I saw this nest, high in a tree. It’s too big to be a squirrel’s nest. I reasoned that if it was an eagle’s nest, there would be a body of water nearby.

And there was!

What do you think? I suppose it could be a heron’s nest, but there was only one and they like to nest in rookeries. 

This is in western Shenandoah County.  

Meanwhile, my bird camera at home recorded some vibrant cardinals.

Another colorful bird is the goldfinch. This one looks a little odd; I think it’s molting.