Progress on the New Bridge

Front Royal, Virginia

The replacement bridge over the South Fork of the Shenandoah is halfway done. A new span is taking traffic in both directions. The old bridge is being taken down next to it, and eventually the new bridge will be widened. Right now it has four lanes.

Here you see a temporary wall and to the left of that is the old bridge.  Routes 340, 522, and 55 all join together and pass over this bridge. State Route 55 West (Strasburg Road) splits off and heads to the left in the background. The other two roads continue as one as far as Double Tollgate, where 340 goes off to the right toward Berryville.

The new intersection with 55 will feature a new section of roadway forming a “Quadrant Roadway Intersection (QRI)”

The proposal for the bridge can be seen on the Virginia DOT site.

Sharing with Good Fences

Birds on Feeders, Geese in Flight

Sharing with Wild Bird Wednesday and Black and White Wednesday and Wordless Wednesday and Wordless Wed and Monochrome Wednesday

Barns, Wordless

Sharing with The Barn Collective

and Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday
and NF Trees and Bushes

The Ruins of St. John's Church

Harpers Ferry, West Virginia

These ruins are located along the Appalachian Trail as it climbs from the lower town to Jefferson Rock.

"These weathered ruins are all that remain of St. John's Episcopal Church - one of Harpers Ferry's five earliest churches."

"Built in 1852 with money provided by church fairs, St. John's served as a hospital and barracks during the Civil War and suffered considerable damage. It was rebuilt afterward, but was abandoned in 1895 when a new Episcopal church was built in the upper town."

Sharing with Tuesday's Treasures

and Our World Tuesday and Through My Lens

The View from St. Peter's

Yesterday's post was about the stunning church that overlooks Harpers Ferry, WV.  We were there on a beautiful afternoon so I got many colorful images that I want to share. Let's use the format of The Good, The Random and The Fun.

The Good: The view from the church is spectacular! You can see the Shenandoah River and the point where it meets the Potomac. The historic town lies before you, much of it preserved by the National Park Service. In the distance are hills of two different states, Maryland and Virginia.

I'm sharing the first image with Mosaic Monday.

The Random: On the Maryland cliffs is the "ghost" of an old advertising sign painted in 1906 for "Mennen’s Borated Talcum Toilet Powder." The word Powder is still legible, in spite of efforts made in 1963 to remove the paint. Read about it on this Park Service page.

Sharing with Monday Murals

The Fun:  Many of my readers are photo-bloggers and they know that taking pictures is fun! This woman was composing a picture of the church.

See more posts about Harpers Ferry. 

St. Peter's Church, Harpers Ferry

This Roman Catholic Church sits high on a hill overlooking Harpers Ferry, WV. If you've ever climbed the steps to Jefferson's Rock, you've seen it.

The church was completed in 1833 and remodeled in 1896.

During the Civil War, the church displayed the British Union Jack flag as a symbol of neutrality, neither Union nor Confederate. A portion of the interpretive sign is devoted to John Brown's Raid which took place in the town in 1859.

Sharing with InSpired Sunday and Shadow Shot Sunday

Starling in Black and White

Sharing with Black and White Weekend

and Camera Critters

Feathers Flying

It's spring and a young gander's fancy turns to lady geese. There may be some competition and fighting first, so we hear a commotion and later see feathers scattered on the grass. Sometimes the struggle seems alarming, with a couple of geese ganging up to drive one off. And the lady usually runs off, or flies a short distance while her suitor pursues.

These geese don't fly much, unlike the Canada Geese which sometimes soar for miles. I don't know how they work it out when they pair up with a Canada Goose, but they do seem to stay together so the Canadian must curb his flying instinct somehow to stay with his mate and goslings. 

Sharing with Saturday's Critters
and The Bird D'Pot

Easter 1971

Lynn and Marie

If you celebrate Easter, have a lovely one! And if you don't, eat some candy anyway!

Sharing with Sepia Saturday

Five Randoms for Early Spring

1. It looks like spring has arrived and I'm glad! But of course, it's not a sure thing and we can still get snow, but for now I'm enjoying the mild temperatures and the bursts of color.

2. This little pond is serving several linkups today. The  blossoms meet the current "pink" theme for PhotoFriday, flowers in general are this week's theme for My Town Shoot Out, the reflected trees qualify for Weekend Reflections, and the koi are the right color for Orange You Glad It's Friday. And of course, this entire post follows the format for Willy Nilly Friday. 

3. I spotted this "Clean Up and Haul Manure" sign at the stables in Sky Meadows State Park. I may use this as a visual response to some of those ridiculous memes on social media — not the humorous ones, but the often-untrue political ones. Many people don't fact-check before they share, including folks who should know better. Stick to the truth people!

4. I found an error on my credit report, a fake name that they had as an alias for my name. I filled out a form and sent it to them. The reason I checked my reports was that once upon a time I worked on a government contract and OPM recently had a security breach and wrote me that someone might have my identity information. They offered me an ID protection service so I signed up.

5. This fluffy cat didn't stay still for long! I snapped a couple of pictures and decided to play with one of them in Photoshop for Feline Art Friday. I hope you like it.

And I hope you have a great weekend! Happy Easter!

Skywatch Strasburg

Townhouses, Strasburg, VA

Sharing with Skywatch Friday

On Skyline Drive with Peggy

My sister and her guy drove up from Kentucky last weekend. They spent a couple nights near Leesburg because she was doing a program at her old church, and then spent two nights with us. She wanted to go up to Skyline Drive and fortunately it was open again after being closed for snow.

It was cold though! The wind gusts were strong and drove the cold right through you. We took some hurried pictures; didn't go hiking. We saw some deer but there was no place to pull off and several maintenance trucks were behind me so I missed getting a nice picture of deer in snow.

Stony Man Overlook

The stone walls add to the beauty of the overlooks. I'm sharing this one with Good Fences.

Old Rag Mountain

Bill and Peggy

March Snow, Skyline Drive

Sharing with Wordless Wednesday and Outdoor Wednesday
and Black and White Wednesday and Monochrome Wednesday
and NF Trees and Bushes

Bill and Peggy Visit

Sharing with Our World Tuesday

and Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday

and Through My Lens

Rural Scenes and a Sculpture

Tom the Backroads Traveller is a prolific blogger who actually publishes more often than I do! He also has two memes running today: The Barn Collective and Tuesday's Treasures. I've got some barns to link up, plus a sculpture for the Treasures category. It is at Randolph Macon Academy in Front Royal and is called The Cadet. Notice the dove of peace on the handle of the sword.

The sculptor is Edward J. Fraughton.