Three Pairs of Birds

A Forest in the "Fort"

A Train Goes to Strasburg

When I was young and lived in Alexandria, a neighbor worked for the railroad. He regularly rode the train to Strasburg, where he also had a residence. But few trains go to Strasburg now, and none of them carry passengers. There is one train that still goes there several times a week, usually in the middle of the night. I hear it rumbling past, blowing it's lonesome whistle to warn traffic. If I'm still up, I sometimes look out to see the lights as it passes on the other side of the lake. It's a short train and passes by quickly.

One day in September I was surprised to hear it pass by during the daytime. I happened to be going to Strasburg shortly after that so I drove down a side road in town and saw it stopped beside one of the factories.

Here we see the train passing our neighborhood that day. It's not a very clear photo because I grabbed the camera and snapped a picture through the window.

The final shot is an October scene. It shows the railroad bridge across the North Fork of the Shenandoah. 

Sharing with Tuesday Treasures and Our World Tuesday

Late Autumn Randoms

Random-osity

The Good: Want to look younger for a photo? Lie down!

I recently made this selfie on a bench at Blandy.

The Random: Much of our autumn color has faded, but I still have foliage photos left to post. Below are some images I combined using PhotoCollage for Mosaic Monday and Seasons.

(Click on the image to see it larger.)

The Fun: At Opus Oaks, we saw a silo decorated with a ring of painted figures circling the structure. Students made these by posing and outlining each other and then painting in the details. (See previous post about Opus Oaks for more artwork.)

Sharing with Monday Murals

Accidental Photo

I took this on a rainy day, or rather, my camera took it. I was either picking up or putting down my Canon while taking pictures from the car.

Previously I posted other shots from that rainy expedition.  They were deliberate so they make more sense than this one, but there is something about this that I like. I'm pretty sure those are tree branches seen through the wet windshield.

Last Month in Fort Valley

White Chapel Methodist Church

Barns and Outbuildings

A Small Creek

Related Posts: Autumn Arrives in Fort Valley
and Fences of Fort Valley

Feathered and Furry Friends

Our weather has turned chilly so I filled a couple of  bird feeders. Hoping to not attract bears and squirrels, I used black thistle seed. I haven't seen any bears this season but the squirrels are checking out the feeders. I guess they're hungry!

One of the squirrels appears to be fairly young. He's small and cute.

A Goat in Berkeley County.

Heron

Geese

Post-Thanksgiving Randoms

1. Marie wanted to visit a particular store while she was here, so we went there this morning. We were the only customers even though this is the biggest shopping day of the year. I guess most people weren't buying old architectural house parts today. She bought some shelf brackets and a hook.

2.  It gets dark early now so I'm likely to be driving home around sunset. I stopped in Strasburg to capture the one below.

For more skies, check out the Skywatch linkup.  I'm also sharing this one with Orange You Glad It's Friday.

3. I'm thankful that Marie was able to visit us for Thanksgiving, even though her stay was brief. I drove her to the Metro this afternoon and she took a train to New Jersey, where she has an apartment even though she mostly lives in California because of her job.

4. Next we have some flag-related symbols. Miss Liberty is painted on a window in Strasburg. The poster with the red, white and blue heart caught my eye on a website. It apparently comes from a Facebook group called Hate Has No Home Here. They produce these signs to remind school children that they are cared for.

5. Finally, this is a shot I snapped with my cellphone this afternoon. Some Canada Geese were flying by.  Even though I see them all the time on our community lake, I still love to watch the way they fly.

Have a nice weekend!

At the Buckhorn Inn

Marie arrived last night and today we drove to Churchville and met Lynn for Thanksgiving dinner at the historic Buckhorn Inn. It's so nice to relax with family members!

Normally on Thursday I link up to Run*A*Round Ranch for the Good Fences challenge.  TexWisGirl there is about to take a break from blogging so this is the last week she is hosting the linkup. Margaret over at Gosiablogs has volunteered to host it now. It will be interesting to see more European participation.

This One's from 1972

Happy Thanksgiving!

Marie the Little Artist

Thankful for These Two

With Thanksgiving coming up tomorrow, let me say I am thankful for my daughters. This is a photo that I took when they were children.

Lynn and Marie

It's Lynn's birthday today! She went to a show with a friend tonight, so hopefully she had a fun birthday.

Flowers of Early November

Sharing with Wordless Wednesday and Flower Wednesday

Old Campaign Pin from 1960

Rappahannock Randoms

Random-osity Around Sperryville

The Good: Early this month we returned to Rappahannock County for the annual studio tour. In addition to seeing a variety of excellent art, we saw beautiful scenery including these barns.

Sharing with The Barn Collective and Seasons

The Random: I made a collage of scenes from that day for Mosaic Monday.

The Fun: Our final stop of the day was Middle Street Gallery in their new location above a coffee shop in Sperryville. From a window I spied this fun mural.

Monday Mural

Wardensville, November 2nd

Faith Mission Church in Wardensville dates to 1902. A modern brick addition can be seen behind it in this view.

Sharing with InSpired Sunday

When we were across the mountain early this month, I took many pictures including a few of the church and nearby . Mostly I took pictures of Warden Lake. I posted a trio of them that same day. Since it was a gorgeous autumn day, I want to share more of them now.

A plaque honors Loring (Booze) Orndorff, whose "loyal service was devoted to the public use and enjoyment of Warden Lake."

The lake has a new boat ramp. I mentioned to a fisherman that it looked nice and he opined that he would prefer that the money had been spent on improving the road. I hadn't found the road to be bad, but then I noticed on the way back to town that there are some sharp turns that might be tricky if you were towing a boat trailer.

Sharing with Scenic Weekends

A Spot for Fishing from a Wheelchair 

Birds, Squirrel, Plus a Cat

I finally filled a couple of our bird feeders. I'm not sure the bears have gone into hibernation but I'm hoping that the recent frosts have at least sent them to their winter homes.

The first three pictures are from our yard: a goose, a male cardinal, and a gray squirrel. I took the cat photo in a parking lot in Strasburg.