Trinity Church in Little Washington

Yesterday we went to a garden week tour in the small town of Washington, VA.  We began the tour at Trinity Episcopal Church.

The church was built in a "country gothic" style. According the church website, James Leake Powers, the master craftsman hired to build the church in 1857, had worked with Thomas Jefferson in building the University of Virginia.

The bell tower and stained glass windows were added later.

If you enjoy looking at church architecture, check out InSPIREd Sunday.

I took extra pictures of this charming church and made them into a photo collage. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Flying and Farm Critters

Spring is a pleasant time to be outdoors so I've taken plenty of pictures of birds and animals. Saturday is the day to post to Saturday's Critters so that's my reminder to catch up on sharing some of my animal photos, and The Bird D'Pot is also open for links.

Birds shown here are a robin, a goose, and a mallard duck. I'm sticking in a stinging insect too. It makes me a little uncomfortable to look at it actually.

I assume these farm animals need no introduction.

Okay, this pair isn't real.

Five for Friday, Late April

1. I am grateful to Black and White Weekend for choosing my gazebo shot as one of the six photos to show this week. Here's a new black and white  — can you tell what it is?

Yes, that's a water bottle with shadows and reflections.

2. Speaking of reflections, there's one in this window in Front Royal. My foot doctor has an office here part of the time. And finally, my foot pains seems to be less, at least, as long as I wear my Birkenstocks.

3.  Tomorrow is the final day for garden week tours in Virginia. I took this picture of a dogwood and a grove of bamboo on a tour yesterday. I'm sharing this with a Treeline challenge.

4.  Here are a couple of geese in our yard. Note their orange beaks and legs. 

5. Last of all, I have some signs to show you. You can click on an image to enlarge it. I know the utility companies generally oppose the posting of signs on their poles, but somehow Edinburg gets away with it.

Fences, Gates, Gardens

It's Historic Garden Week in Virginia.  I like taking advantage of this chance to tour places that normally are not open to the public.

Yesterday we toured some lovely places in Bridgewater and today we toured some grand homes near Warrenton.  These tours are not cheap but the proceeds go to good causes.

Wednesday, UVA Medical Center

Yesterday I drove to Charlottesville again because my older daughter was in the UVA Medical Center. I had to park on the top level of the parking garage, where I spied this little bird. (Sometimes I think that if my mom wanted me to know she is with me, she would show up as a bird!)

The medical center is huge and has a number of pedestrian bridges connecting buildings. Since it was raining, I took advantage of one and crossed to the hospital without getting wetter than I already was. (Not only had I parked in the rain, but earlier I had gotten quite wet while filling the car with gas.)

I waited for what seemed like a long time while Lynn was in surgery.

Her stay in the hospital had been stressful. There were mix-ups on her medication that she had to straighten out several times. And basically she was there because of complications from a mastectomy she had a month ago in a different hospital. She was anxious to go home and take care of her pets, although a friend had been doing the basics of providing them with food and water.

But the surgery went smoothly and eventually she was strong enough to go home. Here an RN is going over the discharge instructions.

She is doing okay now but there will be follow-ups with her doctor.

Madison County Courthouse

Madison, Virginia

Random-osity by the River

The Good: A week ago we took a short walk by the North Fork in Strasburg. The path has distances marked, and since my foot is still healing I only walked to the 1/8 mile sign and back. That's only a quarter mile but my foot did not get sore so it's a starting point.

The Random: The Virginia bluebells were blooming. These wildflowers seem to really like growing next to rivers.

By the way, five days later I walked at least three times that distance when we visited the gardens of Glen Burnie and my feet did get sore. The problem is partly that I can't find shoes that are both comfortable over the incision area and supportive enough for my weak ankles. So progress is annoyingly slow, but I plan to do more eventually.

The Fun: The weather was warm and people were wading in the river!  I believe the family on the left are Mennonites, for they are so modestly dressed. Mennonites and other Anabaptist groups have lived in the Shenandoah Valley for many generations.

Linkups: Seasons and Good, Random and Fun

Downtown Edinburg, VA

Here we have some street scenes in Edinburg, a quaint town in Shenandoah County. You can click on the collage to see it larger.

There are a number of churches in the town. This one is Edinburg Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). A plaque tells us it dates to 1869.

Although the town covers less than one square mile of land, much of the surrounding area carries an Edinburg address.

See more Edinburg posts.

See InSPIREd and Mosaic Linkups

Why Did the Chickens Cross the Road?

I don't have the answer to that one of life's greatest questions, but I do have evidence that in this instance, the chickens crossed the road in order to visit their friend the horse.

Scroll down to see some more birds.  And hop over to Saturday's Critters and The Bird D'Pot to see even more.

See the river behind the horse? That's the North Fork of the Shenandoah.

Here we see some sweet little birds in my yard followed by a blue jay in Front Royal.  The last picture shows three different kinds of ducks hanging out together. Which brings to mind another one of life's great questions: Why can't we all get along?

It's Earth Day! Show nature some love!

Skies and Gardens

Willy Nilly Friday

1. Night at the Gazebo, Front Royal. I accidentally pasted the next image over this one in Photoshop and it looked kind of dreamy. I faded that layer and converted to Black and White. (Yes, I'm using Photoshop again. I really like having layers and multiple features.)

Linkups: My Town in the Night and Black and White Weekend

2. I took this through the windshield. Frank was driving and I saw this nice sky. We were on US 340 near Lake Frederick.

Skywatch Friday

3. It's tulip time!

Flower Friday and Orange You Glad It's Friday

4.  This purple phlox is on a small hillside beside the road near Toms Brook.

5.  Did Caesar make heads roll? No, the staff at Glen Burnie took down these busts for safety reasons. It seems that children sometimes try to play with them, so they will be re-secured in ways that aren't likely to tip over.

Today in Charlottesville

Today I drove to Charlottesville to visit Lynn in the hospital. She's my older daughter and she was admitted to UVA Medical Center for a complication of surgery that she had a month ago. By the time I left this evening she was doing pretty well.

Here are three pictures that I took at the hospital using my cell phone, followed by two that I took at dusk from the Whole Foods parking lot.

Sharing with Fences Around the World