Weyers Cave Rurality

Weyers Cave is a small town in Augusta County. According to Co-op Living, It got its name when a train depot opened there in 1874 and it was the closest stop to Grand Caverns, which were discovered by Bernard Weyer.

InSpired Sunday.

A sign outside this charming church says "New Vision Ministries." I did not find a history of the building but it used to be home to Melanchthon Lutheran Chapel. I found an old photo of that chapel and it shows three steps instead of a ramp. There is no steeple. The nearby cemetery has graves dating back to 1854.

Weyers Cave is in an agricultural area. I stopped briefly at the town park/ community center and could view pretty farms surrounding it.

The Barn Collective.

Walkway in the Woods.

Storybook Trail,

George Washington National Forest.

Black and White Weekend, Shadow Shot Sunday. 

Who's in our Driveway?

Trail Cam Photos

I placed a trail cam on a tree by our driveway. I was not surprised to see a cat stroll by, but the deer was a surprise. I knew that deer visit our yard sometimes, but usually in the back yard or on the far edge of the other side yard.

And a few days later, another deer visited. It looks smaller to me.

I've cropped these pictures to show off the subject.

Night photos are not in color. The flash can make the eyes look funny. The sweet bunny looks almost scary.

I've smelled a skunk at night a couple of times. Here he is!

And on that same rock, a robin.

The rest of the pictures show people instead of critters. There were so many photos of package deliveries, I pulled a bunch into PhotoCollage to combine them. These don't include all the small packages that get stuffed in our mailbox out at the street.

All those boxes have to go somewhere. The camera caught me putting some in the trunk to take to recycling. We don't have curbside pickup here, so I go to one of the "convenience sites" every week to drop off recyclables. They have to be separated by category and boxes have to be broken down. I sometimes wonder if the gas I use doing this outweighs the benefit of recycling. I combine this chore with other errands so that I'm not driving too far out of the way.

A View from Richardson Road.

Warren County, Virginia.

That's Signal Knob in the distance.

Sharing with Skywatch,
Friday Bliss,

and Floral Friday

Winchester Walls and Foliage

Winchester is a nice town in northern Shenandoah Valley. Get away from the new shopping areas and explore the old town. 

Do you see the sign for Elvis Lane? That's not the real name; it's Pall Mall Street.

I hope if you're living in hot weather right now, you are able to stay comfortable.

See Gosia's linkup for more fences.

Hummingbird and Friends

Seen from My Window

Wordless and Wild Bird Wednesday.

Trouble on Chestnut Ridge

Tuesday Treasures.

Last week I made a brief stop at the Turner Ashby Monument in Harrisonburg to see if it had been cleaned up after being vandalized. It had. It's in a beautiful spot on top of a hill, where Ashby was killed in battle 157 years ago.

On the anniversary of his death, someone threw eggs and other substances on the monument, and also left a page of quotations. I feel sad about the vandalism, although the quotations are historically accurate.

The news article I saw did not type out the quotations but published a photo of the note. The quotations are easily found elsewhere. Here's one from Jeff Davis, president of the Confederate States, but spoken about slaves before the war:

"We recognize the fact of the inferiority stamped upon that race of men by the Creator, and from the cradle to the grave, our Government, as a civil institution, marks that inferiority."

Another quote is from his Vice President, Alexander Stephens, stating that the new Confederate government'a "foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests upon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery—subordination to the superior race—is his natural and normal condition."

I believe history is important. These quotations are relevant because there are still people teaching that the Civil War was not about slavery. While there were other causes, it was the issue of slavery and particularly its spread to the new territories that led to the war.

The issue of war monuments is a sticky one. I think when they are in a historically relevant place, it is usually best to leave them there and provide accurate interpretation. I don't like the ones that stand in places that are unrelated to actual history but are simply intended as hero worship.

• See the text of this marker on HMDB. [You'll see my name there!]
• See my 2009 post on a visit to this place.
• See also Wikiquotes of Jefferson Davis.

Blog Post #6760, Random-osity

The Good, the Random, and the Fun. 

The Good: These cute ducklings have joined our neighborhood. This morning they were blocking the only road out. Frank banged on the car door to get them to leave but they paid no attention. Mama Duck stood up but would not leave them alone in the road.

I got out of the car, cell phone in hand, pausing to take pictures as I moved closer to urge them to move. I did not want to leave them where someone might run over them. When I got close, they finally got up and their mother led them back to the pond.

I'd Rather Be Birdin'

The Random: Originally an advertisement, this sign in Culpeper has been repainted and preserved as public art and nostalgia.

Monday Murals.

The Fun: I met Peggy and Bill at a music event on Saturday. They were in Virginia very briefly on their way northward.

 

Mosaic Monday.

New Market: Two Churches and Some Farms

Shenandoah County, Virginia
 

Today we were in the town of New Market to dine at the Southern Kitchen and enjoy a drive through the countryside. I stopped in town to photograph two side-by-side churches.

Manor Memorial United Methodist Church is on Congress Street (US 11). It dates back to 1857 but most of the facade you see here was built in 1931. The church history is worth reading.

Next door is the Smith Creek Baptist Church.

This Baptist Church has roots going back to 1756, when it was established near Smith Creek. The current building on Congress Street was begun in 1899.

Speaking of Smith Creek, the rest of this post is from the other side of that creek, specifically along Quail Lane. This short road offers some pretty rural views,

The first time I found myself on this lane was on a Civil War tour quite a few years ago. The Battle of New Market took place in May, 1864. Today the landscape is peaceful.

Sharing with Shadow Shot Sunday, InSpired Sunday, and The Barn Collective. 

Ostrich Dance

Today I found myself next to an ostrich farm. I did not go too close to the fence because I did not want to scare or antagonize these huge birds, but I did take a few pictures standing a short distance from their fence.

Only one of them approached me. Almost immediately he began to perform side to side movements with his head, crouching down and leaning left-right-left-right. 

I took  photos and apparently that was not the desired response. After a few minutes he turned and walked away.

 Saturday Critters.

Foggy, Frustrated, and Flowery.

Willy Nilly Friday

1. Thought I'd start this post with a cloudy sky in black and white.

2. This one is from the same rainy morning, when Signal Knob was obscured by fog. You can see a reflection of the fountain in the water.

3. This week has been a frustrating one for me with technology. My laptop refuses to wake up after it goes to sleep, my cell phone would not charge today, and I've had a series of problems with my old iPad.

The iPad is supposed to have 200MB of free cell coverage every month, but that stopped working. I rarely need the cell signal because wifi is available in many places, but I wanted to get it working again. I wound up making three long calls to T-Mobile but basically I'm in a battle against a machine. Their software sends me a verification code via text message, but my iPad does not get phone-style text messages, so I cannot sign on. A tech old me to take the iPad to the local T-Mobile store so they could fix it. They could not, so they said to take it to the bigger T-Mobile store that's an hour away. I will probably get around to it, but I need to combine that with another errand because I am not confident that they will fix it.

4. I got to see some beautiful Tiffany lamps, including this wisteria design. I believe this is the one designed by great-aunt Emarel, my grandfather's sister. I read that she also designed a Pond Lily lamp. Sometimes the word designed confuses people. In this case, I believe she sketched out what she wanted Tiffany to make for her home, and his artist Clara Driscoll translated the idea into this lamp shade. Emarel was creative and also designed two homes and wrote a vegetarian cookbook. 

5. Wildflowers at the MSV look cheerful this time of year.

Floral Friday and Friday Bliss.