End of August Random-osity

The Good, The Random, The Fun. 

The Good: Here's another post office. (I'm a big fan of our postal service!) This is the Fort Valley Post Office in the small town of Detrick.

The Random: It's harvest season, and I made up a collage for Mosaic Monday of some pictures from farmers markets.

The Fun: These colorful murals are at a canoe and tubing outfitter near Front Royal. 

The canoe companies have had to cut back on capacity this year to avoid crowding. This final picture is made up of photos from last year.

Did you know Front Royal is known as the Canoe Capital of Virginia? It's location on the Shenandoah River makes it a popular location for boating. 

Post Office and Iglesia, Winchester

 This is the post office on North Pleasant Valley Road in Winchester. It is convenient to Route 7.

As I left the post office I noticed this brick church on Virginia Avenue: Iglesia Pentacostal Unida Hispana. The Census Bureau estimates that the population of Winchester is 18.3% Hispanic or Latino.

Inspired Sunday.

Can You See the Cow at Sunset?

For the first shot I set my flash to go off so you can see the cow, but it is still almost hiding behind the fence. 

The next shot just shows three ducks. 

I didn't get many bird pictures this week. The few birds that I did see were either in motion or were partially hidden, like this blue jay.

Butterflies are not hard to find in late summer. Just walk around a patch of wild flowers on a sunny day when it's not too windy. Move slowly so you don't scare them.

This grasshopper posed for me on our deck.

The two pretty dogs were behind the counter in a shop where we went to have our passport photos taken. Our passports will expire before long so we sent them off to be renewed, even though we aren't traveling any time soon. I understand that there is a long wait for passports now due to delays caused by office closures during the early months of the pandemic.

Speaking of dogs, I scanned in a photo of the first dog I ever had. This is Spotsy, and he didn't wear clothes very often but I guess one of my daughters had dressed him up for some reason.

As for the last photo, I was just glad to find a bird who would pose nicely!

It's the Final Friday in August.

1. Let's catch up with some miscellaneous images starting with a sunset near my home.

Skywatch Friday.

2. A black and white reflection at Rockcliffe Lake.

3. The brick post office building in Boyce, VA.

4. Also in Boyce, a couple of signs supporting tolerance. The one on the right says "Hate has no home here" in multiple languages.

5. Friday Bliss: A collage of flowers from the Boyce area.

Millwood Post Office and the Clark House

There was no art show in Millwood this year so I haven't been there since last fall. Since I am documenting post offices in my part of Virginia and I happened to be in Clarke County yesterday, I drove to Millwood yesterday to take some pictures.

#USPSProtests

I support our postal workers.

Across from the post office is the historic Clark House (sometimes spelled Clarke, and sometimes referred to as a tavern or hotel.) This building is privately owned, but is known as the place where John Singleton Mosby almost surrendered at the end of the Civil War. While he was in discussions with officers of the U.S. Army, a young ranger came in with a rumor that a thousand Yankees were waiting in the woods to capture them! Mosby promptly left and never did surrender, but disbanded his troops the next day in Salem (now Marshall).

At the edge of the post office parking lot is a book exchange box. Someone has made voting information available there.

The state historical marker (above) says, "After the Civil War, Millwood included a community of freed blacks with a school and several churches." Some of their descendants are still in the area.

"Black Lives Matter." Of course they do. It seems obvious, but then we read the news and realize some people seem to think they don't. It is heart-breaking what people do to each other.

Signs, Signs and Fences Around the World.

I had a history teacher in high school who said that much of history is about man's inhumanity to man. That never seems to end.

See all my posts about Millwood, VA.
My 2010 post on Mosby's Farewell.
See my Civil War Field Trips pages on Mosby.

For more on the story about Mosby in Millwood, check out See It Save It.

Moultrie's View By the Lake

I went through the disk from the trail camera that's on a tree by the lake. Here are some of the most interesting shots it captured. I cropped them all to show off the subjects.

I think the first bird is a hawk. It's probably the same one I saw out there and failed to get a clear picture of, so I'm glad the motion-activated camera did better than I.

I love seeing deer, especially fawns.

And then there's the vultures. They like to hang out together.

My Corner of the World / Wild Bird Wednesday.

The Post Office in White Post.

Along 340 in Virginia 

Wordless Wednesday.

 

The Rileyville Post Office

Circa 1925, Page County, VA.
 

Luray Post Office and a Country Market

Random-osity
 

Monday Mural: Inside the post office is a mural called "Lewis Ramey's Blacksmith Shop." This was painted by Sheffield Kagy, commissioned by the U.S. Treasury Section of Fine Arts. It's in very good condition for one that is 80 years old. 

A stone in the wall is inscribed to tell us the post office was built in 1938. The architect was Louis A. Simon.

The Post Office is on South Broad Street.

Blue Monday: A short distance west of Luray, I saw a nice mountain scene and pulled into a parking lot to take a picture. A little rain was coming in over the Massanutten Range. 

The parking lot I found myself in belongs to an interesting-looking farm market. A sign indicated there were goats behind one of the buildings so of course I parked the car and went to see. Nice place!

From there I drove down to the river. I spied this sign and the discarded mask at almost the same moment. Don't you wish people would pick up after themselves?

A Stop in Downtown Mathias

In Hardy County, West Virginia.

 

Inspired Sunday.

Mathias in an unincorporated town along Lost River. I was surprised to find a large church in such a small town. This is the Mathias Church of the Brethren.

It was nice to see a summary of the church history on a cornerstone. It was first built in 1844. A separate plaque shows that the latest addition was made in 2006.

I'm including a shot of my car's map display in case you want to see where I was. One time some years ago we drove into Mathias from over Great North Mountain via Upper Cove Road, which is Crooked Run Road on the Virginia side. I remember that the road was very rough for a couple miles after we crossed in West Virginia, so I never went that way again for fear of losing my muffler.

While in Mathias, I also stopped to photograph the post office. I'm documenting post offices in honor of our postal workers, who do a remarkable job.