Looking Up at a Drive-Through Eatery

 

A Wall in Leesburg.

I don't know why the artist emphasized fried eggs.

Monday Murals

 

Love's Long Shadow

Earlier this month I made a brief visit to Seven Bends State Park and spotted these long shadows stretching out from the LOVE sign.

Shadow Shot Sunday

Inspired Sunday: There are shadows in this picture too but not as noticeable as the ones above. This is First Presbyterian Church in Harrisonburg. It faces Court Square and has an addition on the left. This Gothic Revival building was built by J. S. Heatwole & Co. in 1907-08. 

D is for Dog, Ducks, Deer.

Saturday Critters

It was a happy accident that all of today's subjects start with the letter D. 

I saw this black dog walking with his person and asked her if I could take a picture. I used Pixlr to filter the image and add a vignette. 

Caturday Art

Mr. and Mrs. Duck seemed to be enjoying their swim.

The two deer were at Dickey Ridge in Shenandoah National Park. 

Five for Friday after Thanksgiving

"When one door closes another door opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the ones which open for us." ~ Alexander Graham Bell.

Reflection In Strasburg.

On Tuesday we traveled to Leesburg so Frank could get his cochlear implant activated. I took this picture as he was being tested with the new hearing device turned on. For now it just sounds like noise; he has to learn to make sense of words in that ear.

It's been a month since he had the surgery that marked the most drastic part of the process. Since then he has suffered with balance issues and nausea, and had to walk with the assistance of a walker or cane. 

B&W (iPhone SE Portrait Mode)

He is finally getting better but the difficulties have brought home the problems of living in a multi-level home. We are now planning to move to Woodstock where we own property that was designed with accessibility in mind. 

Although I feel confident that he will regain full mobility, aging is a relentless process from which no one is immune. I have problems with stairs myself. 

"Seasons change and so did I,

You need not wonder why." ~ The Guess Who.

This flower is one of the few I have seen outdoors lately. Cold temperatures have ended the blooming season for all but the most hardy.

Floral Linkups: Friday Fotos / Garden Affair / Friday Bliss

 

 

A Month of Change

It's been a while since I posted an old barn. This is one I saw in late October. Since then many of the leaves have fallen and the days have gotten short. 

Today is Thanksgiving. We did not have guests because Lynn is recovering from an ear infection, Marie is in Venice, and we have arranged to meet Allison and Dave for dinner tomorrow.
We went to Woodstock this afternoon and had a late lunch. We own property in that town and are making plans to move there.

I'm not a fan of days getting short, but we do see some great sunsets this time of year. 

Skywatch

 

It's Thanksgiving Eve.

This snapshot goes back a long way. Little Marie is posing with art she made in school for Thanksgiving. She won't be spending Thanksgiving with us tomorrow because she is traveling.

I haven't filled my bird feeders yet because the weather has not been cold enough to send the bears into their dens. Bears like bird food and not only help themselves, they will pull the feeders down and crush them. Thus I don't have bird close-ups today so I'm sharing some pictures from last December.

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The bird on the suet feeder is a nuthatch. The red bird is a male cardinal. He likes sunflower seed.

Below that we have two mourning doves browsing on the ground. 

If you celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow, best wishes for a lovely holiday.

And Today is Lynn's Birthday.

One More Montross Mural

Blog Post #7750

In the "Northern Neck" of Virginia, there is a mural studio in the town of Montross. When we went to that town on business some months ago, I sought out a number of them along the main street. I've been sharing them from time to time and here is the last one. It is on a coffeehouse that is also an art gallery. 

When I first started blogging in 2005, we were living near Montross but that was before murals burst forth there. Perhaps someday I'll go back and find the ones in the nearby towns. 

The area is between the Potomac River and the Rappahannock River, with Nomini Creek and its large bay near town. Waterways figure in many of the murals, and even mermaids! Let's look at the ones I already posted. 
 

For a better look at these murals, view the previous posts by searching for Montross on this blog.

A Red Brick Church and Allison in a Red Shirt.

Today was a chilly Sunday. I'm covering two unrelated topics in this post, both of them brief.

Inspired Sunday: This Catholic church in Front Royal is actually much larger than it appears in the photo, but I like this view because it shows the older and prettier part of the church. The substantial addition to it lacks the graceful charm of this part of the building, in my opinion.

Here's how the church website describes St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church: "The church is located in Front Royal, the historic county seat of Warren County, in Virginia's scenic Shenandoah Valley. The original church, dedicated in 1884, was built as a memorial for John Carrell Jenkins by his family of Baltimore, MD. A larger church, built next to the original, was dedicated on June 24th, 1998, the feast day of St. John the Baptist - its Patron Saint."

Today we met Allison in Warrenton to celebrate her birthday, which is tomorrow. She is Frank's middle daughter and she lives in Manassas.

Behind her in the picture is some artwork in the steakhouse. I framed one of the metal cutouts with a picture that was behind it. 

I didn't mind driving to Warrenton because we not only had lunch with her but I also took the opportunity to shop in a grocery store that has a better selection of groceries than the stores near our home. 

Caturday Critters

Caturday art: This cat glared at me at first. I don't think it wanted to be photographed. I filtered the picture in Painter Essentials.

I'd Rather Be Birdin' / Saturday Critters

The mallard photo is from my archive. He was a more willing subject, although slightly shy. 

The osprey is still around. I suppose it will head south soon because nights here are getting frosty, and cold winds are blowing. 

I ran some errands today but decided against buying groceries due to the store being crowded with long lines. On the way home, I stopped to record the sunset with some cattle in the foreground.

 

Autumn on Skyline Drive, and a Houseplant in Bloom

Let's start with a black and white view from an overlook on Skyline Drive. Below us is the South Fork of the Shenandoah.

Skyline Drive is extremely popular in autumn so I only go on weekdays. The leaves are falling now but I took this picture earlier this month. The road is reflected in my mirror.

Today I grabbed some snapshots of my Christmas cactus, which is blooming well this year. 

Have a good weekend, and be careful if you drive on the highways. People speed like they are on a race track. 

Linkups: Black and White Weekend / Reflections / Friday Bliss / Garden Affair / Floral Friday

 

Three Signs and a Sky

"I followed my heart. It lead me to the fridge."

Borden's Lumber and Hardware changes their sign every month. With holidays coming, remember to shop local. 

Apple Valley Animal Hospital also changes their sign regularly. Sometimes I drive past there just to read the sign. 

Sharing with Signs 2 and Skywatch.

All of today's photos are iPhone snapshots. The night sky image held a surprise for me.

See the little blue moon above the trees? I did not see it when I took the picture, but it appears in all four of the shots I took of the moon. (I took extras in case some of them blurred too much, which two of them did.) I guess the blue light is some sort of the reflection on the front of the phone. 

Canada Geese and Another Look at the Osprey

A Pair of Canada Geese by the Lake

An osprey is still hanging around the lake. The fishing must be pretty good! I took snapshots of him perched on a branch and realized he looked ready to take off.   

There he goes!

Today I went to a Seven Bends Committee meeting in Woodstock and by the time I drove home, the sun was going down. 

The Woodstock Museum

The Marshall House and Carriage House 

Waterway Collages

Let's start with two views of the North Fork of the Shenandoah at Lupton Road Bridge.

Our second grouping shows paintings I saw on the exterior of a building in Montross, a town in Westmoreland County. 

Also in Montross is a mural welcoming visitors to town and introducing some local attractions.

Passage of an Afternoon

Yesterday I needed to do some grocery shopping but first I took a few minutes to see what Passage Creek looked like on a bright (albeit windy) day in autumn.

The main item I needed was goat milk because I was completely out. (I don't tolerate cow milk.) Two stores I visited this week were out of it, and Walmart did not answer the phone. I went there and checked but they were out. An associate told me they had been out of it for a while. I exited the store and called Martin's in Stephens City. They had it in stock so I headed there by way of Double Church Road, avoiding the construction zone on Fairfax Pike. 

The afternoon sunlight brightened the trees and the front of the Camp of Faith Church, so I pulled over and took some cell phone pictures. 

Inspired Sunday / Shadow Shot Sunday

The church is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. It is not very old but I was drawn to the light and the sky.

Speaking of the sky, it gets dark early now: shortly after 5 PM. By the time I got home it was dark except for the moon and the clouds that it was shining through. I steadied my phone on the car to get a shot.