July 31, 2022

Masonic Lodge and Church

Herndon, Virginia


When I pulled over and took a picture of this building on Elden Street, I was not able to read the sign on the door but it looked like a historic building plaque. I was able to find its identification on the Herndon Historical Society page, which says it was a Masonic Lodge and before that, St.Timothy’s Episcopal Church, built in 1881. The Historical Society published details about the construction of the church.

“The overall design of St. Timothy’s Church is called Warden’s Gothic or Carpenter’s Gothic, drawn by people without benefit of an architect. The names of the building committee and the carpenters are unknown. The Virginia pine, 7/8’ thick German siding, 8 penny nails and other building materials were likely furnished by a lumber company, owned by Mr. Laonhardt, an influential man of the church parish, located on Station Street across from the Depot. The construction plan indicated that the main sills were made of white oak. The floor supports were oak, with 1 ¼ inch thick Virginia pine on top, boards no wider than 6 inches. The rest of the frame was Virginia pine. Belfry posts were 6-inch square, except the top section which were 5-inch square. The entire building was covered in cypress shingles. The pews were made of white pine, except the pew caps and alter railings which were made of Carolina pine or ash, finished in oil. The front doors were 2 inches thick, heavily molded on the outside, with bead and butt on the inside, secured with two flush bolts and a six inch mortice lock. All other doors were 1 3/8 inches thick with six panels. The window frames were sash, double hung with weights and pulleys. The windows were No 1 American clear glass, beded and back puttied. One or two chimneys were planned. All the walls and ceilings were plastered. The entire building had two coats of paint, inside and out. No mention was made of the fish-scale shingles on the upper part of the belfry. It is possible that those shingles were added in the 1890’s when the steeple was renovated. The church was consecrated in April of 1881.

A large stain glass window, approximately 14 feet high, was installed behind the alter table in about 1900 in memory of an early church benefactor, John Day. It could be seen until the church’s interior remodeled in 1949, at which time it was boarded up, presumably due to structural weakness. The side windows were refitted in 1954. The original clear panes were replaced with opaque ones, with mullions set in diamond patterns and ecclesiastical symbols in stain glass along the top arches, purchased by memorial funds. The church as originally constructed had a steeple rather than a bell tower, the bell being too heavy for the steeple. The present bell tower was built in about 1893 or 1894. The belfry housed a McShane bell. It was removed from the belfry in 1981 and can now be seen at the new St. Timothy’s Church on Van Buren Street.”




July 30, 2022

Skyline, Deer, Sunset

Yesterday I shared some images from a rainstorm on Skyline Drive and its aftermath. The views were spectacular and I took a lot of photos including panoramas and several pictures of deer.

Click to see larger version.



This deer was accustomed to cars and let me pull up close to it so I took several pictures. Here we have a black and white version plus one modified using the Oilbrush app. I’ll show you a few more deer pictures below.










July 29, 2022

Storm Watching, Skyline Drive

Yesterday I ran some errands in Front Royal. The northern entrance to Skyline Drive is there, and when I saw that a rain storm was coming, I could not resist the chance to view it from an overlook on the mountain.


by the time I reached Dickey Ridge, the wind was picking up and I did not want to be under a tree that might fall. I drove to Signal Knob Overlook and parked where there were no trees nearby. It was a great place to watch the storm and view the clouds afterwards.

The rain came down hard but left quickly. Other cars appeared and people got out to admire the view. You should have been there, but since you weren’t, I’ll show you what I saw.











July 28, 2022

Know When to Scratch


 You shouldn’t scratch poison ivy because you might spread it or cause other problems.

July 27, 2022

Finch Kiss?

The male house finch is eye-catching with his red feathers. Females and young finches are light brown with nice stripes. 

two birds

Wait! Are they kissing? No, he's feeding a seed to the other finch. I don't know whether it's his sweetie or his child, but I saw this happen a couple of times.


House finches are common birds here.


July 26, 2022

July 25, 2022

Mosaic on Progress

At the Artfest in Woodstock, the second section of a three-part mosaic was being assembled. Community members were invited to help put some pieces in place.

Let’s take a closer look. 

The mural will show the North Fork of the Shenandoah River curving around near Seven Bends State Park. Here is the section that was completed last year, followed by some recent pictures of people enjoying the river.

July 24, 2022

Shadows to Share

Blog hops, Linkups, Memes... there are various names for the many web pages where you can share your post on a particular theme. I'm sharing this one with Shadow Shot Sunday.


You may have to look twice to see that the lines on the ramp are shadows of the railing.

July 23, 2022

Miscellaneous Animals Post #388

For the Caturday digital art link, I applied an oil paint filter to an old picture.

I saw this dog today but before I could snap a picture, she came right up to me to be petted.



Blogger is acting up so I'm going to post one little bird photo and call it a day.

July 22, 2022

Working on a Sign

As a member of the Friends of Seven Bends State Park, I have been happily volunteering to support the park. I met with two experienced gardeners who are working on signage for the Sensory Garden. We met in Woodstock to select pictures for the main sign, which will encourage children to see, smell, touch, hear, and even taste certain plants.


Cecelia and I went down to the park to take some additional pictures.



I hope you get to enjoy something beautiful this weekend.

July 21, 2022

Seek Solace Amid Disquiet

So much of the news is worrisome. Disasters from climate change, wars, human cruelty, and the fascinating but disturbing hearings on Trump supporters’ attack on the Capitol last year… these are upsetting. 
Well, as individuals we do small things to try to make our world a better place.  Often I feel sadly inadequate. When I join with others to try to do things as a group, I feel a little more hopeful.

One thing I do on this blog is to show how beautiful are my own surroundings.  Various sages have said that we only protect what we love. I hope my pictures help viewers find more things to love in nature.

View from Trout Run Road

 “Nature brings solace in all troubles.” ~ Anne Frank

July 20, 2022

Looking Up at Birds

This bird on a branch was pretty far away.  I was using a zoom lens.  It may be a finch.

In another tree I saw a pair of crows having a conversation.


My neighbor has bird feeders out. This looks like a female house finch.