On Tuesday, I met Lynn for lunch, and then took her to see Shenandoah River State Park. The sky was quite hazy due to traces of wildfire smoke from Canada.
I was interested in the exhibit in the in visitor center that had a model of a gundalow, and a display telling how these flat bottomed boats were used on the Shenandoah River.
“By all accounts it took skill, intimate knowledge of the river, cunning, physical strength, and a strong personality to work these boats. To move the gundalow along in the current, boatmen struck the riverbed with a long-tipped pole, essentially pulling the craft downriver. At the rear of the craft would be a rudder manned by the pilot and a cooking hearth, usually made of brick. Tarps attached to cargo provided some shelter for sleep.”
Our air quality got worse yesterday and today. We were in a “code red“ zone, which means we should not exercise outdoors. I think Charlie was disappointed that we did not go to the dog park, but my eyes were itching from the pollution.
Fortunately, the air started to clear late this afternoon, and I saw some blue tones in the sky. Whether it gets better or worse tomorrow, depends on the winds. We could use a thunderstorm.
Beautiful blooms.
ReplyDeleteThe river scene is gorgeous
ReplyDelete...the hazy has gotten better here.
ReplyDeleteSorry we’re sending smoke your way!
ReplyDeleteThe skies and air quality are the same here too! Pretty flowers and mosaics. Take care, enjoy your day and happy weekend to you!
ReplyDeleteThe smoke has been bad.
ReplyDeleteThese pictures are so beautiful. Now you've got us humming that song - Oh Shenandoah, I long to see you. Away, you rolling river (Our Human is caterwauling again...)
ReplyDeleteLovely flowers The sky has somewhat cleared for us in the Southern Tier of New York today (Wednesday, the AQI was 428 some 70 miles north of us) but smoke should be back tomorrow. Amazing (not in a good way) how far the smoke is traveling. Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteSuch a shame about the wildfires and the problems for air pollution.
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
Wish I could have caught some good pics of the haze.
ReplyDeleteInteresting information about the flat bottom boats.
ReplyDeleteWe got a little bit of the smoke down here. I think we are yellow but still my eyes get a little sore. We had some rains this afternoon that cleared everything out.
ReplyDeleteEven with the haze those scenes are very picturesque. How nice you got together with Lynn :) Those flat-bottomed boats sound interesting, I didn't know the name of them before.
ReplyDeleteReading a lot of this haze coming from the fires. Terrible. The flowers are very lovely tho #GardenAffair
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