Daylilies and Hummingbirds

This summer has brought us precious few hummingbirds, so I went into a photo folder from July 2021 to find some. I also found some colorful daylilies.

People are commenting on how few hummingbirds we're seeing in western Virginia this year. This may be due to the very hot and dry weather. Threats to these small birds include climate change, pesticide use, and loss of habitat. 

Blue Waters and Skies

Mosaic / Wordless / H2O

Bees and Butterfly Murals

Front Royal, VA

The painted bees are actually on the rear of a building which fronts on Main Street. On the side of the building. we see butterfly wings that you can pose in front of. I may have posted the butterflies before. There are quite a few of them painted on walls in the Shenandoah Valley.

I found a signature block saying this was painted by Amanda Horn for Manorline Market. She has painted other murals in the area.

Monday Murals

A Glimpse of Sherando Park

Stephens City, VA

Sunday Best / H2O

This park is in Frederick County. It would be easy to confuse the name with Sherando Lake Recreation Area, but that’s a couple of hours south in George Washington National Forest. Both are based on an old word that is synonymous with Shenandoah, a name of native American origin. 

The original Native American word is lost to history because it was written down by white explorers who used whatever spelling made sense to them. Other spellings include Senedo (pronounced Shenado), and Gerando. The name probably referred to the river, but there are also stories that it was the name of an Iroquois chief.

Charlie’s Critter Report

Hi, it's me, your friendly neighborhood beagle.

Sometimes we sit on the back deck. Look what I saw from there.  It stayed in the shadows. Mom calls it a groundhog. She doesn’t like it because it makes holes under the house, and eats plants in the garden.  

Sometimes Mom plays on the computer. She told it to draw a royal-looking dog. I can tell it’s not real because it has extra ears and toes. 

Yesterday we took my friend Sadie and her mom to the state park. We saw a deer, but my mom didn’t take pictures because it was far away. It looked like this one though.

I saw a dog who was driving a car, I think. Mom won't let me drive.

On Friday, Lynn brought some people over and they worked on the window and made a lot of noise. I made noise back at them. We don’t have pictures of that either. Mom had her hands over her ears.

We do have a picture of me with one of my critter toys in our car. I guess that’s enough for now.

A Bank Barn at the Bowman-Hite Farm

Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historic Park

This barn dates to around 1881. It has two levels that are both open to the outside. Here you can see that earth was mounded up (“banked”) to meet the doorway level on the upper floor. On the lower side, there is an overhang and shelter for livestock. This is a common style in the Shenandoah Valley.

Interior shot (Black and White)

Ranger Brian explained that hay could be carted into the upper level and stored, and a trapdoor in the floor made it easy to move the feed to the lower level for the animals.

We went back outside and walked around to the lower level. A snake skin was found, to the delight of children on the tour

Cedar Creek and Belle Grove Website

The View from the Bowman-Hite Farmhouse

This historic farm is part of the Cedar Creek Battlefield, but it is generally not open to the public. I was there on a National Park Service tour a week ago. 

The house was built facing the Cedar Creek Valley in the 1850’s, and the view is still pretty. You can see Strasburg in the distance.

I visited this farm in 2016 on another ranger-led tour. I decided to go back to find out about the recent research that revealed the story of James Foster, an enslaved man who worked here. He was a shoemaker in his free time and earned enough money to purchase livestock. When the Union Army camped nearby during the Civil War, they confiscated his animals to feed hungry soldiers. He filed a claim after the war, and was eventually paid for his losses.

An Attempt at Drawing

It's been years since I tried to draw anything more than a doodle. Then nature blogger David G. reviewed a book on drawing, and I thought I should look into it. Our local library did not have it, so I checked out a book called Drawing Nature for the Absolute Beginner. I didn’t have drawing paper or proper pencils, so I put it off because procrastination is the one art that I am good at. 

Well, today I realized the book was due back at the library so I took a sheet of printer paper and an old pencil, and sat down to draw at least something. The pencil was not sharp, and I couldn’t locate a sharpener, so I whittled it with a knife. 

 I tried to copy three birds. They came out looking cartoonish, but that’s okay. I started drawing the heron too low on the page so I added water for him to stand in. The robin does not look like a robin so I’ll pretend it’s some other bird.

I’m adding a pencil sharpener to the grocery list that I keep on my phone.

A Sweet Picture of Lynn

My Older Daughter

Homespun Mural

Berryville, VA

This long mural graces an alleyway, so I was not able to stand back far enough to get a full view. I did take a couple of close-up shots.

Mosaic Monday / Murals

The artist is Nancy Polo. I also took some pictures of the main street, which is Route 7.

Honoring Renzall Fields

A Celebration of Life

Yesterday Lynn and I went to an event honoring Pastor Renzall Fields, son of my friend Sarah, who preceded him in death by several years. He and his sisters were friends with my daughters during their school years. 

He will be greatly missed. He was a dynamic speaker and by all accounts, an excellent chef. 

Lynn did most of the driving since my eyes still get fatigued easily. She asked me to get pictures of her with his sisters. We did so after the service, although they were busy greeting people so I could not get a picture with all of them together.

Annita and Lynn

Lynn and Tobi

Lynn and Jettie

Oh, one thing I want to mention as far as taking pictures. Don’t hesitate to ask people to pose. You never know when a photo will turn out to be very precious to them. Several pictures that I posted on social media were included in the slideshow on Renzall‘s life.  Take pictures of friends and family. Share them. If they don’t want to be shown on the Internet, give them copies. A photo can become more meaningful as years pass.

Pretend Cat and Real Dogs

This cat is not real. It is made with AI (artificial intelligence). Since it looks like it could be a real photo, I added a signature block. I don't like seeing fake photos passed off as real ones and it happens a lot on social media.

Caturday / Saturday Critters

I saw a couple of dogs exploring the boat landing near Eastham Park in Front Royal. The concrete pier is normally surrounded by water, but the river is quite low. The town is under mandatory water conservation due to the drought.

Water linkup

Next we have a picture of Charlie, followed by a couple of small dogs that I saw in Front Royal.

Glass Table

In the Oral Surgery Center

Today I had a tooth pulled, one that had been previously filled and crowned more than once. I wasn’t happy about it in the first place because I just had the crown replaced in April, but apparently the root was fractured and infection had set in. After a few months, I will get an implant to replace the tooth. All of this is expensive.

The oral surgeon that I had some years ago has retired so I went to a different one in Winchester. To be honest, I was disappointed. They did not have the 3D x-rays that were taken in Manassas or the x-ray from my regular dentist, and they couldn’t read the one on the thumb drive that I brought with me, so they had to redo the x-ray and it took three tries. I wonder if some of this confusion was due to the computer outage that hit so many companies today. It also closed down the Social Security office, which was inconvenient because I was going to drop off some papers there while I was in town.

The extraction itself was pretty awful, but it didn’t take long. The numbing injections were painful and not as effective as I hoped. They recommended that I eat only cold, soft foods today, so I stopped at the grocery store and got some baby food and non-dairy ice cream for lunch. Then I came home and took a nap.

I am somewhat hopeful that getting rid of this infection will make my sinus infection go away. Two dentists have told me that that root is right up against the sinus cavity and could cause an infection. I have to take an antibiotic after the extraction anyway, so I have my fingers crossed for luck.

Oh, about the glass table: I was attracted to the reflective surfaces, and also to the way the table relates to the rest of the interior of the building. Many of the walls are glass, mostly frosted glass. It looks like it was the height of modernity when it was built, perhaps in  the 1970s.

A View from Thoburn’s Redoubt

Cedar Creek Battlefield, VA

Our extra hot weather finally ended yesterday, so today was a good day to go on a short tour. It’s been a while since I’ve done one of the Cedar Creek and Belle Grove tours, and I wanted to go to this one because there was some fresh information that was not known when I went before.

The boy in the orange shirt asked the ranger some good questions and had already learned facts about the battle from looking at exhibits earlier. He said he was a history nerd.

I have posted pictures of this site in previous years. Signage has been improved and eventually parking will be improved. This historical park is still being developed.

The battle of Cedar Creek began here in the pre-dawn hours of October 19, 1864, when General Thoburn’s division was attacked.

Posts about Thoburn’s Redoubt.

Birds Surrounded by Green and Brown

The first bird appears to be a mourning dove, although it has a distinctive bar on its face. I think it’s pretty.

The other bird is a thrasher. I don’t see them very often.

Music Shop Window

Front Royal

Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday

Apple Trees Mural

Winchester, VA

This is a new mural by artist Sarah Gallahan, who has painted a number of murals in the northern Shenandoah Valley. She did this one for White House Foods, a producer of fruit products. I’ve been eating their applesauce ever since I can remember.

I’ve posted some of her colorful murals before and you can see them by searching this blog for Gallahan. Here is a collage of examples.

Monday Murals / Mosaic Monday