Berryville Mural, Rainy Day

Clarke County, VA

This is a new mural by Amanda Horn. The photo is slightly distorted because I had to use panorama mode due to being in an alley where I could not stand back far enough to get the whole thing in a frame.
 

The mural and the painting on the pavement are in Hogan’s Alley, named for John R. Hogan, who served as town manager. 

While I was there getting wet, I snapped a few other pictures, including some flowers.

Linkups: Floral and Murals

Glass Blowing in Wardensville

Yesterday, Dakota Glassworks held glass blowing demonstrations. I watched how a small glass pumpkin is made. 

West Virginia is well-known for handcrafted glass. The art itself is over 2000 years old. I won’t give a full description, except to say that it involves several ovens of different temperatures, and multiple trips to and from the ovens because glass is only flexible at certain temperatures.

In the early stages, the glass is red hot. I could briefly glimpse flames. The studio got quite warm.

A mold, seem here on the floor, is used to give the glass a ribbed shape, so it will become pumpkin-like when inflated.The artisans are getting prepared for autumn sales.

Sharing with Mosaic

Over the Mountain to Trout Pond

Here we see Charlie waiting for the kennel attendant to fetch him for day boarding. I leave him there two days a week so that he can feel safe while I go to appointments or off on a day trip. On this day, he was concerned because we had to wait a few minutes and he tends to get anxious. There’s a particular chair that he likes to hop up in. I guess having a special chair is reassuring. Soon Miss Kayla appeared and he trotted off with her.

 I went off to run an errand and then crossed the mountain to see an exhibit. After that, I went to Trout Pond Recreation Area run by the Forest Service. I’ve been there before, but it was over a year ago. I saw a deer on the way in, but didn’t get a picture because I was driving, so here is a photo of a deer from a different day.

The entrance to Trout Pond was unmanned and there is a self-pay station. The rate was a dollar more than I remembered and I didn’t have the exact change so I wrote a check. I also tried the QR code, but there was no cellular signal on my phone so it didn’t work. After I filled out the provided envelope, I realized that it was stuck shut from moisture, so I wound up trimming off the end and putting my check inside and folding it up.

One of the notices said the restroom was not in service. Sometimes I think our forest service must be under-funded because their facilities always seem to have problems and are not as updated as the national park facilities.

I drove to Rockcliff Lake and it was pretty much deserted. Children are back in school now so the beach area was very quiet. I did notice that there were vehicles in the campground.

The swimming area is marked off with ropes and floats.

The lake was very clear. I could see minnows and salamanders in the water.

I saw three large snail shells on the beach, grouped together like someone had placed them there. They do not look like any snails that I saw as a child, so I wondered if they might be an invasive species. Well, I just did some looking on the Internet for snails in West Virginia, and found that these could be Chinese mystery snails, which are considered invasive, and were, in fact, the subject of an attempt to clean them out of Rockcliff Lake some years ago. Apparently they were accidentally introduced by someone dumping an aquarium. The snails are imported to keep aquariums clean. 

Well, that was a rabbit hole that I went down as I composed this post and decided to look up the snails. I’ll show you a few signs of the changing season.

Can you see the little woolly caterpillar? The ID feature on my iPad says this a is a Hickory tussock moth. 

Before I close this post, I’ll share a picture of Charlie that I filtered in Picsart. Let me add that I certainly hope all my blog friends are safe. I know that some of them were in the path of Hurricane Helene as it tore through Florida and the Carolinas. Roads were destroyed by flooding, along with buildings, and electric power is still out in many places. I appreciate all the first responders and the crews who are working to get services back to affected communities.

Rainy Day Art Show

Millwood, VA

On one of this week’s rainy days, I went to “Art at the Mill.” Here we see raindrops in the mill race above the dam. The next scene is taken from a window in the mill.

This art sale benefits the Clarke County Historical Association. It lasts for two weeks and there’s always a selection of wonderful artwork.

I resisted the temptation to buy anything this time because my home is small and the walls are already covered with pictures.

Weather and Dog Anxiety

After a dry summer produced a drought and water use restrictions, we were glad to get some rain. Some of it was produced by a tropical storm, and now Hurricane Helene is causing flooding in Florida. We don't know how much rain we will get from it as it comes north.

Fortunately for our Sunday event at Seven Bends State Park, rain did not come that day, although it was cloudy. I helped with setting up tables and checking in ticket holders, but did not stay for the concert because I needed to get back to Charlie. He has separation anxiety and I don’t have a dog sitter on weekends. He is now okay for an hour to 90 minutes, but my volunteer shift was for two hours so I came right back home. I could see that he had been running in circles panting and drooling, poor thing. 

We’ve been doing separation training very slowly because he has other anxieties as well. We started with me being in the other room or just going out the door and coming back in, and then staying away a little longer. Worrying about his anxiety gives me anxiety too, but I try not to show it.

State Park staff did a great job putting up autumn decorations in front of the stage. Beats on the Bend is a fundraiser to support park activities.

Since I’ve been talking about Charlie, here’s a picture of him, very alert as usual.

And here is a selfie of me that I took today after voting. Virginia has early voting now and I took advantage of it so that I don’t have to stand in line on election day.

Grasshopper and Geese

Blog Post #8850

Wordless / Wild Bird Wednesday

September 24 is My Mother’s Birthday

My mother was born in 1920 and lived to be 82. Recently I acquired additional family photos that my sister brought, and these are among them. The first is a portrait from 1964. The others are from before my time.

She married my father, John M. Suiter, in September 1940. They had met at the University of Chicago.

Collage made with Photocollage.

I now have more family pictures than I know what to do with! I intend to copy many of them, and they have held up well. Black and white prints last a long time, although the glue in the albums tends to give way. 

Both my dad and my mother‘s father liked photography, so there is a wealth of photos. In fact, mother’s grandmother had a surprising number of professional portraits made, so I have inherited some of those. Unfortunately, they are not all identified.