Fern Mural

Fairfax, VA

Sharing with Monday Murals.

I don’t go to Northern Virginia very often, mainly because the traffic between here and there is usually frustrating. It might take me 90 minutes to get there, but two hours to get home.

Last week I decided to make the trip because there are things that I just can’t find in my area, and most refrigerated foods are not available for shipping. I wanted to go to Mom’s Organic Market, which carries specialty items for those of us with food allergies. Some of these things I used to be able to get in Front Royal or Winchester, but not anymore. Even Wegman’s and Whole Foods stopped carrying these products; they are becoming so big and corporate that I guess they only stock items that fly off the shelves. (They are not located in my area either, but they are 20 minutes closer than Mom’s.) 

Well, five months ago, I saw pictures of this mural on Denise’s blog. I made a mental note that I should stop in Fairfax and get photos of it. It was easy to remember that she said it was on Fern Street because it’s a painting of ferns.

I struggled with getting the entire mural in one photo. I could not stand on the sidewalk across the street because there were paving trucks parked there, blocking the view. I wound up using the panorama feature on my phone. That left the roof line looking distorted, but I was able to straighten it out using the SKRWT app. 

Part of the mural is blocked by trees and a fence. Here are pictures of the end sections so you can get a closer look.

Yesterday at the Germanic Heritage Museum

This museum is an old farm that has been preserved as an example of farm life in the Shenandoah Valley. Many of the early settlers came from Germany, usually passing through Pennsylvania before coming here. This farm is only open to the public by appointment or on the annual open house day, which was yesterday.

I have been inside the house before, but I thought Deborah would like to see it because she enjoys visiting historic homes. I did not go inside this time, but walked around the property with Charlie while Deborah and Frank toured the house.

Here are some scenes that I viewed on our walk.

Sharing with the H2O Linkup

My 2019 Post on this Museum

Charlie’s September Sixth Update

Hi, it's Charlie! Here I am smiling because one of my friends is petting me.

And here’s a reminder to “stay pawsitive.” It’s not from my animal hospital though.

My animal hospital is near my house. I think this cat may be the manager. Sometimes it stands on the front desk.

Dogs come to the animal hospital. The black and white one was friendly, but the other one was shy. 

What else did I do this week? I took walks with Miss Deborah. I took naps. I went for rides with Mom and went to parks to sniff and have fun. I even went to Sadie‘s house to play with her.

I saw some cows.

Yesterday Mom took me to Woodstock and we walked down the street. I met some people who liked me. Mom left her phone in the car. Here I am in the car ready to go home.

I hope you had a good week. If you did not get a chance to have fun, do something tomorrow.

Lights, Doctors, and a Freedge.

This week I had two doctor appointments plus a visit to the chiropractor. One of the things about going to a doctor is there’s usually waiting involved. First you wait in the reception area, and then you go back to be weighed or questioned by the nurse, and then you sit in the exam room and wait again. This can get boring so often I look around for something to photograph with my phone. 

Here I noticed the overhead light fixture. It was so bright that ceiling photographed as black due to contrast.

A summary of my primary care visit is that my sodium level had dropped even lower than before, even though I started taking sodium tablets. So now I’m taking a tablet twice a day instead of once. That seems like a lot to me, but if it keeps me from getting dizzy, it’ll be worth it. Oh, and once again, my blood pressure dropped when I stood up. That’s almost enough to tempt me to spend my days in a rocking chair!

The other doctor was in Winchester. I had waited five weeks for the appointment day and it turned out that I need to go back for a test, but they could not schedule that for another six weeks. Frustrating!

On my way home, I got off the interstate and drove through Middletown to stop and buy a few things at Dollar General. Then I drove down Valley Pike to Strasburg, thus avoiding a long section of road construction. I stopped in front of the Wayside Inn to take a picture of the new “freedge.” That is a refrigerator that functions as a blessing box, where people can leave perishable food for anyone who needs it. My photo picked up reflections of plants growing along the street.

I also took a picture of the front door of the historic Wayside Inn. The Inn has served as a hotel since 1797. The oldest section of it was a stagecoach stop in the 1740’s. 

Three Years of Having a Beagle Boss

Happy Gotcha Day, Charlie!

On September 4, 2022, Lynn and I went to Charlottesville to meet Charlie. He was up for adoption after being rescued from a huge breeding facility. 

He was shy. He did not want to meet us, and I was concerned that he would not like me. However, once he got in the car, he seemed happy to go with us.

These pictures are from late this afternoon.

 

Small Birds, Colorful Pictures

The male hummingbird finally stood still long enough for a picture. His ruby throat is vibrant, isn't it?

 The second picture has an unidentified bird on a rooftop. I spotted it while walking the dog at sunset. 

A Few Flowers and A Cornfield

 Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday

“Love is Like a Butterfly.”

"It goes where it pleases, and pleases where it goes.”

That's the message at the bottom of this mural. It consists of a tree and a bunch of paper butterflies. Children who come to this laboratory for tests are invited to add their name to a butterfly.

At Sunrise Medical for Monday Murals 

I wound up here for blood tests on the recommendation of a medical office. We are following up on my hospital visit that determined I was dehydrated with postural hypotension. I also have some nutritional deficiencies, so my provider wants to find out if I am anemic, among other things. I am still dealing with fatigue and dizziness, even though I have increased my salt intake, and I continue to try to consume enough water.

I had not been to this location before, although I had been to the office park where it is located. I had trouble finding it because my GPS seemed to be confused and the street numbers did not run consecutively. Once I found it though, I did not have to wait to be seen. 

I’ll get my test results this week. 

Post #9200 Plus Two

Once again I missed a mile marker in blogging. I published post #9200 on Saturday. I have been blogging for over 20 years.

Today is Labor Day, the last holiday of summer here. I didn't want to drive on the crowded interstate highway so I just took Charlie to our nearby state park. Even that was more crowded than usual. We found a parking space and took a short walk.

It was a beautiful day and there’s a touch of autumn in the air.

Sharing with CDP Theme: Vanishing Point

One Day of a 3-Day Weekend

Sometimes holiday weekends are barely noticeable to me because I'm retired. I was delighted that Marie was able to come for a brief visit, making this Labor Day Weekend special. She stayed two nights, so we only had one real day together, and a busy one it was.

We took Charlie with us and drove to the condo on Rose Bud Court to see the progress that had been made. On the way we passed a crowd of protesters on each side of the interstate overpass. They are no longer permitted to stand on the overpass due to a state law that prohibits loitering on bridges if it is determined to present a safety hazard.

 

(Picture Taken at Stoplight through the Windshield.)

The condo looks bright and contemporary, now that my other daughter has almost finished working on it. 

We also stopped at Seven Bends State Park and Marie took Charlie for a walk.

Sharing with H2O, Mosaics, Gardens

I drove to Front Royal, where we bought lunch to eat along Skyline Drive, which was crowded with holiday tourists. Then we went to Petco because Marie wanted to get Charlie a harness to replace the one that he had destroyed. The one that he’s wearing in these pictures does not fit him properly.

After returning home and resting, we had dinner. Marie left before 7 AM this morning to return by train to Jersey City. She wanted to check on some repairs made in front of her house there. Tomorrow she flies back to California where she works as an editor. (She used to work in New York City, but the company moved to Burbank.)

It was wonderful to see her and catch up. Charlie enjoyed the extra attention and walks.

Shades of Charlie and Friends

Hi, it’s Charlie. I got in a little trouble right after the first picture was taken. Mom got out of the car to put cardboard in the recycling bin and I wanted to go see what she was doing, so I took off my harness by chewing the straps. Before I could figure out how to get out of the car, she came back and she was not happy that I chewed the harness. My other one was at home so I had to ride home without a seatbelt. I like it that way, but Mom says it’s dangerous

That picture is black and white so I’ll show you some other colors. Here I am on the tan deck.

Marie spent the day with us today and she took me for a walk in the woods where it was very green.

We also stopped at the state park. Mom used a blue filter for this picture.

I have a full-color picture of Sadie to show you. She’s my friend and sometimes her mom lets me stay with her when my mom has to go somewhere.

Jukebox Not Available

New Market, VA

(Weekend Reflection: A neon sign on the right side.)

I remember when the jukebox still worked at the Southern Kitchen. The wall-mounted boxes are still there beside each table. For many years, you could choose the song you wanted to hear from the flip cards, insert a quarter, and punch in the number. The music would play from the jukebox at the end of the room. 

The restaurant kept theses boxes as part of a nostalgic look. They still serve home-cooked food. 

Sad News from the Sunflower Maze

They were robbed. Twice. Someone stole cash from their donation box. After the first time, they secured the box better and installed a security camera.

This picture is from last year, showing the donation box before it was made more secure. Recent video showed a young woman trying to take the box, but finding that it was locked and bolted to the boards, she returned to their truck, and a man emerged and tore out the box and the board, damaging the surrounding enclosure. He threw the board with the box in the back of the truck and drove off.

The video was posted to the Internet, and local people recognized the couple. My understanding is that they were arrested. 

The owners of the sunflower farm were devastated by the crime and decided to close for the season ahead of schedule. They are accepting donations.

It’s not unusual for people in this area to rely on an honor system for small purchases. It was startling to me when I first moved here to see how many roadside stands were unattended with cash boxes for produce, flowers, or eggs. I think this system worked fairly well until drug addiction became widespread in rural areas..

The final picture is one that Lynn took of me and Charlie in front of the scarecrow at the maze. I’m glad she got to see it when she did. I’ve been in previous years and I enjoyed going back. I hope that the owners can recover their losses and their faith in humanity.

Hummingbird, Male and Female

These are my first hummingbird pictures of the summer. For a while, I stopped feeding them because the weather was so hot that the sugar water spoiled quickly, and the last thing I want to do is make birds ill. Finally, the temperatures cooled down, and I put some hummingbird food out in a small feeder that I could just place in the tray of the Birdfy feeder with camera. It usually holds seeds so I improvised and it worked. It is possible to buy a hummingbird feeder with a camera, but I didn't want to invest money in something that I could only use a few weeks out of the year. The hummingbirds came here late in the spring and they'll be leaving soon.

These are ruby-throated hummingbirds. Only the male has the red throat. The female has a white throat.

I especially like the first picture because a kitty is stalking on the left side. He did not catch any birds.

The camera takes short videos. I clipped these pictures from the videos. I noticed that the male never held his wings still. The feeder cam is not fast enough to stop the action of the fast wings.

I imported the pictures into the SKRWT app to crop them to a uniform size. I can crop using the photos app on my iPhone, but it does not give me the option of specifying a particular size.

To clip pictures from the video, I paused it with my finger and told Siri to make  a screen print. She obliged for a while, and then started pretending she did not understand. She started giving me search engine results.

Another Hot Air Balloon

Above the Rooftops

Links: Valley Ballooning / Wordless 

Mural at Vibrissa’s Patio

Front Royal

Monday Murals

This painting is partly obscured by plants. Perhaps I can go back when the leaves are off the trees and get a better picture.