Festival Snapshots

Yesterday I showed animals at the festival in Stephens City. I did snap a few pictures to record the scenes at the craft sale, so here they are. As you can see, it was a beautiful day!

There was a parade earlier, but I did not go to see it. I’ve seen a previous one, plus numerous other small town parades. 

Shadow Shot Sunday

Petting Zoo and Charlie’s Report

1. At a Festival in Stephens City.

2. Charlie’s Report

Hi! Here I am the dog park in Strasburg. No dog friends came to play, so I ran around a while and then we left.

On the way home, Mom drove on a small road and look what we saw!

Mom said a man carved that face in a dead tree. It looks strange to me.

In Toms Brook

Other than that, I didn’t go far from home. I did get to see Sadie a few times. We like to walk together.

One evening, Mom and I were walking, and we saw a deer in our neighbor’s yard!

Sometimes when we are on our deck, we hear buzzy things. Mom calls them hummingbirds. They are small, and they buzz away as soon as they see me.

Well, that’s all I can think of. The weather has been nice.

Charlie’s Mid-August Report

Hi! This week was not as exciting as last week when Mom’s sister was visiting. We didn’t do anything new until today

I saw the gray cat in our yard again. It isn’t very friendly and won’t talk to me.

On Monday, I stayed at daycare, and the people there are nice to me. Twice this week, I went to Sadie’s house to play.

Today I finally went someplace new. First we picked up Miss Deborah and Mom drove to Winchester. We went to a thrift store which helps support the animal shelter. 

Then we went to another place and stopped so Mom could take pictures. She said the dinosaurs are freshly painted, and don’t worry, they aren’t real. I’m glad because they are scary-big.

I let Mom know that I wanted to go for a walk so we stopped at a park in Stephens City and Miss Deborah took me for a walk.

That was fun! Now it’s time to rest.

Drive-by Pictures

Most of these pictures are from three weeks ago.

The first one shows a sign at the Family Drive-in in Stephens City. When it closed for the season in late November, it closed permanently. Movies were shown there for 69 years!

Next, we have a motorbike that was parked outside a dollar store. Stickers reveal the owner’s xenophobic feelings.

Not everyone agrees. In fact, demonstrators in our rural county have been out twice a week to make their feelings known.

The lighted towers were part of a December attraction at the fairgrounds in Woodstock. It was basically a drive-through show of holiday lights. I took the picture from a nearby parking lot because I didn’t want to buy a ticket to go by myself. It’s the sort of thing that children would enjoy.

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.

Mural in the Stephens City Walmart

Last week I stopped at the large Walmart near Stephens City and noticed that there is a mural at the entrance where the motorized carts sit.

The mural shows the drive-in theater, farmland, distant mountains, and the Welcome sign. Here are photos I took a couple of years ago of the Family Drive-in and that sign. The reason there’s a covered wagon on the sign is that the town was once known for constructing good quality wagons.

Murals / Mosaic Monday

Military Heritage Museum

Stephens City, VA

The American Military Heritage Museum is in a modest building and is not normally open to the public. Once a year they open it in recognition of D-Day and invite reenactors to participate in a living history event. 

We attended this event some years ago and I decided to go back on Saturday to take some pictures.

A Modern Church Building and A Barn Next to New Homes.

First Church of the Nazarene

This church is one of several churches along Middle Road in Winchester, VA. They have a day care center.

Inspired Sunday

A little way south of Winchester is Stephens City. The old timber bank barn is part of LaGrange Farm, along the Valley Pike on the edge of town. When I visited the farm in 2016, the acreage to the right was farmland. It was sold a couple years ago and now new houses have been built there by a developer. 

The Barn Collective

It's sad to see the beautiful farmland eaten up by suburbia but at least the 18th century farm buildings were preserved.