A pain of a puzzle

When Allison and Dave were here a week ago, we started a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle. I've been trying to finish it, but it's one hard puzzle.

There are lots of solid black pieces and a ton of pieces showing red roof tiles. I hate to give up now that's it's almost done.

The picture is of Bruges, Belgium. We were there in 2000.

Decal for the birds

I've put out bird seed and now I'm concerned about birds flying into the windows. So I bought some translucent decals that birds are supposed to see clearly to alert them that there is something solid where they see a reflection of the sky.

The Window Alert website explains that birds see differently than we do. In fact, they have remarkable vision! No wonder they can spot tiny seeds from far away.

Calendar posted

I got the Spiritual Singles Monthly Calendar posted after a small delay. The calendar editor emails the calendar to over 800 people using bCentral. Normally bCentral sends the calendar out to everyone on the list (including me) but this time they had technical problems so it came a day late. Oh well, it's still posted before the first of December, so that's good enough.

A couple of filtered images

These pictures were taken on warmer days -- not much warmer, actually; we had temperatures in the 60's today.

The cow was crossing a creek near Lexington, VA.

I added filters in Photoshop for a painterly look.

Sunset through the pines

Here's this evening's sunset.

We are so pleased to have a mountain view!

A Turkey on the Table

Thanksgiving Birthdays

Happy Birthday to Allison (on Nov. 22) and Lynn (Nov. 23)

What's wrong with fighting bacteria?

War on Bacteria is Wrong-Headed says the LiveScience article. It says that more than three-quarters of liquid soap and more than a quarter of bar soaps on supermarket shelves contain triclosan, an antibiotic that kills most bacteria, both good and bad. And...

Bacteria outnumber human cells in your body 10 to 1. This is a good thing. The entire digestive tract is lined with bacteria, from top to, uh, bottom. These bacteria work with the body's own chemicals in breaking down food, converting it to useful vitamins and minerals, and making sure the intestinal walls can absorb the nutrients for the bloodstream to circulate. Without these bacteria, we could not digest food. Babies, born relatively bacteria-free, are extremely limited in what they can eat.


Human skin contains many species of harmless bacteria. Their presence prevents harmful bacteria, what we commonly call germs, from gaining a foothold on your skin. Numerous studies show that antibacterial soap is no more effective than ordinary soap in cleaning your hands. Either kind lifts off germ-laden dirt. But antibacterial soap kills helpful bacteria on the skin, freeing up valuable real estate so that harmful bacteria can move in later.

Now I've read that triclosan is not really healthy to have in your soap. But finding a liquid soap that doesn't contain it is a challenge! Since I'm allergic to aloe vera, that rules out a couple of the "natural" brands, and in some stores, there is not a single bottle that is triclosan-free and aloe-free.

Fortunately, Dollar Tree has some. And the price is right!

Busy little library

This morning I worked at the community library here in Basye. This is a volunteer position and it was the second time this week that I staffed the circulation desk. In both cases the regular volunteer was going to be away and so I filled in.

The library was busy this morning. Families came in to check out books, and visitors came in to use the internet. At one point all three internet computers were being used, two vacationers were using the wireless on their laptops, and a man was waiting for his turn to use a computer.

Our branch library is small but it includes a children's room and an ongoing book sale in addition to the adult collection. We have an extensive collection of audio books. The building is unique in that it is located at the airport.

By the way, did you know that Amazon Gift Certificates make a good gift? (And if enough folks use my links I may eventually earn a gift certificate for myself.) And don't foget that you can purchase books by Marie Javins.

Squirrel Story

Both of my daughters have writing talent. When Lynn was a child she made this little book using photos she had taken in the fron yard.

It starts off:

This is a toy squirrel.
He is in my yard.
I have a real squirrel.
She lives in my yard.
Her name is Mama Charlie.

This is my sister Marie.
She is putting a nut in my
squirrel's mouth so that mama Charlie can come and take it out and eat it.


This is mama Charlie.
She is sneaking up on my squirrel to take his nut away from him.


Now isn't that cute.
Why it's mama Charlie taking the nut.
This was a tricky picture to take so, it blurred a little.
But who cares?


Now she's sneaking away with the nut, and she says, "That was a close one." Then "He won't get me or will he? But ... I still got the nut."

Clouds drifting away

After a heavy rain last week, the clouds moved away quickly. Here we see a few wisps lifting up from the valley. View of Great North Mountain from Bryce Resort, Virginia

Another book on Celiac / Wheat intolerance

I'm slowly getting through the pile of books that Nancy M. loaned me on gluten intolerance. Personal Touch on Celiac Disease calls it The #1 Misdiagnosed Intestinal Disorder. The book is a collection of stories contributed by ordinary people who either have celiac disease or live with someone who has it.

Several points came up repeatedly, including a tendency for the condition to run in families and an intolerance for even tiny amounts of wheat. This is disconcerting for those of us who thought we could just remove the croutons from our salad or peel off the skin from breaded chicken and eat it.

Although the book was published in 2004, some claims are already out of date. Several people stated that Mcdonald's fries are gluten-free, but McDonald's now warns that the fries contain traces of both wheat and milk. So readers need to supplement this sort of book with current research.

I wrote about another book on celiac disease here along with an audio course on American History.

Javinses in Israel?

I just posted an email on Javins family history stating that the Javins surname is not uncommon in Israel. It could be a shortened form of Javinski, a Polish name.

I have read that Javins is from Shropshire, U.K. Familysearch.org shows some Javinses in England and associates them with a more common name Jevons, aka Jeavons.

Too much fluoride in water

The National Academy of Sciences is saying that too much fluoride is allowed in tap water. Babies in particular may be getting unhealthy levels of fluoride. Even the ADA now warns parents that if liquid concentrate or powdered infant formula is the primary source of nutrition, it can be mixed with water that is fluoride free or contains low levels of fluoride to reduce the risk of fluorosis. Since the ADA has long been a proponent of fluoridation, this is a warning to be taken seriously.

Another view of Great North Mountain

View from The Pines, Orkney Grade just east of Basye

Too much water

It rained this morning. Then it poured! Usually when we see rain that hard, there's a hurricane nearby. But this was a thunderstorm on an unusually warm November day.

Plop plop! What's that sound? Uh-oh, water coming in from our brand new roof! I grabbed a picnic cooler and placed it under the leak but it was not wide enough to catch all the drops that were coming in around the eagle plaque which covers an old hole under a stovepipe. (Before the fireplace was built, there was a woodstove in that part of the room.)

Frank dashed out to the garage and brought in Guppy's wading pool. (I bought it for a dog bath.) I wiped up the puddles with a towel and Frank put the pool under the leak. It did a good job of catching the water.

Then he called the company in Front Royal that installed the new roof. In less than two hours, a crew arrived. Fortunately the rain had stopped so they were able to make repairs. In somewhat broken English, the leader explained that a collar around the old stovepipe had leaked and they had fixed it.

This was not quite the end of my misadventures with water. I drove to the post office, taking the "high road" to get there (up the ridge and then down Orkney Grade). The pond at Wetlands was flooded and muddy, and the tiny creek that feeds it had turned into a torrent. For the ride back I took the "low road" by the golf course, which is usually lush green and pretty. Today much of the golf course was under water. I eyed the dam a bit warily but it looked intact, and when I got to the bridge past the airport, I made sure the creek was still under (not over) the bridge. It was, but only by about ten inches.

Near the snack bar it was a different story. The road was flooded, and as I neared my turn, I saw that the creek was out of its bank and completely over the road. Recalling stories of cars swept away by small creeks that flooded, I started backing up. Then I saw a car come up behind me so I stopped. It was a state policeman. I rolled down by window and he pulled alongside. Do you think it's safe to drive through there? I asked him.

I'm going to find out right now! he answered. He drove through the water and it did not quite reach his floorboards. I followed him and made it across to higher ground, although there was a moment when I felt like I lost traction. Once across I made my turn and headed uphill to the higher drier land of our ridge.

We bid goodbye to the chalet

Today we put the finishing touches on the chalet on Joyce Court. Settlement is officially tomorrow, although we signed much of the paperwork today and sent it out via overnight mail.

We sold the house furnished. After all, the house we bought was furnished and we had a garage-full of furniture stored in Montross.

We even left Frank's geese because the buyer said she really liked them.



We are glad that we found a buyer for the little house, but standing in the kitchen of it today, I felt a twinge of sorrow. We really loved that place, even though it was a little too small for two people with a lot of possessions. The great room was cozy, everything only a few steps apart. It was friendly. And never too cold or drafty.

We owned the house for five years and only lived there full-time for two years, but it was a special place. I'm glad we only moved a mile away, for we still get to see the lovely little valley of Bryce Resort and the beautiful countryside surrounding it. And the mountain view for our current home is uplifting. I can't complain. We've been very fortunate.

Kazakstan?

Until a few weeks ago, most Americans had not heard of Kazakstan. However, my daughter Marie went there in 2001: Read about her weekend in Kazakstan here.

Looking for the plane crash story?

If you are looking for news about the small plane crash here in Basye, check out WHSV.com. That Harrisonburg station had the story on the news last night. I imagine that soon it will be on the other news sites serving Virginia. Sadly, the pilot was killed. This happened Saturday (Nov. 11, 2006) around 4:30 pm.

My site stats show that people are hitting my blog looking for this story. I guess that's because I have the words Bryce Resort, Basye, Shenandoah, airport, and plane elsewhere on this blog.

This is a picture of the airport that I took a few years ago. The airport here is very small - a landing strip near the golf course, daylight only. We watched a sports plane take off Saturday afternoon and now I wonder if it was the same one.

Blending layers

One thing I like to experiment with in Photoshop is Layer Blending. You need at least two layers to do this. I have an Action that I use a lot anyway that makes a second layer - recorded it using the Action options. It includes making a new layer, running "Shadow Highlight" to lighten some dark areas, and increasing the exposure slightly.

I often select Multiply as a blending mode and then move the Opacity slider to the left until I see a little detail in the shadows. This gives me deeper colors without totally blacking out the dark areas. Can you see the slightly richer color in the second image? Well, it's a subtle difference, but subtle is good if you are working with a photo and want it to look realistic.

The image below is neither subtle nor realistic. Here I used Exclusion as a blending option. Exclusion often gives you a dark muddy look but in this case it was worth trying.



After you find a look that you like, merge or flatten the layers before saving as a JPEG.