I first posted on this blog on
June 13, 2005. That was over five thousand posts ago!
At that time we were living in Virginia's "Northern Neck" in a community called Glebe Harbor. We had moved there with the intention of staying permanently. The house was a modest rambler situated on a cove not far from the lower Potomac River. We enjoyed a water view from the back deck, where we could watch birds like this great blue heron.
That wasn't enough to keep us there, though. The community felt isolated, too far from a large town. And in those days, it did not have high-speed internet. We only had dial-up access over aging phone lines. Even with images turned off, it took several minutes for a page to load. I could literally click on a link, go to the kitchen and get a cup of coffee, and return before the page finished loading! For someone who had worked as an internet professional, it was very irritating!
For blogging, I often prepared my photos beforehand, drove 20 minutes to a library that had high-speed access, and did the post from my laptop there. Needless to say I did not post very frequently.
About that same distance from the house was the Westmoreland County seat of Montross, a charming town which had a basic supermarket and some small stores. But the supermarket was second-rate with a sad selection of produce so I was unhappy with that, although in late summer I could buy vegetables at farm stands. If I needed specialty items for my wheat-free milk-free diet, I had to drive 90 minutes to Fredericksburg. I could also find high quality dog food there. But that meant 3 hours of driving round-trip, and it was tiring.
After spending summer in that home, we decided to move to our vacation home in Bryce Resort. It was smaller and still in a rural area, but local shopping was better, internet was fast, and a decent-sized city was only an hour away. We made that move in
September 2005.
By
December I was posting almost daily. During the
following year, I wrote 410 posts. Since then I have averaged over a post a day. It's a good hobby for a photographer who loves the internet.
Riverton Park was once just a fishing spot and boat launch on the North Fork of the Shenandoah. The boat ramp is still there but picnic tables and a Civil War Trails marker make the site useful to more people.
This is north of Luray, Virginia. The church was built in 1890 as a Baptist Church but fell into disuse and was eventually fixed up and became the Big Spring Mennonite Church. 
It's summer already and the world looks green here! I've got five random topics here for Willy Nilly Friday but they relate to summer, which happens to be the theme of My Town Shoot Out this week.
5. Birds are raising their babies! Goslings and ducklings are being watched over by their parents at the lake. These babies are well-behaved and their parents keep a close eye on them.
