Golden Hour, Shenandoah County

On Sunday I posted some photos from the Zion Church area near Maurertown. I took them on November 6 during a short period of warm light that blessed us after rain clouds lifted in the late afternoon. Here are some more pictures from that golden moment as well as the darker minutes before dusk.

Sharing with Fences Around the World

North Fork of the Shenandoah

This little bridge is just wide enough for a single vehicle to cross and is only passable when the river is not too high. Virginia has been gradually replacing these low-water bridges.

Birds Viewed from My Backyard

Fort Ashby in West Virginia

This building remains of the 1755 fort.

This log building is in a town named Fort Ashby after the fort built here during the French and Indian War. Believed to be the barracks of the fort, it is the only known surviving building in a chain of forts erected to protect the Virginia frontier under the direction of Colonel George Washington. This is north of Romney.

The building was restored by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1939, part of a job-producing New Deal program.

See more posts on the French and Indian War. 

Sharing with Tuesday Treasures

Colorful Random-osity

The Good, The Random, The Fun

The Good: There's a new mural in Winchester, VA. This is in Indian Alley. 

The Random: I took many photos in October and I still have a bunch I haven't shared. I pulled some together into a PhotoCollage.  

Sharing with Mosaic Monday and Seasons

The Fun: These youngsters are enjoying a nice fall day at Jim Barnett Park in Winchester.

Autumn Splendor at Zion Church

A week ago the colors of autumn were at the peak, so on Monday I made a few stops to take some pictures when we were driving east of Maurertown.

A Farm on Zion Church Road.

Zion Christian Church Dates to About 1860.

Sign with Massanutten Mountains in the Background.

Massanutten (Zoomed In)

Church Cemetery

The church has lovely views and I'm devoting the rest of this post to them.

Sharing with InSpired Sunday, The Barn Collective, and Shadow Shot Sunday.

Another Veterans Memorial in Winchester

It's Veterans Day.

On Tuesday I posted pictures from the Korean War Memorial in Jim Barnett Park, Winchester, VA.  Near that memorial is this one, dedicated to missing and imprisoned soldiers of various wars.

Sharing with Weekend Reflections

The centerpiece is this monument to prisoners of war and to those missing in action in the Vietnam War. Around the perimeter are memorial benches to those of other 20th century wars.

This memorial park was built in 2005 by the local Rolling Thunder chapter. For those unfamiliar with Rolling Thunder, it is an advocacy group for prisoners of war (POWs) and missing in action (MIA) service members. They are well known for their annual motorcycle parade on Memorial Day weekend.

When I visited the memorial on October 26, roses were still blooming.  Across the road, youngsters were playing football.

Five Photos for the Tenth

Friday is a good time to catch up on some things so I'll post five miscellaneous images, linking to Willy Nilly Friday and some other blog hops.

1. I took this selfie in the car on Wednesday. The oval sticker says "I voted."

Selfie tip: Try tilting your chin up and holding the camera high. Do you look younger?

Sharing with Black and White Weekend.

2. Recently my friend Sarah lost her husband of many years.  Marshall was 83. I called, sent flowers... and felt inadequate under the circumstances.

It is always sad to lose someone. But recently I saw an inscription on a tombstone that seemed really sweet.

3.Meanwhile, my daughter Lynn continues to recover from surgery and radiation. Recently she was diagnosed with lymphedema, a consequence of cancer treatment. She is now on antibiotics for a related infection. She is brave and her friends help her with some heavy tasks since she is not supposed to lift anything heavy.

See the GoFundMe Campaign for Lynn.

4. Cold weather finally reached us today. Fortunately we had warnings, so yesterday Frank and I went to the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley to walk through their gardens one more time before the leaves fell. Not only did we see some pretty autumn leaves, we saw flowers that had not yet been nipped by frost. 

Floral Friday, Weekend Green, and Friday Flowers

5. Also in the gardens were some Japanese maples that were quite brilliant in fall colors. Frank was especially drawn to this Red Weeping Japanese Maple.

Orange You Glad It's Friday?

Blackwater Falls is Closer Now

Last winter a new section of Corridor H (US 48) opened in West Virginia between Mount Storm and Davis. This means Blackwater Falls State Park is less than two hours away! This is about half of how long it took twelve years ago. 

As you can see, the highway cuts through the mountains. There's still a two-lane section between Strasburg and Wardensville which isn't going to change any time soon because the state of Virginia has little reason to expand their portion to four lanes.

Route 55 East of Wardensville

Some of us have our doubts as to whether this superhighway was actually needed, since traffic on it is very light and Route 55 served the same purpose (albeit slowly). But without a doubt the new road is spectacular and fast.

When we crossed the Allegheny Front, the season changed from autumn to winter. Temperatures were mild that day but there had already been a hard frost and most trees were bare. Soon we reached the end of the new road and followed the signs to Blackwater Falls.

I've been there before and easily found the "Gentle Trail" to an overlook. A few years ago we took the steep trail which gets closer to the falls, but I still have some foot pain so the accessible trail seemed like a good idea. We could hear the falls thundering and reached the overlook quickly.

Notice the people on the lower overlook on the left side of the photo.

The Blackwater River here has an amber color from tannin that comesfrom the needles of hemlock and spruce. At the falls, the river drops 57 feet. It flows west and later heads north to join the Ohio River.

This is a beautiful park that I remember visiting as a child. I am delighted that now we can go there and still be home by dark!

Sharing with Signs, Signs and Fences

Wind Turbines Near Mount Storm

See Previous Posts: Wind Farm and Mt. Storm Lake

Autumn Near Wardensville

P.S. The next section of the superhighway has been delayed by a flying squirrel! 

Blandy in Red, Green, and Yellow

On Friday we were in Winchester and we stopped at the State Arboretum on the way home. It's also known as Blandy Experimental Farm and it's on Route 50 near Boyce, VA. I usually make a couple of visits there in autumn to check out the foliage.

If you drive through on Wilkins Loop Road, you may see some people riding horses. If you make a left as you reach the last section of the loop, you can visit the ginkgo grove.

I've posted pictures of the ginkgo trees before. There are over 300 of them at Blandy, originally planted in the 1920s. The ginkgo is an ancient species that only grows wild in China.

This grove is a favorite place for local photographers to visit in the fall, and we've seen people doing portrait sessions here.

On the day we were there, the notorious fruits of the tree were putting off their strange smell. Many places only plant male trees in order to avoid having these fruits.

Sharing with Curious as a Cathy and My Town Shoot Out