Scenes in Stephenson and Middleburg.

Inspired Sunday: This is a Pentecostal Holiness Church called Word of Life Ministries. It's in Stephenson, a small town north of Winchester.

Also in Stephenson is this post office. Below the American flag they are flying the POW-MIA flag to commemorate prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action. Flying this flag became standard in late 2019. 

I am still taking post office pictures to honor our postal service. Today we drove through Middleburg so I stopped to get a picture of their post office. It's a distinguished brick building partly hidden by shrubbery. It's on the main street (US Route 50) near shops and restaurants. 

Below are two scenes I photographed near the post office. The town has a small population but a bustling business area due to its location and a glamorous reputation from a long association with celebrities including Jackie Kennedy and Elizabeth Taylor.

Weekend Reflection.

 

Shadows at Sky Meadows.

We stopped by Sky Meadows State Park late this afternoon. It was a beautiful day and the sun cast long shadows across the grass. 

This park has a Delaplane mailing address but it is closer to the small town of Paris, Virginia. 

Shadow Shot Sunday, 

The Barn Collecctive.

Birds in a Shelter, Deer in Fields.

This afternoon I made a brief stop at a garden shop which was in a quonset-style structure. There were birds flying around freely and sometimes they rested on the rafters.

On the way home I drove through Blandy and saw deer in the distance. A little later I saw one in a field.

Shortly after that I saw a hawk perched on a pole but he took flight and I only got one quick picture of him before he disappeared from sight.
 

 Sharing with I'd Rather B Birdin'

 and Saturday Critters.

Buildings, Covid, and Collages

Willy Nilly Friday

1. This fast food restaurant has not opened the dining area yet. In order to prevent crowding and contagion, they formed a wall of chairs.

2. What is this collage? These are close-ups of anti-Covid supplies that I had in the car. I was waiting for Frank in a medical building parking lot and I occupied myself by taking these pictures with my cell phone. 

Left to Right: Hand Sanitizer, Water (in bottle), Face Mask, Glove, My Sparkly Mask.

3. Black and White: This is the elevator lobby at a doctor's office. I was there for an earache and they directed me to wait there instead of in the regular waiting room in case I had the coronavirus! I'm sure my symptoms were due to an allergy because I later discovered that they began the same week in August as they did last year. After about three weeks, they were subsided.

4. This is the Amazon distribution center north of Winchester. The next image shows the same building looking to the left. It's a huge place! There's a bus stop in front of the parking lot.

Skywatch Friday.

 5.  Friday Bliss: These are flowers I showed in previous posts. Here I put them in a collage and added a light "oil paint" filter. 

Signs, Stickers, and So on.

This is a post with lots of pictures and they aren't in quite the order that I envisioned but Blogger has changed and made it more difficult to move images around and format them. I used to do much of that in HTML but now that it doesn't show spaces between the images, it takes way too long to do. I already made a suggestion but so far the problem persists.

The first image shows a couple of stickers that came in the mail with fund raising letters. I haven't put bumper stickers on my car since chrome bumpers went out of style, and I don't make donations in response to unsolicited merchandise. (How many stickers, calendars, and address labels can a person use anyway?) I like the messages so I took a picture before throwing them away.

The second picture is a sign I saw in a West Virginia store. I imagine you know the song.

That store is the Lost River Trading Post and that is where I have some photos on display through this week. So we see two of them behind me and in between them is a space where my covered bridge picture hung before it sold. Yes! I'm thankful that one of mine sold. 

Thankful Thursday / Signs, Signs

That store sells collectibles and coffee as well as art. I think Uncle Sam looks cool next to this Obama Inauguration Display!

Also in Wardensville is the white barn with a barn quilt. Behind the fence you can see a little pond. Across from there is a farm market with a green pig on the pergola.

I went into a discount store and found children's masks sold as a day-of-the-week set. 

Back in Virginia, another farm market has a sign letting customers know they are required to wear a mask. Almost every store has a sign posted requiring masks. Some enforce it more than others. 

There are still people who won't wear masks. I suspect they deal with fear by pretending it doesn't exist. "Fight or flight" is a complicated thing. Ignoring a threat may be a form of flight. Personally I prefer to face it and deal with it intelligently.

The sign in the next photo is on a home in Strasburg. The person who posted this Patrick Henry quote wrote in "masks," apparently thinking they are a form of chains and slavery. (You can't see me but I'm rolling my eyes.)

Meanwhile, when I dropped off a book at the library in Front Royal, I noticed that it will be quarantined for five days. That seems like more than necessary, but I understand the desire for safety.

I'm still photographing post offices. This one is in Mt. Jackson.  

And last of all, a sign in Winchester. We were there for an appointment Frank had with the ENT doctor (for his stopped up ear). I recalled that Apple Valley Veterinary usually has a funny sign so I drove down that road to see. 

Resting Wings and a Hazy Sunset.

Sometimes I go looking for butterflies to photograph. This one came to me and rested on our deck. 

Next we see some crows on a dead tree. 

I must say we have been fortunate to have decent weather. There have been severe storms in several places and record-breaking heat out west. California and Oregon have suffered from widespread wild fires.

The smoke from those fires has traveled across the country and shows up in our western skies. Some people captured an orange haze on photographs at sundown yesterday. I went out and attempted to but my camera shifted the color toward gray. I set the exposure for sunset but that just produced a purple sky!

There was a time that photographers blamed film for poor color latitude but now that we don't use film, I guess we blame electronics. Maybe next time I'll try my cell phone and see what it can do. 

The orange sun shows up in the reflection. I walked quietly so as not to scare the geese. They are fairly tame but will jump into the lake if startled. 

Wild Bird Wednesday/ My Corner of the World / DND Nature

The Blacksmith Shop in Millwood.

Mid to Late 19th Century.

Sharing with Tuesday Treasures and Wordless on Tuesday.

Today around Front Royal.

Random-osity

I ran a few errands in Front Royal and then drove up on Skyline Drive for a brief respite. 

Good: Someone has painted a pretty mural of flowers on a fence. 

Monday Murals.

Random: The Front Royal Post Office is a modern building.

Fun: Skyline Drive runs the length of Shenandoah National Park. The northern entrance is at the edge of Front Royal. Usually I see a few deer up there. 

Mosaic Monday

Aldie Church and Post Office

Inspired Sunday: Aldie is a small but historic town in Loudoun County, Virginia. The Church of the Redeemer stands along the main street through the town, which happens to be US Route 50. This is an Episcopal Church built in 1890. At the present time, the church building is closed due to the pandemic and services are being held online.

Also along Route 50 is the town post office. 

See all my posts about Aldie.

Nature Near Home.

North Fork of the Shenandoah.

This afternoon I sat on the deck with a protein bar that served as lunch. I had my camera in case a hummingbird showed up. I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye of a brown animal. I looked over, expecting to see a neighbor's dog. Oh, it's a small deer. No, two deer; oh, three deer!

They were browsing behind some trees so I waited for one to show his face. This was a lucky shot, a twofer. (Note the second face at the top.)

Only the smallest deer came out from behind the tree enough to get anything like a portrait. Then they all moved behind a fence. The little one paused on the other end of the fence but I had to stand up to get a picture of him. I got one photo of him looking at me before they all disappeared into the woods.

Canada Geese.

After the geese took off over the lake, one more took off after them. I don't know why he was tardy but I assume he caught up.

There was a single frame of the osprey on the SD card from my Nikon. The osprey pictures I shared the other day were all from my Sony camera. It doesn't have as strong a zoom lens but it focuses more easily.

Sharing with Saturday's Critters and I'd Rather Be Birdin'.