Scenes Along Back Road

Back Road is the actual name of a road in Shenandoah County. There's also a Middle Road. Both go back over 150 years.

Sharing with Good Fences and Little Things Thursday

Flash in Profile

Sharing with Thoughtless Thursday

Back to the Dog Wash

Sharing with Wordless Blog Paws 

and Signs, Signs

Rainy Day near Dulles

Sharing with Black and White Wednesday

and Wordless Wednesday and Wednesday Around the World

Blue View

Sharing with Our World Tuesday

and Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday

A Barn, A Boat, and A Remembrance

With this post, I'm participating in a couple of blog hops: The Barn Collective and The Good, the Random, the Fun.

The Good: Tom the Backroads Traveller has taken the responsibility of hosting The Barn Collective. And I found my first barn quilt! This barn-turned-garage is along the Valley Pike in Shenandoah County. Barn quilts (painted quilt squares) have not caught on yet here in the Valley, but I suspect they will before long. There are plenty of barns here, and many artists and crafts people.

The Random: A couple enjoy the sun and a ride in an inflatable boat.

The Fun: My aunt was a fun person! It may seem unusual to categorize a tribute to someone we lost recently under the category of "Fun," but she knew how to enjoy life and would want to be remembered with smiles. She was 87.

We called her Doats but her name was Maribel. This photo is from her model portfolio from the 1950's. She told me she went to modeling school because she wanted to overcome her feelings of being awkward, having been taller than other girls in her school. She worked as a model in New York and then as an actress and singer on Broadway.

She and Uncle Don had a beach house in New Jersey which we visited in summers.  They had an apartment in Manhattan and a convertible! When she got together with my mom (her big sister), there was happy chattering and laughter.

She was the last member of their generation in my family. She is survived by her son and grandchild.

Four Flowers

Sharing with Mosaic Monday and Today's Flowers

First Mt. Olive Methodist Church, Now UUCL

This church near Leesburg was built as a Methodist Episcopal Church in 1890. It is now the Unitarian Universalist Church of Loudoun.

Sharing with InSPIREd Sunday

Message on the Back Door

Old Fashioned Windmill

Sharing with The Weekend in Black and White

and Weekend No Rules 

View From My Window

At My Town Shootout, Mersad asked the question, "What do you see when you look outside your window?"

Well, sometimes I see wonderful things! We happen to live next to a lake so we get to see the moods of the water plus various birds and animals.

To take this pictures I stood at the living room window and used the zoom  on my camera.

Sharing with The Bird D'Pot
and My Town Shootout 
and Saturday's Critters 

Blog Post Number 5000

Yes, really! This is my five-thousandth post on this blog. And since I started blogging in summer of 2005, this blog's 10-year anniversary is coming up later this month.

What's new? Well, I'm trying to change the email that I use for commenting because AOL's emails are rejected by "DMARC" so I keep getting notices from AOL's Postmaster saying my message did not go through. The result is that the blogger I'm writing to does not get my comment via email, although it still posts. Anyway, I want to try using an alternate email address (from Comcast, probably) but so far I haven't gotten it to work. I'm not sure I'm even filling out the right form!

In my personal life, I'm feeling lonely because two important people in my life are moving far away. My younger daughter Marie just moved to California because her employer (DC Comics) has moved their offices to Burbank. Now in order to visit her, we'll have to fly instead of driving, and she won't be able to visit by just hopping on a bus.

Meanwhile, my sister is making plans to move to Kentucky. First she has to sell her house, but contractors and her boyfriend have already updated the kitchen and bath, and packing is underway.

The town where's Peggy is moving is a long drive from here and not even close to an airport. I'm past the age where I have the stamina for long drives, if I ever did. This will be a big change because now she lives less than an hour away.

So I'm feeling bereft. I'm a bit shy and don't have many close friends, and my family members are the most supportive people in my life. Fortunately my other daughter is staying in Virginia.

Cherish your family!

Car Shopping Blues (and Orange too)

Through the Shaded Area of the Windshield

Since my husband sold his 2001 Montero (as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago), he's been shopping for another used car. Although I don't enjoy car shopping, I went with him on most of the expeditions to help navigate and give my opinion (which he ignores).

While waiting for him to look at the endless possibilities of used cars, I entertained myself by reading, listening to the radio, checking the internet, and taking a few pictures. Unfortunately weather was rainy over the past week. Still, I got a handful of pictures to share with Skywatch Friday, Look Up Look Down, and Orange You Glad It's Friday.

Looking Up, Near Dulles Airport

A Stop at Sherando Park

I stopped at this park near Stephens City to eat a salad that I bought at a nearby supermarket. Then I walked around for a few minutes to enjoy the scenery and take a few pictures.

I've stopped here before but had not previously noticed this plaque on the gazebo. It honors Rev. B. L. Lock, a local pastor who served several Methodist churches.

By the way, this is the gazebo I used for a recent black and white shot that was selected as one of six shown by Black and White Weekend.

Sharing with Good Fences and Signs Signs

At Eastham Park with Ben

South Fork of the Shenandoah

Sharing with Thoughtless Thursday

and NF Trees and Bushes

The Fountain is Fixed!

Thanks to Frank for researching and ordering a new pump for the lake by our community's entrance, and thanks to the neighbors who volunteered to install it.

The fountain adds oxygen to the water, helping to keep algae down.

Sharing with Black and White Wednesday

and Outdoor Wednesday

Wordless Robin

Sharing with Wordless Wednesday and Wild Bird Wednesday and 
Wednesday Around the World

New Veterans Memorial in Stephens City

Sharing with Our World Tuesday

and Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday

Random Winchester Style

Good, Random and Fun in Winchester, VA

The Good: Tom the Backroads Traveller has graciously taken over maintaining The Barn Collective. I'm glad to see this feature continue because I like viewing barns and the weekly linkup reminds me to take and share photos of rural Shenandoah Valley scenes.

The Random: This sculpture of a child reading is outside Handley Library in the Rotary Reading Garden. It is called Innocence and the sculptor is Lawrence Newlan.

The Fun: Also at Handley Library is a mural that you can see from the outdoor reading garden. It is signed by John Burns, 2013. I'm classifying this as fun because the children pictured are having a joyful time with their magic-carpet books.

Sharing with The Barn Collective
and Monday Murals

and The Good, The Random, and the Fun

Stylish in 1865

The June theme for City Daily Photo is "Stylish." I'm personally not much interested in current styles so I'm looking back 150 years to show a respected style. The American Civil War had just ended and a well-dressed soldier would have commanded attention and respect.

I took this picture on Saturday at Valentia in Washington County, Maryland. It overlooks Antietam Creek.