Good, Random, and Celtic Fun

Downtown Winchester Random-osity 

The Good: I found the Patsy Cline Mural! I heard about it in October and looked for it shortly after but failed to locate it. On Saturday we were in Winchester for the Celtic Festival and I took another look. Here it is near the intersection of Loudoun Street and Indian Alley. 

Click on Image to See a Larger Version

Patsy Cline was from Winchester. She sang blues and country music but her career was cut short by a plane crash in March, 1963. Here's a collage of the images. 

Sharing with Monday Murals and Mosaic Monday

The Random: In spite of cold weather, these bagpipers played at the festival. 

This child was not impressed with the bagpipes.

The Fun: The program listed a leprechaun juggler and here she is! I was relieved that she was a juggler dressed as a leprechaun and not a person juggling leprechauns!

Leprechaun Juggler, Winchester, Virginia

Congratulations to Allison

Frank's middle child received her Master's Degree. To celebrate we took her and her husband out to dinner.

She managed to earn the degree while working full-time.

St. Jacob's Lutheran Church

This charming church sits on a hill overlooking Senedo Road near Conicville, Virginia.

Cows On the Battlefield

I've visited Fishers Hill Battlefield many times but yesterday was the first time I've seen cattle grazing there. I crossed the footbridge and read the hand-printed sign that was posted at the entrance to the trail. 

Attention. 

Cattle on Premises

For the safety of the visitors walking the trails during the grazing period, DOGS are not permitted on the trails! Please stay on the designated trails and do not attempt to pet or feed the cattle. Your cooperation is appreciated. Grazing period ends April 10.
 

This couple walked their dog along the road and then put him in the car while they quickly walked out to the first historical marker and back. It was too windy to walk very far anyway.

This is not their dog. I think he lives at a local farm. He ducked under the wire fence and wandered into the pasture, but only for a few minutes. 

Fishers Hill was the site of a Civil War battle in September 1864. The battlefield park is not far from Strasburg and can be glimpsed from Interstate 81.

Signs of Spring and Greens

Willy Nilly Friday

1. Trees are blooming and so are daffodils. However, snow is forecast for Monday so some of these blossoms will be nipped in the bud. 

Sharing with Signs of Spring and Flower Friday

2. I made this selfie for a blue-green theme for a photo group. I'm not smiling because this was before the dentist removed stitches from the hole where a tooth was extracted. Yesterday he did, so that's a step in the right direction. I won't get the implant for three months because bone needs to grow. Meanwhile I have a temporary tooth so I can smile even though it doesn't look right to me.

For those who are wondering why my face looks younger, I have a selfie-pose secret: Lie down and let gravity smooth out wrinkles.

3. Here's another portrait. This goose looks happier than I do!  

Orange You Glad It's Friday!

4. This is an old photo of my mother and her cousin Hazel Lou. 

5. Finally, one more picture from my experiments with the blue-green scarf. My iPad has special effects in the Photo Booth app and I got some interesting results.

Sharing with Weekend Greens
and Five on Friday

Fences at Rose Hill Farm

Rose Hill is a common name around here, so let me start by saying this is on Jones Road near Winchester, Virginia. 

Do you see the doggy behind the fence?

Sharing with Fences Around the World

Bird Watching from My Window

We have bird feeders in front of our living room windows. Add a camera that zooms in and it's not hard to get some pictures of birds. Squirrels too, like the one on this pole!

It helps that our yard is next to a lake, attracting geese and other water-loving birds. I love watching the geese land.

 

The red-winged blackbirds are back! I understand this is a sign of spring.

Sharing with Seasons, Wild Bird Wednesday, and Wednesday Waters

Selfie with Dog

MSV Random-osity

The Good: We returned to the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley on Sunday to see an exhibit. This beautiful museum was designed by architect Michael Graves and opened in 2005.

Sharing with Tuesday Terasures

The Random: Between the museum and the adjacent Glen Burnie House and Gardens there are two red barns. They are used in maintaining the extensive grounds.

Sharing with The Barn Collective

The Fun: We were there to see the Alex Ross exhibit. Ross is a respected comic book artist who is best known for his superhero art. Like my daughter Marie, he has worked for both Marvel and DC Comics.

Photography is not allowed inside the exhibit but there are cut-outs in the lobby for those who desire a selfie with Spider-Man or Captain America.  

Sharing with The Good, The Random, and the Fun

Another Mural on Ruffner Plaza

The town of Luray encourages public art and in return the art attracts tourists. The area is already a tourist draw due to Luray Caverns and nearby Shenandoah National Park, but the murals and art gallery attract people to downtown.

This mural shows people in old-fashioned costumes enjoying a beautiful day outdoors. I shot some close-ups and put them in a collage. Click on it to see a larger version.

Sharing with Monday Murals and Mosaic Monday

Columbia Furnace Church of the Brethren

Sharing with Black and White Weekend and InSpired Sunday

This large modern church sits on a hill near Columbia Furnace, Virginia.

Although I converted the first image to grayscale, I'm leaving the second one in color to show the pretty blue sky. If it had been a gray day, this would be a candidate for the Black and White in Color theme of City Daily Photo for March because the church itself is white with gray accents.

The Feeder Season is Almost Over

I still fill our bird feeders, although somewhat warily. I don't want to attract a bear! We had enough warm days to bring bears out of their dens, and they've been known to wander through our neighborhood in search of food.

A smaller but more common pest is the squirrel. Sqirrels eat huge amounts of bird seed if it's a kind that they like. Fortunately they aren't crazy about thistle seed so that lasts long enough for little birds to get plenty to eat.

Robins aren't attracted to bird seed; they like worms and berries. They migrate south during the winter so seeing one on Wednesday was a sign that spring is coming.

Ducks don't seem to care about our feeders either. Sparrows do, however. We seem to have a surplus of them.

Sharing with The Bid D'Pot

and Saturday's Critters

S=

Crazy Weather and More

It's Friday already, and a good time to post 5 topics for Willy Nilly Friday and also Five on Friday, which is getting ready to move over to a new host. Meanwhile, thank you Amy for hosting that linkup.

1. Our weather is turning to spring, but then again, maybe not! After period of warm spring-like weather, green leaves started showing up and flowers started to bloom. Then apparently nature made a correction and sent us colder temperatures, since spring never arrives here before mid-March. It's been crazy.

2. Here's another view of the lake near our home.

3. It's nice to see flowers blooming, even though I feel a twinge of anxiety about the obvious signs of climate change. (Okay, more than a twinge. But I'm trying to stay calm.)

4. Flash is doing okay. Right now I'm not feeling great because I had a tooth pulled two days ago. It's one that I had a lot of work done on in the past so it was a shock that it cracked so badly it couldn't be repaired.

5. Even though the election was in November, this guy has not taken down his signs. I only stopped for a moment to take a picture because it's a bit scary if you see the whole thing. This is only part of the display. Not only is the porch roof painted in big letters, there are four outbuildings covered with lettering and signs plus numerous banners and flags.

Miscellaneous Cell Phone Pictures

Around the Shenandoah Valley

My Sony phone takes decent pictures, although I get better results using a regular camera that has a viewfinder. The cell pics tend to be longer, almost panoramic, except when using "Selfie" mode. For some reason those are more of a standard shape. 

I took this one today at our old residence at Bryce Resort. The tenants have moved out so we were there checking on things.

They Look Monochromatic

...But these are color images. 

City Daily Photo's theme day challenge for March is "Black and White in Color." Snow scenes can look that way but we only had a few inches of snow this winter, so I looked at my unused images from two years ago and found the first three shown here. (I always copy files from my camera to a folder for that month. I also create a folder for processed images for each month. I have a back-up drive so they are preserved chronologically there even after I get around to moving them or deleting them on my computer.)

 These last three photos are from January of this year. We did have a couple inches of snow and I got some bird photos before it melted that same day. Juncos and chickadees are pretty much monochromatic birds, but they're cute! Canada geese are not very colorful either... not that you can tell when they are silhouetted against the sky.

Sharing with Outdoor Wednesday,

Wild Bird Wednesday and 

Not Quite Wordless Wednesday