No. Va. Community College Civil War Course

Dr. Poland's field trip course is scheduled for May 18-20, 2012. Here are a few photos from last year's trip to Gettysburg.

Previously I posted last year's Brandy Station tour on this blog.

See the Advanced Civil War course listing on NVCC.edu. The topic is Civil War Prisons and Hospitals.

Visit CivilWarFieldTrips.com.

Scans from My 1984 Album

Elias, Meadow, Marie, Lynn

The first two photos include members of my sister's family (plus my kids in picture #1). Peggy's children are younger than mine. Below we see the Roy Rogers Restaurant that was at the corner of King and Washington Streets in Alexandria. Both my daughters worked there while in high school.
	Meadow, Larry, Elias

A Lighter Oak Floor

We had the hardwood floors refinished at the Lake House. The old floors were quite worn, as you can see in the second photo, taken two years ago. They were also dark, and since we were having them redone we switched to a light color.

The newly finished floors are beautiful!

A Lake in March

We've been cleaning up the Lake House and even though the work is dusty and tiring, we can get refreshed by looking at the view.

I don't know the name of the lake yet. We'll have to ask the neighbors.

History Professor Charles Poland Receives Award

Congratulations to Dr. Poland, my longtime history professor and Civil War Field Trips leader. His hard work and talents were recognized with Virginia's 2012 Outstanding Faculty Award.

I was one of the students who submitted a letter of recommendation for this award and I was very happy that he was selected. I've taken many of his classes and maintain a website about the Civil War field trips.

Read the NVCC Press Release.

Charles and Betty Poland Surrounded by Some of His Students

Betty Poland	Me with Dr. Poland and a Marvel Comic he got as a gag gift

Squirrel #99

I've posted plenty of squirrel photos! This is the 99th post tagged with the label "Squirrels."

Turkey Tries to Escape

Click and watch the short video.

Basye Orkney Springs Library Program

Farmer Tom let his turkey graze on the library/airport grounds. At first the turkey grazed casually, but eventually he made a break for freedom. Fortunately the farmer was able to catch him before he disappeared in the woods.

See all "Library" posts.

Planting Seeds

At the Library in Bryce Resort

Miss Mona likes to include a hands-on activity during each children's program at the library. For "What Does a Farmer Do All Day," the activity was decorating a small pot and planting seeds in it.

Since the weather was warm, the children worked outdoors at picnic tables.

You may like: Airstrip at the Resort.

Farmer Tom's Animals

Miss Mona arranged for Farmer Tom to bring animals to Basye for a children's program at the library. Many of the animals were very young and the children were enchanted with them. Actually, so were the adults!

The program was lively and educational. We even had a perfect spring day for it!

Tom's farm products are sold at the Friendly City Food Co-op in Harrisonburg.

Kids With Animals

What could be cuter than kids with animals?

Kids with baby animals!

Farmer Tom brought young animals to Basye for the library's program, "What do Farmers Do all Day?" Chicks, piglets and lambs were among the adorable creatures he transported in his truck from Turkey Knob.

Spring Gobbler

Welcome, Spring!

Since it's the first day of spring, I felt like adding a few daffodils to the photo. Basically I copied a couple of clusters and pasted them in using Photoshop®. I also added a light canvas texture so that viewers can see that this is an altered photograph.

Cute Chick!

Greystone Lodge

We took a look at Greystone Lodge, which is vacant and offered for sale. Apparently it was once a hunting lodge catering to visitors from the city. Now it is advertised as a potential B&B, but it only has two bathrooms.

At one time I would have been impressed by the mountain views but I've gotten so spoiled by our own view and some others up here that I found this view to be mundane. It's on the "other" part of Supinlick Ridge, south of 263 and has a Mount Jackson address.

The View from the Lake House

The tenant has moved out of our property in Waterlick. He has not yet finished clearing out the last load of stuff or cleaning the carpets and cabinets.

We are planning to move there. We love our current home but the long drives to town are becoming more tiring as we get older. And while I'll miss the great view we have in Basye, the view you see here is great too. The mountains are the north end of the Massanutten Range.

Forsythia is Blooming

Spring seems to be here in Virginia. I'm not willing to guarantee that winter is over though. I remember seeing snowstorms in April.

A Variety of Outfits

One of the events at the resort's Winterfest was a costume parade, so some folks were still wearing outfits that you normally see at Halloween instead of in March. As for the "pond skimming" participants, some dressed in warm ski clothing, some in costumes, and others in shorts or swim suits. I guess the latter group expected that they would wind up in the pond instead of over it, and they were usually right.

The young princess appeared in my short video but I thought you might want another look at her outfit. I thought she did well considering she was restricted by that long dress.

Brave Kids who tried Pond Skimming

Bryce Resort, Basye, VA

You don't have to be an adult to try to ski over a pond at Winterfest. Plenty of children gave it a try! But like the older folks, most of them ended up wet. They didn't seem to mind, but I was glad that the weather was not cold.

Pond Skimming at the Resort

On Saturday we drove down the hill to the resort in order to watch "Pond Skimming" at Bryce's Winterfest, which marks the end of the winter ski season. Pond skimming involves attempting to ski or snowboard over a pond. Take a look at my video!

Ski Season Ends

It's over already! The ski season ended yesterday here at Bryce Resort. They kept it going as long as the weather allowed but warm days and hard rain took its toll.

There was enough snow Saturday for a successful Winterfest though. This week warm temperatures continue and are rising into the 70's. Daffodils are blooming! Looks like it's spring!

A Couple at the Pond

Carrier Arboretum, Harrisonburg, VA

I've posted pictures of this pond before, and plenty of pictures of ducks. So for variety I altered the photo below using Photoshop® to add filter effects on duplicate layers, and then made them more subtle by changing the opacity of those layers until I liked the effect.

You might like Signs of Spring in Harrisonburg
and Mallard Ducks Feeding.