Mr. and Mrs. Mallard

Bridge, Duck Pond

Edith J. Carrier Arboretum
Harrisonburg, VA
in the Shenandoah Valley

See also Autumn Reflections and
JMU's Arboretum.

Mallard Ducks

We Had Snow on Monday

It was just a light snow and it melted fairly quickly. By Wednesday temperatures were warm enough that we could walk around jacket-less except for the wind, and today was even warmer.

The blue jay was sampling some seeds that the squirrel had scattered when he raided the bird feeder.

Honoring Dr. Seuss's Birthday at the Library

Like many libraries throughout the country, our library in Basye celebrated the birthday of famed author Dr. Seuss. He wrote 44 children's books that helped millions of children to read.

Our event included crafts, reading, and snacks. Mona Wolf was our main organizer but other volunteers helped out. The red and white striped hat is modeled after one worn by "The Cat in the Hat" in the book and movie. And don't the little girls look adorable with their faces painted to look like cats?

Face Painting

A popular activity at our library's Dr. Seuss event turned out to be face painting. In honor of The Cat in the Hat, children had their faces painted with whiskers and cat noses. Even some adults had their faces painted.

Blog Post #3300

This is my thirty-three-hundredth post on this blog! I started it in 2005 and I still blog almost every day.

I think blogging has lost some of its popularity because there are other ways of sharing your thoughts and interests online, such as Facebook.  I find the habit of blogging is good for me. It helps me to keep up with my photos and allows me to share interesting places and events with anyone who happens to search for them. The vast majority of visitors to this blog come via Google search results.

I've added a new tag to my Frequent Topics list: Library.  I'm an unofficial photographer for our library here in Basye and I've posted a number of pictures of various library events.

Facepainting, Dr. Suess Event

Clicking on the Library tag will help people find those pictures, and I assume that the folks who are in the pictures will be looking for them or sending relatives here to see them.

Normally I expect people to ask for permission if they want to download my photos, but if you or your children are in a picture, feel free to download it. Click on it first to make it bigger. And thanks for being in the picture!

Food for Dr. Seuss's Birthday Party

By the time I showed up to help at the Dr. Seuss event at the library, the cake was already cut and Chef Dave was busy cooking green eggs and ham. Basically he added green coloring and some bits of ham to a scrambled egg and cooked it in the microwave. It tastes better than it looks.

In case you don't know Dr. Seuss's books, Green Eggs and Ham is a silly book for young children that rhymes so well you can almost sing the words.

Another Woodpecker Picture

Here's one of the pileated woodpeckers on a suet feeder.

One the left side of the pole there's a recently-broken bird feeder. I'm pretty sure the squirrels broke it by hanging on it too many times. But we had it a long time.

See Birdfeeder in Snow (2006)

Historic Waterlick

I spotted the tiny village of Waterlick on an old Jed Hotchkiss map of the Battle of Cedar Creek. The roads look familiar - could that be Richardson Road just below the three red lines that indicate the Confederate 2nd Corps? And could the building shown there be the old church?

I don't know but the Primitive Baptist Church on Richardson Road was established in 1787. I imagine the building has been replaced at least once. It does not appear to be in use anymore.

I found mention of the church's beginnings on a Primitive Baptist Family History page:

Waterlick Church was organized on April 15, 1787. The members to be constituted met at the home of Brother Charles Buck where they sat to hear experiences related, from whence they proceeded to the River singing a hymn as they went along, where, after an exhortation by Bro. John Parker, and a short discourse by Elder John Price, the ordinance of baptism was administered to several, and from whence they went to the Waterlick meeting house (which had been constructed for the sake of convenience of some of the members of South River Church who lived on the north side of the South River), and the church was organized in the presence of a very large audience, viz., Thomas Buck, Charles Buck, John Buck, John Parker, Donald Holmes, Negro Joseph, Negro Daniel, Isabella Richardson, Miriam Buck, Mary Buck, Nancy Buck, Martha Leith, Sarah Richardson, Elizabeth Parker, Jean Williams, and Negro Jeanny. Waterlick Church united with the Ketocton Association the same year.

Elder John Price was the first pastor. He was followed by Elders James Ireland, who served until his death in 1806. He was followed by Elder Samuel O'Herndon.

Waterlick Church meeting house was (as late as 1947) located near Buckton Station on the Manassas Gap Railway.

The names of some early members correspond with current road names: Richardson and Buck (as in Buck's Mill Road). I wonder if Negroes Joseph, Daniel, and Jeanny were free Blacks?

Copyright Example

Rohn Engh of Photosource has shared a model copyright statement for photographers to use on their websites:

"All photographs, text and code appearing on the (your site) are the exclusive property of the photographer and are protected under United States and international Copyright Laws.

Photographs, text and code may not be reproduced, copied, stored, or manipulated in any form without the written permission of the photographer. This includes use of any image as part of another photographic concept or illustration. No image or any part of this site is within public domain."

Sounds good to me! What do you think?

Geese in Waterlick

Shenandoah River Lakes, Warren County, VA

Our tenants in the Shenandoah River Lakes house have moved out. They are still working on cleaning out the attic and such. When we drove by there a week ago, it looked like geese were moving in to the yard.

Another Kid's Program at the Library

Our library in Basye has been doing a series of children's programs on "What Do People Do All Day?" The February 25th program featured a local minister who discussed what he did all week. Then the children colored some stickers and Miss Mona read a book, followed by snack time.

A Couple of Blog Changes

After I removed the Captcha requirement from the Comments page, I started getting spam comments, five or six a day. They were usually ads containing URLs and were from "Anonymous." So now you have to sign in before you can comment on a post. Sorry if this is inconvenient but the spam was a real pain.

Meanwhile, I am following an art blog which taught me about Pinterest and why I should be concerned about people borrowing my pictures. Pinterest makes it so easy!

My images are copyrighted. Usually I will give permission to borrow them for personal use, and larger versions are available at a price. Many of my pictures have a copyright symbol on them with my name. But that doesn't stop people from downloading them without asking, or, it seems, posting them on Pinterest. I found six of them there by following the advice on "Making a Mark" including one with my copyright notice clearly displayed. Since then I have added a code to prevent "pinning." I wonder if people don't know what copyright means!

1. Read Prevent Your Blogger Images from Being Pinned
2. Read How Pinterest Removed All My Pinned Images in Minutes

A New Month Marches In

Musician, Winchester

February went be so quickly, even with the extra "leap" day. The weather was the mildest I've ever seen for February in Virginia, and I was able to sit outside in the warm sun on a number of occasions.

My February blog posts reflect the unusual weather by showing plenty of outdoor scenes, mostly in the Shenandoah Valley: Winchester, Dayton, Woodstock, Harrisonburg... plus pictures of the ski slopes at Bryce Resort. At least we had cold nights so they could make snow and keep the slopes white!

Welcome, March! Flowers are already blooming and I am happy that spring is coming.

Clock Towers, Winchester

Old Court House

Winchester City Hall

See all my posts that mention Winchester.

Link: Winchester, Virginia

Courtyard, Winchester

View from the Courthouse Steps, Winchester, Virginia

Here Frank is looking at a plaque about Lord Fairfax, who owned and administered a huge land grant in Colonial Virginia. It was Fairfax who hired the 16-year-old George Washington in 1748 to survey his lands.

By the 1860's, the court house was here and the yard in front of it was surrounded by an iron fence. The fenced area and the building were put to use as a jail for captured Union soldiers and miscreant Confederates.

Sgt. Henry Peck, a Pennsylvania soldier who was captured and briefly imprisoned here in 1862, wrote,

“In Winchester we were consigned to the court-house and the inclosure between it and the street. There were already in the these precincts a crowd of some 300 rebels, stragglers, conscripts and the riff-raff a provost-guard can pick up—a miserable lot—who did not fraternize with our men, and who were so filthy in clothing and habits that our men remained of choice in the open yard without tents or blankets, even during the nights of hoarfrost, to avoid contact with those in the court-house, which we were otherwise free to occupy.”

See also: Young George Washington

Historic Frederick County Courthouse, Winchester

The old courthouse in Winchester is now a museum located on the downtown mall. The downstairs has a courtroom and a gift shop. Upstairs is a Civil War Museum featuring displays of graffiti left by soldiers when the building was used as a hospital during the war.

Here's an excerpt from the Civil War Trails sign that's in front of the building: During the Civil War, the Union and Confederate armies each used the Frederick County Courthouse as a hospital and a prison. Cornelia McDonald, a local citizen, nursed the wounded here after the First Battle of Kernstown on March 23, 1862. She later wrote, “I went to the court house; the porch was strewed with dead men. Some had papers pinned to their coats telling who they were. All had the capes of their coats turned over to hide their still faces; but their poor hands, so pitiful they looked and so helpless. ... Soon men carried them away to make room for others who were dying inside.”

For more, see Frederick County Courthouse Marker on HMDB

and the

Old Courthouse Museum's Website

Looking Out an Old Window

In Winchester, VA

Old Courtroom

County Courthouse, Winchester, VA

Now a museum, the old courthouse in Winchester was once used as a hospital during the Civil War. An upper level houses a Civil War museum.

An interpretive sign outside tells us:

The Greek Revival-style Frederick County Courthouse, designed by Baltimore architect Robert Cary Long, Jr., was completed in 1840. It was the third on this location. In 1758, the first courthouse was the site of George Washington’s first election to office, when voters here elected him a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses.

Hello, Woodpecker!

We have a pair of pileated woodpeckers that visits our yard frequently. Usually if I see one and watch for a while, I'll spot the other one. If they don't see me, that is. They are quite shy.

This one's on the ground. More often they're perched on a tree or hanging on a suet feeder, or even drilling holes in the deck railing.

I think my best pileated woodpecker photo was one I took last March. They move pretty much constantly. I've probably taken and deleted dozens of blurry pictures of these handsome birds.