Belle Grove in December

Middletown, Virginia

Rural Scene Random-osity

The Good, The Random, The Fun

The Good: I like arts and crafts, and these miniatures are well-crafted. I saw them in an antique shop.

The Random: We saw the barn below on a rainy day and I was fortunate that the clouds parted just in time to lend some brightness to the picture.

Sharing with The Barn Collective

The Fun: This light-hearted mural covers a wall in Berryville.  There was no vantage point for showing the entire mural in one photo so I took several. See the collage below for more scenes from this work.

Sharing with Monday Murals

Emanuel Lutheran Church in Woodstock and...

Thoughts about Refugees

The late afternoon sun lit up the front of this church in Woodstock, VA. To the left is an additional part of the building, and in the shadows there's a nativity scene set up for the Christmas season.

If you are an admirer of church architecture, take a look at the InSpired Sunday blog linkup. I'm also sharing this with Shadow Shot Sunday.

This week I came across an article that I saved from last January's Mountain Courier. Pastor Bill Nabors (of another local Lutheran Church) wrote about Jesus as a refugee. This goes back to the story of the flight into Egypt, where Joseph and Mary took their baby boy across the border to another country in order to save him from King Herod's men. Pastor Bill wrote that "we are currently in a roar of fear-driven reaction to ISIS and terrorism that is being directed onto refugees. We have proposals to ban Syrian refugees (even though the vetting period is at least two and a half years)." 

Later he writes:

"Have we forgotten that we are a nation of refugees, both documented and not? Read the history. See the fearful reaction to Irish, Asian and Eastern Europeans. Every new group was feared. We have been so blessed by people from different cultures and religions and what they have brought to our nation. Do we really want to go down the fear route again?"

So let us remember this old story of a family who found refuge in another country. Let us have the courage to stand up to fear and prejudice.

Also of interest: 

Seven real things you can do about the catastrophe in Aleppo
and Donate Using Paypal

Critters Close to Home

Goose

Gray Squirrel

Male Cardinal

Flash

After several cold days, we awoke to an icy world this morning. From out living room window, we have a good view of our community's main lake, and I could see that the geese were standing on ice.

Do you see the tall white goose standing among the Canada Geese? He (or she) hangs out with them all the time.

Sharing with Saturday's Critters and The Bird D'pot

Tower of Lines

Thank you, Black and White Weekend for the bonus mention of my Father Christmas portrait. Here's my black and white image for today, shot at an angle.

Also Sharing with Saturday Silhouettes

Five Photos for Friday, Mid-December

Willy Nilly Friday and Five on Friday

1. My sister visited for a couple of days and yesterday we met Lynn for lunch. This was a lovely birthday treat!

2. Here's Signal Knob, ready for linking with Skywatch Friday and Orange We Glad It's Friday. 

3. This sweetie posed on my "patio peach," against a Friday Green background.

4. Dupont is going to pay $50 million (USD) for contaminating the Shenandoah River. This happened back in the 1930s and 40s (!) and there are still signs posted warning of contaminated fish in the South Fork. Mercury contamination spread for over 100 miles and has not washed away because the toxic metal sunk into the silt, and even onto surrounding land when the river flooded.

Weekend Reflections 

5. This little town is all decked out for the holidays! It's not a real town, of course, it's a little village in a shop. 

My Town Shoot Out

Getting Older

I had a milestone birthday so there is no denying it. 

I am officially old! 

Social Security income is a benefit;

An aging body is a sad hard challenge. 

Try to stave it off and you may have a tiny bit of success

But you cannot deny fate. 

Wisdom? Perhaps a little.
More like painful insight, lessons from living long enough
to know that there is no magic wand
and no perfect ending.

The Shenandoah at Harpers Ferry

It's a Fragile World

Old Flour Mill

We were surprised to come across this mill while driving a back road south of Winchester, Virginia. It is called Springdale Mill and it dates to 1788.

Sharing with Tuesday Treasures and Our World Tuesday

Orange Arrangement and More

Random-osity

The Good: An osage orange is artfully surrounded by spiced oranges. The large green fruit is not an orange in spite of its name. It has other names include hedge apple. It's not particularly edible although squirrels sometimes tear into it to eat the seeds.

Orange You Glad?

The Random:  This barn is near Middletown.

The Barn Collective

The Fun: Flash was kind enough to model a paper hat fashioned from a newspaper.

Camera Critters

Mt. Olive Baptist Church

Next to the Baptist Church stands an old church, all boarded up, with a sign that says "No Trespassing." I wonder if it will be restored eventually. Both buildings are on Senseney Avenue in Middletown, Virginia.

Sharing with InSpired Sunday

Profile of Father Christmas

We saw this distinguished Father Christmas today in Middletown.

Sharing with Black and White Weekend

Strasburg Critters

American Robin

Strasburg lies along the North Fork of the Shenandoah River. It's a quaint historic town at it's core but it has modern subdivisions scattered over the surrounding hills. There are the usual birds and animals of a Virginia town plus livestock — there are still some farms within the town limits. There are also bears that wander in from the Massanutten Mountains but I don't have pictures of them to show you. 

Mourning Dove

The little cat was in a church parking lot. Since he was back-lit, his pretty face was obscured in the photo. I cropped it and played with filters in Photoshop until I got something I liked.

Sharing with Caturday, The Bird D'Pot,
and Saturday's Critters

Skies, Scenery, and a Quote

Friday's here and I have five images to link to Five on Friday and Willy Nilly Friday.  I'm also sharing a few of the images with other linkups. 

1. Yesterday we had a bright blue sky with white clouds, but don't be fooled. Temperatures started out at a freezing level and and felt that way all day. If you like clouds as much as I do, drift over to Skywatch Friday and see what other bloggers are posting.

2. Trees reflected in a pond provide my contribution to Weekend Reflections and Scenic Weekends.

3.  Here's a deer we saw yesterday at Skyline Drive. I seem to have caught her eating with her mouth open!

4. It wouldn't be fair to mention Skyline Drive without sharing one of the views, would it? This one qualifies for Friday Greens.

5. Another sky shot serves as a background for a quote from Martin Luther King. 

Here's a longer version of that quotation from Dr. King:

“When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind. When evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love. Where evil men seek to perpetrate an unjust ‘status quo’, good men must seek to bring into being a real order of justice.”

Sherando Park in Autumn

A month ago I took these autumn pictures in Sherando Park near Stephens City. This Frederick County park is large: 330 acres!

Through My Lens

See also my 2014 post showing a different part of the park.

This last scene is just outside the park. I like the serenity of the pond.