A Farm, East of Toms Brook.

Wordless Wednesday, The Barn Collective.

Page County's Historic White House

Tuesday Treasures.

Near the South Fork of the Shenandoah stands this old house built in 1760. It was the home of an early settler, Martin Kauffman. He was a Mennonite minister and for a time, the house served as a meeting house for the congregation. 

Next to the house is a nice looking farm.

Route 211 crosses the South Fork of the Shenandoah within sight of the house and farm. An earlier bridge nearby was burned during the Civil War by order of Stonewall Jackson, whose army was being pursued by Federal forces under General Shields.

From 1870 to 1910, a ferry served as the primary way to cross the river here. (See my May 14, 2018 post for a mural of the ferry.)

It's Squirrel Appreciation Day 2020!

Gallery Mosaic and a Firebird.

The Good, the Random, and the Fun.

The Good: We went to Luray a week ago and visited the Warehouse Art Gallery. Here is a huge collage made up of small paintings done by many different people. 

Monday Mural and Mosaic Monday.

The Random: I made a photo collage of windows and doors in the gallery.

The Fun: While we were looking at art, I heard music and saw a flash of color through the main door and went out to see. This dancer represents a "firebird" and had been performing around the corner. On stilts!

That evening I looked at my cell phone photos and realized I had taken a photo of a stained glass piece of art that was likely the inspiration for the costume! 

Bethany United Methodist in Purcellville

This Methodist Church is on Main Street in Purcellville. It was built in 1925.

Sharing with Inspired Sunday and Shadow Shot Sunday.

Birds, Animals, and Colorful Cat.

Yesterday I ran some errands and decided to drive east from Toms Brook just to look at the countryside. I saw a nice pond with geese. 

I'd Rather Be Birdin' and Saturday's Critters.

I also found deer although they are well-camouflaged among the brown trees.

I have some backyard birds to show you but first: a little "Caturday" art! I accidentally discovered that if I hit Command+i in Photoshop, the colors invert. I routinely work in layers, so the new layer had odd colors while the first layer stayed the original colors, I tried different blending modes and got this result, but I erased the new eyes because I like the original ones.

Now for some backyard views, starting with a vulture sailing across the sky at sunset.

Next let's look across the lake and watch some geese taking off!

My squirrel friends are always looking for food. Fortunately he leaves some for the birds... as long as I keep filling the feeders.

Around the Valley in January.

Willy Nilly Friday.

1. Black and White Weekend: An antique car in Winchester.

2. Skywatch Friday: Skyline Drive is a great place to see the sunset. By the way, admission to Shenandoah National Park is free on Monday, Martin Luther King Day. That won't help if winter weather closes Skyline Drive, so call the park before you go.

3. Weekend Reflection: You can see some Strasburg storefronts reflected in Janet's window.

4. Fences: At Sky Meadows State Park. 

5.  Friday Bliss and Flowers: Seen in Luray.

6. This blog has had over 34,000 comments and I appreciate them! I regret that I am slow in responding to comments. Some bloggers are just amazing at visiting other blogs and leaving comments (Hi, William!), while I always seem to be several days behind schedule. I don't know how they do it!

I'm grateful that there are now fewer "captchas" to solve. For a while those were really slowing me down! I'm still dealing with spam now and then. (I don't know why someone in Mumbai would think my readers would hire their cleaning service!)

7. I came across an anonymous quote that I wanted to save. I put it on a sky background from the same evening as photo #2.

Beer and Baseball.

Signs, Signs.

It's been two weeks since I took a picture of the "Free Beer" sign and I just realized that I forgot to post it here.   

Beer and sports go together, so that's my excuse for putting these signs on the same page. This historical marker is in Jim Barnett Park in Winchester in the Youth Baseball Complex.

"A standout on both the baseball field and the battlefield, Spottswood ‘Spots’ Poles was born in Winchester Virginia in December 1887 (per his grave marker). He was an accomplished outfielder in the American Negro League during the period of 1906–1923. His baseball career was interrupted by his service as a member of the Harlem Hellfighters during World War I (1917 – 1918).

 Both baseball and military service were segregated during the period he was active in these pursuits. Poles was recognized as one of the fastest players of his day and consistently posted high batting averages ranging from .414 to.487 in the Negro Leagues. When playing against the white leagues he posted a .610 batting average.

He started with the Harrisburg Giants in 1906, then went pro with Philadelphia in 1909. Most of his career was the New York Lincoln Giants. He also played other teams in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Florida as well as with the Cuban baseball league in the winter months.

 Poles joined the 369th Infantry Regiment (known as the ‘Harlem Hellfighters’), which was attached to the French Army, during WWI since the U.S. Military was not integrated at that time. He earned five battle stars and a Purple Heart for combat in France as a sergeant. He later operated a successful taxi business and died while living in California at age 74 in 1962. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.'

Babe Ruth Bambino Baseball League Concession Stand.

Backyard Birds, Mid-January.

Wild Bird Wednesday ~ My Corner of the World.

I looked out the window this morning and fog was covering the mountain. Then I noticed four birds were on the bench. I zoomed in and saw they were mourning doves and there were nine of them! One is hard to see; he's on the left arm. 

Soon the sun came out and the temperature rose. I ate lunch sitting outside, camera ready.

A Carolina Wren visited one of the feeders. And geese wandered through the yard.

The remaining pictures are from another day. The male cardinal has been pecking at what's left in the woodpecker feeder. The female is in the tree, looking out at me.

I believe the downy woodpecker is also a female. The male has a red patch on the back of his head.

Historic Audley

Tuesday Treasures

Built in 1795, Audley was once the home of Eleanor “Nellie” Custis Lewis, the granddaughter of Martha Washington and the adopted daughter of George Washington. She moved here after her husband's death in in 1839. 

I toured the estate during Garden Week in 2016. Today seems like a good time to post some springtime images so I pulled these out of my archive.

Audley Farm is in Berryville. It is known for thoroughbred horses and angus beef.

About Sarah

This a from a 1981 newsletter that I kept because it had a picture of me with Sarah Fields at a volunteer recognition event. Sarah and I worked together in Alexandria's Urban 4-H program during the late 70's and early 80's.

 

 Last week I got a message from one of her daughters that she had suffered a stroke. Today her family announced her transition. She will be missed!

Over the years we kept in touch. The photo of her with Lynn is from 2014, when we went to a celebration in Northern Virginia honoring Sarah's 81st birthday.

Sarah was probably the best listener I ever talked to. She had empathy and a solid spiritual grounding. I have heard her preach at her son's church. But her true ministry was helping people in the community. She was an inspiration.

Thank you, Sarah, for your love and guidance.

Purcellville Random-osity

The Good, the Random, and the Fun 

The Good: There's a fine "Welcome to Purcellville" mural on the corner where we used to turn to go to my sister's house. It was painted in 2017 by graphic designer Addie Moore. You can see it from Main Street on the corner of 20th Street.

This is in Loudoun County,

Monday Murals.

The Random: I put some Purcellville street scenes in a collage. The house inside the heart was where my sister lived before she moved to Kentucky. 

The Fun: We had good times visiting Peggy and her family there. 

Mosaic Monday.