February Fences, Luray

Hawksbill Creek and Walkway Under the Bridge

Sharing with Good Fences Around the World

Randoms on a Cold Monday

Random-osity

The Good: Frank seems to have found some good tenants for his house in Woodstock. They really love the house!

The Random: Lately I've been been running out of wall-art to share with Monday Murals but last week I happened to see one in the Whole Foods parking lot in Charlottesville. And just as I walked toward it with my camera, one of the cars parked in front of it pulled away so I almost got a full view. After I snapped the picture, I realized that a man was patiently waiting for me so he could pull his car into the spot! (It's a busy store.)

The Fun: Skyline Drive reopened today so we drove up there for a brief visit. There was still some ice on the road so we only went as far as Dickey Ridge.

Skyline Drive and the surrounding Shenandoah National Park are among my favorite places. Dickey Ridge is not far from us so I wind up there several times a month. 

Today at Dickey Ridge. Sharing with Through My Lens.

I made a collage of Dickey Ridge scenes. The snow scenes are from today and the others are from earlier in the winter. (Click on it to see it larger.)

Sharing with Mosaic Monday and Seasons

Old Barn Now Gone

A few days ago I drove down the lane to the Claytor Farm site on Cedar Creek Battlefield. Something had changed since I was there in the summer and it wasn't just the season. The farmhouse and barn had disappeared!

The same trees as seen in summer.

Turning around, there used to be a barn there! I wasn't completely shocked that it was gone because Ranger Jeff had told us that the National Park Service was planning to remove it. It was in disrepair and neither it nor the the house dated back to the Civil War, which is the time period being interpreted on this site. 

'

Claytor Farm in June 2016

The site is still worth visiting though! There are a couple of trail interpreting the site's significance, although you can also reach them from the headquarters building and the Vermont Monument. 

Sharing with The Barn Collective, Seasons, and Mosaic Monday

Five for a Post-Christmas Friday

Willy Nilly Friday

1. New Year's Eve is tomorrow! It's just about time to take the tree down.  I wish you all a peaceful and rewarding new year!

Friday Greens

2.  My post that got the most hits for 2016 was George Washington National Forest.  It starts off with this picture but I don't think that has anything to do with it's popularity. The post just happens to get hits from people who were searching the web for information about the national forest.

3.  Skywatch Friday: Yesterday started off rainy but the sun came out. I caught the bright sky at Rapid Rehabilitation in Front Royal, where I had just received advice on avoiding further foot injuries. Since there isn't a cure for hyper-flexible ankles, I'm working on better balance.

4. Yoga anyone?

We've had ice on the lake. We had snow flurries today but no accumulation.

Sharing with Weekend Reflections and Orange You Glad It's Friday

5. Flash likes his crate. Sometimes he just goes in there to rest.

Pet Parade

A Pond at Cool Spring

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

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.

Woodstock Scenery and Skies

A pretty sky on December 1st gave me a reason to pull into a church parking lot and take a picture. This is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints near the fairgrounds in Woodstock, VA.

The town has a population of around 5,100. It still has farms within the town limits.

A Forest in the "Fort"

Late Autumn Randoms

Random-osity

The Good: Want to look younger for a photo? Lie down!

I recently made this selfie on a bench at Blandy.

The Random: Much of our autumn color has faded, but I still have foliage photos left to post. Below are some images I combined using PhotoCollage for Mosaic Monday and Seasons.

(Click on the image to see it larger.)

The Fun: At Opus Oaks, we saw a silo decorated with a ring of painted figures circling the structure. Students made these by posing and outlining each other and then painting in the details. (See previous post about Opus Oaks for more artwork.)

Sharing with Monday Murals

November Around Here

It's Willy Nilly Friday again.

Skywatch and Orange You Glad It's Friday

1. I was hoping to capture a beautiful sunset from Skyline Drive but our northern section of the park now closes at 5 PM. This makes it simpler for rangers to see that laws against hunting are followed. Normal hours resume after January 8. Anyway, I photographed the sunset from the park entrance in Front Royal.

2. Mersad has challenged us to post a "foggy day" photo. I took this foggy image at Dickey Ridge on November 9th.

3. On that same day, I took other pictures including this reflection at Gooney Run Overlook (named after a river).

4. This is a clipping from an old scrapbook showing my daughters getting 4-H Club awards, along with two other students. At that time we lived in the Delray neighborhood of Alexandria, Virginia.

5. The final picture shows a sign I saw today not far from our home. It is hand-lettered and the bird pictures are quite nice. It says:

Please do not kill wild birds! excepting trurkeys and common game birds, geese, grouse, etc. Do not shoot crows or vultures!!!

Ginkgos and Fences

Two Weeks Ago at Blandy

The gingko leaves have fallen since then, but on November 3rd they were near their peak of color.

Blandy Experimental Farm near Boyce has a scenic grove of gingko trees.  Ginkgos are not native to Virginia but they are admired for their beauty.

Sharing with Good Fences

Autumn Draws to a Close

I'm using Tanya's Friday format today to share five fall photos.

1. We had beautiful skies today, although winds last night took down many of our colorful leaves. They hung on at least ten days later than usual. Typically they were almost all on the ground by Halloween.

I call this a reverse contrail because instead of a trail of moisture, a jet has cut through the clouds and left a clear streak.

Skywatch Friday

2. Frank took this picture of me at Jewell Hollow Overlook a couple weeks ago. I've gone up to Skyline Drive quite a few times this fall, wanting to take in the beauty of the park while it's wearing it's brightest colors.

3. On Sunday we returned to the same overlook. Most of the leaves had turned to a rust color, which is their last stage before falling.

Scenic Weekends

4. This tree near Stephens City struck me as being as bright as the orange cones.  Orange You Glad It's Friday?

5. I arranged some leaves on a mill stone that lay on the ground at the end of the Massanutten Discovery Trail. We walked this trail on October 29, my first recreational walk since foot surgery in September. It was only a quarter-mile but I was happy to be able to do it.

The trail is one of several that start from a parking lot on VA 211 at the top of Massanutten Gap.

(This is a Photoshopped image.)