A Mid-Century Restaurant in New Market

Southern Kitchen, since 1955

Tuesday Treasures / Wordless Wed, on Tues.

 

Art on a Garage and in a Museum

Winchester, VA

This floral painting on a garage was a pleasant surprise. I was driving near Handley High School after viewing an exhibit at the Museum of Shenandoah Valley.

The exhibit focused on artist John Chumley, who lived near Middletown, and painted many local scenes.

While in the museum, I happened to look up at the rotunda and took a picture of it.

This last shot shows Chumley's studio, a small mill he rebuilt at Vaucluse Spring.

Sharing with Mosaic Monday and Murals

Ranger Shannon’s Last Program

My friend Shannon is leaving the National Park Service after 13 years at Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park. Her new job is working for the Army Corps of Engineers as a Public Affairs Specialist.

I first met Shannon Moeck as a fellow student in one of Jonathan Noyalas’s Civil War seminars. She was hired as one of the first rangers at the park, which was still being developed.

I was happy to hear that she will continue to give occasional talks at Belle Grove, telling visitors the story of Judah the cook. This program takes place in the basement kitchen where Judah, an enslaved woman, prepared meals for the Hite family under the challenging conditions of the early 1800’s.

Link: Judah, born 1794

Dogs and a Cat

I scanned in some photos from 1984 today. This one is Lynn's dog, Dio.

Jumping back to the present, here is Charlie with some friends at the dog park. He has a pink ball and is playing keep-away, his favorite game.

Charlie continues to defeat my efforts to keep him in a harness in the car. I got him a red one that is supposed supposed to be escape-proof, and he got it off before I even drove one block. 

Here’s an AI-generated beagle. I’ll bet it doesn’t take its clothes off in the car.

In other news, the kitty from across the street came back to our deck and sat there for a minute before running off. Charlie was looking through the window, very interested.

Bluebells are Starting to Bloom

Yesterday I had some free time between physical therapy and picking up Charlie at doggy daycare so I headed to Front Royal because I heard that the Virginia bluebells were beginning to bloom along the river. I have photographed them before at Eastham Park.

There is a turtle in the first picture. Can you find it?

I found plenty of buds on bluebell plants, but only a few blossoms. For the picture, I held my phone upside down to get the lens close to the ground.

The paved path at Eastham Park is very popular. Within a few minutes you may see families, runners, people with dogs, cyclists, fishermen, and even a photographer or two.

New Love Sign

Front Royal, VA

Signs / Skywatch

Signs saying LOVE are found all over Virginia, the result of a travel slogan, “Virginia is for lovers.“ This one is in front of a church on Luray Avenue. 

The letters go downhill a little bit, so I tried cropping and straightening the sign in the Photos app. You can see writing on the letters with messages such as “All are welcome.”

Not far from here is the northern entrance to Skyline Drive. At the first overlook, you can see Front Royal in the valley below. 

 

Wild Bird Wednesday

I don't know how long I've been posting birds for Stewart's Wednesday linkup, but I have well over a thousand posts labeled Birds.

The birds in a tree only paused there for a few seconds this evening. 

No doubt I've shown all my backyard birds before. Here we see a tufted titmouse and a pair of house finches.

 

Restored 1916 Wooden Caboose

In the Town of Shenandoah, Virginia

Tuesday Treasures / Wordless Wed. On Tues.

Daughter of the Stars

A legend says that Shenandoah means “daughter of the stars.” Another theory holds that it means river in the spruces, but that seems unlikely to me because spruce trees in Virginia grow at high elevations, not along the river. What seems certain is that it was a Native American name.

I found this “daughter of the stars” mural in the town of Shenandoah. It was pure luck that I came across this after making a wrong turn. It is at a ballpark near the VFW. 

Monday Murals / Mosaics / Blue Monday

The Shenandoah River is very pretty and often the water does glitter like stars.

K

 

Winter Ends

"Little darlin', it's been a long, cold, lonely winter
Little darlin', it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, doo-doo-doo-doo
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's alright."

(Lyrics by George Harrison)

The meteorological first day of spring this year is March 20. I tried to create a spring image in an AI app. As usual, the result is surprising.

My app has a mind of its own!