Donkeys and Friends

Rockingham County, VA

 

I took these pictures three weeks ago. Most of the leaves have fallen now.

Near the Town of Huntly

Rappahannock County

Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday

Charlie’s Back to School Update

I’m kidding. I didn’t really go back to school. I haven’t been to puppy training yet. It’s a long car ride to get there, and you know how I feel about cars. They are so scary! I try to chew them up.

I do go to day boarding sometimes at the vet’s office. There are some fun ladies who play with me there. And there are cats who live there, and sometimes dogs to sniff.

Caturday / Saturday Critters

We finally got some rain. That’s a good thing because the grass was turning brown, and some afternoons were so hot we could not even go to the dog park. Sometimes Mom took me to the dog park at Bryce Mountain because it is cooler there. 

Today we went to the dog park in Woodstock. Jubal showed up with his little brother and we had a good time.

That’s enough about me. I’ll show you a couple of critters, but I don’t know much about them.

Concert Coming to Our State Park

Camp Lupton Barn

I took this picture to illustrate an fundraising event at Seven Bends State Park. It will be held this Saturday from 4 to 6 pm. UPDATE: The event has been postponed to October 14.

This pony barn is the only remaining building from the days when the property was a summer camp. The concert will be held outdoors.

Fences, New Market Battlefield

A Gate in Black and White

The Shirley House with Painterly Effect

A Smoother Path

Seven Bends State Park

A paved earthen bridge now crosses the ditch between the parking lot and the Bass Bight Trail. This replaces a jumble of rocks that was an invitation to a twisted ankle.

Good fences: Gosia is posting again and will bring back the Good Fences linkup. 

The river water is low, but not too low for tubing.

A ramp with steps is helpful when you want to bring a canoe up a steep slope. It's also fun to explore. 

 

Skywatch 

Climate

CDP Theme Day Post

The first of the month is Theme Day for members of City Daily Photo, and today’s theme is Climate. Much of North America is dealing with climate problems right now. We are getting smoky haze from fires in Canada, and places in the south are dealing with record high temperatures.

This afternoon I stopped along Forestville Road to capture some haze and saw a storm coming in. It was obscuring my view of the mountains, even more than the haze was.

Later, I was driving home on the interstate and the rain got so heavy I decided to get off and take the Valley Pike, which has a slower speed limit and plenty of places to pull off. In the town of Edinburg, I parked the car and waited for the rain to let up.

The big splashes of water were distorting my view. I took advantage of the special effects to take some pictures with my cell phone.

I was reminded of a Bob Dylan song.

I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways
I’ve stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
I’ve been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

We’ve been hearing about climate change for years. Many people refused to believe in it. I always thought it was something that would happen in the future, hopefully not in my lifetime . Now I see that it is happening in my lifetime.

If you don’t believe in it, that’s your privilege. But still, keep your emergency supplies handy. 

Adults keep saying: “We owe it to the young people to give them hope.” But I don’t want your hope. I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act. I want you to act as you would in a crisis. I want you to act as if the house is on fire. Because it is.
~ Greta Thunberg

(Fiery Image generated by Craiyon AI)

A View near Reliance

Reliance is a village in Warren County not far from Middletown. It no longer has a post office, but it still has a church.

Skywatch

 In the picture, we see the entrance to a farm with the north end of the Massanutten Range in the distance.

Man in the Mirror

Winchester, Virginia

This small building is in the Gardens of Glen Burnie. A mirror on the opposite wall looks like a window, at least until you get close.

Today some workers were setting up for a wedding and my phone’s camera caught one of them in the mirror.

The third shot shows an adjacent patio where tree roots have pushed between the bricks.

Hopping Bunnies and Rural Scenery

It was historic garden week in Virginia, and I spent three days touring in our beautiful piedmont countryside. I can only begin to show you some of the pretty sights. These were in Fauquier County, a peaceful area where even its many wealthy people take pride in its rural identity.

A stone church looked charming so I turned around to take a picture. This is Willisville Chapel, and it will be 100 years old next year. Its history goes back to shortly after the Civil War. It was organized as a Christian church for African-American citizens of various denominations. It is now a United Methodist Church.

I saw plenty of barns for Tom’s blog hop. 

As I headed toward home, the quiet was interrupted by a roaring sound. I had to wait for a freight train to pass. The box cars transform into truck containers in Front Royal.

Fruit Trees are Confused

They think it's time to bloom.

It is not unusual here to see daffodils blooming in early March, but it is unusual to see trees flowering this early. We had a mild winter and more warm days than usual. People are expressing concern that insects will be extra thick this year because few were killed off by cold weather.

The first scene was in Winchester, VA. The daffodils could be anywhere, but these are in my yard. I took the last two pictures today along Claven Lane in Middletown.