Eclipse Event Today

Seven Bends State Park

Mosaic Monday / Wordless 

Mural Behind a Church

Woodstock, VA

When I first saw this mural on the back of St. John Bosco Church, it wasn’t finished yet, and I thought it must be the backdrop for a pageant. Now that it is completed, they have added a pedestal and a statue, so I think that it is going to be permanent. There are also some benches, which could be moved if they staged a nativity scene or something there.

Sharing with Monday Murals

This Catholic Church has several buildings. 

Park Adventures with Charlie

Hi, it's Charlie, bringing you a Saturday Critters update. Most of the time I do my job watching the house for Mom, but I take lots of walks, and we drive to different parks.

The Shenandoah River is not far from the Strasburg dog park. One day we stopped at Deer Rapids so Mom could take a picture of this bridge. We were already tired from playing at the dog park so we didn’t go up the stairs to walk on the bridge.

I’m going to show you some pictures from my adventures at Seven Bends State Park. A week ago there was an event and we looked for a golden egg. 

We did not find it, but some children did. They were nice and I made friends with them

We went back there today and Ranger Megan told us about opossums. I haven’t seen any, but I have smelled some along the trails. She said they have very tiny babies who live in their mother’s pouch for a whole month.

It was windy at the park. I got tired walking around and sniffing the ground for animals. I think I’ll go to bed now. I think I’ll dream about flying because I’ve been trying to learn how.

Water Table?

No, this is a table with water on it. 😉 

As for the underground water table, I have not heard an update since the rain we’ve had over the past three days. Previously there were concerns because we had a drought last summer and precious little precipitation over the winter. Rivers are now back to normal levels or a little higher. When rainstorms raise the rivers, the water flows downstream pretty quickly, so levels will go back down in the next few days. 

Our Shenandoah River flows into the Potomac, and from there into the Chesapeake Bay and then the Atlantic Ocean. 

Pink Sky at Dawn

Charlie got me up at 6:30 this morning, bless his heart. That's what they say in the south instead of something derogatory. The sunrise was colorful.

Around noon, I headed west towards Wardensville. I considered finding the houses that burned down west of  Strasburg, then decided not to depress my mood by looking at them. But when I pulled off at a gas station to let someone go past, I saw that I was at the corner of Coal Mine Road. That happens to be the road where the wildfire burned some houses. My curiosity got the better of me and I drove a little way down the road.

I saw the ruins of two homes, and they were not even on the same side of the road. It was strange because there were a lot of other homes in the area that did not get burned. The fires were spread by wind and forested terrain, and it was really unfortunate that these homes were owned by people who are related to each other. I just can’t imagine how distressing that was! The area had been evacuated so no one was hurt.

The fire burned right up to the edge of Mt. Hope Church, but did not cross the grass to the building. I imagine that firefighters arrived in time to protect the church, using the lawn as a firebreak. 

I turned around at the church and drove to Wardensville. A hard rain started falling and suddenly there was sleet. I pulled off in a parking lot until it eased up. In the picture, you can see the sleet on the left where the wiper blade pushed it. 

Water H2O / Skywatch

The storm did not last long. We had already had two days of rain, which I welcomed because I’d rather have rain than drought. It was dry conditions followed by high winds that drove the wildfires to spread.

Walking by the River after the Rain

Seven Bends State Park

Yesterday and today were rainy, but I can't complain. I'd rather have rain then forest fires, and at least we did not have the devastating winds that hit the Ohio River Valley this morning.

In the afternoon, there was a break in the rain so I took Charlie to Seven Bends State Park. He loves to sniff along the trails there.

I decided to go to the Hollingsworth Road entrance. We crossed the bridge by the winery.

I saw some geese across from the canoe ramp. They’re very small in the photo, but we saw them again later. 

We walked along the Bass Bight Trail. Charlie sees there’s a tree down. I reported it and the rangers will have it removed soon, so the trail will again be welcoming to bikes and strollers.

Do you see the duck leaving a trail in the water? I regretted not having my real camera, But it is awkward to handle when I’m walking the dog, plus there was a possibility that the rain would start again. These are cell phone pictures.

We did not very walk very far. Back at the parking lot, I could see the geese again. I think they might be the geese that I showed last week. They live at a home next to the park entrance.

As I drove out of the park, I looked in the yard where I often see the geese and there was Barney. He is a rather bold peacock. He’s not native to Virginia. Peafowl were originally from Sri Lanka and India. I read that they were taken to Egypt as long as 3000 years ago by the Phoenicians.

I ran several errands and by the time we were done, the rain started again.

Egypt Bend Boat Landing

South Fork of the Shenanandoah

Wordless / Travel Tuesday / Second on 2nd

Pharmacy

CDP Theme: Medicine

Since I neglected to take pictures in advance for City Daily Photo’s monthly theme day, I walked into a pharmacy today and took some pictures for the topic “Medicine.” Most folks around here still get our medicine from pharmacies, although we can also get medication delivered. 

I did not see any other customers in the store when I went, which was late afternoon, although quite a few items were marked down to tempt purchasers. This store is part of a large chain, but it’s not where I go for prescriptions because I usually get a better price somewhere else. 

This particular store also has a drive-through.

New Mural on Urban Exchange Building

 Harrisonburg

Monday Murals

This painting of a chess player is the creation of artist Nils Westergard. He was working on it two weeks ago when the winds got so powerful that he had to stop for safety reasons. These were the winds that brought on multiple wildfires. The local news quoted him as saying, "I live in the country that invented the windmill. I never had to stop for wind before.”

I have admired his murals before, including Girl with Flowers in Waynesboro.

Now Blooming

In Shenandoah County.

It’s the end of March, and we have so many flowers blooming right now. I don’t recall ever seeing such a variety of blossoms this early in the spring. All my spring bulbs are blooming at once.

 

Perennials are blooming too. The creeping phlox that Lynn and I planted two years ago has spread nicely.

I was surprised to see this little orange flower bloom so early. I think it’s a wallflower.

Trees and shrubs are blooming around the neighborhood. They look pretty. 

Linkups: Floral / Garden / Mosaics

Cows, Charlie, Bunny

My town is in the Shenandoah Valley, and there are farms nearby. The cows in the first picture are just outside of town. The second picture is from the county park at Maurertown, and there is a farm adjacent to it.

Since I suspect that some people look at my Saturday posts in orders to see pictures of Charlie, here he is.

Today’s final pictures are computer-generated bunnies. Even though I’ve got a blog now for my AI images, I’ll post some that are seasonal. Tomorrow is Easter, and somehow our culture has associated bunny rabbits with that day. I think it has to do with springtime and the seasonal bursting forth of life.