December 16, 2024

Rappahannock Student Mosaics

These were on display at the Rappahannock Art Tour in November. Elementary and Middle School Students made these mosaic-style murals.


Sharing with Monday Mosaics / Murals



December 15, 2024

Notes from Deer Rapids

Yesterday's post showed a few pictures from a property in Deer Rapids. The story was from Charlie’s point of view so I thought I’d fill in a few details.

The brick house was built in 1792. The central section is the original house and was built of bricks that were handmade on the property. The additions were built in the 20th century. The property is now called Edgewater Farm. It is built on a rise next to the North Fork of the Shenandoah.


We wondered why people chose to live on this side of the river at the base of the Massanutten Range. It would’ve been hard to reach before the bridge was built. The river can be forded in some spots when the water is low, as it often is in a late summer, but when spring rains come, you can’t get there from here. I guess they would’ve until flooding subsided and then crossed in a boat.

Until recent years, high water was still a problem because the only access road crossed a low bridge and it would flood for days at a time. There is a swinging bridge for pedestrians that was built high above the water so you can walk in and then hike the rest of the way to your home. 


Another house in Deer Rapids was also on the Strasburg Holiday Homes Tour. This contemporary home was built in 1997 and features beautiful views of the river.

We also visited a couple of homes in the town of Strasburg on the other side of the river. I neglected to take pictures of the exteriors, and interior photos of homes are discouraged unless you get specific permission.


December 14, 2024

Charlie’s Mid-December Day

Hi, it's Charlie! There were some things going on today, so I'll tell you what we did.


Mom took me to Tractor Supply this morning. There was a special set-up, and some people from the Humane Society welcomed us. The ladies were very nice, but I wasn’t too sure about the man because he had strange clothes. One of the ladies took pictures.


We got out of there and drove to Mr. Frank’s house and picked up him and Miss Deborah. We went to Strasburg to see some houses. I did not go inside but took turns staying in the car with Mom and Miss Deborah. I like sitting with her because she is nice and I don’t feel so worried about riding in the car. 


We went to a place called Deer Rapids, and I liked that there were some animals. They looked like short horses with long ears.





Mom took pictures as usual. Some friends posed for her at the barn.


Then we went to the dog park, but we didn’t stay long because it was cold and there were no dogs to play with anyway.

It was a pretty good day and I was a very good boy.

December 13, 2024

Nets

Edinburg, VA


I assume that these structures in the town park are batting cages. They didn’t look quite right to me, but I searched for other images and learned there are a number of different styles.

Edinburg Town Park still shows as Madison District Park on some maps, but the town took over responsibility for it in 2002. 



December 12, 2024

The North Fork, 4:30 to 5 :00

Early Evening, Seven Bends State Park


From the Lupton Road Entrance



Skywatch / H2O / Reflections

December 11, 2024

Perching for a Drink

The male house finch is a colorful fellow. He's not particularly shy so I see him often in the winter when I put seed out for birds.


Squirrels are not shy either. 


December 10, 2024

December 9, 2024

Two Murals in Merrifield

Fairfax County, VA


The first mural is on a coffee shop. It is partially obscured by a tree, but it’s abstract so I think the color is the most important feature of it.

The floral mural is in a development called the Mosaic District. I went there last week to shop at a well-stocked organic market.

Monday Murals

December 8, 2024

Small Food Pantries

Strasburg, VA


This building is associated with St. Paul Lutheran Church. I stopped there this afternoon to leave a few items in the Blessing Box, which is now located on the porch. There’s also a cabinet of reading materials, including Bibles.


The church is across Washington Street from the white building. It looked very fine in the golden sunlight.


I’ve made it a point to mention the location of various blessing boxes on this blog so that if someone is searching for free food in one of the towns here, they can at least find one of these cupboards with soup and beans, plus hopefully something more interesting to eat. There are a variety of food distribution sites in our valley, but many just operate on certain days and times. Often these are associated with a church. 

Here are some of the blessing boxes that I have shown in the past.


Mosaic Linkup

December 7, 2024

Charlie, AI Foolery, and Pinnacles Deer

Let's start with a picture of Charlie before venturing into Shenandoah National Park.


I opened this photo in the Picasa app and saw that I can use artificial intelligence to add a Christmas sweater. I thought it would be cute.
 

That was not what I expected! Picsart also made alternate versions that did not look like a dog at all.


Yikes! That’s enough of that! Let’s switch to a visit to Shenandoah National Park that I made on Monday. I had an appointment at the podiatrist that morning, and from there I went to Warrenton to shop for a few things and came home by way of Route 211 over the mountains. Since we haven’t seen much in the way of snow yet, I wanted to see if the park had more, but there were only small patches of it. 

Dark comes early, so I decided that I would only drive 10 miles south before turning around.




Pinnacles Picnic Area was my turnaround point, and I thought I might see deer there. Sure enough, there was a herd on the hill. I was using my cell phone to take pictures, and the low light was a problem. I was very pleased when some deer posed in silhouette on the ridge. I got out of the car, ignoring the bitter cold, to get pictures of them. 


I heard something moving to my left. It was a young deer, browsing near the parking lot. It kept moving closer, eating as it wandered.



I’ve had deer come pretty close to me before. They are fairly well protected in the National Park, so some of them are not afraid of you as long as you are quiet. 




I took a lot of pictures of this fine creature before it started to move away. Then I realized that my fingers were freezing because I had neglected to put my gloves on. I got back in the car and slowly drove away.


I drove through Mary‘s Rock Tunnel and passed Panorama before exiting the park. At that point, I was only about a half hour from home.