Just a barn

S

ometimes photography is as simple as just keeping your eyes open and having your camera always at hand. This past Wednesday was one of those days that proved the truth of that statement.

The cloud-covered sky was absolutely beautiful all day—and I had been admiring it all day and thinking, “I really need to take some pictures.” The clouds were heavy, but they were broken up so that the light shone through, creating wonderful highlights along the edges of the clouds and sending sunbeams through the cloud cover.

Living in the Shenandoah Mountains made it all the more beautiful as the dappled sunlight hit the mountain peaks and created a wonderful animated effect as the cloud patterns changed.

So in the early afternoon I headed down a road along the edge of the Shenandoah River and just looked at the scenery—hoping I’d stumble across a particularly picturesque scene. After a short drive I saw this barn on the side of the road. I parked the car, set up my tripod in the middle of the road and took these pictures.

I really love photography. And I really love living in Front Royal, Virginia.

Blog Header - May 15, 2011

I took this picture one week ago when our family headed to the Shenandoah National Park to have a picnic along the Shenandoah River. My wife noticed these cows wading in the river. It’s so great to live in the country!

Snow... again

W

hen we moved to Front Royal, Virginia, we immediately fell in love with the local beauty. And we have continued to enjoy it—season after season. But the snow here has proven to be particularly gorgeous.

The view along one side of our house

Last night we had our first significant snow accumulation of the season—about 7 inches—and it was beautiful. We had light snow throughout the day yesterday and then in the early evening it began to come fast and heavy. David went out and enjoyed the falling snow as long as he could handle the accompanying cold. When we went to bed, there were two or three inches on the ground and our neighborhood had taken on the look of a Currier & Ives print.

The view from our front porch

But this morning we woke up to more than half a foot of accumulation. And because the temperature was hovering around freezing for most of the snowfall, it had come down in the heavier form of snow that sticks to everything. So the tree limbs and even the telephone wires are laden with beautiful fluffy whiteness that looks almost like icing.

I headed out with my camera at 6:30 this morning to capture a few pictures of the beauty. I hope you enjoy them, while we enjoy the real thing.

 

Blog Header - November 17, 2010

I took this photo at the Prospect Hill Cemetery in Front Royal, Virginia. My wife and I were on a photo expedition, looking for the grave stones requested by various genealogy researchers. It’s a fun way to help people out and we made a family event of it.

Front Royal tourism

W

hen we moved to Front Royal we knew it was an attractive town. We knew the mountains were beautiful and we knew that we loved it here. What we didn’t realize was how much of a tourist destination Front Royal becomes in the fall.

Line of cars backed up along Royal Avenue

I guess we should have known when one of the first town festivals after we moved here was The Festival of Leaves. The Festival of Leaves celebrates the coming fall colors that burst out in small patches on the mountains all around Front Royal. The forest begins to look like there are patches of red and yellow fire and the lush green that surrounds our town all summer long begins to rapidly change—almost daily—until the green is completely gone and the leaves are vibrant colors on the red/orange side of the color spectrum.

Cars lined up in the entrance to Skyline Drive

The leaves have just begun to turn, so yesterday we decided to go to the library for an hour or so and then head up Skyline Drive to check out the colors. On the way to the library we had to pass the intersection just before Skyline Drive. The traffic was amazing—at least for Front Royal. And we realized that it was a line of cars extending out from Skyline Drive and backing up a considerable portion of the road leading to Skyline Drive (and to the library).

An hour and a half at the library did not diminish the line. We entered the line and sat in the backup for another hour or so as we drove the quarter mile to the entrance gate. Fortunately, since we are season pass holders, we didn’t have to wait for long at the gate.

Every single overlook we passed was jam-packed with visitors. The cars completely filled the overlook parking spots and a couple dozen cars were parked along the roadside before and after each of those overlooks. People with cameras were crowded along the edges of the overlooks. It made us very proud of our town and very grateful that God saw fit to put us in this beautiful place.

The leaves are not yet at their peak, but will probably get to that point within the next week or so. And I have the next week off of work. So I hope to take a few more trips up Skyline Drive. It’s great to live in Front Royal.

The line of cars entering Skyline Drive as we headed home

 

Blog Header - October 10, 2010

One of Front Royal’s beauty queens. I took this photo at last weekend’s Festival of Leaves.

“I will give you rest”

T

he never-ending roller coaster of life continues....

Last week was difficult. In fact, it was so difficult that it’s difficult even to put it into words. It was a tough week. Forget the literary excellence of It was the best of times; it was the worst of times, it seemed to be one of those worst of times weeks.

So as the end of the week approached, I began to focus on the light at the end of the tunnel. At 3:30, I typically begin to shut down my computer and pack up my belongings to head to the bus for the commute home. And this week I had Friday night plans. As soon as I was to arrive home in Front Royal I planned to head to a friend’s house to play some music. I was looking forward to the release.

The week had become increasingly stressful as each day passed, and Friday was a microcosm of the entire week—it began bad and got worse as it went along. My work seemed to place heavier and heavier loads on my shoulders. Clients seemed to be particularly difficult taskmasters. But I kept my sights focused on that 3:30 light at the end of the tunnel. The seconds were counting down—I was into the home-stretch. And then...

@ 4:45 am

At 3:28 I received a phone call asking me to work on a project that evening. Work was to be sent to me at some unspecified time in the evening and I was to turn that work around so it could be distributed to the team that night. In other words, the light at the end of the tunnel was just extinguished.

@ 5:15 am

So I told my wife that Saturday would begin early for me. I planned to take my camera and tripod up into the Shenandoah Mountains early on Saturday morning to take pictures of the sunrise. I thought the solitude would help relieve some of the stress. And it did. The solitude allowed me to focus on the spectacular light show that God displays every morning. It seems God understood the modern American psyche with its short attention span. The beautiful colors of a sunrise last for about 30 minutes. So you need to be watching for it or you’ll miss it. And at that time of morning, that light show seems to be intended for just a handful of people. In fact, this past Saturday it seemed that God put on this light show for me alone. Not one other car passed me as I stood in the center of the road taking pictures with exposure times in the minutes rather than fractions of seconds.

@ 5:30 am

I felt the stress slide away. I pondered the magnificence of our great and majestic God. And I praised him for his glorious creation.

@ 5:40 am

I returned home a little bit before 7:00. Our family ate breakfast and then headed out to run some errands. Then we returned to Skyline Drive as a family to drive the mountains together. It was a good day.

And then it was Sunday. We sat in church and listened to the encouragement from the pulpit—encouragement that it seems was intended for me almost as directly and uniquely as the beautiful sunrise God had provided one day earlier:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Matthew 11:28–30

Later in the day

Wow! Thank you, God!

More pictures from the day.

 

Warren County Fair – Molly Hatchet Rocks!!

W

e went to the Warren County Fair yesterday and had a blast! This is such a wonderful place to live. We love the small-town feel. We love the intensely southern culture (a Yankee would probably disintegrate just by crossing the county line). And we love the wonderful events that are put on every few weeks by the town or the county. It’s truly a wonderful place to live.

Attention:

Before continuing this post, scroll down to yeseterday’s post, turn up the volume on your computer, and launch the video. Then, while the song is playing, come back up here and read this post. The song will put you in the right frame of mind.

The Warren County Fair lasted a full week, but working in DC kept me from being able to attend until yesterday. But what a great day to go to the fair. It was a beautiful day—not too hot, relatively low humidity, clear skies with a few clouds that increased in the evening just in time to make the sunset beautiful. I noticed it first as we made our way toward the band shell to get ready for the concert of the evening—Molly Hatchett. It was a great concert. I’ll tell you a bit more about it. But first, read the Attention callout. You simply have to read the rest of this post with the proper musical setting engaged.

Beautiful sunset just before the Molly Hatchet concert

The day began with a uniquely southern-country event, a truck and tractor pull. It was loud. It was dusty and dirty. It smelled of fossil fuels. And it was a total blast. David was grinning ear to ear for about three hours straight. At one point he said to me, “this is my kind of loud.” He’s right. He even got to talk to a few of the truck owners.

One of the trucks pulling the sled

Another truck – from the opposite end of the track

The after-effects of the truck pass

Although David spent some time after the truck and tractor pull riding the rides, I went straight to the band shell to set up our lawn chairs and get ready for the Molly Hatchet concert. I was excited to see this band again after 31 years. (Molly Hatchet played the first rock concert I ever attended—at Kings Dominion.) And it was worth the wait. Molly Hatchet is a fantastic band and they sound better now than I remember them sounding at that concert 31 years ago. The bass player was fantastic! Of course, I didn't play bass guitar when I was in high school, so I probably didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to the bass player at that concert.

Drummer

Rythm guitarist

Lead guitarist

Lead singer

Bass guitarist

All together (except the drummer)

It was a great day and we had a wonderful time. We’re so glad God brought us to this town. It’s a great place to live.

Having fun in the audience

More pics from the fair

 

Front Royal Annual Celtic Festival

Kim, at the festival

H

ow much can I say about how much we love Front Royal? A great number of very trying circumstances came together to prompt our move to Front Royal. We knew that God was in control, but we had no idea what a wonderful place he had in mind for our new home. We also had no idea that our son would one day want to wear a kilt. We’re waiting to find out the exact tartan for Kim’s ancestry. If we don’t find that, we may get David a Unity kilt for next year’s festival.

David, dressed in his Celtic battle gear

This past Saturday, Front Royal celebrated its 2nd Annual Celtic Festival, and it was another wonderful time. It seems that something is happening in Front Royal every weekend. The town puts on a great air show, canoe and kayaking events, historic battle reenactments, There are festivals for the changing of the seasons, to celebrate the local horse farms, berry farms, and vineyards. And this past weekend, the folks from Appalachia and Shenandoah gathered in Front Royal to celebrate their mutual Celtic heritage.

I have never really paid much attention to my own heritage—perhaps because much of it seems to be apocryphal, having been passed down via word-of-mouth and embellished by each new generation. And recent events surrounding immigrants who seem to not like our nation very much have given me a bad impression of those who hold firmly to their non-U.S. culture after they immigrate. But this event allowed me the opportunity to experience a different perspective on both of these things.

An interesting looking couple

First, my wife is of Scottish descent. So when we entered the festival and were asked what clan we are part of, she was able to answer with two family names. One man looked up the ancestral name “Hamilton” and gave us some information about the Hamilton clan. It gave a context to the festival that made it very enjoyable for our family.

Then, at the Calling of the Clans, representatives from some of the larger clans carried out their ancestral national flags and stood at attention in front of the town gazebo. On their far right was the American flag. After calling the clans, they read some amazing historical documents written by the Irish, the Scottish, and the Welsh leaders from years gone by. Then everyone saluted the American flag and sang the National Anthem. It was truly inspiring to see these folks who cling dearly to a national heritage they love joining together with American pride and proclaiming their commitment to this nation.

The Calling of the Clans

David got to dress in chain mail and a knight’s battle helmet and he got to hold quite a few long swords. We met a couple of falcon trainers and got to see their birds up close. We heard a lot of great Celtic music, we saw phenomenal Irish dancing. It was a thoroughly enjoyable event. And, once again, we were reminded of how grateful we are to God for bringing us to this wonderful town.

 

Happy birthday, Kim - We love Front Royal

Y

esterday was Kim’s birthday. Happy birthday, Kim! So we decided to take advantage of one of our town’s unique offerings—baseball.

If you were to walk straight through the woods behind our neighborhood (“as the crow flies”) you would come to a large playground, a pavilion with lots of picnic tables, a swimming pool, and a large baseball complex, including a wonderful baseball stadium. The front of the baseball stadium proclaims that this is the “Bing Crosby Stadium.” Quite a conversation starter when we take visitors around our town to see the sights.

The stadium was built in honor of Bing Crosby who visited the town of Front Royal when he was in the Washington, DC, area on business. The town was raising money for their Little League facilities and Bing Crosby donated a large sum of money to kick off the fund raising. Crosby, who was always a promoter of youth athletics, later made another very large donation to bring the needed funds into the town of Front Royal. This stadium was built in his honor due to that event and to his commitment to Little League athletics.

We have heard the sounds of the games from our bedroom window at night, but this was our first visit to one of the games, and it was a blast. The athletes were college-aged and played quite well. The Front Royal Cardinals were hosting the Rockbridge Rapids. It was a good night for the Cardinals who took the game 7-0.

Two concessioneers

The young kids (including David, who is not so young anymore) grouped at the end of the stands and ran out to retrieve any pop-up foul balls from the parking lot. If they turn the balls into the concession, they get a free snack. So the stadium employees don't have to scour the parking lot for balls after the game and the kids get to eat lots of sugar. A true win-win situation if there ever was one. And it kept David occupied throughout the game.

A cute little girl watching the game

Because this is not professional ball, the players do not get paid and are not provided with housing. We met one of the families that opens their house to a couple of players. And it was fun listening to the crowd cheering their favorite players on—often the players who stay at their house.

The experience reminded us of the Lynchburg Hillcats minor league games we loved attending so much while we were living in Lynchburg. The stadium is not as large, the stands not quite as full. And there is no mascot (we miss Southpaw). But we’re close enough to walk to the games, the people of Front Royal are a thoroughly enjoyable group of people to spend an evening with, and the game play was very good.

David, waiting for another pop-fly foul

We have been truly blessed to have been moved to this town in the Shenandoah Mountains. Kim’s birthday just gave us one more experience and one more reason to love this town.

 

Blog Header - March 10, 2010

Skyline Drive rocks & snow

This past weekend our good friend, Tyler, visited from Lynchburg. He asked if there was anything we missed about Lynchburg and I quickly responded with, “the White Hart Café and the Lynchburg Market.” But there are a few other things we miss about Lynchburg, and this header photo is of one of those things we really miss—the Black Water Creek Trail.

The photograph doesn’t show the trail itself, but just a bird house that decorated one of the park areas along the trail. But this trail was one of the most scenic and pleasant walking and biking trails I have ever seen. And it was just a couple miles from our house, which made it wonderfully convenient. My son and I rode this trail regularly.

Tyler on Skyline Drive

Now we live in Front Royal, and we are about two miles from the entrance to Skyline Drive—one of the most beautiful tourist drives in the world. And we love driving along Skyline Drive and enjoying the scenery. In fact, I took Tyler to Skyline Drive to get a glimpse of the beauty—at least the beauty of the snow and the small glimpses of the distant scenery whenever a gap in the high walls of snow allowed a peek. It is breathtaking scenery, but not a great place to ride a bike if you’re as out of shape as I am.

We praise God that he moved us to Front Royal at this time, but there were some wonderful people in Lynchburg and some wonderful things about Lynchburg that we truly miss.

Mountains, trains, snow - photography

Yesterday I decided to go to the Daily Grind coffee shop in Front Royal for a latte and some quiet book reading. As usual, I had my camera with me. As I headed back home after the coffee, I decided to take a few pictures of the bridge near our house. After the bridge I wandered around town a bit taking pictures as the sun fell behind the mountains. It was truly beautiful.

This header photo was taken from the middle of the bridge over the Shenandoah heading into the town of Front Royal, Virginia. The river runs under the middle of the bridge with plains flanking each side. A train track parallels the river along this plain. I loved the imagery of the train tracks heading toward the mountains in the distance.

This is the Shenandoah River. I had to walk about 25 yards to the right on the bridge I was taking the pictures from to get this picture after I took the picture of the train tracks. A couple days ago there were patches of ice on the river’s surface, but that has all melted now.

As I headed back home, I entered our neighborhood from behind our house and noticed our house in the distance. This was well after dusk, but the picture here is a composite of seven different exposures, the longest of which was about 2 minutes long. So the sky, which was actually very dark at the time, has a beautiful glow to it. You can also see the tail lights from our neighbor’s car as he drove down the street during one of the extended-length exposures.

I thank God continually for moving us to this beautiful place.