Weekend Reflections

It snowed again last night and the ground is covered in a blanket of about three inches of newfallen show. Today the sky is filled with blue and white clouds and the sun is shining brightly making everything glisten.

The photos I took last night when the snow began falling didn't come out well so I'm posting this one I shot Christmas evening in Virginia when 14 inches of the white stuff fell.This is straight out of the camera and taken with my new 50 mm lens. I like how the light that was there and my flash outlined the Jeep. The red glow of the brake light is the reflection of the flash on the light itself. The brakes weren't on.

Not your typical reflection photo; but I'm loving this shot!

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Skywatch and Weekend Reflections

Sunday night I looked out my sun room window and noticed the moon glowing high in the sky.
The cloud formations behind the moon reminded me of a beach with the tracks of dune buggies embedded in the sand. Often when I take shots of the moon I get the green reflection that I know distracts some folks; but I like that it gives the photo an otherworldly feel. :)

Seventeen minutes later when the clouds had dissipated I took this more traditional photo of the moon high in the sky. There certainly was a big ole' moon that night.

Thursday at just past noon the sky was filled with fluffy white clouds in a beautiful blue sky.

The Black Pearl (that is indeed the factory named paint color for my Jeep) had just been washed and waxed and was a perfect canvas on which to capture these sky reflections.

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Sky Watch Friday: Photographic Reflections

I have been participating in a reflections photo challenge this week with Quilly. I wanted to be able to combine that and Sky Watch so this is my combination offering for the two memes. This is my Jeep sitting in the driveway. I took two angles. In the first photo you see the sky overhead reflected in the gate of the Jeep. Just below that you can see the sky behind me reflected in the painted section of the gate. If you enlarge the first image you can also see a reflection within the reflection from the rearview mirror that is right of center in the photo.

In the second photo you see our detached garage and trees from the nearby woods.

Wherever you are I hope blue skies are shining on you.

Historic Leesburg, Virginia

Here We Are!

(Leesburg, Virginia)

This is the main street through the historic city of Leesburg. The Town of Leesburg, founded in 1758 is one of Virginia's most picturesque and best-preserved communities by the National Trust for Historic Preservation standards. I loved the brick sidewalks and narrow streets. We're going to park here so we can go across the street to the county courthouse.

Let's walk through the ornate revolving gate toward the courthouse that was built in 1895 and is part of the Leesburg Historic District recognized by the Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission.

As we walk through the gate we can see the front of the courthouse. It rises on four columns, has double doors, and is capped by a clock and bell housed in a belfry.

In front of the courthouse stands a statue of a Confederate soldier. It was designed by F.S. Sievers, and dedicated to the courthouse in 1908. It serves as a memorial to the many Rebel soldiers who died fighting for the cause in which they believed. They actually rededicated this statue the weekend we were there. It poured the rain down on Saturday so we didn't stay to watch.

A Closeup of the Belfry Tower

A closeup of the front of the statue. Notice the ornate tops of the columns on the courthouse.

I love statues and particularly liked the detail on this one. The folds in his uniform are amazing.

Tomorrow we'll go back across the street and take a look at the building with the bars on the window that you get a peek at in today's Jeep photo.

Till then I'll leave you with some photos I took yesterday. We had rain and storms all day and after dinner were treated to a storm that dropped marble sized hail as you can see in the photo below.

It didn't last long and in a short while we were treated to a lovely sunset. This photo was taken from my front porch looking out past my gazebo. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

J is for JEEP

(remember to click to enlarge)

Just how many of my regular readers didn't see that coming!!!

Yes folks this is my JEEP! It takes me on my many adventures down rural country roads in search of whatever catches my eye and makes me grab my camera. If only she could talk. I'm sure she would tell you about the two deer that crossed our path as we were leaving for our shopping spree today; or the box turtle I made her stop for so that I could place him gently out of the road. Those two events happened less than five minutes into our outing. That being said, you know she's seen a lot.

She might complain that I made her pull a trailer today so I could get compost for the garden. She did a great job though. I think on our trip last week that she ran into every bug from home to the Chesapeake Bay. So I'm sure she would tell you that she loved the bath I gave her this evening as the sun was getting ready to set. That's why you see Just a touch of sun in the skies above her because it was near her bedtime.

I bet you're wondering if she has a name. As a matter of fact - she does. Let me formally introduce The Black Pearl. Now you know why the pirate music is playing in your ear. Yep, shades of Johnny Depp! You see when I took her to raise her papers officially said her color was black pearl. It couldn't have been a better choice!
Now if only Johnny would sit in the passenger's seat on a outing or two - arrggh!