Spring Skies

It's been a lovely few days in my little world. We have had mild temperatures and sunshine. While out yesterday mailing a birthday card to my brother I took the long way home and as I rounded a familiar curve along the ridge of the mountain I saw this tall brown grass that made a nice contrast to the lovely blue sky overhead. Usually there are horses in the field but there were none on this day. 

  

The evening of our seventy degree day Monday the sky was gorgeous. I had been in the kitchen and as I started to other parts of the house I could see a soft pink glow coming through the windows and falling on the curtains. Grabbed the camera and went outside. The best part of sunsets doesn't last long. The colors were brilliant. I can't ask for better than to stand in my front yard and see this spectacular view.

The colors became more subdued as the sun sank. (Believe it or not my garden fence is barely visible in the lower left of this photo. )

Linking to Good Fences and Skywatch

Wire and Wood

"A woman's dress should be like a barbed-wire fence: serving its purpose without obstructing the view." ~Sophia Loren

(enlarge a pic and click through the slideshow)
Linking to: Rural Thursday and  Friday's Fences

Friday's Fences

(remember you can click to enlarge images)

A lonely fence post wrapped in barbed wire in front of a lichen covered tree. Look closely at the right side of the tree and you'll notice a rusting cable.

The cable helped to hold this wooden part of a fence across the creek.

You never know what you might find traveling a back road in the country.

Linking to Friday's Fences.

Friday's Fences

I was out this past Tuesday taking some additonal photos of a barn I intend to post for Barn Charm on Monday. It so happened this fence post with its barbed wire and vines was in my field of view while trying to get the barn pics so I thought I'd use it for Friday's Fences. I really didn't like the composition at all but after playing around with it I added a texture and played with different blending modes to achieve what you see. It's growing on me.
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend ahead!
Linking to Friday's Fences.

In The Stillness

Ahead fog silently caresses the countryside.

The sky's obscure and pale.

I push forward without fear

Letting the hazy haunting mist

Envelope me with peaceful tranquilty.

~Carletta

2-27-09

If you came here for Sky Watch it is on my photoblog at Carletta’s Captures.

Sunday Blessings

Buffalo Church

Circa 1878

Palestine, West Virginia

Photo Taken October 19, 2008

(Be Sure You Click to Enlarge)

The view from the front yard of the church.

Sunday Blessings Everyone

A Note: Thanks to everyone who came by and left a comment on yesterday's post about our beloved Smokey. My daughter Cindy adopted him when she was eight years old from a second grade classmate. Cindy too, has been reading your comments. She and I and the rest of our family thank you for your kind words at this sad time. Please know we appreciate you.

Camera Critters: Cow Penned In Trees

This past May we had visited a family cemetery for Memorial Day and explored the surrounding countryside. The railroad tracks you see are long abandoned. The trains would have been carrying coal from mines down to the Elk River near Charleston, West Virginia where it could be transported. Did you notice the tree now growing in the middle of the tracks? Down to the right of the tracks are some cows enjoying the shade as you can see in this next photo.

Getting closer I snapped a shot of this cow bedded down in among the trees. It was almost as if she had fenced herself in!

At the left of the photo you can see the bend of the road where we would leave the tracks behind as they continued on through the woods to nowhere. This is the same area I took some Watery Wednesday pics posted here.

I hope Becky from Twisted Fenceposts is reading this today. I 'met' Becky just recently in blogland and she grew up here in West Virginia near where I took these photos. She has a 'history' with cows so I hope she gets a laugh seeing this one. Becky is now in South Carolina and has a good sense of humor so check out her blog when you have some time.

Click the Camera Critters Badge to visit Misty and others posting all kinds of critters!

On The Way To Leesburg

A couple of weeks ago I went to Leesburg, Virginia to visit my son and daughter-in-law. I took lots of photos along, during, and on the way back. This week I thought I would share with you some of the many "finds" that captured my attention.
I'm sure you're wondering why I posted this lovely scene of a fence and wildflowers. Well, as will become apparent, it is a necessity to have a clean windshield when one is trying to point and shoot through the windshield while on a four lane highway. (I was in the passenger's seat so I wasn't driving and shooting at the same time.) This scene was beside the road when the windshield got cleaned because I was losing my senses shooting around bug splatters! The fence separated the Interstate from a Christmas tree farm. So clean windshield, shoot a nice landscape and on we go!

"Going Down That Long Lonesome Highway"

(anybody remember the TV show Bronson)

This is what you might call an odd shot. Can you guess what it is? This was the second of three trucks we passed. Each was carrying a blade from a wind turbine. Miles back we had seen wind turbines on top of a mountain. They were pretty far away. Stands to reason this was one being transported to be erected with those. This wasn't something you see everyday; but I was quick and caught all three actually. After the first one that I almost didn't get I watched for more and was rewarded with the other two. Not great shots, but I thought interesting.

Sideling Hill is one of the best rock exposures in the Northeastern United States. The cut reveals a 350 million year old section of rock which was folded by a massive compression of the earth's crust some 245 million years ago leading to the cut's distinctive "U" shaped fold which is called a syncline. The Syncline was exposed when 10 million tons of rock was removed to complete the construction of Interstate 68 in the late 1980’s. This is in the state of Maryland not far from the West Virginia border.

Putting aside the quality of the photos I hope you enjoyed this first stage of my trip. Tomorrow we'll be in the historic city of Leesburg. Hope to see you then.

Don't Fence Me In

Easter Blessings had been said, dinner served, and company had gone home. The skies outside were various shades of beautiful blues dotted with white fluffy clouds going nowhere. It seemed the perfect time to jump in the truck and go for a long leisurely ride down the unbeaten path of a rural country road. Along the way there was much to see. Old weathered barns, knotted fenceposts with barbed wire, a meandering stream that finally reached the river, three wild turkeys at a distance in the field, many herd of deer and almost wide open spaces. On this late Easter afternoon with Spring awakening the world to the promise of new life I felt my heart sing!

"Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above,

Don't fence me in.

Let me ride through the wide open country that I love,

Don't fence me in.

Let me be by myself in the evenin' breeze,

And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees,

Send me off forever. but I ask you please,

Don't fence me in."