Virginia Breeze

I took these photos last summer and somehow misplaced them until this morning.  But it was fun going over them again from the perspective of nearly a year gone by.  Also I can try out the NextGen Gallery on them.  That should dissuade them from getting lost again! Click on the photos for enlargement.

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One of the reasons I love Virginia so much and the reason I named this weblog after it is that you can go from the mountains to the ocean in about four or five hours. This state has four seasons. And you can experience them way up in the sky or down at ocean level. Yesterday it was cold standing up on those rocks looking out over the miles of space and mountains. You can probably see for twenty five miles up there. That’s just a guess on my part but you can see a long ways once you get up on one of the lookouts positioned for great sightseeing and photos. The foliage was not the best possible but the view more than made up for it. And there is always next year and the hope that one day I will somehow capture a most wonderful shot. I took some more shots of the mountain expanses and will post them over at my other weblog www.photolinklove.com

I hope that someday this weblog will include hundreds of posts about different aspects of this lovely state. And it will be about our lives too as we enjoy the freedoms that generations of Virginians fought to secure and preserve over the years. I took a photo of a rock where George Washington carved his initials and it is in this blog. That’s pretty special to me. And I really need to get up to Monticello and take some photos of Thomas Jefferson’s work up there. There is so much here that I have not even thought of exploring yet.

One of the other things that is difficult to take a picture of here is the way people tend to treat each other. I noticed right away when I came here that people acted with more courtesy towards strangers . It was clear on the roadways and in the stores. Generally they didn’t know how to drive in snow like Northerners did but you can’t have everything! At least they were nicer to talk to after they slid into you! In fact I can remember during one storm actually sliding into someone ever so gently. It was bumper to bumper contact. And they just waved and went on down the road. They knew it couldn’t be helped and it didn’t do any real damage.

So I didn’t know how to drive either. Living down here has helped me relax in some ways. And I feel that I did my children and grandchildren a favor by moving down here. They are southerners and I haven’t ever heard them talk about wanting to move elsewhere. Hopefully we will have snow this winter. We didn’t have any real winter storms last year. But we have had some real blizzards in the past. Anything is possible. We even had a little dusting of snow in April last year. I have some photos of that and will post a couple of them.

#2 Bird Photos

http://davidnotes.com/2007/09/15/saturday-summary/

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#2 Beach Photos

http://davidnotes.com/2007/09/09/children-playing/

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#2 Flower Photos

http://davidnotes.com/2007/08/26/more-flowers-from-cape-cod/

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#2 Botanical Gardens Christmas

http://davidnotes.com/2007/12/03/ginter-park-richmond-christmas-outdoor-xmas-decorations/

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#2 Park Photos

http://davidnotes.com/2007/09/13/everyday-fireworks-in-nature/

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University of Richmond Photos

http://davidnotes.com/2007/09/08/the-university-of-richmond/

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Taylor Hicks

http://davidnotes.com/2007/09/10/suitable-for-framing-taylor-hicks/

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Earliest Writing (Not very good)

http://davidnotes.com/2007/07/26/quick-and-i-do-mean-quicklunch/

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University of Richmond photos

http://davidnotes.com/2007/11/15/virginia-life/

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Nature Preserve Photos

http://davidnotes.com/2007/08/16/sanctuary/

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Photos of Sailboats

http://davidnotes.com/2007/08/23/sail-away/

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Yesterday we were at the wildlife refuge and we were walking down a narrow path. It had tall grass and bushes on each side and there were butterflies flitting here and there. I would follow one hoping it would sit down for a second so I could take its picture. And there were one or two that obliged. In fact one seemed very friendly and appeared to want its picture taken. It followed us out to the bay area where we could see for several miles over open water. The thing that impressed me most was how quiet it was. For most of the time Beth and I were alone with the plants, animals and insects. At one point Beth pointed out a bird down to the left of our path. I would have totally missed it because it was frozen behind some undergrowth while it tried to catch a fish. It was still there fifteen minutes later when we returned to that spot. Most of the folks I know are no where near as patient as this bird. Even a fisherman will pull out his line once in awhile. This bird was in the same position we left it with one foot in the air ready to strike. I don’t know if he ever caught his dinner. But he earned my award for patience and fortitude in the line of duty.

This photo was taken out in a nature preserve. Most of the bird photos I have in here were not. Many were taken in Disney World. So I am particularly fond of this one. And hope I can take more like it in the future.

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