Bronze Sculptures

For Tom's Tuesday Treasures I wanted to share more photos of the wonderful Turner bronze sculptures.  The studio is based on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and during my recent visit Mom and I attended an exhibit held at the Suffolk Center for the Arts:

Virginia Five

Joining Tanya's Willy Nilly Friday Five and Tricky's Five on Friday with five very Virginia views captured on my recent visit....

1.  Gwaltney Store was once owned by members of the family better known for the meat company, and is now closed but stands as a monument to the days in the recent past when general stores were where one shopped!



I couldn't get a better shot of the front, as I was almost standing in the street....it's located on a curve in the road.

A view of the window

And the merchandise that is still inside...

2.  The waterways, rivers and inlets abound in the Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Suffolk area where my husband is from, and where we have lived several times over the years.  The waterways are beautiful and created the water-oriented industry and lifestyle of this "Tidewater" area since Europeans first arrived...

 

 

 

 

3.  Cotton is a common crop and has been since the early days of the state.  In September the plants haven't yet been defoliated.  There are still flowers mixed in with the cotton bolls.

 

I love cotton blossoms!

 

  

4.  Home of Smithfield Hams...

 

 

With statues of the founders at the Smithfield Headquarters building

 

photo from burlapandblue.com

and Mr. Peanut....

 

See Mom's recent Mr. Peanut post at Living Life on Main Street for more info!

 

 

 

 

 

5.  And finally, there is history.  I am not even going to go there...I could do hundreds of in-depth individual posts about Virginia History and only scrape the surface.  It is so entwined with the history of our great Nation there is far too much to include on one little number, so I will save some of it for later times....but it is a BIG part of Virginia and had to be mentioned.  So, till later....







Thankful For Mom

For Michelle's Thankful Thursday...
So thankful for my time with my Mom this past week!  I hadn't seen her in so long!   She picked me up at the Richmond airport and we had a wonderful five days visiting old familiar sites, eating out, talking and sharing, looking at photo albums and home movies. The first two shots below were taken at her church on Sunday morning.  It was an amazing visit!  I have the sweetest, most awesome mother anyone could ask for, and I am so grateful that we have had all these years to share.  She's a very special lady!  More of Virginia will be posted over the next week or so....





Visiting the Smithfield Foods hdqtrs

At a quilt exhibit in Suffolk

Trees of the Great Dismal Swamp

It's been four and a half years since we left Virginia.  One of my favorite places to visit in the years we were there was the Great Dismal Swamp located close to the North Carolina line [info from online source:  The Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge is the largest intact remnant of a vast habitat that once covered more than one million acres of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina].  It covers more than 112,000 acres.  To learn more about this amazing swamp, click HERE. These are some tree photos from my archives for NF Trees & Bushes, all taken at the swamp.  I am also joining in with Through My Lens, sharing these photos.  Note too the wood duck boxes along the Washington Ditch Canal.  For that photo particularly also read the story that accompanies, where I also link to Wednesday Wit & Wisdom.

It was getting crowded in the box with his brothers and sisters stepping all over one another, and he was tired of it. Besides, where would Mama Duck go for so long?  He could see the light coming in through the opening in the wood, and sometimes catch a glimpse of things moving about in the air, and he wondered about the world outside.  Maybe it was a good place to be.  After all, that's where Mama was most of the time.  He struggled over the fuzzy bodies beneath him to climb onto the edge of the opening and gaze at the watery world beyond.  Then he heard her calling.  It was scary thinking about going to her, but he could stand the box no longer.  He wobbled, and hesitated, and shrank back inside a bit.  She called again.  Ok, he thought...ok, I'm coming!  And in a moment he was falling, falling toward the water, flapping his inefficient little wings briefly, splaying out his feet to break his fall, but somehow landing with a plop that took his breath away!  He hesitated just a moment and then began paddling with great purpose toward the sound of his mother's voice.  Behind him he heard another plop as his sister hit the water.  On he swam.  He was finally free of that warm, safe box that had become so crowded.  His Mama was just ahead.  His life in the swamp had begun.

Blue Monday

I thought I would join in with Blue Monday, Sally's lovely meme.  This is a new one for me...

Back in Virginia, an abandoned house in Ivor, and a very blue sky!

My bluebird tile, from back when I was making and glazing my own tiles.

View of sailboats from the Norfolk Naval Station

Don't Tread on Me!

Willoughby Oak & iron fence

When we were leaving Virginia to head west we went to the Norfolk Naval Station with a friend.  At the time I posted about the ships we saw, and may do so again at some point, but today I wanted to share these photos from my archives.  This is the Willoughby Oak. This massive southern live oak (a native of the southeastern United States) is 500 to 600 years old. Wikipedia says: "The southern live oak has a deep tap-root that anchors it when young and eventually develops into an extensive and widespread root system. This, along with its low center of gravity and other factors, makes the southern live oak extremely resistant to strong sustained winds, such as those seen in hurricanes.^[9]"  The Willoughby Oak is surrounded by a heavy iron fence, to keep it protected.  I am joining in today with Theresa's Good Fences, and Monica's NF's Trees & Bushes:

Tuesday Memes

Joining in with NF's Bushes and Trees (thanks Monica for this great new meme!); and Roan's Rubbish Tuesday:

Before the new meme started, I had been posting a dozen or more photos of this spring blooming desert "tree" the Palo Verde. They are seen all over the Tucson area.  This one is across the road from my house:

One tree you really do not expect to see, except on the mountains, is a pine tree.  Most people would never imagine that one would thrive in the desert.  But, I have one growing on the edge of my yard.  It is probably an Afghan Pine or an Aleppo Pine...both are transplants from other countries, the Afghan Pine coming from Afghanistan and being extremely drought tolerant; the Aleppo Pine being from the Mediterranean.  Mine tends to be a favorite perch of the Cooper's Hawk when he comes to visit, because he is up very high and can watch the other birds in my yard.  But, it also is a favorite perch of other birds as well:

Taken from my front porch.

Cooper's Hawk three years ago.

House Finch.

Mourning Dove

Lesser Goldfinch

And here is my submission for Rubbish by Roan's Rubbish Tuesday, a couple of photos from my archives:

The "Castle" that is part of the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. and a 50's car parked behind us...that's my Dad, my two siblings and my grandparents with me.

A beautiful black & white shot taken by my daughter back in Virginia with a Nikon Fm-2 (manual camera)  Oh how I love this old house!