Townhomes from Washington DC

Took a walk through a wet Washington DC the other weekend which highlighted the rich colors or the normally dully paint an bricks. Fall colors added to the richness of the wet landscape.

Down on the Farm Over Thanksgiving

I found myself and my son down on the farm over Thanksgiving. It was time for harvesting the corn (follow-on post will come) and taking it to the Farm Bureau for drying was a highlight for Christopher. The cows also found Christopher to be interesting and lost some of the shyness to see who he was. This was a 'white' farm - none of the red to be found on any of the out buildings - all white.

Remembrance Day - November 21, 2009

Do you remember Lincoln's Gettysburg Address?? Then you should know about Remembrance Day and Gettysburg National Cemetery located on Cemetery Hill. On this day they place a flag for each fallen soldier.

The site was purchased and Union dead were moved from shallow and inadequate battlefield burial sites to this cemetery. Williams Saunders was a landscape architect and founder of the National Grange. His design had two facets: first, the Soldiers National Monument was placed at the center, promoting the Union victory. Secondly, the graves were arranged in a series of semicircles emphasizing the fundamental egalitarian nature of U.S. society with all graves considered equal. The cemetery was dedicated on November 19, 1863. It was here that Abraham Lincoln delivered his most famous speech, the Gettysburg Address. It became a National Cemetery on May 1, 1872 when control was transferred to the War Department. 3,512 Union soldiers are buried in the cemetery with 979 unknown. From 1870 and 1873, 3,320 Confederate dead were reburied in Richmond, Raleigh, Savannah and Charleston at the initiative of the Ladies Memorial Associations of these cities.

We went down to the Air Force Memorial Saturday morning. Had a wonderful breakfast at a local all night diner and good coffee. Here are a few reflection shots. Need to get back down for some true night shots.

View of Lincoln, Washington and US Capital

Get up early and met somefriends in the early hours of sunrise and caught these shots. Once the sun starts to comeup the lighting changes very quickly.

Shenandoah Valley, Virginia

Spent a few days in the Shenandoah Valley going to several farms and seeing the sites and eating fresh meals and brought back a few new recipees and some shots. We went to a produce auction and say a field of mums being sold in lots of 20 for great prices - sure wish I could have used 20 18-24" mums... Got into the pinpkin patch after it was picked through....

Bay Coast Railway of Cape Charles, Virginia

The still exists a railway in Virginia that ships train cars on a barge. They can handled 40 cars on a tub boat barge between Cape Charles and Norfolk Virginia. This parrallels the Chesapeake Bay bridge over 16 miles. This was a rail line that was begun in the 1880's and during WW II, 1,000 cars were shipped by barge per day.