I have some pictures that I’ve been wanting to share for a while. I’m better about sharing pics captured with my phone, usually, since they’re easy to upload onto Instagram and/or Facebook. Not as good about getting the images I’ve captured with the camera posted.
So here’s a rather random collection of images I should have posted sooner, but didn’t. Some are goofy, some aren’t.
First is this cool miner dude we spotted on our recent visit to Shenandoah Caverns.
Shenandoah Caverns’ Miner
Shenandoah Caverns has lots of fun stuff to see. In my opinion. You might agree if you appreciate kitschy stuff as much as me.
Helpful Pixie, Elf, or Gnome? I have no clue.
I’m not always on the lookout for weird stuff, believe it or not, it just catches my eye.
New-ish BBQ joint near Sperryville.
I was all excited about seeing this kitschy-ish BBQ place. Then I learned it’s a chain. A small chain, but a chain nonetheless. That sort of diminishes the fun for me. It’s no longer a spontaneous “Hey, let’s park the General Lee” kind of thing, but a “we gotta find another General Lee for the Sperryville location.”
Maybe it’s just me, but standalone or at least unique, Mom and Pop-type businesses with kitschy decor are just cooler. More creative somehow.
Evening Sky Over Old Town Warrenton (OTW)
I always have my phone along while walking the dogs, you know, just in case I have a heart attack or something, and can’t help snapping pictures when a scene catches my eye, or I see a specific thing that makes me smile.
Old Town Warrenton
And here’s me having a bit of fun with my Love.
Galax, VA LOVEwork (it’s pronounced like GAY lax)
I really like this next shot, which I captured during an afternoon walk with the girls. On a whim, I used the front-facing camera on my phone and held it upside-down below the flowers to get the sky in the background.
Reach for the Sky!
There’s just something fun about M&Ms…
She’s Got Your Back
Speaking of having your back, here’s something you don’t see every day…
Carol, Tracey, and Me
Look at us all purtied-up.
Tracey’s youngest got married on August 1. Since none of us like getting all fancy, we HAD to have a picture taken.
And since you usually see Hubby and me looking sorta rough like this…
Me and Hubby
…I couldn’t resist sharing what I think is a super-cute pic.
Hubby and Me
There you have it.
Perhaps the next post will be more interesting for you. 🙂
As July is winding down, I’m struggling to keep up with all the news I want to share here.
Who knew July would be so exciting? I knew about the family visit in advance, but there are two pretty cool things I didn’t know about much ahead of time.
First, my town was in the spotlight on Friday, July 20th. In a big way. The FOX affiliate in Washington is doing a series of “Zip Trips” this summer, featuring locales that are close enough to DC for residents to zip out and back in a day.
It was a huge deal for the town. LOTS of free publicity. The Old Town merchants came out in force, opening their shopping, putting on special displays, doing demonstrations, offering samples, etc.
It was like a mini, impromptu street fair, and it was all accomplished with about a week’s noticed. Residents came out in droves to show their support, too. The Fox5 crew said it was the biggest turnout they’d ever seen for a ZipTrip segment. Yes, Warrenton is just as awesome as I have repeatedly proclaimed it to be.
A good number of residents came out to show their support.
Merchants and town officials rolled out the proverbial welcome mat.
Angie and Kelly Ann at the Quilts of Honor East table.
Local artist Palmer Smith painting the scene.
Merchants had special displays and demonstrations to tout their wares.
Decoupage at The Empty Nest
Great Harvest was packed to the gills with people.
A live segment.
We looked pretty darn good in the news, if I do say so myself.
Merchants and residents alike did an amazing job supporting the town. And Fox5 did very well to capture it all and show everyone what a fun place this is to live, work, and play.
I am currently unemployed. My previous job had been wearing on me for quite some time. So, while off on my solo adventure back in late-June, with lots of time to think about stuff like job satisfaction, among other things, I decided it was time for a change.
As it happens, a woman I’d met in 2005 had reached out to me back in May about coming to work for her at her current employer. Initially, I said I wasn’t interested. But she was persistent. So, after my return, I started really exploring the opportunity and ultimately decided it would be a better fit for me.
Tuesday, July 21, was my last day at the old firm (Texas company). I would’ve liked to take some time off between postings, especially since my new company has a policy that you can’t take vacation for the first six months, but they need me pretty badly. I start my new job (Maryland company) on Monday, July 27.
I’m trying to cram as much fun in as possible between now and Monday. Which means I’m behind on blog reading, commenting, and writing again. Sorry, y’all. I love you, I really do. And I truly appreciate the fact that you take time to read my posts AND leave comments.
I’ll try to catch up soon. I’ll actually be in Rockville, Maryland most of next week for training, so should have plenty of down time in the evenings. Until then, I’ve got places to go, things to see, etc.
I am very excited about my new work adventure, but have to squeeze some fun in while I can. Keep your eyes on those Instagram pics. If you’re not on Instagram, you can follow at the bottom of my home page, if you’re so inclined.
I’ve been MIA from the blogosphere again. July has been an eventful month…
Y’all know my family is quite scattered, right? That’s why you don’t see many family photos here.
Shannon (our eldest) is in San Diego. Amy (middle child) lives near Seattle with her husband, TJ, and our grand kids. Eric (youngest) and his wife, Kelsey, are currently in Spain where Eric, a budding culinary artist, is doing a summer internship at a resort in Seville.
On July, 1, Amy and TJ, arrived at our house for a visit. Our family has developed an affinity for silly selfies.
Hubby started it. He took my selfie stick along on his Four Corners Tour, and, upon reaching a different family member’s location, he’d send a group selfie via text to announce his arrival.
L-R, TJ, Amy, and Me
Hubby joined in on the fun, too.
This next pic isn’t a good one, technically, but it makes me laugh.
When not everyone is “into” (or remotely prepared for) a group photo.
We all usually laugh a lot when we’re together. 🙂
If you’re wondering about the grand kids, they were with another set of grandparents. Until Friday, July 17.
Seated L-R, Gaige, Brianna, Mike, and Joey.
They were only here for the weekend. After a whirlwind of activity with that other branch of their family (on TJ’s side), I think they enjoyed the less-active weekend at our place.
Joey and Pop
We all just sorta hung out on Friday afternoon/evening.
This next picture, taken when I came downstairs at the end of my work day, makes me laugh.
Silliness
There’s a floor full of Legos. The kids are watching a movie. Joey is enjoying the “little sofa” (aka dog bed) I made. And K is looking for a place to sit, since her sofa is occupied.
Later, after I had walked the dogs, I suggested we all walk down to the caboose (at the Warrenton Branch Greenway) so I could get a more-recent photo of the kids in that spot.
Kids, smiling nicely.
They’ll usually pose nicely for me, because I always let them follow the “nice pics” with silly ones.
Kids, being goofy.
Hubby thought it would be a good idea to put the dogs in the pic, too. After about 15 takes, this is the only one that came remotely close to having both dogs look toward the camera.
Kids and Dogs
Remember the caboose I mentioned?
Kids on the Caboose
After that, we all walked on the trail for a bit. Joey was “walking” Belle while Gaige was in charge of K.
Enjoying their run.
The girls don’t get to run much, so they were having a blast. Can you see Belle, in front, smiling? I’m pretty sure she was thinking, “I wish I had a little boy!” Meanwhile, Joey was thinking, “I wish I could take Belle home with me.”
Hammock Time
Afterward, we all hung out in our back yard. All that peaceful togetherness lasted about three minutes.
Saturday, which is when the lasted heat wave really kicked into high gear, was quite a bit less eventful.
We did go see the Minions movie in 3D. Everyone was rather underwhelmed. The 3D part was cool, but the movie itself just wasn’t very good.
We walked around town a little bit, but spent most of the remainder of the day in the air-conditioned house. Oh, and Hubby smoked some baby back ribs for dinner. They were his best yet!
Smoked Baby Back Ribs
Here’s a pic of Brianna posing with an outdoor thermometer. See why we chose to stay indoors? And that was during a cooler part of the day.
Brianna
We had to come up with something interesting and indoors to do with the kids on Sunday. Hubby suggested visiting a cave. I immediately thought of Shenandoah Caverns, which is where I saw this cool frog statue (great family photo op!) and the American Celebration on Parade.
Sadly, the frog statue was being renovated. But the cavern was open for business.
Waiting for the cavern tour to start.
Shenandoah Caverns is supposedly the only cavern in VA (there are quite a few) that has an elevator. The temperature is a constant 54 degrees (that’s about 12 Celsius), which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Joey forgot his sweatshirt.
Nearby Luray Caverns is famous for a couple of formations that look like sunny-side-up eggs. Knowing this, I found it amusing that Shenandoah Caverns is famous for its bacon formations.
It really does look like bacon!
Quick photo op.
I’ll save most of the cavern pics for a potential future post, but wanted to share this one. I kept seeing faces and other images in the rocks.
The kids weren’t impressed. All the boys wanted to do was run around and see stuff that made NOISE (some of the floats move, but don’t include music). Brianna just thought it was stupid (and probably childish since she’ll be 15 in December).
They were only pretending to be miserable.
American Celebration on Parade
American Celebration on Parade
The kids know that TJ, their Dad, likes sending me silly pics, which I love receiving. So they were more than happy to find a spot to pose for a pic for me to send their Dad.
Silly Pic for TJ
I think they chose pretty well. Since the kids were less than impressed, and we were all hungry, we decided to skip the final building and head toward home.
Later!
All in all, it was a fun visit. I wish we’d been able to do more outdoors, though, because they’re all very active kids.
Hopefully, we’ll be able to go to Washington State next year for some fun in their neck of the woods.
I really wanted to go for a ride today. Until I walked outside this morning and immediately felt as if I’d be wrapped in a warm, wet, heavy blanket.
Ugh. Just the type of weather I hate.
But I bought some new equipment yesterday that needed testing. So, after spending most of the day indoors, in the air conditioning, I decided I NEEDED to get out.
Cows on Bear Wallow Road
I was happy to see these guys. Last time I rode past, they weren’t there.
Anyway, I headed north to the neighboring town of Marshall where I’d seen a particular business that I wanted to explore.
Bears Soft Serve Ice Cream
I’m not sure why there’s a large purple octopus painted on the Bears Soft Serve Ice Cream building, but I like it. It’s colorful.
Hot Fudge Sundae
The ice cream is what I REALLY needed.
As for the new equipment… sadly, the ride was too short to really determine if the purchase was a good one. Thunderstorms were bearing down. Maybe tomorrow I can put them through a longer trial.
New snazzy, wicking socks.
I hope you all had a lovely Fourth of July holiday (in the US) or at least a great Saturday (for those outside the US).
Anyone else being inundated with SPAM comments lately? They end up in a queue to be moderated, which is good, but I get like 20 a day. Jeez Louise. Actually, while this post was still in draft, I got about 50 spam comments, each of which generated an e-mail to me. Weird. The spam filter used to work better. Sigh…
Anyway, as promised in my girlfriend getaway post, here’s the stuff I saw for sale during my recent trip to Lancaster that made me chuckle.
One of many creative kitchen gadgets.Everyone needs a colorful, inflatable cartoon character for their home.This doesn’t apply to me, it just made me smile.Lovely fashion accessories.You can’t really see the merchant in the panda or cat hat, but I did.I guess Amish kids need baby dolls, too.Headless, child-sized mannequins.
Antique shops are always good for oddities.
A whole crib full of creepiness.
I think my brother had a bear like that big guy on the right. Knowing him, he may STILL have it.
Instant Ancestors!Ugliest Mickey Mouse mask ever.Are these really vintage?Parasol anyone?Creepy clown and scary baby.No clue what she’s supposed to represent.Frog lamp and creepy yo-yo (those little fabric circles) clown.
Jake’s Country Trading Post, my favorite shop in Lancaster County, has always carried an eclectic collection of new merchandise. Very eclectic.
Jake’s does sell lots of other cool stuff. Like Lazy Ones brand PJs (house pants), which I LOVE. And a huge collection of garden flags. Not to mention wrought iron towel racks, candleholders, etc., garden statues and planters, quilted purses and wallets, moccasins, wall art, artificial flowers, Christmas ornaments, etc.
On to other stuff…
Six-foot-long concrete alligators.A three-foot-tall garden gnome. (I actually think he’s cute.)Why are so many hot sauce manufacturers obsessed with admitting they’ll burn your ass?So you can strap on a bottle of wine.Disturbing dog statue.
That’s it. Quite the mixed bag, eh?
These images only scratch the surface of oddities we encountered. At least it made shopping a bit more entertaining.
Scenes like this always remind me how lucky we are to live where we do.
A pack of motorcycles parked on Main Street.
It’s a fabulous place for motorcyclists. Really.
From the center of town, if one is traveling north, south, or west, you’d reach winding, rural roads in mere minutes. In the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.
A stone’s throw from Skyline Drive.
We’re literally within a 35-mile ride of the northernmost entrance (#2 on the map) to Skyline Drive and the Thornton Gap entrance (#3 on the map).
Although the Drive is one of those bucket list roads for motorcyclists, it’s not the best road in the area. The foothills between here and the mountains are webbed with winding, undulating ribbons of smooth asphalt.
Oh, and it’s just about a 90-mile drive to the northern entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway.
I’m not bragging, I’m just sayin’…
The people are pretty awesome, too. I wish we’d moved here YEARS ago. Sigh…
On a lighter note, Hubby sent me a video link this morning. I’ve embedded the video below.
The subject line of his e-mail was, “The way I feel sometimes.”
