Things I Saw Today

I haven’t done one of these posts for a while. ShyB inspired me! These images are actually from a few different days.

Blue House

 

Flowers

 

Cute Little House

 

Is That the Right Thing to Say?

 

Lantern Finial on Iron Fence

 

Looking Down Alexandria Pike

 

Main Street with Storm-cloud Backdrop

 

Black Bear Bistro

 

Waiting for Dad Outside of Molly's Irish Pub

 

Pretty

 

Pet Grooming Salon

New Way to Celebrate Father’s Day

As I mentioned in my last post, Hubby had been looking forward to Warrenton’s Father’s Day Car Show since he first got wind of it shortly after we moved here.

Apparently he’d read about it — and seen pics from past shows — on the Internet.

I hadn’t. So I didn’t know what to expect. With Warrenton being a small town, I thought it would be a small event. I was wrong.

I was really torn about celebrating Father’s Day without visiting my Dad. We invited him to come down for the show, but my Mom has been sick. So they need to stay closer to home. After making arrangements to visit with him next weekend, I felt a little better.

Knowing how much Hubby had been anticipating this event, I couldn’t help but get excited. Plus, it would give me something interesting to blog about for a change.

Registration was from 8:00-10:00. So it should have come as no surprise to hear an intermittent cacophony of deep-bass rumbles all morning long.

While I’ve been to car shows before, I’d never been around to hear the comings and goings of quite a few high-performance machines. It was awesome.

So awesome  that I couldn’t wait until 10:00. Shortly after 9:00, I hooked the girls up and decided to take a quick stroll through town. I was amazed at how many cars were there. And they kept on coming!

Wanting Hubby to be similarly surprised, when we get home and he asked about what we’d seen, I played it down by saying, “There’s a few cars there. It’s nowhere near what I expected, though.”

It wasn’t. I was expecting small, remember? There had to be over a hundred cars there. And more people than I’d ever seen in our little town at one time.

Oh, and like the previous day, the weather was perfect.

I took quite a few pictures. It was challenging, though. With so many people milling about, it was hard to get good shots of the cars without strangers in the pictures.

Really. Look how many people were there. Main Street was packed!

Not only were we amazed at the number of vehicles and people, the variety and rarity of many of the show entries was incredible. Like that 1958 Dodge Power Wagon. I thought giant four-wheel-drive vehicles were a new thing.

And check out that old Chevy Suburban (above). I forget what year that was. Hubby could tell me, but he’s not here at the moment. Sorry.

I forget what that car was called. But that’s one I’d love to drive. It was built in the early 1900s by the brother of the guy who was sitting beside the car. Who I didn’t manage to capture in the shot. I wish I had.

Isn’t that car pretty? Hubby said I shouldn’t say cars are “cute” or “pretty.” I should use adjectives more along the lines of “kick-ass.”

I still say it was pretty.

That old Hudson was another mutual favorite.

We both liked this Jaguar, too.

I tell you, the variety and quality of cars entered was quite impressive.

I forget what sort of car that was, but Betty Boop made me think of a certain friend of mine.

The event was a smashing success. I’m so glad we went.

Our love affair with this town continues. We are so glad that we purchased this house in town, even if it wasn’t what we were looking for. It’s so cool that have things like this within easy walking distance. By “easy,” I mean it was like three blocks away.

And when we were done, we walked back home and quietly enjoyed the rest of the day.

Hubby relaxing on Father's Day.

 

If you would like to see all of the pics, you can view the slideshow embedded below.

Or you can go right to my Flickr site to view the pics.

I hope your Father’s Day was similarly enjoyable.

I have a feeling we’ll be celebrating in the exact same fashion for many years to come. Hopefully next year Dad will be able to join us.

High Street Hydrangeas

In yesterday’s post, I showed you some pretty pastel Hydrangeas.

I like that picture. But, as pretty as those are, they are positively ugly compared to some others Hubby and I saw later that evening while walking the dogs.

Happy Flag Day

I promised to go back and try to get a shot of those for you, which I did. But I also captured this cool shot in town.

I love how small towns hang flags to celebrate holidays. It lends such a nostalgic ambiance of Americana.

I’ve been having a hard time keeping my days straight lately. As I was walking down Main Street, admiring all of the flags, I could not think of what occasion the flags were commemorating. The only holiday I could think of was Father’s Day. But that’s still days away.

I know there’s a special Father’s Day car show on Sunday, which Hubby has been looking forward to since practically the day we moved in, so I figured maybe they were making a weekend of it.

Then, when I got back to my office, I noticed the calendar said Flag Day.

Boy did I feel dumb. I was already feeling rather stupid at that point. Because I’d gone out with my camera specifically to take flower pictures. And I shot about 20 before I decided to pay attention to the flashing error message in my viewfinder.

The one that said “NO CF CARD.” Which meant my camera was operating without a memory.

So there was one wasted lunchtime stroll!

Idiot…

But I went back later, with the memory card inserted in the camera this time, to get some more shots for you.

Ready?

Multi-colored Hydrangeas

Aren’t they gorgeous?

I have never seen one Hydrangea bush with such a wide variety of colors. And they were some of the richest colors I have ever seen.

Click on the picture and you’ll get a bigger image to view.

Multi-colored Hydrangeas
My Favorite Shot
The Richest Colors Ever

The house is on High Street at the corner of High and Liberty. This bush is actually on the side of the house on Liberty Street.

That is seriously the prettiest Hydrangea I think I have ever seen.

Here’s another interesting shot from another yard on High Street. This one features Purple Coneflowers.

Purple Coneflowers

At least I think they are Purple Coneflowers. Though I have never seen those in white, yellow, and orange.

Maybe there’s something weird about the soil?

I’ve always heard that you can change the color of your Hydrangeas from blue to pink or vice versa. But I’ve never heard of or seen bushes with white, pink, blue, and purple flowers.

Have you ever seen Hydrangeas like that?

Around and About

I haven’t done a “look how cute our town is” post for a long time.

Honestly, I haven’t been doing a whole lot of shooting lately.

But the weather was so gorgeous today, I just HAD to get outside. So I went for a lunchtime ride.

That’s when I spotted these horses I thought y’all might like to see, too.

Horses in Pasture from Cannonball Gate Road

 

Yesterday, I had to walk to the post office, so I took my camera along.

 

Butterfly Weed

The Butterfly Weed is actually one of the plants I installed in our front yard. Isn’t it cool looking? I wish I’d bought more than one plant!

Hydrangeas

The Hydrangeas are beside the courthouse here in town.

Hubby and I actually saw some really unique-looking ones last night that I just remembered.

Perhaps I’ll go snag a shot of those tomorrow.

The Mural Building

That building is really called The Mural Building. It sits on a parking lot south of Main Street between Fourth and Fifth Streets.

Here are some other shots from different angles.

The Mural Building

 

The Mural Building

 

The Mural Building

 

The Mural Building

The sky was quite blue today since the humidity was pretty low. It was really a perfect late-Spring day.

With Summer just around the corner, I figured I’d better get out there and enjoy it while I had the chance.

Quaint Corner

 

Main Street Stroll

 

Barn

 

I hope you got outside today, too!

Enjoying the Yard… Sort Of

We’re digging our new yard.

That’s quite literal as far as the dogs are concerned. The mulch smells so good to them that they are eating it!

Dumb bitches.

I hope the stink wears off soon.

And K has discovered that there’s a Cardinal family living in our honeysuckle.

Our OCD Girl

I posted that pic on Facebook the other day and said something like “those birds don’t stand a chance.”

That statement was more prophetic than I realized.

One baby is now deceased.

Napping

Belle hasn’t gotten much face time lately, so I figured I’d post a picture or two of her for a change. Here she is napping next to Meg. They sure love those beds.

K’s bed was empty because she really is obsessed with those birds.

She looks rather pathetic laying there staring up at them. Every now and then, it gets the best of her and she’ll start to cry.

Hubby decided he’d show her what was in there, hoping maybe to dissuade her from wanting to spend every waking moment staring at that bush.

A Helping Hand
A Closer Look

It was a solid hypothesis.

A REALLY Close Look

But K is no less obsessed.

When Belle saw Dad holding K up there to see, she was jealous.

Baby Girl Gets a Peek, Too

She was interested, just not as much as K.

"Thanks, Dad. But will you put me down now?"

As much as Belle loves being cuddled, she quickly grew tired of her elevated position.

K just wanted them both out of her way.

Fixation

Think I am exaggerating her degree of obsession?

Obsessed

Think again.

Observing from Afar

Belle is perfectly happy watching from a slight distance. She’s more easily distracted than K.

As for Meg, she could care less. Live critters freak her out. Ever since she went to examine a squirrel she thought Belle had killed a few years back.

The thing was laying belly-up in our backyard when Meg moseyed over for a sniff. Much to her dismay — and our amusement — the squirrel had been faking. It miraculously came back to life, grabbed Meg’s nose, and freaked her the hell out. Meg bolted and Belle returned for the kill.

Ah, life with dogs…

To give Meg something to do, I took her around to the far side of the house to help demonstrate the STUPID positioning of one of our hose bibbs, which I discussed in my previous post about our newly updated yard.

The Hose Bibb

I shot that pic while standing at ground level. Meg is sitting on the edge of the planting bed. See the hose bibb way above and behind her?

Here’s a view from just inside the gate.

Stupid Hose Bibb

See it there on the wall? It’s about 15 feet away from the back corner of the house. And like four feet off of the ground. It’s actually much easier to reach now with the planting bed there. Before, we had to scale a very slippery hill.

Hubby will relocate it one of these days. He’ll have to rip out part of the ceiling in the basement to do it, so he’s in no hurry.

In the meantime, we’ll just have to make do.

 

Parade!

Who doesn’t love a parade?

I mean, really. How can you not love the spectacle of it all? Small or large. Patriotic or cause-related. As long as there’s a band, I’m happy.

I realize this post is a bit late, but it’s been a busy week. Take a normally busy five-day work week, cram it into four days, and see how hectic things become.

I’m not complaining about the short week. I’ll take a three-day weekend any time. Especially when we get to spend it with the family. A couple of the kids were missing, but it was still nice hanging out with Amy, TJ, and the grand kids.

My last post talked all about what we did on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. They left around midday on Monday. But not before we got to see the parade.

I love parades, but usually don’t go out of my way to see them. Until recently, seeing a parade would mean piling into a car, driving, fighting for parking, and then battling the post-parade traffic to get home. But now, since we live in this cute little town, we got to walk to the parade. It was all of about a four-block hike.

I don’t have a whole lot of time here, so I’ll just post my favorite pics and let the images (frantic snapshots) and their captions tell the story.

Waiting for the parade to start, we saw the cutest little bicyclist EVER.

 

And they're off, with the town police in the lead.

 

It was quite fitting to have the local ROTC group in the front.

 

They were followed by a conglomerate of adult veterans and active service members.

 

What's a parade without fancy cars?

 

And patriotic motorcyclists?

 

Proud to be an American.

 

Does this shot scream small town or what?

 

The local chapter of unicyclists. I never knew there was such a thing.

 

Love the VW! But I REALLY love that canine co-pilot.

 

And here comes the band!

 

Band mascots? The place was crawling with dogs. We even took our girls along.

 

No surprise that this is my favorite band section. I drummed a mean cadence back in the day.

 

We can't forget the Cub Scouts.

 

Or the Boy Scouts. Especially the Boy Scout on stilts.

 

Bag pipers and the Warrenton Fire Department brought up the rear.

 

It was short, but awesome.

The bagpipers reminded me of one of MANY funny kid sayings from the weekend.

Upon seeing one of the bagpipers before the parade, Joey said something like, “Why is that man wearing a skirt?”

Gaige, in his infinite eight-year-old wisdom, answered matter-of-factly with, “Because he’s a Leprechaun.”

Oh yeah, and the next funny thing came after I tried to explain how you can be Irish or Scottish, but live in the United States.

Brianna (11) and Gaige (8) were my audience. I said to them both, “Scottish and Irish really just explains their heritage. Their ancestors were from Scotland and Ireland, so they are of Scottish and Irish descent. You know, like how you guys are Italian, but live in America?”

When Brianna exclaimed with a look of confusion and disgust, “We’re Italian!?!”, I about peed my pants. I guess no one remembered to mention to the kids that they are part Italian.

It was the look on Brianna’s face that really got me. I so wish I had captured that image to share.