"Beauty is simply reality
seen with the eyes of love."
~ Rabindranath Tagore
Print Available - HERE
Saturday
Dolphins at Clearwater Beach
Jim and I spent an awesome 8 days in Clearwater Beach, Florida
for Thanksgiving. We saw dolphins many times each day. This is a little video of them near our hotel along the Gulf of Mexico.
Holiday Lights at Claytor Lake State Park
“The holiday season is a perfect time to reflect on our blessings and seek out ways to make life better for those around us.”
– Unknown
Print Available - HERE
Sunday
Draper Mountain - Draper Virginia
"Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.”
~ Rachel Carson
Print Available - HERE
Draper Mountain as seen from the New River Trail, October 28, 2023
Draper, Virginia
Saturday
The New River Trail - Draper Virginia
"I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house."
— Nathaniel Hawthorne
October 28, 2023 along
The New River Trail
in the New River Trail State Park
Print Available - HERE
Autumn Orange
"It was a beautiful, bright autumn day, with air like cider and a sky so blue you could drown in it."
– Diana Gabaldon
Blacksburg, Virginia - October 21, 2023
Print Available - HERE
Autumn in the Smokies - Smoky Mountain Stream
“We nurture our creativity
when we release our inner child.
Let it run and roam free.
It will take you on a brighter journey.”
Sunday
Best Seat In the Park - Fairy Stone State Park
"Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn."
- Elizabeth Lawrence
Print Available - HERE
In my opinion, the best seat in the park -
at Fairy Stone State Park in
Stuart Virginia.
This was captured
during a visit October 22, 2021
Forest Finds - Gray Squirrel Snacking
“Go, sit upon the lofty hill,
And turn your eyes around,
Where waving woods and waters wild
Do hymn an autumn sound.
The summer sun is faint on them—
The summer flowers depart—
Sit still— as all transform’d to stone,
Except your musing heart.”
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Print Available - HERE
Saturday
Soothing Blues
My original mixed media art
using ink and watercolor with some digital enhancement.
I find that a lot of time in my art I lean toward circles and triangles.
This Art Available - HERE
Sunday
Leaves at the Lake
“My favorite color is October.”
- Unknown
Print Available - HERE
Claytor Lake State Park
October 07, 2023
Lacy Leftover - Queen Anne's Lace
"Awareness is a choice, and sometimes it takes effort. But it’s never disappointing if we truly put some effort into it. The rewards for our effort already surround us all the time, but they’re awards that we miss constantly until we make the decision to open our eyes and our hearts to the beauty that’s always everywhere."
~ Tom Walsh
Print Available - HERE
Black and White available - HERE
Sunday
In The Pink - Hummingbird
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"The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning."
Lamentations 3:22-23
New Living Translation
Print Available - HERE
Saturday
Pileated Woodpecker Wings
“Every second is of infinite value.”
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Have you ever noticed that
pileated woodpecker wings
look like piano keys when
outstretched?
Print Available - HERE
Brown Thrasher Poses on a Post
"You don't always need a plan. Sometimes you just need to breathe, trust, let go and see what happens."
— Mandy Hale
Print Available - HERE
Sunday
Ode to Summer - Lily with Droplets
"One must maintain a little bit of summer,
even in the middle of winter."
– Henry David Thoreau
Print Available - HERE
Sunshine, Freedom and a Little Flower - Red-spotted Purple Butterfly
"Just living is not enough.
One must have sunshine,
freedom,
and a little flower."
- Hans Christian Andersen
Print Available - HERE
Wednesday
Wings Of A Lady - Painted Lady Butterfly
“Butterflies can’t see their wings.
They can’t see how truly beautiful they are,
but everyone else can.
People are like that as well.”
Friday
Frog with Brown Eyes
“God gave us eyes to see the
beauty in nature
and hearts to see
the beauty in each other.”
Anonymous
Print Available - HERE
Saturday
Winged Tiger - Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Dark Morph
"You are never too old to set another goal
or to dream a new dream."
— C.S. Lewis
Print Available - HERE
Summer Yellow - Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly
“Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked,
in which you can walk with love and reverence.”
― Henry David Thoreau
Print Available - HERE
Thursday
Pipevine Swallowtail on Teasel
"Learning how to be still,
to really be still and let life happen—
that stillness becomes a radiance."
— Morgan Freeman
Print Available - HERE
Saturday
Green on Green - Dragonfly
"Patience requires a slowing down,
a spaciousness, a sense of ease."
— Allan Lokos
Wings of Yellow
"In small proportions we just beauties see,
And in short measures life may perfect be."
Wednesday
Pretty on Pink - Male Goldfinch
Male Goldfinch
"The garden suggests there might be a place where we can meet nature halfway."
—Michael Pollan
Print Available - HERE
Sunday
Autumn Dragon
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"In the right light, at the right time,
everything is extraordinary."
~ Aaron Rose
I believe this is a widow skimmer dragonfly.
Print Available - HERE
Pretty on Pink - Common Buckeye Butterfly
"It's the little things that make up the
richest part of the tapestry of our lives."
~ Robert Ward
Print Available - HERE
Saturday
Sunday
Visitor to the Garden
"Always remember the beauty of the garden,
for there is peace."
- Unknown
Different view available - HERE
Saturday
Rock Church Along the Blue Ridge Parkway
Print Available - HERE
The Blue Ridge Parkway area is the home of several "rock" churches.
I call them Stone churches but I see them referred to as Rock churches.
I believe this one to be the Bluemont Presbyterian Rock Church.
From the "Virginia Is For Lovers" website I found this
VERY interesting information:
"Nestled in the Blue Ridge Plateau of Southwestern Virginia in south central Carroll County, Bluemont Presbyterian Church is one of six rock churches built by Rev. Bob Childress. Subject of the book, The Man Who Moved a Mountain by Richard C. Davids (1970). Largest of the six rock churches. The forerunner to the present church was opened in 1920 as a wooden structure. Church was encased by native stone in 1945-1946. Bluemont derives name from the abbreviation of the word Blue Mountain, for the Blue Ridge Mountains. Visitors who wish to view the property are encouraged to do so, but tours are not available. The six churches are a popular regional attraction. Church can be viewed from the Blue Ridge Parkway. Services are conducted every Sunday of the year and visitors are welcome. Service 10:30 a.m./ Sunday School 10 a.m."
Source: https://www.virginia.org/listing/bluemont-presbyterian-rock-church/4506/
Wednesday
Stone Arch Bridge - Blue Ridge Parkway
Print Available - HERE
The National Park Service website tell us about these bridges:
"The most distinctive architectural feature of the Blue Ridge Parkway is its outstanding collection of bridges and grade separation structures, which allow the parkway to cross streams or pass safely over or under other roads. Many of these 168 structures have a rustic stone appearance that blends well with the mountain landscape; others are sleek modern steel and reinforced concrete structures. Bureau of Public Roads engineers and National Park Service landscape architects collaborated on the design of the parkway bridges. Many of the grade separation structures appear to be old-style stone arch bridges but are actually reinforced concrete structures. They were constructed by erecting stone arch rings, abutments and spandrel walls, then pouring concrete on a network of steel reinforcing rods. The stonework is not merely decorative, but serves as the form for the concrete frame. All but one of the overpasses, or grade separation structures carrying roadways over the parkway, are stone-faced arch structures. Many underpasses bearing the parkway over other roads are stone-faced arch structures as well.
The stone facing for these structures was a hallmark of the rustic style of architecture employed by the National Park Service, which dictate the use of materials that would enable structures to harmonize with their environments. The stone was generally obtained from quarries located near the construction site. In other cases, stone was obtained from rock cuts created during the construction of the roadway. As the parkway traverses several distinct geological areas over its nearly 500-mile length, the type and appearance of the stone used in the work varies from location to location.
Different arch shapes were employed, the choice being dictated by the length of span and topographic conditions. Most were segmental arches rising from straight-sided abutment walls. The elliptical arch was occasionally used where there was sufficient horizontal clearance to carry the arch all the way to the ground, usually where the parkway intersected primary roads. Circular arches were employed for some narrower spans. Many bridges are curved or skewed, crossing a road or stream on a diagonal so as not to interrupt the flow of the roadway."
Source: https://www.nps.gov/blri/learn/historyculture/bridges.htm
Sunday
Gray Hairstreak Butterfly
"Summer afternoon—summer afternoon;
to me those have always been
the two most beautiful words in
the English language."
- Henry James
Print Available - HERE
Sunny Days
Summer has a flavor like no other.
Always fresh and simmered in sunshine.
Oprah Winfrey
Print Available - HERE
Tuesday
God Bless America
"God bless America, land that I love
Stand beside her and guide her
Through the night with the light from above
From the mountains to the prairies
To the oceans white with foam
God bless America, my home sweet home"
- Irving Berlin
Saturday
Summer Fun
“Many eyes go through the meadow,
but few see the flowers in it.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Print Available - HERE
Monday
Grackle in the Garden
Beauty isn't perfect.
It's something to be felt and something to be breathed.
~ Denise Jaden
Print Available - HERE