With Elliott at the Harry Potter Experience, joining others being scared by Aragog the spider and friends.

An interesting bar display at a restaurant me, Bill and Nick stopped at after a day of antiquing in Verona.

I saw this on the Strasburg skyline and had to investigate, as it looked so odd. It’s the water tower, which is being sandblasted under that tarpaulin, and then will be repainted.

This guy wanders around town occasionally with his placards, which many folks in FroRo find amusing. This is the first time I’ve actually seen him myself.

Looking down on the town from the cemetery, with the Blue House in the middle.

My small Uranium glass collection. I have room for a few more pieces.

A very Merry Christmas late lunch. What a fun time!

I love this beautiful angel, a gift from Elliott’s parents, and made in in Poland.

Our local ice cream shop owned, Crazy Willie. He made me a crème brûlée ice cream cake and posed for my photo. He does a lot for our town. Great guy!

Sparkly gems hanging over the mantle piece.

Even the bears in Front Royal are getting into the Christmas spirit.

A lot of people had been complaining in town because the Nativity wasn’t displayed as usual this Christmas outside the courthouse. Others were happy about it not being there. But 2 days ago it miraculously appeared, and townsfolk rejoiced, me being one of them.

19 Dec 2022

4 beautiful fabrics together. My sock on the sofa, with a throw and a cushion .

A most excellent day out exploring the Petersburg area with the Urbexia crew for the first time this year. Here, we were at an abandoned textile factory.

On my travels around thrift stores, looking for table decor for Christmas lunch, I came across this, which I loved. Thinking it would be made in China, I was elated to find it was made in the USA. For $10, I got it.

Chugging back shots to celebrate our Emblemax family at our Christmas party.

It poured with icy rain all through the night, and once it was light, I drove to work through a scenery like this.

Sue and her English husband have a shop on Main St. I love the English influence in the Christmas shop window!

I’m guessing this guy isn’t happy about the Redskins changing their name to Commanders. 

Our neighbors down the road with their pretty decorations. They go overboard with every holiday. Love it!

So happy that Margie’s Christmas brunch party was back this year after a 3 year hiatus. Here, all hands on deck to make the punch, which was delicious!

I look for this family every Christmas in Front Royal, and was very happy to see they were present today.

It’s impressive, yet also very sad, how the graves are decorated for the seasons. This young lad has a Christmas tree with twinkling lights, and upon close inspection, I discovered that big red cushion is actually a battery to power the lights.

An impressive sky when I arrived at work this morning.

Locking the cemetery gates, and just taking a moment to enjoy this quiet little town.

Bottles that I painted as a teenager, I still love to pull them out every Christmas, and this year are on the mantle piece. 

Front Royal now has its own Christmas decoration, so I had to support a local business and get one.

Breakfast this morning with Elliott at our local diner, which has become overrun with elves. They’re everywhere, ha ha!

This house, with the great old sign and old car, has skips outside it, and looks like it’s being emptied. I’m wondering if the sign and car will now disappear, or be left to age outside the property. They’ve been there for years.

A gorgeous sunset in the cemetery as I did my check before locking the gates. I did no editing on this, only cropped it.

I had to sneak a quick snap of this kid in Target today. He’d been given a sticky badge by the cashier which said, ‘I’m a very clever kid.’ He immediately read out what the badge said, and followed it with, “I know everything about disasters, space and dinosaurs. And sharks and buildings.” He’ll go far in life.

Hundreds of shirts coming off the press. I had to recreate this art from a faxed piece of paper, but it turned out well.

The huge construction across the road has turned out to be 2 buildings, both of which are massive data centers. These are being built at an alarming rate in this area, even trying to encroach on rural land in Front Royal and Warrenton. A frightening prospect.

We have a shop in FroRo with large collections of various ornaments. I’ve never seen so many frogs in one place before.

At Bob’s house for Friendsgiving. A long way to travel but he’s a good friend and a long standing client, so I’d never say no.

25 Nov 2022

My friend Bill, stirring his homemade turkey soup over the fire in the old log house. We have this before the actual turkey, and it’s always outstanding. Plus, we got to bring some home. Yum!

Tricksie Treat having a leisurely Thanksgiving Day, and enjoying the sun shining through the window.

Someone’s obviously contented with his lot. 

One of the high end management members landed at the back of Rural King in town yesterday, by helicopter. Paid for by huge profits on junk sold at their store, such as these. 

No Christmas tree yet, but still lovely to see Main St decorated.

Elliott and I had lunch at a cafe in town that are doing soup flights. I had chicken, mushroom and rice, Hungarian chicken, and borscht, with bread. Not overly impressed but nice on a cold day.

We cleared the garden of pots and ornaments this morning, but most of the pots and anything that held water, including this glass, were frozen. All are now under the back porch until they defrost and I can empty them.

I see some interesting loads on my commute to and from work. This truck, and another the same, was being escorted down 66. I couldn’t make out if it was part of a bridge, but it was huge.

I went with Carmen this evening, as support, to show clients around a rural property. The prospective clients were lovely, but not the property, which was extremely run down, and had this sign on the door. They didn’t put in an offer.

I noticed this ‘Welcome all class’ lettering in a local church window, and wondered if it literally meant the poor could pray with the rich. I may have to ask…

Stuck in traffic again in the morning commute, but the delay gave us time to appreciate the gorgeous sunrise, even if it was foreboding bad weather in the afternoon.

While we were away on holiday, Malcolm covered my office chair in white fur, which took me nearly 10 minutes to clear. He’s now decided that this chair next to my desk should also bear his mark, and looked decidedly defiant when I suggested that needed to be cleaned as well. Here he is, standing his ground.

Elliott and I drove up to Strasburg, PA, for a ride in a carriage pulled by my favorite train, the Norfolk and Western, J class, 611. Here, at our destination, she’s moving from the back of the line of carriages to the front so she can pull us back to the station.

Interesting shadows created by the morning sun shining through panes of glass and then through the dining room curtains.

The cats are very happy to be back into their usual routine again.