The morning glory is rampant now on the railings outside the kitchen door, with a lot of blooms. I love the way the flower scrunches it’s face up against the sunlight, and the spiraling of the buds. They’ll be in full bloom when the sun goes down.

4 accidents on Rte 66 today, and thank God I wasn’t in any of them. This Ford Escape went up in flames this morning, and then on the way home, through torrential storms, there were 3 separate cars that crashed off the road into the banks.

Stuck in traffic on Rte 66 on the way home, but at least there’s a handsome truck to look at.

Elliott and I cycled 20 miles on the C&O canal path today. We were looking for paw paws but they’re not ready yet. I spotted this huge Dryad’s Saddle mushroom on a tree. Too old to eat, but it was enormous, about 15” across.

The best shooting target I’ve seen so far. I found these in True Value in Stephen’s City. And all profit goes to Ukraine. Yes, I got one.

A monarch on the swamp milkweed, with the brown-eyed Susan flowers in the background.

The very pretty lamp, that Elliott got me for my birthday, brightens up the corner.

We got the caravan into its final position this evening. I had filled a hole behind the hydrangea bushes with concrete and a piece of rebar. The winch was attached to that and Elliott hauled the caravan the last 2 feet. We can now remove anything underneath that we don’t need, like piping, and then let out the air from the tires, then stabilize it at both ends. Then the gutting work can begin.

8 pots of native trumpet vine, which I will be offering to swap on a swap native plants Facebook page I found, except 1 plant which I promised the pizza delivery guy, and the one at the back in the left, which is for a friend. That one grew from just a root piece so the new pots planted today, that look empty, are also just roots, but should produce leaves within 2 weeks. Hopefully.

I did a double take in the cemetery this evening when this black vulture moved on the pillar. I stopped and had a chat, he listened intently, and then I drove on slowly. This must be a regular perch for him, he had a 360 degree view around him. Love these huge birds.

It’s not very often that you see 2 Rolls Royce’s left to disintegrate at the side of the road, but this is Front Royal.

Looking out a dining room window, the rosinweed plants are about 9 feet high, attracting bees and butterflies.

I made a detour on my way to work this morning to capture a foggy sunrise at Old Tavern.

A birthday list appeared at work. Birthdays mean free lunch for everyone on that day and Olga has a few days listed. Well played!

A dandelion seed caught in a cobweb on the porch railing.

This gargantuan house of cards looks like it could blow over with a puff of wind. Why on earth would a building be erected with no framing? 

Goodness gracious! Presents from my bestie in England, I have my Birthday all over again. Addresses blurred out of course.

Rocks and bricks for the steps in the bank and the privacy wall, all free from Facebook Marketplace. Score!

Elliott and I standing in front of one of the 2 turbines at a nuclear power station in Maryland we toured today, thanks to Bob, a client, and friend, from work, whose brother works here.

Elliott got us tickets to see America, out in the boondocks, in Orkney Springs, an hour from home. A superb concert and beautiful outdoor venue.

The swirling bud of the Morning Glory vine.

Looking through the cemetery gates. Yet more rain, more rain than I ever remember having through a summer.

My favorite part of the cemetery, with rain falling in the background and heavy clouds forming into a storm that would hit us an hour later.

Cleaning and check up at the dentist, and I was told my choppers look great and are very healthy. No work needed, phew!

We had a lovely Birthday weekend, spent with new and old friends, cake, cinema, great food, The Skyline Drive and cake. This is one of the lovely gifts Elliott gave me, a beautiful bee brooch, which is now on my work bag.

Gorgeous Birthday roses from Elliott. What a lovely bouquet! 

One of the gates leading into the Soldiers’ Circle in the cemetery, confederate graves from the Civil War.

What most people regard as weeds are actually native plants vital to the insect and bird population, and we have a huge thistle plant growing at the end of our driveway, which as I closed the cemetery gates this afternoon, I saw it was alive with activity. There were tiger swallowtail and silver spotted skipper butterflies, as well as bumbles bees, all enjoying the flowers.

I saw this chap on a crypt in the cemetery, and noticing that it was a red neck vulture, one who will kill injured prey, rather than the black vulture, who just eats the remnants, I stopped to take a look. But looking around the grass, I didn’t see any injured animals, so I resumed my course. 

A bedraggled spicebush butterfly on the oxeye sunflowers. Her colors had faded and her wings were a bit bent up, but she could fly OK. With a lifespan of only 6-12 days, she’s likely near the end, but I was happy she could flit from flower to flower, enjoying the nectar.

As I left Front Royal this morning, the sun was dawning and breaking up the fog.