The storm really raged last night and I awoke constantly listening to the wind and rain, glad to be snuggled up with Kota and Rosie. This morning on the way to work I had to stop at The Battlegrounds in Manassas as I couldn't believe the extent of the flooding there. The image in the middle is what the famous Stone Bridge usually looks like.

A blazing fire, enjoyed by all of us as the rain thunders down on the metal roof and the winds howl across the meadows. We've been told we're in for a rough storm tonight. Bring it on!

Dear God, please make my breakfast bowl overflow with good stuff tomorrow.

This was Stuart at 11:00am this morning. Up here on the hill we have our own weather system, down in the town was fine as I drove through.

Saw this turkey vulture on my travels today sitting all alone in his tree. Made me wonder if he was just chilling out after dining on a gigantic venison fillet steak.

Still very winter in Marshall with snow flurries all day long.

Glad I haven't got too far to go as I travel through Marshall on the way home. The steep hill to Meadow House was pretty slippery all the way up, good job I left work when I did...

Rosie Lee basking in the last rays of the sun.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Test prints using gel ink and a suede feel ink. They looked great!

I love that living in the boonies means that I can buy local milk in glass jars. And it's delicious!

The house on top of the hill that I pass on the way home from work. It sometimes looks like a haunted house.

Took the new bike out for a test run, riding on black top, over tufty soggy grass and along a muddy trail with puddles and deep rotting leaves, and then finally over coarse gravel. It handled really well, but....I need a new seat. Too hard!

St Alban's Sanitorium in Radford, VA, an abandoned hospital supposedly full of ghosts.

Friday, January 18, 2013

The best colors in the Pantone Matching System book.

Got held up on the road to home this evening due to a road accident. You can see tail lights in the distance. We had to wait over 30 minutes but no complaints from me, thanked my blessings that it wasn't me. Hope the driver taken past me in that ambulance is OK.

Hung out with Barb for a couple of beers at City Grill. We first went to a grubby dive bar, Addy's at Best Western, which gave me the creeps, with a buffet featuring a mountain of hardening plaster mix passed off as mashed potatoes.
We didn't stay there for long...

One of my favorite cushions on the sofa.

Colonoscopy. Enough said, except it's the first time in my life that I wished I had a TV in the bathroom.

Someone was nice and relaxed in front of the fire today.

Robb and Bill getting us started with the house wrap which keeps out moisture from the interior walls.

A drizzly grey and foggy sky hung over Manassas Battlefields as I passed through on the way home today.

Got me a nice little mountain bike for riding on canal paths and fields from a guy here in Marshall. Nice and light and a darn sight better than riding my Bianchi on uneven surfaces.

An almost sci-fi sky as I leave work tonight.

My 1926 Eastman Kodak camera.

A stack of screens at work waiting to be cleaned.

Kota was in full agreement this morning that a sleep in was an exceptionally fine idea.

The snow still lingers on in Marshall, it's been really cold.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Construction on Rte 50 on the way home. There has been a major increase of this on 50 in the past 2 months. Ugly new housing and strip malls eating up the fields and woodlands.

A dear friend Tom passed away today. I've had this photo of him on my fridge; he used to keep one of us on his. RIP buddy xxx

Heading down to the Metro at Dupont Circle.