You may not find this terribly rewarding unless you're included here, so this is a good time for casual and random browsers to turn back before they get too caught up in the sweep and majesty of the proceedings and can't let go.
Random February sundries: a little snow, a few local hikes, scowling cats, etc.
Welcome to The South -- January and February have been unforgivably cold and inconvenient.
It must be that Chinese Climate Hoax again (6 January 2025).
In the sporty mountains, a good snowfall is welcome and normally very enjoyable -- this sort of thing is just a nuisance.
Choupette is sulking about something, and would like to be left alone for a while.
A recent disagreement and a serious attempt to reach an amicable resolution, momentarily paused for tactical reasons.
Looks like it's time for dinner. Warm up the telly.
A Toyota staff member tries to talk us through the appalling complicated intricacies of this totally electronic driving system. {It had nearly all gone right past us within a quarter of an hour.}
[This is in fact my first new car purchase in a long skrimping lifetime of bumpy old cars. Though, be it said, I'm only purchasing half of this one.]
New mural art, this on the side of a new pizzeria and a new day-spa workout centre.
Some of the older elegant houses along Central Ave.
These houses here near the town centre survived the havoc visited some years ago upon the near side of Central Ave, 600 meters of vacant lots awaiting a new mall that never came.
In its place, the forlorn vacant lots needed to be filled up somehow, so now we've mostly got just five banks with big (mostly vacant) parking lots and a Hardees, replacing the whole community that once dwelt here.
Like this.
Oh, now that's a nice looking automobile. (Pity we haven't yet figured out how to drive it reliably.)
There seems always to be something worth scowling about. (One always wonders what lies behind that grim, expressionless face, if anything.)
(But snuggly Choupette is very lovable anyway.)
A quiet nap on the tower, with no fears of turning over in one's sleep.
The 27th of January 2025, at 6 a.m. in Dulles Airport. Kristin's off for a few weeks with some of her family in the Florida Keys.
Pleasant symmetries
A fine day dawns at last, 4 February 2025
A walk past the Stuart Hall School (estb. 1827) up . . .
. . . Filmore St and over the hill by the Reservoir Park, and down the far side to . . .
. . . Gypsy Hill Park.
And back again two days later to reconnoitre some of the works the city has been carrying out for some time.
It's part of a larger hydrological project to alleviate some of the potential dangers to the town from the reticulum of little creeks and channels running through the park and, in fact, all round the town.
The main creek here, evidently called the Gummy, is apparently being straightened and more efficiently linked up with some of its tributaries.
The Gummy itself is a tributary of the Lewis Creek, which runs into town from the west and had been paved over for the large Wharf District public carpark, which emerges at the far end of that and plows along in and out from under buildings, until eventually it joins the South River Fork of the Shenandoah. On 8 August 2020, the whole creek system burst its banks and did a great lot of damage, and efforts are continuing even now to make improvements.
One aspect of the work now appears also to be as much aesthetic as hydrological, because . . .
. . . they seem to have massaged the landscape through which this part of the creek passes to include a little island within the kids' Gypsy Express Mini-Train. From which it emerges . . .
. . . and runs down towards the charming Duck Pond.
From the Duck Pond, it runs along the improved straightaway and dives straight past . . .
. . . the Stonewall Brigade Band's HQ (on the left) and 1.33km southward to its meeting with Lewis Creek underneath the Wharf District.
Another snowfall! Twice in the same year! (11 February 2025)
The last snowfall came in the middle of a long stretch of round-the-clock freezing temperatures, which left piles of iced-over snow strewn mercilessly all over town. This lot will be gone tomorrow . . .
. . . if our luck holds.
A hasty visit to the local antiques store. Found something to like.
The cats are waiting to find out what's on the telly agenda for tonight, before . . .
. . . they decide whether it's worth sticking round, after they've had their nightly Greenies treats fix.
The Augusta Springs Wetlands
A brief dash round the Augusta Springs Wetlands as the weather finally breaks, 23 February 2025
Some improvements have been made since we were last here, viz: a rehabilitated walkway round to the boardwalk.
And at the boardwalk, we can view one of the fields that were seriously treated for invasive weeds, specifically the Autumn Olive (Elaeagnus umbellata), which was machined uprootedly with a backhoe in some places . . .
But we still don't know what will be replacing it (since we're never here in the summer).
After a largely exerciseless few months, we will revel in our freedom to roam (and tire early).
Having reached the high point on the ridge, one member of our party returns by one of the steeper downhill path, whilst the other member is inclined to prefer a gentler slope down the ridgeline.
A ski de fond enthusiast has seized the rare opportunity to dig out the old cross country skis and plod all round up here on the mud patches.
Arriving at the base of the crossover trail off the ridge, and . . .
. . . avoiding that path -- over that ridge is a US government training ground for the elite Hotshots forest fire fighters.
[It's April as we write this: Musk/Trump may well have disbanded the Hotshots by now. Like FEMA.]
Back out to the lakeside path . . .
. . . to rejoin our party, which has probably preceded us to our meeting place by a long march.
The main pond of the wetlands
Surviving relics (invisible under summer vegetation) of some of the infrastructure from the health spa that was sited here for the chemically salutary waters.
From 1817 into the 20th century, there was a well-known resort hotel here, with clientele from all over and a regular stagecoach out from Staunton for the guests. It had its own theatre, casino, dances, carriage rides, sports, and what not, and served as a hospital for Stonewall Jackson's men in 1862. All of that is gone now, but the story is an interesting one, and we've recounted it several times after earlier visits; our most useful version, though, with period photographs, is probably this one from 2020.
Relic hunting
There's a good one.
Time to go home
Choupette is making her demands known.
Roughhousing now for command of the best sunny spots
Welcome to the USA. That three months' supply of an important medication listed at $300 in Switzerland, and at the obligatory Swiss co-pay rate of 10%, set us back $30 for the lot. In the USA, the three cost $2,200 and (just back from Walgreens) that little collection of prolonged health got us co-paid for $860.
A walk through the Montgomery Hall Park, along its Expressway
25 February, the weather's holding for a while. We find the Montgomery Hall jungle as interesting in the bare-ruin'd choirs of winter as we do when it's draped under nearly impenetrable foliage.
Of course, winter or summer, the grounds staff of the Park keep the various paths delightfully navigable.
It's like Disneyland's thoughtful use of a limited area for the sense of a long, convoluted trail system . . .
. . . of course, sans vegetation cloaking everything, we're more likely to notice that the trail we're walking northward on is only about 5 meters parallel to the trail we just walked southward on, before coming to the U-turn loop.
The Montgomery Hall Park trails are apparently known for their wildlife, but to be honest for once, we've only ever heard a few species of birds infrequently. And only one of us has ever seen any of them.
But we are very pleased to find that someone or some group has been taking steps to label the trees.
That, for example, is a 'Tree of Heaven'. Who knew?
And that! That looks like it might be a Sassafras Tree, and . . .
. . . wow, it is!
Fancy that!
Next up: Dispatches are awaited
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