Christmas Climb
Christmas Day Zoom
Drought
Harley’s Pond at low tide, Christmas Eve 2024. No snow for us, though we have seen a sliver of ice on the pond once or twice. We had no rain at all in October, and just 1.6″ from Tropical Storm Debbie in August. Total rainfall to date since July 1st is 14.3″.
Cora’s Solo
At Lessons and Carols, St Paul’s Episcopal, Haymarket, Virginia
The weekly Zoom
Messiah
The 53rd(?) annual performance by Fredericksburg Community Chorus, directed by Chris Ryder (photographed above in dress rehearsal). The concerts were 3pm and 7pm, with 13-piece paid orchestra with harpsichord and organ, and about 80 singers including 12 soloists. The choruses were And the Glory, Purify, Oh Thou that Tellest, Unto Us, Glory to God, Surely, Stripes, Sheep, and Hallelujah.
Blue and Gray Half-Marathon
My 6th Blue and Gray Half Marathon, Fredericksburg Virginia, 13.1 miles, 2:27:59, 11:18, 3rd of 6 men over 70. Right calf started hurting about halfway so I took care and it did not get worse. Mostly cloudy, 42°F, 6°C, Humidity 52%, Wind SSW 2mph, Activity Feel 40°F. This was my 25th half-marathon, but only my third slowest.
Fredericksburg
A drizzly fall afternoon on the front lawn of Chatham Manor
Reservoir Dried Up
A government website says “The Youghiogheny River Reservoir is approximately …16 miles long with … an average depth of 54 ft and a maximum depth of 121 ft…”. It’s crossed by US Route 40, known at one time as the National Road, and always a convenient stop for a picnic on the journey between home and Dad’s. On holiday weekends in the summer it has powerboats and sometimes water skiiers. But thanks to this year’s drought, Elspeth and Tim’s family found it almost dry, and got to walk onto the old bridge built many years before the reservoir was there. The first picture shows the current road bridge, way up in the air above Cora.
General Election 2024
Hartwood Precinct ran very well without me this time. They saw 3,691 voters, 34% for Kamala Harris, 64% for Trump. Also 65% for Derrick Anderson, 35% for the Congressional winner, Eugene Vindman. And 64% for Hung Cao, 35% for winner of the Senate race, Tim Kaine. Photo arranged by Bob Jankovits. I inserted the one official who’d been left out of the frame, copying him in from the 2023 general election photo.
Front Row, L-R: Russell Reeves (AC), Shannon Shinskie, Julie Leturno, Margery Schafer, Susan Young, Rosalyn Dodd, Marthe Lattinville-Pace, Charles Lawson, Christopher Chrislip.
Back Row, L-R: Bradley Newton, Roger Leturno, Chuck Schafer, Jared Smith, Bob Jankovits (AC), William Burns, Tom Gruber (Chief), Kyle Graham.