Ours are mostly quite small trees, overlooked and perhaps stunted by a preponderance of many tall oaks. But they stand out in the winter and early spring by holding onto most of last year’s now very light brown leaves.
North American Beech
Nature
Fredericksburg Baptist
Home to 50 years of Christmas Messiah concerts on Princess Anne Street, Fredericksburg, Virginia. And, from further away, the other side of the spire as seen from Chatham Manor across the Rappahannock River in Stafford County.
Squirrel
Early visitor at the breakfast window
American Robin
Can’t believe I initially labelled this a bluebird. That must have been wishful thinking. We had seen a couple of bluebirds at this birdbath recently, and robins we usually only see briefly in a flock on the front lawn.
Dahlgren Heritage Rail Trail ½ Marathon
The start of the DHRT Half-Marathon has a few hundred yards of rails, a restored ancient wooden caboose, a decrepit freight car, and “The Rocket”, a working railway pumper cart. Race volunteers use it as a moving platform for photographing the runners approaching the finish. See this moving illustration. Among the Fredericksburg Area Runners Club members who finished the race this day was Vic Culp, longtime director, in black hat at back.
From the swingset
Union Church Steeple
The newly restored (June 2019) belfry and steeple on the old Union Church in Falmouth (c. 1819), via zoom lens from the south lawn at Belmont, the Gari Melchers Home and Studio. (The restoration was reported in this Free Lance-Star article).
I took another shot a few days later without the zoom lens: a wider view of Falmouth from Belmont’s blue bathroom window. Most prominent is the 1966 Falmouth Baptist Church, but the Union Church spire can still be seen in the trees further to the right.
A few more photos from Belmont: the eagle greeting arrivals to the front door, the vertical sundial between the bathroom windows above the sun room (at 10:19am, Feb 14th, 2020), and the south side of the house (at 3:44pm a week later). The sun room was a 1920s (?) Melchers addition to the 1795 house.
The horseshoe staircase outside the back door has a century-old ornate railing which we hope to see renovated soon. This is the center panel, seen from inside the house, looking down the hill to the back gate.
Princess Anne Street
Saint George’s Church, the Renwick old courthouse, and the new courthouse, taken before a Saturday morning run from Hyperion, Fredericksburg, Virginia
Who’s tipping it over?
