Clouds over Great Falls

Photograph taken on Sunday, August 18, 2024 by Henry
Clouds over Great Falls

Clouds over Great Falls

We went to Great Falls today. It’s one of those things we used to do fairly often but then didn’t quite so much when they started charging so much for parking. Now that I have my America The Beautiful Lifetime Senior pass, it doesn’t cost us any to get in. That was definitely a well spent $80. The sky was very dramatic while we were there, as seen in this photo taken from Olmsted Island looking southwest towards the Virginia shoreline. As you can probably tell, this is an HDR image, made from three separate exposures.

A little later, as we were walking on the canal towards Wide-Water, it started to rain. We got under the branches of a tree and I put my camera under my shirt and managed to keep it pretty dry, although we got fairly wet ourselves. The rain stopped and we continued on. By the time we turned around and got back to the car, the sun was shining again.

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National War Correspondents Memorial

Photograph taken on Saturday, August 17, 2024 by Henry
National War Correspondents Memorial

National War Correspondents Memorial

We decided to drive up to South Mountain this afternoon. We started out at with a visit to the Washington Monument. It was quite hazy, though, and the view wasn’t much to speak of. Also, the tower was closed, so we couldn’t go up it. From there we went to the three gaps that were the principal sites of fighting in the Battle of South Mountain in mid-September, 1962. They are, from north to south, Turner’s Gap, Fox’s Gap, and Crampton’s Gap.

The National War Correspondents Memorial, shown here, is in Crampton’s Gap in Gathland State Park. It was built in 1896 by Civil War correspondent George Alfred “Gath” Townsend (January 30, 1841 – April 15, 1914), who built a home for himself here in the early 1880s. He also built himself a mausoleum but is buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.

On our drive we happened to go by the South Mountain Creamery and stopped for ice cream.

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40th Anniversary Dinner

Photograph taken on Friday, August 16, 2024 by Henry
Cathy, Yvette, Rob, and Susie

Cathy, Yvette, Rob, and Susie

We had a few friends over for dinner this evening to celebrate our 40th anniversary (which isn’t today, but close enough). Yvette and Cathy were at Wake Forest together and was in our wedding. Rob and I have been friends since the fall of 1972. He wasn’t in our wedding because he was in Kenya at the time. We’ve known Susie since she and Rob met, back in the day. Our friend Jean, whom Cathy has known since high school, wasn’t able to come because she was in North Carolina helping take care of two grandchildren while a third was being born. There are others we could have invited but we wanted to keep it simple.

We had a really nice dinner, starting with mushroom and peach bruschetta, followed by bowls of French onion soup. The main course was ginger and soy marinated flank steak and salmon with sugar and mustard sauce. We finished with strawberries and whipped cream. If I say so myself, it was a really good meal. It was even better company. Thank you to all our friends and family for helping us make it through forty years together.

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Battus philenor (Pipevine Swallowtail)

Photograph taken on Wednesday, August 14, 2024 by Henry
Battus philenor (Pipevine Swallowtail)

Battus philenor (Pipevine Swallowtail)

Cathy and I took the day off from work and went up to Pennsylvania today to visit with Dorothy and two of her good friends, Jack and Katie. We had a lovely time with them, spending some time on the Gettysburg battlefield and then going to our property and hanging out a bit. We marked a trail through the woods that Dorothy wants to clear and Dorothy worked a little in the orchard, moving some sticks around. She has a little garden plot that’s the start of something bigger.

I saw this pipevine swallowtail (Battus philenor) on a thistle (Cirsium species) and was able to get a pretty good photo.

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Baby Bird

Photograph taken on Tuesday, August 06, 2024 by Henry
Baby Bird

Baby Bird

I have no idea what kind of bird this is. Given its size, I’m guessing something larger than a sparrow but smaller than a crow. Possibly an America robin, but really, I have no idea. I was clearing around one of my roses today when I noticed the nest. I took a few pictures and then left things they way they were. There’s plenty more to do in the garden and I can come back and work around the rose when the bird has fledged. We see quite a variety of birds in our yard. We have multiple sources of water that we keep filled (and ice-free in the winter). We also have quite a few plants that provide food for birds that like their seeds. We also attract insects, so there are birds that come for those. Finally, we have hummingbirds and we see them both on the feeders and on flowers in the garden.

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Sanderling (Calidris alba)

Photograph taken on Friday, August 02, 2024 by Henry
Sanderling (Calidris alba)

Sanderling (Calidris alba)

Cathy and I went to the east end of Ocean Isle this morning and walked along the beach. Cathy looks for coral on the beach and before today hadn’t found many pieces. Today she found as much as she sometimes finds in a week. I found a few pieces, as well, but mostly I was taking photos of birds. I got a few of a brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) and some of willets (Tringa semipalmata) and quite a few of these little sanderlings (Calidris alba). They are quite numerous on the beach, running up just above waves and then following them back down to dig things up out of the sand.

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Bunting and Egret

Photograph taken on Thursday, August 01, 2024 by Henry
Great Egret (Ardea alba)

Great Egret (Ardea alba)

Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris)

Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris)

We found a little nature reserve on the map and decided to give it a try today. It’s a bit further than we’d normally go and I don’t know that we’d go again, given the distance and the fact that we had to pay for parking at $4 per hour, which is a bit steep. It does probably account for the place not having many people, though. We say another painted bunting as well as quite a few herons and egrets, including the great egret Ardea alba shown in the first photo here. If you don’t mind spending a little money and you’re near by, it might be worth a visit.

We could hear thunder rumbling in the distance and the sky was quite menacing to the south but it never got close enough to bother us at all. It’s been warm this week but nothing like what it’s been up until now. This week we had highs in the mid 80s, which is pretty good for the time of year.

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Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris)

Photograph taken on Wednesday, July 31, 2024 by Henry
Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris)

Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris)

We headed to Sunset Beach again today, leaving a bit earlier in the morning, and were able to get a parking space near the west end of Main Street. The walk to the Bird Island Reserve nature trail is about 1.25 miles. It was partly cloudy and quite windy as we walked out, but that was actually very nice. We heard quite a few painted buntings (Passerina ciris) but only saw two and only one that I was able to get a decent photo of. They certainly are pretty little things. This one sat and sang for us a good while.

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Annual Family Beach Photo

Photograph taken on Monday, July 29, 2024 by Henry
Annual Family Beach Photo

Annual Family Beach Photo

We usually take our annual family beach photo a little later in the week but Dorothy was leaving on Wednesday and Iris and her family were going to Myrtle Beach to see her sister-in-law and her family Tuesday, so it was today or never. The kids made at least some faces in each one, but that’s just the way it’s going to be. I think it’s a pretty good photo, overall.

Earlier in the day we had driven to Sunset Beach to go to the Bird Island Reserve but couldn’t find a parking space. We saw a large flock of wood storks as we crossed the bridge back off of the island. We went to the Carl Bazemore Bird Walk on the imaginatively named East Lake, which we call Alligator Pond. We did see a few alligators as well as a few more wood storks and other birds. A person we met there told us about Vereen Memorial Gardens just into South Carolina and we went there and walked around a while, as well. We didn’t see much, but it’s a pretty place and I suspect there are times when there are more birds. In fact, someone we met there told us the painted buntings are there in large numbers at some times during the year.

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Kids On The Stairs

Photograph taken on Sunday, July 28, 2024 by Henry
Third Cousins

Third Cousins

Our annual week at the beach started yesterday. We had fewer issues with traffic than in many years, although we stopped a bit more, including stopping for lunch at Parkers in Wilson, North Carolina. We usually stop there to pick up barbecue and we’ve occasionally bought lunch there but never eaten it in the restaurant. We happened to be within a few miles of George and Carmela, who had started driving yesterday and spent the night in Southern Virginia, so they met us at Parkers.

Today is Eloise’s birthday and after dinner many of her third-cousins came over (along with their parents and grandparents). I was able to get a few photos of most of them on the stairs. Getting them all looking at the camera and not acting up is beyond me, though. Still, they were having a good time and I think it shows.

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Family Reunion

Photograph taken on Saturday, July 20, 2024 by Henry
Family Reunion

Family Reunion

I picked mom up at 6:00 this morning and we had very few traffic problems getting to North Carolina four our annual family reunion. It was a slightly smaller group this year than in the last few years, but still a really nice time visiting with people we only really see once a year. It was really good to see mom’s first cousin Ann, who sadly passed away a short week later. I had an extended visit with Lyn and Beth, since Beth hosted us for the night so we didn’t have to drive home again the same day, which is a bit much for us.

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Sunset (with Moon)

Photograph taken on Thursday, July 11, 2024 by Henry
Sunset with Moon

Sunset with Moon

Sunset

Sunset

We had a beautiful sunset this evening and had the bonus of there being a crescent moon in the southwestern sky. The first photo is to the southwest, showing the moon. The second it looking northwest over our next door neighbor’s house. We haven’t had a lot in the way of sunsets lately. That is, the sun has set once per day, as usual, but they haven’t been anything to look at, much less spectacular. But this evening it was really something.

The summer has been very hot, humid, with very little rain. Rainfall in June was only 48 percent of normal ranking among the 20 driest and the fifth hottest Junes on record for Maryland. We also tied our record for the greatest number of June days with a high of 90°F or higher with 14 days. With this sunset, though, I’m hoping things are changing and we’ll get some rain and some cooler weather (like with highs in the mid 80s) sometime soon, hopefully before September.

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Lydia and Dorothy

Photograph taken on Tuesday, July 09, 2024 by Henry
Lydia and Dorothy

Lydia and Dorothy

Cathy and I drove up to Frederick this evening, bringing Lydia with us, and met Dorothy and Jeff at the Kittiwat Thai Kitchen. It was a lovely evening and we enjoyed chatting over a nice meal. We had brought a window air conditioner that our friend Amy gave us so that Dorothy could have it in her room in Pennsylvania, where the house doesn’t have central air. We moved that to the back of her truck and then talked a little more before heading home. And of course I took a handful of photos, because it’s what I do.

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Biz and James

Photograph taken on Saturday, July 06, 2024 by Henry
Biz and James

Biz and James

As mentioned in my previous post about Leverington Cemetery, we were in the Philadelphia area for the wedding of the younger son of a friend of ours. When Dorothy was at the Fourth Presbyterian School, James and his older brother Jon, who was in Dorothy’s class, carpooled with us. We got to know the family pretty well and you’ll find some January 1 pictures through the years with our families together on New Year’s Day. Today was the wedding of James with Elizabeth, Biz to her friends, and we very much enjoyed being a part of the festivities.

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Leverington Cemetery

Photograph taken on Saturday, July 06, 2024 by Henry
Leverington Cemetery

Leverington Cemetery

This is Leverington Cemetery. My 7th-great-grandparents—John Wigard Levering (February 2, 1648 – February 2, 1745) and his wife Magdalena Bokers Levering (who died in 1717)—were among the first to be buried here. Their grandson (Septimus, my 5th-great-grandfather) and his wife Mary Thomas Levering are also buried here. John and his brother Gerhard owned about 500 acres between them in what is now called Roxborough although it was at one time called Leverington. While there are no markers for my direct ancestors, I thought it would be interesting to visit, and since we were nearby for a wedding, it seemed like a good opportunity.

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Fourth Pres. School Teachers

Photograph taken on Tuesday, July 02, 2024 by Henry
Krystal, Erin, Mary Chris, Marianne, and David

Krystal, Erin, Mary Chris, Marianne, and David

From Kindergarten through third grade, Dorothy went to the Fourth Presbyterian School in Potomac. It was a good time and we made some good friends while there. Dorothy’s second grade teacher, Mary Chris, and her husband David, moved after that year and we haven’t seen them since, although we did hear a few things about their travels through Krystal. Mary Chris and David and their son Joey were in town visiting and Krystal invited us, along with two other teachers and their husbands as well as Cathy and me, for dinner. Erin and Krystal taught first grade. Dorothy was in Erin’s class but the two classes did a lot together and we’re very close to both of those teachers. Dorothy didn’t have Marianne or David as her teacher, but we enjoyed visiting with them, as well.

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28th Pennsylvania Infantry

Photograph taken on Saturday, June 29, 2024 by Henry
28th Pennsylvania Infantry Monument, Culp's Hill, Gettysburg

28th Pennsylvania Infantry Monument, Culp’s Hill, Gettysburg

Cathy and I drove up to see Dorothy today, meeting her at the farm and hanging out with her there a while. Then we drove down to Gettysburg and walked about 4.5 miles from downtown into the battlefield. We passed a few monuments for the unit with which Cathy’s 3rd-great-uncle served, including this one between Culp’s Hill and Pardee Field on Slocum Avenue. We also drive to near the recently reopened Little Round Top, stopping to see a friend who works for the Park Service and was stationed there counting cars and busses. All it all, it was a nice, if hot, day.

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Japanese Forest Grass, &tc.

Photograph taken on Sunday, June 23, 2024 by Henry
Japanese Forest Grass (<em>Hakonechloa macra</em>), Siberian Bugloss (<em>Brunnera macrophylla</em>), and Northern Maidenhair Fern (<em>Adiantum pedatum</em>)

Japanese Forest Grass (Hakonechloa macra), Siberian Bugloss (Brunnera macrophylla), and Northern Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum pedatum)

At the north end of our yard there is a relatively shady area, partially under a cherry tree. Cathy planted the two Japanese forest grass plants (Hakonechloa macra) you can see here. They are the chartreuse tufts in the center and lower left of the photo. The silvery, heart-shaped leaves are Siberian bugloss (Brunnera macrophylla), also known as great forget-me-not (but not the same as Myosotis species). In the upper right of the photo is a northern maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum) that originally came from my father’s garden and which I divided a couple years ago and planted in various places around the yard. The base of the small tree in the top center of the photo is one of two fastigiate English oaks (Quercus robur) I planted about ten years ago.

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Coragyps atratus (Black Vulture)

Photograph taken on Sunday, June 16, 2024 by Henry
Coragyps atratus (Black Vulture)

Coragyps atratus (Black Vulture)

We went to the C&O Canal today, walking about a mile and a half upstream from Seneca Creek and Riley’s Lock. We saw a few great blue herons (Ardea herodias) and one green heron (Butorides virescens), as well as a few smaller birds. But my favorite for this walk was this black vulture (Coragyps atratus) who landed on a tree quite close to us. Like most birds but unlike the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) the black vulture does not hunt by smell but is often seen in the company of turkey vultures, which have this advantage.

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New Stairs

Photograph taken on Saturday, June 15, 2024 by Henry
The Old Stairs

The Old Stairs

The New Stairs

The New Stairs

In late May and early June we had a handyman working at the house on a few things. Saul repaired the molding on the front porch, he patched a drywall hole in our kitchen ceiling where a plumber had to get to some pipes. He also replaced the exhaust fans in the two upstairs bathrooms. Finally, he scraped, repaired, and repainted the Bilco doors on the back of the house. Those have stairs under them to the basement.

While he was working on the doors he asked me to open the doors. I went to the basement and got up onto the fourth step and opened first one door and then the other. As I was opening the second door, suddenly I wasn’t on the stairs any more. I was standing on the concrete floor. It took me a few seconds to figure out what had actually happened but as you can see from the photo on the left, the stairs were not there any more.

So, Saul called someone who fabricates stairs and little over a week later, we have new, steel stairs.

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