Monthly Archives: July 2026

Family Reunion

Photograph taken on Saturday, July 18, 2026 by Henry
Family Reunion

Family Reunion

At our family reunions we try to take at least one photo of the entire group. Some people come a little late or leave early, so we usually miss a few, but we did pretty well this year, getting all but two or three of the attendees. Last year’s reunion was small but we had a good crowd this year, as you can see, with four generations represented. We had the reunion in a different location this year and it was a smaller room, so the group felt a bit larger than it might have in the previous location, but everyone agreed it was a great time and a very nice meal.

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Lake Drummond

Photograph taken on Friday, July 17, 2026 by Henry
Lake Drummond, Great Dismal Swamp, Virginia

Lake Drummond, Great Dismal Swamp, Virginia

Cathy and I drove to northeastern North Carolina this afternoon for a family reunion tomorrow. On the way we decided to take a short detour to drive to Lake Drummond in the center of Virginia’s Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. My grandfather and his family grew up around the swamp in North Carolina and my parents and two brothers camped in the swamp once but I have never been to Lake Drummond in all the years we’ve been coming to the area. It’s quite large, covering over 3,100 acres, but with a maximum depth of only around six feet.

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Green Heron (Butorides virescens)

Photograph taken on Wednesday, July 15, 2026 by Henry
Green Heron (Butorides virescens)

Green Heron (Butorides virescens)

Green Heron (Butorides virescens)

Green Heron (Butorides virescens)

We asked our good friend Jenny if she wanted to go to McKee-Beshers this morning to look for birds among the sunflowers planted there. Because she had an appointment at 11:00 we decided to go relatively early, meeting at 7:30. At the sunflower field we heard and the briefly saw a yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) and then, from a fair distance, a common yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas).

We then drove to the hunting dog training pond, where we saw more birds, including a great crested flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus) and a few other birds. The highlight, I think, was seeing this green heron (Butorides virescens) fairly close to the path. On our way out it was down in a small clump of trees on the pond side of the trail. Then, as we were coming back it was on a branch over the creek on the other side of the trail. They are beautiful birds and somewhat secretive. The ‘green’ on this bird’s back is an iridescent color, and often looks dull bluish or simply dark.

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Frederick Keys Fireworks

Photograph taken on Saturday, July 11, 2026 by Henry
Frederick Keys Fireworks

Frederick Keys Fireworks

We went with a fairly substantial group of folks from church to a Frederick Keys baseball game. We had originally planned to head up for the game later in the day than we did, but because of rain last week, today’s game became a double header with two seven-inning games. We went early enough to get there before the first of the two games started, although when we looked around we didn’t find anyone else from the church there yet.

Some others arrived before the first game ended and then by the time the second game started there was a reasonable crowd. After the second game, which was interrupted briefly by a thunderstorm, there was a fireworks display, which was surprisingly long and good. We had good seats for it and I was able to take a few photos.

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Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)

Photograph taken on Thursday, July 09, 2026 by Henry
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)

Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)

With the exception of a few eastern bluebirds (Sialia sialis), we didn’t see many birds on our walk on the Cascade Loop Trail in Patapsco Valley State Park today. As we neared the far extreme end of the loop we started to smell what we have to assume was a dead animal. It got stronger and stronger and then we were startled by this turkey vulture (Cathartes aura), fluttering up to a small branch from a streambed. Thankfully we could not see what the bird had been feeding on and once we passed that spot, we were up wind and could no longer smell it.

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Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus)

Photograph taken on Thursday, July 09, 2026 by Henry
Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus)

Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus)

As mentioned in the previous post, we took a walk on the Cascade Loop Trail in Patapsco Valley State Park this afternoon. After passing the cascade, we continued up the stream for a good ways. We saw and I photographed a few bluebirds and heard a few other birds, but it wasn’t really the best time of the day for birds. We did see, and I was able to get a reasonable photo of this spicebush swallowtail (Papilio troilus) on a tree trunk. They are a fairly widespread species, found from southern Canada to Florida and west to Oklahoma and central Texas.

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Cascade Loop in Patapsco Valley

Photograph taken on Thursday, July 09, 2026 by Henry
Cascade Loop in Patapsco Valley State Park

Cascade Loop in Patapsco Valley State Park

We dropped Jeff and Dorothy at BWI early this afternoon and then drove to Patapsco Valley State Park and made our way to the trailhead for the Cascade Loop Trail. It wasn’t quite as hot as it’s been but in the woods along this creek it was very humid. The Cascade Loop Trail goes up a creek that empties into the Patapsco River. This photo is of the eponymous cascade. Not exactly Niagara Falls, but pretty.

Other than that, there were no real sites that stood out, although the valley was, in general very pretty. I did take a few more pictures of a butterfly and of a turkey vulture, but I’ve posted them separately. Because this is a loop trail, we returned by continuing around the loop, although its a little hard to figure out which trail is which.

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Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus)

Photograph taken on Sunday, July 05, 2026 by Henry
Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus)

Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus)

After dropping off some things at Rocklands Winery, we walked on the towpath on the C&O Canal north of Seneca Creek and Riley’s Lock. We saw a great blue heron and I got a few, not very good, photos of a Baltimore oriole way up in a tree. It was quite warm, but not oppressive except when we were in the sun, where it was very hot. I got this single photo of a red-eyed vireo (Vireo olivaceus). It’s not a great photo, of course, but it’s what I got.

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Ebony Jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata)

Photograph taken on Saturday, July 04, 2026 by Henry
Ebony Jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata)

Ebony Jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata)

We took a walk today along Croyden Creek, off of the old Avery Road cut below the Croyden Creek Nature Center. It was quite hot and there was no breeze to speak of. We heard a few birds, but mostly cardinals and robins with an occasional wren. I took pictures of a few plants and one of this ebony jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata). They are quite common in the shady, humid creek-beds around us. This is a male, identifiable by the lack of a white dot on the wing, which the females have.

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New Shelves

Photograph taken on Thursday, July 02, 2026 by Henry
New Kitchen Storage Shelves

New Kitchen Storage Shelves

We have a fairly small kitchen with very limited storage space. In the past we had some shelves in our ground-floor laundry room and in a pantry closet across the hall from that room. Since converting the laundry room into an accessible bathroom, I have kept much of our excess kitchen wares on a pair or metal shelves in the garage. They were not particularly well suited to this, being fixed in their height, etc.

I have finally finished building this new set of shelves to replace the smaller, metal shelves. They were a little tricky, with the L-shaped shelves in the middle, but I’m pretty pleased with how they turned out. All but the top and bottom shelves are adjustable, so I can make space for larger things, like the drink dispensers in their tall boxes. They are also taller, providing enough space for most of what I need to store.

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