24/365 Picture Today Post

24/365 | Friday, January 24, 2025 | #365PictureToday

Game

My family discovered this game a few years ago, and it has become a favorite.  The reader reads an event and you have to place it correctly between the other years in your own chronology.  If you guess correctly you get the card.  If you don't get it correct, the person next to you has a chance to guess.  It's a fun game for fans of history.

148/366 Picture Today Post

148/366 | Monday, May 27, 2024 | #365PictureToday

Scavenger Hunt/Alone

Today we spent the day in Williamsburg at a meetup of my photo group.  Everyone got a scavenger hunt sheet.  My finds were the Compton Oak (tree), the post office sign (horn), Peter Hay's Shop (red), the gate at the Governor's Palace through a keyhole (crown), the Governor's Palace at the end of Palace Green (alone), a bonus photo of the group, a clock at the Governor's Palace (clock), the sign for the King's Arms Tavern (lion), a display in the apothecary (bottle), and a window and bricks at the Capitol (bricks).

 

 

323/365 Picture Today Post

323/365 | Sunday, November 19, 2023 | #365PictureToday

Paradise

Picture Color | Cream

Today our church celebrated Founder's Day.  While our denomination began in 1708 in Schwarzenau, Germany, our local church was founded in November 1883, making this our 240th anniversary.  To celebrate we had a special visitor.  Alexander Mack, Sr. was one of the founding eight members of the denomination, and a gentleman from Harrisonburg portrays him for a variety of events.   One of the things he mentioned was that the founders didn't consider their group a kirche, the German word for church, but rather gemeinshaft, a community based on close personal and family ties.  I liked that Mr. Mack's shirt is cream in color.  “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?" ~Luke 14:28

 

 

 

315/365 Picture Today Post

315/365 | Saturday, November 11, 2023 | #365PictureToday

Hope

Picture Life | Gratitude | Where I Stand | 11 O'Clock 

At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of the year 1918, the hostilities of World War I came to an end.  My great grandfather received the Silver Star for his actions in crossing enemy lines to deliver a message during the battle in the Argonne Forest in World War I.  I'm grateful that he survived the war and came home to marry my great grandmother (who happened to be of German heritage).  My older son is named for him.

 

 

 

254/365 Picture Today Post

254/365 | Monday, September 11, 2023 | #365PictureToday

Feel

Picture Life | Superpowers | Macro Monday

In the woods near Jumonville Glen, I found these ferns.

 

 

 

Crossing Sideling Hill Mountain

 Traveling from our home in Virginia to the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania, we crossed the Allegheny Mountains at Sideling Hill on Interstate 68.  Upon viewing the terrain and geology of the site, it isn't that difficult to believe that this road didn't open until 1985.

235/365 Picture Today Post

235/365 | Wednesday, August 23, 2023 | #365PictureToday

Wish

I wish that Notre-Dame had not burned in 2019, but if it hadn't I never would have learned more about its history and participated in this non-fiction book club at my local library.

 

234/365 Picture Today Post

234/365 | Tuesday, August 22, 2023 | #365PictureToday

Unplug

Picture Basic | Composition 

I had an idea to try to lay out books that I have read this year like a leading line.  It was more difficult than I anticipated, but reading is definitely something I do to unplug. #ReadThisDay

 

226/365 Picture Today Post

226/365 | Monday, August 14, 2023 | #365PictureToday

Passion

Picture Life | Fresh | Macro Monday 

A selection of books that I'm currently reading from a fresh perspective.

 

 

 

189/365 Picture Today Post

189/365 | Saturday, July 8, 2023 | #365PictureToday

Picture Color | Sepia 

From the Blue Bell, a reconstructed building at Colonial Williamsburg.  This is a private residence now, but in the past it was a tavern, an inn, a store, and a gunsmith's shop.

 

  

 

187/365 Picture Today Post

187/365 | Thursday, July 6, 2023 | #365PictureToday

By-gone

Picture Color | Sepia

On our recent trip to Colonial Williamsburg, we stayed in a room in the Chiswell-Bucktrout House through the colonial house program.  This house was reconstructed in 1951 based on a part of the house that survived until the 20th century.  Col. John Chiswell had the house built.  He was apparently hot headed and was arrested for murder and mysteriously died before his trial.  Benjamin Bucktrout, a cabinetmaker from London, purchased the house a few years after Chiswell's death.  The room where we stayed was comfortable with modern amenities and a taste of a by-gone era.  Again I processed this in ON1 with an antique filter.

The view from our room.

184/365 Picture Today Post

184/365 | Monday, July 3, 2023 | #365PictureToday

Visualize

Picture Color | Sepia 

This is the William Finnie house, an original building in Colonial Williamsburg.  In my recent readings, I have learned that Thomas Jefferson was familiar with this house and there is speculation that he may have based early designs of Monticello on this house.  Photo processed in ON1 using the antique filter.

For comparison, here is the east front of Monticello (from Monticello's website).

 

And here is the more famous west front (also from Monticello's website).

 

182/365 Picture Today Post

182/365 | Saturday, July 1, 2023 | #365PictureToday

Simple

Picture Basic | Leading Lines 

This path through the gardens at the Peyton Randolph house simply leads to a gate in a fence.

 

147/365 Picture Today Post

147/365 | Saturday, May 27, 2023 | #365PictureToday

Durable

This is mostly off prompt because it's not really part of my daily life.  Today we went to a special tour  called Designing American Living at Woodlawn and the Pope-Leighey House.  It was a tour examining both houses through the lens of the architects who designed them.  This is the Pope-Leighey House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, for Loren Pope, who was a journalist who lived in Falls Church.  The house, in the Usonian style, was completed in 1941.  However, in 1963 the house was slated for demolition to construct Interstate 66.  The second owner Marjorie Leighey had to work with the Secretary of the Interior and the National Trust for Historic Preservation to save the house.  It is now located on the property of Woodlawn plantation.  At 82 years old the house has proven to be quite durable.

94/365 Picture Today Post

94/365 | Tuesday, April 4, 2023 | #365PictureToday

Avant-garde

Picture Basic | Rule of Odds

I spent the day in Williamsburg with a great group of ladies from my photography group.  I love this blue carriage that I saw several times, and for all I know, its design was avant-garde in the 18th century.

 

Colonial Williamsburg Photo Walk

Today we traveled to Williamsburg to meet up with some people from my online photography group.  This collage of images was created for a scavenger hunt for the group.

This is collage of architectural points of interest I found.

More architecture!

Images from the tour of the St. George Tucker House.

89/365 Picture Today Post

89/365 | Thursday, March 30, 2023 | #365PictureToday

Amiable

Picture Life | My Hometown

This is a picture from Main Street Warrenton on a typical weekday afternoon.  The historic courthouse is on the left, and the John Barton Payne Building, which used to be the library, is at the end of the street.  Now it's a meeting space, and the library bookstore is in the basement.  Everyone is generally amiable at the complicated intersection in front of the John Barton Payne Building where Main Street, Waterloo Street, Winchester Street, and Alexandria Pike all come together.

 

61/365 Picture Today Post

61/365 | Thursday, March 2, 2023 | #365PictureToday

Useful

Picture Life | Ordinary Objects

It seems that I often take pictures of books on this day, so here is a selection of what I am currently reading, arranged in a slightly novel way.  #ReadThisDay #ReadAcrossAmerica #DrSeussDay

 

 

 

37/365 Picture TodayPost

37/365 | Monday, February 6, 2023 | #365PictureToday

Preserve

Picture Basic | Frame-in-Frame

As I was driving between towns from a visit to my allergist to work today and pondering the subject for today's picture, I suddenly realized that I was going to drive right by an historic church.  This is Greenwich Presbyterian Church.  It was constructed in 1858 and survived the Civil War unscathed.  Although they built an education and fellowship building in 1948 (separate and to the right of the original structure) and an entirely new building was built directly behind the historic sanctuary recently, the original sanctuary is still being preserved and used.  In fact, my connection to this church is that my sons both had piano recitals here because their piano teacher is the pianist for the church.

 

34/365 Picture Today Post

34/365 | Friday, February 3, 2023 | #365PictureToday

Wonder

Picture Life | Life-long Learning 

The currently reading shelf always provides a good POTD, especially when so many of the books are non-fiction or historical fiction.  Books definitely unlock a world of wonder and can transport you to new places.