tree swallow
We were able to go out riding back roads and such yesterday because due to the Covid Thing Anita is only working a day or two each week. So we decided to ride Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park as it had just opened up to traffic again. We were going to celebrate by driving the whole length of it, approximately 135 miles from Front Royal to Waynsboro (where it joins up with the Blue Ridge Parkway and continues on south). Anyway we didn't take the direct route to get to the drive and got on this little one lane road where we were admiring some wild flowers along the side of the road. Anita stopped the vehicle in the middle of the road (as she always does!!!) and that is how we met this gentleman who proceeded to make the whole day perfect for us! In honor of him I am posting two photos today. He stopped and Anita started asking him questions about the flowers, and he said, come on up to my house just over this hill and I will show you my peonie garden. We spent over an hour sitting in this beautiful garden and talking. Turned out he was a master gardener, above 80 years old and had a real joy for caring for his flowers. He also had Purple Martin houses and Blue Bird boxes in his garden. He called these birds Bluebirds even though I knew they were Tree Sparrows! Such a generous, sweet tempered man I don't think we have ever met before! The stories he told of the farms around about him, the flowers and what all he and his wife were doing and had done were so very interesting! We came away from there with many beautiful photos and a big bouquet of lovely peonies! The drive on Skyline was a pale comparison to that part of the day. There truly are some beautiful souls in this Covid infested world!
tree swallow
We were able to go out riding back roads and such yesterday because due to the Covid Thing Anita is only working a day or two each week. So we decided to ride Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park as it had just opened up to traffic again. We were going to celebrate by driving the whole length of it, approximately 135 miles from Front Royal to Waynsboro (where it joins up with the Blue Ridge Parkway and continues on south). Anyway we didn't take the direct route to get to the drive and got on this little one lane road where we were admiring some wild flowers along the side of the road. Anita stopped the vehicle in the middle of the road (as she always does!!!) and that is how we met this gentleman who proceeded to make the whole day perfect for us! In honor of him I am posting two photos today. He stopped and Anita started asking him questions about the flowers, and he said, come on up to my house just over this hill and I will show you my peonie garden. We spent over an hour sitting in this beautiful garden and talking. Turned out he was a master gardener, above 80 years old and had a real joy for caring for his flowers. He also had Purple Martin houses and Blue Bird boxes in his garden. He called these birds Bluebirds even though I knew they were Tree Sparrows! Such a generous, sweet tempered man I don't think we have ever met before! The stories he told of the farms around about him, the flowers and what all he and his wife were doing and had done were so very interesting! We came away from there with many beautiful photos and a big bouquet of lovely peonies! The drive on Skyline was a pale comparison to that part of the day. There truly are some beautiful souls in this Covid infested world!