SKYLINE DRIVE - 8-29-21

It is hard to believe we are in September already.  The year is ticking right along.  

Our trip up to Skyline Drive took place on Sunday the 29th of August, on a very grey, misty day.  It was different to the sunny skies we have had before, but it was still lovely.

I am sharing a video that I downloaded, taken at the beginning of our drive, with a little bit of a chit-chat.  We love that chicken, lol!  You can watch the video here.  Or if the link doesn't work for you, you can go to this address: 

Added note: I had mistakenly made this video private.  I have corrected it now and you should be able to view it.  I am a little rusty on loading these things up.  Sorry about that!

https://youtu.be/QBjARE_4Lx0

I haven't explored how to add videos on this blog since the changeover a while back.  Soon I hope!  Also, I mentioned the tunnel in the video and you can read about it at this link.

No pretty view at the above overlook, but a chance to admire the stone wall.  I actually enjoy looking at them.  Didn't Winston Churchill like building walls?  I can see why!  (and as I do tend to get off on a tangent, when I wrote this my curiosity started knocking and I looked up about Winny and his walls.  I found this link.) The second photo was taken at another overlook not too long afterwards.  The clouds started lifting.

You can just about see the bag I brought our picnic in.  

We had finished our chili crisp chicken left over from the night before, made as a sandwich on a cheese, garlic and onion roll we bought at the farmer's market in Manassas.  It was a decided in the moment picnic and I just grabbed what was available.  I put everything into an old tote bag that I don't use often but it comes in useful for things like this.  (I couldn't find our smaller ice box and did not want to bring the big one.  

I did bring along an ice-pack wrapped in aluminum foil and then wrapped another piece of foil around the chicken and the icepack to keep cold. 

I wasn't in the Girl Guides six week for nothing. However, looking back at my short stint, the crunch came when this ten year old was told we were going camping.  The horrors!  "They're going camping Mum, in an actual TENT Mum!  There'll be creepy crawlies and everything, I'm not going!" said ten year old child with chin jutted out and hands on hips.  I was a stubborn child and could not be persuaded, and that, as they say, was that.  A delicate flower and yes I'm rolling my eyes and smiling!  My Mum was a saint!  She would be surprised to learn that later on in life I would jump at the chance, especially if I could take my camera along.  

It wasn't a total loss, I did learn how to basket-weave, and my Mum declared my gift of a tiny basket to be the best she had ever seen.  It wasn't but she was as tickled pink as if it was.  

These are the memories told that make my Sweet Other Half chortle in the retelling, as happens when he tells me his boyhood stories.) 

Tangent! Off on a tangent yet again, but now am back to this day.  Our 'veg' was a couple of radishes each and reusable bottles of water with two paper cups, pieces of kitchen towel and wipes, in case of messy fingers. Nothing fancy but they did the trick. Everything left went into a trash bag which we wrapped securely and put into the trunk of the car, to be deposited in the trash bin when we got home.

  The romantic me would have packed everything in the picnic basket that is now stored in the basement, along with a bottle of champagne with two wine glasses, a lovely red gingham tablecloth laid on a grassy meadow, proper silverware and pretty lace cloth napkins in case of messy fingers.  Those were the days, or I did I ever have those days?  If I did it's been so long ago that it's gone like the mist we experienced on the mountain.  Definitely no alcohol involved on those winding, curvy roads with steep drops in places. 

Nope, we don't roll too fancy these days and definitely a grab and go before we left the house.  It was a last minute decision to take food with us.  Not much thought put into it, but we both declared that it was fun and very tasty.  Rather than seek out the picnic areas, we always find a wall to sit on, hanging our feet over the edge where there is a beautiful view, usually.  No, we don't hang our feet over a precipice, there's safety where we sit, thanks to the original designers of these overlooks.  It was when we were packing everything, that other cars started arriving.  We enjoyed our leisurely picnic in solitude.  By the time we left there were other cars arriving and we were ready to go but...

I noticed all the thistles.  They were very popular with busy flying things enjoying their own impromptu picnic.  I saw Hoverflies hoping to get a spot among the Bumblebees...

and then there were the butterflies.  This is an Eastern Black Swallowtail, a male from the photos I saw at this website.

These took our attention for another 15 minutes or so.

I always stop for butterflies!

Further along our drive at another overlook, there was someone snoozing in a hammock strung between two sturdy-ish trees at one of the overlooks.  A young lady was putting a few things back into their car nearby.  Gregg pointed to the hammock, I laughed and she in turned smiled at me.  I imagined they had been on a long journey and the driver was tired.  Smart move, not only to bring the hammock along with them, but to get some rest before continuing on those winding, curvy roads I mentioned earlier.

I was happy to find hundreds of milkweeds on Big Meadows and other areas of Skyline Drive.  On several of them I found the Milkweed Bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus).  I found a fascinating article written by Ricki Lewis at this website, who says: "I was very pleased to read of the recent publication of its genome sequence (of the Milkweed Bug), an effort undertaken by 83 researchers working as 27 teams in 10 nations.  The findings are reported in Genome Biology."  

I like to research my photos and have known about the Milkweed Bug for several years, but this information was a little bit different to what I have read before.  What is written at the link is most interesting.  Its author writes that the milkweed bug gets its name because it eats the bitter seeds of the milkweed plant (Asclepias syriaca).

There are more photos to come from Skyline Drive, and I will be sharing them soon. In the meantime enjoy your weekend and I will be back with my Monday recipe.