ONE LAST POST FOR A WHILE BEFORE TAKING A BLOG BREAK.

We went over to our place where we can view the planes coming in, which didn’t work out quite the way we planned. More on that later as I thought I would share a shortened version of what we did last week.

Top left on the way home! The clouds were outstanding. I am a cloud watcher, the beauty of them drew me in. The same with the airplane snap in the middle on the right. One of my neighbors is top right. These are the people who go all out for their seasonal decorations and they are very impressive. There is already a Tom Turkey on display for Thanksgiving. They add things the closer we get. The yellow flowers were blooming in profusion at Green Spring Gardens. I didn’t even get out of the parking lot this time but was happy with the few flowers taken. More on those later also.  Below the yellow flowers is where Ann’s card will spend Thanksgiving.  It’s right above me on the shelf  where I do all my blogging, and will stay there until it’s time to store it in the box of Ann’s cards where it will join all the others she has sent me. Favorite coffee with the pretty design ordered when we went to what is now our favorite bakery and coffee place, Chateau de Chantilly. We join the young ‘uns there. We were the oldest in the place until a lady the same age walked by and acknowledged us with a smile. The connectivity of our age brought us together I told my dear other half and yes, I am joking. Above the coffee I share a tree with changing leaves in one of the parking lots while running errands. I think that’s it as I continue on to when we saw those magnificent flying machines.

There is a road and a pull-off we have parked many times with others, to watch the planes in line with the runway as they fly low over us to land. It was fun to see but this time there was a policeman. At first, we thought it was just one side of the road that we couldn't park. We saw the police car on the median and as there were no other cars nearer to where he was parked, we made a u-turn at the next available turn, so that we could join the line of a few cars already parked. 

I managed to get a few snaps before the police officer got out of the car. I had my head turned in the other direction watching the planes in the distance approaching, but Gregg could see him making motions that we should move on, his words lost in the noise of the aircraft. His body language was very polite but we got the gist. We couldn't park there either. Everyone has been doing this for a long time, and we have never had a problem before. We will check again, maybe this is temporary. There were no 'no-parking' signs that we could see, maybe one tiddly little one near a locked airport gate used by maintenance people, and no one ever parked near there. Ah well, it was nice while it lasted. I have a feeling new security precautions are being put into place. I remember a while ago someone had been flying a drone near the airport and that gives one the shivers.  

At Reagan National Airport just across the river from Washington DC., there is a parking lot right next to the airport where people see them even lower than this place as the airplanes land. You can actually see the pilots sitting in the cockpit. We will go check that sometime and take a car picnic. There are usually a couple of hundred cars or more, with people making it their entertainment, and they've been doing that for years, ever since as far back as I can remember. However, that may no longer be, but we’ll drive down there and check sometime. 

We were here on Saturday the 8th, and those skies were amazing! We were hoping to stay for sunset pictures...

but that wouldn't be today.

So glad we could get these before we were moved on. It was almost like the officer was waiting for us to get our photographs done before he gave us the word. Probably not but it was a nice thought and we were grateful! There were a few more cars in front of us, and we all left at the same time.

We treated ourselves to a small ice cream sundae at the Milwaukee Custard shop on the way home. No photos of those though! From airplanes to ice cream to trees. We admired the trimming skills of the person who cut this tree while waiting for the traffic light to turn green. It was much taller than the building and perfectly shaped. The photographer, however, was a little tilted.

And so one day we swept all the leaves, pine needles and pinecones up, and that night we had the windiest weather. Not any pine needles this time but plenty of pinecones and crepe myrtle leaves. We looked over the deck to the garden below and oh my! Mother Nature sure is having some fun with us. There will be more sweeping up tomorrow. I have been collecting the pinecones and putting them in old boxes. Thinking of offering some to the neighbors for outside decoration. I also thought I would fill several with birdseed and hang them from the trees. I don’t ever remember seeing this many pinecones before. These photos were after I had picked up a couple of dozen or so. There are plenty of pine trees in Virginia of course, but in our immediate vicinity we seem to have the only pine tree. It was planted before we move in about 35 years ago and quite small. It stayed that way for many years until its roots reached the water table. Now it’s huge and reaching up to the sky. 

 Thanks for looking. I am not sure how long a blog break I will be taking this time, but I will be catching up with you all when I can. In the meantime take good care of yourselves and happy blogging.

 

A NICE WALK AT WALNEY

 

Hello Dear Friends!

A collage of photos from our latest walk at the visitor center and the pond today. I was hoping to see hummingbird moths. I didn’t see them but there were other things that kept our interest. 

It was a lovely day, in the low 80s and not too humid. I will have the larger photos and explain more when I can put a post together. Lots of lovely nature. I feel so good getting out in it. It's like a tonic and a breath of fresh air all rolled into one.

More photos either tomorrow or at least within the next few days.

I hope you all have a great day, wishing you peace and thanks for stopping by. 

AIRPLANE WATCHING

A few weeks ago, when our family from Germany was visiting, we took them to The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Not too far from the gates but just outside the complex, we noticed cars parked on the side of the road.  There had been a space made for them to park on each side.

There were several people watching planes landing on one of the runways at Dulles-Washington International Airport. We all fully intended to go back to see this for ourselves. Unfortunately, we ran out of time but...

last Sunday we decided to drive out there and see the planes land. We checked on their flight patterns and we were in luck.  

We both said this was a lot of fun and that we could see ourselves driving over here again.

Gregg has an app on his phone that tells where these planes come from, and where they are heading. He also looks at the app (flightradar24) as it shows all the planes and he could see what direction they were coming in. This one was an Air India flight, out of Vienna, Austria.

This is the information given on our phone for that particular plane.

(The app is free with ads. If you are a plane enthusiast and want to pay the $44 a year you get no advertisements, but we don't mind a few adverts.) 

When we are out sitting on the deck at home we see planes overhead, quite high up. Gregg gets his phone out and tells me which airline, where they are heading and where they flew out of. The novelty hasn't worn off yet. He tells me this app works no matter what part of the world you're in. Below is what you get on your screen.

We spent half an hour or so before the planes stopped coming. I think the wind changed direction and they were maybe landing on another airstrip in the opposite direction. 

Only a few other people were with us watching, a mother with her children and a couple.

We took a lot of airplane photos between us, and here are a few of them.

We had so much fun and I'm not really a plane enthusiast, but I certainly enjoyed these and seeing them land. I wonder what Amelia Earhart and all those other hardy adventurers who started out in the old biplanes on those first flights would think?

I found an old poem that I thought would fit, even though the young man who wrote it flew planes a little further along from the biplane days. It struck a chord. I seem to remember reading it when I was very young during my school days. Does anyone else remember it?

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings’

Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds – and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of – wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlight silence. Hov’ring, and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air…

Up, up the long wind-swept heights with easy grace

Where never lark, or even eagle flew –

And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

High Flight

By

~John Gillespie Magee, Jr.~

When I think of planes, I think of biplanes and that leads me to thinking about Amelia Earhart. I came up with this, with no particular reason other than I liked it and wanted to share.

Thanks for looking and 

I hope your week is going well. 

THE BAKERY AND MUSEUM COMPANY - BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION - 3-18-25

More photos from the place we mention here on my Around and About post, if you missed it. The bakery's website is here where you can scroll to see what they have to offer. No photos of the dishes though. This is when we were celebrating Gregg's birthday on the 18th. We had a lovely time. 

Gregg had his eye on these leather sofas and as soon as they were vacated we moved over from a table we had been sitting. They were very comfortable.

A part of the wall behind us is covered from top to counter with plants. I didn't inspect it to see if they were real, but if not they looked it.

Our darlings on the other side.

Here they are ordering our sandwiches.

I chose this one. It was called The Jack of All Trades, an excellent breakfast sandwich.

This was son's order or it could have been our daughter-in-law's and am not sure what it was called. Gregg had the same as me. 

I will have to study the menu more the next time we go.

The pastries looked good also.

I put the Birthday Boy in the place of honor in center of the collage.

I have been playing with a collage app I downloaded on my iPad. I am not sure if photo collage is its proper name, but this is its symbol.

Gregg enjoyed his birthday and we all had an excellent time at the bakery.

I hope you have had a great week and I wish you all a very enjoyable weekend. 

A FEW FLOWERS

 The flowers I share today have links on their first name where you can read more information.

Florida Swamp Lily goes by other names also, Seven sisters, Southern Swamp Crinum, String lily, American Crinum, Crinum lily and Southern swamp lily.  Botanical name: Crinum americanum.

Autumn sage and its other names are Texas sage, Red Chihuahuan sage, Cherry sage and Gregg salvia. Botanical name: Salvia greggii.

American beautyberry, also known as French mulberry, Beautyberry and Pure beautyberry. Botanical name: Callicarpa americana.

Shell ginger, also called Shellplant, Pink porcelain lily, Indian shell flower, Shellflower, Light galangal, Variegated ginger, Butterfly Ginger. Botanical name: Alpinia zerumbet.

Chinese hibiscus, also known as Shoeblack plant, Rose mallow, Hawaiian hibiscus, Shoe-flower and Tropical hibiscus. Botanical name Hibiscus rosa-sinensis.

Garden cosmos, also known as Tall cosmos, Mexican aster, Cosmos and Annual cosmos. It's botanical name is Cosmos bipinnatus.

That's all for now. I see the weather is warming up this week, so I am looking forward to going for a walk around the botanical garden.

Thanks for visiting, have a great day and I hope the sun is shining where you are.