We were at The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley in Winchester. I had wanted to see the Scraposaur Exhibition on display in their garden, and Gregg always loves a drive out there. The sign is at the entrance. There were a few people already walking around, as I mentioned in my other post, children amongst them, but we arrived not too long after opening time at 10:00 a.m., and it was still very quiet (closed on Mondays if I remember correctly. It is best to check their website at the link above to verify, in case you find yourself in the area).
By the time we left, there were a few more people. This is a view from where I was sitting on a bench underneath a very nice shade tree. I was waiting for Gregg to come back with the car. I want to mention how warm and friendly we find the people in this area. The lady at the kiosk for instance. She was a delight and had that old-world charm that I find so welcoming. But I am getting a bit ahead of myself.
I had fun taking photos of the potted plants next to the entrance gate.
I always like to get ideas of what to put in the larger plant pots I have at home.
As we stepped into the garden, we found an information board introducing artist Dale Lewis. You can click on any of these photos to see more details.
The first 'Scraposaur' we saw was Little Susie, inspired by an amazing story of a T Rex named Sue found in South Dakota in 1990.
There are three websites I enjoyed browsing through about her discovery. One at this link and another here, and the third looking at a video on YouTube here.
I cropped the facts from the sign to make it even easier to read. The two that jumped out at me was that the original Sue roamed the earth 67 million years ago and was only half grown at 13 feet tall and 42 feet long.
We had fun looking at her and figuring out what scrap parts had been used to put her together.
The ingenuity of such a task impressed both of us.
I was really taken with her red glass eyes, which she was using to study me as much as I was studying her, it seemed.
Moving on, we made our way into another part of the garden where they grow a lot of produce - and flowers. All the gardens I have visited in these many years, have an area where they grow food to give to local families in need.
I put this small collage together and have included names this time.
This photo shows more of these neat looking tendrils of the Bitter Lemon climbing up the trellis work. Yes I take photos of everything except I think this is Gregg’s photo, so he does too.
But, Dino was demanding attention and giving me the eye.
You may remember Dino. He was the family pet in the TV cartoon show, The Flintstones.
Like any pet, he demanded lots of fussing. I was happy to oblige, and he enjoyed having his photo taken.
Here is his information.
The next sculpture? Dragonflies!
So, how long have they been around? My curiosity search found that they are believed to have originated approximately 300 million years ago, during the late Paleozoic period.
Dragonflies are among the earliest winged insects to evolve. 300 million years' ago this is when their ancestors, sometimes called griffinflies, first appeared. At a time when the earth had more oxygen levels and swampy environments (the Carboniferous period), it is thought this supported the larger size of some early dragonflies. Some had wingspans of up to two-and-a-half feet. While modern dragonflies are smaller, their body plan has remained relatively consistent for 300 million years.
I found more scrap forks and a couple of spoons at the end of the dragonfly's abdomen. There's a very interesting page on the biology of a dragonfly here.
Today I am going to finish with the dragonflies as I still have a few more photos, enough for at least one more post.
All for now!
