Weekend Reflections ~ 7-29-11

This shot was treated with a vintage texture.

Reflections at Lake Robertson

Rockbridge County, VA


"There are two kinds of light - the glow that illumines, and the glare that obscures."  ~James Thurber


This post is linked with Weekend Reflections.

Daily Photo ~ 5-21-11

Train Tracks alongside the Swinging Bridge and under the Road Bridge
  James River ~ Buchannan, VA


"The introduction of so powerful an agent as steam to a carriage on wheels
 will make a great change in the situation of man." 
~Thomas Jefferson, 1802


This post is linked to Weekend in Back and White, the New Home for Monomaniacs.

Sunday Bridges ~ 5-15-11

The following is a series of photos taken in March of this year while we were driving the nearby counties searching for interesting sites to photograph. The Buchanan Swinging Bridge has the original pilings built in 1851. It is 366 feet long and 57.5 feet tall and the only bridge of its type across the James River. It was originally a covered bridge called the Buchanan Turnpike Company Toll Bridge. On June 13, 1864, Confederate General McCausand burned it to prevent the Union troops from crossing the James River on their march south to Lynchburg. They had already burned Virginia Military Institute and occupied Lexington, Va, the town outside of which we live. Following a series of replacement bridges, the present one was constructed in 1939 on the original pilings. 

This gives you a good picture of the pilings.

The car bridge is on the left.

Who in his or her right mind would even think about taking a motorized vehicle on this bridge. The car bridge entry is on the right.

Here is Buddy starting across. It is very sturdy and does not bounce and sway. It is the only swinging bridge I have ever walked across that did not frighten me. It is a wonderful bit of history still in use on a daily basis.

"I never wanted to set the world on fire. 

So I never had to burn any bridges behind me.”
~Dinah Shore

This post is linked to Sunday Bridges, 

Weekend Reflections, and Shadow Shot Sunday.

Daily Photo ~ 5-11-11

Rushes at Abbott Lake ~ Peaks of Otter

“Forests, lakes, and rivers, clouds and winds, stars and flowers, stupendous glaciers and crystal snowflakes - every form of animate or inanimate existence, leaves its impress upon the soul of man.”
~Orison Swett Marden


This post is linked to Watery Wednesday.

Sunday Bridges ~ 4-17-11

For those of you who have been following my seasonable posts about our “Bridge to Somewhere,” I think you will find these shots from today to be interesting. Trust me, I did NOT stand on the bridge to take them! We received over 3 inches of rain in about 3 hours, and it really did a job on our yard and creek. I wanted to share with you what it looked like in our front yard. All I can say is...”It was one noisy, scary sight!”

The roar was unbelievable as the water rushed under the bridge...

When the water gets as high up the stone pilings as you see here, 

I really begin getting nervous.

Close up as best I could capture...

The creek is up above the apple tree...

This is was way the tree looked Friday afternoon at 4:00.

This is our “beachhead.” When I looked out the kitchen window and saw where the water had risen to, I raced down and pulled the chairs back as the water was up to their feet.

This is the “Fire Pit” Gene built us for cooking hot dots, hamburgers, and marshmallows. The water has NEVER gotten up this high in 32 years...not even during the 1985 hurricane...but it surely did today!

Here is a better picture of the water coming into the fire pit, and it also shows the rushing waters as they make the curve on their way to the river. Thank heavens it is all over now, but I am afraid to go out and look in the morning for fear I am going to see much more of our yard eroded away and long gone downstream. 

“No loss by flood and lightening, no destruction of cities and temples by the hostile forces of nature, has deprived man of so many noble lives and impulses as those which his intolerance has destroyed.

~Helen Keller

This post is linked to Louis la Vache’s

San Francisco Bay Daily Photo

and

Watery Wednesday.

If you want to drink some excellent coffee or tea, go online and order from Louis La Vache’s “Holy Cow Coffee Company”. We are return customers many times over and highly recommend them both.