A New Look at the Buchanan Swinging Bridge

This week I am sharing with you the Buchanan, VA, Swinging Bridge which I posted last year, but this time it is spring rather than winter and my little Eloise is with me. If you have the time, be sure to go to Erin Henderson’s "The Good Life in Virginia." to see some magnificent shots of the bridge. I promise you it will be worth your time. Never in my lifetime will I be able to take and post pictures of that quality. This wonderful bridge dates back before the Civil War. During the war it was destroyed but built back on its original pilings.

Last  Tuesesday I put Eloise in the car and headed off for the swinging bridge and the zoo in Roanoke. I will always remember this day because it was on our way home that evening )after eating dinner in town at her favorite restaurant)  that we saw the huge fire ball up on the mountain up above the house. That was the night that Eloise slept in her shoes so she could get out fast if we were told to evacuate. FYI....the Rich Hole Fire is now contained and no longer a danger to any of us. No lives or homes were lost. I am hoping that all the other four are under full control .

These photos were taken once we had crossed the bridge to see the train tracks and were heading back. That way the light was better. The car bridge is up and off to the left. They are all SOOC.

Eloise has finally gotten used to me always taking pictures of her.

Here she is truckin’ right along. This bridge is so sturdy that you HAVE  to  force it to swing to feel the movement...my kind of swinging bridge. You can see the car bridge in this photo.

This is the end by the little town of Buchanan, VA. For some reason it really slants down on the right side. It is worse getting on the bridge than getting off because for some reason you feel more off balance.

She was reading the sign that says nothing but “walkers” 

are allowed on the bridge.

This post is linked with Sunday Bridges, Sunday SOOC, and Shadow Shot Sunday 2.

Our Dog Jack

Our Jack at Age 12


"To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring - it was peace.”
  ~Milan Kundera

This post is linked with Weekend in Black and White.

Some Vintage Treasures on Rednesday

Some of Genie’s Household Treasures

The hand beater and rolling pin were my mother’s.

The rooster pot was a Christmas gift from a special friend
and fellow teacher. 

This post is linked with Vintage Thingy Thursday at Colorado Lady and Rednesday over at Sue Loves Cherries

Rich Hole Wilderness Area Continues to Burn

These pictures were taken at a good distance from the actual fire. I am not about to go sightseeing to get a better shot of a big forest fire. As of tonight, the winds have changed and blowing back towards us...not good. 12,000 acres  have already burned and the fire is only 30% under control. I still have all important documents and the lock box key on the dining room table ready to leave if we get that feared knock on the door. There are 4 other fires still burning, and today the “Monster Museum” burned while fire fighters fought it for over two hours. There are lots of questions and theories going around...the scariest one being that the fires were intentionally set. We are supposed to get a bit of rain tomorrow, so if it gets here it will help a lot. This is definitely Our World Tuesday and a very scary one.

This post is linked with Our World Tuesday.

in the picture ~ {a piece of me} ~ #16 ~Eloise and Baga

My son brought Eloise over to Charlottesville to meet up with Buddy and me after I finished with all of my tests at UVA Hospital. he wanted to have an early Camp Baga over spring break. That night I had to stay quiet and when in bed I had to have 2 pillows under my head. I could not lie down because the dye could go to my head and cause a horrible, longterm headache. So here we are in MY bed watching Eloise’s Angelina Ballerina shows on NetFlix. She is eating a frozen yogurt stick. I was on water. My granddaughter really took very good care of her old Baga.

This post is linked with

in the picture {a piece of me}

sponsored by The Urban Muser.

A Piece of Me ~ {in the picture}~ #15 ~ Genie’s Myelogram

I am a week late posting this selfie because I was out of commission. Last Monday I had to go to UVA for a myelogram of my back, a CT scan,  a bone density test, and finally an appointment with my neurologist who specializes in Scholiosis {curvature of the spine}. What a LONG day it was, but I did survive it. I took this picture after the radiologist had injected the dye into the liquid sac around my spine. Since my spine is like a complete S - 2 curves - the poor technicians had a heck of a time getting the dye to go up the Yellow Brick Road to the home of the Wizard of Oz. Each time it would get to a bit of a curve it would stop. Then the techs would tilt me up, down, sideways, foam under the head, foam not under the head...and all the time they were doing this I could NOT raise my head. Trust me, it was like a three ring circus in there. We were all giggling and having the best time. I am one that is always determined to make lemonade when given a bunch of lemons. There was no pain involved except when they injected the lignocaine at the point where the real needle had to go. My legs cramped a lot from the irritation brought n by the dye and my head felt like it was going to burst. That gradually got better as time went on.  I got to watch the whole thing on the the big overhead computer screens.It’s unbelievable how far medicine has come in my lifetime. The techs cracked up when I told them about my being a middle school prison matron, the blog, and my selfies. I explained could not go a Monday without taking one so it had to be there in that room with me on the table. This is it...SOOC.

I also took this one so you could see the dye as it was moving up my spine. You can also see some of one of the curves and my poor old discs. This was at the beginning of the procedure so I still had a long ways to go. They are supposed to be nice little rectangles all lined up in a row, but that is not the case. They all look like a varmint had bitten a half circle out on each side and then moved the disc around just for fun :-) All the little spikes coming off the discs are from osteoarthritis. We also found my left hip had been eaten on by the varmints leaving me with less mass. Now I am on copious amounts of calcium and Vitamin D. If any of you are told you have to have a myelogram, do not fear. It is not nearly as painful as giving birth or breaking a bone and the information your doctor gets from it is invaluable. We now know if it continues to worsen with age he CAN operate on me successfully fusing  2 discs at the neck and 2 in the lower lumbar. For now I refuse to even consider that as a possibility. Pain shots in the back and anti spasm drugs are the route I have elected to take. I am still so lucky. I could be ill like so many of my friends and unable to work or hike, or do the things I adore doing. I can still do them all, but I must do them carefully. So there you have it and it is SOOC. My selfie from last Monday. This weeks is a cute one with my Eloise.

This post is linked with:

{in the picture} on Flickr

sponsored by The Urban Muser.

Start Your Week with Tulips

"Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers 
Iwhere I can walk undisturbed." 

~Walt Whitman

This post is linked with:

Macro Monday

Mellow Yellow Monday
I Heart Macro

A Very Smokey "Big Spring" ~ Part II

 Here is Part II of my photos from Big Spring here in Rockbridge County. I hope you enjoy them. All the skies which are gray are caused by the forest fire very close to our house. IF you are curious to see the pictures from the first installment here is the link:

http://climbingthedigitalmountain.blogspot.com/2012/04/big-spring-rockbridge-county-virginia.html

These three  all shots of the old building where they brought the cows before sending them off to the slaughter houses. The original signs are still hanging.

 This is the small old barn across the Big Spring lake.

I love the fact they the owners who built this new barn put an old timey porch swing on the front.

They are LOTS of wood still cut and ready to burn, but we did have a cool winter this year.

Another side view of the new barn.

This was taken across the road from the new barn. The sky and the building are beautiful. You can see the old homeplace in the distance. It was taken on a different day from the others.This is the one shot of the whole batch that shows a gorgeous sky. The other are consumed with the smoke from our mountain forest fire which came way tooooo close to out house. The Rich Hole Fire is still only 30 %under control. My post before this one tells a bit about the 5 different fires. 

 This is a better shot than the one in my post last week. It shows how the lake wraps around the back of the house. Look closely and you will see their chairs overlooking the water and cows grazing on the other side. The interstate (I-64) that had to close during the fires earlier this week is in the background.

 I went back with Eloise to get this shot of the house. It is much prettier here than last week’s  picture. It is one heavenly place to live.

This post is linked with:

Barn Charm

Sign, Signs

Skywatch Friday