Pond and mountains

Cyrus McCormick Farm - Raphine, Virginia 

Earlier this month I made another visit to coastal North Carolina. Hope you will stop by next week for some pictures taken while exploring a lovely cypress swamp in Merchant Millpond State Park.

Enjoy the weekend and thanks for reading Photography In Place.

Montpelier Hunt Races

Montpelier, Virginia 

Friends invited me to attend the 78th running of the Montpelier Hunt Races at Montpelier, the family estate of President James Madison. The event was held on a cool fall Saturday morning on the first weekend of November. This was my first time at a steeplechase event, and it was more difficult to photograph than I imagined. I was not prepared for the speed of the horses, and catching them as they came over the jumps took reflexes better than I possess.

After the first race my friend previewed the photos I had taken and tactfully advised me that it was best to get the whole horse in the frame. She was right, of course, and I did better by switching to a wider lens, but this shot does suggest a bit of the intensity and speed of the race.

These horses are approaching the jump. If you look closely at the two horses in the lead you can see that they are both completely airborne, with all four hooves off the ground.

Grist Mill

McCormick Farm - Raphine, Virginia

The grist mill on the grounds of the Cyrus McCormick farm. This photo was taken during my visit there in October.

Clabber Girl

Brookhaven, Mississippi

"Wash house" on Route 33

Lydia, Virginia 

We photographed this house on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains in January 2011, but the wash was not out that day (see this post). I have been meaning to get back and get a picture of the house when the wash was on the line on the front porch. This picture was taken the last weekend in October while there was still some autumn color on the mountain.

Please visit Photography In Place Print Gallery website to purchase a print of "Wash House on Route 33"

Thanksgiving 2012

Greene County, Virginia 

We will be taking a short break over Thanksgiving and will resume our regular schedule on Monday, November 26th . This year, our Thanksgiving story is called The Squirrel and the Crow 

Have a great day tomorrow and thanks for reading Photography in Place. 

The Squirrel and the Crow 

A Thanksgiving Fable

One chilly November morning, a gray squirrel was gathering food for the winter. He was a very gray gray squirrel, for he had seen many seasons come and go, and he knew just where to hide his winter food, safe from nosy groundhogs and thieving bluejays. Soon the winter snows would fall.

Presently, he came to a road that runs through the wood. He stopped on the edge of the road, flicking his tail nervously. Just then, he heard a loud voice, coming from high above, and he looked up to see a shiny black crow high on a branch overhead.

"CAW! Be careful friend, for a dangerous menace hurtles up and down this path, and it flattens any creature that gets in its way." The crow was hungry and quickly made a plan. "Wait, and I will watch  and tell you when it is safe to cross, for I have keen eyes and from my branch I can see very far."

The squirrel settled on his haunches beside the road. He arranged his tail into a question mark over his back and waited. He waited for what seemed like a very long time before the crow spoke again.

"Get ready!" the crow cawed and spread his wings. "Now! Now! Now!"

But the gray squirrel, instead of starting across the road, turned and looked up at the crow. "Thank you, kind crow!" he called, but his words were drowned out by the roar of a big black car that hurtled down the road just as he spoke. The disappointed crow flew off  and the gray squirrel scurried safely into the woods on the other side of the road.

Back in his warm den, the squirrel ate a feast of hickory nuts and some red berries that he had saved special to celebrate the beginning of winter. Then he burrowed into his nest and arranged his tail to keep his feet warm. The light was fading and he listened to the sound of the wind in the trees.

It is a good thing to always give thanks, he thought to himself and soon he was sound asleep.

Autumn farm #2

Greene County, Virginia