This week took me to stores in Virginia and West Virginia, along route 60. I have only one picture, even though West Virginia has some truly great scenery even here at the edge of it. I worked some long hours in the freezers, and after work did such things as buy propane and work out at Curves and buy a pair of pants in a size I haven't worn in 3 years - AND THEY FIT! But that's hardly blogging material.

Last week, however, I worked in Winchester, VA. It was a treat to stay at the Izaak Walton League's park.

(You have to be a member.) It was quiet and peaceful - and dark! I usually camp where I'll be working and supermarket parking lots are generally well lit. While camped I grilled the ostrich burger I'd bought frozen on my way back from NC last month. It was delicious. Then I sat out in the evening playing my guitar with a couple of deer for an audience. It was neat that they didn't mind my presence; they just went on munching on the pear trees. I tried to get a picture of them but it was too dark.

I went to the State Arboretum, which is on Rte 50, east of Winchester, just past 340. Lots to see. The Quarters, the main building, is supposed to have been slaves quarters for the plantation of which this was once part.











There are many trails and many many plants. I took the native plant trail.















It was brought home to me that Fall has befallen us.





















Many plants I know well in their summer glory were there, nearly brown, nearly bare. Definitely fall. (Besides, Sue says, the lightning bugs are gone.)





















I had to get a picture of this grumpy ol' tree











My last assignment for the week was in Chantilly. I went there via Snickersville Turnpike. Besides having the interesting name, this road was a tantalizing treat to drive. Miles of overhanging trees and fieldstone walls. A large tudor / fieldstone barn. A really really neat log house. Another house (?) with many pointy roofs that I wanted a closer look at. Well-fed trees. And not a single place an RV could pull over so the driver could take pictures!

The one picture from this week is one I've wanted to take for a long time. There's a house along Route 60, just west of the Buena Vista Food Lion, that is the most unusual architecture I've seen. Complete with handle and spout, it's a coffee pot! There's not a real convenient place to park a motorhome within sight of it, so this pic was taken on my phone's camera while I was in the turn-around.

It's empty right now but it used to be the James River Basin Canoe Livery. Although the website, http://www.roadsideamerica.com/set/coffee.html, where I found that info claims it's been shorn of its coffee pot elements, it obviously still has them.

And what I forgot to say - I'd have sworn I posted this - but the roof repairs worked. After we patched the roof with the eternabond, we've had LOTS more rain, but none inside!