PLEASANT VIEW OLD ORDER MENNONITE CHURCH~DAYTON, VIRGINIA

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Allegheny Mountains, Allegheny Mountains, Country Roads. Blue Ridge Mountains, Dayton VA, Heritage Basket Studio, Pleasant View Old Order Mennonite Church

 

 

One day last week I got up early and was in Dayton, Virginia at 6 am, taking pictures of Bowman’s Mill at Silver Lake. I was a beautiful day, lower temperatures in the 70’s with low humidity, what started out to be a couple hours of photography, ended up being nearly 11 hours!

From Silver Lake I drove back West of Dayton to Pleasant View Old Order Mennonite Church, the area in all directions is just plain beautiful, as you can get an idea of the expanse of the valley from various point west of Dayton. The Allegheny Mountains to the west, the Blue Ridge Mountains to the East.

 

Above: Picture Left- Looking S. West from Pleasant View Church to the Allegheny Mountains

Picture Right- Front of Pleasant View Church looking east towards the Blue Ridge Mountains

Along the backroads of Dayton, some gravel and unpaved, other paved, some roads will interconnect with others, and you will end up back where you started if you are not sure where you are going. That does not bother me though, while traveling these back roads, especially when you are doing photography, you see everything differently coming from the opposite direction anyway.

 

This is the problem with todays super highways built for speed of getting from one place to another quickly, you miss the rural beauty that is tucked away in between these super highways. I refer to my trips like these as “Off the Beaten Path” It is just not in Dayton that these exisit, but all over Virginia. Just get off interstate, take a drive in the country.

With that being said, though Dayton, VA and Western Rockingham County offers something that other counties do not, Old Order Mennonites, horse travel is the method of transportation here., I am sure there some in Western Augusta county as well, not quite sure how far spread Old Orders are these days, but it is surprising.

 

 

Standing in the front of Pleasant View Church, looking eastward, you see the Blue Ridge Mountains across the valley, walk to side and back of the church and cemetery and you see the Allegheny Mountains to the west, which is one place that gives you are real sense of the valley east to west.

I will have to add here that the pictures of the horse and buggies in motion are not as clear as I would like, this is due to my being used to shooting flowers, buildings and places (all thing that are not moving) I will have to try to get better at setting the camera to “freeze” the motion. all in time.

 

CHRISTMAS DAY IN THE MIST

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Blue Ridge Mountains, Christmas Day 2015, Christmas Day in the Mist, Eastern Rockingham County, Elkton VA, Fog & Mist, photography

When people talk of a gray day, this is usually not the way it looks, more over cast I believe. Being an early riser, this is what early Christmas morning looked like on the western slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

Though it was kind of quiet and serene that morning. I like black and white photography myself, however this was shot in living color, no extra work involved.

As this new year starts I am looking forward to exploring the world of photography more. I have made a list of places to drive to in the valley, which I want to photography in the mornings/evenings. I would say 90% of them are off the beaten path on horse and buggy roads in western Rockingham County.

There are many other places in that 10% left, as I explore more of Eastern Rockingham Co. and Western Greene County Virginia.

I also am interested and it is on the list to explore the “World Beneath Our Feet” which will come down the road when I can get my Canon 100mm/f2.8l lens. Which opens up an entire new world of true macro photography.

As always you can click on the images to enlarge them which brings out much more detail in the photography over what is shown in this size.

 

 

 

As the Sun is coming up (what Sun)? you ask, well it is way up there somewhere, it is a knock out gorgeous day above the cloud tops!

 

 

SUNRISE SUNDAY

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Blue Ridge Mountains, CLOUDSCAPES, December 27 2015, Skyscapes, Sunrise Sunday, VA Sunrise

It is simply amazing what tranquility exists during the pre-dawn hours each day. Simply sitting in the dark on the balcony each morning well before sunrise each day. There is not even a bird stirring at 4 am, magically they come alive about 5 am, then all of nature seems to spring to life the closer you get to 6:30-7am. All with the sunrise each morning. The quiet hours in the early morning really is a restful and contemplative time “ALONE WITH GOD”.

 

Well this morning something told me to get my camera and I would see the skies come alive and I did, at least it was a special time for me this morning. The sky changes so rapidly at times, it makes me want to learn to use the (what I call rapid fire function) I am sure someone will write and tell me the correct term.

I will not write further the pictures can say it all.

 

 

 

Pre-Dawn Sky with a bright moon (much larger and brighter) than the photograph shows, the first picture is the eastern sky, the moon is the western sky.

 

 

How rapidly the sky can change from fluffy and whispy pink to sold cold dark and grey blue.

 

 

FIRE IN THE SKY!

   

GOLDEN RAYS OF SUNSHINE!

 

 

CONTRASTING CLOUDS IN THE EARLY MORNING SKIES!

 

 

 

GOLDEN RAYS ACROSS THE BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS!

 

CHRISTMAS IS A TIME FOR BAKING

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Art Supplies, CHRISTMAS IS A TIME FOR BAKING, Crunchy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, Gamblin Oil Paints, Molasses Crinkles, Old Fashioned Applesauce Cake, Pan Pastels, Rum Cake, Winsor & Newton

For the first time in about 5 years, I have felt more like my old self. Even though I have not written many blog posts since summer, that is all about to change. I started canning this year again after a long and dreadful absence from my life.

 

Now it is Christmas time, and like everyone else around it is time to bake, as I write this I have the first of three Applesauce Cakes in the oven, you can see the recipe here Old Fashioned Applesauce Cake (my grandmothers) recipe. Though this year I have added Craisins to the recipe, back in 2011 when I posted the recipe I added re-hydrated dried sour cherries.

I also have three Rum Cakes to bake, the recipe for this will follow in and up coming post. I have already started baking Molasses Crinkles which you can click here for the recipe, Molasses Crinkles, as well as Snicker Doodles, recipe in an up coming post. Today I am making the dough for Crunchy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, you will be taken to the recipe by clicking on the name. This year I will make a batch with toasted walnuts and Craisins as well.

Back when my mother was living, she found she really liked Velveeta Fudge, (I know many of you are turning inside out. however it is like she always said Velveeta is about as far from “REAL” Cheese as you can get, it is a cheese food that has all the same ingredients in that we commonly use in baking and cooking anyway. I will be posting the recipes for Velveeta Chocolate Fudge as well as Velveeta Peanut butter fudge. This year I am using a 90% European Chocolate in the fudge.

The last thing will be Chocolate Truffles (Chocolate Ganache) made with 65% European Chocolate (otherwise known a Bittersweet) That recipe is to come as well. 

The only thing that I had planned on making and posting the recipe for was to can Mincemeat, yes the real stuff, not green tomato, not meatless (Mince ) I am hoping in the coming year to try and get the ingredients together to make and can it and post the recipe, this was my grandmothers recipe.

Also in getting back to a normal life is working on art, I am in the process of buying Winsor and Newton professional watercolors, as well a supply of Daler-Rowney watercolor papers, Gamblin Oil Paints, and Pan Pastels. I am looking forward to getting back into and enjoying creativity once again with working on art projects. This was a very important part of my, much like Perennial gardening, and yes even basket weaving, however in the past 5 years basketry seems to have dried up for a time, that is why we need to put our creative energies into art projects like painting (you can do thee much more easily in very confined spaces)

See life is all about learning, a constant learning process that aids in living life, to cease to be creative is to die, or to just Exist in life (I have never been one to just EXIST) I tried the last several years, never to be repeated in this lifetime.  So let the creativity begin! 2016 is a new and glorious year for learning and creating!