August

August 1, 2020                                                    Most Recent Posts:
Pandemic Quarantine in August                     July 2020-The Heat Goes On
                                                                                June 2020 – Covid 19 Hits Home

August has seemed like every month from the past 6 months which has seemed like forever.  I can hardly remember when there wasn’t a quarantine and masks.

In particular August has been hot, humid and boring.  There has been nothing but SUN and rain after which I can literally see the grass grow..  Thus I cannot keep up with mowing the yard and the fields looked in early August like they needed their fall mowing right now rather than in early October. 

Like many but certainly not all folks, there isn’t much going on in my life right now.  I’m doing puzzles.  Enjoying my  neighbors feathered and otherwise.

This is a favorite puzzle of mine particularly now since it reminds me of Maine where I would have been for this entire month and part of last had it not been for the pandemic.

I am surprised at how many people continue to travel based on what I read in RVillage and in the Winnebago Brave, Full Timer and other RV groups I read on Facebook.  I guess I’m just not Brave enough.  Pun intended.

Apologies to the turkey hen whom I nearly cut out of this picture as they marched down the field and into the woods.

The heat has brought out the butterfly bushes in the fields.

My hooved neighbors are also ever present and in increasingly large groups.  Good thing I didn’t do any vegetable planting though I’ve certainly been here long enough to have planted, weeded and harvested without having to water much. 

Even with all the unusual rain in August, which is normally a dry month, the grasses are not the dark rich green I would expect.  It’s just been too darn hot.

Yeah they are cute and I took too many pictures of them.  There aren’t many subjects for the camera.

This was a new one for me.  I’d never seen a turkey hen perched on the fence.

I did go on a couple of outings in August.  My friend Mary and I went to Carter’s Mountain Orchard to buy some fresh peaches and have their home made peach ice cream.  JUST the thing on a HOT day.   I picked up my cup to get the ice cream in the selfie and didn’t realize I’d put the spoon handle in my mouth.  Oh well . . .

Mary in mask checking out the peaches for sale.

View over Charlottesville from the top of Carter’s Mountain.

Some of the orchards growing peaches and apples.

Beautiful blue sky puffy cloud day as we head out.  Such regular rows of trees.  Mother Nature definitely doesn’t do things like that.

Few snacks as delicious as southern peaches both white and yellow and blueberries.

We actually went up to the orchard twice.  The second time was when my bowl of peaches looked like this.  I’d bought a 1/2 peck.  Where DID they go?

So much rain, look what’s growing in my grass.  I mowed around them because they were so interesting.  Wish I knew if they were edible but I’m not a mycologist or a risk taker.   Do any of you know what they are?

They were as big as dessert plates and thick.  I love the design on the top. 

Designed by Mother Nature

Look how thick.

Imagine my surprise when I looked out and thought I saw that turkey hen on the fence.  A closer look showed it to be a black vulture.  Usually we have turkey vultures soaring over head.  This was really unusual.

I was walking down the road when I spotted him.  I was amazed at how big he was.  I kept walking and he turned to look right at me.  Perhaps to see if he could intimidate me.  I stopped and watched.  He stayed a bit and then just seemed to stretch out those huge wings and sail away without a sound.

On the side table of this swing facing the west yard and the mountains on a non cloudy day  is a bowl of peaches and blueberries along with the book I was reading.  More on that later.  I took these two pictures of where I was sitting and then decided to take pictures of all the places I sit to read and journal here at the farm.

In the picture below, you can see the “front porch” which faces South and the gravel farm road behind the bench swing.

These are the potential sitting spots on that porch, a swing and a rocker. Look closely for the red chairs behind the swing.  Those are in the East yard where the entrance to the house is.

On the other end of the front porch is this table and chairs for fine outdoor dining and a chance of glimpsing a sunset over the mountains when you can see them which unfortunately isn’t today.

Both the red chairs and the picnic table are in the east yard.  That’s the barnyard beyond them.  The red chairs are another favorite reading spot and the picnic table along with the wrought iron table on the South porch are great lunch spots.

And finally, with the best view of them all is the second story porch off of the master bedroom.  It is often equipped with a Pawley’s Island hammock but always has 3 chairs including two rockers.

Here’s a zoomed picture of the chairs.  The white cable is for the signal booster for my hotspot which enables me to get a modicum of internet out here in the mountains where no internet provider is available.  The hammock is being stored on a hook on the right wall in the picture.

Here’s what most mornings look like when I start out on my walks at 6:30am.

On one particular morning the black buzzard was on the fence and this time I was able to get a picture of him winging away.

Other delights seen on that foggy morning.

Wish I could have been taking a class on mushrooms while being trapped here.  There are so many and they are so varied.  This one is nearly the opposite of the big thick ones in the yard.  So delicate and dainty.

My only other outing this month was with my friend Pam when we returned to Burton’s Grille where I had a Mud Slide and tried again to pretend I was in Bar Harbor by ordering a warm lobster roll with butter.

Both were wonderful as was the company.

In spite of its fairly recent infamy, the city of Charlottesville is a sweet little town though not nearly as little as it was when we moved nearby in 1978.  Still, as a college town, it is expectedly intellectual and artsy.  One of the things I really enjoy is a program called Art In Place which puts sculptured pieces around the town. 

I kept thinking I might be able to get this one with the sun coming up behind its “rays” but that didn’t happen so I’ll just show you what I took on one of the all too familiar cloudy days here this August.

Another form of art around town made me laugh.

Not exactly a bat mobile.

I saw the above car twice on a walk I do in town, but the next time I went by that same spot this one had taken its place.  I don’t think they are the same artist but there was no one around to ask.

Do you think any of this washes off in the rain or is it permanent as in forever?

On that same walk, I was surprised to look up and see this hot air balloon sailing overhead.  Balloons aren’t unusual in the fall here when the trees on the Blue Ridge are turning but August isn’t common I don’t think.  But then it’s been several years since I’ve spent summers in Virginia until this past year with David’s memorial and now this year with covid.  Can’t say 2019 or 2020 are going to be among my favorite years.

Like most of my pictures these days, this one would be better if I had been carrying my canon and not just my phone.

But mostly this month, as I said when I showed all the sitting spots around the house, I’ve been reading and eating.

Here are three of the books that I have been enjoying along with numerous ones on my kindle which you can see sitting by the sandwich in the picture below left.

And some of the eats.  Avocado, tomato and spinach sandwich with home made potato chips at the picnic table.

A salad with yummy fresh tomatoes and Baked potato with sauerkraut and caraway seeds inside while it rains AGAIN.

This is the most common western morning view for me this month.

A second view, this one just before yet another rain in the afternoon.  We seem to have mid 90’s heat and then rain almost daily.  Great for the grass.  Not so great for the one who has to mow it.

I’ll close with another view - a bit of fun.

Our great claw foot bathtub and its excellent view for bubble bath bathing.

Hope you can see the feet.  I didn’t want to use a flash which would wash out the view.  The side of the tub is cranberry red and its feet are the tan on the paper running round the barn board molding.

That’s pretty much my entire month of August 2020.  Thank you for giving me a reason to record it.  Who knows, I “might” want to look back and see what happened.  

But for sure, your comments keep me going.  Hope you all are well and safe.  If you are still traveling, let me know.  Perhaps you’ll encourage me.  I am longing to be back on the road.  I feel time slipping away.  Wish I were 40 with what seemed like infinite time ahead.