Thankful Sunday

 I am thankful for gardening advice.

Cucumber trellis in Uncle Billy's garden

This summer, Ward built a deer and rabbit fence around our garden area, and it has helped. It has also expanded the area available for plantings. Now I have to design how to best use the additional space. I want to do some raised beds to take me into the future, when the back and knee issues will be hindering. These will not be easy to move once in place, so I need a plan. It's a big project that seems overwhelming. 

I asked Uncle Billy to walk around his garden to look at spacing and get his advice on various plants since he has been doing this for a long time. Of course, there is a lot of information available online, but it's not the same as seeing and hearing things in person. 

So, as I make my garden plans, I am thankful to Uncle Billy for sharing his wisdom with me.

Go Fever

 Do you ever have that restless feeling when you don't want to stay at home with the routine things that need to be done? Do you feel like you need a change of pace, even if it is just for a short while? That's what I call Go Fever. And I had a case of that this morning. I told Ward what I was feeling, and he was game for an outing. We decided to check out a cave that we had recently heard about that was only 40 minutes away. We headed for Camel's Den Cave in Patapsco Valley State Park. 

Patapsco Valley State Park is a large park running 32 miles along the Patapsco River. The cave was a short walk from the Daniels parking area.

The trail started next to the Patapsco River (looks like a small pond here).

The trails were generally sandy and surrounded by Japanese stilt grass.

Japanese stiltgrass was introduced to this country over 100 years ago in some packaging material. It has become invasive since then.

We had to cross two streams on the way to the cave. Luckily, neither of us fell on the slippery rocks.

Camel's Den Cave. It is a tectonic cave, meaning it was formed by tectonic forces, unlike most caves, which are formed by the dissolution of rock (such as limestone). It was small by most cave standards, only going about 20' back from the entrance.

On the way back to the car, we saw a great blue heron.

Ward wanted to see the Daniels Dam, just down the road. The dam was built originally in 1833 and was used to power mills in the area. 

The mills have long since closed, and the dam is no longer needed. The Dept. of Natural Resources has just begun a study on removing the dam to improve fish passage. Three other dams upstream have already been removed.* 

The town of Daniels was a company town for a cotton mill. The mill was active from the 1830s to the 1960s. Hurricane Agnes in 1972 wiped out the town, and this church on the hill above the dam was the only surviving structure.

We hiked to the top of the hill to get a better look at the church. 

There was a nice view from the top. 

We made it back to the car just as it started to rain. We were stuck in road construction traffic on the way home, but it was all good because I had packed snacks. All in all, it was an excellent cure for my Go Fever.

Until next time...

* The DNR sign put an apostrophe in the Daniels name, but that's incorrect.

Wordless Wednesday, A walk around the yard

Thankful Sunday

I am thankful for friendships.

Recently, I was able to spend time with a friend from Seattle who was in the area visiting her son and his family. We had crepes for brunch and then walked around the charming town where her son lives. Because we live on different coasts, this was a rare and special treat. 

Since our meeting, I've been singing a song I learned in scouts.

Make new friends

But keep the old

One is silver and the other's gold.

Now, if I can just get Ward to sing it with me in a round, the experience will be complete. But until then, I am thankful for friendships.

Until next time...

WV Trip 2026, Spencer

 Recently, Ward and I took a trip to West Virginia to visit family and friends. I am sharing parts of that trip here. 

When I last left you, we had just arrived in Spencer, my hometown. Spencer is a town of around 2,000 people and typifies WV, which is made up of mostly small towns and rural areas. In fact, the two largest cities, Charleston (the state capital) and Huntington, are small by many standards, with populations under 50,000.

Aerial view of Spencer when I lived there. There have been some major changes in businesses, but basically, the town is the same.

The goal of this outing was to visit a couple of friends. But first, we did a little touring around town. Spencer had two new things that I had read about and wanted to see. 

First was a new little league field, and next was a giant flag erected for the 250th anniversary of the US. Both of these were projects of the Freshwater Foundation. Freshwater Foundation was founded by a local man who started with manual labor in oil and gas fields in the area and gradually formed the large company he has today. Besides providing scholarships for trade schools, he is building things in the community that they wouldn't have been able to provide otherwise.

Sign at new little league field: "Please Remember...These are kids. This is a game. Coaches are volunteers. Umpires are human. Your child does not play for MLB."

The field is new and state-of-the-art. The previous field often flooded, and Mr. Freshwater wanted a place where the kids didn't have to play in the mud. (BTW, the field was fenced, blocking the view, and we had to peer between the cracks to see. Pictures were not easy.)

Next up was the largest flag in WV in honor of the US's 250th anniversary.  It was erected on Flag Day, June 14, 2026, and hopes to bring some tourism to the area. Of course, we saw it from far away, but decided to hike to the hill it was located on.

And that's where things went a bit off the rails. It was hot and buggy, but we hiked up the hill anyway. Then at the top, there was some confusion, and we ended up back at the car, irritated without having seen everything we had set out to see. 

The flag sits on top of State Hospital Hill, where Spencer State Hospital was. The hospital opened in 1893 and operated for almost 100 years. Then, it sat empty for 15 years until Walmart tore it down and opened a store. These were the ruins of the hospital farm superintendent's house we saw.

And that was when Ward and I lost track of each other; I headed for the hill with the Civil War cemetery because from afar I saw a flag there.

And Ward, who has a better sense of direction, headed for the big flag.
By the time we found each other, we decided to move on. There are all kinds of interesting things around the flag to see, but I will have to see them the next time. Fun fact. The pole is 140' tall.

However, we did accomplish the main goal of the trip and spent time visiting with old friends. 

We visited with Donna and her husband. Her yard was filled with beautiful flowers, and I liked her sign, "Donna's Garden".

Next was Lois and her husband. Lois and I were cheerleaders together in high school and write old-fashioned snail mail letters to each other.

We took a different route home and went through Ripley,  Granny Sue's territory.

We made it back to Williamstown in time to have a s'mores party with more of my cousins. A fun end to a busy day.

Next time, I'll finish with a few odds and ends.

Until then...