The Persiods

The Persoids is an annual meteor shower that occurs in early to mid-August. The meteors are caused by a stream of debris left over from the tail of Comet Swift-Tuttle.

You can see it in the northern sky where I live.

I decided I wanted to try to catch a meteor on film. I decided to use my Nikon Coolpix P500, which does not have the best manual settings, but does have some. It is a point-and-shoot with a zoom lens, but it is not a DSLR.

We had a bit of cloud cover. I shot this at dusk, using the "dust/dawn" setting on the camera. I also used a tripod AND used the self-timer on the camera in order to avoid shaking anything.

The streak in this picture is an air craft, not a meteor.

However, the little tiny streak in this picture is, I think, a meteor, though I won't swear to it. It only showed up in this one shot, though, whatever it is. I suppose it could be a plane or a satellite.

Here it is again with a line drawn around it so you can see it better.

All in all, considering the camera I was using really isn't made for taking pictures like this, I was pleased with these results. At least the stars are in the sky and I did catch *something* on film. I took well over 150 shots just to catch this little blip.

I had better results using the dusk/dawn setting on the camera than I did using the manual setting and fiddling with the menus. Something to note if you want to try this yourself sometime with a point-and-shoot digital. The scene settings do make a difference.

It's a Sunshine Day

Smile! It's Monday!

Lace for the Queen

When I was small, we always called Queen Ann's Lace a chigger bush.

Chiggers are a type of mite that bites your legs and makes you itch.

Apparently my mother was not the only one who advised her children to stay away from this particular weed for this reason. I googled "chiggers" and found where other people were asking the question on yahoo.

One article I read this morning said this weed is edible. And then I learned that this plant is not native to North America. It came here from Europe. It is actually a type of carrot! So the root is indeed edible.

However, the plant leaves are toxic.

And there are those chiggers, too.

The West Virginia State Fair

The West Virginia State Fair started yesterday and runs through August 18. It is located in Lewisburg in Greenbrier County, WV. It's about 1.5 hours up the road from where I live, give or take a stop.

I was a child when I was last at this fair; I have a vague memory of going with my parents. This fair has been around for many years; it's been the official state fair since 1941.

Anyway, enough of that. You don't want a history lesson, you want to see photos!

To reach the fair from the main parking lot, you have to walk up and over a bridge across the road. This is a shot from the bridge, with the camera over my head to get above the chain-link fence.

Ah, the food! Snow cones and hots dogs and pizza, oh my!

I am a big fan of cotton candy, a treat I only get at fairs. Which is to say, not often! At $5 a pop, I'd better enjoy it, eh?

The rides.

What we really came for. The agriculture stuff. Tractors! And more tractors!

Old antique tractors, all in a row.

Doesn't this look like the best southern food shack EVER? FRIED GREEN TOMATO SANDWICHES! BROWN BEANS AND CORNBREAD! Who could resist?

We like old things, and this grist mill, circa 1870, was no exception.

We watched it grind grain for a good while. Plus it was in the shade and the sun was relentless between the clouds.

The quilts! Aren't they lovely?

A final shot of a one of the rides.

What's a carnival without a lot of color, eh?

If you are local and have never been to the West Virginia State Fair, you should check it out. We left home about noon and arrived around 2:30 (we made stops at other places). We only stayed for about three hours - between the heat, the threat of rain, and the thickening crowds, that was long enough for us. We were back home by 7 p.m.

One of the nicest afternoons I've had in a while!

**Photos taken with my Nikon Coolpix L22**

A Little Bird Told Me

Thursday Thirteen

13 images of deer for your fun and enjoyment!

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 254th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Linking up with Wordless Wednesday for the 6th time.

Barn Burning

Saturday evening a thunderstorm rolled through. We went out to dinner, and as we made our way back home, we noticed smoke rising over near the farm where I grew up, and where my father and brother still live.

So we drove over.

One of the neighbors, who also is one of my husband's cousins, had lost a barn.

This was a pole barn that was about 10 years old.

It had about 400 rolls of hay stored inside.

The fire department was there, but the structure was gone when they arrived. They decided to soak the ground around the barn and let it burn.

Barns sometimes catch fire because they have hay in them that has been put up too wet or green. As green or wet hay dries, chemical changes cause heat, which eventually creates a fire. However, the owner said he had not put up hay for at least month, and since we'd just had a storm, lightning seemed the most plausible cause.

You just never know!


*For the first time ever, I have linked up with Barn Charm at the suggestion of one of my readers.*

Books: I Still Dream About You

I Still Dream About You
By Fannie Flagg
Copyright 2010
Read by the author

The author of Fried Green Tomatoes can still spin a good southern yarn.

She offers up some quirky characters in her latest book. Maggie Fortenberry is an aging former Ms. Alabama who has decided to kill herself.

This in and of itself is not funny, and I confess it made me more than a little uncomfortable. Maggie is very organized and she had thought out her plan for a long time before she decided to put things in motion.

But she keeps getting interrupted, and she has to stall her plans again and again.

Maggie's predicament is not amusing, and frankly I had a hard time feeling bad for this woman. She was lonely but she had a fairly nice life. She wanted to die more out of vanity and fear of growing old and wrinkled than because she was depressed.

Fortunately the author led us off into other relationships to take us away from the heaviness of the topic. Her other characters - Babs the evil real estate agent, Hazel, the midget with the business acumen of Warren Buffet, and Brenda, the African American who would be mayor of Birmingham, were enough to keep me listening.

Flagg also tossed in some Birmingham history that I think probably has some truth to it, though I don't know and would have to defer to the area historians on that to be sure.

I don't think this book stands up to some of Flagg's better works, but then it is hard to beat something that was ultimately nominated for an Academy Award, like Fried Green Tomatoes.

However, this is not a bad read, and if you're interested in old southern ladies, or just want a southern read, then you might want to give this one a try.

A New Look

At the end of May, I wrote about my 20-year-old bedspread and matching curtains, and how I would like a change.

This is what I had.

The set held up very well, a testament to the quality of the items as well as, I say somewhat immodestly, my efforts to take care of our things.

I looked but could not find a matching bedspread and curtain set that I liked.

So I ended up with a bedspread from Belk and curtains from JC Pennys.

The bedspread is actually a thin white quilt with some flowery design.

The curtains are a denim blue. There is a little white stitching in the curtains that doesn't show up in these photos. The stiching helps keep them from being boring. If the link above works, you can see the stitching in the JCP photo.

It is a different look for our bedroom. I imagine it will take a while to get used to it. But maybe not. Everything else is the same.

At least with the solid color I have more options as far as the bedspread, should I decide to change it. And I did not pay so much for these curtains that I expect to hang on to them for 20 years like I did the last set. Plus, being so dark, I think they will fade in a while.

Anyway, that's my redecorating.

Raindrops on Roses

After one of our recent thunderstorms, I noticed my roses were in full bloom. I slipped out and shot a few photos before the raindrops dried.

Unfortunately, I don't know the names of my roses. Most of them were gifts to me, and the names have been lost.

I think I shall call this one Helga, just because.

I shall name this one Atlas.

I dub thee Hermes, O Sweet Red Rose.

And I shall whisper out Aphrodite's Tears when I see you, O favored rose.

And you I will name First Born, because you are the blooms from the first rose I planted, over 20 years ago.

Goshen

Virginia is full of small communities that once were thriving areas. Botetourt County has a number of them - Lignite, Spec, Nace, Trinity, Woodland, Haymakertown, to name just a few. Most of the rural localities in this part of the state have these little population areas.

There is even a book called Lost Communities of Virginia, by Terri Fisher, et al, which documents this mostly Appalachian evolution.

Not far from the Goshen Pass, the town of Goshen is one of those communities. It was once a thriving resort and industrial community. Now it has about 400 residents.

There is still some local industry, though.

One large company makes wooden palettes.

We drove through the community while visiting Goshen Pass. Like many of these places, the fire department building was the newest and nicest municipal building. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture.

Most of Goshen that we passed through looked like the above, sort of forlorn and forgotten.

This water tower has an interesting character, though, and I was taken by it. Even with the graffiti.

The state apparently restored this bridge. I found a youtube video about it. You can watch the promo for the video here: it has some interesting footage of the town as it was developing. The bridge was originally built in 1890 and it was restored by the state in 2001.