Spring Chronicle

 

Continuing my spring chronicle . . .

Compton Oak

 

Linking again today with Skywatch Friday

"Cheery"

 

A "cheery" sight for elementary school students.

Water Wells

 

"The early wells were hand dug, usually round, though there were some large wells that were dug in a square shape. They varied from three to four feet in diameter up to as large as ten feet or more. They had to be at least big enough for a man to swing a pick. The depth of the wells varied from home to home. Sometimes the settler could go twelve feet and have a good water supply, and other times he might have to go down a hundred feet. He would dig until he hit a seep or a stream of underground water which would supply his need. Then the hole was rocked up to hold and protect the water." -- 'Well, Well, Well" by Joe Jeffrey 

Spring Garden

 

One of my favorite Colonial Williamsburg gardens, especially during the spring season.

Hedges

 

In colonial times, and in many gardens today, hedges were used to outline a garden. These were used often as natural fences as well as used for their beauty. In Virginia, boxwoods were a very popular shrub used. A popular use, if one had the money, was to cultivate a maze or labyrinth. 

Well-tended shrubbery presented a place for private conversations and good hiding places for children's games. One could relax in the shade, or follow a trail to the rest of the garden. 

However, because plants like these tended to grow copiously, it was important to keep them in check. Every place a person went, these plants could be seen and recognized." -- National Park Service

Cherry Blossoms

 

I understand that we're experiencing an early bloom this year. Afternoon temps had risen into the low 70s briefly last week, which I suppose is the reason. But we're back into the mid to upper 50s this week. 

Shoulder Month

 

Just the slightest hint that spring is around the corner. March is one of those "shoulder months" here on the Middle Peninsula, when afternoon temperatures can range anywhere from the upper 60s and low 70s to the upper 40s and low 50s. Today, for instance, we're expecting a high of 55. Not quite as pleasant as last Wednesday when I snapped this picture and when the afternoon high was nearly 76. 

Welcome to spring! 

Updated 3/21/2024

Daffs

 

It's beginning to look and feel a lot like spring around here.

Geothermal

 

Geothermal work being conducted under partly cloudy skies on Colonial Williamsburg's Palace Green.

Linking again today with Skywatch Friday.

Isthmus

 

From an article entitle The Great Road by Charles E Hatch, Jr.:

On May 13, 1607, the first permanent English settlers in the New World brought their three ships close to the shore at Jamestown Island, lying prominently in the James River, and began their settlement in Virginia. They established themselves in the western part of the island since here was much of the higher ground, particularly that bordering on the James, and consequently the most suitable part for settlement. It, also, was closer to the isthmus that then connected the island to the mainland, forming, as one contemporary author phrased it, a 'semi-island.'"

Waiting

Waiting for the Jamestown-Scotland Ferry

The Crossing

 

Linking again today with Skywatch Friday from aboard the Powhatan on the James River.

Frigid

 

Haven't ventured out into the cold much in the past several days. This photo was from January 16, 2022. Just goes to show that this week in January is often one of the coldest of the year here.

The Fall

Take just a few days apart, the photo above shows a Gingko tree in all its autumn glory, and then . . .

 

the great fall. :-)

Barn

Peace

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Although I'm quite aware how this is a peculiarly American holiday. I say "peculiarly" because of its odd evolution over the years. Settlers in Plymouth often as not get the credit for the celebration, even though those of us here on the Middle Peninsula lay claim to an even earlier tradition:

"Thanksgiving services were routine in what became the Commonwealth of Virginia as early as 1607; the first permanent settlement of Jamestown, Virginia, held a thanksgiving in 1610. On December 4, 1619, 38 English settlers celebrated a thanksgiving immediately upon landing at Berkeley Hundred in Charles City County, Virginia. The group's London Company charter specifically required "that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned for plantation in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God". This celebration has, since the mid 20th century, been commemorated there annually at present-day Berkeley Plantation, the ancestral home of the Harrison family of Virginia." -- Wikipedia

Still, I find it rather amusing that it wasn't even until the late nineteenth century that the holiday was made official by an act of Congress, a body which has never been known to get much of anything done in a hurry. :-) 

So why the photo above? Well, whenever I think about Thanksgiving, I frequently think of how formidable these shores must have appeared to those folks who landed here for the first time from a more settled existence abroad--deep, seemingly impenetrable forests filled with all manner of as yet unimaginable dangers. No wonder, then, why some of them might have felt a deep sense of relief, not to mention thanksgiving, to have survived even a year upon leaving their homeland. 

Fall Blend

 

A couple of scenes from the Virginia Capital Trail near Greensprings. No vibrant fall colors here for the most part, but still quite lovely with its blend of bronze, yellow, and green.

Layers

 

Virginia Capital Trail