gone to Portugal

be gone until September 22. You can find me at my travel blog here.

no explanation

Our wood stove has been moved by forces we cannot explain. This cast iron is the single heaviest object in our home, it cannot be moved by either of us alone.

Today, I noticed that the stove had been moved about 5 inches in a way such that the connection with the stove pipe was now at an angle. Here are the pictures I took of the movement. I am almost positive that this movement happened last night or early this morning, I think I would have noticed this fairly significant crooked aspect of the stove as soon as I saw it.

I took this picture and labeled to show the movement marks. This stove is so heavy that it took both John and me to move it back to the proper position lined up with the stove pipe and parallel to the lines on the stove pad (composite stone material). Nothing else around the stove, nothing else in the house has been moved or changed position at all.

This is extremely strange and quite frankly, a tad creepy. Anyone....thoughts on this?

Independence day in Independence, Virginia

mountain mushrooms

close up of the surface of some kind of Boletus mushroom
Reishi mushrooms have been used in traditional Chinese medicine as a herbal medicine for more than 4,000 years, making it one of the oldest mushrooms known to have been used in medicine.

fit for a cake

I think the rododendren blossums look like a confection fit for a fancy cake

fishing in the trout pond

camp by the creek