Monday Memories

The last couple of books that I read including the one that I am currently reading took/take place in Virginia in the Blue Ridge Mountains. They made me think back to Woody's and my many journeys to National Institutes of Health (NIH) which took us right through the Blue Ridge area. Tonight's photos I took one of the times that we traveled the Blue Ridge Parkway. This is one of those drives that takes a lot of patience on the part of the driver (Woody) especially! You can't go above 45 mph (and it is a very long road) and then the passenger (me) wants to stop at lots of the overlooks and take a while at those stops taking lots of pictures from various angles which adds to the length of the drive! I think that it was this trip when we were traveling mid-day which isn't the best time to take pictures...just too bright. A lot of my pictures were washed out...but with the marvels of photo software I have been able to change the lighting on most of them. The top picture is taken out over the "Great Valley" which is sandwiched between the Blue Ridge Mts. and the Alleghenies...since I am standing on the Blue Ridge the mountains in the distance are the Alleghenies. This valley stretches from New York to Alabama. The bottom picture is of the James River. The river that so many southern plantations were built along. If I could lazily float along on it, it would take me to my favorite place...Williamsburg! Okay...enough geography, etc. for tonight! My day went back to normal routine. I actually had a normal day of school for the first time since prior to Christmas break. The little boys came for their times and then Elijah and Esther came for their times of reading. And, finally Joy came for her long sewing time. She finished her plaid shirt for her doll and then "played" with the various stitches on the sewing machine. She was the first one to sew on the new sewing table that Goosey (Woody) and I gave to Joy and Esther for Christmas. After lunch Elijah had his long time. He finished a K'nex well that is an example of a wheel and axle. After he finished that, he did some sewing. He wanted to try out the sewing table and tried out different stitches on the machine for the fun of it. I was pretty tired after my long school day and took a fairly long nap after Elijah went home. Woody followed his usual Monday routine...had Bible study with Jeff at Life Care, visited with a friend at Life Care, took a four-mile walk in the afternoon, and then went to Monday night prayer meeting at church. He is now home and we are both settling in for another quiet evening.