The River House

When I first moved to the River House, I thought I'd be there for a year, at most. 4 years later, I have made the transition to a new home in a new town. This place was my haven and I enjoyed my time there immensely. I am SO GRATEFUL to have been able to be there--thanks to the owners who are dear family friends and John Morgan, who gave me a means to support myself. So in honour of my life out there,  I thought I'd post some of my favourite pix.

My sweet River House.  :-)


Summer time.

Pears

YUMmy apples!

I love all the seasons, but I think Autumn has to be my favourite.

Winter sunset.

Heading up my driveway.



Rainy March day with spring just around the corner.

Spring!

Side of house; 2 car garage (handy in the winter). AWESOME back porch!

Before I moved in, when Mum enticed me to "just  take a look."

Moving Day. My dogs Barkley in the front, and Remi.

First month; the River House goes retro.

View from My Windows

 

Historic Blizzard of 2010. 5 days no water or electric. Click HERE. Pretty AWESOME experience.

 

View out kitchen

That dark little blurry spot to the lower leftish of the window is a hummingbird that flew inside. I managed to catch it & it went completely still in my hand. Then I walked out to the back porch, opened my hand, and off it flew!

Snow on March! Click HERE for more pix

The Front Porch

Great place to have my morning cup of tea and watch the sun rise.

This was shortly after I moved in, pictured here with my sweet Remi.

The Front Yard

Directly off the front porch overlooking the mountains. You can't see the Shenandoah River until winter, but it's down there. This field is also where the deer sleep at night. It's a pretty amazing site when the fireflies come out in June!

Now you can see the river.  See the snowy frostiness on the mountains to the right?

Another winter scene.

SPRING!

RAINBOW!

And another rainbow in the autumn.

Mum called me from across the river & waved to me.  :-) So I took a pic.

Sunrises

One of my favourite things to do is watch the sunrise. I was really spoiled before I moved here because I was living on the water on Kent Island. But as I was sifting thru all my pix, I realized that I have had a lot of really WONDERFUL sunrises here--truly spectacular!

As I grow older, the identification with the here and now is slowly lost. One feels dissolved and merged into Nature. The greatest experience we can have is the mysterious. ~Albert Einstein

First River House sunrise.

This is 2 minutes after the photo from above.

Winter sunrise. See that strip of white? That's the river frozen over.

Birthday Sunrise, 2011  :-)

Gorgeous pinky-sunrise clouds.

December 30, 2010

  Not to diss previous sunrises, but: Best River House sunrise ever!

Back Porch 

Maggie & Millie on the back porch.



Hanging out on the back porch. I had my wood delivered & loaded directly onto the porch.

Snowy day.

One of my favourite images; the girls hanging out with fresh laundry on the line.

Ever vigilant.

Overlooking the Clothes Line

Morning light in May. Maggie & Millie come back from their stroll.

11-5-10

Off the back porch, overlooking my clothesline & driveway.

The first year I was here, there was an ice storm. BEAUTIFUL!

Springtime with Maggie & Millie.

Tulip Poplar tree directly off the back porch.

Overlooking the Wood Shed / Back Yard

GLORIOUS winter sunset.

Blizzard-dusting view off back porch.

Off the back porch, where the hummingbird feeder hangs in warmer weather.

Autumn pic directly off my back porch.

The Labyrinth

Chiro-sister & I built this in a weekend. I had a few rocks that I salvaged from my WV labyrinth & the rest we gathered along the road.

My sweet Barkley, 15 years old, just a few months before she died.

Barkley & Remi; they kinda do look like bears! Bears with bandanas!

Something sniff-worthy in the labyrinth.

Remi used to stand & look out at the field, & then he'd go rub up against that bush while I walked the labyrinth. When I got to the center of the labyrinth, he would trot over and stand by my side and lean into my leg. I always think of him when I stand in the center of this labyrinth.

Barkley & Remi in the labyrinth. I put bandanas around their necks so that people wouldn't think  they were bears. Neighbor Chuck said he had a friend visiting who thought they were bears in the field. 

Barkley & Remi in the labyrinth.

Pic from center of the labyrinth,  looking over at Barkley & Remi.

Sweet Remi, my treasure in the labyrinth.

Maggie & Millie chillaxin' by the labyrinth.

"To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon, is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boredom, it was peace." ~Milan Kundera

View from labyrinth on a glorious October day.

Frosty winter day. 

Remi trotting thru the field.

 Down the Driveway




Down by the River 

Springtime. Overall Creek across the river. Hear the frogs trilling? So COOL!

The picnic pavilion that was kind of wasted on me. 2 fridges; one for beer, one for fish! Kitchen set up, lights, ceiling fan. Out house--woo-hoo!  Never spent any time there, really.

Overall Creek in the Autumn.

One of my favourite views is when I walk down to the post box:

One of my all-time favourite pix.  The light in October/November is SPECTACULAR. 

Summer Time

Lazy-dazy days down by the river.

Canoeing season has started.

Road along the River

Literally the end of the road; heading toward my driveway.

Another view from the other direction; heading out.

Walks in Autumn.

GLORIOUS!

Walks in the winter.

Just past the postboxes; gorgeous view of the road heading out.

Snowy River Pix

Confederate Snowstorm 2009.

Overall Bridge.

Winter Beauty

Mr. Cardinal

Flood!

 

This little guy came swimming very closely!

 

Friends & Neighbors 

This is Neighbor Chuck, who came to Mum's rescue when she got caught in the Flood of 2003.

Neighbor Dave  who grates the road in the summer & plows it in the winter. He also swapped out my former Woodstove

Favourite summer sight; Fisherman Willie . . . fishin'.

I actually caught this, but when he told me I had to put my hands in its mouth, I told him I would take HIS picture!

Fish that he caught.  Hahahaha   ;-)

Willie found this, in his yard in similar to my arrowhead, made of milky quartz.

Gareth & Lena, AWESOME friends at Mystic Pet. I can't remember what we were laughing at, but I snapped a quick pic!

Wild Life Critters

Hummingbirds on my back porch.

This was shortly after I moved to the River House. I'd never seen a blue bird before.

A coupla months before I was moving, I rescued a baby bluebird after it hit my kitchen window:

Click HERE for more pix.

Woodpecker at the bird feeder.

Ms. Cardinal

Mr. Cardinal

A flock of turkeys down at the bottom of my field.

Millie alerted me to this turkey out front.

We have eagles along the river, too, but I've never been able to get a decent picture.

Willie's grand daughter found a little turtle that she put in a box. Later, Willie found a much bigger turtle so he switched them & waited for her to open the box.  Hahahaha

This doe was not shy! She was following me down my driveway.

This Bambi was one of triplets & was hanging off my back porch.

Another baby down by my garage.

Baby woodpecker that flew into my window. Click HERE for more pix.

First winter here. This fox was v. entertaining to watch!

I looked out my window & thought, "What are the dogs doing in the front field?" And then I realized it wasn't the dogs! You can click HERE for the whole story.

After that first picture, I got an even better one a few days later. Click HERE.

What the caterpillar calls death, the Master calls a butterfly.

Fruits, Flowers, Plants & Trees
 

Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. ~Rachel Carson

Black berry season!

March 27, 2011.  I bet the forsythia is surprised!

I found more 4-leaf clovers when I was here. Perhaps because I was livin' in the s-l-o-w lane.

The first year I moved here, Composer Brother gave me a tomato plant. Here's Mum marveling at the size of my tomato. I told her to hold it in front like fishermen do with their catch.

One of my favourite tree flowers, smells in May, & honey: Locust! Click HERE for more pix.

Apple blossoms

I have 3 lilac bushes in my back yard. :-)