From the April 2008 issue of Running Journal

The caption is wrong. . .poor Lauren, who got confused with a 50-year-old. But anyway . . . click on the article and you can see the photo and read the article.

Unique Calling Card

Cycled 25 miles yesterday -- to New Market and around and through the countryside, alongside the river, under canopies of trees, through the historic downtown, stopping to watch a bit of baseball. We pulled a pretty good hill up to a friend's house, but she and her family weren't home. There was a pen on the railing of the porch, and I had an energy bar in my fanny pack. So I wrote a note on the bar, and left it in the door. I've left quite a few "calling cards" in my days, especially when I was working as a pastor. But I've never left one like that. Katie will laugh; she has an amazing sense of humor. And she's one tough mama.
She ran up till the week before her baby came, never missing a Tuesday night club run. Butch often ran with her, watching for anything that might trip her, and cause an emergency balance adjustment and subsequent nasty fall. And then one Tuesday, club members learned, Katie had gotten up to go the bathroom because her stomach felt funny. Suddenly she realized her little person was entering the world. She called her mom and the midwife, and mom arrived just in time to play catch.
Katie's goal now is to keep up with those of us at the back of the pack. She sure pushed me hard last week; it was all I could do to keep up with her.

Just another day in paradise. . .

I snapped this photo on the way home from the grocery store one evening. The top row of "mountains" is actually thunderheads, and shortly after this photo was taken, the rain hit. . .
Fields of clover. . .I snapped this one somewhere between Broadway and New Market.

What the heck?

All the parts for a water wheel, but no water wheel. . .
a grandiose fireplace with storage for wood nearby. . .

Also there was an outhouse with a seat. . .

All these, but no dwelling place or tent. Too much time on someone's hands?

Shenandoah Caverns

Fog on the Mountain

Scenes from Luray Gap on a cold and foggy Sunday afternoon.

A Big Climb

Butch calls this mountain the 747 because it looks like a 747 plane. On a clear day the rocks on the right side even look like windows. For a running break one Sunday we decided to climb it--boulder to boulder, tree to tree, sometimes on all fours. We made it about 2/3 of the way before I turned chicken, and got cold.