Newport News Park (3/19/2014)

During my walk through the park I came ran into this.  It just looks like a bunch of hairs and it immediately made me think of what we call in Dutch owl balls.  There is nothing Freudian to this expression and the proper translation into English is owl pellets.  Owls and raptors such as eagles eat animals (birds, mice squirrels, etc) collect the indigestible materials in their stomachs, which they subsequently regurgitate and spit out.  I know we have various owls in the woods in the back and we recently saw our resident broad-winged hawk is back in the woods as well.  A neat little present in the woods.

Fort Monroe (3/16/2014)

I tend not to show pictures of people that can be recognized by someone, but on Sunday we went to a great concert at Fort Monroe.  It was by the Hampton Roads Philharmonic.  This is an orchestra that was started in 2013 and they played remarkably well.  It was a very enjoyable afternoon with music from Mendelssohn, Ravel, Sibelius, and Mozart.  This is a picture of some of the cello players and the big base.  Absolutely worth going to listen to when they come to your area. 

Fort Monroe used to be an Army base that was handed over to the community.  Hopefully they will be providing more concerts and events for the community.  Last time I was there was to see the tall ships coming in.

Yorktown Battlefield National Park (3/15/2014)

Walking through the woods this weekend you run into old dead stumps such as this and you wonder how old this guy was when it died and how long it has been standing here while dead.  Still seeing remnants of trees that I know came down as the result of hurricane Isabel in 2003, you can only speculate that this guy most likely died more than 15 years ago.  Even as a dead tree it served as a very valuable part of the community.  There is so much evidence of woodpeckers and other birds in the area and you know they feasted on the bugs that were feeding on the rotting wood, or maybe on the organisms that were breaking down the wood.  I have always been fascinated by mushrooms and they are definitively also part of this process.  It is an amazing microcosm of life that lives on a tree, while alive and when dead.   So much proof that everything in this living world has some important function or is good for something; although that might be counter-intuitive when I walk these woods in the summer when I get attacked by ticks, chiggers and mosquitoes.  It is so important to understand that every organism is part of that web of existence; we need them all for this world to function.  Yes some species are out of whack, such as the deer population, but that probably we disturbed the natural balance, like the removal of predators, forced changes in migratory habitats or simply urban sprawl, just to name a few. 

 

Manassas (3/12/2014)

This is my first restaurant review on this blog, but it is well deserved.  I am spending time on the road again, and been in Front Royal this week and then ended up in Manassas.  I love ethnic food, and I am always on the hint for authentic food if I can help it.  At the recommendation of Yelp, I visited this hole in the wall called El Mirador.  El Mirador is a Salvadoran restaurant, and some of the food is somewhat Mexican sounding or looking but much more flavorful.  I hope the photo give you an idea of this place.  This in an absolutely great restaurant to eat at.

Yorktown Battlefield (3/9/2014)

Walked the dogs on the battlefield this morning.  It was a beautiful day and took this pictures of two joggers coming by.  A great day for exercise.