Monday, September 7, 2009

Visiting my Va. roots, fall 2009

I spent this past week visiting my family's home in the mountains of Virginia. Wonderful summer weather and lots of relatives to catch up with. My mother is 90 and her health is always a concern among my many siblings.

My mother's home is an old farm house in the Blue Ridge mountains. The house was originally built in the late 1800s and has been rebuilt and remodeled to make it comfortable for a senior citizen.
The yard is full of tall green trees and carport providing some shelter for a boat (my brother's) and various cars belonging to brothers who live close by and always visiting.

The fields around my mother's house are home to lots of critters. Like wild turkeys, feeding in the hay fields on a summer evening.

Or white-tail deer, helping themselves to the pears on the trees around the edge of the yard. This doe had two fawns, still with spotted coats.

The family uses 4-wheelers to get around the farm and surrounding land. Trails and old logging roads criss-cross the mountains.

The trails cross heavily forested mountain sides. One of my younger brothers has marked safe paths across the mountains and streams.

Besides deer and turkey black bear call this area home. This particular tree had been chewed up by a large bear marking his territory.

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