Imagine my alarm as my 12-year-old son exclaimed, “Hey Dad, what kind of snake is this?” Those are words that will immediately command every father’s full attention, especially when his 9-year-old daughter is close behind that son. About twenty years ago, the three of us were hiking to Abrams Falls…
We have been abundantly blessed with wonderful rain this summer! Many years our valley fields are dry and our corn stalks tightly rolled by mid-July. What a blessing to see green everywhere we look! One of those green crops that has become more common in the Shenandoah Valley are grapevines.…
I greatly enjoy Rich Cooley’s nature photography featured in the Northern Virginia Daily. I especially appreciate his incredible captures of bald eagles perched high on a limb or gliding just above the river. He has earned many well-deserved awards for his photographic excellence. The return of eagles to the Shenandoah…
Our nation celebrates another milestone tomorrow with its 249th birthday. Even though the Declaration of Independence was only signed by John Hancock on July 4, 1776, it was approved that day by representatives of all 13 colonies and later the other 55 courageous individuals also endorsed it pledging their lives,…