(Nah, just having a little more fun with photo filters. These are edited shots of Fair View Cemetery in Roanoke, December 2019.)



(Nah, just having a little more fun with photo filters. These are edited shots of Fair View Cemetery in Roanoke, December 2019.)



December 2019.








December 2019.







December 2019.









December 2019.
I toured Fair View Cemetery by my friend’s house in northwest Roanoke just around twilight, which made for a couple of interesting shots. The cemetery occupies a sweeping, broad hill. It was established in 1890 and actually includes the grave of Confederate States of America Congressman (Waller Redd Staples).






He goes by the name of Jasper, and he’s one mellow rabbit. He was one of my (quite gracious) hosts for Thanksgiving dinner today in the vicinity of Roanoke. Seriously, this guy is chill. He lets all sorts of visitors pick him up and pet him. He has two siblings — one cat and one dog — and I’m told he chases them around the house.

I am thankful for
fine friends, gracious neighbors, and presently forgotten adversaries,
the smell of smoke outside, its rich and deep and ageless burning notes that sound upon the palette,
the hills under all my days, which pluck up my breath,
all the countless “hellos” their slopes will yield,
the mountains’ incandescence in this cooling season,
the colors now igniting their high and wooded perches,
this new home, this Old South,
this ranging, easy vale of firming winds and firm tradition,
its gentle people, and their surprising hearts —
this fair, far Star City.
~ Eric Robert Nolan, Thanksgiving 2019

Dudes, this might be the biggest leaf I’ve ever seen. That is indeed my foot next to it. And I don’t have small feet; I wear a size 11 and 1/2. (Now, now … this is a family blog, people.)
I found these tarp-sized leaves in the exact same place where I encountered that giant spider — the one the size of a housecat. This makes me think there’s some sort of “Food of the Gods” -type sci-fi shenanigans going on in the vicinity.
Will investigate and report back.

I swear this spider was as long as my thumb. I could have put my shoe or maybe a quarter next to it for scale, but I don’t want to stick any part of my body near this thing, and I don’t want to subsidize its hellish agenda. (I did kinda zoom out so that you can compare it to the size of the curb.)
What does it eat?! Birds?! Why does it appear to have racing stripes?!
To quote the immortal Ellen Ripley, I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
Update: someone is trying to persuade me that this is a “garden spider,” and that they are quite harmless. I’m not sure I buy that.


Maybe the Kurds should have worn swastikas on their uniforms, so that Donald Trump would support them.

Photo credit: Charlottesville ‘Unite the Right’ Rally. Anthony Crider; cropped by Beyond My Ken (talk) 20:37, 9 April 2018 (UTC) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D