Snake!

Lying out on the new patio that Jason built, I was soaking up the sun and enjoying the quiet afternoon. Until...Jason came out to say hello and jumped off the patio, screaming like a little girl (ok, maybe that last part was me!). He saw a black snack (luckily, non-poisonous) crawling along the back of the patio. Once J attacked with his trusty rake, that thing bolted so fast I never saw where in the woods it ended up. The joys of living away from the concrete jungle!

After leaving the patio, this ferocious creature hid underneath the
rain pan - sticking out his head to survey the next place of attack!

The knight in shining armor with his sword...er, rake!
And don't come back!

Summer Nights

One of our favorite things about living in Virginia are the beautiful trees - we are blessed to have a nice wooded area behind our house and the view from the back porch is so serene. Here are some pics from the other night when we had a storm. As it rolled on by, the colors in the sky ran through the whole spectrum. The next evening, a lightning storm passed over and lit up all the trees. Hoorah for summer!

Pitch black sky lit up with lightning