The WVa Landscape

The view to the east of Tractor Supply in Lavalette. Layers of rock, etc.....

The view to the west. Trees and hills!

















And check out this retaining wall! Use the cars for scale....

Unfurled Old Glory

Found an old flag pole/rod in the basement of this parsonage (oh, the things to be found in basements, attics, and garages of parsonages...that's a whole nother blog post!) and the front porch already had a sturdy flag pole bracket mounted, so we replaced the little pirate flag with this beauty.

So far we've remembered to bring the flag in at dark and put the flag out in the morning. We hope for continued success with day number two. [grin]

Following the U.S. Flag Code has me breaking out in hives. I'm afraid to break a rule! The American flag requires more care and attention than my pet hamster! It's pretty, and worth the care and attention, though..... (yes, both the flag and the hamster).

Halloween vs. Christmas in West VA

Okay, not to beat a dead horse (too late for that?), but the people absolutely love, love, love Halloween around here and go to great lengths to celebrate. It's quite fun!

At the risk of being picked up by the police and charged with stalking, I took a photo today of a house I had taken photos of at Halloween.

Compare and contrast, shall we?

Here's the house, which we fondly refer to as the "witch-circle house," pulling out all the stops for Halloween.

Here's a close-up of the witches in a circle.

Ahhh, the Halloween splendor.



Now let's contrast this with Christmas. Ready?










BAM!

Yup. That's it. A wreath on the door.











From this-------

------to this. And one thing remains the same; it's still private property!

Is This Typical, Normal, Allowed, Legal?

Is this one of those, "only in WVA" things? Is this typical, normal, allowed, legal?

Funny thing, since the time that I snapped this photo on November 8, I've spotted another cardboard tag.....about a week ago. I kinda don't think it was the same car since it was in a different town.

Must be a West VA thing, because (for you West VA locals) this is something that isn't really usual.

Holidays...the West Virginia Way!

So, I found some PURPLE lights at Goodwill today. I will tuck these babies away for my extra fancy Halloween decorating next year here in West Virginia.

Driving around today, I noticed that the porches are decorated with little Christmas trees. We just happen to have a little Christmas tree, and I just happened to find some white lights and ribbon and a Santa hat at Goodwill today, too. What are the odds?!?!

Here's our front porch with a little Christmas tree.

With some daylight.....

....and without.

Finished, With Time to Spare!

 WHEW!! Finished....in the nick of time!

After extensive research on decorating American Foursquare homes, I discovered that shelves (built-in or free-standing) flanking the fireplace are the common filler for those spaces. It is also common to have lamps on the shelves. So, we are compromising with our end tables and lamps under the windows. The main point seems to be that each side be identical/symmetrical, under the windows.

Find the Kitty!

Followup pictures on the way....to show the room transformation!

Can you find the kitty in these pictures?

Gettin' ready for Christmas!