Patricia Temples Photography

MAKE IT AN ADVENTURE! All rights reserved.

Archive for the category “ADVENTURES”

18 Jul 2025
1 Comment

Greetings from Rockingham County, VA

About three weeks ago, my husband Roger and I started our new life at Sunnyside Retirement Community just outside of Harrisonburg, VA. Moving and downsizing is a daunting task, but we had some wonderful help along the way. One friend made arrangements for us to donate various items of furniture and other items to her church’s annual Yard Sale, which occurs in September. They came to our home and loaded things up and drove them away!! How wonderful. I was provided the opportunity to put some of my photography in the Stanardsville Station, which decreased the number of items that had to be moved in June, and also allowed others to make purchases if they chose at discounted prices. Others helped in many other ways and for that we are thankful.

I don’t have any photos to share yet. It is amazing how hard it is find items you packed carefully, because 2-3 weeks or a month later, you cannot recall how you actually packed them, which container has them, and so on. But I finally found the chargers for my camera batteries!! Hallelujah. I am almost to the point where I can actually go out and take some photographs with something other than my phone camera! Soon.

What I want you to know is that Sunnyside has the friendliest people. Residents, wait staff in the dining areas, administrators, maintenance workers, everyone is wonderful. I have met many people, and some I conversed with long enough to be able to remember their names, and in some cases, their dog’s name. I am finding the synchronicities between us with great glee. My daughter-in-law told me this word, as compared to “concidences” that I called them. Yes, synchronicities. I will share some with you as I find more and more of them. All I have to do is talk with them a bit, ask questions, and Voila!! There it is!!

More later. Everyone take care and enjoy every day as an adventure.

Posted in ADVENTURES
31 Dec 2023
2 Comments

Trees and Their Stories, Part 2

I had an earlier post about trees, and today I want to add some other trees here. In the past couple of weeks, two trees on a local golf course had to be removed. People have noticed those trees through the years because of their prominence beside a road that goes along that hole. I have photographed those trees several times, since I have an obsession about trees….or had you noticed? These two trees survived a hurricane event in 2004 that included two tornadoes that touched down on that course. They took out over 250 trees, but these two made it. I’m sorry they are gone now, but I have the memories safe in photographs.

There is another special tree on the golf course that is still standing and I hope it will be with us a lot longer. It is huge. It sits in an area where golfers will not drive a ball into it. It has been the location for many breakfasts, hosted by my friend Steve Lawson, who left us last May 2023. Golfers would meet there, have breakfast on the picnic tables and then head out to play. This one is a beauty.

There are other trees in the golf course that are just plain beautiful. And, there are many that were planted in 2005 to replace those lost in the storms the previous fall. The entrance road to the course is lined with Willow Oaks, Kousa Dogwoods, and Golden Raintree (Koeluteria), where once there had been pines. In the fall they make a statement. Enjoy all the trees that I so treasure.

Posted in ADVENTURES
26 Mar 2023
2 Comments

Caboose

In March 2013 I had an adventure in the lovely community of Rapidan, Virginia. This is a very historic town that straddles the border of two counties on either side of the Rapidan River. Among other treasures I found here was a caboose. The caboose was badly weathered, sitting on a section of train track near the old Train Station. I learned that this caboose, built in 1922, was moved to Rapidan from the community of Piney River in Nelson County in 1970. I loved photographing this caboose, both from a distance and looking closely at details of the deteriorating wood. The first day I was there, March 23, was a beautiful day with blue skies and green grass. On March 25, it snowed, and I returned to get more images.

The photograph above of the caboose with the train station was entered into the Piedmont Environmental Council’s annual photo contest and won first place in the Community category.

On March 22, 2023, I made a journey to the new home of this caboose. Or, I should say, it’s original home. In 2015, this caboose was returned to Piney River in Nelson County where it was restored. It now resides at the Virginia Blue Ridge Railway Trail, next to the original depot. The walking trail beside the depot was the location of the train tracks. Imagine my surprise when I saw that the original photos were taken almost exactly ten years before these new ones.

By clicking on the first image below you can go to an article about the trail. There is a photograph from 1959 that shows the depot and the train on the tracks. It is quite an interesting article.

You may view photos from Rapidan, including two of the caboose, at my photography show in Stanardsville, Va, April through June 2023.

Posted in ADVENTURES and tagged | 2 Comments
06 Feb 2020
1 Comment

Trees and their Stories #2

Today I want to share my American Chestnut photos. American Chestnuts are rare today, having almost been decimated by the Chestnut Blight in the early part of the 20th Century. The blight, a fungal disease, was introduced into this country on a Chinese Chestnut tree brought into the Bronx in 1904. By 1906, 98% of the chestnuts in the Bronx were infected.

Over 100 years ago there were 4 billion chestnut trees in the U.S., many of them in the northeastern states. Within 40 years the trees disappeared. The loss of the American Chestnut was devastating to U.S. economy. It was used for building, furniture, fencing, and the nuts were food for wildlife and humans alike.

These photos of an American Chestnut were taken a couple of years ago in Virginia. I was with a member of the American Chestnut Foundation who had learned of the existence of a couple of small American Chestnuts. The trees were small and are being watched carefully members of the ACF.

American Chestnut Tree

Last June I visited a friend in Belgium who had a European Chestnut on the property where she and her husband were living. There is a huge difference between what I saw there and what I saw in Virginia. This is a healthy group of three trees with new growth and abundant chestnuts on the ground.

The American Chestnut Foundation is making efforts and great strides to create a blight-resistant tree. Read about this here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_chestnut

In Virginia, the Blue Ridge Parkway has split rail fences, many of them of chestnut wood. Old homesteads were built of chestnut logs, and in my own childhood home, there was a room with wormy chestnut paneling, virtually non-existent today. What a loss.

Posted in ADVENTURES, Environment, FLORA AND FAUNA
05 Feb 2020
2 Comments

Trees and their Stories

I recently decided to start another project for an exhibit I will hang in the fall.  Trees came to mind, because I photograph them often, and some of them have great stories.  So, I am going to give you a preview of my plan.

The first tree that came to mind is one I photographed a number of years ago.  The shot was taken at sunset, facing the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.  Yes, the tree was dead.  But it had a history that it could have told if it had been alive.  I had to rely on the memories of local folks who know its significance.

Parrott Farm Schoolhouse Field

It is located on what is known in Greene County as the Parrott Farm.  At the site of the tree was a one-room schoolhouse where the Parrott children and others from nearby homes were educated in the early 1900s.  The locals refer to this as the Schoolhouse Field.  Two months after I made this image, a large storm blew it down.  Here is what remained.

Parrott Farm Schoolhouse Field after

Not far from this location is Westover United Methodist Church on land which was donated by the Parrott/Early families who owned the farm.  In 1913, the first wedding took place in that newly created church.  After the ceremony the bride took a sprig of hemlock out of her bouquet and planted it in the ground behind the church.  This Old Hemlock grew and remains on the property.

Westover view 3

Westover view 1

Another notable tree was new to me this past year. On a property now owned by Spring Hill Church, which is in Albemarle County, near the Greene County line, there was a tree that grew from a number of shoots, forming an interesing multi-trunked base. It was located near a resting place of the former owners of the farm, now donated to the church.

Not long after I made this image, a microburst, as described by nearby residents, split this tree in half. You can see the multiple trunks that created one tree, but which also led to instability in the storm. It was a big loss to the folks of this church who use this property for spiritual and recreational activities.

More on trees at another time. I wish I knew all of their stories.

Posted in ADVENTURES and tagged , , | 2 Comments
14 Jul 2017

Harpa Concert Hall, Reykjavik, Iceland

The MOST amazing building I’ve ever seen is located in the capital of Iceland.  It opened in May 2011 after some delays that occurred during the financial crisis of 2008.  The government funded the building, which is used for not only musical events, but also important political and cultural meetings.

Harpa is located on the old harbor in Reykjavik.  The structure consists of a steel framework clad with geometric shaped glass panels of different colors.  In winter, lights transform the exterior of the building into a display of the Aurora Borealis.  During summer, sunlight shining through the glass panels creates patterns and colors on the floor.  The design has won many architectural awards, including the most recent in 2013.

waterfront 2

view of city within.jpg

side view.jpg

Ideas for a name for the concert hall came from Icelanders as well as designers.  The name Harpa was chosen because it was easy to pronounce, and because it refers to a time of year and a month in the old Nordic calendar.  The first day of that month is celebrated as the first day of summer when the landscape comes alive with color.

My photos show you the abstract beauty of the panes of glass.  The image of the girl standing in the pane gives you a sense of the size of these panels.  Notice the color everywhere.

ceiling abstract

A view of the ceiling

inside looking out

Inside looking out

girl in window

Young woman in a glass panel

window abstract

Abstract shapes and colors on the exterior

yellow seats

Seating area

I could have spent a day photographing this building.  As it was, I had only one day to explore the city, so I couldn’t spend it all there.  If I’m ever lucky enough to be in Reykjavik again, I’ll spend a lot of time at this site.  I hope some of that time will be in the concert hall hearing a magnificent performance.

Enjoy this youtube video of the design and construction of this magnificent building.

Posted in ADVENTURES, Iceland, TRAVELS and tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

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