Abandoned houses....What stories would they tell?

I am always intrigued, saddened and curious any time I see an abandoned home or the remnants of what was once someone's house. I always wonder what kinds of stories it could tell if its remains could talk. 

Today's photos were taken over the summer up in New York as I was driving by and had to briefly stop to take a few pics from the car. I remember when there was a house here and then remember a tree falling on it, putting a huge gap in its roof. A couple of decades later, all that is left is the foundation. Nature has now moved in to become the current resident.

I wish I could have captured the mist on the water a bit better, it really was a fascinating view that morning

Chasing dragonflies this summer

Dragonflies have always been pretty elusive for me and I usually catch a blur, but I got kind of lucky this summer. Where I live it's suburban and the dragonflies never set anywhere for very long, however, I found exploring other places they were in more numbers and easier to spot.

As the summer comes to a close I've been going through all the pictures I took during the last two months. We spent a fair amount of time chasing wildlife in the hopes of getting some good shots. Our travels were to various states including New York, New Jersey, Maryland and, of course, Virginia. Here are some of the dragonflies spotted.
 

This dragonfly was spotted in Virginia

I'd never spotted a red dragonfly before. This one was on Kent Island in Maryland

Either the same dragonfly as the first pic or a family member ;)

This one was also found on Kent Island

Flowers at Boscobel House and Gardens

In July we took a trip to New York and did a lot of exploring. One of the places we visited was Boscobel House & Gardens - it's a lovely historic property to tour with spectacular views of the Hudson River. Here are some photos I took in the garden (for more information about the history and the property, I have a detailed article on InfoBarrel with more photos).

Sea shells in Barnegat Bay

Earlier this month we visited New Jersey's beautiful Long Beach Island and stayed in Barnegat Light. One of the things we love to do is explore the sea life in the bay. Here are a few photos from this year's finds:

I found a neat-looking shell and after I picked it up I realized the other shells on it were moving. Pretty cool! I'd never seen anything like this with so many others attached.

Spotted this clam shell on the shore of the bay. Shell was firmly intact, but no one was home

Found this clam in Viking Village. Someone was definitely home, but as soon as we came near, this critter clammed up tight. You can see a bit of the opening before he shut the door completely.

Cloud formations over Shenandoah National Park (photos)

This is the third of a series of photos I'm posting from our trip through Shenandoah National Park.  A wonderful trip! If you live in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland or Washington, D.C., this makes for a fab day or weekend trip. 

We started off in Front Royal at mile marker 1 and drove to mile marker 62 where we exited Skyline Drive on Route 33. These are some of the sky views we saw along the way.

Chasing butterflies on Skyline Drive (part 2)

This is part 2 of a series of photos I'm compiling from a recent trip down Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park. The first post was of butterflies and this post is too, but today I

wanted to focus on closeups of these beautiful critters.

Chasing butterflies on Skyline Drive (part 1)

This past weekend we decided to go for a ride and see where the day would take us. We ended up on Skyline Drive, starting at the Front Royal entrance. We've done this trip several times before, but always in the fall. 

It was really fascinating to enjoy the park in the summer. We drove 62 of the 105 miles and saw stunning scenery, lots of wildlife and gorgeous wildflowers. Not to mention it was a beautiful 73-75 degrees the entire ride, unlike the high 80s and 90s we have in Northern Virginia.

The milkweed and other wildflowers attracted tons of butterflies. These beauties were literally everywhere you turned. Here are some shots I took.

Add caption