Old Yellow

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Longwood Avenue . Bedford

This school was built in 1908 and closed more than 20 years ago from what I've read...it is called "Big Yellow" and sits next to the Bedford Middle School which is being used now:

This one was built in the 1930's and I read that they will continue to use it through the 2017-2018 school year and then will move to a new school. I know the students are probably excited to get a new school but I would prefer one of these 2!

I have a lot more pictures of Big Yellow and I also want to do a little more research on it so I will show all that next week...I can't focus tonight, the dogs are going crazy barking at something and if they aren't barking, someone comes in to ask me a million questions...sooo...signing out for the night!

Linking with Tom's Tuesday's Treasures

Train Cars

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Bedford

“I like trains. I like their rhythm, and I like the freedom of being suspended between two places, all anxieties of purpose taken care of: for this moment I know where I am going.”
― Anna Funder, Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall

Linking with Mersad's Through My Lens

Happy Monday :)

Willy Nilly Friday 5 No. 116

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1)

Blue Ridge Park...came here on Monday to walk the track...it was kind of cold!

2)

Glade Creek Baptist Church...this is the church that sits next to the cemetery I posted on Tuesday.

3)

Along 460...isn't this an oxymoron?

4)

Sunset this week from my deck.

5) I have been feeling like there's not time for anything lately! The boys have weight lifting at 7:45 in the morning for football so I drive them to that and come back home...I have to be back at school at 9:30 then I get off at 1-1:30...then the boys have track practice right after school so I have to go back and pick them up (rather than have them ride the bus) at 5:30 or 6, depending...My life has been chopped into small snippets of time...I'm drowning!

That's my 5 this week and I hope you will join in with us! Post 5 randoms, link back, visit others!! Thanks for playing along and have a great weekend!!



I'm linking with Photo Friday and Good Fences :)

Colonial Elementary

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Colonial Elementary School . Blue Ridge

Today I am thankful for longer days...have you noticed each day is staying light just a little bit longer than the day before? I have to pick the boys up from track practice each evening at 5:30, sometimes 6...it used to be pitch black when I'd get them, now it is looking like dusk as we drive back home! I know we still have a bit of winter left but this is just one of those things that makes me feel like spring is right around the corner...that and the 70 degree day we just had...I want more of those! Dipping back into the winter temps though for the weekend...great! That was sarcasm :)

Linking with Michelle's Thankful Thursday

Country Corner

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4273 Challenger Avenue . Roanoke

Closed till spring

Linking with Wordless Wednesday

Glade Creek Cemetery

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Have you ever seen a cemetery with...

rocking horses...

and elephants and ducks?...

Ashlyn has a good friend from high school who is buried here...the funeral was on a hot summer's day a couple of years ago...

HERE'S an interesting story on the cemetery...

Linking with Tom's Tuesday's Treasures

Foggy Day on the Parkway

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On Saturday afternoon the boys wanted me to drop them off at the park so they could play basketball and I wanted to go take some pictures so I jumped on the Blue Ridge Parkway and thought I'd snap some pics of the views from the overlooks...I decided to head north on the parkway and this was my first stop...a little fog...not too bad...so I pulled out and climbed up the mountain a little more for the next overlook...

I got a little nervous driving to this overlook as I drove right into some thick fog and could barely see but then it became clear...so I thought it would be ok to head up a little further to the next overlook...

It was super, SUPER foggy on this stretch so I decided not to chance going any further and headed back down the mountain...

Closer to home now...one of the pretty bridges that are all along the parkway...Linking with Mersad's Through My Lens

Willy Nilly Friday 5 No. 115

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Downtown Roanoke

Randoms:

1) Just finished watching The Magnificent Seven with Nick and the boys...we all really liked it...the main characters were all so likeable in their own ways...and of course who doesn't like Denzel Washington?

2)

This was last January 24th...this year the 24th is supposed to be sunny and in the 50's...will we get more snow this winter?!
Linking with Good Fences for the first time since Tex stopped blogging...I hope she is doing well, I miss her!

3) On Tuesday night I went with Ashlyn to a women's politics meeting at Olive Garden...remember she majored in political science...anyway, she saw this group on Facebook and wanted to attend the meeting and asked me to go along with her. We both enjoyed it and the ladies were all very friendly. She made a few contacts as well!

4)

Great plan :)

5) I've been reading more and enjoying it...I slacked off halfway through the year and decided I need to just pick up a book and read a chapter before bed and usually it turns out to be more...I am in book 4 of a series, The Tradd Street Series by Karen White...I was halfway through with this when I just stopped reading last year...not that the book was boring, spent time doing other stuff like play dumb games on my phone haha...anyways, I'm almost done and forgot how much I love to read and I really love Karen White's books and I just recently found out there's a 5th now in the series! Yippee!

Well that's my 5 this week and I hope you will play along too! Post 5 randoms, link back and visit others! Have a great weekend!


I'm also linking with Photo Friday

A Look Down Market Street

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Market Street . Roanoke

That's the Historic City Market to the right...not a lot going on at the moment...a lot of vendors were already closing down for the day. This is the oldest market of its kind in Virginia, running continuously since 1882! Spring and summer are my favorite times of the year for the market. And speaking of spring...

Today I am thankful for spring like temperatures! This has really been a mild winter so far with only that one real snow we got a couple of weeks ago...our temps have been in the upper 50's and 60's and I am enjoying it! Saturday is supposed to be another nice day and since the boys don't have a track meet this week I suggested to Nick that we take a little road trip!

Linking with Michelle's Thankful Thursday

Rooftops

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Taken from the top of Center In The Square . Roanoke

Linking with Wordless Wednesday

Beulah Baptist Church

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Beulah Baptist Church . 528 Leesville Road . Lynchburg

Couldn't find the age of this church but I like the design of it...Linking with Tom's Tuesday's Treasures

Tree of Life

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Tree of Life Ministries . 2812 Greenview Dr . Lynchburg

On Saturday the boys had a track meet in Lynchburg. Along the way I spotted this tree on the hill and just really liked it. We were a little early so I drove over to Biscuitville and bought them each a chicken biscuit and a sweet tea for breakfast and then I said, "lets go on a photo shoot and kill time" haha...they didn't mind since they were eating and I wanted to go back and get a picture of this tree :)

And yes, it was also as cold as it looks...freezing rain and just yucky!

Linking up with Mersad's Through My Lens

Willy Nilly Friday 5 No. 114

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The old Norfolk and Western Railway Building . 108 No. Jefferson Street . Roanoke

Built in 1931 it now houses the Roanoke Higher Education Center

You can see the train was passing through when I snapped the picture...for more on the history of Norfolk and Western Click Here

I liked the little shadow of the tree on the white building :)

Now for Willy Nilly!

1) Ashlyn's team won! JMU won the FCS National Championship game! It was a pretty exciting game, we watched on TV...it was even more exciting for her to see it in person! Here's an article about it in the school newspaper which is called The Breeze...I always thought it was funny that it was called that since that is our last name! We pronounce it that way but it is spelled Breese...anyway...JMU played the Youngstown Ohio Penguins...if you were wondering what the sign meant!

2)

Here's a picture of Ashlyn getting ready to go into the game...she said it was so cold! Like 10 degrees! In Texas! Crazy....I stole this picture off her Facebook since I wasn't there to take one myself...I don't think she'll mind...I don't think she'll sue me ;)

3)

Ash and her friend spent Thursday through Monday in Dallas so they did a lot of sightseeing! This was the view of downtown Dallas from the Reunion Tower

4)

Another view from the evening...what a beautiful city! Thanks for the pictures Ashlyn ;)

5) Ok, leaving Texas now...closer to home...this was taken last January...(hitting the archives, need a roadtrip!)

A bunch of tall trees near the entrance of Sailor's Creek

That's my 5 this week and I hope you will join in too! Post 5 randoms, link back and visit others! Have a great weekend :)


I'm linking with Photo Friday

Bye Bye Bye

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Nick having a snowball fight with the dogs

Ozzy "C'mon dad, throw the snowball"!

Today I am thankful for the 63 degree day we are going to have today so all this snow, although pretty while it lasted, will be nothing but a memory! Bring on spring!

Any of you singing the NSYNC song now? See what I did there? ;)

Linking up with Michelle's Thankful Thursday

Have a great day!

A Couple of Happy Dogs

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Ozzy & Riley
After a couple of snow days it's back to school..boo :(

Linking with Wordless Wednesday

Bedford Historical Slave Foundation

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212 Court Street . Bedford . VA
Old AME Church . 1904

Back in November I was driving around Bedford and noticed this...so interesting and I am anxious to learn more about it!
Here's some of what I found from their press release:
BACKGROUND
The foundation’s investigation into slave-era Bedford County was triggered by the recent
discovery of a 19th –century gravesite on Rt. 460 in the Town of Bedford. The site contains the
remains of more than 20 individuals who were presumably enslaved on Lowry plantations.
Enslaved African-Americans (about 11,000) made up 44% percent of the Bedford County
population in the mid 1860’s. Genealogical and advanced DNA research has already been
initiated on dozens of families whose names are associated with slave records from 1850 -
1870 . The Foundation intends to document each identified family’s history in the county .

The Foundation will be housed at a former AME (African Methodist Episcopal) church that was
donated by the Lynchburg District United Methodist Church. The church, located next to the
County Court House at 212 Court St. Bedford VA. was founded around 1887. The current
structure was erected circa 1904. The structure will be renovated and will house a state-of-theart
computer system as well as , archival materials including family stories in high-definition
images, videos, family trees and related documents. Educational classes will be made available
to the County School system.

CLICK HERE for their website and HERE for their Facebook Page

Linking with Tom's Tuesday's Treasures

Snow Day 2017

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Botetourt County

It happened! We got snow! It started in the middle of the night sometime Friday and didn't stop till about noon Saturday...I guess we ended up with about 5 inches but it has been so cold that a lot of roads are really icy so we ended up with a snow day today!
Pictures 1 & 2 are looking up and down my street
Picture 3 is Riley checking out our driveway
Picture 4 is Ozzy and Riley playing...they sure do love the snow!

Linking up with Mersad's Through My Lens

Willy Nilly Friday 5 No. 113

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Market Street Walkway . Roanoke

Sorry I'm late for Willy Nilly today...lack of sleep from the day before and first day back at school = wiped out and fell asleep! Here we go:

1) Like I said we went back to school yesterday...our Christmas break is over...I enjoyed it...over too quick...as always...

2) On Tuesday the boys and I went and saw Passengers in 3D...it was good...we all liked it...

3) On Wednesday I took Ashlyn out shopping to get her some things for her Dallas trip...we had lunch and shopped...it was nice spending the day with just her...something we don't get to do too often anymore!

4) We are supposed to get some snow tonight...maybe a couple of inches...doesn't seem like the weathermen really know and have been all over the board with the forecast...

5) Nick got me an Ancestry DNA test for Christmas...I am really excited to get my results back...If you have never noticed before I have a genealogy blog HERE ...I need to get back in it...it has been a while!

Well that is my 5 this week and I hope you will join in too! Post 5 randoms, link back and visit others! Have a great weekend!


I'm linking with Weekend Reflections
and Photo Friday

Juxtaposition

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Norfolk Ave . Wholesale Row . Roanoke

Today I am thankful for coffee...strong coffee! It's about 5:30 in the morning and I just returned a little bit ago from dropping Ashlyn off at the airport. She is travelling with a friend to Frisco, Texas to see her JMU Dukes battle it out in the National Championship game! The game is Saturday so the girls will have a little time for sightseeing around Dallas....Now, more coffee!

Linking with Michelle's Thankful Thursday