Sky Watch - Clustered spires

These are some of the cluster spires made famous by John Greenleaf Whittier in his poem about Barbara Frietchie waving the Union flag as confederate troops marched through Frederick.

"Up from the meadows rich with corn,

Clear in the cool September morn,

The clustered spires of Frederick stand  

Green-walled by the hills of Maryland."

These spires fill the skies and still inspire the people of Frederick (especially those of us with cameras).

Above and below Evangelical Lutheran Church

 

 

St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church (two views)

 Trinity Chapel

Header Challenge - Strings

Kathy chose "strings" for as the topic for this week's header challenge. Above are a few "strings" I have: clothes line, kite string, twine, fishing line and some stretch loops with knobs for fastening stuff together. My header is the guitar strings seen Saturday in Frederick being played by Hard Swimmin' Fish. More strings found last weekend are below.

A string of bleeding hearts in our yard

 

 Boe does not have strings in a window of his shop, but he will sell you some strings and teach you to play them.

 Balloons on a string

A string of lights at outdoor seating

 

Strings on a farm - what was planted?

 

Leaves on a string on a wall

 

Sturdy strings support the suspension bridge

Our World - First Saturday in May

 Setting up for music

The City of Frederick celebrates the first Saturday of the month with stores open late, plenty of food and beverage, art, and entertainment. I think winter interfered with a couple of first Saturdays (I know I stayed home!) but May third was a delightful day.

 Crowd listening to Hard Swimmin' Fish

 Sidewalk dining

 This creature

lives here!

 More diners

Muskrat Sally sings!

Sky Watch - Wet skies

 Last Saturday brought us moody skies,

and then the storms that caused damage and flooding across much of the US reached this area. The strong winds were gone, but heavy rain overflowed the creeks and rivers (and our yard). It will take a few days for the water to flow down stream and for some to recover from the flooding.

 

And a last shot taken as I prepared this post.

Header Challenge - Bridges

Bridges was my choice for the theme this week. Loy's Station bridge is one of three historic covered bridges in Frederick County. It was originally built around 1860, reinforced with steel beams and center pier in the 1930's, rehabilitated in 1976, and rebuilt after a fire in 1994. Much of the work to rebuild was done by volunteers. It was damaged again last October, but quickly repaired.
 

Multiple king post design

 

View from the north side

 

The road and fields beyond the bridge

A small park near the bridge

 Here are links to the other two covered bridges in Frederick County:
 Roddy Road and Utica Mills.

Our World - Finally Spring!

 Our cherry trees bloomed!

 Three scenes in the City of Frederick

 Our cherry trees

and our first dogwood bloom

Sky Watch - This week

 Monday - Daytime moon

 Wednesday - Blue, white and gray

Wednesday - Leaves and blue sky