Springtime in Leesburg

Yesterday we made our annual visit to the Leesburg, Virginia Flower and Garden Festival.  It was a bright spring day, a little chill but wonderful nonetheless.  This a two day event.  The little city closes Market and King Streets in the center of town around the old courthouse.  No vehicles are allowed.  Vendors and food stalls fill the streets and musical groups entertain from the courthouse porch.  

It is a grand occasion.  People sit with their children on the courthouse lawn to listen.  The bronze soldier who has guarded the city since 1908 towers above them.  

I bought a birdhouse from a man from Pennsylvania who has sold me birdhouses of his making before.  He reminded me quite specifically that there is a responsibility to continue to speak publicly.

I'm back.  pl 

 

Comments

[Laura]

I'm glad. Thank you.

[PirateLaddie]

As former residents of Vienna, VA, we remember well the springtime events in Leesburg & the surrounding.
Good that that guy from Pennsy got to you. Welcome back.

[LeaNder]

Thanks to the birdcage man, good advise, and good for us you are back. Thanks. ;-)

The link below doesn't fit the flowery context but the larger about US - Israel relation. I try to watch some of it myself.

Event: Chicago Hearing
Event Date: Sunday, April 18, 2010 – 01:30 PM CST
Description: Does U.S. Policy on Israel and Palestine Uphold Our Values?

http://www.chicagohearing.org

****************************

From a "lefty" perspective but interesting nevertheless:

Did Banned Media Report Foretell of Gaza War Crimes?

http://www.israeli-occupation.org/2010-04-15/did-banned-media-report-foretell-of-gaza-war-crimes/

[B. D. Warbucks]

And I, for one, am happy to have you back.

Sometimes, a change of scenery and perspective are all it takes to restore us to our equilibrium. I just returned from a weekend at our Beloved Alma Mater. Any time spent in the Valley of Virginia is salubrious. The redbuds and dogwoods were glorious.

I have strength to return to the grind in Crystal City.

Keep speaking out. Transparency and sunshine are wonderful astringents. Even the vaunted Goldman Sachs is beginning to squirm from all the unwanted attention.

[The Twisted Genius]

The festival sounds wonderful. It reminds me of the many fests, large and small, in Germany. It seems the Germans will use any excuse to hold one. It could be somebody's Himmelfahrt or any other reason, but there will be one nearby at almost any time of the year.

I'm also glad that the birdhouse maker reached you. Any advice offered by someone who has managed his life so well as to spend it creating out of sheer joy and pride of work is worth listening to.

[Patrick Lang]

TTG

This man pays a lot of attention to the news. He makes birdhouses and similar objects from odd shaped natural pieces of wood that he finds in the forest. He makes some of them so that they have grotesque faces like the tree creatures in the Lord of the Rings. They have little projections on them for the birds to use as perches and the hole is usually the mouth. I hang them in trees on my property and small birds, gnat-catchers and the like breed in them. I also bought a little stool yesterday, about sixteen inches high. the top is one solid piece of irregularly shaped walnut and the base is the bottom of a cedar tree trunk. The whole effect is that of a mushroom or a stool for a hobbit. No idea what to do with it, but I like it. pl

[The beaver]

Glad to read that you are back.......Sometimes it takes only one person to help one to make sense of "life" outside our day-to-day four-walled routine :-)

[par4]

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" or remain silent when you know more than most on many vital issues.

[mo]

"there is a responsibility to continue to speak publicly"

And on how many orders of magnitude does that responsibility increase when yours is but one of very few oasis in a desert of talking heads working for the shilling?

Col, you carry a great burden on your soldiers, one that is not seen but quite possibly felt every time some troll pings you an email.

May God give you the strength to carry that burden until there are enough men and women of honor able to take on some of the load. But at lease he sent you a wise man to say exactly the right thing at exactly the right time.

Here's to many more enlightening debates on the rights and wrongs of the policies of world govts. May God have mercy on our souls!

[Jim Montgomery]

You are back and I am glad.

Thanks to the birdhouse maker.

Jim Montgomery

[ServingPatriot]

Welcome back Colonel! Remember to never let the bastards get you down!

SP

[al spafford]

Col Lang, Your blog is one of my 3 "must read" each day and have referred many acquaintances . I look forward to many more days of such. I hope sincerely that a couple of my replies have not been the pause in the blog. Your day at the market reminded me of my annual visit to Eastern Market on "flower weekend" that's within the inner decay of Detroit-an amazing sight to see the rows of flowers amongst the abandoned bldgs and broken concrete/spirit of what was. Additionally, as a "birdfeeder" through the yr here in Michigan, I would be interested if your "birdhouse maker" has a mailorder biz?

[frank durkee]

Brings back memories of the mid and late '50's, my former wif, and exploring much of Northern Virgina as well as The Valley, her home country: Springtime and Fall both stunningly beautiful and wonderfully remembered.

[parvati_roma]

"I'm back"

YAY!!

[Margaret Steinfels]

Bravo!

[Rider]

Great news. Three cheers for you and the maker of birdhouses too. Speaking publicly is especially incumbent on those such as yourself who know whereof they speak.

[FB Ali]

Welcome back!

[jr786]

Laa shukra 'ala wajib?

But yes, thank you.

[EL]

Please thank the "birdhouse man" the next time you see him.

[optimax]

I'm glad you're back.

tornado vs. train, 2 min video, gets interesting at 1. Best filmed train wreck I've seen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azV5bC2br-Q

[Nancy K]

Col Lang,
Welcome back, so glad you did not leave us for good.
Everyone needs an occassional break.

[hope4usa]

Sir,
Welcome back. Amazing how the simplest of statements, from an unlikely source, can change the course of life. I'm happy to have you back--thank the birdhouse maker.

Lois

[Mike Rush]

Col. Lang,

It's good to have you back. The connection between birdhouse-building and public witness was shown to me a few years ago by one of my nephews when he built a lovely house for the neighborhood birds then went on to manage a home for autistic kids. I guess he values healthy chirping from all around of those him.

[different clue]

Thank you for not closing it down just yet. Perhaps a
few long breaks per year with not even an open thread nor comments read would make the process more enjoyable and less wearing over the long run? The "MyMan Guys" represent no one but themselves.

Years ago I was half-watching an HGTV show about birds. I suddenly came awake when they started describing how a particular bird-box designer had worked out birdbox ratios based on the beaktip to tailtip length of the bird desired. They fast-talked through those ratios so quickly that by the time I got paper and pencil I couldn't remember the ratios anymore. I couldn't find them with a brief websearch just now, but I know they exist somewhere.

Maybe someday I will have to visit HGTV headquarters in Knoxville and ask if they will let me brute-force search all their archived programs till
I find that segment. Or maybe someone else will do that first.

[optimax]

different clue,
This doesn't give ratios but dimensions for building birdhouses for various birds. Overall good advice on building birdhouses.