Compact Conifer Copse: FebPhotos Day 6

Warmth! Sunlight! The afternoon was warm and wonderful, and students were playing baseball and frisbee on the lawn in front of the library. While walking back to the library from across campus I was, once again, taken by how beautiful this compact copse of conifers is. Tall and stately, these are some of my favorite trees. I think I'm detecting my first hint of spring fever here...

Conifer copse with the library behind it.

Inside the copse is a small island of solace in the middle of campus.

Benches in front of the library, which enjoys a sunny southwestern exposure.

New River Ice: FebPhotos Day 5

Today was a bright, sunny, and very cold day - the third day in a row that the temperature didn't rise above freezing. I went down to the New River where it flows by the Radford campus and took these three photos while standing in the same place. The temperature was in the high teens.

Looking downriver. Note the trestle as the river curves to the right.

Zooming in on the abandoned train trestle.

Brown grass lingers on
Below the icy bubbles.
Wind chill factor? Yes!

Lunchtime Abstractions: FebPhotos Day 4

Today was bitterly cold outside and very busy inside the library. So here's some relatively abstract photos of mundane stuff taken at lunch.

Vegetables and spoon.

Table edge.

Map in map case.

Slightly Snowy Morning: FebPhotos Day 3

We had a pleasant dusting of snow last night, with clearing skies and a crisp, cold morning. A few photos from the yard and neighborhood:

Light snow on the hillside looking towards Brush Mountain. Notice the workers on the sunny, snowy hillside.

Snowy backlit leaf in the front yard.

Rhodo bud in the snow.

In the Library: FebPhotos Day 2

From the beauty of Buffalo Mountain to the institutional grandeur of... interior shots of McConnell Library! Featuring the M.C. Escher-esque stairwell, an angle I've always thought was pretty cool, so I finally took a photo:


I like long perspective photos that give some sense of depth. This is taken from the end of the first floor, with the compact shelving on the left and where the RU Archives, the Appalachian Collection, and my office will be housed on the right at some time in the future....



Our Special Collections are kept in locked sections of our compact shelving. Here's a section, with RU theses on the right and some of our older (and sometimes actually rare) books on the left:


I just moved offices a few weeks ago in my transition from Reference/Instruction to Archivist, and here's my new "temporary office," complete with shelves full of unprocessed collections. The rocking chair was my grandmother's, which adds a nice touch to an office with two computers, a scanner, a humongous printer, and four monitors.

It's snowing outside right now, so hopefully we'll get some snow photos for tomorrow.

Buffalo Mountain: FebPhotos Day 1

A beautiful, springlike Sunday afternoon led us to the top of Buffalo Mountain in Floyd County. Temperatures in the mid-50's brought a number of folks out to the Natural Area Preserve, and there were a half-dozen cars in the small parking area. It was a nice sunny beginning for this month's a-photo-or-more a day project.

B gazes at Pilot Mountain in the distance.

Knot on a fallen tree trunk.

A tightly cropped shot of hawks (?) flying below the crest of Buffalo Mountain.

Magi spotted moonlighting

Several unemployed Magi were spotted preparing to moonlight outside this garage in rural Virginia last week. As the sun set behind them, two had taken their places on the nocturnal shift while the others were still, apparently, asleep. "It's tough living all year on our yuletide cresh earnings," one Magi said. "And since the frankincense and myrrh market bottomed out, we've got to make ends meet somehow."

New Year's stuff

It's amazing how much can happen in six short weeks, that being the time since my last entry in yon blog. A few highlights, as best I can recall:

• We have a new President here in the US of A. The wind of change is pleasantly blustery these days.
  
• Record cold temperatures settled into Southwest Virginia, making for some chilly walks with Asta. Wind chills in the negative numbers. See chart below!
  
• The festive holiday season came and went. Lots of good family and friend time.
  
• A dear friend was rushed to the hospital and appeared to knock on death's door. She's rallied and come back.
• I passed another one of those birthday things. Duly noted by friends and family. Thanks folks!
  
• I moved offices at work in preparation for my shift to full-time archivist.
• I had some camera gear upgrades, and I'm pretty giddy about it. It feeds into my February Fotoproject. 28 (at least) photo posts, one a day, throughout February.

Windchill chart from the NOAA website

Roadside Palintology and preparatory promulgations

This American dinosaur was spotted in southern Virginia. I believe it's the first post-Sarah Palin sighting of dinosaurus Americanus. The fossil record is unclear about the stars and stripes motif, but most paleontologists are pretty sure that this was not what influenced Betsy Ross when it came to designing the flag. Most Palintologists are just confused:

Coming back to Virginia the next day, this bit of signage was seen just below the Virginia line in North Carolina. No time like the present to get ready!