A Little Fredericksburg In St. Augustine Florida

We're on our way south for our vacation in Florida. As we checked in for the night the hotel clerk asked what part of Fredericksburg we were from. Turns out he recently sold his business there and moved down here. It's a small world.

Office Ho

Office hours sign at a doctor's office. (Or maybe it is the office ho's normal hours but she had the day off. At any rate we didn't see her there.)

First Snow Of The Season

I think you can make out a couple flakes.

Santa's In The Mall

IT'S NOT EVEN THANKSGIVING YET!

Thank You Fredericksblogger

Fredericksburg As I See It got a mention on Fredericksblogger yesterday. Thanks, Merry!

Spelling Error At Capital Ale House

Just recently opened. Looks like they're still training the staff on spelling.

In line to vote

Moving fast

Update: An election worker mentioned they had had about 400 voters come through so far by the time we got in line. It took us about half an hour from parking to pulling out. The A-G line was slower than the others for some reason. Slower readers working there, I guess. I had to prompt the one looking up my name to look on the next page. I guess not everyone's all that fast at looking things up alphabetically.

Addendum: Virginia 2008 Presidential election results.

Click it to see details on the Virginia state web site.

Halloween Dragon In The Works

A dragon being constructed on a house on Charles street. We see the woman there putting up a different paper mache sculpture every year. This year it's a winged dragon/lizard/snake and some large leaves. There's a spider up above. Usually she builds her sculptures in the lot next door, but there's construction going on there this year, which is why there is a jersey wall and barricade in the shot.

The image is a bit skewed because it was taken as we drove by.

Airplane Towing Banner

It was advertising some web site I've never heard of, which is pretty much why people advertise.

Carrot With A Face

At Giant supermarket on rt 3.

Gas Pump Profanity

I guess the were a little upset about the price.

The New Marriot Downtown

Looks like it's coming along. I guess that's the elevator shaft in the middle.

Beautiful Sky Today

And a nice cool breeze. Get off your butt and go outside and play!

Lamps 39.99/lb At Target

I wonder how many pounds in a whole lamp.

Flowers & Reporter At China Express

The son of the owners was killed in a carjacking while making deliveries. The a couple was caught using his credit cards. It's reported that the remains will have to be positively identified by forensics.

The story in the Free Lance Star is here.

Memorial Day Traffic

1 North backed up to Cowan. 95 must be bad.

Finally Friday

I have no idea what it's about. There's a live band tuning up, food vendors setting up their stuff, a castle-shaped moon bounce, and some sort of palm tree climbing thing.

It seems to have something to do with final exams, and since it's apparently sponsored by a beer company it's probably connected with, or aimed at, the college kids.

UPDATE: According to this local events calendar, today's event is "First Friday." Another is scheduled for June 6. (The first Friday of each month, in case you didn't notice.) For 7/25, 8/29, 9/26, and 10/31, the last Fridays of those months, they have scheduled "Finally Friday." I suspect someone just put up the wrong banners today.

That's what I suspected it was when we saw it from up the street, but the "Finally Friday" banners threw me off.

Post a comment if you have more information, particularly if they swap in the correct banners.

1956 Nash Metropolitan

Yellow and white 1956 Nash Metropolitan spotted south of downtown.

Smoke South Of Town

I don't know what's burning.

Someone Was In A Hurry To Leave

Someone stuck their EKG patches on a column outside the ER exit.

Ants in Mary Washington Hospital ER waiting room

There's a trail on the floor and along the wall. I alerted the staff.

Puppet Show At Hyperion Espresso

It's too noisy on the street to hear what they're saying.

Update: Later I saw them leaving with a bag of puppets. I don't know if they're doing promotional work or what.

Petals at my feet

It's like snow in the spring.

Boats in the mall

And ATVs and stuff too. They're all over.

Capital Ale House Under Construction

Here's a peek. The door was open.

A Bit Of Old Fashioned Graffiti

Now who would do something like that? Classic.

Another Roof Blown Loose

Fredericksburg Hardware this time. We weren't there to see it, but spotted the damage on our walk today.

Here's another shot, taken with a better camera.

Construction Is The Pits

Open pit in the sidewalk in front of the museum construction on William & Princess Anne. The shot was taken through the links of the safety fence. You can see a bit of it in the lower left corner.

Weird Art at Outback

Does anybody know the story behind this? We didn't get a good look, but the signature looks like A Nolan. There are several other paintings in the restaurant with the guys in black masks fighting soldiers.

Update: It's the Australian outlaw Ned Kelly and his gang. The art is prints of paintings by Sidney Nolan.

Calliope

On our walk today we came across this calliope in front of an antique shop. The shop owner turned it on for a while. If I can figure out how to do it I'll upload the video I took.

Nom Nom Nom

Elmo likes doggie head!

(Shop window display.)

Roof Repair At Cafe New Orleans

Looks like they're replacing the whole roof. This is the side away from the street. The walkway from the street to the square was roped off. The guy on the adjoining roof was cutting plywood while the other two nailed it in place.

Tree Cut Down At Post Office

Too bad. I liked that tree. It added some nice color in the fall.

Just Wet So Far

All that talk of freezing rain and all we have on the road is puddles. So much for my day off.

I was watching the radar, and it looks like most of the snow and rain passed by to the north and south of us, then joined together to the east. We may have some coming later, though, if the mountains don't split it.

Might Miss The Lunar Eclipse Tonight

It's a little bit cloudy. The clouds are moving by rapidly and spectacularly. I tried to take video, but all you could make out was the moon itself.

UPDATE: 10:04PM - The clouds have cleared away and the view is great. If I had a camera capable of it I would take and post a supplemental shot.

Cleaning up

The fallen bricks are being cleaned up outside the Cafe New Orleans.

A Dusting Of Snow

The forecast was for less than a half inch of slush. All we got was a dusting of granular snow.

A Seat By The Fireplace at Panera

A perfect way to warm up on a cold rainy afternoon. Especially with a warm bread bowl of soup.

Castiglia's New Look

It's more open than before, and the food's still good.

We parked on the corner by Kybecca, not noticing the ice on the brick sidewalk until we were halfway to the street. By the time we left, they had salted the walk.

I Voted This Morning

...for the candidate of my choice.

Cafe New Orleans Roof Blows Loose

Fire truck and police cars block William as the roof of the Cafe New Orleans blows loose in high winds, sending bricks falling to the sidewalk.

EDIT: Here is a supplemental shot, taken with a better camera, of the roof blowing in a gust of wind. You can see a bit of debris blowing loose, and the damage to the brickwork.

By the time we walked off, the police had taped off the entire block of William, no doubt in anticipation of part of the roof blowing loose entirely and flying down the street. We've not yet heard if anything more happened. Please leave a comment if you have any further information.