| Shepherdstown was the first place we ever visited in the USA when we came over with a dance team in 1995. We were made
very welcome and made good friends who we have met with a number of times since.
This is a typical house in Shepherdstown which has been lovingly restored
with two years of labour. It is now to be sold and another restoration
project undertaken. One may question the sanity of creating a home and then
moving back to a building site at our age, but that is just what we have
done moving to a house over 300 years older and in another country on the
other side of the world. It probably explains why we get on with these
people so well. |  |
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Many more people in the US live in trailers even if only temporarily. This
elderly Airstream is an example of an American icon. This one needs a little
TLC and is on its way to become an artist's studio. Looking at the size and
weight and the difficulty of moving these helps to make you realise how
important the big vehicle is in the lives of Americans. |
| As with many Americans who live in rural America, many
live in what we would regard as huge plots. One couple of friends we visited
live on 15 acres - one to live in and 14 acres of "neighbour control".
Mostly wooded, at the side of a river, we walked the 'estate' admiring the
wildflowers. This is spring larkspur. |  |
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Such places are constantly changing with the seasons and at times can be
very colourful. It did remind us how much we are missing at home since we
now have four acres of similar land which contains many plants we have not
yet seen and identified. The local botanist tells us this is
shooting star. |
| One complication as you move from country to country
is that plants may be known by different names. And some which are weeds in
one country are desirable plants in another. We think this is called
Virginia waterleaf. |  |
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Sometimes we just admire the simplicity and wish we knew more about the
botany around us. This currently defeats us. |
| You take the photos out in the woods and find when you
get back that the subtlety of the colours doesn't quite come over. We just use
them as reminders of a pleasant day spent with friends enjoying the simpler
pleasures of life, like these wild phlox. |  |
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Here in Appalachia, one of the best known local instruments is the hammer
dulcimer of which this is a fine locally made example. The instrument is
actually very old although its exact origin is unknown. It is known that
examples were in use in the Arab world over a thousand years ago. |
| We went to the local team's dance practice which takes
place in the old train station. Practice has to stop periodically whilst a
freight train thunders through only yards away and the whole building
shakes. |  |
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