Drama in the autumn.
Delta was 20 minutes.
A Change in the Weather
November 10, 2025
farm, photography blue ridge, clouds, red shed, weather Leave a comment
Italo Calvino Invisible Cities by Toy Atlas Theater
August 3, 2025
art, concert, film, photography blue ridge, chicago, danny hobert, invisible cities, italo calvoni, magic, miniatures, social analysis, toy atlas theater 2 Comments
What a treat. A Chicago-level show in our tiny hamlet (in fact well outside the hamlet way up on the mountain). Danny Hobert and his partner in crime, performing as the Toy Atlas Theater, put on a magical captivating multi-media extravaganza—twice. (This entry combines photos and videos from both shows. To keep you on your toes, the interleaving is imperfect and a bit faded around the edges.)
Clark Hansbarger and I opened for the first show with a bit of Bitter Liberals music. Which of course requires actual Liberals.
The scene. A barn on the blue ridge converted into a portal to other dimensions.
The audience was captivated.
This kind of magical experience is all too rare in modern American adulthood. Calvino’s work is an excellent vehicle for considering the contradiction and confusion of modern life, exposing its inner absurdity from a view at the sharpest edge of a very small razor.
Today, the light
January 2, 2020
dogs, farm, hiking, mountain, photography blue ridge, dogs, gem, hiking, nature, photography, river, shenandoah, shenandoah river Leave a comment
Three views from the corner.
Trio one
Trio two
Trio three
The walk.
Mogli blends
Shenandoah
Light
Tree fire
Art in the Corner
April 27, 2019
art, dogs, who knows art, art in the corner, blue ridge, dogs, farm implement, gem, stone slab, video 2 Comments
Art in the Corner
Ever since we moved to this property in 2002, I have wanted to use one of the old rusted farm implements as an art piece. 17 years later, here is the piece pretty much exactly how I imagined it. The rock slab is a 2500 pound bluestone slab from Pennsylvania. Getting that properly staged was a thing, but it all went surprisingly smoothly.
Mogli is suspicious of this art idea
Mountain Cabin: The Fuck All Ya’ll House
July 9, 2018
mountain, music, nature, who knows bitter liberals, blue ridge, fuck all ya'll house, mountain cabin, music 1 Comment
Lil cabin in the woods
Just bought a cabin on the Blue Ridge for the Bitter Liberals. It’s a little thing with a hilarious story available only in person. Suffice it to say that we’ll be calling it the “fuck all ya’ll” house. That’s meant only in the kindest way, of course.
Once the stuff is gone, the band will go here
fireplace side, and yoga too no doubt
kitchenette
Here are some more views of the outside. All of the decks need to be replaced, and we’ll put in two skylights for the upstairs rooms.
Back deck
front deck
The house sits on just over 6 acres of woodland with a creek as one of the borders.
Seven Mile on the AT (in the backyard hike)
November 11, 2017
hiking, nature, photography, trees appalachain trail, AT, back yard, bear's den, blue ridge, gem, hiking, jen, nature, photography, roller coaster, snickersville gap, video 1 Comment
Start 4.5 miles from home (less than a mile from Jen’s house). Hike seven miles. Is it a roller coaster? Yes it is.
Here is the story in pictures.
Park the truck on Jen’s road.
Foundation (not the Asimov one)
Orange sprite.
Lunch spot off the trail
Up to this point, we saw 7 people (one walked by while we were eating lunch…going our way). 6 Were going the other way.
Lunch WILL be here!
We were passed by an old man with a stick. He was on his way up and then back down.
Jack and I stayed in this shelter in the rain when he was 5
The roller coaster ends at Bear’s Den. Shew!
Bear’s Den feet of the orange sprite…which are purple?!
Home field advantage (monastery from the hill).
Fin
