A Windy & Smokey Weekend

A small group of us met on Saturday to scout around the Waldorf area in Maryland. We weren't having much luck but Penelope knew of an old abandoned farm house so we headed for there. It was freezing cold and we'd stocked up at the local Seven Eleven with coffee and snacks. I chose Twinkies as Hostess is probably going bankrupt and the thought of no more Twinkies terrifies me.

I saw these fabulously huge Reese's cups and craved them so badly but Good God, each one weighed half a pound! But I would have loved to gobble at least one of them, if I could afford them... $14.99?

We got to the farm house and loved the guard dog sign. The fields were flat and empty so the wind pummeled us as we set off up the driveway. I was glad of my hand warmers in my pockets but really didn't want to twiddle with camera knobs at all and my creativity was at a very low ebb.

We all ambled around the house and outside buildings struggling to find things to photograph, nothing was sparking my enthusiasm but Jason found a stairway up to the loft and called me up. He'd unearthed these wonderful carboys, some which had pretty embellishments on and one which was brown glass, ideal for blackberry wine. We got them outside and I was thrilled to take them home for cleaning. They now sit on a kitchen shelf sparking and pristine ready for use.

Jason and Huguette found an old TV in an outbuilding and started stripping the knobs from it for art projects. We soon tired of the farm house and the cold was creeping under our jackets so we happily plodded back to the car to warm up.Driving to downtown Waldorf we stopped at a cigar store called the Tinder Box.

Emily and I started rummaging through the empty cigar boxes for interesting storage containers and the others settled into the leather sofas with beers and nibbles. This was an impressively stocked shop with very helpful and friendly staff. Everyone was relaxing watching sport on the huge TVs and the air was hazy with fragrant cigar smoke. I started chatting to a guy sitting near us who noticed our cameras and before long we had another recruit for our urbexing group. We exchanged Flickr accounts and oohed and aahed over each others photos as we exchanged tips.
Darkness fell and we all decided to head home. We'd not really achieved much with our photography but it had still been a fun day and my car was filled with souvenirs from our visits.
Sunday was still cold and windy but not wanting to stay indoors all day, I went for a drive locally with my camera.

I trundled around narrow country lanes noting some pretty routes for cycling when the weather warms up a bit. I stopped at this pretty church near Markham.  

I got out to walk around the graveyard but being on top of a hill, the wind was cruel and biting. I didn't last long and actually ran back to the sanctuary of Stuart and turned the heater blower up.

I carried on towards Markham and stopped again. This was a beautiful little place, not really a village but more of a community around the railway line but it seemed as though time had stopped still. If it wasn't for cars parked by the railroad tracks this could have been a scene from a hundred years or more. It was enchanting and I want to live there, in one of the houses right next to the tracks.

This little video shows a 360º view of where I stopped. I loved this little place and intend on coming back again to photograph it properly and visit the winery here.

I took a few more photos of Markham but then decided to get back home where I knew a nice blazing fire was waiting for me. I was done with the cold icy weather.

Someone was already having a lazy Sunday afternoon. I've moved his hammock to my bedroom window where the heater below throws up warm air. With his view over the fields and where he can watch the birds feeding Kota has the perfect set up. We were happy to be warm and cozy in our little cottage.