NOVA Beerfest & Kenilworth Gardens

Saturday was another blazing hot day so I covered my head and shoulders before setting off to meet Steve and Mark at the NOVA Beerfest in Leesburg. I haven't been to one of these for ages and was looking forward to it.

A cool tag line of the show shirts.

I couldn't imagine eating these ribbon fries in the hot weather but there were plenty of folks who thought differently including Steve.
We got our small show beer glass and the 4 beer tokens that came with the ticket price but alas, those were soon drunk and we needed to buy more.

Seeing the police stationed at the ticket booth was sobering and a reminder not to overdo it. Everyone we saw seemed responsible and we didn't see a single soul who was inebriated. A few police walked about but no one was in need of an escort. At least not while we were there, this event did go on into the evening.

Supping ales in the hot sun was an enjoyable pastime. Both Mark and I started taking notes on the beers we were supping but that didn't last long. Most of what I drank was great, we all tried each others' choices but a lot of Steve's beers were 'face twisters' as far as I was concerned and I stopped accepting his offers to try the darker beers.

Steve completing a dare to perform a 'teapot' pose.

A novel way to keep your snacks close by and your hands free.

We all enjoyed a cigar with our drinks, the perfect accompaniment.

The Shock Top beer beetle.

Loved the hat and the tat!

Me drinking my one and only dark beer which had a chocolately taste, and Steve photo bombing my photo. I actually had a lot of fun photo bombing other peoples' group snapshots.

Mark insisted on charging $2 for a glass of water. He didn't get any takers and one guy even completely ignored his insistence of payment and helped himself. so we gave up on that project and walked on .

Our last beer of the day, Tröegs Sunshine Pils, nice and crisply refreshing. We had all had a glass of this earlier and all agreed that it was our favorite, so it was a final 'Cheers' from us with Steve managing to bomb the photo again!

We listened to the band for a while as we finished our beers, and then it was back to Meadow House for Steve and I to fire up the BBQ.

We had chops with a Carolina sauce and fresh basil, asparagus and butter, potatoes with seasoning and olive oil and another beer. It was a perfect meal with both of us saying that the thick and juicy pork chops were the best we'd ever had.
Another fun day ended with relaxing in front of the TV while recharging the batteries for another outing the following morning.
Early Sunday morning I was woken up by loud rain crashing down on the metal roof. Looking outside the window I could see that it had been coming down hard for a while and I wondered if the day's outing would be cancelled. I was meeting with a group at Kenilworth Gardens in DC but after constant checking on my phone it seemed that the event was still on. I drove down to DC and as I got closer to the gardens the rain came down heavier. In the parking lot I checked again and sure enough, the event had been cancelled 15 minutes previously. I wasn't about to waste the morning or my gas so I decided to walk around regardless. The rain had eased off to just a drizzle and even stopped for small periods. I found a park ranger and another lady who had also shown up despite the late cancellation. The park was completely empty apart form a couple of hardy photographers and I realized that we were actually very lucky to have these beautiful ponds to ourselves with raindrops sparkling on the petals and leaves and the sounds of wildlife easy to hear without crowds of people.

The ranger gave us a tour of the ponds and a brief history. He pointed out the types of lilies and showed us the trenches between the ponds which I had assumed were for keeping the water levels the same between the ponds, but were actually made by heavy beavers as they bumbled from pond to pond. He also showed me where I could land my kayak if I wanted to visit the park from the Potomac, which I hope to do in a couple of weeks.

 More info on the park is here.

The beautiful lotus flowers are starting to open. They will be at their peek in 2-3 weeks.

After out tour I was happy to just roam around the ponds taking in the quiet beauty. The traffic was always in the background but I marveled at how peaceful the park was and was very conscious of how fortunate I was to enjoy this splendor without the huge crowds that usually visit. Apparently the early hours of the morning are the best for viewing as the hot temperatures later in the morning will cause the flowers to close.

This was very sad. I noticed a photographer who was zooming in on a bush by a pond and had a couple of red wing blackbirds fluttering noisily around her. apparently she'd just arrived to see a black snake eat the last of their babies. A large flock of nearby birds had all tried to help the parents by dive bombing the brute, but to no avail. This episode really tainted my morning and my heart felt heavy in sympathy for these poor birds.

The park is teeming with wildlife. I saw so many turtles, frogs and dragonflies. As well as the red wing blackbirds, I saw grackles, and families of gooses ambled on the grassy paths between the ponds. The ranger explained that because the wildlife is so prolific there isn't a mosquito problem here, and indeed I noticed that. It was a hot sticky morning and yet I wasn't bitten once.

After spending more than 3 hours here I left, promising to return. This park is a hidden gem in DC and I can't believe I've not been here before. The sky was very dark and heavy with the air becoming oppressive so I was glad to get to the AC in Stuart. Within less than 10 minutes of driving from the park the heavens opened and torrential rain beat down once again. My trip had been perfectly timed. A perfect end to a busy weekend.

A Solitary Paddle & A Purple Patch in Catlett

I took Friday off and excitedly began an action packed weekend starting Friday morning on a lake with Big Red while everyone else was at work. The water looked so inviting and blue when I arrived that I was a little surprised nobody else had thought like me. The parking lot was empty, but in the distance I saw 2 old guys drifting on a battered jon boat with their fishing poles.
I paddled off in the opposite direction from them and soon became engrossed with nature, enjoying the warm sun.

The air was still and heavy with the heat, buzzing with dragonflies and butterflies. I paddled lazily along the banks, a couple of times nearly jumping out of my skin as fish leaped from the shallow water. I saw quite a few carp, some of them over 2ft long. I also noticed that nearly every branch and tree root submerged below the water line was covered in frog spawn.

There were millions of these around the lake, this place is literally going to be jumping by the end of summer.
There were also a lot of turtles here, so that as I glided along by the banks my way was heralded by plops as turtles basking in the sun on branches poking out of the water would drop out of sight with a splash. It was so shallow along some of the edges that I could see them scurrying away on the sandy bottom.

I managed to catch one youngster and he very kindly kept his head out of his shell while I snapped his photo. The red on his face is merely the reflection of the boat, and not blood.

I saw this beautiful long goose feather floating slowly on the water's surface, small droplets of water glistening on its vanes. It's about 14" long and I brought it home.

I saw a few of these weird looking critters on a tree trunk. They didn't move when I touched them and were pretty sturdy.

The lake was still empty when I decided to call it a day after about 3 hours. I was aware of my arms and shoulders burning and left after helping a couple who had arrived to feed the gooses who apparently are here every day, including this beautiful domestic goose who gently took the bread from my fingers. Guess I'll have to bring a loaf next time I return.
My next destination was a lavender farm in Catlett which I'd read about and had wanted to photograph.

I parked the car and could see some clumps of lavender from the track. I had to go to a small gift shop to pay my entry fee and as I walked up the slope to the fragrant stems, I craned my neck trying to see the fields. At the top I faltered, twisting my head each way. Where were the purple fields, the long rows of sweet smelling flowers? I couldn't believe it, the farm was actually a patch! These few clumps in the photo above are all there is. You could walk from one end to the other in less than a minute. I couldn't believe it and actually just stood there for a while trying to take it in and hoping that the people there weren't looking at me in a strange way, but they were probably thinking I was overwhelmed by the scent. Well, it was lovely but I still couldn't believe that it was just a patch. All this fuss and build up for this? Well I'd had to pay $6 to look at the clumps so I was going to take a load of photos to get my money's worth, and somehow give the illusion in my pictures that there was more than there actually was. I also noticed that the lavender was a lot paler than I'd assumed. There were a couple of clumps that were a dark purple but most of the flowers were a lighter lilac, even looking blue from some angles.

The patch, sorry I can't call it a field, was throbbing with bees buzzing back and forth, and also butterflies flitting to and fro. They never kept still for more than a second, it was really difficult trying to catch them in a photo. I walked along the black plastic that covered the ground between the plants but after about 20 minutes I'd had enough. The sun was now relentless and I could feel the back of my neck and shoulders getting really sore. I'd got thoroughly burned and wanted the cool AC in my car. I headed back down the path and past a little pen with bunnies eating what looked like Cheerios but I was too focused on getting back to Stuart rather than stopping to take more photos. It was time for some cold, cold air and an ice cream and then some R and R before my next day of fun.