Calm Reflections Photography shares beautiful photographs that can be placed on mugs, mouse pads, canvas, puzzles, T-shirts, coasters and prints. Joanna Macaulay makes souvenirs of St. Mary’s County for tourists and local residents. Information about St. Mary’s County attractions, travel, events and photography can be found at her site. She now does pet photography as well.

To buy my photos, photo cards, and photo crafts of wildlife, pets, holidays and more, visit my Zazzle Photo store at https://www.zazzle.com/store/calmreflectionsphoto






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Spring Cherry Blossoms in 2024

  Curves Reflections

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Blue Ridge Parkway Oct 28, 2017 Mabry Mill

We woke up early at our Depot room at the Caboose Motel to a lovely sunrise.  We headed toward Mabry Mill, a popular grist mill along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It is so lovely with the pond in front, that photographs of it often become a cliche.  Even with careful planning, we had a gray day and the leaves were far from peak colors.

Caboose Motel Sunrise


We stayed in the Depot, since the room was slightly bigger.

 We briefly stopped at a cabin.  Puckett Cabin was owned by Orelena Hawks Puckett, known for her excellent midwifery in her later years.


You will notice that I cropped out the sky in most of my photos of Mabry Mill, since it was dull gray.  I liked the reflection here.

The ducks made a nice leading line toward the mill.

These branches created a nice frame for the Mill, creating a lovely image.  If you search for Mabry Mill images, you will find a large quantity of them, so I tried to make some slightly more unique images.

We enjoyed watching the pair of ducks, even though most of my photos included a faceless duck underwater.




Mabry Mill Backside


Cogs

Many people like to pose from the mill window.

Mill Stones

Blacksmith, Stan, demonstrated his art.



Basket Maker, Christopher, enjoyed his work.


A whiskey still used to make corn liquor and moonshine wasn't picturesque but it was part of the story of mountain life.

Caning a chair

 Sarita was caning too, well, maybe not really.


The Appalachian Cabin held some common items from frontier life.





Thursday, January 25, 2018

Blue Ridge Parkway Oct 27, 2017

We stayed overnight at a tiny Airbnb apartment complete with tiny shower, fireplace, elephant wallpaper and mini porch.  Little Switzerland Inn was very close and had a restaurant and mountain view.  We were disappointed that there were no Swiss foods or real connections with Switzerland.  We learned that Emerald Village was nearby, an authentic historic emerald mine.

Little Switzerland Inn

Little Switzerland Inn View

Swiss Flag

Emerald Mine

Looking out from the mine


Emeralds

More emeralds

 Linn Cove Viaduct, an engineering marvel on the Blue Ridge Parkway


 I was hoping for less wind at Julian Price Lake.

Blue Ridges

Sunset

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Asheville to Blue Ridge Parkway Oct 26,2017

Our Asheville host suggested a great autumn location when I asked about someplace to photograph with fall leaves and water reflections.  We stopped at Charles Owens Park with a gorgeous mountain view.




I met some local mallard ducks


Willow, part yellow lab and springer spaniel posed for me


Bobbie




Then we drove north to the Blue Ridge Parkway through quite a few tunnels.  This one is Craggy Pinnacle Tunnel.



Glassmine Falls



Sunset