Pix on a Whim, May 2025
Random pictures from some recent outings.
This is the third installment of posts that don’t have a theme or story, just a bunch of pictures I’ve taken and want to share. Per my own particular…uh, er…idiom (h/t Sir Lancelot the Brave from Monty Python and the Holy Grail), you can click on any picture to get a larger version, and I try to put in links to additional information in my narrative. As usual, feel free to hit the heart-shaped “Like” button if you like what you see.
The Missus and I are volunteers at the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach (I may have mentioned that once or twice before). It is a living, flying Museum where most of the 80+ year old aircraft are flown regularly. During flying season (May through October) the Museum hosts ‘Summer of Flight’ where on Saturdays (weather permitting, of course) one of the planes is taken out and flown. The flight is narrated for the crowd, telling about the aircraft - what it was used for, special stories about the type, special stories about our example, etc. - while you watch the pilot get in, start up, taxi out, take off and fly around. We let you get as close as regulations allow. This lets you see, hear, and feel those aircraft coming alive. After a few minutes of flight, you watch the aircraft land and taxi back to the ramp. Once the plane is shut down and secured, the safety line is dropped and you can go out and meet the pilot at the aircraft.
This past weekend the aircraft was the Vultee BT-13 Valiant (known commonly to aviation cadets during WWII as the Vultee Vibrator). It is a basic trainer, the second of three steps in WWII pilot training.
I wasn’t volunteering this particular Saturday so instead of standing at my usual flightline security post (where I can’t take pictures and do safety at the same time) I positioned myself at the east end of the runway. This gave me great shots of Museum Chief Pilot Mike Spalding getting ready to take off, and as he banked around on final approach.
The Missus and I met up with a friend for lunch in Tappahannock, Virginia, (population: 2,375) on the Rappahannock River. After lunch we went down to the river bank where there are always lots of ospreys and cormorants. This year an osprey couple built a nest (kinda small and flimsy, but still a nest) in a sycamore tree. Since it was early spring, there were few leaves to obstruct my view. This was my best shot, and one that I like more each time I open it.
We live just a couple of miles from Naval Air Station Oceana. NAS Oceana is where all the jets from the US Atlantic Fleet’s aircraft carriers live when the carriers are in port. There are also several training squadrons based there. There is a designated spot where one can watch the aircraft taking off and landing that provides an excellent vantage point. One day I heard jets flying around but they were not just taking off and headed out to sea or landing after coming back from training over the Atlantic; they were flying around…very unusual behavior around here. So I went out to investigate. Turns out that the F/A-18 Super Hornet demonstration team was practicing for the upcoming airshow season. This Super Hornet is flying very low and on afterburners, leaving a hot vapor trail behind it.
When we bought our house 3 1/2 years ago it came with a plum tree in back. It’s a beautiful tree that provides a lot of shade. This spring the blossoms were gorgeous and plentiful. I was able to get a picture on a day with a perfectly blue sky. But my arch-nemesis, Zephyr, was in town and was very angry…it was extremely windy. Just to the right of this shot, the Missus is holding the branch steady so that the blossoms will stay in the frame.
Finally, Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge is one of several refuges very close to where we live. It’s a great place to get close to wildlife.
This mated pair of mallards was resting on a hummock, providing me with a great shot. I didn’t realize until I processed the picture that it was photobombed by a turtle. My challenge to you: Find the turtle!
This female hooded merganser was all by herself in this area. No other mergansers were seen.
I’ve got one more for you, this one a blast from the past (well, at least it is for me).
I took this shot back in July 2013. I had spent some time at Prairie Oaks Metropark in Columbus, Ohio. I took a bunch of pictures but this one, which was taken from the driver’s seat of my SUV on my way out of the park, is my favorite. I realized that a narrow depth of field, along with heat haze in the background would make this a potentially good shot. So I stopped, rolled down the window, grabbed one picture, and left. I am not sure what kind of flower that one in the middle is, but it’s not a black-eyed Susan like all the other flowers around it.
So that’s it for now. I hope you enjoyed these enough to click the ‘Like’ button. If you want to see the other two installments of my pictures, they are at:
2W:LYK