Trawling for Treasure..

Today was the Reston Association Fall Community Yard Sale as well as a Sidewalk Sale at the Bargain Loft.

These two photos are of all the $1 bargains outside the Loft - as I completely forgot to take photos of the Yard Sale.  

The Yard Sale was rather like a Car Boot Sale without the cars - 85 families selling from tables and mats, an array of clothing, books, toys, household items and of course trinkets and jewellery.

There are always one or two unexpected items and such sales and hence we brought home this piece of $4 treasure - endorsed by the Audubon Society of America, this clock not only features a different American bird at each hour but it SINGS!!  A different bird song every hour..  No matter that we nearly jumped out of our skin when we heard the goose - it takes a bit of getting used to..

This is my haul of jewellery bits and pieces from the Yard Sale - picked from endless heaps of stuff while David waited patiently - looking for the patches of sunlight on what was a very chilly morning.  Most items were just a dollar or two and rather grubby and some of the silver was black.  

One or two items stood out from the rest - this Mexico silver cat pin is signed and quite heavy.

My real hopes are pinned (pardon the pun) on this brooch which appears to have a 16KT gold hallmark and hence may have tiny sapphires set into it.  I will know more when I have access to the gold testing kit at the Loft.

These two micro-mosaic brooches from Italy are interesting. These have been produced as tourist souvenirs for many years - the quality varies.  The one on the right is older, brass backed, stamped Made in Italy and much finer work.  The larger green one is much less detailed, set in plated base metal and unmarked so although no doubt bought in Italy, could have been made elsewhere.

Finally, this Sterling silver and enamel bangle features scenes from Thailand and a flower decoration.  It was black - the colour hardly showing through.  It has a couple of dings to the enamel but otherwise the colour is bright and the bangle undented.

A good day!  Worth saving up all our $1 bills and change for!

Pumpkins Galore

Pumpkins and related products are quite hard to avoid here at this time of year!

Many families head to their local 'Pumpkin Patch' to choose their pumpkins to decorate, whereas in the shops,  many different varieties are available for decorating...

And also for pumpkin pie...

Some of the pumpkins are quite unusual, if not rather ugly..

Chalkfest

The Chalkfest event in RestonTown Centre was held almost two weeks ago but, as there has been no rain since then, many of the images are still intact.

Interestingly many of the chalk drawings are more striking and the perspective more real when viewed as photographs than they were when looking at them on the bricks in Fountain Square.  

Very clever art - it is good that they have lasted and not been washed away..

Praying Mantis(es)

We have only occasionally come across these unusual insects - once at the sunflower farm..

..and occasionally in parks and gardens.

This last week, however, we have seen three of them around the (outside of the) house.  The green one, above, was quite small - just a couple of inches long.

Then one night a rather larger green Carolina Mantis was on the outside of the insect screen.  It soon became obvious that it was there to catch smaller insects that were attracted to the light.

Rather gruesome to watch it chomping on a moth!

Yesterday, this one was hunting by the front door..

I moved it onto a bush, where he was much better camouflaged..

Unusual creatures - so far we have only seen them stationary - not sure I would want to come across one of these larger ones (c. 4 inches) on the wing!

At the Fruit Farm

We have been intending to drive out to Delaplane to visit a pick your own fruit farm since the start of the season - on Sunday we finally made it.

Despite the relative remoteness of its location, this farm receives many visitors from the soft fruit season right through the cherry and peach season to now, where the main crops are apples and of course pumpkins.  A variety of vegetables - including the peanuts or ground nuts from yesterday's blog are grown throughout the year too.

A variety of advertisements in press and social media bring in the 'pickers' from Washington DC and all over Northern Virginia and the posted rules (hopefully) keep everyone on track.

We picked a mixed bag of apples - sold by the peck.  Some familiar varieties and others that are new to me.  All rather large!

As for the pumpkins, they looked very attractive and there were also quite a variety of different squash..

I chose three small squash (as I thought) with memories of the Golden Nuggets that Mum used to grow.  

When I got to the weighing station, however, I was told that they are gourds and hence more suited to Fall decoration than eating.  Never mind!  The unusually shaped one is called 'Crown of Thorns'.

The weighing station was set up to cope with considerably larger pumpkins!  

Nuts!

Below the house, at the edge of the creek, is a Black Walnut tree.  It is covered with heavy green fruit and  from time to time we hear the dull thud of one of the almost tennis ball-sized nuts dropping to the ground.

Black Walnuts are a native species in Virginia - here is a prettier tree in the grounds of a winery that we visited yesterday.  It is covered with green husked fruit..

Unfortunately the nuts themselves are a little disappointing.  The husks contain a dye which is as enduring as henna on the skin and there are often tiny worms inside.  I collected one that had fallen and broke it open.  It looked very unappetizing..  The nut  inside looked like a squishy black truffle.

The nuts are an acquired taste I am told - often pickled.  The squirrels seem quite keen on them.

This diagram shows the stages of stripping the nuts down..

Yesterday we visited a Pick Your Own fruit farm about an hour from here in the foothills of the Blue Ridge.  One of the reasons for going was to try our hand at harvesting a different 'nut' (really a legume) - the Virginia peanut.

It was an extremely hot day and David got the job of digging the plants...

My job was to separate the nuts from the mud.

Once home, the nuts were treated to a good wash before roasting..

Like the Black Walnuts, we probably won't be making these a regular part of our diet - at least, not home-cooked ones!