A Fairy Tale of West Virginia

In 2002 we were in the States, living west of Washington DC in Vienna, Virginia. I was employed as VP Architecture in the Office of Technology, Cable & Wireless Global, then on its slow descent into Chapter 11 bankruptcy (but that was the following year's drama). 

According to our photo collection, in 2002 we indulged in a never-ending fiesta of tourism. In January and March we explored the Civil War circuit in Virginia, going down to Jamestown and Williamsburg then on to North Carolina. In April we did the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. May was Washington tourism and in June we visited New York.

Come August we did a driving tour around West Virginia, taking in the Blackwater National Park with the famous Falls, and then the Blue Ridge Mountains. In September we travelled to the other coast, touring Yosemite and then San Francisco. In November we were in Florida, in the Everglades, where the mosquitos are the size of dinner plates yet are protected by state law.

Come the turn of the year, 2002-3, I was back shovelling feet of snow from our driveway in Fairfax County, VA, just as I had the previous winter.

Somehow I got all my work done.

One of the many pictures from that year shows Clare at the Blackwater Falls. It's the 17th August 2002 - twenty-two years ago. It's a perfectly mundane image, although charming of course, which the current generation of art programs can transform into something like fäerieland. 

Clare at Blackwater Falls, West Virginia

I give you these two examples (we will dispense with the original!) showing contrasting effects.