Up All Night

All aboard!

Seems like it is always raining at the train station. I have my rain jacket,  but the removable hood has been removed; not sure, but I think it is on top of the dryer, at home.

I spy an umbrella on the back seat, for whatever good it will do ; it's more pretty than functional. So I board the train, damp and chilly from the rain and the platform's dripping overhang. 

A woman in front of me is calling for the conductor; the roof of our car is leaking!

There is water everywhere. From my window I see that the streams are swollen and the ground is flooded.  Pollen covers the water with a green film.

A pasture full of cows. Hmmm, no one puts blankets over cows like they do horses. Aww, baby calves.

Wild turkeys.

I am chilled. If this were a British train a tea trolley would have already been down the aisle.

It looks like winter now. The trees are bare and the sky is trying to snow. It's finally time to put up the Christmas tree,  once I'm back home in a couple of days. Yes, I am one of the last people to put up a tree. Not only did I grow up putting up the live 8 foot tree the week before Christmas,  but now I don't like putting up any Christmas when it still looks like fall out my windows.  And fall is my favorite season. So, when the winter solstice arrives, up goes the tree to brighten the dark.

This is a different approach to Richmond today,  along the Shiplock Park and a narrow canal of the James River.

A former factory boasting a fading Old Dominion Hide and Fur painted ad. Brick smoke stacks. Warehouses converted into loft apartments and condos. A stop at Main Street Station.

The industrial scenic route around the capital city. Junk, graffiti - rain makes it even more depressing. A second Richmond stop at Staple Mills. I am anxious to see Ashland decorated for the holidays.

Amtrak rolls along beside Main St. in Ashland, straight through town. Impressive Victorian homes line both sides of the tracks, but set back beyond broad green lawns and walkways. With expansive porches and multiple balconies there are numerous wreaths and garlands, inflatable figures and one life-sized nativity announcing the holiday.

Back into the rural countryside.  I feel a nap coming on, the train motion  lulling me to sleep. 

'Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg! The next stop is Fredericksburg.  If this is your stop ..."

Well, it's not. From the brief stop at the station I can look down Caroline St. lined with festively decked lamp posts. 

I have not been to downtown Fredericksburg to shop for a while.  Caroline St. is filled with antique shops, specialty shops and boutiques; it takes all day to shop, plus stop for lunch. But today we roll on toward and Quantico and Occoquan, over rivers and by marinas. Folks continue to get on at every stop: the Quiet Car is full.

And then in the distance I see the towering George Washington Masonic National Memorial,  Alexandria. Before the conductor even begins his 'look around you and make sure you have all of your belongings' spiel, I am up and headed to the door - there are two precious little blonde headed boys waiting on the platform for Grandmama, and I can't wait to see them!