I took a quick trip to Virginia today – the first in a long time thanks to high gas prices. When I was writing Shades of Gray, I used to go at least once at week (often more), but I have not touched the sacred soil there for months now.

For anyone who has never visited the Fauquier/Loudoun area, it is a landscape of rolling hills and scenic pastures, lined with stone fences that are more than a century old.

I am like a kid in a candy store when I drive down those dirt roads – a grin on my face a mile wide. I wish I could have stayed longer this time, but my work schedule dictated otherwise.

I did take a few pictures that I will share with readers in the coming weeks. One photo I did not get was a young fox feeding on a dead deer by the side of the road while a flock of buzzards waited patiently for him to finish. I did not want to interrupt his meal as he looked a little worse for wear.

When the grass gets a little greener and things are not so dreary I hope to take even more photos of one of the most beautiful places on earth – Virginia.