So this is what happens when it snows at UVA. Natalie Krovetz captured a scene of streaking today on the Lawn.

The Saturday afternoon sun illuminates a barn and sailboat in Greenwood yesterday. While yesterday was perfect for shooting skeet and other outdoor activities, today’s forecast just calls for a cold rain.

One of the many cool things about the Jefferson Theater is that there are several apartments above the lobby. It looks like one of them recently turned over.

The Rogers & Hammerstein musical version of Cinderella, which was written for television 53 years ago (with Julie “Sound of Music” Andrews in the title role), had its 2010 debut Thursday night at Play On! theater. Playing the lead here was NBC29 reporter Kasey Hott, who was cheered on by a large entourage from the station.

Ever wonder how a utility pole gets raised? Well, it appears to involve a boom on a truck, as this December 2 install along Second Street NW indicates. Here, workers with Roanoke-based Davis H. Elliot Company raise a new pole after about a week of on-site preparation of adjacent electrical wires.

The Paramount Theater may still be basking in the glow from having hosted the world’s top-selling female jazz musician. On November 18, in what was the Paramount’s big fall fundraiser, Diana Krall entertained a crowd that paid $61.50-$97.50 for the pleasure of hearing the golden haired musician.

The City sucks up leaves from its street trees by having one worker blow the leaves onto the edge of the street. Moments later, a vacuum-equipped truck comes along to suck up the leaves as sign-wielding workers warn traffic of the impediment. (More leaves fall before the truck has even left the scene.)

Despite an unfortunate proximity to power lines and a brutal haircut, this Crozet oak hangs onto its dignity with its fall foliage.

Old and new stand back-to-front during the final days of the old downtown signs with cut-out steel letters. The dual-pole “Charlottesville” signs were erected circa 1993, but they’re slated for scrap as City workers have already installed most of the replacement signs, a monopole design that’s part of the City’s new, half-million-dollar wayfinding program.

The city’s holiday tree (as it’s ecumenically called) was lit Friday night on the Downtown Mall in a ceremony that featured kids events and the Jeffersonland Chorus.

As seen from the 9th floor of the former Monticello Hotel.

The 16th annual Spirit Walk, a creation of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society, concluded on October 24.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, though the Halloween decorations have barely been put away and we haven’t even gotten to Turkey Day yet. The holiday lights on Ridge-McIntire have been up since at least November 8.

A glorious fall day in Lee Park under a brilliant red canopy— what better place to take a snooze?

Texicana musician Dylan Sneed performed last Thursday, November 4, at the Garage.

It’s that time of year when firewood sellers are busily delivering loads to eager warmth-lovers. As anyone trapped in a fireplace-equipped house without sufficient firewood can attest, the proper time to buy firewood is before snow and Dominion Virginia Power lines hug the ground. (This picture depicts a load from Charlie Steger at 434-973-8499– though we’ve also recently purchased wood from Frye’s Firewood at 434-825-6203.)

Photos of the November 2 performance by A Fine Frenzy— the best musical act you’ve never heard of— have now been put online in a slideshow.

Some wondered if the flags at half-staff at City Hall on November 3, the day after Dem Congressman Tom Perriello was defeated, was the official sign of mourning in a heavily Dem city. Not true. On a site we’d never heard of— dailyflagstatus.com— we learn that Governor Bob McDonnell ordered all United States and Virginia flags at local, state and federal buildings lowered in respect and memory for former congressman and legislator Owen Pickett, who served eight terms in the House of Representatives for eastern Virginia’s 2nd District.

Ted Sorensen, the man widely credited with penning JFK’s immortal “Ask not what your country can do for you…” inaugural speech, has died at the age of 82. His death comes just two years after he spoke in Charlottesville to a group of invited guests of UVA’s Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership (named for a late benefactor/brother). He regaled the audience with farm stories, fly-on-wall tales of the Cuban Missile crisis, and a mild jab or two at the Bush Administration.

This group of Western Albemarle High School students say they skipped school to arrive at 7:30am in order to gain first-in-line status for a President Barack Obama’s speech slated for 12 and a half hours later on Friday, October 29. The truants say their Advanced Placement government teacher pre-approved the effort.

The Grim Reaper awaits hapless trick-or-treaters in Stanardsville.

Comedians ready for their five minutes in the spotlight Tuesday night at 12th Street Taphouse. The near-Corner District restaurant and bar (known for its 20-ounce “pints” of beer) joins hands with the Charlottesville Comedy Roundtable to host an occasional open mic night for local mirth-makers.

This is what the rear-view mirror looks like when getting pulled over eastbound on Ivy Road on Sunday, October 17 for allegedly traveling 52mph in a 35mph zone near Birdwood golf course. Fortunately for the allegedly errant driver, the two 12-packs of Tecate beer— a favored beverage for the late Jim Morrison, according to Light My Fire by Ray Manzarek— held down on the Hookmobile’s roof only by gravity, did not draw any attention from the arresting Albemarle County Officer.

Runners and walkers finish the “Chocolate Chase,” a 5K run and walk that’s part of the 4th annual Chocolate Festival. The event— held in downtown’s Lee Park on the morning of Saturday, October 16— is sponsored by First United Methodist Church.

This is how downtown looked a week ago: some clouds but no rain. Now, however, forecasters are predicting some rain beginning late Wednesday the 13th or early Thursday the 14th of October.

The windows on the headquarters of Inova Solutions gleam in the sunset of Friday, October 1. Just in front of that building, the just-49-year-old-but-doomed Belmont Bridge does its share of gleaming too.

It’s one of Charlottesville’s top family destinations: the top of Carter Mountain which holds an annual apple festival. There, visitors can take in panoramic views and sample fresh apples and the famous apple donuts which— we discovered— start with “Karp’s” dough from CSM Bakery Products. Missed the festival? It happens again the following Saturday and Sunday, October 9 and 10.

About a day after the big rains ended, the hills are alive with the color of sunset, in this image snapped at 7:27pm, Friday, October 1. (Skies remain clear for the UVA football game today, the Carter Mountain Apple Harvest Festival, the Crozet Music Festival, the Fall Fiber Festival, and outdoor hijinx in your own back yard.)

Some Cub Scouts and their parents took advantage of Tuesday’s warm and sunny weather— before the steady rain and cooler temperatures set in— to crawl over the Confederate soldier memorial and cannon at Court Square.

A Hook reader noticed this new business coming soon to West Rio Road, right next to Papa John’s and across from Merchant’s Tire.

From the Route 15 automobile bridge, photographer SR Fox captured an eastern view of the James River and the Buckingham Branch Railroad at Bremo Bluff around 10:15am on Wednesday, September 23. (One can even see Dominion’s coal-fired power plant in the background.)

UVA’s new volleyball courts gleam under their new lights, installed earlier this month. Nets? Any day now. (Photo taken 7:35pm, Tuesday, September 14.)

The Free Trolley doesn’t always get to where it’s going.

Charlottesville found its way to the Monster Ball September 8, where a UVA t-shirt, giant wigs and fake blood were among the looks sported by Lady Gaga at the John Paul Jones Arena, and even from the nosebleed sections, the spectacle was spectacular.

With trumpets blaring and tubas piping, the Cavalier Marching Band created a wall of sound on the Charlottesville Downtown Mall Friday night as part of “Paint the Town Orange,” an annual kick-off (pun intended) to the UVA football season. Indeed, the season opener, held on Saturday night, September 4, went well for the Cavs as they defeated their coach’s old team, the Spiders of the University of Richmond, 34-13, at Scott Stadium. (Speaking of coach-swapping, after losing London, Richmond grabbed the Cavaliers former wide receiver coach, Latrell Scott as the head coach— along with five assistants) Correction: Oops, first gave wrong final score as 35-13, but ’twas 34-13.

Ever wonder what happens outside the Jefferson Theater at 10:02pm on a Friday night? Well, at that time on September 3, this is what happens— whatever the heck it is.

This is how downtown looked from the McGuffey Art Center at 7:40pm on Friday, September 3.

The Gordonsville Municipal Airport has been getting some extra attention recently. Known to aviators at KGVE and owned by the town that shares its name, it’s actually privately run and recently assisted by a relatively new group of volunteers called GAPS, or Gordonsville Airport Preservation Society. Last Saturday, August 28, a reporter took a little ride with one of the volunteers, Skip Degan, who also occasionally shoots aerial photos for the Hook.

The ruins of Barboursville a neo-Palladian mansion designed by none other than Thomas Jefferson, gleam in the noonday sun last Saturday. With Hurricane Earl expected to remain off the coast, this place should remain sunny for at least the next few days.

A new street off Hydraulic Road between Kmart/Gold’s Gym and the under-construction Whole Foods market serves as the first new stretch of a road that has until now existed only on paper: the Hillsdale Connector. The Connector is planned to run right through the site of the Regal Seminole Square, the rear of which is the white structure behind the “road closed” sign in this photo.

What most towns call their farmer’s market, Charlottesville calls the City Market. It happens every Saturday just south of the Downtown Mall.

Downtown Charlottesville and all the mountains from Browns to Lewis to the Blue Ridge as seen in an image shot from the old Monticello Hotel and then somewhat clumsily stitched together from four separate photographs.

A lone pedestrian walks toward the Corner 9:46am, Thursday, August 19.

The sun sets over Lewis Mountain, as Charlottesvillians prepare for a near certain rainstorm. The National Weather Service declared a flood watch from 6am Wednesday through late Wednesday night.

The sun sets over over the Blue Ridge and Beaver Creek Reservoir, a Crozet-area water body whose 104-acre surface provide anglers and occasional sailors— such as the one piloting the 14-foot Hobie Cat seen here— with recreational opportunities. While beautiful, the evening of Thursday August 12 offered almost no wind after 6pm. (The captain of the ship explained the boat’s hand-painted moniker, “Alright Janice,” as a reference to a tv commercial about another kind of wind.)

It was a packed house at the Senior Center on Wednesday as the Senior Statesmen of Virginia hosted the Fifth Congressional District Candidates Showcase— although the only signs of Republican candidate Robert Hurt were the stickers worn by his supporters. Congressman Tom Perriello and independent candidate Jeffrey Clark (the ostensible reason for Hurt’s absence) noted the conspicuous absence in their opening remarks, and both vowed to continue waging a healthy, respectful race to Washington. The forum, moderated by WINA radio host Coy Barefoot, took questions from the audience for an hour, and hit upon such topics as the national budget, Afghanistan, and Social Security. Both Perriello and Clark emphasized the need for voter participation, urging the audience to hold Congress accountable for the rising deficit and shaky economy. “We need people to stop hiding behind party labels or sound bites,” Perriello said.

UVA President Teresa Sullivan invited the media in for a chat August 6 as she finished her first week as head of Virginia’s flagship university. Her Madison Hall office has the same furniture as her predecessor, John Casteen. “I rearranged it,” she says. And she added a chair, her books and the flags of the United States and Virginia. Why? “Because when I walk in in the morning, I want to remember to whom my allegiance is owed,” she tells a reporter.

Good times at the Free Speech Monument August 2.

The Jefferson Area Tea Party and a group called DeFundIt.org host a press conference to denounce federal funding of abortion in health care reform legislation August 2 at the Free Speech Monument. About two dozen Tea Partiers were met by about the same number of health care/Tom Perriello supporters, including members of Catholics United, who say the denouncers’ claims are completely false.

Singer-songwriter Moriah Harris (who sounds a little like Norah Jones) performs at Blue Moon Diner Monday, July 26 in support of her new album of rainy-day music, The Thieves On Stratton Avenue.

Another over-10-feet-high vehicle hears the siren call of the 14th Street bridge, fails to heed its warning signs, and becomes a casualty of its low clearance.

The topsoil and mulch business located at the confluence of Routes 240 and 250 in Western Albemarle gleams in morning light. Photo of John W. Clayton & Son (est. 1940) shot March 27.

This scene was photographed July 7.

Gordonsville Airport-based flight instructor Skip Degan spotted this patriotic scene in a farmer’s field in the Orange County community of Somerset: Statue of Liberty, Liberty Bell, and “We the People.” Unlike crop circles, this art doesn’t appear to have been executed by aliens— unless of course they’re resident aliens hoping to get invited to take an oath of citizenship at Monticello.

In a room that used to be monochrome beige, Richmond-based illustrator Jody Matzer has unveiled a gift to the Virginia Discovery Museum in the form of a colorful undersea-scene mural. Matzer, as some might recall, is a former television game show contestant who parlayed a successful run on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? into a stint as an author. But his long-time love has been design, and that’s just fine with Museum Director Peppy Linden, marveling that the stylized ship hull built about a decade ago by Jack Kavana has now been augmented by Matzer’s mural. “Isn’t it just unbelievable?” exclaims Linden. “It’s fanciful, but it’s also based on nature, so it’s another opportunity for learning.” The mural hangs in the toddler room of the Museum, which is located on the Downtown Mall and which recently celebrated its 20 years of being on the Mall.

The recent three-minute storm claimed another member of the plant family Tuesday, July 6, as workers with Van Yahres Tree Service toiled in record-breaking heat (the temperature hit 103˚F at McCormick Observatory) to bring down a damaged pecan tree— what may have been the area’s biggest— in a North First Street yard.

There are more egalitarian fireworks displays in town (and the annual celebration in McIntire Park comes immediately to mind), but if you’re a member or a clever crasher, the Farmington Country Club fireworks are pretty nice. And they last nearly 20 minutes, which is fairly long in fireworks-years.

Despite sunny skies and temperatures nearing the triple-digit mark combining to create the clear visibility and bone-dry pavement evident on July 4— not to mention a new law that has already begun giving drivers more leeway on the highway— Virginia State Police appear to have targeted Interstate 64 for undercover enforcement action. As this photo taken the afternoon of July 4 indicates, unmarked vehicles are part of the dragnet that is hauling in drivers along Interstate 64. While the reporter who snapped the photo didn’t get a ticket, he witnessed four traffic stops in the westbound lanes of I-64 between Richmond and Charlottesville— including this one just east of mile marker 132. Ironically, for actions that are usually touted as safety-driven, such stings typically disappear with the arrival of rain. It’s as if drivers know their own safe speed and then moderate it when they realize that traction and visibility have become diminished. (The Atlantic once published a story, “Distracting Miss Daisy,” suggesting that speed limits cause more havoc than they prevent.) In other Virginia State Police activity, the force recently announced, nearly eight months after a t-shirt belonging to Morgan Harrington was discovered, that they have used forensic evidence to link Harrington’s slaying to the unknown suspect in a 2005 rape in Fairfax. One hopes they’re spending more time working the Harrington case than turning I-64 into a blue light district.

After the grey sport utility vehicle backed into the other vehicle on the afternoon of Wednesday, June 30, everyone involved got out to take a look.

The once-proud whale tail on the U.S. 250 bypass takes a fatal hit from the June 24 storm.

A hog-laden pickup truck was parked in the 400-block of East Market Street at 7:58am, Saturday, June 26. Perhaps they on their way to the Charlottesville Livestock Market?

Googling the words “Waynesboro” “va” and “go-karts” brings up all kinds of things, but it’s not until page 5 of the Google results that this object of desire is found: Fastrax, what may be Central Virginia’s only walk-up go-kart facility. For $7 per ride, one can tool around a slick oval or race along a slightly longer figure-eight. (Photo taken Sunday, June 20.)

The water tank is part of Margo Ray’s “Sublime Spaces, Forgotten Places” at Second Street Gallery through July 2. But getting from the tank on the Downtown Mall end of 2nd Street SE to the gallery could be problematic with the extended street closure.

Second Street SE construction still is boxing in businesses like The Box. Its owner, Chas Webster, couldn’t get into his own establishment June 10. Eleven days later, the street still is not accessible to the public.

An errant truck punched a hole in the brick front wall of Integral Yoga Natural Foods Wednesday morning.

Daily Progress photography director and freelancer extraordinaire Andrew Shurtleff captures the action at Davenport Field on Sunday. Shurtleff captured this great shot of Virginia teammates Dan Grovatt and Kevin Arico for the DP after the devastating loss on Monday night.

Cavs DH John Barr gets a lead off first base after hitting a single up the middle in the top of the eighth inning, while Cavs slugger Phil Gosselin, who homered in the sixth, waits for the pitch. Despite a gritty at bat, Gosselin would fly out to right field to end the inning. Oklahoma would go on to win 10-7, forcing a do or die game for both teams tonight.

Peter Markush, a.k.a. Mark Rock, takes the fine art of busking up a notch.

Rugby Avenue, one the prime entrance/exit points for the U.S. 250 Bypass as well as a gateway to McIntire Park, was closed after the big June 3 microburst due to fallen power lines, which were getting repaired at the time of this 5:08pm Thursday image.

Right around the time that the Fridays After Five concert was supposed to be taking place on May 28th, the rainstorm that dropped 1.5″ of water in relatively short order not only canceled Fridays After Five (which was to have featured the home-grown Indecision), but the rain also turned this staircase at McGuffey Park into something of a waterfall.

A somewhat forbidding sky looms over Water Street— including its most controversial component, the unfinished Landmark hotel— in an image captured at 6:14pm Sunday, May 23. However, no rain fell that date.

Photographer Tom Daly captures himself Wednesday, May 26 on the front porch of the UVA Art Museum with some of the Mad Bowl fraternities in the background. (Daly shot the current Hook cover package entitled, “Summer Guy’d.”)

With VDOT budget cutbacks, vultures will have more of a chance to pick clean the deer carcasses littering roads, such as this one on Three Notched in Crozet.

Citizens unhappy about the then-impending execution of convicted murderer Darick Walker gathered on High Street on May 20 with signs. Despite their pleas, the state of Virginia carried out the execution at 9 o’ clock that night, fulfilling the sentence Walker received for killing Richmonders Stanley Beale and Clarence Threat. “Walker invaded his victims’ homes by kicking down their front doors, and then, in the presence of their families, mercilessly shooting each victim multiple times,” Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli wrote in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of Mr. Beale and Mr. Threat.”

Members of Darden’s graduating class of 2010 listen attentively to President John Casteen’s May 23 commencement address.

The controversial no-park zone at the Square in Crozet, fenced in by liability-shy Buckingham Branch, gets stranger. An 1877 deed raises questions about whether CSX, which leases the line to Buckingham Branch, actually has title to the parking lot, the DP reports.

The Newshour with Jim Lehrer host was in Charlottesville yesterday, speaking at a luncheon for WHTJ PBS top donors at the Clifton Inn about the importance of public television and the changing forms of journalism, according to Josh Wheeler at the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression. Today, Lehrer turns 76.

Early Sunday evening on May 16 (when some UVA runners were racing in North Carolina), some youthful contenders were having a race of their own at Meriwether Lewis Elementary School’s “Fun Run.” Organized by Meriwether mom Sarah Trundle (a top finisher in the recent Charlottesville Ten Miler), the all-relay event paired siblings, friends, and even parents with their children. And guess what— everyone won a ribbon.

Two spectators to first-round action at the Boys Middle School Lacrosse League’s season-ending tournament watch a passing coal train at 9:53am on Saturday, May 15 at Carr’s Hill field. To the west in Crozet, the railroad’s decision to reclaim its parking lot is raising frustrations and fears of business failure.

Heavy rains, high winds, lightning and thunder did not stop the Iguanas from sizzling at Fridays after 5 on May 14.

While there were several burning bushes downtown Sunday at 3:26pm, God didn’t appear (at least not in any obvious way). The May 9 incident destroyed an approximately 20-foot swath of evergreens between parking lots for the Citizens Commonwealth Center and the Omni hotel. There were no injuries, though at least one car might need a repainted hood.

A child enjoys the cooling breeze and Italianate architecture Saturday, May 1 at Swannanoa, the 1912 mansion atop Afton Mountain and open eleven weekends this summer. Next opportunity is June 5 &6.

The Festival of Cultures has drawn hundreds, and perhaps thousands of citizens to downtown Charlottesville’s Lee Park on Saturday, May 8 for food and crafts— and balloons. It continues until 4pm.

National news media get primo parking in front of UVA’s primo landmark.

Barracks Road at U.S. 250 gets its second Art in Place mural, thanks to a bucket truck mustered on Thursday, April 29, by Photoworks. The piece is a digital reproduction of a painting by Catherine Twomey entitled “Blue Ridge East Fall.”

A small blaze behind Wachovia Bank April 27 around lunch time evacuates the building while the air clears inside.

A white bicycle stands on the the corner of West Main and 4th Street NW as a memorial to UVA grad student Matt King, 23, who died April 19 after a collision with a Charlottesville Public Works truck in that intersection. A vigil is planned there at 5pm Friday, April 23.

The General almost seems to tiptoe through the tulips in Lee Park.

Massanutten Resort, near Harrisonburg, may have closed its ski season in late March, but a few slivers of snow lingered on until at least 2pm on Thursday, April 15, as seen in this image by pilot/photographer Skip Degan. A few miles to the north, in the George Washington National Forest, the plume from a prescribed burn rears its head. Meanwhile, Massanutten is fighting a lawsuit filed last month over an allegedly paralyss-causng 2009 accident that occurred on its sledding hill. –last updated 10:50am Tuesday, April 27

A car showing a creative branding strategy was parked yesterday, April 14, near the Downtown Mall on Second Street NW. The car touts a beer called Shock Top Belgian White, part of the Michelob line which is part of the Anheuser-Busch line, which is part of a worldwide conglomerate called InBev. But in local beer news, the team down at Devil’s Backbone Brewing Company won four awards (including a gold) on April 10 in Chicago at the 2010 Brewers Association World Beer Cup. And over in Afton, the Blue Mountain Brewery took home a silver medal for its American-style wheat beer. The competition, held every two years, is considered the Olympics of Beer, with over 3,300 beers from 642 breweries in 44 countries trying to impress an international panel of 179 judges. Looks like Nelson County is vying for a prominent place on the international beer map.