The beauty of the earth.

Batiks by Mary Edna Fraser,

author with Dr. Orrin Pilkey of

"Islands from the Sky"

It’s November on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, but, astonishingly, glimpses of an Indian Summer day still peek through.

Jipper and Finkie’s favorite new food is fried flounder, so we thought we might as well eat it where the locals do: at Sting-Ray’s truckstop on Route 13, just after exiting the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.

There's nothing quite like eating fishfry at a truckstop.

And locals there were: miles and miles of 'em, it seemed, lines of ‘em to get served up one of the dozen or so Saturday lunch specials.

After feasting on fish and crab cakes, with spicy cole slaw, collard greens, green bean casserole and broccoli with real cheddar, we continued motoring along Route 13 looking for adventure.

We ended up at the Barrier Islands Center Museum which, as serendipity would have it, was staging a gorgeous exhibit of the batik art of Mary Edna Fraser.

Ms. Fraser takes aerial photographs of barrier islands all over the world, then turns the photos into works of exquisite art by translating the landscapes through dyes and wax and silk and the ancient art of batik.

The museum was charming, with the twisted chimney and the tale of the “breeches buoy” being especially captivating. But I felt so downright lucky to have happened upon the museum when it was exhibiting Ms. Fraser’s work.

The batiks were breathtaking. To me, the beauty of the earth was represented in a marvelous new way.