A walk in the canyon

This past weekend, I walked the Pine Creek trail located in the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon just outside of Wellsboro, PA. It was quite cold in the morning but as the sun slowly warmed things up, it became more comfortable.

I totaled 62,550 steps and 26.8 miles. This is the second (and likely last) marathon length walk this year. I felt rewarded in that I had challenged myself and had "made it."

I was probably a week or two too late for the peak foliage - but it was still spectacular - I was enjoying the view so much, I forgot to take many photos (after my fingers thawed out that is!)

Next year, I am planning to walk the Lehigh Valley Gorge Rail Trail - the only questions are logistics and where to start and end!

Trail map showing 34 and 25 mile options.

:)

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod

This past weekend, I was "upstate" in the wilds of Pennsylvania.  I stayed a couple nights in the charming town of Wellsboro, Pennsylvania.  In the town square, there is a fountain and statue of some little children in a wooden shoe.

Intrigued, I read the little sign that explained it was named "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod" after a popular poem for children written by American writer and poet Eugene Field and published on March 9, 1889. The original title was Dutch Lullaby.

The poem goes:

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night
Sailed off in a wooden shoe —
Sailed on a river of crystal light,
Into a sea of dew.
"Where are you going, and what do you wish?"
The old moon asked the three.
"We have come to fish for the herring fish
That live in this beautiful sea;
Nets of silver and gold have we!"
Said Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.

The old moon laughed and sang a song,
As they rocked in the wooden shoe,
And the wind that sped them all night long
Ruffled the waves of dew.
The little stars were the herring fish
That lived in that beautiful sea —
"Now cast your nets wherever you wish —
Never afeard are we";
So cried the stars to the fishermen three:
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.

All night long their nets they threw
To the stars in the twinkling foam —
Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe,
Bringing the fishermen home;
'Twas all so pretty a sail it seemed
As if it could not be,
And some folks thought 'twas a dream they'd dreamed
Of sailing that beautiful sea —
But I shall name you the fishermen three:
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.

Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes,
And Nod is a little head,
And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies
Is a wee one's trundle-bed.
So shut your eyes while mother sings
Of wonderful sights that be,
And you shall see the beautiful things
As you rock in the misty sea,
Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three:
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.

The Honorable Fred W. Bailey of Denver, Colorado, presented the statue of the Green to the children of Wellsboro as a gesture of love for his late wife Elizabeth. Elizabeth’s love for Field’s poem and love for her hometown inspired Bailey to donate the memorial.

Elizabeth Cameron was born and raised in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania. Fred Bailey also grew up in Wellsboro, but followed his yearning for the West to Colorado in 1884.

After a few years he returned to Wellsboro, courted and married Elizabeth Cameron, and returned to Denver. Fred and Elizabeth Bailey never had children, but her love of children was obvious by the Memorial her husband chose to reflect her life.

The statue was sculpted by Mabel Landrum Torrey who was born in a sod house in Colorado. She attended the Art of Institute of Chicago and majored in sculpture. Her original Wynken, Blynken and Nod sculpture received praise from art critics when it was on exhibit in Chicago.

Mrs. Torrey presented Denver Mayor Robert Speer with her original piece of work. He was reportedly so delighted with it that he commissioned her to sculpt one in marble. In 1918, it was placed in the children’s fountain of Washington Park.  So there are two copies of this work - one in Denver, Colorado and one in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania.

Will the last person out...

...turn off the lights?

It was with certain feelings of sadness that I closed up the houseboat for the season this past weekend. I always hate to see the end of a season - with its uncertainty as to what the winter and the next year will bring.  This past boating season was a mixed one - interrupted for a long stretch in July when my dad suffered a heart attack - it was also interrupted by a number of rainy weekends too.

I did however, enjoy getting to meet the dogs, Huckleberry, Newfie, and the new wharf dog, a black Labrador named Gracie.  Gracie provided a bit of comic relief a couple weeks ago as she got her head stuck in a red bucket that held feed corn for the ducks, geese, and chickens.  Unable to shake it off, she ran around the parking lot like a maniac until she rammed into a parked black pickup truck - the impact freed her head from the bucket and the appearance of the "huge truck that came out of nowhere" scared her witless.  She jumped up and backwards at least three feet!  The owner of the truck, and the owner of the wharf and I witness this cavorting and broke out in laughter.

Huckleberry and Newfie are the "tree farm guard dogs" - but neither of them seem to see many people and both are as shy as can be.  I started carrying "Beggin' Strips" when I walked up the long wharf road past the tree farm to see if I could tempt them.  The first meeting was uncertain, just as Huckleberry was just (finally!) going to allow me to pet him, my cellphone beeped for an incoming text message - that startled him so badly he took off and soon had a hundred yards between us!  The two dog slowly warmed to me, however as the weekends went by - and this past weekend, I was met at the farm boundary by two drooling dogs in search of a head pat (I suppose they actually just wanted a Beggin' Strip).

The boats are being taken out of the Chester River, one by one and the Water's Edge will be out within the week.

Until next year... I leave my water-borne friends and neighbors.

..and get ready for the "Pumpkin Season," those 6-7 weeks between now and Thanksgiving.  I do enjoy the cool air and the changing leaves.  Recently, I went to the Morris Arboretum and looked at the scarecrow contestants.  They are in my Flickr account (here).  I think you will enjoy them.  They are so creative!

Halloween Swap Goodies!

I recently got some really "good mail" - a package with goodies from my Halloween Swap partner Francine at Primitive Stars!  Thank you Francine!

The swap was arranged and coordinated by wonderful Parsley at Seasons of My Mind. I am thankful I know her!

Francine sent a wooden Smiling Black Cat wearing a pumpkin-themed witches hat "door greeter". I think that expression is so "me"!

The handmade, primitive candy corn pillow is a delight as is the homemade Halloween greeting card!  Francine finds and creates some of the most interesting "primitive" items, like starts, bowls, and other things.  They are most eye-catching.

The box with the smiling black cat on it contains big candy corn kernels and the rectangular box contains pure maple sugar candies! Those will be a treat for sure!

The little pumpkin candle smells to nice, I'm thinking I won't ever light it up!

The 'cinnamon fire' Jolly Ranchers are a boyhood favorite - I always loved how the intense flavor exploded in your mouth! As an aside, I also found it interesting that the Jolly Rangers were made in at Hershey, PA, just "down the road" from me, went all the way to Francine in Canada and back again!

Thanks again Francine! And thank you, Parley for doing the hard work of setting this swap up! It was so very nice!

In search of old memories...

I have, in the past, written about my "honorary" Aunt Bea.

Aunt Bea was one of my paternal Grandmother's friends - she grew up "around the corner from the church" they both attended. Later on, when my dad served his 2 weeks a year in the Army Reserves, my mom stayed with my dad's mom with my older brother (who was a one year old) and got to know Aunt Bea too - and the three of them became "best buddies" and they all went shopping together. Aunt Bea moved out west to California with her second husband (the first one died suddenly) and has lived out there for more than 40 years (the second husband died too, of cancer). When my parents had their 50th wedding anniversary she came back to the east coast to join the party and has become very active once more with our family.

This June, she turned 90 years old and asked me to locate her second husband's younger brother.  I have tried a number of times to "find him" but have had no luck so far.  His name is (or was) Richard Donald Kane, born July 19, 1930 in Chester, PA.

While I was searching for him, I rummaged through the box of stuff my grandfather left behind and found this photograph, dated circa 1941..

It shows my dad between two recently made US Sailors.  The man on the right is an "unknown" but the man on the left is Philip Lewis Hallworth (Jr.); MOMM2 (Motor Machinist 2nd class) US Navy World War II (22 Oct 1919 - 13 Oct 1963), my Aunt Bea's first husband.  My eye was caught by the navy hats (you may recall my recent "acquisition" of my great-uncle Marshall's WWI sailors hat.)

I was just a toddler when Philip passed away - and do not recall ever having met him.  Everyone that knew him (that remains with us today) speaks very highly of him, and recalls he went deaf while working in the engine rooms of the various ships he worked on.  Today he rests in the Beverly National Cemetery, in Beverly, NJ (Section X Site 3315).  My Aunt Bea plans to join him there someday.

The mystery man seems to be hauntingly familar, as if somewhere in my past, I encountered him - but nothing more that the vaguest of shimmering thought surfaces to the forefront.  Perhaps, some night, it will come to me - that elusive memory.  Looking at the photograph, he seems to have been a nice guy.  My dad has no memory of this "photo op," and says the events of the time (the outbreak of the war) and his um... unfortunately timed, flying of a Japanese Flag out his bedroom window and its aftermath are all he can recall.

Another photograph sends me down memory lane...