The Arc of York County's Camp Pennwood provides children with
intellectual disabilities the opportunity to enjoy a traditional day
camp. Special activities include petting zoos, singers, magicians and on
this day, York County Sheriff and York Area United Fire Company.
Campers, ages 6 to 21, enjoy
age-appropriate activities such as arts and crafts, archery,
swimming, horseback riding and musical activities during
camp's six-week summer run. With our dedicated staff and
volunteers, campers benefit from a safe
and educational rural camp experience each year.
Have been to Valley Forge a number of times, but the nice ride on Sunday to the national park and friendly and knowledgeable rangers made the day a worthwhile trip. No matter how many times I visit, there's always something new. That Valley Forge has a York connection is an added plus.
It was the fall of 1777 when George Washington and his troops stopped at Valley Forge to make winter camp. The Continental Army had just been whipped badly at Brandywine and Germantown, after which the British took over Philadelphia.
Fortunately, the young U.S. government had a safe place to which it could move-- York, Pa.
While in York, the government signed the Articles of Confederation
here, using the words "United States of America", apparently for the
first time, making York the first capital of the U.S. Philadelphia
would argue, and has, but that's York claim.
Washington's troops built more than 1,000 log cabins for
the winter, but when the army left Valley Forge the next summer, the
cabins were all torn down and used for fences, other buildings. The park
service put together some replicas in the 1940s. Looking over the rise
from the Muhlenberg line, it's hard to imagine that the turnpike,
Interstate 476, hotels, shopping malls, convention centers were all
someone's front yard or back 40 to be farmed.
Mark Brier was most helpful during the ranger's camp life
afternoon. He and two other rangers were dressed in period costumes and
explained the camp, its history and the men in the camp. At General
James Varnum's headquarters, Robert Gleason, with Historic Philadelphia Inc.,
portrayed General Von Steuben, saying how the men loved George
Washington, and in a more lighthearted tone, explained that his dog
caught fleas from the soldiers-- not the other way around.
High School football season gets underway shortly, but long before the players put on their shoulder pads and helmets and start banging heads, the marching band has already begun its practices.
At Northeastern, the heat is once again looming as a major problem. With
high temperatures expected in the high 90s on Thursday, the Bobcats are
hoping to practice their music inside in the air conditioning instead
of fighting extreme heat.
This is Charlie, my new grand nephew-in-law (got it?) in Indianapolis. He's seven and a half months old, a real cutie. I generally break out in a rash when I'm within a mile and a half of a baby, but last weekend was filled with special little guys. I even gave Charlie an airplane ride.
Was in Indianapolis Saturday to help good friend Vickie celebrate her 60th birthday with friends and family.
Daughter Courtney hosted the party, and when the attendees weren't hitting Vickie with 'old' jokes (remarkably few, actually-- it was a kind crowd) they were fawning over Vickie's first grandchild, Courtney's Sawyer.
It's been nearly 20 years since I met Vickie's family while on a four-month trip
around the country talking with kids about growing up. In that series, we talked with kids in different family environments, regions, social situations. Vickie's other daughter Libby was the main subject of the story, a high school dance student at Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan.
The focus of the story was how young people of gay parents grew up. Was it any different than other kids', did they miss out on any social aspects? Twenty years later, I have the same opinion I did then-- no one can have too many mothers. Libby and Courtney are like any successful, talented, smart, happy and beautiful woman. Vickie did very well, indeed.
Libby used her training to become part of Dance Kaleidoscope, a professional dance troupe in Indianapolis. This week, she's in Oregon for a special arts festival. As Libby was telling me Saturday, she is easily the 'senior' dancer now, but there's little doubt she can still dance rings around the rookies. She has the social skills and patience of her mother--a kindergarten teacher-- while helping youngsters learn to dance.
Courtney was 10 years old when I watched her bounce all over the room opening presents on Christmas morning. Until Sawyer was born, Courtney traveled all over the U.S. opening Texas Road House restaurants. She has a new job at the restaurant now, one that lets her stay at home with Sawyer and boyfriend Wade.
Their lives have changed dramatically in 20 years, but Vickie's family and I remain good friends. Of those 16 stories we wrote and photographed two decades ago, Libby's is the one that touched me most deeply. I cherish our lasting friendship.
Aldersgate United Methodist Church Vacation Bible School began Monday and continues through the week. About 120 children from age 3 to the fifth grade are attending the free program.
Longwood Gardens in Kennett, Pa., proving once again that this garden of excellence is more than a mass of greenery, has opened to packed crowds the new exhibition "Light: Installations by Bruce Munro".
Featuring six outdoor fiber optic displays and two indoors, the project is a wonder of composition, color, art and work and planning beyond imagination. In the Forest of Light, 20,000 -- !!!-- stems of light welcome visitors to a dense forest of changing colors.
While the lights change color, there is no movement to speak of, aside from wind forcing them to wave a bit. There are benches available throughout the gardens, so don't bother taking along a lawn chair. The trail is about mile long through all the exhibits, but the displays are spread throughout the gardens.
We visited on Friday night, and there were lines were long, but weekends, of course, are jammed. Timed passes must be purchased online prior to a visit. Tripods are only allowed but with certain restrictions. From the website-- purchase your admission ticket upon arrival and proceed to the Information Desk in the Visitor Center where you will fill out a permission form and receive a tripod or easel tag.
Shooting the displays without a tripod can be done, but only with extreme difficulty. And I can't imagine why anyone would want to. These photos are all raw, that is, not Photoshopped at all and the color is all here, but it took exposures of up to 20 seconds, and pushed to the hilt. The best time to shoot is probably about dusk, when there is enough daylight to show detail without drowning out the fiber optic lights.
The Water Towers or the Meadow at Hourglass Lake is impressive, even if only thinking of the numbers. It includes 17,388 one-liter recyclable bottles filled with water and optic fiber, and colors change inside the bottles. More than 42 MILES of optic cable is used in the project, in which the bottles are stacked in layers between laser cut wood sheets.
Twenty three speakers are hidden inside the 'sculptures'.
Not certain, but I think this is a katydid atop one of a day lily.
It sat there as we used a side flash for light, but finally got bored and probably was blinded from the flash, and flew off, maybe to find its brothers and sister. It's part of a huge family.
From the Encyclopedia Brittanica website-- "Katydids are more closely related to crickets than grasshoppers, as
katydids and crickets belong to the same suborder (Ensifera). The
Tettigoniidae family consists of about 6,000 species divided into 1,070
genera and 19 subfamilies."
The temperatures late in the week hit 100, and it wasn't just two-legged creatures who felt the heat.
For those of us who enjoy watching our feathered friends, a bird bath is a perfect way to lure birds close enough to observe them and their sometimes comical antics.
Many bird watchers don't like to fill feeders in summer, since there is so much natural food around. I live in the city, so berries and seeds aren't nearly as available as in the rural parts of the world.
From about.com, is this advice-- Bathing: Many backyard birds and songbird species will bathe in
hot weather to cool their bodies with water. They may simply walk
through the water or shake it over their bodies with head twists and
wing flutters. Waterfowl will frequently dive beneath the surface to get
thoroughly wet in the heat.
Imagine
camping in 102 degree heat-- enter glamping and an electric fan. From
the Urban Dictionary: "Glamping-- Going camping, but with glamour. A
combination of the two words. It's like regular camping , but with nicer
things than usual. Glamping isn't done by usual outdoor types who climb
mountains."
Ariana Pascoa, 9, of Harrisburg is camping with her grandparents at Gifford Pinchot State Park, and even the most outdoorsy of campers must admit that sleeping in that heat is misery.
So, don't be too harsh on Ariana. She's a very polite young lady spending time with Grandma and Grandpa, and a little electric fan isn't a big deal.
On the other hand, you should have seen the buses there with AC running full tilt. Or the big fans sitting on the picnic tables surrounded by everything the campers could pack into the pickup truck.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Reptile Week
at York County's Nixon Park continues through Sunday, and includes some
programs which allow visitors to meet and touch the critters.
On Sunday check this special program, from the website-- You can learn so much from a lizard or a toad just by following it! Dr.
Bridgette Hagerty of York College will talk about different ways that
biologists study amphibian and reptile movement. Her interactive
presentation will include the chance to track a hiding herp using radio
telemetry. For ages 12 and up. No fee, No registration required.
Folks who flock to Hawk Mountain north of Reading amaze me. I'm straining to make out the colors of a particular bird flying about a time zone away. There's an 80-year old gentleman sitting next to me who has lugged a lawn chair to the top of the mountain. He proceeds to explain the birds parentage, its flight path, where it's been, where it's going and what it had for lunch.
Like I said, amazing.
I enjoy birds, photographing birds--I apparently have that kind of time on my hands. I know enough to tell the difference between an eagle and a sparrow, but not much more, in comparison to some folks. But I have my favorites.
Like this classy-looking cedar waxwing. It eats berries and bugs and in the autumn if you see one, you'll probably see a dozen or two, all stripping a tree of berries. Beautifully colored with a subdued tan back and light yellow belly, the black mask and yellow-tipped are immediate tell-tale ID marks.
Memorial Hospital's announcement that it will begin building on the old
Hawk Lake Golf Course site was expected, but it will have an impact on
walkers and joggers who use the old cart trails for exercise and those who prefer a nearby nature walk.
It appears that this gentleman tried to cool off in Sunday's weather at Cunningham Falls State Park in Maryland without the required 'toe dip' to test the temperature.
The falls, about 60 miles from York, was loaded with folks trying to escape the heat. The signs at the falls' base read "No swimming. Climbing on rocks is not advised." From the website-- For your safety and the protection of the natural resource swimming is not allowed at the Falls.
Apparently no one took notice since the pool at the bottom was packed with people who weren't swimming, but instead dipping their feet and then dunking their heads. That must not constitute swimming.
If you visit, be aware the wet rocks are extremely slippery, and at least two people fell as I watched, and fortunately suffered only bruised elbows and butts.
The park offers boating and swimming in Hunting Creek Lake, and nine hiking trails from a half mile to 7.5 miles and in difficulty from easy to strenuous.
For this photograph, I wanted the effect of the hazy water falls, more like a veil than raging water (it wasn't raging anyway, the falls were slim). For that, use a slow shutter speed to blur the water (1/2 here). Of course, the swimmer's movement required a faster shutter speed to stop the action. Sometimes it works, most of the time it doesn't. While the entire picture isn't perfectly sharp, it works well enough to show both expression and blur.
