You Never Know What You Might Find!

        Frank and I hit the road again, this time to do some geocaches and to take some pictures. So, basically it was the same as most of our adventures. We left early in the morning, in the darkness, as is usually the case.

        The full moon and Jupiter were slipping over the hill by my house when I first woke up. The pair was just four degrees apart and contrasted nicely with the black silhouetted trees on the hillside. They had disappeared when Frank arrived but we quickly located them as we drove along roads with a better western view. Looking to where we could go to get a nice shot of the pair, we ended up on Bigelow Blvd. with the city peeking through the trees.

        We stopped and took a few pictures as the moon sank down into the clouds. You can see Jupiter, an orange colored dot to the right of the moon. 

As it set, the full moon turned red.

        We continued on to Highland Park where our first two geocaches were.  Saturday was International Geocaching Day, so we had to find at least one during the weekend! We found one of the two. Try as we might, we couldn’t figure out where the second cache was hidden. We will get it some other day!

Frank signing the log.

        There were five more caches on our "to find" list, these were hidden in Alleghany Cemetery in Lawrenceville. All was going fine until we pulled up to the gate. It was closed! The gates didn’t open until after 10. Since it was only around 8 when we arrived, we had some time to kill. Across the street from the entrance is Barb’s Country Kitchen, so we stopped in for some coffee and breakfast. That took up about a half hour…

        Hopping into the car we went searching for some photo opportunities. We recently had talked about visiting the Seldom Seen Greenway Trail, so that was our next stop. This short trail goes through an interestingly designed brick tunnel, built in 1902. Saw Mill Run goes through it also.  On the far side of the short tunnel are two railroad trestles, one of them still in use. 

        Coming into the parking lot we heard bag pipes! Starting into the tunnel, we met Mychael who was walking back and forth under the arches playing a set of pipes. We stopped and talked a bit before we continued on. Scottish music followed us out onto the trail.

        I guess he likes the sounds in the tunnel? Who would’ve guessed we would run across a bag piper in our travels, let alone be serenaded as we hiked along the path.  You never know what you might run into when you go exploring!

        We both got some nice photos while we were there and then we returned to the cemetery.

        The gates were finally open! The Allegheny Cemetery is huge; there are 300 acres and about 15 miles of roads in it. Many famous Pittsburghers, such as mayors, sports celebrities and musicians are buried here. It would be easy to get lost inside it. Looking at all the trees and woodlands in it, it is tough to imagine it is situated inside the city.

        We did 3 of the 5 caches here and nearly did a fourth but because I entered a wrong number, we lost out on that one. It was what is called a multi-cache. This one brought us to a monument on which were 4 poems. Using those we had to solve two simple arithmetic problems and use the answers to find the “final” cache. Transposing the numbers will unfortunately NEVER lead you to a find!

        The day was getting hotter as we searched and after climbing a rather steep hill and taking a couple falls, I was ready to call it quits for the day. We had gotten a few caches and enjoyed the searches for the others, even if we didn’t find them.

        We headed for our homes, satisfied with another fun day of caching and photography. We watched the moon set, got some nice photos, the weather was great and I only got 10-20 mosquito bites. Best of all, we got a small bagpipe concert while we were hiking; once again, you have to keep exploring your surroundings, you never know what you might find!

Finally, Another Star Party! August 14, 2021

         After nearly two years, 21 months to be exact, the Amateur Astronomers Association of Pittsburgh (AAAP) has finally been able to hold another star party! The one scheduled for the night before, (Friday the 13^th of Aug.) was cancelled due to rain, or possibly bad luck! Saturday had turned out to be a perfect night to hang out in a field and share the skies with others.

        I arrived early, around 7PM, joining 7 or 8 other members setting up their scopes.  We watched a weather balloon for awhile as we waited for the darkness to arrive.

        A couple friends came up with a new telescope and the three of us started to set it up. Then some other members with more knowledge finished the job, getting it aligned and tracking correctly. They offered their help and then stopped by a few times during the night to make sure everything was operating properly. It is what our club does! Their help and concern was appreciated!

        As the sun set and the skies started darkening, more and more people started arriving. Some had scopes, some brought their children and some were just here to get outside and mingle once again. We were more than happy to show them the stars while they were there.

        Almost everyone started with the moon. It was the only thing visible! As the night darkened, Venus showed up in the west and Jupiter appeared on the eastern horizon. It wasn’t much later that Saturn showed up to join the party!

         I would guess that there was over 100 people who came to visit. Groups of people were walking past, laughing and talking and every so often, yelling about seeing a meteor!

        I showed most of the objects on my list; the planets,(Saturn is always a show stopper!) double stars, the Ring Nebula and the Coat Hanger Cluster to name just a few.

        Just listening, I learnt a few things from the members set up on either side of us. I love looking through other telescopes and hearing about how they work and operate. I talked with people I hadn’t seen in years and met some people I know only by way of the list-server. People continued to come by as the night went on.

        During a bit of free time, I went inside the observatory and took a look through the two big telescopes mounted there. What more can I say but…nice! M13, a globular cluster was in one scope, with thousands of stars looking like a mound of sugar.  Jupiter was in the other scope, its cloud bands visible and its moons nice and crisp in front of the background stars. The seeing was great, all the views I saw were nice and steady.

        The sky stayed clear until midnight neared.  The public started to leave as the air got cooler leaving mostly members behind. Then they started packing up. It was a little after midnight when I left. A bright Perseid meteor was my last observation for the night, a lucky one, I just happened to look up at the right time!

        This evening had done me good! I couldn’t help but be in a good mood the next morning, even though I felt like I needed more sleep.

        Our next star party at the Wagman Observatory will be on September 11^th, a Saturday and the one after that will be on September 24^th, two weeks later. The second party will be a Moonrise Star Party. We will be able to watch the moon rising in the east during this party, something that's always nice to see and photograph.

        Until the next time, keep your fingers crossed for clear skies and keep looking up!

Driving East to the Son

 

        There was a party we had to attend. A very important party! It was my grandson’s second birthday.

        As is usually the case, Ann Marie and I opted to take rt.22 across the state rather than the turnpike. The day was great for a ride; the windows were open with our arms resting on them. We showed up at their doorstep around 3:30 ready to party!

        The party was fun; there were lots of family members there, many we hadn’t seen in years. Mateo had a blast! The festivities tapered off as Mateo’s bedtime neared. We returned on Sunday morning to visit some more with the family and to play with Mateo’s new toys!

        On Monday AMB and I took a “short” drive to New York City. Ann Marie had never been there and we wanted to just drop in for a short visit to let her to see the how big the town really is. If we were lucky, we’d stop at a couple bookstores in our travels. 

        I always find it fascinating to see the skyline as I near the city. It never ceases to amaze me seeing how big it is! I remember thinking Pittsburgh was a big city. That was before I saw NYC the first time. New York just seems to keep going on and on.

        After a quick jaunt through Times Square our first stop was the New York Public Library. The huge building is often thought of as the main branch, in reality it's a research library not a lending library. We stopped outside to take some pictures of the iconic lions before we entered the building.

        The lions were named Patience and Fortitude by Mayor LaGuardia in the 1930’s, qualities he figured New Yorkers would need to survive the depression. Patience is to the south and Fortitude, pictured here with AMB, is to the north.

        Inside, we viewed murals painted in the halls and enjoyed the beautiful architecture. It is a temple to reading! Sadly, we weren’t able to visit the Rose Reading Room. This is a huge room lined with bookcases with murals painted on the ceiling. There are tables stretching from one end to the other with brass lights on them. Chandeliers hang overhead. The room is huge, 78 feet across and 297 feet long, nearly the length of two city blocks or a football field! It has recently been renovated. It is off limits to everyone but researchers.

        Here is a link to a great time lapse movie of the librarians re-shelving the books after it was renovated. It gives you an idea of how big it is!

Time Lapse: Thousands of Books Get Reshelved Before the Rose Main Reading Room Reopens - YouTube

        Our next stop was a visit to the observation deck on the Empire State Building. This whole building is a monument to commercialism. Everything is very pricey! At the top we enjoyed the views, we picked out a few landmarks and were amazed by the size of this city.

        Going back down to street level we were led through the HUGE Empire State Building Gift Shop. (Did I mention commercialism?)

        Back on the street we looked for a place to eat our lunch. We found a nice Irish pub. Dark inside with good food and cold beer, it was just what we needed to cool down and rest a bit. We took a cab while we were in the city. (It was AMB’s first cab ride!)  We only visited one bookstore and it was part of a chain, nothing to write home about! 

         We made it back to the hotel in time to visit with the family again, to wish Mateo a Happy Birthday and to eat dinner with them. When Mateo headed to bed, we did likewise, it had been a long day and the next day we were heading back to Pittsburgh.

        Since our trip to the Big Apple didn’t include any good bookstores, we figured we would try again on the way home. We stopped in Bethlehem PA, where we planned on visiting the oldest operating bookstore in America. Opened in 1745, it has been selling books for two hundred and seventy six years! 

        Bethlehem was hosting a week long music festival, roads were blocked off and food carts lined the streets. We found an open parking meter and tossed an hour’s worth of coins in it. We got some coffee and freshly made bagels at a corner deli and sat outside enjoying the views.  

        Walking down the block we came to the “old” bookstore. It wasn’t what we had expected. It looked like any other college bookstore. It had a large gift shop where students could get textbooks, coffee mugs and other necessities with the Moravian College name imprinted on them. To get to the bookstore we walked through a Christmas shop filled with glittery ornaments and Moravian stars.

        Once we got into the bookshop, it looked like a Barnes and Noble store. (B&N is now running the operations.) There were clean polished floors, a wheelchair ramp on one side, tables spread nicely with new books displayed on them. It looked very modern, nothing like the old bookshop we were expecting.

        We were thinking it would be a small, dark, dusty store. Shelves would reach up to the ceiling filled with a variety of older books, some there for decades. The shelves would be placed to create passageways and little dead ends, places you could get lost in. The bookseller would be an older person, not a young girl with a computer ID tag around her neck, standing in front of a large computer screen. Walking to the front of the store I saw my image projected on a large screen from one of their security cameras. NO, it wasn’t what we had envisioned! I didn’t see one old book! We bought nothing and returned to the car.

        Our last chance at getting a bookstore experience was in Harrisburg. We took a break for lunch at the near-by Fort Hunter Park, sitting under a small tree in Adirondack chairs overlooking the Susquehanna River. After we ate we drove into town to the Midtown Scholar, a huge bookstore selling new and used books. I have found many books while rummaging through their countless stacks. I had once asked where I could find some books on iron furnaces and the staff member told me that he would show me the way. “It’s easy to get lost here!”

        Parking around back in their parking lot, we walked to the front of the store only to find out that it was closed. Carts filled with books that usually sit outside were gathered inside the doors. They have instituted new hours and are now only open Thursday through Sunday. Since it was Tuesday…we were out of luck.

        Returning to the road, we drove through a couple extremely powerful storms. We could see the storms ahead of us, dark clouds blotting out any details behind them. When we drove into the storms, cars slowed to a crawl, everyone had their flashers on and cars and trucks were pulled over to the sides, riding out the deluge. The windshield wipers couldn't keep up, lightning and thunder added to the mayhem. Coming out the far side, we were treated to sunshine on the mountains. The wet leaves looked vibrant and healthy with small clouds of mist clinging to their tops. The trees looked like a carpet covering the steep hillsides with no buildings or roads marring their surfaces. It was truly a beautiful sight!

        It was a great trip but sadly bookstores weren’t a part of it. We had fun, we enjoyed the travel and the exploring! Another good thing about it was, it was the start to my retirement! 

        The thing I enjoyed most though, was playing with my grandson, watching him play with his toys and better yet, listening to him read his books to me! He showed me the different pages and told me what was on them. I know he is my grandson and I may not be objective about it, but he sure is smart! His parents are raising him well. He is a very lucky boy! Seeing them and their son was definitely the best part of the whole trip!

Friday the 13th

Once again it is Friday the 13^th! While some people consider this day to be bad luck, it has never been more than an interesting day of note to me.

There are various reasons why people fear or consider the number 13 to be unlucky. Going way back, these two may possibly have something to do with it. In Norse mythology there is a story of twelve gods having a dinner in Valhalla. Loki, the trickster god wasn’t invited but showed up anyway, making it 13. He caused the death of another one of the gods and the world went dark. It was a bad day! Another theory involves the last supper.  There were twelve disciples and Christ making it 13. Judas the one who betrayed Christ is said to be the 13^th, even though the bible never mentions that fact.

When the day and the number joined I don’t know.

In the UK a survey was done which showed there was less chance of getting in an accident on that date as compared to any other. Another survey showed that there was over a 50% chance of getting into an accident on that day. It makes you wonder where they got their statistics!

Cruise ships rarely have a 13^th deck. Hotels and buildings often skip over the 13^th floor. I figure, even though it is called the 14^th floor, it is still the 13^th! You can’t fool me!

Some places and countries consider the number 13 to be lucky. It is considered good luck in Italy except when it involves the number of guests sitting around a dinner table. At Colgate University the number 13 is considered lucky because the school was started with $13 and 13 prayers. Friday the 13^th is considered a good luck day there.

It has been suggested that between 800-900 million dollars is lost every Friday the 13^th. This is due to avoidance of traveling, changing wedding plans, moving and so forth.

In case you are wondering about the math involved with this day, here are a few facts. The most often a Friday the 13^th can occur in a year is three times. There will always be at least one Friday the 13^th every year. If the month starts with a Sunday, there will be a Friday the 13^th in it.

Consecutive Friday the 13ths happen in February and March, as long as it isn’t a leap year. The longest we can go without a Friday the 13^th is 14 months. This year, 2021, we will have only one, today.

One of my favorite words is Triskaidekaphobia, meaning “fear or avoidance of the number 13”. Some people might fear the word itself when they attempt to pronounce it! There is also a word to describe a fear of Friday the 13^th. It is Paraskevidekatriaphobia. WOW, imagine playing that word in a Scrabble game. (I haven’t even tried to pronounce it) I wonder if there is a word that describes a love of the number 13? I’ll have to search for that!

Myself, I never worried about the number or the day. Years ago, AMB and I took a road trip on a Friday the 13^th taking pictures of the number 13. We had a great day driving around SW Pennsylvania. Luckily, we didn’t experience any bad luck that day!

The number really doesn’t matter; I just know it never bothered me. Today has gone well and I expect it will for the rest of the day.

Hope yours went well also!