My Photographic Memory

 

Looking through some of the thousands of pictures and slides I’ve taken over the years, I’ve come to a realization. This collection of “snapshots”; weddings, baptisms vacations, camping trips and other adventures are all memory aids.

    When I was in grade school I could never figure out why the teachers wanted us to remember things.  Take state capitals, “OK, now how often do you think I’ll need those in the future?” The names of the Presidents or how to diagram a sentence, they might come in handy eventually but do I need to commit them to memory? Multiplication tables and mathematical functions… well, they were used a lot in my future, they did come in handy!

    I, in my infinite wisdom back in grade school, figured if I knew where and how to get the information, why did I need to memorize it?

    Much as I hate to say it, there is a lot that I’ve forgotten. I will be forever in need of my notebooks and calendars. There is a reason that I write down people’s birthdays and the dates they have left us. Simply said, if I didn’t note them, they’d be gone.

    While listing these dates and names on my new 2023 calendar, I was debating whether or not to skip a few names. There are a couple men I used to work with decades ago, should I eliminate their names since I no longer work with them or see anyone who would even remember them? I decided to keep them there, as long as their name is on the calendar, they will be remembered. Saying their names keeps them alive in my memory.

    I can’t recall things like I used to, my memory never was a great one. If there are a lot of names in a novel I’m reading, I keep a slip of paper in the book to help keep track of who is who. I have trouble remembering the plots of books I’ve read, the names and details don’t stay with me, even the books I love. I’m familiar with the night sky but to pull out the names of stars and constellations can sometimes be daunting. I won’t go as far as to say my memory is terrible but it sure isn’t good. I have always envied those who can call up facts, names and dates at a moment’s notice. This is something that was never meant to be for me.

    This is one of the reasons my camera and photography is important. In a way it acts as my memory. I take pictures of the places I go, things I enjoy doing, and people I like and love. Looking back at these pictures helps me remember those occasions. I usually can tell where a shot was taken and who I was with but the dates often leave me floundering. Thank heavens I’ve put notations on most of my slides and pictures!

    Being able to remember things is a wonderful ability; we don’t know how lucky we are to have it! Thankfully, my grade school declaration has proved helpful in my life. I can usually find where the information I need is, especially in these modern days of computer aids.

    I have lots more slides and negatives to sort through and I’m loving it because of all the memories they’re bringing back. They truly are my photographic memory!

    Happy New Year and may this upcoming year provide us all with lots more wonderful memories!

Time Keeps on Slippin, Slippin, Slippin...

 

The wind intermittently blasts against the house, the shrubs bounce their frozen branches back and forth and the temperature continues to drop. The windows have taken on artistic looks as the frost lines across them. Birds flutter as they attempt to grab onto the swinging feeder.

    Inside, I am warm as I wait for the inevitable power outage. It isn’t so much “will” as it is “when” it will occur. Rain preceded the drop in temperature and already branches litter the yard. The wind chills are below zero.

    I usually only leave the house one or two times a day but already I am pacing the floors. Being restricted to the inside tends to draw out the normal passage of time.

    Thank heavens for my books, I won’t be alone. There are candles in the drawers and everything that requires it, has been charged.

    Snow fell for a while, obscuring my views of the valley below. Not that there was much to see, most people have observed the constant warnings aired on the radio and television. It is best to stay inside. With Christmas just two days away, there is the possibility that visits and plans may need to be rescheduled.

    Time has slowed down. Walking around the house the cracks in the walls are more noticeable. The worn handles on the once new knives hanging in the kitchen and the creaks in the floors as I walk across them remind me of how time passes by.

    Thinking back, I’m happy with most of my life, there have been some bad spots but for the most part, I think it’s been a good life and I’m pleased with the spot I’m currently in. This isn’t to say that I wouldn’t change a few things if I could, but that isn’t an option.

    I feel for those who have been given a rougher road than mine. We all encounter those rough spots and those who have to battle them during the holidays have an even tougher time of it. The problems I have are minor to those of others. This is something I attempt to remember every day of the year, but it is even more important around the holidays.

    Looking through the small clear spot on the frosted window, I think about how time is always moving forward but not always at the same speed. I hope and pray that we all have a wonderful holiday, no matter where we might end up celebrating it. The New Year is almost here. Like I said, time keeps on slipping...slipping...slipping...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The Right Place at the Right Time

 There are times when a photographer goes out to shoot a picture or two and nothing presents itself to them. The ideas in their head just don’t evolve into what they had imagined. The weather might not co-operate or the sun is too bright. (Usually not the case, here in Pittsburgh!) The subjects are poorly lit or there might be a wrong adjustment on their equipment. It happens all the time. This should be looked at as just another bump in the road, another day of learning, learning that we don’t always get what we want!

    This simple fact becomes more and more obvious the older we get. In our youth we are pumped up, full of the knowledge we can’t wait to use. We have ideas and plans and as the years go by, we tend to realize that not all these wonderful thoughts will pan out. We are going to experience some failure on the road of life and the sooner we realize it the better. Failure helps us progress forward. “We learn from our mistakes”, we’ve all heard that quote! 

    On the other hand, sometimes the things in life all line up for us. There are times that all our rows are right where they are supposed to be and this last Wednesday was one of those days.

    Frank and I were off to find some geocaches and hopefully some pictures. Since we’re usually already up, we tend to leave early in the day. This morning was no different; we were out on the road by 6:30. We took a slow, meandering route towards where the caches were hidden while waiting for enough light to be able to search. The sky was slowly brightening and features were just starting to be recognizable when we saw a purplish glow in the east. There could be a picture hidden in the sunrise, if we could just find a place to view it from. Buildings and trees hid it from our view as we drove around the North Hills. As we looked for a good spot, the sky appeared to revert back to its normal “Pittsburgh grey”.

    I pulled into a road that was situated above a church and a convent and parked the car. I got out of the car and saw that the entire eastern sky had turned orange and red. “Red sky in the morning, astronomers take warning!” is how I believe the quote goes…this doesn’t apply to photographers!

    We both “ran” across the street with our cameras. The Church and Motherhouse were nicely silhouetted by the spectacular sky. We both started lining up our shots.

    It was then that I realized that there was a man working on the dome of the church below us! We continued taking pictures as two other workers joined him on the dome. The sky was truly fantastic and of course, the men noticed it also, how could they not? They stopped working to admire it and take a few pictures with their phones, just as we were doing behind them with our cameras. Their shots might have turned out a bit sharper and the colors might be a bit more precise, but our picture had the workers in them. We had a human element in our shots. 

    So, the shots we got that day were just a matter of being in the right place at the right time. It was all a matter of luck. We couldn’t have planned this! I’ve got a shot that will probably eventually end up on my wall and memories of a fun morning filled with excitement and adrenaline.

    We continued on to our geocaches and only found about half of the ones we were looking for but that didn’t bother us. Mainly because of the exciting start we had to our day! Yes, sometimes it pays to leave early in the morning before the sun rises. 

The Empty House

 The Empty House   

It was far enough away from the road that it couldn’t be seen, tall thick shrubs hid it from view. A short gravel road led us down to it. Coming to the driveway, we saw the house. A bit weathered but still looking good. The open faced garage was empty and the small chicken coop was silent.

    We walked up a small slope to the porch and Jim put in the key, something he and Pam didn’t bother with in the past. Opening the door, he stepped inside and hesitated.

    The two of us had driven up to New Hampshire to retrieve his cat. Molly had slipped away while things were getting packed for the move to Pittsburgh. After a month in the wild, a neighbor had found her.

    This house was thought to be Jim and Pam’s “forever” home. Sadly, life doesn’t go the way we plan. What we hope and wish for are often just that, only wishes, not our destiny. After spending close to 15 years here, Pam contracted an extremely serious illness, which soon left Jim alone in the house. The cats, a dog and the chickens kept him company on the property. Jim, being who he is, had plenty of friends but in the end, decided to move back down to Pittsburgh to be closer to his family.

    We walked into the house, emptied of all furniture, looking even larger without anything to break the view. He wandered into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, looked inside for a moment or two and then slowly closed the door. We went towards the back and the bedroom, passing his now empty office.

    I felt as if I was intruding on his visit. I didn’t want to say anything, so I played with my camera. This could be the last time he’d be in this house, the place they built together. This is where he probably thought he would spend the rest of his days.

    Going down into the basement where his shop used to be, we saw a swept floor and concrete walls.  There was no sawdust on the floor, no machinery holding half-finished projects, nothing hanging from the rafters. It definitely wasn’t the way I remembered it. A single workbench was pushed into a corner, the drawers all emptied. A mop hung on the wall, its sponge missing. I don’t know how Jim felt but I felt sad, and depressed.

    Going back upstairs, we went to leave. I noticed a lamp hanging from the high ceiling. Underneath it was where their table used to sit. A window overlooked a row of birdhouses and a stick fence, behind them was a field where birds and wildlife roamed. I remember binoculars sitting on the table along with the usual bric-a-brac of normal life. I thought of the times I sat there with a steaming cup of coffee watching the day begin.

    We walked out to the car, past a small wall in the garden, evidence of the gardening skills that Pam had possessed, now…overgrown. A beautiful house sitting on a perfect piece of property, the house empty, yet filled to the rafters with the countless memories of life.

Astronomical Pittsburgh - 1996

 Sorting through slides taken over the years, I came across a small box with the title “Ast Pgh”.  Opening it, I found a batch of slides I had taken in the mid 90’s. They were of places with astronomical names. Many of these places no longer exist. How many do you remember?

The streets are still there, so let’s start out with them.

Brashear Street, named after John Brashear, is in Point Breeze.

Telescope Street in the city’s Southside, not far from where John and Phoebe Brashear lived.

Jupiter Drive in Hampton Township.

Moving into the planets, I started by visiting the Venus Diner in Hampton Township. It has since been moved to another location, possibly in another state.

Then I visited the town of Mars! I always thought this historic sign was interesting since it states the town was named after the star Mars, not the planet…

and what would a visit to Mars be without seeing the UFO?

The planetary visits stopped with Pluto’s, in the Strip District. Pluto is no longer a planet and Pluto’s is no longer a nightclub.

Moving into the stars, there was Starlite Classics located in Wilkinsburg,

and Star Discounts on the main street in Lawrenceville.

Star Tile And Marble was in Aspinwall.

The Starlite Lounge was in Blawnox,

and less than a block away is Moondog’s.

The Comet News was in Braddock, and finally,

here’s a picture that was taken on that same roll of slides,

a comet flying over Wagman Observatory…1996, it was a fun year!

It's Not Quite the Same

 I was going over to pick up my friend Jim in Oakmont. The main drag was being worked on and I needed to take a small detour. It was just a few blocks out of my way, no big deal.

    Turning left a block above the main avenue, I realized that I was on a street that I haven’t been on in decades. I came to a stop sign and there it was, the small building where my first ophthalmologist had his office. No big deal, right?

    The office wasn’t what struck me; it was the chimney on the house across the street from it. I remember that chimney well!

    I got my first pair of glasses sometime between when I was five or six. It was right around when I first started school. This isn’t much different than what many other small kids go through, thank heavens for doctors who can correct our eyesight and allow us to see better!

    We visited him and he set me in a chair with all sorts of torturous looking equipment attached to it. He swung a huge black mask in front of my face, covered with silver levers and numbers. A chart hung on the wall in front of me.  As he moved levers and switched things around, he kept asking me if I could see the chart and if it looked better. Eventually he finished and wrote some numbers down on a piece of paper and told my parents he’d see us in a couple weeks.

    Coming back, he gave me my first set of glasses. With them, I could read the chart with no problem. Everyone seemed happy. But what I really remember most about that day was leaving his office. I stepped outside and looked up at the chimney across the street…and I could see each and every brick in it! I hadn’t seen this before, not in my neighborhood, not even on my own house. Each and every brick! I remember how amazed I was! What else had I been missing?

    Today I had to stop and look at that chimney one more time. It was only 60 some years ago but I remember it still.  The trees have grown up in front of it and I’m guessing that the bricks must have worn away a bit…they just don’t seem as sharp as they did that day! 

    Yeah…that’s it, the bricks have worn away.

Making Memories

 Thanksgiving is a time for memories. Most often good one, families sitting together sharing meals, visits with relatives and friends. For others it might simply be watching movies or sleeping the afternoon away after a really big meal.

    I’m thankful for the fact that memories are still being made in my family. If I might entice you to come along with me, I’d like to take you back, just a couple days, to something that I know will stay with me for a long time.

    My daughter and her family haven’t been to Pittsburgh in nearly three years. Their oldest child is just over three and he now has a younger brother. It was Thanksgiving and the family was coming out to visit Pittsburgh. Everyone was excited and their schedule was rapidly filling up. Ann Marie and I were anxiously looking forward to our time with them in the days ahead.

    The house had been cleaned, rugs swept and washed, baseboards wiped and shelves dusted. Piles of books and papers scattered around the house were put away and the recently washed clothes had been put in their proper drawers and hung in the closet. If I say so myself, the house looked better than it had in a long time!

    One of the things I wanted to do was to show Mateo, my first grandson, the planet Saturn through a telescope. We both share a love of the planets. While he is only three years old, he knows their names, the order in which they orbit the sun and he feels bad that Pluto has been designated down to being only a dwarf planet. Some children gravitate towards dinosaurs; Mateo has been pulled towards the stars! Of course, a lot of what children find fascinating comes from what their parents present to them, after that, it is their own minds and imaginations which take over. This wise young lad also has a fascination with trains; his parents are leading him well!

    The day was looking great, not a single cloud was in the sky. The house was clean, cookies were cooling on a rack on the kitchen counter and the makings of hot chocolate sat beside them. I went outside and set up the telescope. Night was coming! Now all we needed was “the family”.

    I popped outside a couple times, looking to see if I could locate Saturn. The first time out I could see Jupiter, nestled in the limbs of a tree. Saturn would be further west, unencumbered by branches but unlike its brighter neighbor Jupiter, it wasn’t visible yet.

    Going back out again a half hour later, the ringed planet was visible. I turned the scope and lined it up. There it was, yellowish in color, just a small object in the wide eyepiece I was using, but the rings were visible!  Young children often have a difficult time focusing through telescopes and binoculars. It is something they have to learn how to do, some pick it up quickly while others need to practice. I wanted to present Mateo with the largest view of the planet as possible; a stronger eyepiece was needed.

    Luckily the air was nice and steady; the views with the higher-powered eyepiece looked great. Just as I was focusing on the planet, I bumped the scope. The planet slipped away, right as their car pulled up. The time required to remove two children from car seats gave me the time to relocate and center the planet!

    After exchanging hugs and kisses we took a quick look through the telescope and then we went in for cookies and hot chocolate. (There are priorities!) Mateo said he saw the rings and I’m happy to go with that! Inside, he ran around the house, having fun spinning the world globes. We sat around the table and talked while we snacked. What a nice evening, spending time with people you love, people you haven’t seen in a while, making memories!

    The family had other obligations later on so this night’s visit just a short one. As they were leaving, I moved the telescope over to Jupiter. The planet was a nice sized orb in the eyepiece, bands could be seen crossing its surface and the four brightest moons were in a nice line. Mateo saw them and counted the moons. The telescope was set so that he would be able to easily look into it; the adults had to crouch down a bit. But, this was for Mateo, not us!

    After my daughter’s family had left, Ann Marie and I tore the telescope down and put it away. Even though there were no clouds to be seen in the sky, I was floating on “cloud nine”!  I had shown Mateo Saturn, he had seen the planet’s rings and, he had seen Jupiter and its moons. In reality, to him, I think the most interesting thing he saw was the red buttons on the control paddle. It isn’t important, as long as he remembers the night.

    I can only hope that someday, way off in the future, he will think back to this night and possibly tell his own child about it as he shows them Saturn though his own telescope. Making some more memories!

    One more thing, just before they left after dinner a couple nights later, a train went past. Mateo and I went outside and watched as it crossed the intersection below the house. How’s that for a memorable ending to the visit?

We're Moving!

 Standing on top of the hill in the neighborhood cemetery, the morning was quiet. In the valley below, a few cars were on the road but there were no sounds. The sky above was full of stars.

    Behind me, Orion was sinking into the trees with the bright orange planet Mars sitting above. To “his” right was Aldebaran and to the left Sirius.  The constellations Gemini and Auriga were above. High overhead was Leo. It was like a winter night.

    In front of me, in the ESE, was where I was concentrating. I was waiting for the thin crescent moon to rise over the horizon. Approximately 3% illuminated, this will be my last chance to see the moon before the new moon, tomorrow.

    The Big Dipper’s handle led me down to Arcturus, a bit lower and off to the right was Spica. The moon would be rising below the pair. The time I had for Moonrise was 5:37. I started searching the horizon a few minutes earlier even though I knew it would appear about 5-7 minutes after the stated time.

    The camera was sitting on its tripod, the lens focused and pointing towards where I thought the moon would show up. An approximate time was set for the exposure, all I needed now was the moon!

    Below me, I saw the silhouette of a person walking on one of the roads through the cemetery, his flashlight flickering as he walked behind the monuments. I wondered if he would pass me but he took a different road. Beside him and a single deer I saw as I arrived, I was the only living thing here…

    Scanning my binoculars back and forth, I spotted the illuminated tip of the crescent at 5:44, seven minutes after the predicted time. I went over to the camera and started shooting. The moon appeared right where I had aimed the camera!

    I always find it fascinating to watch as any celestial object comes over the horizon. To see the motion of these objects is exciting to see. Being so close to the horizon, the motion is that much more noticeable! I was watching the earth spin and to a lesser amount, the moon orbiting the earth! Evidence of the coming sunrise was visible on the moon. How cool is that?

    Coming home, Orion was well below the trees, the planet Mars was tangled in their branches. Only a few stars were still visible but off in the east, the thin orange crescent was still visible. A half hour later, it had disappeared in the brightening sky, gone except for in my memory!

Ghosts of the Past

The November meeting of the Amateur Astronomers Association of Pittsburgh was held at the Allegheny Observatory, perched on a hill in Riverview Park. We haven’t had a meeting there in quite awhile. There were about 18 members that braved the downpours outside. The early darkness of Standard Time along with the pounding rain made the drive difficult. The other club members attended via the wonder of Zoom.

    The original observatory was built in 1859, on a hill overlooking Allegheny City, now Pittsburgh’s Northside.  

The present observatory was built in 1912 a few miles away. 

    This month’s meeting was devoted to the club's annual photography contest. It was extremely hard to pick your favorites out of the submitted shots. The members have a lot of skills, and the photo contest shows it!

    As the pictures were being shown, I noticed someone in the shadows, in the back of the auditorium, I thought I recognized him. It looked like Albert Einstein, could that be…maybe it was just one of the ghosts of the observatory!

    After the meeting, a few of us stayed behind and got a quick view of the new telescope in the Keeler Dome. Behind a locked door, we climbed a narrow set of stairs to another locked door which led us up a smaller set of stairs into the dome. The telescope towered above us as we climbed up the steps. A 24” PlaneWave telescope, it is the 4^th scope to take residence in this dome.

    Since it was still raining outside, we didn’t get to see anything through the scope but we did get to see how quickly it can slew from one side of the sky to another! While looking at the telescope and the 100 year old dome it is under, I was reminded of all the ghosts that roamed these halls. John Brashear served as the Acting Director of The Allegheny Observatory when it was located closer to the city. He and his wife Phoebe’s ashes are interred beneath the Thaw Telescope at this location. The halls here have been walked by hundreds of famous and learned scientists and astronomers, I’m happy to say that I know a couple of them!

    The ghosts are also memories of times spent here. The time I viewed Saturn through one of the big scopes, club meetings that were held here and the Christmas/Holiday parties held in the basement. Being taken on tours and seeing the multi-storied library and wishing that someday I’d have one just like it. Seeing the offices and workrooms, the machine shop and of course, being able to see the telescopes and the equipment used to do the research, soaking in the history that exists in the building!

    John Brashear’s statue sits in the hallway, greeting visitors as they enter the building. Like many before me, I rubbed his foot for luck as I passed the statue. John Brashear is a man that the people of Pittsburgh looked up to, the same way as many of the members of the AAAP do!

    Before we left, we squeezed through a small wooden door and a narrow unfinished corridor and went out onto the roof of the observatory. The biggest dome of the three, the Thaw dome was in front of us. The rain had slowed down a bit and we went out and looked around and then hurried back inside.

    After that, I returned to the main floor, got my hat and jacket and went out to the car, leaving the history and the ghosts behind.

The Final Lunar Eclipse of 2022

 The gear was sitting by the door; camera bag, tripod, a notebook, pens, binoculars and a flashlight. A winter jacket and a large cup of coffee would be taken also. The alarm was set for 3A.M. and then I slipped under the covers to get a few hours of sleep before the eclipse started.

    The eclipse actually started at 3:02, but I really was only interested in the portion which involves the darkest part of the earth’s shadow crossing the moon, the umbral eclipse. This started at 4:09. Totality started at 5:16 and would continue until the moon set.

    Some haze was covering the moon as I went to bed; I was hoping it would clear up as night progressed. After shutting off the alarm, I went out to see that the sky hadn’t improved at all. I made some coffee, got dressed and took my gear out to the car. I'm glad I had the winter jacket since the temperatures were in the 30’s.

    The moon was already dropping into the trees at my house. Mars and a few stars could be seen once I arrived at my “viewing spot”, the local cemetery. The haze interfered with photographs so I just enjoyed watching the shadow cross the moon’s disc. As the bright sliver of sunlight got smaller, the darkened portion of the lunar disc turned a dim rosy color.

    With the binoculars I could see the planet Uranus to the upper left of the moon, about 2 moon diameters away. (It looked like a star…) 

    Since the sky conditions weren’t cooperating with me, I turned my camera elsewhere and took some other shots. These turned out much better than the eclipse shots did!

    An hour and a half later, with the moon now sunk below the trees and heading towards the horizon, the sky in the east had turned orange. While standing outside the polling spot, waiting to cast my ballot, the sky had rolls of pink clouds scattered across it. The day was definitely off to a good start!

Notes

 Picture this, you are out somewhere and an idea pops into your head. If your anything like me, (?) you pull out your pen and your notebook and scribble a note. Now, I have to admit, I don’t see a lot of people walking around with pens and notebooks in their pockets, now days the phones take preference.  Still, I’d like to think there are a few out there!

    I have been writing notes for decades. It came from my profession. Being a machinist, I had to do lots of basic math problems and often needed to figure out angles and the lengths of their sides, trigonometry. A simple calculator would do the trick, but I always felt that to fully understand the problem, a sketch was usually necessary.

    I also needed to remember the numbers I had just figured out, the memory banks aren’t quite as good as I would like them to be. A notebook was always on my work bench and a writing implement was always near-by.

    For my own thoughts and notes, things that had nothing to do with work; I started carrying a small notebook in my chest pocket. Naturally, a pen was clipped in beside it. Its contents consisted of things such as, quotes I’d come across in books, dreams I had the night before, grocery lists and ideas about things I might write about.

    Dealing with that last subject, when I got home or had some free time, I’d sit down and review what I had written in my notebook. Then I’d take my pen and start writing my thoughts onto a sheet of paper.

    Looking back at some of these sheets, my original drafts, they were really a mess. Written in long hand, with words crossed out and others written above the lines with arrows pointing to insertion points, they were downright sloppy.

    When I finally got what I wanted, I would drag out the typewriter and type it onto a piece of nice paper. More recently, I type it into the computer, which gives me a lot better control over keeping track of them.

    I still start my essays with cursive, and to make it even better, I tend to write with a fountain pen. (It’s what I’m using right now!) My buddy and I recently went and bought ourselves some new pens. Mine is a fine tipped Lamy pen, chrome blue in color, filled with pale blue ink! It’s a very smooth writing pen. I have to say, it looks and feels nice also.

    It’s appropriate, since today is National Fountain Pen Day. The first Friday of November, a day dedicated to the use of this style of pen and, to promote the act of writing. Put your thoughts down on a sheet of paper and in honor of the day, use a fountain pen! Hopefully you’ll enjoy the experience, I always do!

Alongside the Roads

 In the early days of automobile travel, often on poorly maintained roads, towns and businesses had a desire to pull visitors into their establishments. The tourists provided income to the local stores and people, visitors, were always welcomed. Gas stations and restaurants were frequent draws since both types of fuel were necessary for any trip.

    During long trips, stops would help break up the monotony. Places started advertising along the roads to bring people in. If there was something “interesting” in the town, it was that much better.

    We’ve all seen the “Wall Drugstore” bumper stickers. The town of Wall has been described as the geographic center of nowhere. To draw customers in, they put signs up offering free ice water. What once was a small store in an almost deserted town has become a HUGE store, pulling in a million visitors a year.(?) Dare I say…"tourist trap", but still, it's a break in a long trip.

    Roadside attractions, they can be a big draw! There is a house in Eastern Pennsylvania shaped like a shoe, built by a shoe company.  The World’s Biggest Ball of String, the World’s Largest Tea Pot or The Smallest Church in America, they are all over the place, all you need to do is search them out! Within the last year, Ann Marie and I found a fork in the road, a six foot high fork sitting in an intersection. We had to stop and look at it!

    This last week, Ann Marie and I were on the road again, this time driving out past the center of Indiana to visit her relatives. We passed a few interesting sites and even took a few detours to visit some others.

    Crossing the state of Ohio, we exited the highway at Zanesville to see their unique Y-Bridge. Built originally in 1814, it crosses the Muskingum River. It has an intersection in its middle where it splits, allowing three ends to the same bridge. The current bridge is the 5^th one built here. 

The third one, built in 1832 was a covered bridge.

    While roaming around the bridge, we came across a railroad drawbridge and a canal beside the river. We never know what we might find!

    We also visited Zane Grey’s house while we were in the town. He was a writer of western novels and stories such as Riders of the Purple Sage.

    Back on the highway, we passed a robot holding the sign for a metal supplier and a couple bowling pins that were a couple stories high. After we crossed the Indiana state line we passed “The World’s Largest Candle”. We had previously stopped for pictures, so we kept moving.

   In Paragon, some say this is where John Dillinger started his crime career, whether that’s the case remains to be seen!  About 25 miles to the NW of Ann Maries brother’s house was another “place of interest”, The House of Bells.

    It took us a bit longer to get there due to a bridge being out just a mile or so away from it. A detour of about 7 or 8 miles got us there... eventually. Passing fields recently harvested, we came to a section of trees and there was the place we were looking for.

    Bought at auctions, this collection is comprised of bells, anchors, chains and windmills. I’m guessing that nothing has been added in years if not decades. The owners have passed on and the property is cared for by relatives. We met one of them who was cutting grass and raking leaves. He allowed us to roam around and ring a few of the bells. They are covered with lichen and haven’t been cleaned in ages. They are showing their age. There is no order to the collection; they seem to be placed as they were bought. A big tree has fallen onto some of them. The clappers are still loose, and they sound good! It took us a little over an hour out of our way but we both feel that it was worth the effort! They may be gone soon.

    It's little places such as these that stick in our memories. I can remember another spot like this, I believe it was called Bell Acres. Located somewhere near Freeport, we would pass it occasionally when we’d go to visit my mother’s relatives. Rumors had it that every 4^th of July the public was allowed to come by and ring the bells. As a kid, I dreamed about doing that. By the time I was old enough to drive, it had disappeared. It may be gone but it’s still there, stuck in my memories!

    Coming back through Ohio we dropped into the southern half and searched for a few charcoaled fired iron furnaces. The Hanging Rock area was the center of Ohio’s iron production in the 1800’s. We visited 3 sites. They were right alongside the roads.

The first was the Hope Furnace located near Zaleski. As we neared the site, I realized that we had been there about two years ago when we were looking for the remains of Moonville, a ghost town. (It’s a small world) It is in fairly good shape and has some nice signs describing how furnaces worked. The furnace was built in 1854 and was shut down in 1874, twenty years later.

    Our second furnace was the Buckeye Furnace near Wellston, Ohio. This furnace was reconstructed decades after it shut down in 1894. It produced iron for 42 years.

(Internet picture from aprox. 1940)

    When reconstruction started around 1972, all that was there was the stack. This was one of the best furnaces we have seen. 

    We stopped to find one more, this one was The Lincoln Furnace, located about 5 miles from The Buckeye site. We didn’t have any idea of what this furnace looked like or exactly where it was. There was a geocache that was supposed to be within sight of it. We found the cache but not the furnace. 

(Internet picture)

    Later research showed that it was built into a cliff face. The Lincoln furnace was built in 1855 and produced iron until 1885, a total of 30 years. Not bad for a furnace dug into a hill! We had been looking for a pyramid shaped pile of stones, I guess our furnace finding genes just weren’t working. Then again, it might have been the idea that home was just a few hours away…

    We were so close in our search…but not close enough! For some reason I feel as if there might be another trip into Southern Ohio in my future!

    We left Ann Marie’s house at 5AM on Tuesday and returned at 5PM on Saturday, 108 hours later. Our little jaunts to these sites made the trip a little more interesting, they broke up the long highway times and they also stimulated our curiosity and imagination. We both agreed, they make it much more fun than a simple, straight through drive. We’re always happy to get back home but we’re also, always looking forward to the next trip…and the next roadside attractions we’ll come across!

Could the Day be any Better?

 The fall foliage is just past its peak here in Pittsburgh. The recent rains have stripped a lot of the leaves off of the trees and littered the ground with their colors.

    Saturday was spectacular. The temperatures were rising again, and the clouds had all disappeared from the sky. After doing a few chores around the house, it was time once again for another adventure.

    There was a star party planned for the evening and so I did a couple geocaches hidden along the trails in Deer Lakes Park. I bought a hoagie for my dinner and then spent some time in the woods.

    This has been a poor year for star parties. I missed a couple due to prior obligations and a bunch of them had been cancelled due to rain and cloudy weather. Saturday’s party was almost guaranteed, it was going to be good! 

I was the second person to arrive at the observatory. I opened up the Brashear room and prepped the scope for the party. 

    A short while later, Rowen Poole arrived and using mathematics, the setting circles on the scope and pure skill, he found the planet Saturn, while the sun was still in the sky! A line soon formed as people heard we were looking at the ringed planet.

    You always know when a person fixes their eye on Saturn, there is always some sort of exclamation! It is one of the things I look forward to! The kids really enjoy seeing Saturn, many came back numerous times to see it again as the night progressed. It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, the planet looks much better when the sky is dark! The mere fact that we could see it during the day was exciting, how many people can say they’ve done that?

    The other scope in the observatory was showing Jupiter. We couldn’t see it yet, the eastern skies are blocked from where the scope is located. We watched the ringed planet for another hour or so before we had a chance to move it to another celestial object.

    We looked at M-57, the ring Nebula, we observed Albireo to show the color differences in stars and we looked at Epsilon Lyrae to show some close double stars. The Andromeda Galaxy was in the scope for a short while and then we jumped over to Jupiter.

    When the line dwindled a bit, Rowan searched out a few fainter objects. One was a galaxy that I could hardly see yet he found it with no problem. The Brashear scope is an 11” refractor, built in 1909. It doesn’t have any “go-to” functions on it. Finding objects to observe requires knowledge of what you’re looking for, along with the area of sky it is in. Having good eyes helps also!

    The crowds came and went. We saw numerous people at different times. A nice sized meteor skimmed the northern wall of the observatory causing a couple gasps. Two or three satellites were seen during the night. One couple brought up a new telescope that they couldn’t “figure out”. A quick look discovered what they were doing that was wrong, a little tutorial and they were on their way, happy again. That’s what we do here, make people happy!

    A bit after eleven the crowd started to thin, the noise decreased and when I went outside, the members had packed their scopes and were preparing to leave. Most of the public had left also. In the east, the Pleiades and Mars were getting higher and Orion was climbing over the hills in the distance.

    We watched as one of Jupiter’s moons passed behind the planet. There were 6 of us watching, taking turns as the moon got closer and closer to the planet. One of the group was a young girl, about 6-8 years old along with her father. What a great thing to watch at such a young age. Hopefully this will be something she will tell her children about some day in the future!

    The occultation of Ganymede was the final thing we observed. We closed down the room and said our good-byes. There were a couple other club members still observing on the other scope as I drove away.

    Pulling up in front of my house, Orion was higher in the sky. I said good night to him and went in to bed. In the morning when I woke up for Church, he was slipping behind the hill to my west. In the east, in the brightening sky was a thin sliver of the rising moon. The entire disc could be seen, illuminated by earthshine. It was a fitting start to the day, especially after such a nice evening, the night before!