Thursday, August 21, 2025

Like Watching Paint Dry

 It’s quiet in the observatory. Two dim red lights illuminate the room; all the other lights have been extinguished to help preserve my dark-adapted eyes. The telescope rising from the center of the room appears as a large silhouette against the slight light of the sky. The brass pieces on it reflect the red lights.

    Crickets can be heard, they give the observatory a nice atmosphere. After a short while the noise disappears, fading into the background, becoming a sort of “white noise”. It is there but un-noticed. Listening carefully, far away I can hear a faint whine of some type of machinery, hardly noticed, hardly there.

     Looking through the telescope, the planet Saturn and three of its moons can be seen. Unlike the picture above, the rings are close to edge on and so, appear as only light bars coming off of each side of the planets disc. Occasionally a thin dark line can be seen crossing the planet a slight bit higher than the rings, the rings shadow! A slight bit of shading can be seen at either pole giving the planet a small bit of a 3-dimentional look.

    It is the morning of the 19th of August, and I am here to watch the shadow of Saturn’s moon, Titan, cross the planet. This is an event that can only be seen when the planets rings are near edge on. The next time these occurrences will be visible will be in about 15 years, so I want to try to see them if possible. There will be five times it can be seen within the next couple months, one has already passed.

    Walking outside the observatory, the crickets are much louder, unmuffled by any walls. The trees and hills are all black against the dim band of light that goes around the horizon, allowing only the brightest stars to be seen there. In the east, the Pleiades can easily be seen, a nice grouping of stars. Orion will be coming along soon, a sure sign that winter is approaching. Below the hill a car slowly drives by and high in the sky, the faint sound of a jet engine announces the presence of a plane passing overhead.

    Back inside, the shadow of Titan can now be seen through the telescope. The moon appears to have moved closer to the planet, it sits above the rings on the right side. The shadow is close to the upper edge of the planets disc. It is difficult to see, I struggle at first to determine if it is the shadow or my imagination playing games with me. With no one else here, there is no one to verify it for me. I increase the magnification and put a filter on the eyepiece and suddenly the shadow and details on the planet’s surface sharpen up. I jot notes in my journal along with poor drawings in an attempt to make sure I remember these things.

    I sit and watch. Nothing seems to be moving but I know that's not true. Some might compare this to watching paint dry. The seeing has a tendency to improve at times, the view gets crisper, sharper, it is these periods I watch for. Slowly the shadow moves across the planet. I occasionally look up at the stars and they quietly gaze back down. Millions of other worlds hang above me. Sitting alone under them helps give me perspective, I’m not as important as I’d like to think I am.

    Sitting at this telescope I can’t help but wonder if somewhere up there, is there another life form looking at the stars above their world and wondering if I exist.

    Outside, the crescent moon, Jupiter and Venus have risen. To the right sits Orion, having just climbed over the horizon. I look through the scope for a bit longer and then close things up. Locking the door I hear some coyotes howling, a couple farm dogs bark back at them. I take a final look at the sky and then get in the car and start my engine. A small herd of deer standing by the edge of the road watch me drive past.

    I have one more thing to do before I go home. I want to watch the International Space Station make a pass overhead. Driving to a favorite viewing spot, I get out of the car and orientate myself. In the east, across a deep valley sits the moon, Jupiter and Venus. To the right is Orion, now much higher than when I saw him last. Right on time, as predicted, the ISS appears. I watch it as it soundlessly touches the upper shoulder of Orion and then slides over towards Venus, passing just underneath the bright planet.

    The horizon is getting brighter; sunrise isn’t far away. I have only another mile or two till I’m home again. It’s been another memorable, peaceful and quiet morning, the type of mornings I yearn for!


Monday, August 18, 2025

Beat, Tattered and Torn

It often happens that certain possessions become “dear” to us. . We become attached to them sometimes because of how long we’ve had them and often, because of sentimental reasoning. I have items that are important to me because of who previously owned them and the fact that these items were important to them also.

    I have statues in my house that are important because my aunt used to own them. Being a “collector” (some might say “packrat") I have a lot of items that used to belong to my parents and because of that, they will remain in the house for years to come. Some items are just cool in my opinion and that is another reason that they will stick around.  “Oh, it is so difficult to get rid of excess when you’re a “collector”!

    I’d like to tell you about an item that has finally come to the end of its time with me. It has been with me for at least twenty years and my heart aches knowing that its time has come.

    It was picked it up at a book sale at the Shaler North Hills Library. I only paid a couple dollars for it but those dollars were well spent! It is a Delorme Pennsylvania Atlas and Gazetteer. Published in 2003, it has been in my car ever since I bought it.

    Back in 1976, Frank Delorme put together an atlas out of highway, town and county maps. He was dissatisfied with the maps of the Maine woods and wanted something better. His first volume was of Maine and he sold it out of his car. By 1986, his company had risen to 75 employees. The company is now owned by Garmin and it sells electronic maps and devices, but it still produces gazetteers of all the states.

    An interesting fact, the headquarters of the company which use to be in Yarmouth, Maine, has the largest rotating world globe in existence. Called Eartha, it is a little over 41 feet in diameter and completes a turn every 18 minutes.

    Having been in my car for such a long time, the atlas is showing its age. Its pages are pulled apart, only the thicker cover remains whole. After trips, time is always spent returning all the pages back to their proper order. It hurts me to see this volume in such a bad condition but I know that it has served me well!

    I don’t remember what car I had when I first got this. The cars came and went but the Gazetteer remained. I have other gazetteers in the house; there is a pile of them from all the different states I’ve visited. If I’ve been there, chances are there is a Gazetteer for that state in the pile. Though I haven’t been to either Alaska or Hawaii, I have copies of these also, just because they’re fun to look at!

    My relationship with maps goes back into childhood. I can remember looking at the maps printed in my books such as Treasure Island and when reading the encyclopedias we had sitting in the living room.  (Remember those?) I would take my father’s gas station maps and spread them out and follow the roads. I was amazed that I could find places that we had traveled to and the roads we had used to get there.

    When I was a Boy Scout, maps became even more important. Imagine being able to find your way through the woods with only a thin dirt path leading you on. My maps helped me stay on the correct paths using only streams, mountains, cliffs and my trusty compass to guide me. Oh, the possibilities were endless. I used to imagine going from one side of the country to the other, using only hiking trails.

    Maps became even more important once I had a drivers license and the ability to travel extreme distances in hardly any time at all.

    Electronic devices, GPSs are great but in my own opinion, I would much rather use a map to get from place to place. There is no doubt that GPSs can be quite useful, I’ve used them at times, BUT, I still prefer a paper map. I use my GPS for geocaching, it is a handheld unit, it isn’t mounted to my car windshield or dashboard. Having researched the caches, I usually don’t use it until I’m in the near vicinity.



    Looking at my beat up Delorme Atlas, paging through its torn pages, I am taken back in time. There are notes written on the margins, routes that had been highlighted, attractions that had been circled, these all take me back to pleasant memories. Coffee stains share the pages with iron furnaces that I’ve photographed and geocaches that have been found. There are parks and overlooks I’ve visited, these maps are like photographs, bringing back memories. The roads inked on the pages have the ability to remind me of the sights I saw while traveling on them, I’m lucky in the fact that I can picture the roadways my finger is tracing. I hate to think about tossing this book and all its memories, but a new one has been ordered.  There are lots of good atlases available, but the Delorme Gazetteer is one of my favorites.

    These atlases not only show me the past, they also show me the future, the possibilities, the places that we haven’t seen yet, but will someday soon. They offer you immense areas where you can lose yourself. (Even though the basic purpose of a map is to avoid getting lost) Some of the best trips have been to go out and just make turns at random. Our state is filled with neat things to see and hopefully I will continue my explorations for a long while to come. I'm happy to say, my new atlas has just been delivered, and you can be sure I’ll have it along to help me find my way!

     Happy Travels!


Thursday, August 14, 2025

Some of the Joys and Sights While Traveling Through Pennsylvania

 It has been six years since my first grandson, Mateo was born. Wow, doesn’t time fly? His birthday was rapidly approaching and Ann Marie and I were going across the state for the party.

    This would provide us with the opportunity to do some exploring. We had a long drive and so, we may as well enjoy the sights and scenery as we went. The planning started a couple weeks beforehand. I looked for accommodations, places to eat and interesting places to stop along the way.

    We left Pittsburgh on Thursday morning. I loaded the car as the sun rose above the trees. We headed east on rt.22. The sky was hazy and the sun soon disappeared from sight. This may have been because of the wildfires in Canada. Still, the weather was nice and we enjoyed the breeze coming through our open windows.

    After our normal stop for coffee and a snack, we turned south on rt.53 for a visit at the Cassandra Railroad Overlook. When the highway was rerouted in 1936, this bridge was bypassed and a foot bridge was placed here for railfans. Railfans from around the country come to watch trains from this bridge. To the SW there is a long straight away of about 2.5 miles, all uphill. On the other side of the bridge, the rails curve to the left and continue on to the tunnels in Gallitzen and then down to the famous Horseshoe Curve above the city of Altoona.


    We watched a couple long freight trains laboring up the hill, seemingly at a crawl. Shortly after, we watched the Amtrak train out of Pittsburgh fly up the hill, probably doing around 60-70 MPH, of course it was pulling only seven cars behind it.

    Our next stop was at Canoe Creek State Park where we took a short hike to view the huge limestone kilns sitting in the woods. These kilns were built in the early 1900’s to provide Pittsburgh steel mills with lime; a very important ingredient in the steel making process. They were shut down around 1915.  

    Since we were in an iron/steel state of mind, our next stop was at the Huntingdon Iron Furnace. This is a beautiful furnace; it has been cleaned up and re-pointed by its owner.  Originally built in 1796 a short distance from the present site, it was rebuilt as a larger furnace in 1805. The furnace stayed in blast until the 1880’s. The area around it is a National Historic District with a variety of original structures still standing and being used.

    We stopped for lunch at Diner 22, about 9 miles west of Huntingdon. This was originally built as a Mail Car for the East Broad Top Railroad in 1919. It was moved to its present location in 1946. The outside doesn’t look like a railcar but it sure does inside. Like most diners we have visited, we were served a good meal by a nice friendly waitress. While we were there, I had a serving of scrapple, a true Pennsylvanian delicacy! We always make an effort to stop at these places when passing by.

    We checked into our motel in Huntingdon, the county seat of Huntingdon County and then went out to explore the area. We visited the library and walked through the town and then went to visit Raystown Lake, the largest lake that is entirely in Pennsylvania, the lake is about 32 miles long! We also did a couple geocaches while we were in the area, of course…  

    We drove up to an overlook to watch the sun set but the overcast skies hid most of it from us.

   The next morning, Friday, we continued our drive east. Whenever the opportunity presented itself we would drive through the towns and avoid the by-passes. Nearing Harrisburg, we ran into a major accident and had to turn around. Unlike the other drivers who were late for work or appointments, or possibly afraid to head out on their own, we headed north rather than follow the posted detour.  We were treated to a nice easy ride through neat, tidy farms and little communities. We enjoyed the views as the road climbed hills and twisted through the valleys.

    When we encountered the Susquehanna River we took rt.15 through Duncannon, an Appalachian Trail town and down through Marysville.  Here we watched a couple trains cross the Rockville Railroad Bridge. According to “some sources” this is the longest stone masonry arch railroad bridge in the world.

    We then stopped at Cupboard Maker Books, situated across the street from the Norfolk and Southern Enola Railroad Yards. This book store is a great place to browse, you never know what you might find here! The front is painted with the spines of various books, just to let you know what’s inside. Filled with new and used books, it also has a variety of cats which are happy to be petted while you visit. We ended up spending about an hour here…just enjoying scanning the shelves and seeing what we could find.

    Our accommodations for the next two nights were in Quakertown. A nice small town with a major highway slipping past a few mile away, the town is nice compared to the shopping centers and car dealerships that line the busy highway. We found a nice Mexican Diner for our breakfast the next morning before we went partying with the family.

    Saturday was spent with the family and friends celebrating Mateo’s birthday. I watched a couple hot air balloons taking off in the morning when I went out searching for coffee. Once again, you never know what you might run into as you’re driving through the countryside! The birthday party was loud and fun, there’s nothing like a party filled with children. Both of us slept well that night!



    After Mass on Sunday morning, we returned for a short visit with the family before leaving. This time, we headed north towards Scranton where we visited the Scranton Iron Furnaces. This group of four furnaces was built between the years of 1848 and 1857. The company produced iron here until 1902 when they dismantled the plant and moved it to Lackawanna, NY, where better ore could be found.

    We stopped for a quick look at the steam engines at the Steamtown National Historic Site. Being veracious readers, Ann Marie and I couldn’t help but like this Reading locomotive!

    We took another break on our journey in Ricketts Glen State Park where we took a short hike down to visit one of the numerous waterfalls in the park. It wasn’t quite as exciting as when we were here last, there wasn’t as much water flowing.


    Eventually we ended up in Towanda. Here we stopped at the Red Rose Diner for some dinner before checking into our motel. There are only three of these diners built by this company still standing. These diners weren’t built as rail cars; they were built to be diners. It is in beautiful shape! Our waitress, Becky was a font of information about Towanda history. We had a pleasant talk with her while our dinners were being made. The town has a quite nice collection of well kept homes along the main street.

    On Monday morning, we stopped at a local coffee house to fuel up and headed back towards the east on rt. 6. We followed the moon as it slowly dropped down to the horizon. This is a very pleasant road to drive on; we hardly encountered any traffic, we passed through lots of small communities, past farms, little businesses and lots of ponds and lakes reflecting the blue sky and the buildings beyond them. None of the haze that was present at the beginning of the trip was evident, just blue skies with puffy white clouds, perfect!

    We arrived back in Pittsburgh around 3:30. We enjoyed the trip tremendously, but we were both happy to be back at our homes. Driving through the smaller towns on the back roads, often introduce you to people who are happy to talk with a stranger. They are more than happy to tell you about their towns and histories. I feel as if we get more smiles as compared to when you stop at high flow businesses where you are “just another face”. The small diners and coffee shops are usually employed by friendly people that are happy that you stopped in, and these are the people I tend to remember.

    We had a wonderful time visiting with the family. We met a lot of nice Pennsylvanians, the weather couldn’t have been better and we found another 19 geocaches on our way. The best part of the trip was that I had such a nice companion along with me; believe me, that sure makes a difference!

    I believe I’ve said this before, no matter how fun the trip is, it is great coming back to your old familiar bed! Like so many quests and adventures go, returning home is often the best part!





Sunday, August 3, 2025

The Shadow Transit of Titan

I spent the early morning hours of Sunday watching an event along with three other members of the Amateur Astronomers Association of Pittsburgh. (3AP.org) Using the 115 year old, 11” Brashear Telescope at the Wagman Observatory, John Holtz, Mike Miller, Sean Matoon and I watched as the shadow of Titan, one of Saturn’s moons, crossed onto and across the planet’s surface. These transits occur about every 15 years.

    The astronomy club had two star parties this weekend and after the second one, after the public had departed, we aimed the telescope at Saturn. The seeing was pretty steady, the image wasn’t bouncing around at all and we had no problems increasing the magnification.

    Neptune was sitting within a degree or two of Saturn so we swung the scope over to it while we were waiting for the transit to start. The planet first appeared as a faint blue dot but by increasing the magnification we were able to see it as a round disc. We weren’t able to see any features on it. The shadow of Titan would be about 1/3 the size of Neptune, this could be difficult!

    As Saturn orbits the sun, our view of the planet's rings change. We recently passed through the ring’s plane where the rings appear to us as being edge on. This gives us a quite different view of the planet as to what we are familiar with.

Notesfrom a Reading Addict: Going, Going...

    When the planet is in this orientation, the shadow of Titan, the largest of the planet’s moons, can be observed crossing the planet’s surface. The moon orbits Saturn every 16 days so we have a chance to see this event a couple more times during the next month or two.

    Moving the scope back to Saturn and turning off all the lights in the room, we watched. Titan could be seen sitting below the planet’s rings on the right-hand side. The transit was due to start at 2:25 but we couldn’t see it until 2:30 when John first located it.

    Over the next hour and a half, we watched as the shadow slowly worked it’s way towards the meridian. We experimented with a variety of eyepieces, giving us magnifications between 243 - 939 power! While the viewing at 939X was nice, as would be expected, we opted for a lower power which gave us a much crisper image. We even tried using a binocular viewer which sadly, was difficult to use. It did give me a nice 3-D image of the planet!

    The shadow was dim and I had difficulty seeing it. The other three having much better eyesight could see the shadow much easier.

    We watched it, taking turns at the scope until a bit after 4 when we decided to close things up. Dawn wasn’t far away, our homes seemed even further. I pulled up in front of my house at 5.

    I think it was great seeing this. It is another astronomical event to tuck into my belt. It wasn’t quite as exciting as watching a solar eclipse or watching Mars slip behind the moon but it was right up there with them!




A Visit to the Bridge

  Ann Marie and I hadn’t visited West Virginia in a while and so, when talking one day, we decided to take a drive.           Leaving on T...