Crossing the State for Thanksgiving

     Ann Marie and I headed across Pennsylvania to join Chelsey, Jamie and Mateo for Thanksgiving. Both of us had been looking forward to the visit! We were going to share the holiday dinner with them and some of Jamie’s family. 

On our way, we came across lots of interesting views and sites. You can’t help but find these things as you explore Pennsylvania. The state is full of them. Here are a couple of the ones we came across, some for the first time.

A fork in the middle of the road in Centerport.

“When you come to a fork in the road, take it”  (Yogi Berra)

We did!

An old paddle wheeler sitting in an empty ditch, nowhere near ANY water.

The Midtown Scholar, a fantastic bookstore that is comprised of a group of interconnecting buildings, one of which used to be a theater in the 1920’s. Owned by the current mayor of Harrisburg and his wife, the bookstore sells both new and used books. There are hundreds of thousands of old books and it seems as if it has nearly as many rooms. You can easily get lost in here!

An old factory foundation where the town of Frankstown used to be located,

 not far from Hollidaysburg.

One of a few decaying and abandoned homesteads we passed.

The Rockville Railroad Bridge, the longest masonry arch railroad bridge in the world!

    Since railroads have been brought up, we also saw a derailed train in the mountains above Altoona.  We passed the Statue of Liberty…sitting on a bridge pier in the middle of the Susquehanna. I always watch for it when we head out to visit, there is a geocache hidden on the piling!  Someday I’ll get it! We grabbed a couple geocaches on our trip, but skipped this one. We stopped in Harrisburg, both coming and going. Neither of us had ever seen the Capital so we did a drive by while we were there. We also found a memorial for the people of Lily, a town that forced the KKK out of their community in the 1920’s.

    Pennsylvania has so many things to offer, you never know what you might find! These were all fun to see but the best part of the journey was spending time with the family!

    On the first day, we went with Chelsey and surprised Mateo at his school. Afterwards, we went home and played with his train set and read books together. It‘s such a nice feeling to forget your age and let your inner child out!  We drove his trucks and trains around on the table for what seemed like hours.

    The next day, on Thanksgiving, we played some more and after Mateo went down for a nap, Ann Marie and I went to search for a couple more geocaches. After we came home, some of Jamie’s family came over. We sat and talked, we snacked and then sat down together and ate dinner. We shared stories and laughed. The meal was lovely but the camaraderie was even better. To see how a family is growing gives us strength for the future. We listened, we learned and we loved!

    Seeing family we hadn’t seen in a while, hearing about both the victories and the disappointments in our lives, these are all part of the gathering. We took our forks, (from the table, not the road) and ate a wonderful dinner. We listened to each other as we shared our views and experiences. I can’t help but feel that everyone was thankful for all the wonderful things we have!

    I thought about those we lost and also about those who are on their way. I am thankful for those who have gone, thankful that I had the chance to know and love them, thankful for all the beauty and love they brought to my life! Reveling in the present, I played with my grandson and imagined how he will progress as he grows up, how he will accept and help his new brother. These are some of the things I couldn’t help but think about and give thanks for!

    On Friday we played with Mateo and then more of the Pittsburgh family arrived. The 7 of us did another round of the Pizza Bracket Contest. Jamie got pizza from 3 different shops and we voted on which one was best. (A shop called Anthony’s won this time) This contest has been in the works for years now. Someday, we will find out what the best pizza in the Harleysville area is!

    Saturday morning, we left and headed back. We were missing Mateo (and the family of course!) by the time we came to the stop sign at the end of the block! The warm glow of the holiday and the visit stuck with us. We headed home happy and content and thankful for all the things we hold dear!

The Mid-November Lunar Eclipse

    While most of my neighbors were sound asleep, my alarm went off. It didn’t startle me, in fact I was  dreaming about waiting for it to wake me! I jumped up and went to the front door and took a look outside. Clouds, just as I had expected! This is Pittsburgh and the gods of the weather don’t really like us astronomers.

    It was 2AM on Friday morning. (11.19.21) The entire country would be able to see most of the eclipse which was happening right now! Everyone except those who live around me it seems. The darkest portion of the earth’s shadow would be hitting the edge of the moon’s disc at 2:18. A few clouds didn’t matter; I was going out to see what was visible.

    I got dressed, pulling on some heavy socks and my winter coat and went outside to see what my chances were of seeing anything. Luck was with me, there were breaks in the clouds. The moon could be seen, a bit fuzzy but still seeable. Every so often a clear patch would drift past and the brightness of the moon increased dramatically.

    My camera and tripod were inside the door so I pulled them out and set up in the front yard. I had some difficulty in focusing on the moon since it was most often covered in haze. The camera lens was set at manual focus because of the clouds. I played around with the exposures as the conditions changed. Both the clouds and the shadow which was now starting across the moons disc altered the brightness. A couple of neighbors had their porch lights on but this morning, it didn’t bother me. I was watching an eclipse, not searching for faint fuzzies in deep space!

    The clouds moved across in front of the moon rather quickly while the shadow of the earth crept  across the face of the moon much, much slower. At times, when the moon was covered there would be a reddish colored ring which surrounded it. 

    My hands were getting cold from re-adjusting the tripod every five or ten minutes. It is made of metal and retains the cold quite well! I went inside to get my gloves. This is a benefit of observing from the front yard, I can quickly get the things I forgot!

    A short while before 3 the moon entered a clear patch between the clouds. The patch spread out and soon I started noticing stars. There were stars that couldn’t normally be seen during a full moon. Orion and Gemini could be seen along with Auriga and the Pleiades. I sat on my porch chair and just enjoyed the view for awhile, forgetting about photography and the eclipse.

    The clearing lasted about a half hour or so and then the clouds started moving back in front of the moon. I took a walk around the neighborhood to warm up a bit. The temperature was down in the low 30’s. I enjoyed the walk in the quiet; it reminded me of going out for walks with Red, my dog. We did lots of early morning walks together, he smelling everything and me with my head pulled back, gazing at the stars.

    Back at home I took a few more shots. The eclipse still had a ways to go but the moon was dropping down into the trees on the hill to the west of my house. To continue watching the eclipse, I’d have to move out of my yard.

    In some ways, luck was with me. The clouds covered the moon and I lost sight of it completely. Thick clouds continued to drift overhead, so I went inside to the warmth of the house.

    At 4:02, I went outside to see if anything was visible. This was when the eclipse was covering 97% of the moon, it's maximum. I couldn’t see anything. There wasn’t even a glow in the trees where it would’ve been. The eclipse was over for me.

    Inside again, I wrote a few notes. Looking at the pictures could wait until the morning. Then I crawled back under my covers and fell quickly back into my dreams.

Weeding with my Father

 

        I’ve gotten tired of wiping my nose. Drips form on it and drop down into the leaves and dead plants I’m clearing from the garden. Small snowflakes melt into the brown earth that has been uncovered. Yellow and orange leaves sit in a pile along with the lifeless stalks of flowers, remnants of the beauty of the summer gone by.

        Memories of my father and me cleaning these very same beds filter through my mind. The numbness of my fingers recall the pains of years gone by.

        “Why do we have to do this, they will all just rot away during the winter!” I tended to look at things the easy way. Perhaps I still do. I never gave any thought to the beauty of a cleared garden, the potential or the future of this small plot of dirt sitting in my front yard. These were thoughts that I can only imagine were running through my father’s mind.

         He knew how plants grew. He knew about their cycles, when they would bloom and what was necessary for them to grow strong and produce the beauty they held inside. He knew what needed to be done to produce a splendid crop of flowers the next year. He also knew the importance of making our yard look nice, even when the flowers weren’t in bloom.

        I was in my teens with so many things I could be doing. I thought of these days toiling in the yard as work that would never produce anything I could benefit from. It was work and work alone! I had no cares about the yard or gardens. This was something my father did and he did it well. I never gave any thought to learning while I was pulling weeds or raking the yard along with him.

        He was older and a bit infirm after various health problems. Our ideas rarely matched, clashing against each other rather than meshing. I was busy reaching out to the future and I had no need to embrace the past. My horizons were right in front of me. I was a fool!

        Some things he told me stuck with me, such as even weeds can be beautiful but a lot of what he said went in one ear and out the other. He knew the Latin names of the flowers and shrubs that he had planted. When he explained these things to me, I just didn’t understand. His wisdom overwhelmed my young inexperienced mind without my even realizing what I was missing.

        When spring finally arrives after a long white winter and the small bits of fresh greenery start popping up in the woods and gardens, I can’t help but enjoy them. I look forward to the views of these little slips of green hiding in the dark brown of the winter. Every year, I search for the first signs of these bright green sprouts, with that beautiful shade of green which we won’t see until the next spring, they give me a sense that spring is approaching, the cycle is continuing, summer will soon be here!

        Our gardens and yard always looked nice. They were weeded and trimmed and when the flowers appeared, their colors blended with those surrounding them. This wasn’t just through chance, it was from planning. Planning by someone whose knowledge was never truly appreciated until after he was gone.

        There are so many things I don’t know about my father. Most I have learnt after he was gone. There are so many things I wish I had asked him, but the chance has long since passed. The things I know, I treasure, so often they pop up when I least expect them.

        Clipping away at the flower stalks, my fingers numb from the cold, I return to the years gone by and wish that they had been different. Those were beautiful days, the gardens were bright and colorful but now they have passed and I have only the stalks, the dried leaves and sticks, the mulch for what will make the gardens beautiful in my years to come.

Memories of a Wild State

         It was the end of October, Halloween weekend, and Ann Marie and I decided to take a run to the hills, the hills of West Virginia! Figuring that the changing leaves wouldn’t be around much longer we made some plans and hit the road once again!

        On-line we purchased the last available set of tickets for a ride on the Cass Railroad and found a room to be our home away from home in Elkins. Seneca Rocks was our first planned stop, there were no tickets needed for this! We planned a slow trip, back roads if possible with plenty of time for photo breaks or side trips.

        The drive started with a stop at a local bakery for some donuts and a couple large cups of coffee. The car was fueled up and so were we. The weather didn’t look very promising; we never saw the sun on our first day. The windshield wipers were used most of the day.

        Nearing Seneca Rocks, it had tapered off to a very light mist. The road here is spectacular, there are places where you can look into the deep valley and see the roadway far beneath you. The valleys are steep and close, making the view that much more exciting. 

        In the parking area beneath the rocks we pulled out our hiking staffs, crossed river and started our climb. The trail is only a little more than a mile long but it goes up 839 feet! (Not that anyone is counting) The path is rather wide and well maintained and it is rarely very steep. We took our time and made it to the observation platform without any problems. We met lots of others making the climb including some with dogs. It was a nice wet Saturday, a perfect day to be outside!

        We have both made this climb before and I had climbed on the rocks also. Summiting the top of Seneca Rocks after a multi-pitched climb in my early fifties was one of those “mid-life” things. I was happy I did it, but once was enough. I’ll stick to the trails from now on. It was a good feeling to be able to still make this climb!

        The views from the top were mostly hidden by the cloud banks. Fog drifted past us, occasionally teasing us with quick looks at the valley below. While the views weren't as good as past visits, we still had that satisfaction of making it to the top! It seemed to take us less time to go down as compared to going up.

        While driving to Elkins we pointed out places we had eaten and explored in the past. We stopped a few times to photograph the mountains and to just absorb the beauty all around us. Most of these photos didn’t do justice to the scenery; the best photographs are the ones we hold in our memories!

        The next day we got in the car and headed south towards Cass. On our way, we were searching for a diner to get some breakfast. Fast food just didn’t cut it but that was all we saw. Chain restaurants and fast food, where are those old fashioned diners that used to be scattered alongside the highways?

        We stopped in the small town of Durbin across the street from an old railroad station. A poor excuse for a restaurant, (which was up for sale) provided our lunch. A couple tourists ate at flat tables by the window as locals sat drinking coffee and pop at the counter in the back of the large, unadorned room. The best part of this experience was that just as we finished with our food, a steam engine pulled into the station. While the passengers disembarked, I took pictures. 

        The train was pulled by a Heisler steam engine built in 1929 in Erie Pennsylvania. It was originally owned by the Hog Hollow Tile Company.

        Continuing on our way south, we drove through the community of Greenbank where the Greenbank Observatory is located. The huge 330 foot dish of the world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope could be seen from the road.

        A short while further, we pulled onto the road that leads into the Cass Scenic Railroad State Park. Less than a half mile into this road, we saw a Bald Eagle. It flew to a tree about 20 yards away from where we stopped the car. We were close enough to see how huge this bird was and how magnificent it looked. I can understand how it came to represent our country! By the time I got the camera out, he had flown away. Once again, the best shots are in our memories!

        In the town of Cass, we visited the stores and took some pictures before boarding our train. It was pulled by a “Pacific Coast” Shay engine. It was built in 1928 in Lima, Ohio for the Mayo Lumber Company of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. It was last used commercially in 1970 for switching cars on the Vancouver docks.

        We sat right in front of the engine. Personally, I think the sound of the steam whistle was one of the best things about the ride! When we first arrived, we could hear the whistle of a train leaving the station. It echoed through the valley bringing back memories of the other steam engines I’ve seen. It is a sound of the past! The sounds of the engine are loud but when the whistle sounds, the screech of the steam covers everything. It is a sound that resonates through your body! When looking at the whistle from where we were sitting, it can actually cause pain, but still, I looked. There are only a couple road crossings on the ride and I was looking forward to each one of them!

        The views of the mountains, whenever we left the cover of the trees were breathtaking! Watching the smoke swirling out of the smoke stack was mesmerizing. It wasn’t a “peaceful” ride, it was rough and loud and I found it tremendously exciting!

        After we returned to the station, we took a short hike to visit the ruins of the burnt down Cass Lumber mill. Originally built in 1902, it caught on fire twenty years later. After being rebuilt it was worked until 1960 when it was abandoned. In the 80’s, arsonists set fire to it again.

        On the way back to Elkins, we thought we had hit pay dirt when we came across a gas station with gasoline for only $1 a gallon! Just our luck, it was closed!

        The next morning we left for home. We passed more spots we recognized and stopped at a few of them to take pictures. Blue skies and sunshine accompanied us on our ride back home along with the memories of trips made in the past.

        During our trip the leaves were mainly brown and yellow but with the sheen of the rain on them, they looked great. In the mountains, the trees looked like carpets covering the valleys and folds of the slopes. The occasional red trees grabbed our attention, standing out from all the others! We saw so many familiar spots that brought back memories, it became almost a quest. What would we see next? In the process, we formed more memories for our future trips.

        The little bit of bad weather we experienced wasn’t going to stop us from having a great trip; it actually enhanced our visit to Wild West Virginia!

Is There Really a Car in There?

         Monday morning; Frank and I were going out in search of history. It wasn’t going to be a difficult search; we knew right where we were going. I had been there before and I was curious to see how it had changed. It was still dark as we loaded our camera gear into the car. The roads were shiny from the headlights reflecting off the wet roads and traffic was heavy in places with people rushing to get to their jobs. We were teased with the possibility of a nice sunrise, but it never materialized.

        Shortly after the sun rose we arrived in Bakerstown, ready to start our journey back into time. We were going to visit the site where a tunnel had been cut in a hillside by the railroad company. It had been abandoned over a hundred years ago!

A P&W narrow gauge steam engine passing through Glenshaw

        The railroad line was first laid here in the 1870. A station was built sometime after. The line, a narrow gauge, was owned by the P&W Railroad. The station was placed at the peak of the long slope that the tracks climb out of Etna.

A  B & O locomotive sits at the Bakerstown Station as the switch is set to allow the helper engines onto a siding. Taken in the 1970’s

        The station is long gone. It was abandoned and then removed, with hope of erecting it in another spot as a historical site. The plans fell through due to assorted haggling and whenever a final decision had been made, the building had rotted beyond saving. (I’ve seen this happen before and I’m sure it will happen again!) Only a few concrete bits of the foundation remain here.

Shot taken shortly after the cut was made in the hillside

        A tunnel was dug through the hillside when the tracks were first laid. After the tracks were widened to the Standard gauge in 1911 and another track was laid down, the company, now B&O,  probably thought it would be cheaper to cut through the hill rather than dig a new tunnel. The tunnel was closed around 1913. 

        The tunnel had collapsed at least once in its history, possibly more. I found a newspaper clipping from the New York Times dated April 6, 1892 which tells the story of a local woman who stopped an approaching train by waving her skirt, saving the train from crashing into the collapsed tunnel.

        I have also heard stories that the tunnel collapsed while a train was in it and that there might be a RR car still inside. There is also the story that the tunnel may be haunted…well, you know how stories spread. You can choose which ones you want to believe.

        The spot we were searching for was heavily overgrown. The last time I had been here, I didn’t have much trouble finding the cut. Now, we couldn’t even see the rocks because of all the brush and weeds.

        A small stream ran alongside the tracks and we found a spot where logs and sticks had been placed to make a bridge. High grass grew around the wobbly span and it covered the RR ties which crossed further on. Putting my tripod into the grass beside the logs, it sank down 5 or 6 inches into a thick black muck. We didn’t want to slip as we crossed!

        We made it across without any major problems. Jagger bushes and lots of what looked like hedges that had grown wild filled the narrow slot that was cut into the hillside. We zigged and zagged as we made our way in, searching for the easiest route. We had to crouch to avoid the branches which tangled together over our heads. My tripod kept getting caught in the branches and vines as we pushed them aside.

First view of the opening

        Crossing over a couple old fallen trees, one of which scrapped my head, we came to the end of the cut. ( A small amount of blood always adds to the excitement of an expedition!) Pushing aside the last couple bushes we could see a slender opening in the rock face. Extending about 10-15 feet sideways, it was only about three or four foot high.

Frank approaching the opening

        Outside the soil was wet and slippery but under the overhang, it dried as we went into the tunnel. We could only go in about 20 feet.  A few rocks and dried dirt made a shelf we could stand on. We could barely stand upright without hitting our heads. The roof was rough and uneven. The small amount of light filtering through the opening didn’t go very far into the deep darkness of the tunnel; we could barely see the water. The far end was invisible in the darkness. The water was lower than I remembered it. When we talked there was a slight echo, that and the sound of water continuously dripping from the ceiling created a spooky background.

        Setting up our tripods we played around with our cameras, attempting to focus on something we couldn’t even see. Our ISO’s were pushed to the max as were the exposure times. Flashlights helped illuminate the tunnel more, waving the lights back and forth to even out the illumination. Of all my shots, only a couple turned out well. It was a matter of trial and error.

        I went down a little closer to the water, below where the water level was the last time I was here. There was no smell to the water, I knew it wasn’t stagnant since I could see and hear water dripping off the roof.

        I wondered how high the tunnel was. I am only guessing that the top of the tunnel was 9-10 feet above the water.  I had read that most clearances on tunnels are about 8 foot above the cars, I don’t know if that was the same in the days when tunnels were dug by “hand”. I would imagine that the water is fairly deep if a train was able to pass through the tunnel. I didn’t want to find out so I stayed away from the edge!

        The tunnel is listed on-line as being 623 feet long. The blockade at the end looked closer than that. I don’t think we were looking at a man-made barricade; it appeared as if it had collapsed.  After 10 minutes we had seen all there was to be seen. (There isn’t much to be seen in tunnels.) We didn’t see any ghost, that’s for sure. We also didn’t see any railroad car in the cave, BUT, who knows how deep the water is. Maybe it is hiding under the water or under the rocks at the far end! 

        We worked our way back out to the tracks, it took a lot less time getting out as compared to getting in! We both crossed the water hazard without slipping! It was another successful trip, this one back into time. Next on the list was a couple caches and then coffee!

The Importance of Certificates

        I recently came across an observing certificate I had earned in December of 1994. It was awarded to me at the Annual AAAP Christmas Party. (I don’t believe it had been changed yet to the more politically correct, Holiday Party) Looking at it got me thinking…

        I hadn’t heard anything about these certificates in awhile. I know other organizations such as The Astronomical League offer them but I haven’t heard any mention of it in our club lately, the Amateur Astronomers Association of Pittsburgh.

        Before I bought my first “real” telescope, I joined the AAAP. I hoped to gain some information about how to buy a telescope. Where I could get one? Were there any available near-by that were being sold second hand? What type should I purchase and how big should it should be for a beginner?  There were lots of questions running through my mind.

        Listening to the members, I realized that I only knew a little bit, I had a lot to learn! Thankfully, the members of the club were very open to helping the "newbies". During these early years of my club membership I met many new friends, many of whom are friends to this day!

        In those days the meetings were held in the basement of the Buhl Planetarium and in the lecture room of Allegheny Observatory. Just walking into these buildings gave me a sense of excitement. During the meetings we would often have a guest speaker, one of the club members talking about one of their specialties or a visitor telling us about their job or favorite types of astronomy. It was like going to an astronomy class!

        The meeting would then drift into club business and then another fun part, member’s observations. Fireballs we might have seen, occultations or eclipses or conjunctions. Then…they’d show slides. I really looked forward to this part of the meetings.

        We have some very talented members and their photos showed their expertise. They gave me something to strive for! I started attempting to take star pictures and while they might not have been spectacular, the members appreciated seeing them. This is one of the great things about the club; they never fail to let you know that your pictures were “nice” and if asked, were happy to share hints about how they could be made better.

        Certificates were another way that the club helped its members.  There was the Messier Certificate given to people who observed all 110 Messier objects. Another was the James Mullaney Certificate which involved observing 105 of the finest deep sky objects selected by the author of the list.  He wrote a book describing these objects. The Scanlon Certificate was named after one of the founders of the club and could be achieved without any optical aid. Its list included 62 constellations, five bright planets and 16 bright stars. The purpose of this list was to familiarize you with the night sky. It was a wonderful learning tool!

        You would receive a list of objects along with their positions in the night sky and as you would view them, you would note the time and date along with any other notes you might have. Some lists required more details such as what size scope or binoculars you used and what power eyepiece was needed to see it best. The need for these details helped me to figure out how to keep an astronomical logbook.

        Since the internet was in its beginning stages, I couldn’t do a Google search to find out any details about the objects I was observing so I had to do my homework and look them up in books and magazines. This research helped a lot also!

        Looking back at my old log books they tend to be a bit disorganized. They didn’t follow a set pattern, sometimes they were filled out the day after I did my observing but they are still good reference tools. I recently looked back in one to determine what day I had looked through a certain telescope and what I had seen through it. My memory had led me astray; my logbook brought me back to reality.

        The Observing Certificates give a person a list of objects which need to be found and observed. Once the list was completed you would turn it in to someone who would check your notes. If all was in order you would receive your certificate. In the “old days” it would be given to you during a meeting, a decorative piece of paper that could be framed and hung on the wall. It often included a mention in the club newsletter. The recognition of your fellow club members was important, the certificate, showed me that I had gained more knowledge and that was something to be proud of!

        I have always enjoyed searching for things. (My phone, keys and wallet excluded) I enjoy searching for geocaches hidden in the woods and in guardrails.  It is always fun to participate in scavenger hunts! I have spent countless hours searching for faint radio waves on my Ham radio and also faint bits of light in the dark sky with my telescope. Maybe it is part of my desire to collect things…

        I guess it is a part of life, human nature requires it of us, the need to search and the need for gratification. And when we find things, if we are lucky, we will get a certificate to show for it!

Note:  I went out on Monday night, the 18th, with my telescope to watch as Ganymede, one of Jupiter’s brighter moons, finished its transit across the planets disc. I watched as the small moon first showed up as a tiny bump on the planets edge and then during the next couple minutes slowly pulled away from the planet. It took about 6-7 minutes for the moon to get twice its diameter away from the planet’s surface. Some might think it was like watching paint dry but I thought it was really cool to watch movement in the night skies. Motion is always cool to see in our “fixed” sky. And of course, it was all duly recorded in my log!

The Lincoln Highway

         I find that as a book reviewer, I really don’t excel. My reviews tend to slip into such terms as “really good” or “a real good read”. I also tend to shy away from bad reviews, favoring a simple “it was OK’ rather than delving into the reasons why I didn’t like it. No author wants to see how bad their book was. But that won’t be a problem with the book I just read!

        I recently finished the book, “The Lincoln Highway” by Amor Towles. I think this book deserves as much praise as I can ladle on to it!

        “The Lincoln Highway” is a thick book which in itself is a bit off putting but once I had read the first chapter, I knew I’d be in it for the long haul!

        Briefly, the story is about 18 year old Emmet who was just released from a work farm. His father had died, his mother had run off a few years before and he had a younger brother, Billy, that he had to take care of. The farm had been foreclosed and they decided to head to California to start anew. Hopefully they might find their mother there. The Lincoln Highway would take them straight to San Francisco.

        Two men from the work camp show up and complicate the brother’s journey. Their trip takes many sidetracks as they go. The story takes place over 10 days in July of 1954, but the story encompasses so much more.

        We read the tales of the people they meet, their aspirations and often their failures. We see comparisons to famous heroes and legendary characters as the story continues.

        The author has a definite skill in storytelling! His previous book, “A Gentleman in Moscow” is another favorite of mine. When I was first told about it, I had no interest or desire to read it, but after starting it, I had trouble putting it down!

        While reading "The Lincoln Highway", I came across a lot of quotable lines such as these;

        “For what is kindness but the performance of an act that is both beneficial to another and un-required”

        “A funny thing about a story is that it can be told in all sorts of lengths”

        “If a story is worth reading again, it is worth reading word for word”

        “Questions can be tricky, like forks in the road. You can be having such a nice conversation and someone will raise a question, and the next thing you know you’re heading off in a whole new direction. In all probability, this new road will lead you to places that are perfectly nice, but sometimes you just want to go in the direction you were already headed.”

        “There are few things more beautiful to an author’s eye than a well read copy of one of his books!”

        Amor wrote how many heroes’ stories are like a diamond lying on its side.

        They start out at a point, a very specific place or time and it expands as the hero grows, as the story follows their lives, their battles, goals and accomplishments. Then, at some time unknown to the hero, and often the reader, the story lines take a bend, they start to converge, leading towards a final battle or confrontation, the fixed and inexorable point which defines their fate.

        I believe that this is the way of most good novels also!

        I won’t tell anything more about the story or any of the characters they meet on their quest since I don’t want to spoil the book for you. I would much rather that you experience it for yourself!

        Like favorite recipes, favorite books aren’t necessarily good for everyone. There will always be some who just don’t care for the taste. That isn’t a problem; it is just the way the world works! Still, if someone enjoys the taste well enough to rave about it, I feel as if I should at least give it a try.

        I found this book was delicious! Give it a taste, I really think you’ll stay for the whole meal!

A Few Notes About the Past Week

 

Just a few notes about the past week.

        * I found out that a local hardware store was closing. Winchel Hardware has been located in Etna since 1906, a hundred and sixteen years! It originally was opened as a department store but evolved into a hardware store shortly after World War Two.

        It was the place I would go if I needed a trap for a sink or a switch to replace a broken one on a lamp. Whatever you needed, chances are you could get it there. I remember one time going there to find a hanger for one of my gutters. I was taken up a set of stairs and half way down them, a door was opened and inside was a selection of different types of hangers. Naturally, there were some exactly like what I needed. I bought two, that was all I needed.

        They weren’t prepackaged, sealed in hard to open plastic, they were hanging loose on a nail. “How many did I need?” I got them and some friendly talk in the process. It was always a great place to shop; you were always treated as someone special. It was so much better than a big box store. I’ll miss them!

        *I hid a couple geocaches this week in the local area. One of them was found before I finished hiding it! I met a couple of local geocachers that I knew via e-mails but never met in person. It is always nice to put a face to a name!

        They were searching the spot I was going to hide the cache in. I was running late, the cache is supposed to be hidden before it is submitted to Geocaching.com. I was in the process of replacing the container when I met them. I asked if they were geocachers and when they replied they were, I held up the cache and told them, “You found it!” I had only submitted the cache a few hours earlier; I didn’t know it had been approved already. Live and learn! 

        The other cache I placed had been submitted five or six days earlier and still wasn’t released. It ended up being released the next morning. Here is a shot of the lucky FTF (First to Find) signing the log.

        *The last thing. The Amateur Astronomers Association of Pittsburgh (AAAP) had another star party on Saturday night. The night before there were thunderstorms and the morning was filled with misting rain. The day was full of thick clouds covering the sky. Around 5 in the afternoon, bits of blue started showing through. I packed the car and drove towards The Wagman Observatory, hoping for the best.

        We had a small turn out of members and guests. Eleven members showed up to share the skies with about 30-40 visitors. We dodged the clouds, going from one object to another as they were covered over. 

        We were treated to a nice conjunction of Venus and a thin crescent moon hanging over the western horizon. (Sorry, no picture) Jupiter and its moons, Saturn and its rings, a few double stars and the Andromeda Galaxy were some of the other things shown.

        A short while after I arrived, I met a woman as I walked to the observatory. She told me that it was 15 years since she was here last. She was in the Girl Scouts at the time and enjoyed it so much she always wanted to return.

        It just goes to show you never know how long a good thing will take to pay off. We showed the scouts a good time back then and she remembered it! We must have done something right! Whatever it was, it paid off, she brought some people with her to share the experience! Hopefully the guests who visited last night will be back also, preferably sooner than 15 years. I think everyone there had a good time, I know I did!

        *To finish these notes off, it is two in the afternoon while I am typing this. I am sitting in my backyard listening to a live band performing over the hill. They sound really good! While I was typing away at my laptop, a brown hawk landed on a fallen tree 20 feet away. He/she sat there looking around, preening a bit and then flew off after “hangin” with me for eight minutes. (Always happens when I don’t have a camera handy!) It was a nice compliment to the sunrise I saw this morning! Suburban Glenshaw, live music and wild life…no complaints here!

Enjoy the week!

Up on the Hill

        Silhouetted trees surrounded me on all sides. It was Thursday night, I would probably have the hilltop to myself.

         In the west, Venus was shining brightly as it slowly dropped down into the treetops, to the left; Jupiter and Saturn were sitting proudly in the southern sky. The evening was still as the sky darkened. One by one the stars appeared until it was impossible to determine which one came next. Suddenly it seemed, the sky was filled with dots of light.

        While standing and watching the day disappear, I couldn’t help but notice the sounds. Insects were starting their evening songs. Off in the distance a few dogs barked at something, then a voice yelled at them to be quiet. A few cars drove by, the noises of their passing intruding into the songs of the insects. After they pass, the quiet returns. A couple deer snort over the hillside, heard but not seen.

        I had set up my telescope and was waiting to watch Ganymede, one of Jupiter’s moons pass behind the planet. With about a half hour to go, the moon was getting close, The movement was slow, very slow! I’d watch the sky for awhile and then look through the telescope to see where the moon was.  With about five minutes to go, the slender dark space between the moon and the planet became difficult to see. Then it finally happened, the two appeared to touch. Watching carefully, I saw the moon shrink in size as Jupiter covered it, until just a small bump remained.

        The moon was lined up with the darkest band of clouds on the planet and because of this contrast, I could easily see the bright yellow moon as it slid behind the planet. When it finally disappeared completely, I checked my watch; the time was right when it was predicted!

        It is amazing to watch something happen a little over 396 million miles away. The light of the sun took over 35 minutes to reach the planet and almost that same amount of time for it to reflect back to me.  Wow, I was looking just a little bit back into time. My observing as the night progressed, viewing other stellar objects, would take me further back.

        I turned the scope over to Saturn and marveled, once again, about how cool it looks. It appeared as if a ball had just fallen into a hole. A small shadow was visible on one side of the rings, adding to the 3 dimensional look. Separate sections of the rings could be seen at times, when the seeing improved.

        A young couple passed me, going over to a different section of the hill to do a little stargazing of their own, in private. No words were spoken, I don’t even know if they saw me. The sounds of the insects had fallen away, forgotten, drifting into the background. Traffic on the roads in the distance had decreased. Far away, a train traveled along the river, its whistle faintly drifting to the top of the hill. Every so often, I’d hear another snort from a deer or bits of conversation from the couple over the hill. It was a perfect night!

        I spent it visiting places I hadn’t been to in years. It was easy to find fainter objects with no moon or lights to interfere. The clarity of the sky helped me in my search.

        By 11, the grass was getting rather wet and dew was starting to cover the telescope. I decided it was almost time to pack it up. The couple must have thought the same, I said good night as they passed and I think I startled them. They came over and I showed them Saturn and Jupiter. They had never looked through a telescope before and they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. (I love when this happens!) I told them about the upcoming star parties and they said they would be back. Then I was alone once again, on the hill top.

        I turned the telescope to the Andromeda Galaxy before I tore things down. This is really time travel, the light takes about 2 ½ million years to get from there to here. Time travel to the extreme! Returning to the present, I started disassembling the scope. Once everything was in the car, I stood for awhile to enjoy the view. I knew when I got home, I wouldn’t be able to see half of what I was seeing then. With a final look, I got in the car and started for home, happy and content!

The Roads We Travel

 

        Looking at the books sitting on my shelves, I can see the connecting threads between them. Some are obvious while others are hidden between the words within them. I find that there is more than threads that connect them together, there are actual roads. Some are major highways and others just slight trails through the brush.

        I find it amazing how a peculiar subjects is sometimes mentioned in more than one of the books I’ve read. It might be a simple paragraph which takes me back to a book I’ve just finished. It usually isn’t anything special, often just a sentence or two that drags me back. I sometimes think it is just my imagination but yet, I know that both of these books have had the same idea or subject matter in them!

        Here’s an example; in the book Bloodless by Preston and Child, a bit of the plot involves the disappearance of D.B. Cooper. (He was a man who hijacked an airplane in the early 70’s. He parachuted into a storm and was never seen again.) Later when I was reading Stephen Kings’ newest book, Billy Summers, there is a mention of D.B. Cooper in one of the final pages. It is just a sentence or two but still, there was that name, one I hadn’t heard in years. Both of these books were published within a week of each other so I don’t think one got the idea from the other. It is just an odd occurrence, a slight path which mentally connects one book to another.

        I came across another road…this one dealing with trees. In the book Arbornaut by Meg Lowman, the author tells about her life studying trees, climbing into them and exploring their crowns. In the book she tells how she taught herself how to climb into these huge trees so she could discover what had never been studied before. A book or two later, (Yes, I tend to think of books as periods of time) while reading Fuzz by Mary Roach, I came across another of these trails. Her book is about animals that break our laws and how we, as society tend to take care of them. In one of her chapters she tells the readers about how trees also can be deadly, how people can be killed and how property can be damaged by them. She describes how certain men are skilled at taking them down and pruning them to avoid these things. (She is talking about sequoias and redwoods, very LARGE trees.) In this chapter she goes on to tell us how these workers climb these huge trees and safely do their jobs. It isn’t a major road but once again, there is a definite connection between these books.  I love these coincidences!

        Sometimes it is a highway that takes me from one spot to another. Finishing a book that I really enjoyed, I’ll often look up another of the writers’ works. The expressway takes me right to it. There are times that their book is in my collection and when I go to get it, there is a short road leading right to the book beside it. A slight detour, but it is frequently a detour I don’t mind taking!

        I’ve always thought that it never hurts to follow a detour, sometimes you get lost but most of the time you eventually get to where you wanted to go! As long as time isn’t of the essence, go for it! You never know what you’ll see or might find!

        Should you be taken to a spot you have visited before, it can be comforting. It is nice to visit with old friends. Old familiar sights can warm your heart!

        These roads, highways and modest trails take me to places I’ve never been to before and almost always, I enjoy the trip. There are occasions when I back up and forget about the road simply because I didn’t enjoy the scenery. There is no shame to that since I know; there are plenty of other roads to explore. I don’t have to travel them all!

        Mentally, there are times when I feel that these byways are taking me away from the reality and obligations of the world I live in and I can guess that’s probably true. I’ve been traveling these roads since I first learned to read, since I first realized how many roads there were and how exciting it can be to travel them! I know how roads can help a person escape.

        I’ll always be a traveler, as long as I’m still able to comprehend where the roads are taking me. Rain or shine, I’ll always enjoy the trips! No map or compass is needed; I know where they’re going!

 An Evening Under the Stars at Wagman Observatory

9.11.21

     The evening sky had lots of clouds in it but we were still hopeful for clearings as the night progressed. As sunset neared people started coming into the field surrounding the observatory, some members and some guests. The AAAP star party was starting.

     The clouds came and went during the evening; mostly they stuck to the horizons. The seeing wasn’t great but we could still see the usual crowd pleasers.

     We viewed the Moon and Venus in the west and as the sky darkened Jupiter and Saturn in the southeast. Some of the members with go-to scopes were able to show some of the fainter objects over our heads to the crowds.

     Jupiter had four of its brighter moons visible as the night started, around 9:30, the moon Io passed in front of the planet and disappeared from our sight. I don’t know if anyone was watching as it as disappeared It would have been a great thing to see!

     The moon looked nice as it settled into the thicker atmosphere near the horizon. It turned from bright yellow into a dark orange. With wispy clouds drifting in front of it, it would’ve looked good on the cover of a science fiction novel!

     By eleven, most of the public had left and the members were packing their gear. The “clear” skies had disappeared leaving only the brightest stars visible. It was time to call it a night.

     It was a wonderful evening! For a short while I was able to man the 11” Brashear refractor. (The high point of my night!) Jupiter and Saturn, always look good through that scope! It was originally built in 1910 by Pittsburgh optician, John Brashear, and rebuilt by the club in the mid 1990’s. It is 111 years old!

     We had over a hundred guests show up, there were plenty of questions and something I always enjoy…lots of “OH WOW’s”.

     It was a great night to hang out under the stars with friends! Can’t wait until the next one!

 

Another Day of Looking for Things in the Woods

         Frank and I took another drive this morning to search for more of those things hidden in the woods… geocaches. We left shortly after sunrise with Frank taking on the driving obligations.

        We hadn’t planned a long day, just a few caches with-in 10-15 miles of my house. The majority of them were hidden in North Park. This is the largest park in Alleghany County’s park system. There are over 3000 acres in the park along with a large lake. The park was built in the early 30’s with help from the C.C.C.

        Our first stop should have been a rather easy find. It was a “guardrail cache”. It was hidden on, in or around a guardrail. We searched from one end to the other without seeing it. We looked in the near-by trees and under rocks. Eventually, Frank found it right where we originally looked. Why we didn’t see it, I don’t know. Let’s just say it was early and we weren’t quite into the game yet… Yeah, that will work!

        Our next find was what is called a Multi-Cache. You are given clues and with them you have to figure out where the final cache is hidden. We had both figured out where it was. It was another guard rail cache, hidden in the end of the rails. An easy find, once we had figured out the location.

        In the park, we had to walk up an old dirt road to get to the next cache. Watching our GPS’s as we neared the site, the arrows pointed to the left so we headed into the weeds. The grass wasn’t too high but our pant bottoms got soaked from the dew.

        Our GPS’s showed different spots so I went in one direction and Frank went in another. I searched the “usual” spots without any luck then I heard Frank yell. He had found it, further up the hill. Once I joined him I found it easily. It was hidden under the roots of a large tree. (One of the “usual” spots!) We signed the log and returned it to its hiding spot, a little bit better hidden than when we found it.

        Our next “find” took us for another jaunt into the woods. The beginning was a nice wide path which took us through a nice fairly level section of the park. While we walked we kept an eye on our GPS’s, watching as the distance lowered. Once we were within 30 or 40 feet our geosenses kicked in.

        Geosense is when your experience at finding caches helps you in locating other hides. You compare the site you’re at, to all those other sites you’ve been to and start going over the possibilities. Usually, this works pretty well! You notice small paths in the weeds, you start looking at all the different spots where a cache could be hidden, such as under logs, rocks, trees or guardrails. The Geocaching.com site also tells you how big the cache is and how difficult it is to be found, along with what the terrain is like. This gives you an idea of what you’re looking for also. There is sometimes a hint included with the description, these can be REAL important!

        This find was in what is called a bison tube. It is a small cylindrical container, just large enough to hold a rolled up piece of paper for a log. It was hung on the trunk of a large pine tree.

        The next find was about a ½ mile away, over the top of a large hill and down the other side. Being the wimps we are, we opted for taking the truck rather than walking. It was a good decision!

        We found a trail that was about a ¼ mile away and started down the hillside. Nearing ground zero, (GZ) we started looking around. This one was easy, as long as you were standing in the right spot. It was out in the open, behind a log. We signed, re-hid and then climbed back up the hill.

        The final cache of the day was another Multi-cache. We went to the location specified and had to locate a plaque with some numbers on it. The numbers were used to figure out where we had to go to find the final hide.  After a little basic arithmetic, we quickly figured out that the cache was a ¼ mile away. We grabbed our hiking staffs, our cameras and holding our GPS’s, started down the trail.

        I have been on this trail many times and I’ve always considered it to be one of my favorite spots to hike in North Park. It descends into a valley and follows a stream. It is a nice quiet trail with a few tough sections and you rarely see anyone on it. The sounds of the stream makes a nice background for your hike.

        We passed through the ruins of an old park shelter and then crossed the stream. We passed cliffs where Native Americans used to camp. We saw lots of fallen trees, evidence of the storms we have recently experienced. We passed above a stone wall that was probably built by the C.C.C. when they were working on the park in the 30’s, along with a few old dirt roads which were no longer passable.

        At the bottom of a steep hill we came to GZ, it was somewhere between the stream and a steep cliff. We started searching. Frank made the find, hidden in the cliffside.

        We signed the log, I dropped off a TB and then re-hid the cache and started back up the trail to the truck. Nearing the top of the hill, the truck mere feet away, I realized that I had left my GPS at the cache site. Frank waited as I hoofed it down and back again. Twenty minutes, not bad. I was drenched with sweat. The cache was a bit tougher than it should have been, due to my own forgetfulness!

        We were back at my house before 11, not bad for one of our expeditions!  It was a good morning; we found all of the caches we set out to find and had a good time doing them. The morning was exceptionally nice, a perfect day for geocaching and hanging out with a friend. We also managed to get some exercise in the process. We’ll probably both be taking some Tylenol tonight, but you know... it was worth it!

A Chance Encounter

 

        Clouds were drifting through the sky as sunset approached. Overhead I could see Vega. I had hopes for an eventual clearing…so I went to take a nap!

        Waking a bit after 11 I went outside to see a nice clear sky. Jupiter and Saturn were right in my “window”.  My front yard is framed by trees. Saturn was heading towards the trees to the west and Jupiter had just appeared out of the trees to the east. Best of all, most of the neighbors lights were off!

        I set up the scope and aligned the finder scope. My first observation was of Saturn. The image moved in and out of focus a bit as the telescope acclimated to the slightly cooler temperature. It settled down rather quickly and I was treated to a nice crisp, steady view of the ringed planet and its brightest moon, Titan. I was using a 12.5mm Coulter Optical eyepiece which gave me 12X. Before the planet slipped behind the trees I put a doubler on it for awhile.

        When I moved over to Jupiter, there were only three of its bright moons visible. I figured the fourth was either behind or in front of the planet Curious about where the fourth moon was, I consulted The Observers Handbook. I quickly found out that the fourth moon, Ganymede, was transiting across the front of the planet. Best of all, I saw that it was due to reappear in about 12 minutes!

        This is one of the reasons I like to have reference materials close at hand. I could’ve looked this up on the computer but I would have ruined my night vision in the process.

        I went to the telescope and put a Meade Ultra Wide 4.7mm eyepiece in the focuser. This gave me 32X.

        One of the first things I noticed was a sharp black dot near the center of the planets disc. Situated between the two darkest cloud bands, it was the shadow of Ganymede!

        I kept a close eye on the edge of the planet’s disc. As the time neared, (12:36AM) I started to see a bump grow. It increased in size until a little after 12:36, I could see a sliver in-between it and the planet.

        Not long after watching this, I started to tear down my set up. Jupiter was heading towards the trees and my scope was covered with dew. In all I had observed for a little over an hour and in that hour I had watched the universe in motion! As so often when observing you are looking at objects that are set in place. They are so far away you can’t see any movement at all except for the spinning of our own planet. Watching the transit of Ganymede was cool, happening upon it at the right time was lucky!

        After putting my equipment away, I went outside to check if I had left anything behind. The sky was starting to cloud over again. Seems I timed it just right! I returned to my bed because I had important dreams waiting for me!

        (Excuse my amateur drawings, they were taken from my notes)

P.S. The A.A.A.P. is scheduled another star party on September 11th, at the Wagman Observatory! You might want to mark that on your calendar!