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!

You Never Know What You Might Find!

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

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

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

As it set, the full moon turned red.

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

Frank signing the log.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Finally, Another Star Party! August 14, 2021

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Driving East to the Son

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Friday the 13th

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hope yours went well also!

A Visit to the Swamp

 

The path is nearly non-existent with high weeds growing alongside of it, some shoulder high. Footsteps need to be placed carefully to avoid slips or tripping. There is also the need to be on the lookout for poison ivy. Ticks pose another threat, though you won’t see them until later.

Why would anyone want to walk down this path leading to, of all things, a swamp?

Even though rain has fallen a few days ago, the small ravine leading to the swamp is dry. The mud in it is thick, deer tracks show how deep it is.

The Swamp

The swamp is about 8 or 9 acres of flooded land in-between a set of railroad tracks and a road. Bushes grow out of the water and carcasses of trees lay in it, their roots sticking up in the air, giving birds a place to perch. Flowers cover the bushes and bubbles pop up in the water, breaking the mirror images on its surface.

Button Bush

Milkweed Plant

There is a large variety of flowers, bushes and plants growing here. Some of the most prevalent are button bushes with satellite looking flowers, their roots sunk into the watery mud. (Interestingly, these plants are a member of the coffee family!)  Near the edge of the swamp is a batch of cat tail bushes, their brown hotdog shaped spikes growing higher every day. Milkweed plants add some purple colors to the scene. Milkweed flowers are important because they are a food source for Monarch butterflies.  In the early spring, one of the first plants to break through the muck in the swamp is skunk cabbage, their brownish-purple and green shells reminding us that spring is coming, along with more flowering plants. Thistle grows on the edges near the road and the railroad tracks, their pale flowers and prickly leaves decorating the borders.

Brown Tailed Hawk

Birds are all over the place and evidence of animals abound. Squirrels can be seen in the trees around the edges and the “handprints” of raccoons can be seen in the mud beside the deer tracks. Flocks of birds fly from bush to bush and every so often a woodpecker can be seen tapping on a dead tree. Ducks visit the pond and if you’re lucky you can see a hawk sitting in one of the higher trees watching for prey. Herons also stop by to search for food. Frogs can be heard croaking and then quieting down when the heron appears.

During my last visit to this area, a heron flew past me. I don’t think either of us realized the other was there until we were side by side!

The edges of the swamp are mud, the water level changes almost daily. The mud is thick and brown. Little pools of water with an oily sheen lay in the hollows. Further out the water is clear and reflects the plants and sky above. Pools of water hidden behind the button bushes provide a protected spot for the birds and passing ducks.

Why wouldn’t anyone want to stop by and spend a few minutes? It’s relaxing and peaceful, it’s nature! It's just a swamp, but it has all sorts of wonders hidden in it, hidden in plain sight! It’s there, just waiting for someone to stop by and visit! Try it; you never know what you’ll see!

Go on, stop by...visit a swamp near you!

Mom Nature Strikes Again!

 

The weather has been playing games with me this weekend. Yesterday, it darkened my hopes of going out to our clubs observatory to hold a star party. It had never looked promising but every so often a bit of sunshine would break through the cloud bank. Thunder and downpours pushed any hope out of my mind.

Today was very similar. I just experienced rain, accompanied with thick dark clouds. Now, as I write this, five minutes after the rain, sunshine is glowing on the near-by field. I know there are more clouds, if not rain coming behind this brief bit of brightness. The star party for tonight has been cancelled.

I am sitting beside a stream enjoying the sounds the water makes. The stream is high and the water is dark. The sounds are soothing, water tumbling over rocks accompanied with occasional chirping of birds. No cars pass by, increasing the feeling of isolation.

The wind blows through the trees, a little psithurism to accompany the birds and giving a bit of movement to the scene I’m looking at. The field lightens up and then like clockwork darkens again. Looking at the sky, there is no clearing, only thinning cloud cover. Dark angry clouds drift along the edge of the valley with pale haze overhead.

I have known for weeks that the weather this weekend would be bad. When planning a star party, it is always a gamble, especially here in Pittsburgh where the weather is prone to rain and clouds. I shouldn’t be disappointed or upset, the odds were against us!

It has been a long time since our club, the Amateur Astronomers Association of Pittsburgh, held a star party. Over 20 months according to one of the members. The Covid epidemic has put a hold on so many things in our lives, the star parties are really a minor thing! But still, we miss them!

There have been a lot of discussions about these star parties. Will it be safe, how can we keep our equipment clean and sterile? Do we need masks? Do we need to worry about possibly catching anything by allowing the public to use our gear?

Most of us are going along with the idea that if we are vaccinated, we should be safe. The desire to share the night sky with others drives us on!

My own personal schedule has opened up and I didn’t have any required demands for Friday nights. I have been looking forward to this weekend since the star party dates were announced. Even as I penciled in the dates, I knew my chances were slim. Still I kept my fingers crossed.

A small bit of blue sky drifts overhead, surrounded by grey clouds. Dark, thick clouds are moving into view. The blue sky was just a tease. Mother Nature is playing with me, laughing at my hopes and my dreams.

Rain drops start splashing on my windshield and spotting the surface of the stream. There won’t be any telescope viewing tonight. I guess this will only make the next clear night all that much more enjoyable!

Last but not least, this cartoon reminded me of Pittsburgh…for some odd reason.

Comin' Round the Curve

 

As is so often the case with pre-planned days, this one started with rain.  Thankfully it wasn’t much more than a light sprinkle. We sure weren’t going to let it stop us from enjoying our trip!

We had been planning this “photo-expedition/geocache search” for a couple weeks. Our final destination would be the Horseshoe Curve near Altoona.  We were planning on going up the hill on the backside of the curve to take some pictures of trains. On our way over, we would make a few stops to try our luck at finding some geocaches.

Frank and I have taken countless photo trips, starting sometime in the 80’s and continuing on through the present day. Frank is a fine photographer and we always enjoy discussing photography and our various other hobbies. Whether our photos turn out good or bad, the day sunny or rainy, we always seem to have a good time.

We left Franks house around 6:30 in the morning. The windshield wipers were only used intermittently, the day was looking good.

Our first stop was at a BBQ joint. It wasn’t to get some food, it was to find a cache. We had been here previously but hadn’t realized that there was a cache hidden there. Since the place was closed, the food option was off the table. We settled on finding the cache instead. It was an easy find, inside a box that contained a rubber pig that oinked when the lid was opened.

On top of a mountain about 5 miles away we made our next stop. This cache was hidden in a small ambulance! Cool, you never know what you might find when you’re geocaching! The radio towers across the highway were partially hidden by the fog. Further down the road we would see fog hugging the hillsides on the distant mountains. Pennsylvania has so many nice views!!

A few “pedestrian” caches followed; nothing real exciting other than the thrill of another find. Rt. 22 has hundreds of caches hidden near it. We picked only a small quantity and left the others for another time. There were two that we couldn’t locate. We looked in all the usual spots but couldn’t find them. We left because we had more important things to do, like watching trains!

Driving to the curve using the back roads avoided going into Altoona. Getting off rt.22 at Gallitzin gave us clear roads with hardly any traffic and no traffic lights. We reached the back side of the curve in about 15 minutes.

Our camera gear was packed in our backpacks. I carried a tripod, planning on using it as a hiking staff if needed. We doused ourselves in bug spray and started up the hill. It was a steep climb but other than a few stops for me to catch my breath, there were no problems.

At the top, we were uphill from the observation platform in the center of the curve. We looked down at the building and the locomotive that is sitting there. The rocks we set up on were thankfully in the shade, not that we had to worry about sunlight. It was just brighter and hotter out on the tracks.

Not much was happening at first. Two trucks were up the tracks a bit, the workers were doing some sort of maintenance. We sat and waited and BS’d.

The picture above shows the curve from space. The yellow line is our path up to the curve and the approximate spot where we set up. Altoona is located off to the upper right of the picture. The track rises as it goes towards Gallitzin, off the picture at the lower right. The curve was built in 1854 by the Pennsylvania Railroad to allow trains to cross the Allegheny Mountains. The curve, approximately a quarter mile across uses the topography of the mountains to lessen the grade to the summit.

 As we sat and talked, we heard a couple toots and then the echoes from across the valley. The men cleared off the tracks and a train came downhill towards us. The engineer tooted to the men as he passed them and then again to us as he went by. A short while later we heard another toot as he passed the observation deck.

A few minutes passed and then an Amtrak train came down the hill, heading east into the curve. He tooted also as he passed the observation deck. It must be in the engineers handbook; “Always toot your horn at railfans on the Curve!”

Next to appear was a train heading west, coming uphill out of Altoona. This one was going slow; we heard the noise of the growling engines before we saw them. There were three locomotives pulling the train. We didn’t think to count the cars. The train seemed to go on forever. We guessed that there were at least 300 cars. Two engines were helping at the end. It is amazing to me to think how much power was in those 5 engines!

After that train there was a lull in the action. Then the sounds of another reached us and finally we saw the engines slowly coming into view across the valley. Eight engines pulled this train! Wow, this will be a long one we thought. We started counting the cars as they passed. 

Forty seven… That was it?  Maybe the engines were being taken somewhere? They sure didn’t need that many to pull that small amount of cars. While we were watching and counting, another eastbound train passed on the tracks behind it. This train was much longer and had some helpers positioned in mid train. It passed before the westbound train passed us.

Once these trains had passed we packed our gear and returned to the car. We had been here for about an hour and a half; we were ready to get moving again. The path going down the hill was much easier going down! We did another cache located inside the bowl of the bend. Frank signed the log as another train passed on the curve above us. We then stopped at two other caches but decided to pass on them since they involved some risky climbing.

The caches I do these days pale in comparison to some of the ones I’ve done in the past. My body just doesn’t bend and stretch as well as it used to. Then there is the healing time, which tends to drag out a bit longer than in the old days!

We were back home around 2PM. My odometer showed that I had traveled a little over 200 miles. We had no slips or falls and we found most of the caches we searched for. I only got us lost once, which is about average, but Frank quickly found our road and we were back on track again. I felt pretty good when we got back, after a stretch or two my back muscles felt normal once again. The pictures came out well and the rain had held off for most of the trip. There were no problems; it was a good trip…as always!

Note; I have to say, I did have one small problem. I found a tick on me before I went to bed. Hopefully it was the only one.  Human nature being as it is, for the next hour or two, I could feel “them” crawling all over me!