A Busy Summer

This summer was filled with family, hiking, biking and a lot of wonderful times. I have been reminded twice this week that my blog has not reflected anything of the sort. Be assured we are all well and have many exciting plans for the rest of the year.

Highlights included my time at Sinnemahoning, hiking with RGBisMe, the magical trip I took with Tracdc & Maga11 into the Shenandoah National Forest and the two weeks Asrai & Ravenboy spent with us here in town. The only sad thing is that we are losing the best neighbors; Mososo Kruppe are moving across town. It's only sad for us. Their new home is just amazing and I am sure they will be much happier there.

I forget that not everyone can see what I add on FaceBook so here are a few photos to show what I have enjoyed.

A field trip to shoot photos with the master, Toolman Luke.

One of his eagle shots from May.

Hanging out in Fordam Commons between shows near the Met Opera House.

Maga11 feeding Chickadees in Trexler Park.

Early June, returning 5 years later to try to find a remote letterbox in a beautiful spot.

Skyline Drive with Maga11 & Tracdc. The week we spent needs a blog entry of it's own!

Exploring the newly renovated Academia covered bridge. Longest covered bridge in the USA.

Prodigal Son on stage at the Met, literally and figuratively.

A snapping turtle along our local bike path.

The huge toad that lives in our backyard and eats bugs off the porch at night.

Returing to Sunset Rocks in July.

Ravenboy & Asrai.

Pickles on a stick!

Knoebels in August.

Biking in Weiser State Forest.

The reservoir in Weiser State Forest.

Appalachian Trail on Peters Mountain with Janila.

Stone Mountain, yesterday.

Caught in the act of geocaching.

State Game Lands 106 this past Saturday.

Ravenboy & Asrai at Knoebels in late August.

This is the kind of stuff I was treated to this summer. Is it no wonder that I haven't had time to write about it? Any moment I would turn away, something amazing would be going on.

Broken Branch

Where we like to sit with our morning tea or summer supper in the evening. Does anyone have a chainsaw we could borrow?

Up in the Air

Our weekend was mostly spent in NYC visiting Asrai & Ravenboy. Ravenboy was able to get us a couple of tickets to his performance of "Airs" in which he had received such a wonderful review earlier in the week. Asrai invited us to watch her trapeze class before we had to change for the performance.

I had no idea what to expect watching her trapeze class at Trapeze School New York. She was learning some flying trapeze at their tented location on 30th St. When we got to watch, she was perfecting a trick and then translating it into being caught. At the very end of the class she was even being coached for the return.

Asrai did great and you could tell by the way everyone around her reacted that they had a lot of respect for her. This school is one that accommodates people just trying one class through people who are trying to perfect certain techniques. The staff seemed very in tune with what each student wanted to accomplish and I saw them going one on one with them to make sure they were focused on coming away with something.

We watched as each student in the rotation used their failed moments as learning experiences. At the end of the class the instructors all made sure to touch base with the students and put into perspective all they had accomplished. It seems like a pretty neat school.

After her class we went down town to check out the newly opened The High Line park. We had known about the High Line for years and were thrilled to learn it was finally going to open in June. This trip we were glad to finally set foot on the old elevated rail way that cut through the meat packing district. Currently, the only section that is open is from just south of 14th St. (Ganesvoort St. to be exact) up to 20th St.

It was a beautiful day to explore this new park and many people were enjoying it. The park's structure echoed the existing rail lines and the pieces of art reflected the surroundings. The most stunning display was a piece whose name was based on the original Native American word for the Hudson River, Muhheakantuck. "The River that Flows Both Ways" by Spencer Finch transforms Chelsea Market Passage's existing casement windows with 700 individually crafted panes of glass representing the water conditions on the Hudson River over a period of 700 minutes on a single day. To create the project, Finch photographed a floating object as it moved through the landscape of the Hudson River, beginning upriver and following it as it flowed down to New York City. The artist then carefully matched each unique image to a pane of glass. I was not able to capture it's magical presence on film so am taking an image from the web page.


We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon with Asrai and finally went to the performance at the Met Opera House. We had a chance to meet some patrons who regularly post their ballet reviews on Ballet Talk and had a wonderful conversation before we had to find our way to our seats.

Ravenboy was in the first piece performed that evening and had some very dynamic solos that were well received by the audience. The cast of 7 in Airs did a great job performing the breathtaking Paul Taylor's "Airs." As we drove back to Ravenboy's apartment the whole day felt as if our heads had been in the clouds, walking on sunshine and buoyed by the crisp Spring air.

Ravenboy's Company

If you know what he looks like you can find him in the foreground and background in some of there shots. He is the one that keeps turning after the others have stopped in class.

Thanks for the Litter in our Box!

Jack Purcell Art Limitd Edition

Art Nouveau shoes! Dag yo!

Home Grown Pad Thai

Ingredients I grew to use in our Pad Thai lunch.

Sinnemahoning WITO - Day 3

The night after star gazing was cloudy but cooler than the evening before. Somewhere between 11 and 2, I heard raccoons making their stupid fighting noise and zipped my fly so if they walked by I wouldn't have to look them in the eye. I have no idea why that made things better for me. I found out later that DaBraLady overheard one mother/ daughter couple heard them so close to their tent that, they could, "... hear them panting." They chose to go and sleep in their car for part of the night. Her comment about hearing them panting cracked me up.

Our morning started with tearing down the campsite. It was quite chilly and moving around really helped. I knew I had to eventually pack my bike but my first class in the morning was on biking rail trails and we would be on a stretch of the Low Lands Trail. There weren't too many parts of any of the park trails I hadn't already been on. I had even come back via the rugged and poorly blazed Red Spruce Trail the day before.

That morning I just took to the road. When I had woken, my arms were really stiff and sore from paddling the kayak and half of me thought that I might decide not to go to my canoeing class later in the morning. It was cold and I was sore. Over breakfast at the pavilion in the Forty Maples area my attitude changed. The sun came out, I had some food, the Prothonotary Warble was singing and it was our last day. I really didn't want to miss anything.

Jackie started our class with some rail trail history and gave many resources for finding trails in our own areas. She had a book on Pennsylvania Rail Trails which I was less familiar with and intend to check out when I have the chance. By this point, it was pretty clear to everyone that I like biking so when Jackie asked if we wanted to bike straight through her planned route or stop along the way for points of interest I know that some people re reticent to speak up and choose as to not disappoint the avid bikers. After what I felt was an appropriate amount of silence to let other people chime in I said, "Points of interest please." Many others agreed and I don't think anyone was sorry for it.

Jackie Flynn has an obvious love for Sinnemahoning State Park. Everything she says reflects that. Each stop we made on our bikes allowed her to share personal experiences mixed with history of the area. We learned of the town of First Fork that used to be in the area and she showed us the trees and Foxglove that the townsfolk had planted there. She showed us the way the CCC had planted trees and now they were slowly clearing them out because they allowed no sun to the ground. She pointed out the common May Apples and made them interesting all over with the history of the American Mandrake Root.

Jackie shared her favorite birding spot, noted out some bird song and passed on some sage advice from her expert birding friends. When she was frustrated with her level of proficiency her Audubon certified friend encouraged her, "Jackie, you are at the fun point in birding. You know enough to identify enough to keep your interest but have so many to yet learn and explore that you are still discovering. After you are an expert it becomes boring." Her friend went on to tell her that many birding experts go on to watch dragonflies and follow some of their migrations. It was a great perspective to share with so many of us who are feeling frustrated by not knowing as much as we might hope to.

We returned in time to meet up with the folks who had chosen to go bird banding, DaBraLady was among them. She was on a real high having correctly IDed some of the birds that had been caught in the mist nets. When she shared how she was allowed to set free a Common Yellow Throat after it had been weighed and banded I could tell another life long memory had been made. This program was full of them.

I had donned my water shoes that were still damp from kayaking. The sun was out but the shoes were chilly. I had already decided that I was not into water travel so it was a push for me to get excited about the canoe class. Park Manager Lisa Bainey's enthusiasm made it worthwhile. With the help of Environmental Education Specialist Aaron, she gave us so many pointers on proper paddling technique that I was afraid to tip my head for it running out of my ears. We buddied up and safely set out on to the lake. One thing that was different in this water sport class was that Aaron and Lisa made sure we were wearing properly sized and adjusted PFDs.

Liz and I paddled out onto the lake toward the middle and we all got some on water instruction. I was in the front and I tried to utilize my core strength rather than being an "arm paddler." We really just enjoyed the lake and chatted with one another from that point on. Every woman on the lake was so down to earth and interesting. We were all different in where we came from but similar in that we could all share the exhilaration of a bald eagle as it glided over our heads in the noon day sun. I obviously left my camera behind for this class too.

We returned for lunch and the final class of the day, geocaching. DaBraLady had taken the geocaching class while I was on the lake for my canoe class. Over sandwiches and fruit cups I asked her how it went. She thought I might not like it because the guy gave too many hints. She also told me that it wasn't Olf D'Cores as I had thought it was supposed to be. This brought me down a bit but I was all ready to debut the tracking coin I had activated just for the day. I had called it Sinnemahoning Smiley.

By now I think you may have caught on that I don't like to mention the names of anyone I have anything negative to say about. This geocacher may have been a late substitute so perhaps some of the things that fell through the cracks were out of his control. I personally think I cut him a lot of slack. He was pleasant, shared a lot of good information and none of it was incorrect. My problem was with the actual hands on geocaching. As with DaBraLady's group in the morning, after a quick demo of finding a nearby waypoint (it lead to a post) we were sent off to find a nearby cache. He had given a few hints and pointed us down the trail. It was not the approach I would have chosen because the tree he made reference too was on the main road and Diane was not
able to do any bushwhacking because of a severe poison ivy allergy. She was already on steroids for a bee sting. We walked an .6 mile by having to back track to a main trail and ran out of time before finding the cache. The morning group actually bushwhacked .3 mile and also did not find it. I was really disappointed to find that the instructor hadn't even checked on the cache before sending us out. Why he didn't do that, accompany us or set up a "day of" cache that was stocked and easier to find just perplexes me. Let me at it next year, I will lead this class.

I will be honest in saying that is where our weekend ended. We were both quite tired and wanted to be awake for our drive home. We decided at the last second (literally) to pass on the pontoon tour. We hugged everyone goodbye and swapped information with those we could. We really want to sign up for next year and take along as many friends and family who are interested. There is something for every woman, young and old. Attending the Sinnemahoning Women in the Outdoors program is probably one of the best decisions I have made in a long time.

Sinnemahoning WITO - Day 2 - PM

The afternoon started off with the Wildlife Conservation Officer Wayne Hunt driving up with the trapped bear. This was also as lunch was being delivered and our photography session wrapping up with a group shot. As we returned to the pavilion Jackie asked the photographer if she could move his matted prints out of the way so that she could set up the lunch for everyone. His reply was, "No, you better let me do that." Jackie had to set up lunch bunched up on another table, his prints were there until well after lunch.

Before and after we ate our lunch, Wayne gave us information about bear trapping and documenting them after their release. This was not a nuisance bear but a random sample he trapped not too far up the mountain. He shot it with a tranquilizer and we ate our lunch. After about 15 minutes, he told us that sometimes one shot is not enough and when he goes to check on the bear they are not totally out and will get up and get out. He told us to stay back as he opened the trap and if the bear came out not to worry it was drugged and just let it walk away. He asked for another larger fellow to come in case he needed help (lifting it I assumed) and opened the trap. It was Mark who had gone to assist and he stood nearby as Wayne tugged the bear's ear. I saw him quickly step back and close the trap as fast as he could. The bear needed another shot. We all went back to eating and I went to ask Mark what he saw that made him decide to close the trap. Mark said, "The bear raised it's head, looked up and and was getting ready to come out."

The second shot was all it took and Wayne went about tagging both ears and extracting one of the bear's teeth. The tooth would be sent off and cut to determine how old the bear is. It then took three people, Wayne, Mark and Janet, to lift what turned out to be a 350 lb mature black bear. He was a good size but not a huge fellow. They rolled him onto his brisket and monitored his respiration. By this point about 60 people total had gathered to hear what Wayne had to share and he graciously answered ever question. He then said people could come up and have their photos taken one at a time. I took DaBraLady's and balked at going myself. The tooth extraction had gotten to me and when Jackie prompted me to go up I told her so. She assured me it was a minor tooth and she really wanted to take a photo of each of her women with the bear. I went up and touched a live warm black bear. As Wayne and Jackie said to everyone, it was a usually once in a lifetime opportunity. This was only the first of many unique and special moments WITO at Sinnemahoning provided.

The activity that followed lunch was the first one where DaBraLady and I parted ways. She went fly fishing I went on a 6 mile mountain bike ride led by Liz Fronheiser. The ride was pure joy for me. We rode along at a pace that was a bit slow because of the tow other riders but we still had a lot of fun. It was just right in length and the slower pace allowed for chatting and getting to know one another. We were on a gravel trail, did some paved road to get to a grass track. It was a figure 8 that was well paced. Liz coached us on how to navigate short "water bars" as well as best body placement of long and rough descents.

Kayaking was next and DaBraLady and I both were going. Neither of us took cameras so I will not have photos to add until someone else shares some with me. We got into a shuttle that drove us the the boat launch at the lake. The instructor, Rich Henrich, was kind and made sure we were all outfitted with PFDs and then taught us the proper way to get in and out of a kayak. We dabbled with just a little technique and then we enjoyed ourselves on the lake. We looked for the eagle's nest and eventually Rich showed us where one of the eagles was perched in the distance. I have little upper body strength so this was a bit of work for me. I also came to a clear conclusion that, although I was enjoying myself, I really preferred land activities. I was getting quite tired and a little hungry by the time we returned.

The next class was taught to everyone together instead of us breaking into groups. It was focused on cordage and primitive fire making. The instructor was just a little quirky and someone I would call a fire making geek. He was just too enthusiastic about the hundreds of different fire making techniques he had tried. I don't think he was a pyromaniac really just way too crazy about everything you could use to make cords to make bows to make a fire.

With the warm sun on my back combined with fatigue and hunger I just could not focus and the guy's enthusiasm struck me as hilarious. The knife he had around his neck in the black duct tape sheath was odd but his demeanor of giving a nervous little laugh of victory after he proved a point started to distract me into finding humor in everything he did. I was exhausted and wrongly snorted in laughter at some random thing he said but I held my composure when no one else laughed or even looked at me. Missy though I had started to snore. Liz was falling asleep in the sun because her group had just had a huge snack at the outdoor cooking class. The class was running long and the pizza guys showed up just as the instructor's pile of tinder burst into flames. We all applauded with enthusiasm. Personally, I was applauding the arrival of the pizza.

After the meal I biked back to camp for a break but found myself wanting to try to find a letterbox. It had been one that RGBisMe and I had not been able to determine it's starting location for sure. On the bird walk, someone mentioned that the one structure was a huge bat enclosure so I knew that was the starting point. I biked the 1 1/2 miles to it and started to try to make the clue come together. I had just as much luck as the first time we tried and came up empty. The trip wasn't a total waste because I checked on another local letterbox that was still in great shape. Crayola Posse are still the only finders and it has been out for almost 3 years.

As I biked back, I realized I probably had biked a total of 15 miles that day over many areas and terrains in the park. I made it back in time to shower before the final astronomy program that evening. The sky was patchy with clouds and we were not sure if we would be able to see anything but Pat Garrigan's talk was enthusiastic. He had many nice handouts and interesting information. As we waited for skies to clear, DaBraLady pointed out the amazing display the fire flies were giving over the edge of the dam. Soon the telescope was trained on a star and finally on Saturn. We all stood single file to quickly get a glimpse of this unique planet. DaBraLady was in front of me and I was last in line I think. I heard her say, "Oh my god! That is amazing!" As she stepped back to give me a turn I remembered what it was like the first time I saw Saturn through a scope, about 15 years before. It was something that really stayed with me. I said to her, "Look again, this is a moment you won't forget." It was a peak moment for everyone there a a stellar way to end the day.