MK weekend

We spent a good part of the weekend with Mososo Kruppe. We were off to find some letterboxes but this was all on the way to Harrisburg's Melting Pot Restaurant. Mososo Kruppe were treating us to a meal in celebration of finally selling their house in Georgia.

On of the first stops had a terrific view of the Susquehanna River but we forgot our cameras in the car. There was no way were were going to make the climb twice so we all just enjoyed the view of the river and then the man in the green velor pants with the George Hamilton tan.

Another stop was to find Fox Run Skunk Cabbage letterbox. It was the perfect time because the spring peepers had started to sing and the skunk cabbage was just popping it's purple spike like noses out of the ground.

The meal at Melting Pot was a lot of fun. We started with cheesy fondue that the waitress blended and melted right on the table in front of us. There was no doubt this was that what they brought out was quality ingredients and not some velveeta with pepper shaken into it.

Next we had our different salads and then the big production was cooking our entrees in a Mojo cooking style right on the table. Mososo Kruppe were good sports and let us throw our veggies in to cook up before their different meats went into the broth. Everything came out just right and tasted terrific.

The meal ended with a chocolate fondue that came with loads of fun dippers. The style of the fondue was Yin Yang with dark and white chocolate and we all shared a similar frozen drink. They looked really cool on the table together.

It ended up being quite late as they drove us home and the top of the seven mountain was terribly foggy. We were all glad to arrive home safely just after midnight. Mososo Kruppe had dog training and we thought maybe some more fun with an "MK" twist could be explored.

This morning, we printed out some clues to a Mososo Kruppe letterbox in Gallitzin. It is based on the 1947 train wreck of the Red Arrow. The history is really amazing. MK had wanted to come along to see how we interpreted the clues but we were impatient and decided to go find it while they had dog training. It was too late when we realized that they were less interested in seeing how we did but rather were concerned with protecting us from the spooky things on the trail.

We brashly decided to try to cut to the chase and walk a short .2 mile to the letterbox, cutting off a couple of miles we thought. Sugar Run Rd tried to elude us with no sign to direct our turn but we were too smart for that and passed the suggested road to grab what we thought was a closer parking space. Bad idea, it was littered with many animal sacrifices. Even avoiding those, we then saw we would have to cross a rushing creek and would have to face a muddy and thorny .2 mile bushwhack. We turned back and went to the suggested parking.

After the first parking area, I was all jumpy about what we would see in this area. I glanced around and was sure I saw a dead skunk so bloated that it's intestinal walls were about to burst. I had to avert my gaze and RGBisMe looked over at it after I warmed him. He was really perplexed and even more grossed out than I was with what it actually was. The toy it turned out to be really spooked us both but we continued onward to find the ghosts from the derailed train.

RGBisMe and I went to check out the tunnels next and a low rumble immediately came from behind us, the direction in which we knew the wreck had occurred. My skin started to crawl and I wish we had waited for Mososo Kruppe to come along with us. I had real regrets at that point because I was sure a ghost train was going to come zipping around the bend. The photo I took of RGBisMe he is looking warily at it and I look so creeped out in the photo he took that I am not printing it.

I was done with the tunnels and wanted to get out of there. We started walking along the suggested road and it started to really rain. We knew we were on the right track as it were because of the crazy weird furnaces that we saw. They were so amazingly spooky and wonderful. I pulled my camera out on the pouring rain because I had to shoot some photos of them.

We did calm down as the walk progressed and there was never a moment that we felt confused about being at the right place. MK's clues were paced in just the right way to keep us going and not wondering if we had missed something or made a wrong turn. It was not a cute little trail in the woods but the history of what happened made it so worth being able to stand where we did.

More trains sounded from the distance just as we were ready to leave the final location. Yes, my skin prickled and I did indeed want to crawl under the boulders because I was again unsure if I was going to see a Norfolk Southern or the ghost of the Red Arrow coming around the curve.

Photo Satire

I took a similar photo of Ravenboy years ago and took a break yesterday to satirize the shot.

True Emerald Adventure

This was a day of a 20+ mile bike ride to Milheim, PA. I stopped frequently and aimed to partake of something green at every establishment. It took me a good 15 minutes to actually get my butt out of the door and on to my bike and I still forgot things I meant to take with me. RGBisMe's rear view bike mirror sat idle on the back porch while I could have used it all along the 18 miles of rt 45 between Boalsburg and Milheim.


The day started off on a sad note as I saw the old body of a stray cat I used to know along the highway. Poor Woolly Bully died sometime this winter down on College Ave and her body is there now. She lived a rough life and was a real icon of toughness. I wondered where she had gone.

RGBisMe suggested I cut around Nittany and go through Lemont to make the ride less elevation but added a few miles. This was a great choice and I got a breakfast sandwich at the Pump Station Cafe. My "green" choice was the flavor shot of Irish Cream sweetener in my coffee. I took my own mug. Does that count as green too?

The valley along Nittany was mellow and chilly. I stopped half way to check the time and it was almost 10 AM on the nose. I stopped to peep at the round barn and buzzed into Old Fort about 10:30 AM. Snappy's was a great place for a break to finish my breakfast sandwich and purchase my green Spearmint gum.

Next stop, although it took some time to get there, was Spring Mills. I actually slipped on my regular pants over my biking pants to pop into the Frosty Hook for lunch. This location used to be called the Spring Mills Hotel and Quick Lunch (or as Toolman Luke likes to call it the "SMH & QL"). The shoulders of rt 45 deteriorated just upon entering the town so I was glad for a break. No Corned Beef nor Cabbage for me but a nice green salad and Guinness. The crappy part was it was served in a can - on St. Pat's - come on! Some guy tried to enlighten me about the dart league he and his son are in. Ho hum.

I wanted some desert and couldn't get the Water Street Grill out of my head. I tooled around the block, not changing out of my pants, to the location. Although lights were on inside and out this place was closed at 12:30! I was really disappointed and I got grease on my good pants! I called it the "wearin' o' the grease." Grrrrrr.

Back on the road for a bit, I made calls to family and friends to let them know I was making progress whenever I had cell phone reception. I took another nice break at Burkholder's grocery and got a Granny Smith Apple and a Turkey Hill green tea Mojito flavored. The tea was a mistake, the lime was very artificial tasting.

Elk Creek Cafe was my goal and I knew they had opened at noon. Their web site and email boasted "vegan offerings" as well as a "Trout Oat Stout" as long as it lasted. My goal was not to sit and drink my day away so I spent extra time in Burkie's trying to find a better green treat. Although the white chocolate deviled eggs were shocking and hilarious, they were not green. No more green treats were to be had so I biked into Milheim and took some photos.

It was sometime around 3:00 PM I walked into the Elk Creek Cafe and ordered my first Oat Stout. Smooth and dark it reminded me of why people choose oatmeal baths to comfort those with skin irritations. DabraLady wasn't getting off work until 4:00 PM so I nursed this drink and came up with the plan to make Milheim the completion of my my "Biking Bar Tour." I was done biking but there was the Milheim Hotel to check out yet.

I chatted with Kathy and Tim at the Elk Creek for a while and Tim asked if I was going to include Brownies Valley Tavern in my proclaimed tour. I told him that I thought the place looked too spooky and he didn't try to encourage me to make a visit.

Off I went to boldly bust into the regulars sitting at the bar at the Milheim Hotel.
No balcony parties were planned buy it was finally nice outside and my walk up the street had allowed me to take a couple of photos as I checked on my parked bike.

I had no idea what to order since the guy at the Frosty Hook gave me the hairy eyeball when I asked for "something green." I thought that the same bet was just to get a Jamesons Irish Whiskey on the rocks and ordered that up. This was the most festive of all locations as it turns out. they were adding color to their beers and wearing flashing necklaces and hats and leprechaun ears! Holy cow, when the lady added green to my little drink I was afraid my teeth would turn green!

This bar also sported a bore who wanted to talk about his amazing camp near Hyner and how he can't get there until the ice melts in April. Ho Hum. The weirdos all kept joking about my biking and biking drink even though I told them I was done biking and meeting friends soon. I quickly finished my visit with a shot of Bailey's Irish Cream and scurried back to Tim at the Elk Creek Cafe.

The place was just as slow at 4:30 and DaBralady had not yet arrived. Tim saw me come in and said, "If you really want to complete your tour now is the time. Half of my staff just went over for a quick break at Brownie's." He told me to leave my bag, that he would watch it even when I checked to see what money I had left on me he assured me his staff would cover me. Amazingly gracious in an odd imposing way on his staff.

I walked catty corner to Brownies and opened the door expecting all of Milheim's cretins to greet me. It was just the staff from Elk Creek and they all cheered when they saw me. I has a very small drink just to say I had been there and hurried back to Elk Creek so I wouldn't miss my friends' arrival.

They came up the valley as soon as they could and joined in for a St. Patty's drink and a little vegan chili (really the only vegan offering). A band started up about 5:30 and I have no idea if they were good or not. I was a little giddy, not too bad though. Part of my elation was that I actually accomplished my goal of biking to Milheim. The other was that my muscles were not sore. I am wondering what tomorrow holds. Today Emerald, tomorrow, black n blue?

Toona-Holidays

I Attended the Met Opera...

and was home in 15 minutes.


As a birthday gift, RGBisMe got us tickets to view yesterday's simulcast of the Metropolitan Opera's production of Madame Butterfly. I have reflected long and hard on what it means to attend a simulcast production and my reasons for this blog are twofold. My main thought are on how it effects those who attend the local simulcast production (the audience) and how does it effect those who are performing what is being broadcast (the opera).

I had mixed feelings even before attending. I don't really know if a simulcast is something that is good for the life of opera in general yet I had never attended one before at the Met or otherwise. The high definition simulcast of Madame Butterfly at our local State Theater was allowing me to experience, on a lesser level, my very first opera. I wondered if the audience would approach the production like they were going to the movies or if they were attending the opera.

There were a real mix of attendees at the State Theater yesterday. I sat beside a family with 2 younger boys who had never attended an opera before. Their father encouraged the one boy to read through the program prior to the beginning of the performance to get an idea of what the story was because Puccini's opera is in Italian. Some folks were dressed as though they were at the Met and others as though they were grabbing a burger at the Corner Room.

I was a bit nervous that the crowd did not quiet as the pre-production introduction began on the screen. A countdown of the final 5 minutes to curtain was interrupted by an onscreen backstage commentary. This came during the raising of those grand chandeliers which indicated the raising of the curtain or any prologue. The verbal chatter finally died off at the raising of the curtain and the audience was good as gold for the whole production.

I enjoyed the high definition filming of this production of Madame Butterfly as well as this particular staging of if. It incorporated the traditional Japanese puppetry style of Bunraku in some scenes, this included the shocking, amazing, and impeccable replacement of casting Cho-Cho-San's son.

During the production, there were a handful of times that the digital reception faltered. The sound of the orchestra and pristine voices cut out for 5 brief intervals. This seems minuscule except for one of them was just before the climax of the famous and heart wrenching aria Un bel dì. The audible negative reaction many members of the audience had (including my own) confirmed to me it was the equivalent of some one's cell phone going off. It shattered a fragile moment and ruined the feeling many of us get at the movies/ballet/theatrical productions; the transcendence of time and place was lost and we were back in State College.

The final curtain was a specific moment I had been curious about. Would the audience applaud? They did, in an awkward and lukewarm manner at first. The applause grew as they realized that although the performers were not hearing our appreciation that this was part of the complete experience of attending the opera. Even a few cheers were emitted for the opera stars as they took their bows on the screen.

As I stepped out onto the sidewalk on College Avenue, I found myself disoriented. I had forgotten where I was for a while. The production had convinced me that I was, if not in Nagasaki, in the Met Opera House. I then concluded that the impact was enough that if any other patrons were moved that perhaps they would hope to attend a live production and even eventually want to set foot in the Met. I don't like the idea that simulcast productions might be taking away from the ticket revenues that The Met Opera would have gotten that day but if it builds an audience for the future it might be worth it.

This is a bleak economic time for this country. Many people regularly see the arts as superfluous even when jobs and money are more easily had and ticket price is of little consequence. Even financially solid companies like New York City Ballet are cutting tours, dancers and staff to save money. This week, Ravenboy's union met and voted to take a cut in their pensions and vacation pay in lue of cutting dancers at American Ballet Theatre.

Hopefully simulcast productions will make aware and awaken some of the people who are used to staying in their own towns and living rooms. Life without the arts is hellish.