Autumn Time

Two Great Horned Owls woke me early this morning. They reminded me to share this pagan chant:


Autumn time, red leaves fall
While the weeping sky looks over all
Demeter sadly walks the land
The dying grasses in her hand

All at Once

The leaves have changed all at once this year and the strong winds that visited the area have blown many of them off the trees before we have had a chance to enjoy them. Luckily we had a reason to drive through the Poconos the last couple of days to enjoy some of them. Photos never catch the exact glory of the colors but I always have to try.

After 6 grueling hours (3 stuck in traffic in NJ) we made it into NYC on Friday. It was just dark when we walked into the plaza at Lincoln Center and enjoyed the new fountain that was finally up and running. It was odd not going into the Met Opera House for the performance. We were to enjoy seeing the theater at Avery Fisher Hall for the first time.

Prior to the show, just hanging at the fountain with Asrai was on the the best times that evening. She knew how long we had been stuck in the car and was kind enough to walk to Whole Foods to get us some food. We sat on the marble edge of the fountain, slurped some of the best carrot ginger soup and caught up with what had been going on with her that week. It was so much more gratifying to hug her, talk to her and see her than our daily typing to each other online.

After the obligatory bag inspection, we took our seats in the back of the orchestra section to watch American Ballet Theatre's fall performances. First was a new work, Ratmansky's Seven Sonatas. I was immediately aware that the seats in this auditorium were terribly uncomfortable, set up one directly on back of the other and the man in front of me had a huge head. Asrai offered to switch with me a few times but there was no way I was going to let her be tortured with the head that covered the whole stage. I twisted to see the dancers and decided the piece just wasn't worth my time; I would save my energy for the last work in which Ravenboy had a solo.

It's hard to sit through three ballets without seeing much but a giant head. It's even more difficult when you have spent most of the day sitting in the car. I decided I was pretty much uninterested in ballet forever. The second and third pieces did grab more of my interest. Other Dances and Some Assembly Required had some entertaining movements that were far enough stage right that I could see them.

I could tell I needed a plan to see the final piece of the evening, Ben Millipied's Everything Doesn't Happen at Once. There were only a couple rows behind me and no one had been sitting in them. My plan was to sit on my feet and try to look over the giant head. After the intermission I got into place but almost instantly my feet started to lose circulation. It was a faulty plan because I still couldn't see over the giant head.

A couple of people had decided to sit behind me and I felt badly for them because I was not going to miss seeing my son in this performance. I bobbed and weaved and jumped around in my seat following his every move. I was no longer sitting still and was getting a workout to watch my son dart in and out of two dozen other dancers for most of the first movement.

I love seeing Ravenboy blend perfectly with the corp of dancers and thrill at actually losing him in the mix on stage. For so many years, as a talented boy dancer he was almost always featured or at least stood out as the only boy on stage. It was easy to find him and follow his every move. Now he is with the best of the best dancers in the world, men and women, and I have a hard time picking him out — it's glorious!

The piece progressed and the big head must have settled into a place where I could let some blood flow back into my feet for a brief moment. Ravenboy was not onstage for a one movement that was a duet so I prepared for the next. Ballets, even new modern works, have a formula and I could sense that after the slow duet would be the dynamic solo. Ravenboy would be next and I jockeyed for position in my seat.

The role was not made for Ravenboy but he made it his own. A curious highlight was when a large portion of the corp came onstage with some under current of the music and positioned themselves to catch him in mid flight out of the air! There he was, suspended feet off of the stage in a perfect split, caught in time like a photograph before they released him to dance freely again. Like the beauty of Autumnal colors, Ravenboy's performance made us thrill and gasp.

The final movement brought the entire cast to fill the small stage. As is typical for a coda, he duet couple recreated a few of their moments and the other movements were briefly remembered. Ravenboy took center stage one last time on a ramrod straight leg turned in pirouette one, two, three, four... All at once the lights were killed but in that brief moment when those tungsten filaments went from hot white to warm yellow to barley amber, Ravenboy turned on and on. No dropping curtain prepared or warned the audience; applause erupted and the house rose to its feet in cheers.

The rest of our evening was spent with Ravenboy and Asrai. Directly after the performance Ravenboy politely dodged autograph hounds, fans and donors. We got to the car and drove back to their place to remain happily holed up for hours of happy catching up.

It was late afternoon on Saturday when we found ourselves driving back through the Poconos. Our visit had been wonderful and brief; Autumn's splendor may be past peak but the memory of it's beauty will stay with me all winter.

Shades of Summer Turn Autumnal

My beautiful Peace Rose blooming one last time with the Goblin flourishing as it has all summer long.

These mums have taken the place of the hydrangea that was gracing our entry steps. The summery pink blooms are now planted and will hopefully come back next year.

To Quantify or Qualify

Another autumn day spent with my dearest friend. The plans we made for the weekend were carried out to a certain extent. We spent the morning letterboxing, hiking, biking and for what is probably the final weekend of the leaf peeping season for us.

One of my favorite parts of letterboxing is the navigation. I have always loved maps and the challenge of discerning exactly where to best start a hike or just how far on that log road we might be able to bike is like brain candy for me. The down side is that I am constantly agonizing over whether or not I have made the right choices and it sometimes gets in the way of enjoying the moment. It is one reason I prefer the planning stages of many activities.


Sometimes I can shave off a mile or two of a hike by choosing a different and lesser used trail head. Typically this means a steeper ascent but we revel in the road less traveled.

We hiked the entirety of the Bob Weber Trail to Wolf Run Bald. The comments in the trail register almost always included exclamations about the length of the trail along side of the written marvels of the view. It is less than 2 miles to Wolf Run Bald Vista but quite a workout. Most folks think the distance was under estimated but, according to the track on our gps, it is not.

This trail is a perfect example of what we love about a hike. It has stunning vistas which can be argued to be better than any we have seen along the length of PA's section of the Appalachian Trail, Mid State Trail, or Quehanna Trail. What makes this little hike tops for us was the lack of foot traffic it receives. I realize not everyone signs into the trail logs but it is really only a handful a month even in the summer and fall. Unlike many sections of the AT where you have to step to the sides to avoid multiple day hikers, back packers and Scouting troops we only ran into one other hiker all day. He was through hiking the Black Forest Trail and seems rather shocked to come across a couple of day hikers even on this perfect Autumn day. The trail heads are so easy to get to but don't draw in the vast numbers of vista gawkers that have scrambled up the hill from Cabella's. Thanks to the Bloomies and jbzfarm for introducing us to this great location.

We ended our explorations before we had done everything that we had planned. I tired out much more quickly than I had expected and I realized that the rest of the afternoon was not going to be enjoyable for me if I continued to push. My understanding partner was ready for a Coke break and we grinned across a table at each other. We agreed that a break was much better than griping at letterboxing clues that weren't coming together for our tired brains just to add on six more miles or finds or peaks or vistas. We opted for the road more frequently traveled and traveled home to look back on another glorious day spent together in the heart of central Pennsylvania.

More Autumn Photos

Every year, the trees near us take on a crispy cheddar corn chip look. It is then that our golden delicious apple tree magically sprouts Doritos!

Giant roadside pumpkins near Renovo!

Sinnemahoning State Park.

Autumnal knob.

Trout Run.

Morning horses along Kettle Creek.

Twomile Run shows the effects of acid mine drainage.

144 to Coudersport.

Feet from a "child friendly" letterbox.

Ferns blanching as cold weather comes on. This one was a study in symmetry!

Autumn's Splendor

It was four years ago that we felt that we had to travel so far to find a geocache that we might as well start focusing what had originally intrigued us, letterboxing. Over a year a half prior to this, we had found some letterbox/geocache hybrids in NYC and planted some hybrids of our own. They were our first letterboxes, hand carved stamps and all. It was within a month of starting to gecoache we had our first signature stamps carved.

October 2004 JC & Brickman from DE planted a series of fall foliage letterboxes in North Central PA. As far as we can tell, most if not all of these letterboxes still exist. It was thanks to the pleasure of that trip that we decided to try more carving and make the trip, no matter how far, to find more letterboxes that had clues on LBNA.

This year, we made a similar trip to enjoy Monarch Lady's Kettle Creek letterbox series. Foliage as we made it near Renovo, Kettle Creek State Park and then north to Coudersport was nearing peak. The history this series shares goes hand in hand with the driving tour of some wonderful locations. Her hand carved stamps are a joy and the way they are presented on the logbook covers show the care she has taken with each letterbox.

We did find a few other letterboxes in Lock Haven and then Sinnemahoning. It was fitting to end our day with another JC & Brickman letterbox called Snows-A - Fallin' box1.

It all brought back the first time we letterboxed in this wonderful area. Autumn's leaves were splendid as they were years ago. The only thing that really changed was that I love RGBisMe more than ever.

A Very Short Autumn

I was just hiking in short sleeves the other day. The colored leaves were at their peek. Today has been a different story. The progression of today's weather is recorded below.

1,000 Steps

One awesome hike and one terrific letterbox were had today in Huntingdon County. The leaves are just starting to change and the weather is just cooling off. This is the perfect time to seek a perfect letterbox.

It was our second attempt at finding this letterbox and our third time on this hike. It doesn't get any easier with age but the reward seems greater each time. We had a a great time. You will too if you dare to hike 1,000 Steps.


I do wear other shirts, honest!!