Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary!

Today Mom & Dad have been married 50 years. We had a meal last night with a bunch of the family together in Harrisburg at Melting Pot.

Hawstone

Poorly cropped because the scanner I have won't scan slides with frames this large, I still had to share this truncated image. My grandmother, father and me standing along Rt. 333 near Hawstone. High above the Juniata River, this would have been 1963.

Starting to Scan some Slides

After a wonderful lunch at my parents house I gathered up a bunch of old slides to start scanning into digital format. Here is a teaser of some found in the 1960-1962 grouping.

Dad, skis and his first(?) Chevy. Circa 1961.

Mom and what looks like my cousin Kathryn circa 1961.

Me sometime before turning one. Late 1962.

A Warm Spot in Winter

Winter Solstice Artistry

These gifts were crafted with love for us by Maga11 & Toolman Luke. The hatchet cover was crafted in a shop near Belleville, the solstice boxes are hand painted with lovely fruit scented candles inside and the sheet metal screw/ screwdriver is for hand crafting snow running studs on our running shoes! Such love and thoughtfulness put into every gift. We are blessed.

3 Bad Boys

One way or another, they are all probably on Santa's "Naughty List" this year. Well, maybe not Miles.

Labor Day with the Crayola Posse

I was moving pretty slowly after my long run on Sunday. Getting together with the folks to find a new mystery letter box was just the right idea for my Labor Day. We could put our thinking caps on, explore some ideas in the field and see what we could turn up as we visited and enjoying a sunny drive south.

We started in Mifflin County to check out how Toolman Luke was doing with the 1967 Corvair he has been polishing up since... well it feels like 1968 but I know it was really more like 1978. It is really coming together! Look for him and Maga11 at the Car Show in Carlisle at the end of the month!

Maga treated us to some beautiful muscadine and scupadine grapes to fortify us until we found a place that was open for lunch. Holiday weekend are more difficult but we wanted to leave our dining options open to what ever Juniata County through our way.

We drove south but no eagles were seen on our trip along the Juniata this time. We loved seeing our ancestor's grave stones in Thompsontown, Center and obscure places not mentioned on maps but know as locals as Texas Hollow and Up the Pinnacle and Muskrat Springs.

We stopped in Mexico for a break at the Mexico Market. Their hand dipped ice cream can't be beat. The "small" is a huge cone of multiple quality dips and the price is an amazing $1.00. Toolman Luke started off with a cone of raspberry and we had some sandwiches before our dessert.

We drove a short way to a Juniata River access near Buttonwood Campground. One of our old mystery letterbox was at this location but we removed it because it was totally water logged, a hole got ripped in the logbook baggy. It is so much fun to see the names who had puzzled out where it was since the logbook had been replaced in 2006. Last finders were exactly a year ago.

We enjoyed seeing white herons fly low on the river and look at the map with a lot of the Juniata access points, State Game Lands areas and camping areas. I saw the section of Lower Trail I had run the day before. I showed the folks where I ran from Alexandria/Water Street access past the Mt Etna access and back. A lovely 1/2 marathon along the dear Juniata.

Time for dessert, we went back to Mexico Market and were greeted by a bunch of chickens in the parking lot. They wandered around looking right at home. I found them to be a little intimidating.

We each chose a different flavor of ice cream. I got Cherry Vanilla, RGBisMe got Vanilla, Maga got Butter Pecan and Toolman got Chocolate this time. It was warm enough that driving anywhere with our melting treats would not be a good idea so we found some nearby picnic tables. It happened to be where the chickens had settled and they got all excited as we walked toward them.

RGBisMe got it into his head that the one chicken was asking for a lick off of his cone and bent down to offer it some. That chicken took such an agressive bite of icecream that his thumb cracked right through the cone with the force he had to use o hang onto it. Crazy man, crazy chickens.
We did have success with the letterbox. Toolman's knowledge of the surrounding area aced us a first find on a cute local letterbox. All of the pleasant conversation, mellow activity and good times allowed me to feel good enough this morning to take on a 4 mile recovery run. Thanks for the great Labor Day, Crayola Posse!

This Land is Your Land

words and music by Woody Guthrie

Chorus:
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me

As I was walking a ribbon of highway
I saw above me an endless skyway
I saw below me a golden valley
This land was made for you and me

Chorus

I've roamed and rambled and I've followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me

Chorus

The sun comes shining as I was strolling
The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The fog was lifting a voice come chanting
This land was made for you and me

Chorus

As I was walkin' - I saw a sign there
And that sign said - no tress passin'
But on the other side .... it didn't say nothin!
Now that side was made for you and me!

Chorus

In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office - I see my people
And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'
If this land's still made for you and me.

Chorus (2x)

©1956 (renewed 1984), 1958 (renewed 1986) and 1970 TRO-Ludlow Music, Inc. (
BMI)

Final Day!

Lets cheer Toolman Luke for enduring the hours of trips to Danville and back. Today is his last regular trip and my LiveStrong band made it all the way through yesterday, it broke while I was on the phone with Maga.

I hope he will do something special, stop at Preistley House and take in some Oxygen. Preistley "invented" it you know. Maybe something else since his biography was less than thrilling. Anyway Congratulations Dad and I hope you grab a good bunk at GeeserFest!

LiveStrong Day 2009!

A day to be together as a family traveling to radiation treatment #3/25. Danville Regional Medical Center has some of the best treatment facilities in the area. We were treated to the valet parking so we didn't have to walk a long distance in the cold nor catch the crazy tram that drives around and around.

This hospital also has some of the best and affordable vegetarian soup. There is one selection every day and today's soup was Cream of Tomato. Don't try to get between me and my Danville soup.

After a great lunch of the best hospital food anywhere we went up to Radiation Oncology to celebrate LiveStrong Day 2009! There was a spread of goodies while we waited and Dad came out with a great organizational folder and new LiveStrong wristband that he gave to me! I will do my best to wear it until all of his treatments are complete in November.

Hospital visits always have an edge to them for me. I am doing my best to get over my personal fears and squeamishness and see the facility for what it tries to be. It's a hospital that is helping people recover from, heal their bodies and conquer diseases that in the past were seen as death sentences.

Safe Journey

You are on my mind today, Dad, as you start another life's journey. I predict this one will be more tedious than difficult, more annoying than treacherous.

I am happy to make the trip with you and hope we can share some soup together for lunch. You know they have the best soup in the WORLD there (better than Lewistown's 'Cream o' Salt' soup).

Take this month one step at a time. Use aloe gel and corn starch if you get a little "sunburn." It will be over and done with before we know it and we will have so many happy life moments to celebrate next month. Let's look forward to that!

Dine by the Blue Juniata

The title was inspired by the title of a song my grandfather once told me about, The Blue Juniata. I have never known the Juniata to look blue in all the years I have known her.

The fam took a break from duties to lunch at the Waterfront Tavern and we got one of the best river view seats in the place. They did not have many choices on the menu for vegetarians but seemed willing to change any menu item to suit. The salads and quesadilla we ordered we prepared well and tasted very good.

We had a quiet lunch and heard some stories about how a local, Sherman Kline, would dredge the river for sand for his cement factory just up river. As a boy, my dad remembers Sherman once coming around to their house and asked to hire him for the day. He was taught to plaster and was sent into a closet to apply what he had learned. He was the only one small enough to get the job done.

Our Gypsy Pilgrimage

Ravenboy was cast as lead Gypsy in the ballet Don Quixote. This is another brief and dynamic dance in the middle of a long classical ballet. It is one of the many roles he has always dreamed of performing so we wanted to be there to cheer him on.

We left in plenty of time to enjoy the sunny day outside of the Metropolitan Opera House. Maga11 had broken her ankle so we stayed pretty close to Lincoln Center the whole time. We were able to check on our 2 NYC letterboxes. We replaced our one in Central Park and looked through the log book of the one near Lincoln Center. Maga11 was really happy to stamp her and Toolman Luke into Peter the Fisherman.

We caught a cab up to Harry's Burritos to sit and waste some time.RGBisMe and I and enjoyed a couple of nice big bowls of chilled Gazpacho while my parents ordered big burrito type things with meat in them - ha! The iced tea there is always fresh and the house margaritas always tasty but they ran out of Dos Equis Amber on tap so Toolman Luke had to settle for a bottle.

I know I have written about Harry's Burritos before. This place is a little bit of a hole in the wall but has an awesome Mexican menu. The interior of the location on Columbus Ave. is filled with kitschy artwork and groovy lights. One of the high point of visiting Harry's is to pay homage to the bizarre lenticular photo of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Deano is riding (what?) right behind Jerry and holds a rising crop in case things get out of hand. You try looking at that picture after a house margarita and keeping a straight face. Maga11 was a real sport and got our photo in front of it. I know you can hardly see it but it is weird!!


We caught another cab back to Lincoln Center (broken ankle remember) and got ourselves all prettied up for the performance. It really was a lovely evening for a ballet. I wrote the following review for a ballet discussion board:

Although I was unable to attend the matinee performance, I was very happy to have seen Wednesday evening's cast. It is never a happy moment when casting changes but I can say I was thrilled with the performances of both Ananiashvili and Pavam last evening.

It was understandable how Ananiashvili's Kitri fools Krauchenka's Don Q into thinking she is his lovely Dulcinea; she won me over completely. Carreño was a wonderful sight to behold, as always. His Basilio was all one could ever hope for up until his final variation which left me a little flat.

Carreño and Ananiashvili were well matched. The joyous playfulness they projected combined with their rock solid technique made them a most enjoyable couple. Their trust in each other as partners blossomed into breath taking moments by the final curtain. The audience responded to them in what I found to be surprisingly more lively than typical mid-week politeness.

Flower Girls Copeland and Pavam were a highlight as was Scott's debut as lead Gypsy. With a nod to Cornejo's costuming, Scott sported the open fronted shirt and was on his leg for solid turns.

The pinnacle of the evening was Lane's Amour. Her sprightly and gay performance had me beaming and feeling blessed to be able to be in the audience. It is rare when we can afford the trip from central PA to see ABT at the Met; that evening's Don Q was like a gift to us.

Award Winning Photo/Graphics

Last evening we accompanied Toolman Luke and Maga11 to a reception for the juried artwork at the Blair County Arts Festival. Toolman Luke had entered three stunning black and white photographs and they were all accepted for the final judging. He got a call on Wednesday to congratulate him on winning second place in the photographic division. It was an exciting time for us to go along and see him receive his award.

We arrived at the reception at the Misciagna Family Center for Performing Arts on Penn State Altoona Campus just as it was getting warmed up. Artists from around central PA meshed and rubbed elbows with middle aged pretentious women who had over inflated senses of self. A thrilling moment was when we saw that Tommy Wareham was there, warming up with his guitar. Anything he performed would be a classy touch to the evening.

A bit of background on Toolman Luke is that he has been a professional photographer for more than half a century. He started with his own camera, apprenticing a local studio photographer, did the typical stringer work for local newspapers and secured himself a job with the FBI in the Hoover era. He made a name for himself in DC with his detailed work in photographic investigation and analysis. With a family to support he then shared his talents enhancing the businesses of Emertron, Standard Steel and eventually as senior photographer in the Photographic Department of PSU. Accolades that have been showered upon him are many. He has a great story about the court case in which he was defined as an expert photographer and where he was called upon to analyze photographs for a defense attorney. Ask him about "eggs and grits" sometime, it will blow you away.

As a retiree, Toolman Luke still loves photography. His specialty is still conventional black and white photography but the courses he sometimes offers to local photographers cover everything from basic composition and conventional dark room procedures to the new digital techniques. He has built at least one large format camera by hand (but not the lens) and still develops his own negatives and prints. Just this year he decided to enter a few of those prints in some central PA art shows.

We wound our way through the Blair County socialites to view how and where Toolman Luke's photographs had been displayed. They were very nicely hung together on one wall and his award noted by his winning print, "Sun on Eli's Field." We hadn't known which print had won the award until that moment and we had all guessed wrongly. The judge, who was competent, had his own subjective criteria as judges will have. This versatile judge was called upon to jury everything at the show. This included two dimensional artwork, the photography and all three dimensional artwork also.

The awards were announced starting with a special recognition of Artistic Distinction that was given to Tommy Wareham. With ease and graciousness, Mr. Warham accepted his honor and gave back to everyone in the room with a tune of kind wishes. The rest of the awards were announced and handed out. All present were received with applause and some with the bonus of familiar hugs and air kisses.

We toured all of the artwork displayed through the three galleries. The most compelling thing I noticed was the broad range of digital enhancement that was considered acceptable on photography. Digital and conventional photography was judged in the same category but some of the work done on the pieces were well beyond what a little dodging and burning or a color filter would have done. The third place winning photographer admitted to Toolman Luke to having used the computer software Photoshop to remove a person that was standing in the foreground of one of her entries (not the award winner).

What drove the above point home was when I walked into the gallery where most of the photography was displayed and overheard a group discussing how they could tell where certain photographs had been altered. "Look here," a twenty-something fellow said with a bit of dismay in his voice, "You can see a tree was removed from this side of the building but they didn't take away the huge shadow it cast."

I hadn't noticed things like that, just the garish texture filters the same print had been run through. When they moved aside and walked on the the next prints displayed I stepped in for a closer look. Sure enough, the shape of a fully leafed maple was cast on the side of the house in the print but no tree existed from the direction of the light source, the sun in this case. How much manipulation could be done on a photograph before it crossed the boundary and should be considered two dimensional artwork? I was wondering this as I heard the same group of critics behind me. They were discussing how an artist could easily take a series of photographs and carefully stitch them together using the same mentioned computer software to make what looks like one long elegant landscape. I turned to see what other photograph that they were demystifying. They were pointing at "Sun on Eli's Field."

I quickly stepped in to correct them. I agreed that many of the photos in the room had some level of digital artistry applied to them but none of the three photos in front of them had been touched. They looked more than skeptical and the younger man questioned exactly how "Sun on Eli's Field" was created. I assured them that the photographer could explain it better than I ever could and thankfully Toolman Luke walked into the gallery at that moment. I stepped aside but watched from across the gallery as the critical group went from rigid grilling to astonishment to rapt interest in everything Toolman Luke had to share with them. In turn, each of them walked back over to me expressed how jaded they had become in viewing a lot of the "photographic" work. They had seen the same pieces in other shows take huge cash prizes and had come to assume that most of the stunning photos that they were viewing that been grossly manipulated.

This fueled the main topic of my conversation over the next couple of hours. As we drove home, I asked my family their opinions on what they felt guidelines for photographic entries should be in a juried exhibit. RGBisMe me shared one solution he had seen in the past. Just below the matted photo the negative is also mounted. This would sadly take away from the breadth of the landscape on its own but would lend authenticity to the work. Toolman Luke was interested but unfazed. He knows what work went into his photographs and can sleep well at night knowing that it was his excellence in photography that was recognized.

One example of mediocre stitching with Photoshop can be seen on my Crawford Vista photograph. An example of simple Photoshop retouching can be seen in this example. Retouched photo is on the left and unaltered photo on the right

Austrian Wrestlers

In my junior year in high school, a touring wrestling team from Austria was to come and have a match with our high school team. As good will, local families were asked if they could provide housing for the young men for the couple of days they were in town. As a student in one of the more advanced German classes, I was asked if my family might be willing.

Alfred and Siegfred were two young men that my parents hosted in our home. The hope was that by asking students in the advanced German classes that they would be able to help translate for their families. What they didn't really think of was that we had no practical knowledge of conversation in the German language, just drills and grammar.

Another stumbling block was that I was too shy to talk to them in English let alone try out my crude German. They were much older than high school students and seemed very worldly.

Dad took photos of the wrestling match and the next day they accompanied us to Penn State where Dad allowed them to help develop the film and prints. I can remember their confusion at we were going across the Seven Mountains. They laughed and told us in their broken English that our mountain were known as hills in Germany.

The taller of the two fellows, Alfred, was injured and did not compete in the match. Because of this he was probably carefully watching his weight while he healed. Thank goodness because I was no help in noticing that when Mom offered him food and he replied, "Bitte," she would give him a little "bit". Poor Alfred!

Missy, Me, Siggie, Dad, Alfred, Tracy. Our group shot before the fellows boarded their bus. The Juniata River is behind us as we waited in the lot at Tony's Restaurant along the 322 narrows.

Christmas 1978

Christmas Eve we would get to open a gift. It was frequently matching pajamas which made for a photogenic Christmas morning and probably contributed to why I had a hard time sleeping that night. I'm sporting my Phillies baseball shirt.

Twinkies in style but not exact color, my pajamas are more slate colored than Tracy's.

Mom finally growing out the grey this year. It looks good!

The seventies brought a lot of groovy patterned pants and hairstyles.

Pepper loved opening his gifts. He is 10 years old.

A fun pinball game scored and themed with baseball.

My Brownie

At a yard sale somewhere along South Wayne Street, the summer of 1975, I found an old Brownie camera for sale. It was complete with flash attachment and I couldn't have spent more than a couple of dollars for it. Dad outfitted me with film and flashbulbs and away I went, documenting my life that summer.

It was the summer after starting Junior High School where I had met my best friend Missy. I smile to see the easy smile she shared as we hung out in my bedroom. Note all of the drawings I had cut out and posted on the wallpapered bulletin board behind my bed. There is also a photo of a picnic in Renovo from earlier that summer which I will scan and post another time.

This was the summer where it was hinted that we might be moving to Devonshire, England later in the year. Whatever job prospect my father had there must not have worked out because I lived my entire school life on South Wayne Street in Lewistown.

We did travel a bit that summer. We visited family in New York state in their cabin. Great Uncle Cliff and Great Aunt Rose opened their summer camp to us. The drive seemed to Renovo, PA had seemed take forever so it's no surprise I pulled out the old Brownie in the car on our way to NY.

I find myself wondering what I did with the hot used flashbulbs after a snapped the shots of Tracy and Mom in the car. I just love Tracy's plaid pants and peasant shirt as she sits smiling at me. She is reading what looks like a road atlas (it looks like a map) but all I can remember are the Esso folding maps from that era.


It looks like we are traveling in our white Impala and it was a rainy day. Mom looks like a kid peeping from the front seat an she indulges me in yet another photo. Were we waiting for Dad to get back from doing some genealogy research? I know this was the trip I had terrible cramps and I got sick in the car right around Scranton.


At camp I catch Mom getting ready to brush her teeth. She could pull off a stylish horizontal striped top, typical pattern for the seventies. Note the striped knee socks I am sporting and the puppy, Daisy, is sleeping on my belly.They look a lot like the wool running sock I wear for a little added compression and warmth in winter.

We had a lot of great times around camp but I forgot until looking at these photos that Dad must have been helping out with building and repairs. Many family summer homes are works in progress and he is lending a hand while he sits high on atop of a door. Again with the striped shirts of the time but Dad wore them decades later. They be came know as "Grand Father Lukens'" shirts when we would shop with Arron for something he might like on Father's Day.

Tracy and I didn't help with any of the construction of the camp. When the weather allowed, we would spend time down by the lake. There was a little dock from which one could view the passing motor boats, slide into the shallows launch the inflatable raft or, unless you were a new vegetarian, fish.

Mom and Tracy both enjoyed fishing from the dock and all of the rods were left down there. I can remember a couple of rainy days passed and I was first down to the dock the first morning it had clear. I was shocked and terrified to see that the baited hooks that had been dangling in the water had accidentally caught fish over the rainy day and night. Their bodies were lifeless but still damp and beautiful as they hung from the lines. I was confused as to whether they had jumped up to get the bait, if there was a tide that receded on the lake or if the water level had gone down.

I don't think I ever liked sitting still and much preferred swimming in the water rowing the raft around the dock. In some of the photos I can see a floating deck a little farther out in the lake and remember wishing I could swim out it it. I think we rowed out to it with Aunt Sandy once.

I love these couple of shots Mom must have taken as I row the raft close to the dock. In the first one, I man the ores and Tracy poses. The next shot shows me rowing right into the sliding board on the dock. I can't imagine doing it on purpose and attribute the fact that Tracy is shooting upward from the impact to my lack of rowing expertise.