Summer's End

A patchwork quilt of summers memories. Each one a different texture than the last.






This summer, some mere acquaintances solidified into fast friendships. Other relationships welcomed clarification and distance.








Old haunts we revisited with new faces. New places experienced with close family.













Laughs and tears were mixed with surprises and relaxation.



New fire. Old rain.



Gothic New York City and Renaissance PA.







May the wheel of the year turn and bless you all with jokes, learning experiences, love and life.

Grange Fair 2008

The coming of the Grange Fair means the end of summer and get read for the start of another school year. PSU students have started making their way back onto campus and the first football game will be crowding the streets in less than a week.

We took some time to enjoy the fair with jbzfarm yesterday and hope to make another trip later this week if Mososo Kruppe have the time to check it out. The steers, cows, chickens, ducks, pigs, rabbits, goats and sheep were all so well groomed.

It was a hot day but we stayed cool in the exhibit buildings and had fun winning little trinkets playing Skee-Ball. It wasn't the same as playing at an arcade or amusement park but the carnies open up different avenues of entertainment with trying to draw attention to their specific games.

Before a lot of the games opened for the day, we made our own fun with a few rounds of hacky sack. Eveyone pulled off a few good tricks and we entertained some of the campers in Punkintown for a short while.

Sunday at the Grange Fair starts a little later than some of the other days but there was plenty of fun to be had.

Sunny Days

Sunny days last week brought only rainbows anytime anything threatened a rainy moment. Asrai and Ravenboy blessed our home with colorful stories and energies. The week was so filled with family and friends that I had no time to take many photos.

Thank you to all who came to our potluck picnic last Friday. A blending of friends from all areas of our lives made a great evening in Spring Creek Park.

Anyone that still looking for that Wad o' Gum can rest assured I went back to pick it up the next morning. Sadly, Ray Gricar has gone into hiding again. Baked potato anyone?There are some people in our lives with whom we make instant and close connections. With others it is a slow building of a appreciation over the years. Our picnic on Friday had my heart full of so many people who mean so much to my life. There were others who, because of travel distance or other commitments, could not make it. I hope they know that they were in my heart as I looked around and reveled in the moment. It was thrilling to introduce to many special people to each other, some introductions we had been looking forward to for years.

Icing on the cake was news that Nick of Mososo Kruppe had secured one of the jobs he had applied for. The whole evening felt like the dream of a huge celebration of life. A few of us sat around after unpacking the car that evening sharing stories, philosophies and colorful jello treats as others ran through the yard with sparklers. It was surreal but I was elated as my sides hurt from laughing and I bit into one last potato of the evening.

The sad part was that it ended too quickly. Witty Tracdc and Satan had to head home. Dear Asrai stayed on to fly kites with us but had to go to work out of state this week. The days where we can all connect make me look forward to when we can reconnect in smaller groups.

Clearfield County Fair

iLove iChat

Ravenboy has safely made it to Seoul and we spent some time this morning (for me) chatting on iChat. It was so nice to see my son's face and hear his voice. I wish RGBisMe had been here to enjoy the time we spent catching up a little.

He was going to get some food then do some laundry in his room. He was a little concerned because he can not communicate well in Korean and it is improper to point when communicating. I will be interested to learn how he does with finding food to eat.

He seemed really well but let me know that everyone int he company was very ready to come home. They have 5 performances in Korea, he dances the role of the lead Gypsy Saturday night and is looking forward to it.

The Week in Review

I have been painting part of Ravenboy's room prior to his return. Years ago this baseboard heater needed to be replaced and the model that was put in was much short on the wall than the one taken out. This left a swatch of unpainted wall that was terribly unsightly. I finally got around to priming it and choosing some paint that is complimentary to his rug an a lot of his decor. Two walls are done and I will finish the rest of the room after September.

We have had a lot of really cool toads in our yard this year. One the size of my (small) fist was on our back porch. It gave our cats the evil eyes when we took them out for a walk. Some smaller ones get caught down in the window wells. We make tours around the building, liberating any that get trapped.

We took our buddies, Mososo Kruppe, to do a little tour out to Lewisburg and back of our favorite grocery outlet and a few letterboxes along the way. We failed to get a few, one was in a store that closed and one was missing. We still had a couple of nice walks through a woodsy park and riverside path.

Tokyo

Ravenboy sent us a few photos from Tokyo.

Baby on a stick.

Zurbin on the metro.

Dancers on their break.

South Mountain... NOT

This past weekend we spent with Tracdc in Bethlehem. The intent was for 7 of us to hike South Mountain and find about 15 letterboxes. As the week approached different things caused each of the participants to drop out one by one. We were left with having a great time in Tracdc's house even thought her central air had died on one of the hottest days of the year.

We helped her put together center pieces for her wedding reception. Satan was out of town so we took advantage of doing things that Tracdc loved doing. We listened to hair band music, ordered in Papa John's and wore forbidden t-shirts (not on photos).

RGBisMe and I had fun mixing the clear water that was to sit and become solid over night. We called RGBisMe "tule-man" as he pitched in snipping flower stems for Tracd's autumn flower bouquet.

When the heat became unbearable, we left the house and had supper at the inn where Satan and Tracdc plan on being married. It was a quaint place with a gazebo and lovely trout street running through it. We are all excited for the wedding in September.

It ended up being a day of mojitos. Tracdc served us lovely lime and mint drinks served over ice to see us through our floral task. The inn we went to ALSO had mojitos as a special. Those beverages we night and day. While Tracy's were tasty and refreshing, the ones at the inn tasted like cold mint RUM. Way too much alcohol for any of us.

The evening was a living hell in her house because of the heat but the whole visit was so much fun. Yesterday the central air was reapaired and Satan came back from his brother's 50th birthday party in CA.

We found one letterbox this past weekend and planted one as well (clues have yet to be written). It was not the weekend we planned but it a a great way to spend probably the hottest weeekend of the year, just chillin'. All is well.

Asrai

photo by Dave Black

I am looking forward to August when Asrai (formerly dubbed UDAS) comes to visit. August is usually pretty warm here in Happy Valley but I have a feeling the heat is going to get kicked up a notch with such talent visiting the area. I cant wait!

Guess Who?

I know my blog posts have all been short and sweet. I am busy clearing out closets and cleaning the house. I have a couple of photos to share. One is of 靛蓝, our new betta. Birbanto is greeting him. It's up to you to guess who is in the other photo and why he might be dressed that way.

Neapolitan

It looks like Ravenboy might be dancing Neapolitan in Swan Lake while they are on tour. Will it be in Japan, Korea or Orange County? I can't make any location and will be wishing him a happy 23rd birthday via email. I love you and will miss you Skitty!

Busted!!!

Yesterday I was checking on most of the Crayola Posse's PSU campus letterboxes. Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts is rolling through town and I had reports that some of the log books were full. This was my last chance to slip some new log books in before things got so muggle crazy that I couldn't even touch a box.

One of our most difficult boxes to grab mid-day is Huntin' for Old Main. I know right where it should be but if it hasn't been replaced just so I end up scrabbling around under a bush for a couple of seconds. This is tricky because Old Main gets a lot of foot traffic.

When I have to grab this box in the day, I find I am assessing which of the muggles has the potential of threatening the longevity of the box. Grounds crew and physical plant employees get more attention from me than the random passers by but a single person passing by will feel like more of a threat than an organized tour group that has to stick together. Yesterday I had all of the above mentioned muggle-types as I was swapping out the old log book and popping in the new one. I pretty much gauged every move I made off of when the guy cleaning the steps of Old Main was not looking. I felt pretty good about having replaced it with a minimal number of people seeing me doing anything odd.

Today I got a friendly email from a local letterboxer. She and her family had enjoyed many of our local boxes over the holiday weekend. They missed Farewell, Etaoin Shrdlu and Martin Luther King Jr. at PSU (one had gone missing one was removed during construction. We marked them as unavailable in a couple of places and I felt badly that information was missed and they had a wasted trip. They did have success at many of our other boxes so it was great to know they had some success.

What she also mentioned was that I had NOT gone undetected in front of Old Main! Her daughter saw me swapping out the log books but didn't have time to stop and chat. I am so glad that it was another letterboxer who saw me - whew! Small world and what a good laugh thinking I was all discrete.