Dock Manor was a morning destination today just to be sure I'm still viably on the future resident list. Pat and I went together and had lunch there and walked around a bit after finding out the long period of no vacancies has ended. Dock has a couple of them about to open. No promises but since I'm among the 4-5 at the top of the list; the wait has a promise of conclusion. Pat and I think I'll hear from them during January's biggest snowstorm. Maybe we could start a betting pool on what day and whoever is closest gets the jackpot. One buck to buy in. Winner takes all.
Marge, ever thinking of possible travel destinations, drove Pat and I up to the Poconos to see Bushkill Falls. The intent when this plan was hatched was to see fall colors, too, but that was not to be this year since all the wet weather for many, many weeks has turned the forests to mostly drab hues with only occasional color splashes.
This video is of one of the series of falls dropping to the valley below. Pat and Marge trekked all the way down one side and back up the other to see them all. A few of the photos...
Still at the top lookout. I didn't go much further.
I checked out one more lookout before heading back to the trailhead...
They shared this from the bottom of the falls.
I waited at the top where there was comfort and hot-chocolate. This was out the window where Marge and Pat appeared 2 1/2 hours later.
Triple selfie. JM, Pat, and Marge.
Yes, there was color!
The next day we went to Water Gap...
The tourist buildings were nearly all closed in the off-season; or rather, between season since skiing is big in the winter.
Then, we walked around for a bit. When we stopped to read this sign, I looked up and there was The Appalachian Trail! We were standing right on it.
So, we went up to the nearby Water Gap trailhead and walked around for awhile.
There were local walkers and through-hikers. All were friendly.
Over in the Southwest, friend Paula has been busy with her rendering of tomatillos...
Check out Paula's other interesting, imaginative drawing, illustrations, photography, and much, much more she shares on her website Paula. Don't miss her travel photography posted there.
And, for those of you who have an account and would like to soothe your over-exposed receptors from all that tough Twitter fodder, here is a link to Sonoran Sketchers which Paula started awhile back. She, also, posted a few of my Tucson pieces back when it began, too.
In Georgia, Keoni and two of his friends played a wedding gig in this gorgeous church...
And now the Farm Report:
Wendy weed-whacking.
I made it around the walk at the farm again. Yay! It's been a mud bath for a very long time. Better now. Alas, the uneven ground and footing is still a knee challenge. Grrr. It sure felt good at the time...
Goats in the far pasture.
Many trees' leaves are not turning. Just falling off.
From the Not Awful News Desk: Over the next three years Philadelphia (TreePhilly--think "tree" as a verb) is planting trees to increase urban landscape numbers by 30%. Thousands of trees. Already, one program has given away nearly 21,500 trees to people to plant in their yards. There are thousands more trees to come that target heat islands, parks and streets.
Here's a moss-dressed beauty next to a path where Pat and I walked a couple of days ago. I think it's a shag-bark hickory.
I love trees.
*
From the Travel Desk: A trip is planned to soon to meet sister Sandy in a small Maryland town where she will examine the feasibility of purchasing a home. There is one for sale that she likes. I'll update as this develops or fizzles, whichever the case, with a fond hope for the former. If nothing else, it's grand to get to spend a couple of days together. Can scarcely believe it is nearly a year ago she spent a month in the old farmhouse she rented over near Rieglesville.
Other travel news: A planned overnight getaway in a couple more days with Marge and Pat at Bushkill Falls in the Poconos, not too distant from here.
And, Jeanenne and Larry are concluding their West Coast odyssey.
Jeanenne & Larry.
We all love trees!
Traveling from Quakertown to the farm or to church, I sometimes meet other vehicles from the opposite direction approaching one of the one-way bridges at the same time. Then we stop. Which vehicle proceeds? One of us flashes their car lights first, telling the other we'll wait so they can cross first. The crosser usually waves as they go by.
*
Last week was all about refinishing the upsizing table and chairs for my future home. This week is about recuperating from the effort and a few other things; one of which is the predations of sleep deprivations. Hmmm. Solutions may be just around the corner, and maybe not. Let us not dwell on knotty gnarls and snarls of age. There is way too much more that is fun.
The library has yielded some walks on their asphalt paths...
October and still some Queen Anne's Lace.
Signs at the park.
..and Pat just discovered another path that is easy access, too.
*
my great-grandsons go to school
in their beautiful
dark-hued skins--
as their ages increase--
I hold them in prayers
of protection
from harms
still confounding
perspectives of fear--
of not-love.
*
May I always remember, I can flash my lights at the one-way bridge.
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
In between the rain deluges, there was decent weather on the back porch for a few days, so full throttle TSP-ing, liquid sanding, dry sanding, tack cloth-ing, first coats, more sanding, second coats........ You get the picture.
You likely saw the original table and chairs from an earlier posting...
There are two 1 ft. wide end pieces that pull out and up from the ends and snap into position.
...here are some of the subsequent efforts...
This is in friend Bob's workshop; the table top sanded to wood, the first of three polyurethane coats put on the three pieces. The two end pieces have the same treatments. Aidan whisked them into my pony Subaru; then, straight up to the third floor here at Marge's where they sit waiting to be re-united with the base and legs. That will happen at Dock whenever I get there.
Under the table top.
Meanwhile, at Marge's I TSP-ed, liquid sanded, dry sanded, tack-clothed.
Same routine but finish wasn't yielding, so painting became the choice. Likely, the chairs are part of a long-gone table set. The four pieces lying cross-wise are part of the extensions mechanisms under the table.
First coats.
Provenance, perhaps. April 1924? E?
Finished. Pat and Marge helped get the pieces up the stairs but, alas, the table frame and legs wouldn't fit up the second flight of stairs. The only spot out of the way was at the fireplace. (It's out of use.) I'm sure Marge will be happy when Dock calls me to move into an apartment.
One chair stayed in my bedroom and is where I am writing to you right now.
The other three of the chairs on the third floor next to packed stuff.
Well, it was a good antidote to waiting, though fraught with pressure to get it done while the sun shone (mostly).
It all made me smile as I thought about people coming by and having a seat at the table to enjoy some food, friendship, and conversation.
*
From National News: Marge was off to other states visiting relatives. I love this photo she sent...
Emma and Auntie Marge.
In Utah, Sonja posted this on FB. My sister Sandy screen-shot it and sent it to me...
Golly, I'm missing out on the fun, you guys.
...all the way from the West Coast where sister Jeanenne and her husband Larry are vacationing; again, via Sandy's trusty iPhone...
And Sandy is back at the drawing board!
From the Local News Desk: The farm market on Allentown road has Stoltzfus ham slices. It's hard to imagine a better-tasting one. I really need to think about something else now because I'm salivating.
From the Performing Arts Desk: You'll remember Seth Trumbore of the BLT group. He plays organ and piano at our church. This is a final minute of a Postlude...
