Seen on the Scene

Yesterday my husband and I visited Reading, PA, to check out the happenings at the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts. But before we did that, we had to eat lunch. We had brought sandwiches with us and decided to stop on the campus of Albright College to have our meal.

Albright is a small college in town; we have driven by it before but never gone on campus. The weather was beautiful, and after we finished eating, we walked around a bit. There were others out and about, too; not only students but it looked like there was an admissions event going on including parents and families.

What a nice place this school is. It looked like a friendly and manageably-sized place to go to school. I took a couple of pictures that struck me. The flip-flops were left on their own near the student center. I was wondering how that happened, and I felt sorry for them.

We couldn’t leave without seeing the library.

When we went inside, we were disappointed. Built in 1962, I think, the place looked tired and out of date. Dreary, even. But before I go any further, it’s all ok. When I went to the college’s website to include its link in this post, I saw, prominently featured, their plans to renovate/rebuild the structure. Fantastic. I’ll tuck this into my memory, as someday it might be a great site for a Poetry Marathon session?!

I did see something I really liked at the current incarnation of the library, though – the circulation desk is obviously a gathering spot and decorated to prove it. I loved it.

I Remember These Names

Yesterday I went to Lorimer Park with my husband. Usually I would be running or walking, but on this day I was taking a day of rest – I injured a joint in my left big toe, and it was swollen, red, and painful. So I decided to take my sketchbook along. It’s a goal of mine to do more drawing and I thought I could do that while my husband ran the trails.

I decided to take up a seat near the ranger cabin, located in the picnic area.

I walked around the back of the building, something I don’t usually do – I spend most of my time on the rail trail or at a picnic table when I’m here. I sat down on a bench a little distance away, near the creek. I had a view of the little stone building that I’ve never experienced before.

My bench – the Pennypack Creek is right behind it.

The view of the ranger cabin from the bench.

If you look, you can see a series of wooden plaques on the side of the building. I’d never noticed them before. Curious, I walked back up to the cabin to examine them.

They mark the high-water levels of the creek in several past hurricanes. We are about 70 miles from the Atlantic Ocean at Lorimer Park, more or less, so if a hurricane comes near or on shore in New Jersey, we feel it. Still, I could hardly believe the creek had risen to levels that were in some cases above my head, at this location. Look at that picture of the red bench again – I took it from the ranger cabin, and the creek is back some feet and below.

Something to think about, isn’t it?

Turtle Season?

Last week I was walking along the Pennypack Trail in a section where the former rail bed bisects and is raised above the flood plain of the Pennypack Creek. It’s pretty high up above the swampy lower lands and the inclined sides are steep. As I was going along I saw an odd shape moving across the trail at a good clip, some distance in front of me.

It didn’t move like a raccoon or opossum or fox, and anyway, it was mid-morning, not a time you’d usually see one of these animals. As I came up to the spot, I saw it was a nice big snapping turtle. Judging from its direction of travel and the mud all over its body, it had climbed up the incline from the wet areas below the trail and was crossing to go down the other side.

I stopped and took a good look. The turtle eyed me and retracted its head, but did not gather itself inside its shell. Clearly it wanted me to go away and let it get on with its life. So I did, walking away.

I took one backwards glance and saw the turtle had extended its neck back out, quite a length it had, and was moving its head side to side, obviously surveying the scene in order to manage its next move.

I went off down the trail full of smiles that morning, I’ll tell you that.

I was interested to read in a friend’s blog, A Pict in PA, about a turtle sighting she recently made, hundreds of miles from this one. But it makes me think – turtles are out and about right now, it seems.

If You Were Very, Very Small…

I took this picture of a birch leaf a few days ago. We have a lovely tree in our front yard, with frilly papery tan and gray bark. It’s very graceful in shape and behavior – I love the way the three trunks sway in the wind.

Many of the leaves have little holes eaten into them. That’s the kind of thing that happens as the summer wears on. Anyway, this little opening made me think of all kinds of things.

What if I were very small and could fly through it?

It’s a little window in a magic green tower.

Is something really on the other side of this leaf, and how do I know?

“And I Really Mean It…”

…said the aliens (?).

Seen on a sidewalk in Glenside, PA, on July 15. Write down that place and date so you’ll have a reference for when you read about the new people in town here!

dizzy spells

Get lost,

I should think

that at a pinch

I made sure