Day Two, On the Road with the Youghiogheny

 Ward and I recently spent a few days exploring the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania. This is part one of the second day of the trip.

We got up early this day and decided to change the plans we had for the morning of going to Fort Necessity. Hoping to beat the predicted thunderstorms of the afternoon, we headed to Ohiopyle State Park for a hike. And we were successful with no rain during our visit there. Highlights of our morning are below.

When we arrived, we went to the visitor's center to figure out what part of the 79 miles of trails in the park we wanted to hike that morning. Along the walk to the center, there were signs about the different kinds of craft that navigate the Youghiogheny River in the park. I had never seen 3-D signs quite like this before.

We decided on the Ferncliff trail and took off. The first part was a nice path through a hardwood forest.

But soon, we were scrambling on rocks along the river.

The rhododendron were in bloom along the river bank.

The river has many rapids and falls, making for exciting raft trips. Wally and Theo were on some of those exciting trips as Boy Scouts.

After a while, the river banks became sandstone cliffs, and the trail returned to the woods.

We saw interesting black fungus,

and yellow fungus along the way.

At the end of the trail, we finally saw the trail's namesake - ferns.

After our hike, we did make a short stop at Fort Necessity, but I will include that in another post about when we did a return visit there.

Tune in next time for a visit to an incredible art project we saw.

Day One, On the Road with Mr. Gallatin

 Ward and I spent the last three days in the Laurel Highlands of western Pennsylvania. It was another one of those "We need a change of scenery trips." 

We started Friday morning armed with ample snacks and a GPS. We had a few things we thought we might want to visit but planned to do whatever caught our eye along the way. However, we were discouraged by the smoke that covered the area from the Canadian wildfires. I already had developed a cough from it and didn't want to venture out too much into the smoke, which was thick enough at times to cause visibility problems. 

But the smoke was moving east, and we were going west, so by the end of the day, with help from a rain shower,  it had cleared enough that I felt okay about getting out of the car. We checked into our hotel and then went exploring. 

We stopped at Friendship Hill National Historic Site. This is where Albert Gallatin built his country estate overlooking the Monongahela River. And who is Albert Gallatin, you may wonder. Or at least I did. Among other things, he was Secretary of the Treasury under Presidents Jefferson and Madison and formed the purchase of the Louisana Territory, funded the Lewis and Clark expedition, and reduced the national debt. He also helped negotiate an end to the War of 1812 and served as minister to France. In his retirement years, he studied the languages of Native Americans.

Mr. Gallatin was a surveyor's apprentice in his younger years.

However, he was not as successful with Friendship Hill. He didn't make a go of it as a farm, and his wife didn't like being isolated in the country because she was from New York and wanted city life. He eventually sold the estate, much to his disappointment. 

The house was added onto several times. The building of the stone part of the house was overseen by Gallatin's son while Gallatin was serving in France. However, the son could have done a better job. The house is facing 90 degrees from where it should have been and was not connected to the rest of the house until Gallitan installed a walkway between the two.

We had the grounds to ourselves and took a pleasant walk to the grave of Gallatin's first wife, Sophia. She was the love of his life and died after only five months of marriage. 

We were curious about these holes we saw on most of the oak trees on the grounds. Our resident park manager, Uncle Billy, said it looked like they were treating the trees against a disease.

Tune in next time for Day Two On the Road Again.

A Second Look, June 24, 2023

 We finally had some rain, real rain. Meaning we had rain, drizzle, and more rain on and off for two days. Already you can see things greening up. It was wonderful.

Here are a few things I saw during my Second Look this week.

They're hard to see, but honey bees were all over the hydrangea blooms.

Meanwhile, less than 10 feet away, the spirea were covered with bumble bees
 but no honey bees.

And in the vegetable garden, it was bumble bees. I don't know if all of the orange color in the pollen sac came from the tomato blossoms or not. 

However, in the beans, I found an insect that I didn't want to see, a Japanese beetle.
Time to get the traps out. 

As it turns out, the volunteer plants that I thought might be Mexican sunflowers are four o'clocks, named because they open in the late afternoon and are closed during the day. With the rain came the wind, and you can see its effects in the picture I tried to take of them.

We finally got some mulch in around the vinca.

The butterfly bush is starting to bloom, but cabbage butterflies are the only
ones we've seen so far.

The baby house wrens should be fledging soon.

Until next time...

Happy Father's Day

Today is Father's Day. We're going to celebrate with my father-in-law and Ward's siblings. Yesterday, Ward, Wally, and Theo celebrated while I was at work. They spent the day cooking using the sous vide and the grill. Fun toys for them. I was at work all day but contributed a cherry pie that I made the night before. The carnivores enjoyed their time together.

For today's celebration with Ward's family, we are taking most of the food. We're taking hamburgers and hot dogs, pasta salad, fruit salad, spicy baked beans, and another cherry pie. I think it will be a good day. 

But, of course, among the present-day celebrations, I am thinking about my own father. He passed away 10 years ago but is always present with me. He was a fine man and a good father. That fact is somewhat remarkable, considering that he didn't grow up with the best example. His father had problems with alcohol and was mean when he drank. Being the oldest boy, my father was often in the firing line of his father's problems. But I think that made him all the more determined to do the right thing. 

As I remember my father today, I am sharing again one of my stories about my father.

When I was little, my father was larger than life. He did the obvious of working hard and providing for our needs, but it was the other things I noticed. Youth is like that. Nothing could equal the thrill I got from riding on his shoulders or the feeling of flying when he pushed me in the tree swing. I loved carrying his lunch pail and was proud when I could stretch my legs to match his stride. When I got too big to ride on his shoulders, he made things fun in other ways. He fixed the lights at the local swimming pool so we could swim all summer for free. And he made sure we always had ice cream.

Then there was the summer I turned thirteen when I was at camp on a week-long canoe trip. One night we ended up camping unscheduled in a farmer's field because of a sudden thunderstorm. We got permission from his sons to camp in their field but not from their father because he wasn't home. As we were pitching our tents, the dad showed up and was quite upset about our trespassing. After a bit of explanation and negotiation, he said we could stay the night. However, it was obvious that he wasn't happy about it.

After things had calmed down a bit, I mentioned that my family used to live in the area. He asked a couple of questions and soon realized who my father was. His face lit up because my father used to be his fishing buddy. He said that Red (my father's nickname) was a fine man. The farmer said no more, but soon his sons showed up. They carried our water, gathered our firewood, and did anything else they could think of to help. So even though he wasn't there, my father was still making things right. He turned what could have been a tense, difficult night into a good one.

On this Father's Day, I want to thank my father for watching out for me in many different ways and for making sure that we always had ice cream.

A Second Look, June 15, 2023

 It continues to be dry here. We did have drizzle a couple of days, but not enough to wet the sidewalk under the trees. Thank goodness the rain barrel filled up earlier in the spring, as much watering needs to be done. Otherwise, the weather has been pleasant - perfect for sitting on the porch and listening to the birds. 

Here are a few things I saw this week during my Second Look.

The sour cherries are ripe now, and we have been picking and freezing them.
Unfortunately, we can only reach a small portion of them
 because the tree is too tall to pick most of them, even with a ladder. 

We have apples on the tree we planted a few years ago, and I think some of them will make it to picking time. Last year we had one apple that promptly fell off before it got this big.

The peas are starting to bloom. I was beginning to think that we were only going to have vines.

While weeding, I found two oak seedlings planted by the squirrels. Two different size acorns and two different kinds of trees. Finding original seeds underground is another thing that gives me a thrill every time. I'm easily entertained, in case you haven't guessed. :)

The first squash is forming. 

And the radishes are blooming. I guess it's time to do some more harvesting. 

And as with most years, the pear trees are full of fruit. However, there is not always a good harvestable crop because of various diseases and insect problems. We will see what things look like in August when they get ripe.

A new color of day lily is blooming.

It is in this bed with the coral bells and salvia. I enjoy the combination of colors.

I have strategically placed this geranium close to the porch for ease of deadheading. I like geraniums but don't always keep up the maintenance required to keep them blooming. 

We did venture away from the yard last week.
We had lunch with Wally and then took a hike in a local park.
Wally always tries to have a new place for us to explore
 each time we visit.