ice art

It's been a very mild winter so far. We've had a couple of days that were doozies, but not many. Yesterday was one of those mild days.

Driving home from Hatboro Saturday I was thinking about where to walk. Lydia needed a ride to Northampton for a party so that would greatly influence my decision. (One of my non-paying jobs is as an Uber driver for my families non-drivers.) I decided on the Nor-Bath or the IRT depending on where the party was. The Nor-Bath was almost in her yard.

Because it's been mild the trail was kind-of soupy. Along the edges some was frozen, some not, creating really pretty patterns. Ice Art. Enjoy.

Miles/Steps:         3 
Weather:              31 when I started, 42 an hour later, mostly sunny 
Wildlife:               None. Not even a squirrel.

401k day in hatboro

The AVA had a program called the 401K challenge last year. You walked 401k in a certain time span and received a red t-shirt. I have no idea what happened to mine. I think I gave it to my sister. In August the program wrapped up and clubs were encouraged to hold a walk. For some reason, they wanted to do it again. It's January in Pennsylvania, someone didn't think this thru.

Lydia was off today, so she joined me. It was her first volkssport walk since 2015.

The walk began at the Hatboro Y and headed into neighborhoods and parks. We took the group pic on the new pedestrian bridge to send to the AVA.  Eventually we ended up downtown, and walked thru the business and historic districts.

Since it had been awhile since Lydia walked seriously, we chose the 5K. Only 3 of the 13 did the 5K. Carol used to live in the area so we got all the scoop, especially when we walked thru the business district. She even knew the best intersections to cross the street. I asked, stupidly, why there were hats on the street signs. Hatboro used to be a hat making town. Duh. Hat-Boro.

Then I started seeing hats everywhere. Look how many are on the sign entering town. Nearly every logo has one.

Next week we will do the Get Out Lehigh Valley walk in Tatamy. It's a rail trail so it should be easy going.

Miles/Steps:        5K
Weather:              30, mostly sunny 
Wildlife:               None. Not even a squirrel.
Extra:                   At one point in town, Carol was pointing out a deli with the best sandwiches in town (she was correct). What we saw were Girl Scouts selling cookies. When we arrived back at the car, we called Pat. We went to the girls and bought cookies, and then went to the deli for lunch. Best bread ever.

water review: just water

My first water review of 2019. I know, you were waiting with baited breath.

Right now I'm teaching a packaging class, so I'm really hard-wired to look at packaging. I walked into CVS to pick up my sister's RX, and saw this water. It's called JustWATER. The name caught my attention second. The candy colors caught my attention first. And then the fact it appeared to be in a box.

Back in 2015, I reviewed water that came in a milk box. It was lackluster. Basically, it did the job. Period.

Just Water, like HumanKind Water, has an agenda. The springs are located in New York. The website says "We don’t pump water and go. We only use 100% spring water. We only bottle excess water our community doesn’t need. We pay fairly for the water we use." and the bottle "The bottle is made mostly from paper. The cap is made from sugarcane. Plants regrow and they pull carbon out of the air while they grow. The bottle is 100% recyclable, efficient to ship and you can reuse it on the go." It's got more logos on the bottle than I've ever seen before. And not just a recycle logo but a packaging breakdown. And a place to write your name. The bottle is covered with info. So for a buck 29 you can feel all warm and fuzzy about your water. For an extra fifty cents it can be infused with orange or lemon.

It was good water. I put it in the fridge for a couple days. It tasted clean and fresh if that's possible.

There was a second boxed water that I'll go back and buy another day.

swag

The Tail on the Trail swag for 2018 arrived yesterday. I was pleasantly surprised. 

When the program first started and there weren't many people, the prizes were amazing. Five years later I am still wearing some of them. Then the program grew and grew and now I think it's over 5K. That means the incentives have been cut back. Some were so unremarkable that they just went in the charity box. Like the sneaker lights.

One probably is it has to work for everyone. And that makes it much harder.

When they announced that this year's prize was a rain poncho I thought, oh great I'll wear it once and it will be in the trash. I was thinking the type you get riding the Maid of the Mist. My jaded personality was wrong. It's actually quite nice. It's a fabric backed synthetic material which I believe will repel water. It even has a pouch. I think I'll leave it in my emergency box in the car. It is way to large for the backpack.

Walking wise I have not done much this week. It's the first week of school and I'm trying to get my butt organized. Back on track next week.

Oh, and there is a snow storm coming. Finally.

the giving tree

Last night and this morning I had shelter cooking duty with Dave's church. We feed--and they ate -- copious amounts of food. Then, at 7 am, everyone returns to the streets until darkness falls again. The cycle is repeated daily during the winter.

Because of this I think I was slightly more attuned to the homeless today in particular.

Driving home I saw coats and knapsacks hanging on a tree near New Bethany. I thought it was odd. But not really. Because today we spent a fair amount of time looking for a coat for one of our "guests". His was stolen at the library while he was in the stacks finding books to borrow.

Lydia left for work and sent me a text. On Third street there is a tree covered with coats. And it clicked. They were giving trees. Ways that some people distribute coats and gloves and scarves to the homeless.  There were more on the ground that fell off the tree. And the one at New Bethany was cleared off already. It is, after all, a shelter.

I had to go to our cruddy market so I decided that I'd take the scenic route and walk to the giving tree. Hopefully people will take the clothes before they get wet in a storm, or become liter.

Me, I forgot my grocery sack. I had to balance groceries walking home. Fun times.


Miles/Steps:        2+
Weather:             32, mostly cloudy 

golv | stone soup stroll

Today was the first event Get Out Lehigh Valley event, the annual Stone Soup Stroll. As always our resident walking chef, Dang, tended the pot.

This is the day when the give the prize for doing 10 walks, and have the drawing for the overall prize winner. I won last year. This years winner received a pair of hiking sticks. Our walking prize was one of those tubes they wear on survivor. They can be worn multiple ways, including as a swim top if you are skinny enough. I took a pic but they are icky. Maybe I'll just wait for the group shot to be posted. I'm holding just the tube.

It was cold standing around. I had Lydia take a photo of me dressed as the Michelin man. She said I was more Stay Puff Marshmallow man. I had on long undies, a long sleeve tee shirt, a fleece jacket, another fleece jacket and a hoodie. I was toasty. Actually I was too toasty.

At 10:30 we finally started to walk. We arrived at 9:55. We were in the second group and headed up the trail, past the resident raptors and owls and around the deer enclosure. Christine, the group leader, knows every square inch of the property so we stopped frequently for birds, invasive plants, and other ecology leassons. This made going up the hill much easier.

 Coming down the hill we walked past the remnants of shelters made by both children and animals.

When we arrived at the boardwalks, the puddles of water created these really cool sculptures.

Finally we arrived back at the environmental ed center for Stone Soup. This one had a lot of carrots, okra, cabbage, celery and beans. It was good, but I could tell no one brought veggie stock or tomato paste. It was clearly made with water. I took quinoa, so it must have been in the other pot.

Before we left I measured my arms. My wing span is the same as a vulture.

Miles/Steps:          2
Weather:               28, mostly sunny 
Wildlife:                 Flickers, Nut Thatches, a gaggle of geese,and three varieties of wood peckers —red belly, downy, and  pileated
Extra:                    There was a lot of children along. One discovered wild onion and wanted everyone to sample it. "No, I don't want to sample the onion" is words I never thought I'd say. I think the picked all the wild onion out of the forest. Their ever-prepare parent had plastic bags in her pocket. Clearly, bring home the forest is a typical activity.
Extra 2:                  It was 28 degrees and many of the children had bare ankles? WHY?

The 10+ hikers for 2018.

art walk in stroudsburg

Before Thanksgiving I saw a post on Facebook about "Snowmen In Stroudsburg", a winter public art display. Remember the horses, mules, and monkeys a couple years ago? Same thing. Fiberglass snowmen that artists paint and then they auction off after the show is over. I sent a DM to bonnie and asked if she was interested. She said yes. She picked me up at 10 and off we went.

We parked right in front of one of the snowmen. And near a mural. It was quite accidental. We got off the highway early because of a backlog of traffic. Sadly, that is the only snowman that I'm not showing because he's alone. I should have done 3-3-2-2. Hindsight is 20/20.

The first one featured is covered with decoupagé of children doing outdoor activities and then covered with ceiling popcorn for texture.

Instead of painting, several people dressed theirs.

We coupled snowmen sculptures with looking at murals. The last time I was in Stroudsburg I noticed there were a lot. I found a list online and saved it. (Click the link to see more murals.) It was two years ago, almost to the day. The list was sitting in a file on my computer called "walks to do". I took the two maps, and merged them and called it an art walk.

We had planned to go mid-December but Bonnie's schedule changed so we rescheduled for today. The snowmen were supposed to be out till the end of January. Two were gone. We went into one store where it was supposed to be and the lady said it was removed and she didn't know why.

These are my favorites.  I would have loved to take all sides of the center one, but there was a large sign that said No Trespassing/Private Property. They were serious. Kind of odd because it was a funeral home.

We found most of the murals as well. This one wash the side rails of the bridge going into town (10th and Main by the Wawa.) It was impossible to take it in one shot. And this isn't all of it.

In the time that has passed some of the buildings ... and therefore the murals ... were gone. Mapping all this art and putting it into a brochure would be a great student project. I'm sure we missed a lot.

The mosaics were unexpected. This was in the little shopping center where the kidnapped snowman was. Right across the street from a ribbon outlet. A real outlet in a factory. We resisted temptation and didn't go inside.

When we returned to car we went drove to East Stroudsburg to find the last three murals. This one is very 60s, Peter Maxx inspired. Seeing that were were only a few blocks from East Stroudsburg University, it kind-of makes sense.

The second one was a short retaining wall that went on for about two blocks. I couldn't get a picture of that one.

At that same shopping center we found a ton of mosaics—planters, walls, doorways, door frames, you name it, it was covered in tiles.

It was a great art walk. We saw 10 snowmen and women, several murals, and some great mosaics. The murals were on bridges and buildings, and the mosaics were everywhere — planter, bridges, walls, doorways and balconies.

We started in Main Street at about 12th street, and went down to 4th. We went about three blocks north and one south. I thought we'd go less than 2 miles. I was astonished when I saw how far we went.

Miles/Steps:         3
Weather:               32, mostly sunny, very windy. 

another date with a dog

Today Lydia had off again—gotta love the after-Christmas/pre-inventory slump— so we hit the trails again. Adonis in tow.

Since he was sick earlier in the fall, he's been having trouble getting in the car out front. This week we've been going out the back way—the old man runs to the gate—and getting in the car at the garage. He gets in just fine going down hill! Above is a happy dog wearing the hat I tossed in the back seat.

Today we went to Bicentennial Park, near Lydia's old house. We pick places that are wide open so we can see four pawed trouble coming. It was a warm day, but we froze in the open wind. The park used to be a corn field.

After parking, we followed the fitness trail, and Adonis even tried out some of the equipment.

The first two times this we we went walking, he was pretty good, after pooping. He walked and kept moving and didn't sniff excessively. Today, he acted like a dog. We stopped a lot. Maybe this trail/park has way more smells than the others. But he was good when another dog walked past on the fitness trail. We moved off on the side of the trail and Lydia had a death grip on him.

We were about 2/4 around the park and took the path to the Nor-Bath trail. We followed that to the next entrance to the park, and returned to the car.

 Miles/Steps:         1.25
Weather:               45, mostly sunny, very windy. 
Bathrooms:           Closed for the winter. I'm tired of these signs. And they don't provide a port-o-potty.

i walked the dog

Today Lydia, Adonis and I went to Hanover (Lehigh County) Canal Park to walk. I have to pick places that I feel will not have any other dogs around. If it's nice an open, that's great too.

After a brief stop at Target to drop off my meds we were off. Upon arrival at the park there was only three cars. That's good. Less chance of close encounters. We headed out toward Allentown thru the park, past the gardens and pavilions and picked up the trail. When the trail turned super soggy we turned around and took the path around the pond.

Lydia was taking photos so I took the leash. It's been a long time since I walked Adonis. He doesn't like other animals and I had a very bad experience one day during the summer. I swore I wouldn't walk him again. And I really haven't. Occasionally just to the corner to meet Lydia's bus.

The pond had a lot of geese. You really can't see them in this picture, but there were many gaggles of geese.

There was one small area that had a sord of Mallards.

We finished the loop around the pond, and came back thru the park. As we returned to the parking lot two more cars pulled in. Lydia took the dog, just in case. False alarm.

Miles/Steps:          1.25
Weather:               34, mostly sunny, windy. 
Bathrooms:           Port-o-potty was open ... wide open.
Wildlife:                Many gaggles of geese, sord of mallards

it's spring in january

I have no idea where winter went. It reached a high of 55 today. I hung out some of my laundry. If this keeps up the spring trees will start blooming soon. I like winter. I'm happy I didn't have to shovel all this rain, but it is January. A little snow, please.

I chose the new section of the Greenway. It's been raining a lot and I was sure natural trails would be messy. Heck, this section of the Greenway is gravel, it was messy. This section goes from the Skate park, under Fourth, Under Lynn Street, and out to the pool at Saucon Park. They've removed most of the artifacts from the railroad. These boxes remain.

And this tower. You probably can't see it but eagles have built a nest up there. And I tried to zoom in on some of my pics. They were pixilated but I swear I saw a white tail hanging over. Were they home?

When I reached the turn for the park, I turned around and came back. It's a boring walk, so I called my sister Barbara and chatted all the way back.

Miles/Steps:          about 3
Weather:               55, mostly sunny, very windy. 
Bathrooms:            I didn't try the door. I forgot. But my guess is they were locked for the winter. Most are.
Wildlife:                 A bald eagles nest. Were they home? I would like to think so. I swear I saw a tail.

bethlehem township

Today I started preparing for the new term. It starts in ten days (eek!). The first thing I do is get all my copying together and get it to the on campus copy shop before they get slammed with work. I did that this morning.

So the question is where do I walk?

Initially I thought about doing the walking trail at NCC. However, it's only a mile. I sure didn't want to go around in circles. I parked near my classroom, then headed to the copy shop, and went out to the trail. Nobody must use it. It's in poor shape, and most of the markers are gone.

The markers that remain are in sad shape.

Apparently the college also has an arboretum. But I can't find out anything about it on the website or thru google. I should have scanned the QR code when I was there. But I bet it takes you to a page about trees.

Initially I thought I'd do another mile at the Bethlehem Township Park on their trail. But as I was walking I remembered the Emerald Hills Greenway in Bethlehem Township. It was one of the trails I picked out when I was looking for things to do in the 2.5 hours between classes. Instead, I did all the trails in Warren County.

I headed to 10th street, and followed it till it ended. And there was the trail. There are no signs. Just a macadam path. I parked and followed it. On either side is a culvert to catch storm water from the Emerald Hills Developments, or fields. No playgrounds, no benches, no trash cans, nothing. It's a hair under a mile and is an out and back trail. I only saw one other couple while I was walking.

Miles/Steps:          roughly 3.25
Weather:               low 40s, mostly cloudy, windy. 
Extra:                    The cement posts you see on the right are covered with graffiti of penises.

swimming into the new year

Last night the long-awaiting Aqua Zumba class started at Saucon Valley High School. During the summer the class was at 6, so I didn't read the time. Lydia and I left at 5:30 and arrived early. The instructions said the rear of the building; last parking lot before the buses.

We drove on the front side of the building, and parked in the last lot before the buses. Got out of the car and tried the door. Nada. Tried the next door. Nada. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. We are now on the other side of the building and finally found the door—#25. We walked in at exactly 6. And nobody was there. Even the instructor. Just some male students in Speedos swimming laps.

Lydia looked up the instructors page on Facebook and found her number.  Then she scrolled down and looked at the post. It said 6:30. Ooops.

In about 10 minutes the instructor showed up putting up signs and arrows. Since I had time I hiked back to the car and moved it so we wouldn't have to walk for it after coming out of the pool. It wasn't that cold, but why risk getting sick. While I was gone, the aquatics director for the school district arrived with his golden retriever. The dog has free reign of the pool area.

At 6:30 it was still Lydia and I. She said she was having class anyway. She needed to test it out at an indoor pool. Two more people came, and we started class. Two more people came. So there was six.

It was a good class, same play-list as before, but I remembered none of the moves. I was just as inept as always. It was a steep learning curve for the instructor...she's not in the water. She's instructing from the edge. The pool was overflowing without people in it, the deck was slippery. Cement and tile instead of grass for her to stand on. She slipped three or four times. People were swimming laps next to us which was a bit odd. But all in all it was a good workout.

two girls and a dog

Today Lydia had off from work so I invited her along on my walk. And we took the dog. I wasn't sure how much serious walking I'd get done with him along — he's a sniffer — but he walked almost an hour.

Lydia had never been to this park before. I've been here twice. The first time I came in from Weaversville Road (at the inn) and the second time I came in from Willowbrook Road.

We came out Weaversville and turned and I blew right past the park. We ended up going in the other entrance. The park wasn't busy, which is good since Adonis doesn't like other dogs. As we;re getting ready to head out, a car pools up with a snack sized dog. We left him go ahead.

Then we headed out and my worst fears seemed to be coming true. He was stopping every few inches to sniff.  However, once he pooped, he was on board, and there was a trash can near by to toss it in. He still sniffed as we walked, but was a lot more compliant. We didn't go very far and he pooped again. Then her was raring to go. At one point he was trotting and Lydia had to tell him to slow down! Lydia was going to leave the bag on the trail since it's an out and back, but I walked it back to the trash can. It wasn't far, and I got some extra walking in.

This park is very open. Lots of fields. You can see everything at a glance unless the trail turns the corner. Don't you know the snack-sized dog came back when Lyd was alone with the dog. She walked him into the stand of trees and we avoided confrontation. But they did bark at each other.

When we reached the tunnel under the road I noticed we echoed. I sang Do Re Me on the way back. It's cool with the echoes. Try it.

We finally reached the other entrance and took the trail to the Nor-Bath connector, then turned around and headed back. And the dog pooped again. Clearly his colon needed the walk.

Miles/Steps:          roughly 2
Weather:               43, mostly sunny, but windy. 
Bathrooms:           P-5. I don't think anyone ever used it. It looks like it was just delivered. The indoor ones were closed for the winter. 
Wildlife:                Hear one goose. Geese are usually not alone. Maybe the rest of the gaggle was sleeping. 

silly badges

I'm signed up for the AVA (Volkssport) virtual program. I walk, they keep track.  I've finished their 401K challenge, and the tour of Italy. Now I'm walking across Canada.  Because it's a new year, I had to "re-enlist". So I did. I discovered I earned electronic badges. Now it's a lame selection of badges because I walked 66% less this year than last, but it gives me something to write about!

 I decided not to dpthe 52 hike challenge this year, and wasn't sure what I was going to do. A fellow volkssport walker posted "Run the Year" and I checked it out. And signed up. "Run The Year® is a virtual fitness challenge to run or walk 2,019 miles in the year 2019 (that’s 5.5 miles a day, for our fellow math-challenged friends).

Getting the first mile was easy. Getting the rest will be tough. If I get behind, I'm screwed. It's day one and I'm already a mile behind! I'm registered as Gayle Doe because I didn't add my last name on the form. I kind of like it. So I'm keeping it.

The last virtual walk I'm doing is Walking4Fun. I chose the Pacific Coast Trail and I've been inching along. I'm finally at 75% I'd probably be done if I actually walked last year. They give silly e-badges too. I should have not started with the 3K mile walk.

dang that was a hard hike

Today I chose the First Day hike at Jacobsburg State Park. I really wanted to do Nolde Forest in Reading because I've only been there once. But it said there would be steep hills. I didn't want that.  I'm too way out of shape.

I've been to Jacobsburg for events before and they always take you on easy trails. So I picked that one. I didn't know there was hard trails there.write-upiteup said "Join center educator Rick Wiltraut for a two-mile, interpretive hike exploring the old growth forest of Henry's Woods and the fields of the Homestead Trail."


There was 65 people on this walk (I had the clicker!), and 87 on the morning one. The lots were full. It looked like an hot August day, not January 1.

I knew this wasn't going to be a moderate hike when I saw this sign.  Where has this trail been before?  I wanted to turn my fat ass around. But I didn't. The first 2 miles were up hill. To the point there was often stairs in the hillside. I didn't take myhiking stick. I was unprepared. The children that came weren't very happy.

The hike stopped frequently to talk about environmental stuff. I couldn't hear, I was in the back. They played wisper down the alley with items. For example ...

...this is witches butter. According to the all-powerful Google,  Tremella mesenterica appears as a yellow mass of brain-like lobes with a gelatinous consistency. Although the species appears to be growing on wood, it is actually a parasite on the (usually hidden) mycelium of a crust fungus in the genus Peniophora. While it may not taste like much, it is edible, and it’s year-round survival food.  Witches butter mushrooms are also medicinal.

All-in-all it was good hike, and pretty great weather. I found this angel hanging in a tree on the way to the start point. Not a bit organic, but cute.

Miles/Steps:          4.25
Weather:               60, partly cloudy, but windy. At the top of the mountain it was cold.
Bathrooms:           I-4.5 in the environmental ed center
Wildlife:                I didn't have ninoculars so I only can relay what they were saying. Downy woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens), Red Headed woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus), black capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus), bluebird and one person swears they saw a robin. 
Extra:                   Two children on the hike were doing their homework. Taking the hike was part of the homework. Homework over Winter break. Wow.