a miracle! bathrooms in an allentown park were open.

Today was a big day for Lydia—it was the day we took most of Adonis's stuff to the shelter. Some of things she put away. The most well loved and gross we threw out. The bulk was still good and needed a new home. The dogs at the Dixion street shelter should have fun with the toys and two will have beds. Everything was washed before we donated it. Food went to friends and family that are pet owners

The shelter didn't open untill eleven so we needed a nearby park to walk in. Roosevelt Park looked shady, for the most part, but it's not very big.  The one near the shelter was sunny, and again short. We settled on Trout Creek Park under the Susquehanna Street bridge.

We parked in the 8th street lot. It was shady. The path thru the park was both sunny and shady. The path in this section of the park is very narrow, broken and weedy. After crossing the little bridge the other side of the park path is much wider, flat and unbroken.

We met two dogs, both small. One was a really overweight Frenchie, and then a little dustmop.

Miles/Steps:      2

Wildlife:            none

Weather:          mid-80s, but still really humid
Bathrooms:      ALLENTOWN PARK BATHROOMS WERE OPEN! First time I've seen it at a non-event. I-2.5. Maybe a 3, but there were no doors on the stalls and both toilets were not flushed.
Photos:            Lydia

Sweaty selfie taken at the end of the walk.

anyone else tired of the heat?

It's Wednesday and heat wave #4 is expected to break today when some storms rumble thru. Heatwave #5 will arrive on Sunday. Oh goodie... I can't wait. It's even hot at 6:30 in the morning. That's when I did the "Fountain Hill loop" yesterday. I came home drenched.

Sunday and Monday I mall walked.

By the time I finished the laundry Sunday and some other mundane chores it was 10:30. Way to hot to walk outside, even in the sun. I decided to walk inside. But where? Didn't want to do the mall again, I was just there. And there are a couple of temptations there as well.

The first thing I had to do was buy the Sunday paper at Dollar Tree so I headed on to 378 and stopped at the one at the top of the hill. I could go walking at the Promanade Shoppes—a "lifestyle center"—but that's a lot of in and out. It would probably make it hotter.  Also danger lurks on every street—LL Beam, Barnes and Noble, New Balance — I wouldn't make it out of there without spending cash.

Well, I've always wanted to go to the BJs in Quakertown, I thought. Let's go there. No danger spots in a bulk warehouse store. Let me tell you, this one is so much easier to navigate than the one in Allentown. I was up and down every aisle in a flash. But that only took a half hour. I needed more. I could do it again, but it's wasn't even that cold. I was breaking a sweat.

I could walk across the street to Walmart. I really didn't like that idea. That's when I had an idea. If I was going to go someplace tacky, I'd go a little further to Qmart. If nothing else the people are intesting.

QMart is the Quakertown Farmers Market. But there are few farmers left (I counted 2 redmeat, 1 poultry, 3 veggies. Does wine and jam count?). Overall, it's kind-of creepy. It's mostly junk shops, second-hand stores, and a lot of places to eat. Including Babushka's who had this terrific handpainted mural (above) on the entire side of their shop. It stopped me dead in my tracks. The name alone made me think Eastern European. The Russian matryoshka dolls made me think something else. But I found out that the stacking dolls are also called babushka dolls. Who knew? Learn something new every day. The food must be good because they were the busiest place in the market. One day I shall stop.

I had forgotten how long the QMart building is. It took a while to go from end to end.

Monday was a scorcher. I had work I needed to get done and then my mouse died. It needed to be recharged. I had to go to Bed Bath and Beyond for a C02 tank, so I said to Lydia, let's mall walk. We went to BB&B and walked the aisles, then went across the lot to Lowes and picked up a box fan. (Since the dog is gone there is no more air conditioning here.) I carried the box fan as we walked the permiter of the store. I must have been a sight. Especially in the lumber section.

I managed to get 2.8 miles in both days, so there is something to be said about mall walking.

omg it's worse than I thought

I have poor self image. Everyone knows that. But this photo from last nights yoga and Mala making workshop even took me back a lot. I gasped out loud. I AM FAT. Not overweight. Not out-of-shape. FAT. 

I just want to vomit looking at it. I need to print it out poster size and place it everywhere there is food in my house to stop me from eating.

I took the workshop because I was interested in finding out about Mala's. 

The yoga was the first hour or so, and since I haven't really done yoga this year I did worse than normal. I also get less flexible every day. I don't know why. The studio was hot and I sweated like a pig. I was even nausious ... I thought I was going to vomit. But I didn't. Thank goodness. 

There was a break for brief meal of fruit and a five lentil Indian khichri. I think it was soup, but turned more paste-like as it sat. Then it was time to make the Mala. They are kind-of like Indian prayer beads. Basically they keep count of your chants. There is max of 108 beads (must be divisible by 9), the guru bead, a crown bead and the lotus flower (tassel). It looks really easy to put together, but it isn't. It took about an hour. She also gave us instructions on how to develop your own manta, and then bring it down to one word.

As you string the beads you're supposed to infuse your energy into each bead. It should be done with purpose. Since all my energy is negative, I concentrated on just counting the beads so the Mala was constructed correctly. 

The beads came out nice. I'll just hang them in my office with all my other global items. A lot of people at the workshop have had eastern religious awakenings. They believe in the power of yoga and goddesses and even chanting. I don't. I believe in nothing. Yoga frustrates me rather than reduces my stress. I can't sit still for meditation. Chanting is just silly. At least to me. But I have to find something to bring down my blood pressure other than more drugs. Exercise is not doing it.

I had planned on returning to better eating on August 1. I have been saying that since January. Seeing that picture will help me keep that commitment.

released a monarch butterfly

Today I signed up for a 1-mile wildflower hike at the Ballas Preserve in Bushkill Township. I had never heard of this preserve so it would be a new place to walk.

At one time it was owned by Mr. Ballas who was a florist in New Jersey. This property held dogwood, holly, crabapple and other specialty trees/bushes for his business. On weekends he would come and cut specimins and sell them to other forests. He was well into his 80s when the property was to be sold to a developer to build 40 houses. But then the market crashed and the township bought it from Ballas for the preserve. Ballas died in 2012 at 92.

I drove right past it. The sign is on an odd angle, and the Wildlands had not yet place their directional signs. For the first time ever I was early. I'm pretty shocked myself.

Praying mantis ootheca (cocoon).

July is the best time, apparently, to come here because a lot is blooming. Maybe the developer had started clearing the land already because most of the trees were gone. There was precious little shade. There was a ton and a half of flowers. They gave us a list of 35 that they found a few days ago—native and invasive—and added more to the list as we walked.

The walk was painfully slow. We stopped every few inches.That was fine at the beginning, but we were still doing it at the half way point. It took nearly an hour to get to the .4 marker. In addition to flowers we looked at insects, plant galls, cocoons, nests, scat, fungus, disease, you name it we looked at it.

I finally broke from the group and did the last half mile alone. I was hot and tired, and no longer interested.

Miles/Steps:       1. It wasn't exercise. It was slower than a stroll

Wildlife:              Bunnies. Scat from foxes. Scads of monarch, yellow/black swallowtails, and white moths. Small black butterflies or moths with an orange spot on each wing. At least 4 types of bees—bumble, honey, mason, and maybe leaf cutter. Praying mantis, and on the other side of the park it's ootheca (cocoon). Four full flocks of birds taking off together and making the sky black before disbanding. Frogs croaking in pond.

Weather:           82 sunny

Extra:                One of the participants raises monarchs. One hatched this morning. I got to release it into the wild. She also brought along containers of eggs and tiny caterpillars (they looked like an eyelash they were so small) to show us. The picture of the take off didn't come out.

Extra 2:               I discovered the praying mantis by almost stepping on it.

Extra 3:              Christine found a Queen Anne's lace "Queen" It is a full circle like a globe. I don't think I've ever seen one.

a new allentown walk

Yesterday when we were driving thru downtown Allentown there was some sort of ta-do at PPL Plaza. I thought it might be time for season tickets for the Phantoms to begin. I had no other guesses. Then promptly forgot about it.

I stopped my home delivery of the newspaper. I was tired of not getting what I paid for. And besides, it was an expense I could cross off of the budget. We decided to buy Thursday and Sunday at the store because that's when all the ads are in. The roomie loves to read ads. I thought I could get my news online (YUCK!) but I was wrong. After a certain number of clicks, it wants money. Only $2 a week, but that is still $100 a year out of an upside down budget. It's gotta go.

So at 6 this morning I walked down to the newspaper box at Broadway and Clewell and got a paper. It felt good—no stupid delivery guy to deal with. (The paperboy has long been replaced by a "route" driver. The tweens were more dependable.) I'm looking at it as I walk home and it had no ads in it. The roomie will flip-out, but I'm not spending another $1.50 to open the box again. I guess I need to walk to the Wawa for the daily paper. On Sunday I buy it at Dollar Tree because it's only a dollar. (They don't have the daily paper.) You take them the "news" portion, pay, and they give you the ads/coupons/comics.

I settle in on the chair to read the paper. I'm reading an article and it jumps to page 4. I get to 4 and I see "Urban Greenway Fitness Trail Created in Allentown". To Hell with story #1, I dove deep into that one. And you'll never guess where the dedication was? Yesterday in front of PPL Plaza. (Underwritten by Phantoms Charities). Roughly, the routes stretch between Fourth and Ninth streets and between Linden and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

After parking on a deck on Walnut Street, we walked up Sixth to the Art Walk, and then west to PPL Plaza at 7th and Hamilton to begin our walk. There was construction where a pocket park used to be, it looked like a new urban (aka cement) park was being built, and some new murals were installed. They were working on the downtown farmer's market building. (Think Easton Public Market—expensive, unique, organic, big bucks.)

When we arrived at the start point we found the sign with map and instructions. We chose the 2-mile "park" route which takes you down to MLK drive, and around by the Parkettes. and back into town.

It's a really easy route to follow. Just follow MeLVin's footprints—they are painted on the sidewalk. Of course, we cannot follow directions so we walked on the opposite side of the street because it was shady. There were a few places where the markers were on those sidewalk foam signs like they use on election day. But that was only where there was construction. I'm sure the sidewalk markers will be painted when the construction is done.

The 2-mile was was a nice walk. It had a little art, history, and more than it's share of construction. A bit of it was in "old Allentown" so the house were nice. A bit was a little shadier. But that's to be expected. Maybe next time I go to the hair salon I'll do the one-mile route.

Miles/Steps:       2.5 with parking deck commute

Weather:            79 sunny

Extra:                 I lost my green metal water bottle today. I put it on top of the parking garage pay station, paid, and walked away without it. I said to Lydia that in 2019 they'd probably send out a SWAT team because of an unattended water bottle. i was only half joking.

the gym was flooded

Yesterday we didn't walk. We mowed and weed walked the lawn. Then we euthanized the dog. And to round out the day we cooked for the "Freezer Ministry" at my brothers church. Basically if you have a short term food crisis, you go there and pick up pure made meals to eat. They are fully cooked so you just nuke them or heat them in a fry pan.

We brought a container of Mac and Cheese for my brother and he lives in east Allentown. Initially I thought about doing the "Scoobies" walk. A 3-mile triangle that used to go pass a strip joint called Scoobies. Hense the name. But driving in it was sunny. No way I want to go there. I decided thatJordan Creek park was the next best place to go. They have a walking path, playground and a gym. It was a win-win.

Anybody who knows me knows that I really don't do gyms. The reason that this one was flooded was it's outside. Monday it rained like a mo-fo ... cats, dogs, elephants ... Actually it began Sunday night.

We parked near the gym and headed south, west on the sidewalk, and then north on the trail following the creek. We passed the pool and turned into the playground and, well, played, In the meantime someone with a pit bull came, and Lydia played with it. We didn't play on the swings because it was muddy. Instead of returning to the trail we walked across the parking lot and headed back to the car.

Miles/Steps:       1.5

Weather:            78 sunny

Wildlife:             2 adult geese, 1 teen; mama mallard and 6 tiny ducklings, two vultures overhead, and white moths

Extra:                While I was at my brothers I was allowed to "shop" in the garden. I came home with basil, kale, chard, parsley and green peppers. It was one reason why we didn't make a second loop of the park. I didn't bring a cooler.

the dog that loved to walk

Back when we were training for 5Ks and had a large walking groups I started calling the group "The Scoobies" in this blog. It was easier than listing names, and pact or group just didn't sound right. One year for Christmas or my birthday Bonnie gave me a Thirty-One tote for my fitness gear that said "Lead Scoobie". One of the Scoobies was my nieces dog, Adonis.

Eventually, the Scoobies all went their separate ways. Life gets in the way of walking sometimes. About a year and a half ago my niece and Adonis moved into my house and  I started walking with Adonis fairly regularly. Lydia works retail, and I had a strange shift, so he was walking 3-4 times a day up. One time, in 2012, I was dog sitting for him and he pulled me over not once, but twice. I still have a stone in my head from that time. Two years ago that there was an incident with another dog and I stopped taking him for solo walks.

He loved walks, and he would have walked for hours if you left him. But the pit bull in him made him want to attack all other animals and Doritos bags. For the human, walks were stressful and challenging. At least for me.  We developed a walk route where the chances of running into other animals could be controlled. He had friends on this route (above with Miss Crystal) that gave him "cookies". The walk at the top of the page was the last I took him on. We went to the corner, then out the alley to the next alley and back up to the house. Not far at all. He had to take a little break in the yard before he came into the house.

Over the last few weeks he has been in declining health. The weather has been crazy hot. We pretty much stopped walking him. He could barely make it to the yard to pee. The last week was really bad. Yesterday my niece euthanized him. He was just shy of 14. His birthday is August 11.

Good-bye Stinky. You will be missed.

........................

If anyone wants to read tales of Adonis, then go to the search bar at the top of the post and type Adonis. There are a lot of posts about him.

sweaty sunday

The beast. Loud and with only one setting—cold.

This ongoing heatwave has gotten to me. I am so over it. I manage to get the antique air conditioner working and I've used it the past three days. And last night.

I turned the air off at about 7:30 pm and the room stayed fairly reasonable until 10 when I went to bed. I didn't really open any windows, and the ceiling fans were running. My niece was still downstairs. I opened the windows in my room and turned on both fans and NOTHING was happening. Hot air was just relocating itself. I tried for an hour to fall asleep but nada. I grabbed my pillow and headed downstairs. Lydia was on her way up. I said "pj party in the living room".  And I turned the air back on. The electric bill will be painful.

This morning I was up at 5:45 am and it was already 78 degrees. By the time we went walking at 8 it was 82 and at 10 when we returned it was 88 with 65% humidity. As I type this at 11:42, it is 92 degrees and feels like 106. Gotta love global warming.

I really need to look into energy efficient alternatives to the "beast".

We walked at the Troxell-Steckle House on the Ironton Rail Trail. We headed west on the trail toward Ironton past the cement mills, and the shooting ranges. The shade was about 85% when we began. About 65% on the return trip.

This is a really nice part of the trail. It's wide and usually you can see the creek. There's things to look at which makes Lydia happy because she can take pictures. There even a port-o-potty. Like the other sections of this trail, this section is filled with Eagle Scout projects.

At one point there was a section of old bridge sticking out and Lydia moved off the trail to take a photo. Unknown to her (and me!) there were black-headed vultures (Coragyps atratus) in the tree. She must have startled one, which then moved and startled her. Okay. It scared the shit out of her. She was on her bird lookout the rest of the walk.

We didn't quite go to Mauch Chunk Road. It was just getting too hot. We needed energy to go back. Today on the trail there weren't many walkers/runners, but there was quite a few bikes using the trail.

Miles/Steps:       2.5

Weather:            82 when we started, 88 with 65% humidity when we returned. Sunny.

Bathrooms:        I-2.5 emergency use only.

Wildlife:             2 black headed vultures, assorted moths, and the sound of a frog. All the animals were hiding from the heat.

and the heat goes on

This heat wave is relentless. Right now it is 96 degrees and feels like a mere 108 degrees.

Thursday, mid-afternoon, my sister wanted a puzzle book. I thought it would be no problem walking down to CVS. The heat wave was just starting to pick up steam. In the morning the humidity was awful, but it rained and it felt cooler. That was an illusion—tthere was a breeze. There was also no shade. Anywhere. By the time I reached the five points I was beat. The sweat was pouring off my body. But I soldiered on.

Also, at 1:30 am this happened in the neighborhood. Those poor cops, firefighters and especially the tow truck guy worked all morning in that humidity pulling the car out. Yepper, the driver was drunk. The mess has been cleaned up. I'm sure the repair crews will be here shortly. The porch and the real roof are one-piece. If the roof comes down, the whole roof comes down. They have added some braces so it should be okay.

Friday we didn't walk. Lydia had an early shift and I had no desire to go out in the heat. Yep, I was a lazy ass. I'm okay with that.

Today Lydia got up early and we just walked in Fountain Hill. We kept it simple. Out Broadway, Up Lynn to the playground and back Delaware. The whole route was shady. The playground was shady. We played a little while. We were drenched in sweat when we returned.

I decided to go to the Liberty Bell Wanderers walk at the King of Prussia Mall. It was 8:40 and it started at 10. I arrived at 10 and they had already gone. The texts I sent weren't answered. All I needed was meet us at Bloomingdales and I could have found them.

I set off and explored myself. The roof of this place must be all glass. Every time I looked up there was glass. The place was much cooler than outside, but it was warm. I walked up and down and around for an hour and 15 minutes and broke a sweat. Never once seeing the walking group. Now I did limit where I went. The directional makers always needed to say "Blue" parking or "Macy's".  That's the only way I could get pack to where I started. If a sign said yellow or orange or green, I turned around and went back.

I've Neve been in the KOP Mall. No temptations. Everything is way out of my price range. At least where I was. High price stores like Hermes, Tiffany's,  and Christian Louboutin., whoes store was shingled in red soles. 

Even though I missed the group, I'm glad I went. I got to explore some place new. The parking was in garages, so my car didn't get as hot. Or did it? When I turned it on it was 97 degrees.

SATURDAY:

Miles/Steps:       5

Weather:            86 at 7:30, 92 when I entered the mall. sunny, hazy, dry heat

Bathrooms:        I-4.5 at the mall, near the Savor food court

not the best choice for a walk

Today I was up early. It was hot and getting hotter in the house. I grabbed a book and headed to the front porch. About 8:00 Lydia came out and asked if we were walking. I came in, we ate, and we left.

Originally I had thought about walking on South Mountain, starting at the Rodale trailhead in Emmaus. But since I wanted to go to the farm for corn (You'll get tired of hearing that by September!) I choose the Palmer Rail Trail. I remembered it being shady. I was wrong.

We parked at Fairview Park and walked towards Rt. 33. It was about 50/50 sun and shade.  But it wasn't spotty. It was large sections of sun, and smaller sections of shade. Especially coming back.

It looks like the recently mowed and weed whacked. And maybe even used some round-up. As much as I appreciate not feeling closed in by encroaching weeds, seeing dying plants did not make me happy either.

The next five days are a weather emergency. It's supposed to be actual temperature 98, feels like 107. I feel like I'm back in South Carolina.

Miles/Steps:       2

Weather:            90, sunny, hazy, hot and getting humid. But there was a breeze

Wildlife:             three spotted lantern fly nymphs. One got away.

Photos:              Lydia

Extra:                When we stopped  at the farm they were still out picking corn. We had to go back. On the way back I decided to cut thru Lehigh. At the corner of Summit and Brodhead, near the parking deck, were a doe and two fawns. Everyone just stopped and waited for them to move. Except Lydia, She was out the window trying to take pictures. She succeeded.

it was lawn mowing day

Yesterday Lydia and I left really early to go to Columcile Megalyth Park in Bangor. Lydia has been dying to go for at least three year. It takes about 45 minutes to get there, and we hoped to beat rush hour. Apparently it starts a lot earlier than I thought.

We arrived at about 8 and parked. Hot on our heels was the lawn mowing crew. Goodie. Just what we needed, noise pollution.

I don't know if you've ever been there but it's Celtic in nature and they have a lot of really big stones. Some are in a circle, like Stonehenge. Others are in the woods. Each has a mystical name adding to the Celtic lore. There are paths to walk thry the woods, and the great lawn where the men were cutting grass. This is a quiet place. I'm sure that people who meditate love it.

As we were walking thru the woods the sound of the lawn mowers was actually quite comforting. We always new were were not lost. Not that you could get lost. It's a small place.

We even climbed some stone stairs.

We walked around about an hour, and Lydia took many photos. We visited the chapel and whatever the tower is. I even went in the visitors lounge.

Miles/Steps:       Only one. How is that possible. All the climbing and stairs and little trails ...

Weather:            84, sunny, hazy, hot and humid. But there was a breeze

Money found:     1 penny

Wildlife:             None in the park, if you don't count squirrels and I don't. We heard a lot of birds. However, as we were leaving there was a doe across the street.

Photos:              Lydia

Extra:                I set the GPS on my phone just to get us back to Bangor. Lydia was manning the GPS. She told me that we stayed on this road for something like five miles. I was about to relax and enjoy the ride when off to the left I saw a huge Adirondack chair/ I saw it too late to turn in. We drove down about a mile, turned around and came back. It was a scenic overlook. We almost missed it coming up the hill. It's well hidden. The tree cover was too dense to see anything. And the adventure was a little spoiled by all the graffiti.