memorial day on the hmt

Yesterday Sharon sent me home with enough cheese to consitpate a small army. I had to share it. I'm trying to eat a little less cheese in my hopes to lose weight. (Down 5 whole pounds in 6 weeks. Whoopie!)

I sent a text to Lydia and asked if she wanted cheese. She did, but she was at a picnic. I told her I'd bring it today. Oh, and since you have off, maybe we could walk. She agreed.

She chose the HMT one of her favorite spots. She got married there almost a year ago. Now Lydia loves a holiday. She loves silly hats and shirts...even on walks. I was not surprised that she walked down the street carrying a red, white and blue cowboy hat. What I didn't realize is she had two. They were from a wedding event. My mask is also from the wedding. As is the dogs outfit.

Now when she picked the HMT I told her dogs aren't permitted. The dog came. We parked at the lot and walked thru the ArtsQuest campus. It was a beautiful day, but when the wind blew it was cold. And it kept blowing off my silly hat. I headed up the stairs, she and the dog went up the elevator. And she left him walk. Rule breaker. Thankfully it wasn't busy.

We walked to the other end taking lots of pictures, and went down the back staircase. Then we came out First Avenue and back to ArtsQuest. After returning to the car, we came back to my place to surprise my sister. She was soooo happy to see the dog.

Then, after lunch, she wanted to go for a walk. First time in weeks. I went.

Miles/Steps:                   2 miles 

Weather:                        high 60s, windy

PPE Found:                     6 masks. (Plus I picked up 3 in front of my house!)

yoga in the park is back

The Pratyush Sinha Foundation is holding their free outdoor yoga classes at two places this season. This is the group that does mindfulness and yoga in the Allentown Elementary Schools. Although it's free they take donations at the event to support their school programs.

They didn't have it last year for obvious reasons, and not often the year before. If my memory serves me correctly a thunderstorm always blew in late in the day and it was cancelled.

Now we all know that I am horrible at yoga, but I'll go anyway. The June 24th one is closest to the solstice, but I think I'm going to have to pass on that one. It's also closest to my surgery. I don't go for my first followup until the 28th.

lbw walking souderton

Pat was having a really good day and asked what I was doing day. I replied, more of the same. I'm going to take a walk and mostly kill time. None of my projects have come in yet. I have a logo to do for my friends at Cardinal Lane Farm, but that is it.

Then she said it's Thursday. I knew that. I was astounding that she knew Thursday was a Volkssport group walk day. Today's walk was in Souderton. It begins at a cemetery. Saturdays walk is in Malvern. Soudertown is south of Quakertown ten minutes. Malvern is south of Valley Forge and involves taking the turnpike. Turnpike = money. I had wanted to do Malvern but I am pinching pennies so I went to Souderton.

There was eleven walkers, and I brought up the rear. Thankfully someone hung in the back with me. I didn't remember it being so hilly! Everyone did a 7K. I kept my mask on a lot so that I didn't have an allergy attack. Souderton was thick with pollen. I'm kind of surprised that storms last night didn't wash it away. Maybe they missed Souderton?

Souderton is a borough, with a little downtown. It is the home of Univest Bank. Instead of suburbs of townhouses, it has suburbs of 55+ communities. There are five that the walk goes thru. Each has some sort of walking trail. Gotta keep your residents healthy. We also walked by two parks. One was huge with a pool. It straddled two sides of the street. Lucky for us the indoor bathrooms were open at the pool. I didn't go in.

It was warm, but it was a good walk. I am positive I slowed everyone down.

Oh, and I finally lost a pound. Took 42 days of hard work. Who the hell starts a diet with a plateau?

Miles/Steps:   5 miles
Weather:        81, sunny, not much humidity. Storms took care of that.

PPE Found:     1 mask

the bridges of allentown -- 15th street

 I realized today while doing the walk on the 15th street bridge that this series would be a lot more interesting if it was the bridges of NYC or Pittsburgh or Philly or hell, even Madison County. But I'm committed to the theme and its getting my fat, lazy ass out of the house. That's really the important part.

An hour before I left the house I took an allergy pill. I did not want a repeat of yesterday. And I knew that this area was much less urban and more forested. It backs up to Lehigh Parkway.

I parked under the bridge at Jordan park. On the other side of the bridge is the recycle center. I walked up the side walk of the ramp to get on to the bridge. I resisted the urge to cut across the lawn. This bridge is really two overpasses connected together. One goes over the road, the other over the creek. What sort-of surprised me was the up hill after the bridge. The things you don't really notice when you are in a car.

Another thing I noticed while looking down was a random sidewalk coming from the creek toward the parking lot, but then it stopped. At some point it must have gone somewhere, but not anymore.

I walked up the hill to Wyoming street and out Wyoming as it weaves it way around the subdivision and Regency Towers. I'm sure that the street name changes here but I don't know what it is.

As I reached the back entrance to the parkway I noticed some construction. They are building more apartments, I think. I also noticed that the pool for Regency Towers is the top level of the parking garage. What a clever use of space.

When I reached the contstruction, the sidewalk was closed. I had to walk in the street. The street is not heavily traveled but the people that use it go 60 instead of 30. It was a "hold your breath" block or three.

This is the view of the creek from the little stone bridge. If you zoom in you can see waterfowl.

Once I reached MLK Blvd. I turned right and headed back toward the car. 

Miles/Steps:   1.25 miles
Weather:        88, sunny, humidity rising

Wildlife:          5 geese, 1 mallard, blackbirds, black butterfly
PPE Found:     4 masks

earthing

A month ago I announced in this space that I signed up for "Noom". Now I would love to say that the pounds are melting away and that I'll be a skinny bitch by the Fourth of July. But that ain't happening.

It's me, not them. Mostly. Frankly I would have quit after three days if I hadn't paid for it. Who knows, something might actually stick. Eventually. Perhaps if I wasn't doing it in secret, or had buddy, it might be different. But probably not. I am my own worse enemy.  Why can't I be like Lizzo and love my fast-assed self?

Noom claims to use psychology to change behaviors and therefore you lose weight. To that end, there are course materials which you read everyday. I think I'm about halfway thru the program and I haven't learned anything that I didn't read before somewhere. I hate the interface. It's all hashtags and acronyms and cute cartoons. It's the same experience I've had with self-help books: it's going in one eye and out the other. I can't remember anything two minutes after I read it because I just don't give a damn. That's a huge problem when it is quiz time. I've failed many a quiz. 

During the course portion the are often breaks in the readings where you fill in answers to prompts on that days subject. I just type x's in them and move on. I am not doing any work. Maybe if I did I'd be more successful. I just don't care and that's very wrong. I'm supposed to share them with my group. Not happening. Ever. 

However, I have started posted in the group to the coaches prompts. She posts a very broad question twice a week, or so. Usually on Friday she does something for the weekend. This week it's about Earthing. What the hell is earthing you might ask? Basically it is grounding. Spending 20-30 minutes every day barefoot and walking in the grass or the sand or the mud or a creek ... you get the idea. Reconnecting with the earth. In addition to psych and behavior modification Noom is also into meditation and mindfulness. Earthing fits right in.

I've finally made a connection with Noom. Bare feet. I love bare feet. I love walking in the grass, mud, creek and wherever else I can. I don't think it connects me to the earth or reduces my stress or any of that other ancient, yet  new age stuff. Now when someone yells at me to put on shoes I can tell them no, I'm earthing. 

Last Sunday I saw the above in the Sunday paper. I immediately sent Angel's daughter a text. Do you want to go? She said yes. On Sunday Angel, the teen, and I are going to the wacky ice cream place in P'burg for Angel's birthday. This is the true me. See creative food and want to go. Later I realized that I won't be able to eat anything but I can't wait to go. I'll take videos of them enjoying themselves.  

I've been doing Noom about six weeks and have yet to lose a pound. The first couple of weeks I gained weight. As much as four pounds. This is the first week I have fallen under my start weight. All the psycho-babble new age psychology aside I'm eating less than 1500 calories a day and logging my food. That's a  minimum of half as much as before. I've stopped grazing. I've cut back dramatically on soda (have not eliminated) and cutback on simple carbs too. Schools out and my sister is better. I have minimal stress. I think I should be losing a little weight. Maybe if I did my attitude would change.

the bridges of allentown -- eighth street bridge

Today's Allentown bridge was the 8th Street bridge, formally known as the Albertus L. Meyers Bridge. Meyers was a conductor of the Allentown Band afor 50 years nd was a friend of John Phillip Sousa. (I  always wondered why the Band played so much Sousa. It all makes sense now.) It was built in 1913 and restored about a century later. I'm not sure when. It was closed at least three years while they did their thing.

This is a densely populated area, but I was sure I could park at the school or the church. I was wrong. The school had "no parking school days" signs up. I went around the block got in the wrong lane and ended up. heading downtown. In the process I saw Great places to park and they were in the shade. Inconvenient for residents and commuters, but perfect for me.

If you are standing on St. John Street I was on the left-hand side. There was so much littler. To the point where if you had a crew of Girl Scouts cleaning it up they'd leave a bag of litter every twenty-five feet.

This bridge was known as the suicide bridge. Eighty people have succeeded killing themselves here. That's pretty much impossible now. The walls are 9 feet tall and curve over the sidewalk. I never really understood that there was no river on it. It makes sense, the river makes it's sharp turn down around 2nd street where the waterfront redevelopment is. That really begs the question as to why they needed a big bridge in the first place. The Jordan Creek really isn't very substantial.

The plan was to cross the bridge, make a loop thru downtown and come back. I exited the Bridge and crossed Union and headed up 8th. I past a tree and must have inhaled a load of pollen. My throat closed up and I started hacking out a lung. The young man about three houses ahead of me spun around, looked and ran across the street. I'm sure he thought I had Covid.

It was a short walk and I didn't take water. I'm on this stupid diet so I had no candy in my pocket. I was pretty sure I was going to die in the filthy street. Obviously I didn't. As quickly as it came, it went and I was left tired, but breathing fine. As I decide I'm just going back I spot this:

Five panels long it made everything okay. I forgot all about how bad I felt.

I had to cross the street to get the whole thing. It took u a good portion of the block.

I think if I had money in my pocket I would have stopped and bought some water. But I had nothing. So I turned around and went back on the right side of the bridge. This side was amazingly clean. It's quite odd.

Next.  on the list is the 15th Street/Jefferson Street Bridge. Then I have the Hanover Avenue and the Tilghman Street (when it reopens) I have to check that they have sidewalks. I never really looked.

Miles/Steps:   just over 1
Weather:        88, sunny, but not humid

$ found:          one penny
PPE Found:     over 20 masks. I lost count

the bridges of allentown -- american parkway bridge

 I'm doing good walking everyday this week. I think I'm finally getting my mojo back. Yesterday I walked to CVS and then took the scenic route back via Pawnee Street. I didn't remember it was hilly.

Today was a Volkssport walk in Skippack. I looked it up and it would take an hour to get there, and I couldn't justify that for a 5K. Especially at $3.10+ an hour. So instead I did a bridge in Allentown. Allentown has three newish bridges —15th/Jefferson street, 8th Street, and the American Parkway. I've been saying for years I'm going to walk them. Today I began that quest.

I looked on google maps and it said there was parking near Fullerton Avenue. But when I arrived it was private parking. I parked on the street. Then I noticed the faded sign that said "No Parking. Street Cleaning. Thursday N-3. Shit. It was 11:15. I might make it back. But I might not. I ended up parking on Catasaqua Road, between St. Mary's and St. Georges churches.

As I was walking to the bridge, I passed a sign pointing toward the old Lehigh Structural Steel. It said "Waterfront Development". So when I started to cross the bridge I made a point of looking for it.

This bridge is long, about 3/4 of a mile from Fullerton Avenue to Bradford Street. I also didn't realize how hilly it is. You think of bridges going up and down, but not rising and falling as it twists and turns.

Also why the Native American decorations? I've noticed these since the bridge was being build. I thought they were painted, but they are actually inlaid tile.

Another thing I noticed. The rail is about 4 feet high crossing the bridge, including over the river. However, when there is a road below or a railroad, the fencing is about nine feet tall. I'm guessing when one jumps from the bring they would go splash in the the river, and splat on the railroad tracks? It's interesting

Miles/Steps:  2 miles
Weather:       81, sunny
PPE Found:    2 masks

Wildlife:        red wing blackbirds

$ found:        one penny

pardon me ma'am, would you like a pfizer vaccine?

Yesterday I had a dermatologist appointment. It's near Elina old house and I thought I'd park on the street, then walk around Moravian and her old place. It turns out my reoccurring rash is not scabies after all and the biopsy was inconclusive.  It could be one of six things. Maybe. She could eliminate some of them by looking at blood work. But since the term is not part of LVH network they were not on her tablet she'd have to request them. I pulled out my phone, logged into my app, and clicked "test results". Then I said," if you can read them, I can give you them", and I handed her the phone. She scrolled, clicked and got her answers and returned the phone to me. Yep, those options were eliminated, but she still needed to request them from the doctor for my chart.

I was there awhile, and left with an slip for blood work that needed to be done soon. I figured no time like the present, I'd go do the blood work and walk around out by Wegmans. Wrong again. I have to go to Health Network, otherwise I have to pay the 20% Medicare doesn't cover. The lab was packed. It took nearly an hour to get in. I have not been in a room with that many people in over a year.

I finally get back there and the code for the blood work she prescribed was not in the computer. She had to call the main office and get the code. Then she couldn't find a vain. What a pain. I ended up just going home and eating lunch. Then later walked around the 'hood.

Today I had an eye doctor appointment at 8. The plan was to go to the eye doctor, then take the scenic route to Broughal to vote. I forgot about my eyes being dilated.

I have not lost any more vision, which is good, but it has not gotten any better.I'm still looking out one eye thru cheesecloth. On the other hand, my other cataract has not grown at all.

I left and headed down Delaware, the down the Fourth Street hill. When I got to Wyandotte and crossed, a man crossed from New Bethany and stopped me. "Hi, we are doing Pfizer vaccines at New Bethany and there are extra. Do you need a vaccine?" Nope, already had it. (And I thought getting vaccinated at a casino was an interesting place. Homeless shelter trumps that anyway.)

I crossed Broadway and went thru the parking lot at the old Globe Times and out Morton Street. There were a lot of unmasked people outside of the entrance so I put my mask on and went inside. There was only one person in front of me. I voted and headed back down Morton, back thru the lot, and back to Wendy's lot.

As I headed thru Wendy's lot I noticed that Ahart's had a coming soon sign up—Ideal Food Basket. Ideal is a small chain, and it describes itself as a co-op rather than a franchise. This one is owned by the same person who owns C-Mart on Third Street. I've only been there a few times. It's customer base is Latinx and they have a lot of ethnic ingredients. They even have some aisles by country. You want an odd ball ingredient from Latin/South America or Mexico, they probably have it. I'm guessing the merchandise here will be similar. However, I hope it is not as crammed. C-Mart strikes me as a super-sized bodega.  We will see when they open. The newspaper said six months, but I bet they are open when Lehigh returns to campus in August.

Then it was out Broadway and home. I got a lot done, but I really didn't walk that far.

Miles/Steps:  2.25 miles
Weather:       75, sunny
PPE Found:    7 masks; oddly most were not on Broadway, they were on Itaska.

doylestown volkssport walk

With Pam on vacation I've done even less walking than normal. At least I'm still walking around the block. Thursday, I walked downtown and picked up a couple books at the Moravian Book Store. I should have gone in the library. Books are getting expensive.

I usually pick the same authors who write nail bitting thrillers but this book caught my eye. Even as it sits here I try to remove the erasures. The quote on top of this one said "the raw struggles of female friendship, sex, contact, humanness, and her voice is a celebration of all of this." Clearly I read a different book.

The book I read was thirteen vignettes about a girl named Lizzie who changes her names as often as her size. She begins as a fat teen who  loathes and delights in her fastness. She and her friend Mel are what my mom called "loose". As she grows into a fat adult she has a series of bad relationships until she meets the one. He doesn't care that she's fat, he loves her, but she starts dieting. By the end of the book I'd lay money on her being clinically anorexic. She has to be. She is skin and bones and goes looking for clothes in the fat girl store. .It's self-loathing. It isn't funny or feminist. It was god-awful and depressing. She is the person I don't want to be. I'd rather be fat.

Thursday Pat and I also did her exercises in the first time in forever. But not Friday. Not so far today.

Today I was up at six. The sun wakes up pretty early right now.  It's Saturday, so it is a volkssport day. I'm really out of shape, but I decided at the spur of the moment that I'd go. It was in Doylestown. Far, but not crazy far. Pat is much better and I can leave her alone. We seriously needed some alone time.

This walk begins at the Y and loops thru residential neighborhoods, downtown, the museum area, and if you do the 10K it goes past Fonthill and the Moravian Tile Works. There's even a labyrinth on the route.

The Y even had a Little Free Library to put some books in. I didn't take any. I was hoping for some. I love the price.

The mask meditate has been lifted if you are vaccinated. I wore mine. There are a lot of knuckleheads out there that have just removed their masks without getting the shot. I'm not taking chances.

Miles/Steps:   4.5 miles
Weather:        76, sunny

Bathrooms::   I 4.5 at the library
PPE Found:     4 masks

it's took a dozen years but I was censored ... briefly

 

I woke up this morning to a series of emails from Google. My post ""i've gotten vaccines at a more  

unusual place" and "fat and out of  shape" were deleted! The messages said:

WTF? And there's two of them? Now I pour over ever word in my blogs. I am not a blogger but I try not to use inflammatory language or any of those things that get you put in internet jail.  But this said "Malware and Viruses Policy". I am not smart enough to launch a virus. 

Of late I have been using a few internet images, like in the vaccine one. Maybe that was it? My parking app was hacked and this is the address that was used. I changed my password when Experien sent me a notice that my address was on the dark web. Was that it? 

First of all, I had no idea that they really checked these things. I picture someone stuck in a windowless room looking for bad bloggers. My friend Betsy actually used to do that for a company. But she was digging for buried porn.

Did someone report me? It's highly unlikely because maybe 10 people have this address, and it's set to private. It doesn't come up in searches. And I more often than not have zero views.

I have no idea, but I have been reinstated. The emails look legit, and I went into the meta data to be sure that they originated from Google. It looks like they did. I worry that I've been hacked so I might change my password again. Maybe I'll check my Blogger settings as well.

scabies, round two

 

Anna Shvets/pixabay.com

Today I had my long delayed skin check. First it was postponed because of the scabies, and then Covid. 2021 has been a helluva year. When I rescheduled I told them it was because I was positive.

I arrive at the office and there is a clipboard of covid forms, pencils, hand sanitizer, and sign that says "if you check yes to any questions, return to your car and call". Shit. I had two yes answers. I did not have a phone. Now what the duck do I do?

I went outside and looked around. I wandered the hall, finally I went back in and got the attention of someone in the waiting room. "Could you tell them Gayle Hendricks is here and I don't have a phone." Thankfully she did. They called me over, went over the form and I sat down.

In less than five minutes I was in the exam room. The doctor walks in and says "how's the scabies?"  I said, I thought they went away, but I started itching again last week. They aren't as bad.They haven't kept me up as much.

The search begins. She found more than I did. She said, I need to leave, I be right back. Don't get dressed. The door starts to close, and it reopens. I did do your skin check. You have surprisingly few moles. And she was gone.Five minutes later she comes back and tells me to get dressed, we needed to switch rooms, she was going to do some scrapings and a biopsy.

The new room looked like a lab. I now have a hole in my arm, that will take up to two weeks to heal. She took scraping from my feet, arms, toros, lots from my fingers. She couldn't take from my back and one arm because I scraped them open. I was told to refill the Triamcinolone. That's the huge jar that looks like moisturizer with medicine in it. Twice a day. Ugh. I found out today that it was a steroid.

Plus I have to wash my sheets everyday and can only wear my clothes once. Who washes everyday? Everything has to be washed in HOT water. By the end of this I'll need a new set of sheets and all new clothes. Who wears spring sweaters and jackets once and washes them? Does anyone really wear their pjs once? My water bill is going to skyrocket.

Later in the day they called and said they were calling in a oral pill. I went to Target to pick it up and there was 14 pills in the bottle. The original cost was near $40 but the Good RX price was closer to $17. I need to buy stock in that company. I open the bottle. There's 14 pills. I needed to take SEVEN immediately, and then take seven more next week. It will be two weeks before the biopsy comeback. I return then.

This is getting really expensive. Remember without a supplement, I have to pay 20% of everything. My dermatologist is independent so I can't use my hospital F.A.P. card

Why do I get diseases multiple times? In 2021 I've had scabies twice and covid twice. Honestly, it's enough. I'm done supporting physicians and Big Pharma.

tail on the trail

 

Tail on the Trail began their 2021 challenge on May 1. I stopped logging last year -- ironic because it's the year I walked the whole trail -- because I hated logging on their website. I didn't do the winter challenge wither. Maybe I should have, my numbers at the doctor may have been a little better.

This year's announcement came with a website redesign. I can only hope this happened because everyone bitched about the old, multi-screen design. Now it asks for all the information on one screen. Still way too much info, but not nearly as time-consuming to fill out.

I've logged six days in a row. So I guess the changes are effective.

farmer's market thursday

I've been doing walks in the neighborhood a lot. Short walks, sometimes twice a day. The term ends this week and then for a month I'll be able to go and do walks away from home. Within reason. I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to leaving Pat alone full days or overnight.

The neighborhood supermarket closed on March 31, and was put up for sale. Last week someone bought it. It will be six months before it opens. They plan on remodeling. That's a long time coming. When Ahart's bought this Laneco (and before that Pantry Pride and Food Fair) I think the transition was probably seamless. They did no work whatsoever. Nor did they do anything in the 20+ years since. 

Today as I walked to the Lehigh/South Bethlehem Farmer's Market they were already starting demo. You can't see it but there are two big dumpsters. I bet they gut it. It would make sense. The plumbing and electric are probably shot and I know the fridges and freezers would break on a somewhat regular schedule. 

What would be nice is something like Aldi that is affordable. But the space isn't big enough. I'm going to guess that this is a small chain. Maybe even regional. But I can't think of what. A single person couldn't afford the renovations.

When I arrived at the Farmer's Market, there still wasn't much there. It's just too early. I bought some apples and lettuce. I guess I need to go to the supermarket.

Miles/Steps:   2 miles

Weather:        61, sunny

PPE Found:     5 masks, 3 gloves

 

a different kind of mall walk

It's the last day of classes and I had limited time to exercise. Pat wanted a new snap housecoat and they were on sale at Boscov's. I decided to put two and two together and mall walk.

I checked the internet and Bosco'vs opened at 10.  I arrived at the mall before the stores opened. I was going to do both floors, the concourse and the outdoor area. To my surprise the mall was not open. I guess it's a covid thing. They used to be open early for mall walking, and a few vendors would be open as well. 

So I decided to walk around the OUTSIDE of the mall. By the time I reached the outdoor shoppes I had to use the bathroom and Barnes and Nobles was open. I used the restroom and looked at books. I resisted buying any. I left and headed for the mall entrance and it was still locked. It was 10:15. WTF? Apparently the mall now opens at 11. And they wonder why in-person shopping is dying.

I retraced my steps and went back to Boscov's, and they were open. Busy too. Probably all the people who wanted to go to the mall and couldn't get in!

Miles/Steps:   1.5 miles
Weather:        62, overcast
PPE Found:     5 masks

sunday in the park ... without george

 If any of my readers are Sondheim fans, you'll get the joke immediately. Sunday in The Park With George is a Sondheim musical inspired by the French pointillist painter Georges Seurat's painting "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte". 

I walked today in the Rose Garden alone. I've noticed over the last few weeks that there was a lot of construction there. I wanted to check it out. The Rose Garden really didn't have paths in the past. It does now. They wind around all over the park past the multiple memorials old and new. It also looks like they removed the "park benches" from the bandstand. I'm not sure if they are putting them back, but it looks like they might be repaving there. That's long overdue.

In front of the restroom there are maybe three parking spaces. I'm going to guess that they will be handicap access. There is only street parking at the park.

The rose garden area has not been touch. Nor has the section for children.

But the paths are popular. I saw more people there today than I have in years (on a non-event day.)

Miles/Steps:   1 mile in a park that is one square block
Weather:        61

two new places

Thursday I was freed from Covid jail, again. I sent a text to Pam asking if she wanted to walk. I had found a new spot, not sure what it was like, while looking for something else. It was near Ironton.

We met yesterday at Johnson's Pond Wildlife Park. The pond is adjacent to the Coplay Creek and the trail is in a loop around it. Not much of a trail, but there were a ton of benches. I'm guessing it's a great spot to look at birds and water fowl. Look at the cover of water lily's. On a sunny day it's probably spectaular. Pam guesses there might also be some trails down to the creek. Official or unofficial. There are two small lots and a port-o-potty. A surprise for such a small park.

It's noisy for a santuary. The turnpike is really close by.  

Instead of going around in circles Pam remembers a park close by that her son had played soccer at as a child. Let's see if they have a walking path. The name intrigued me. Indigenous people and tribe names are all over the Lehigh Valley. There is always a back story. Probably a violent one. According to the Borough of Coplay website "This name came from "... Kolapechka". The son of the Indian chief, Paxanosa, who lived at the head of the creek near Schnecksville. ..."

So now we know.

There was a walking path and we took it. Pam noted how much the park had changed since she brought her child there twenty years ago. It's huge and the walking path snaked all thru it. There is an accessible playground, ball fields, pavilions, everything a modern park needs. And since it was on former agricultural land, it was not 100% flat. A good way to get me back into shape.

After Pam gets back from her road trip and my surgery we'll start the Montco challenge.

Miles/Steps:   2.5 miles
Weather:        61, 20MPH winds
Wildlife:          red wing black birds, yellow finch, blue jay