Fort Washington State Park on a Perfect Autumn Day

Last Sunday, I took advantage of a perfect autumn day and made my way to Fort Washington State Park, which is just outside Philadelphia.  After passing by the park for a long time, I figured it was time to venture in and explore with my camera, and the weather last Sunday provided me that opportunity.  Since I had a few extra hours that day, I made my way in.

I parked near the bird watching platform and picked up one of the pocket sized park maps that are always provided at state parks.  The first thing I looked for was a trail along the Wissahickon Creek, which turned out to be easy to find by just following the map and find the creek.  I also liked the fact that it was macadam trail, which made it easier on my beat up sneakers.  While walking along, I got a few pictures of the wooded area surrounding the creek, two of which I posted here.  The other I took near the bird watching platform. 

I still need to explore more of the park, and get more shots, so I plan on heading back soon.  But for right now, I’ll just share what I was able to capture last Sunday.

A Few Spring Pictures

These pictures I posted here go about one to two months back, when the spring foliage was near its peak.  I took the first two along the Delaware River in Bristol, Pa., where I have gone and taken pictures frequently in the past.  I took these two pictures from two spots near each other on the walkway, pointing the camera in two different directions and playing with different color temperatures in Picasa.

I took the next shots at my workplace in Newtown, Pa., another favorite spot where I have taken and posted several pictures.  Although my position there is temporary, it has lasted for well over a year now, and I have been fortunate enough to watch the vegetation change through all four seasons.  Eight million Americans were displaced from their jobs in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008, and I was one of them.  I have struggled with periods of unemployment since then, so I am grateful to have been at the same place long enough to watch the foliage change through all four seasons.  And most importantly, I like the work itself.

Memorial Day Parade and the Gateway to Summer 2013

The annual Memorial Day parade is generally the same every year, but it does only come once a year.  It’s also a kind of reunion day, since we live right on the parade route, and attract all the friends and relatives to our place for the parade and the backyard barbecue afterward.  All up and down our street, all the grown children come back and bring their children along.  It gives everyone something to look forward to, especially the kids.  And, of course, it kicks off the summer season.

This year, our parade caught the attention of Fox News, which dispatched a crew to the scene to cover it.  Our town holds some kind of record for the Memorial Day Parade, I think for consecutive years.  Of course, there were some years where bad weather forced the cancellation of the parade, but it has been running for a long time.  As far as I know, there has at least been a parade scheduled every year.  I didn’t notice any Fox reporters or equipment where I was at, except for a blimp which passed overhead.  It bore a likeness of SpongeBob on the side, or maybe it was supposed to be a smiling fish.  I have the photo posted here, which I took through the telephone wires above me.  I don’t know if that blimp belonged to Fox News, since I don’t think Nickelodeon is owned by Fox.  I did do a quick check on YouTube, but didn’t find any uploads of the Fox News feature.  I suppose it only lasted about a minute, with some quick snippets of a few bands and floats.  If there was anything in the parade I wanted to see featured, I would likely have missed it if I blinked my eye.

I included a few shots of some bands, including the Avalon String Band, which I believe is based in Center City or South Philadelphia and is probably a regular in the annual Mummer’s Parade on New Year’s Day.  There was also a bagpipe band, which I think was the Loch Ranoch Bagpipe Band, based somewhere in Upper Bucks County.  They make it every year.  By the time the emergency vehicles rolled by toward the end of the parade, I was out of power for the camera.  I had two sets of cheap dollar store batteries to use for this event, and I went through both of them before the parade ended, and saved what power I had left from the batteries to upload the photos.

Other than the emergency vehicles, I missed getting pictures of the Action Karate students, who stopped right in front of our house to give us a demonstration.  But as the parade was winding down, I was going back and forth between the front lawn and the backyard, where my brother was on the grill.  He has a way of timing his cooking so the first hot dogs are ready for the kids just as the tail end of the parade passes our house.  Everything then moved to the back.  The hours went by, and after everyone was gone, there was the cleaning.  Next morning, it was back to work and back to normal, except that summer had now unofficially begun.  There will be more things to look forward to, and more pictures to take.