O Tannenbaum

  This is a picture of the Christmas tree which sits in the community park in Langhorne.  There was an illumination ceremony last Friday night, for which part of the street was closed off to traffic.  It’s something that has been happening all over around this time, to kick off the holiday season.  And of course I came across plenty of houses with Christmas lights, but I haven’t mastered night photography, and I don’t really know if my camera has the settings to capture it.  Most of the Christmas lights came out blurry, and I didn’t know how to sharpen the image.

  After a quick Wikipedia check, I found that the tradition of lighting Christmas trees originated in what is now present day Latvia and Estonia in the 16^th century, and in Germany a little later.  Those trees were first illuminated with candles, which sounds like a fire hazard.  They were adorned with religious ornaments, such as the communion wafers used by the Catholic Church, and later sweets were added for the children.  I didn’t research how the Christmas tree eventually became a household item during the holiday season.

  Every year when I was a child I watched the children’s special Santa Claus is Coming to Town, which I now also have on DVD.  For most of my childhood, that was the official story of how Christmas trees were first illuminated.  It happened during the wedding of Chris and Jessica Kringle in the forest, with the Winter Warlock using his magic to light all the trees.  It’s an easier and more appealing way to explain to children where all the stories and traditions came from.  Most people probably didn’t bother to research the actual story anyway, as it’s just a curiosity.

  I’ll be taking more walks in the upcoming weeks, and I’ll probably have my camera some of the time.  I may be able to get better pictures of some Christmas house lights.  There’s also going to be a live nativity scene at the Langhorne Methodist Church on Christmas Eve.  If I get some pictures there, I’ll post them here.

 

Overlooking Jim Thorpe

  I took this picture about five years ago, and I believe I was using my old film camera.  I stood on a vista overlooking the town of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania.   Since my mother grew up there, and my father in nearby Lansford, I visited this area frequently as a child to see our relatives.  It was later, sometime in the 80’s, when Jim Thorpe really boomed into a tourist town.   The place I stood to take these pictures is outside a nightclub called Flagstaff, built sometime in the early part of the twentieth century.  I don’t know if it’s the same building that once housed big bands like the Dorsey brothers or if the original building was torn down and replaced.  The vantage point was an obvious draw for the venue, where people could dine and listen to music, while at the same time viewing the town from several hundred feet above.

 For anyone happening to read this that is unfamiliar with the town or the person, I’ll try to give a Wikipedia in a nutshell summary.  Jim Thorpe is named after the famous athlete of the early twentieth century.  He played professional football and baseball, and won several gold medals in the 1912 Olympics.  However, he is also well known for having those medals revoked after it was learned he had been paid to play football and baseball.   That of course meant he was a professional athlete and technically ineligible to participate in any Olympic event at the time.   During his lifetime, he probably never set foot in the town that is now named after him, and I believe the closest he came to Mauch Chunk (the town’s name at the time) was the Allentown and Bethlehem area.  He was raised in Oklahoma as a Native American, and spent the final years of his life as a struggling actor in Los Angeles.  Off the field, his was a troubled life, plagued by alcoholism, financial difficulties, and two failed marriages.  Professional sports were not a multi-billion dollar industry during Jim Thorpe’s time, so being a professional athlete did not bring him fortune.  He was able to get some small roles in Hollywood, but unable to establish a solid acting career. It was a few years after his death in 1953 that Patricia, his third wife and widow, found the town of Mauch Chunk an attractive place to bury her late husband, and one that would build a memorial for him and give him the respect his family believed he deserved.

  In 1955, the issue was left to voters on a referendum as to whether to provide a memorial for Thorpe and rename the town after him.  By a narrow margin, the residents of the two boroughs of Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk, separated by the Lehigh River, voted to merge and rename the town in Thorpe’s honor.  The memorial was built, but went mostly unnoticed for several decades before a tourist railroad helped revive the town.  With the railroad and its natural beauty, Jim Thorpe was reinvented as a tourist town and mountain resort.  During the anthracite boom, Mauch Chunk was a transportation center for coal coming from the nearby towns.  Once it arrived there, it would be shipped by canal alongside the Lehigh, then the Delaware River until it was loaded onto ships in Bristol, Pa.  Later, when railroads took over, Mauch Chunk was the railroad center for loading trains with coal from the nearby towns.  From World War II onward, the area had been dying after oil replaced coal as the home heating fuel of choice.  Some mines were still operating as late as the early 1970’s, but were manned by a skeletal crew. 

  I remember it was in July when I took these pictures, and it was a bit hazy, so it wasn’t a totally clear day.  The Lehigh River divides the old town of Mauch Chunk on the left from the small part of the former East Mauch Chunk visible on the right.  To the left of center is the Asa Packer mansion, and the building with the clock tower is the Carbon County Courthouse.  The train station is toward the bottom center, and is partially obstructed by the trees.  From this height, the town looks almost like a model train display.  The vista where we stood is actually on the west side of the river, as the bend in the river is also obscured by the trees.   

  I haven’t been up there in a while, but I hope to go back soon and get some more pictures from ground level.  I do have some pictures I took over 10 years ago that I may post here sometime, but I actually snapped those pictures on a disposable film camera.  It was later on when I wanted to get more serious about photography.  Photographing Jim Thorpe is one of the things that got me interested, as I wanted to take people there to see the area, but obviously I can’t take everybody.  Since I couldn’t always bring the people to the places, photography provided me with a way to bring these places to the people.

A Willow Tree's Place in the Game of Golf

  While I was out walking today, I took this picture from a hilly side street near where I live.  Part of that street runs along the border of the Middletown Country Club.  The willow tree pictured here sits by a pond, in a small valley between the hill on the right and the mound on the left.  The fairway lies on the hill to the right, so the object for this hole is to get the ball over the pond and have it land it on the green.  The challenge is to not overshoot or undershoot the ball.  Undershooting can run the risk of landing the ball in or near the water.  Overshooting can take the ball off golf course property.  Just to the right of the green pictured here is a large net meant to catch balls that sail past the green.  However, they often go over and through it.  I know the man who owns that property.  He has told me that he sometimes hears the balls hitting the side of his house, and he is always picking up balls from his yard. 

  Since the golf course property runs along the street, which is another way to lose a stroke.  Even though the street is a little off the trajectory between the hill and the green, aiming the ball too far the wrong way can land it on the concrete.  On the whole, I don’t know how this course rates with professional or experienced golfers.  My only experience has been with miniature of chip and putt courses, so I would find any real golf course challenging.  The only remote idea I have of what it’s like to play 18 holes comes from playing the old Sega Genesis video game about 15 years ago. I don’t think I’d be able to clear that pond or the trees if I had to shoot from the hill.  But in the middle of all that is this willow tree by the pond, which I thought would make a nice picture.

More Pictures of Core Creek Park, Back in May

  I’m going back to the archives again for these pictures, which I took back in May at Core Creek Park.  The lake pictured here is Lake Luxembourg, which was constructed sometime around 1980.  Previously, it was a park named after the creek which ran through it, which was dammed up to form the lake.  Core Creek remains a stream as it enters and leaves the park property, but most of its run within the park limits is now flooded out.

  I’m not an engineer, so I have no real idea how it is planned.  I didn’t see any models or drawings of what the proposed lake was projected to look like.  There are busy roads nearby, and at least one bridge across the creek that probably had to be replaced.  There are several developments around the perimeter of the park, but in 1979 it was almost all farmland, and it was probably far enough away from the lake not to be affected by the flooding.  The development boom came later, in the early and mid-80’s, and this of course would make park side and lakeside properties desirable and expensive.  The houses and estates would maintain a high asking price as long as the flood hazard was minimal.

  Also nearby and just out of the view of the camera is St. Mary Hospital, which borders the park.  I often see medical staff taking walks on their lunch break, and there is a back entrance along the park road for ambulances to get in.  The traffic near the main entrance of the hospital can get congested, so this offers a back way during the rush hours.  There have been some improvements made to the roads near the hospital, but some of them are still narrow and weren’t really built to handle heavy traffic.

  If I remember right, I took these pictures in the mid-afternoon, and they look a little shadowy.  The picture of the field now looks a little blurry to me.  I checked the settings, which were on a relatively low shutter speed.  I forget if I took these pictures on automatic or if I set the controls myself.  I also forget how much I played around with the editing on Picasa. However, there is something I like about the blurriness, perhaps just the way the grass swaying motion is blurred.

The Alternate Plan

A view across Neshaminy Creek at Tyler

Geese on the creek

  Up until Friday, the plan was to do a hike at Island Beach State Park in New Jersey.  However, because of commitments with the children and some home projects, we decided to keep it near home and do a hike at Tyler State Park.  This allowed them to take care of business at home, and also to bring their wives and kids along.  We all ended up doing a fairly short late afternoon walk through Tyler.   I was looking forward to going to the shore, but this worked just as well for me, too.  I was up for a few hours in the middle of the night, and this allowed me to go back to sleep at 6 and get up at 9.  

  It was a little cold, but still a nice November day to go outside.   Most of the leaves have now fallen from the trees, and what still remains on the branches has now turned brown and will soon be gone as well.   Up until about two weeks ago, there were still a lot leaves on the trees, and still a lot of orange, yellow, and red.  But now late autumn has set in, and winter will soon arrive.

Heading to the Shore on Saturday

This Saturday, I plan on taking a day trip to Island Beach State Park in New Jersey, and do some hiking on the trails around the park with my brothers.  The attached photo shows the southern end of the park.  I took that picture from a jetty by the Barnegat Lighthouse, which is across the inlet.  What’s pictured is actually the southernmost point of a long spit, another part of the east coast barrier islands.  The northern end, I believe, joins the mainland Point Pleasant Beach.  I was at Island Beach Park only once before when I was in high school, for a day trip.  I don’t remember much about it, except that it that got cut short by a thunderstorm.  Hopefully, there won’t be any problems this time.  Last I checked, Saturday’s weather is supposed to be mostly sunny.

    I haven’t really studied the route we’ll be taking yet, but a good part of it will go through the Pine Barrens, and will probably border the huge area consisting of the Fort Dix, Maguire AFB, and Lakehurst military bases.  We’ll go through Toms River and then across the Barnegat Bay to Seaside Heights, which has recently been put on the map by a popular reality show.   From there, we’ll drive down to the park.  I don’t know much about the trails we’ll be taking, but since they’re short, I think we’ll be going along several of them.

   Aside from its use as a beach and seaside park, I learned something that I found interesting about Island Beach.  It may not be known as a popular filming location, but I know of at least one movie, or at least part of a movie that was shot there.  When I watched the third segment of Creepshow, I noticed that it looked more like it was shot on the east coast than along the Pacific.  When I checked it out on IMDB, I found it was shot at Island Beach Park.  I didn’t make out clearly the lighthouse in the background, but next time I check out the movie on YouTube, I’ll look for the familiar half red and half white colors of the Barnegat Lighthouse.

     As far as I can remember, I have been to Toms River twice, once when I was passing through on the way to Island Beach Park, and one more time about 15 years ago.  A friend took me to visit his parents’ house, which was a part of the motel they owned on Route 9.  I knew we were near the shore, but it was dark by the time we got there, and Route 9 is a few miles inland.  We stayed a few house, and then were on our way back to Pennsylvania.  Other than that, there are two things I remember about Toms River.  One was that the original Amityville Horror movie was shot there.  The technical crew found a house in the town that was nearly identical with the haunted house in Long Island that was the subject of the film.  The other thing I remember happened more recently, when their little league team won the World Series in Williamsport, Pa.  The stretch of Route 37 running through Toms River is named after the hometown heroes.

  Assuming all goes as planned, I’ll be there on Saturday, and sometime next week I’ll have some pictures and a story posted.  I’ll try to remember to do a little more research on where we’ll be going and the trails we’ll be taking, so I’ll have a better idea. 

 

  

Changing of Seasons at Peddler's Village

    I got out to Peddler’s Village on Friday and took a few pictures.   Right now, it seems like they are between big events, as it seems most of them come in the fall.  Their annual Scarecrow Competition was in October, and the annual Apple Festival usually occurs in early November, probably last weekend.  The next big event is the Illumination Ceremony where all the Holiday lights will go up around the park, which will probably remain lit until New Years.  And, of course, it will kick off their busiest season.  There is also the Gingerbread competition, where all the entries, or at least the highest ranking ones, will be on display in the gazebo.  The most basic rule of the competition is that every visual element of the display must be edible.  I managed to sneak in between these events, and there was still at least some fall foliage left.

  The temperatures were in the 50s and 60s, but with the wind, it felt a little colder, more like a milder winter day.  Since it was Friday, and Veterans Day, a lot of people had off, and there was no school.  There were a good number of children, at least in the enclosed section known as Giggleberry Fair.  There were plenty of people in the carousel area and in the arcades.  Just one small problem I remember. While I was in the bathroom, I heard a child mumbling something to himself, and he didn’t sound good.  As I was walking out the door, I heard him saying something about his stomach not feeling good, which sent up alarms in me right away.  I was suddenly just a little afraid of touching anything or getting too near to anybody there, in case anything was spreading around.  But so far, I am still feeling normal.  But it’s a reminder that that time of year is approaching.

  I saw some people working in the Village Green as I was walking through, probably setting up displays for the Holiday season.  There are already lights set up around the mill house, ready to be fired up on Friday night to start the season.  The transition is underway, and the season will get kicked off Friday night.

Snow Day

  It’s a little early for snow in my area, but yesterday, we got about 2-3 inches.   The forecast had called for rain mixed with some snow, but until Friday night, I don’t remember hearing any talk of accumulation.   Sometime around 9:30-10 am, I started to notice some snowflakes falling in what had started as rain. Soon, it looked like mostly snow, and I figured I had better get out and do my shopping at that time, so I quickly took off and got what we needed.    The snow was just starting to cover the ground when I got back home.

  Once I got inside, I noticed the roads were getting messy, and I wondered if this would turn out to be a surprise snowstorm that caught everyone unaware.  Not long after that, I was getting reports of downed wires and spinouts on the roadways.  The fire siren went off a few times, and every so often I would hear emergency vehicles passing by.  Apparently people weren’t expecting the snow to come until later in the day, and it was now causing a mess.   But since today is supposed to be sunny all day, I think most of it will melt off.  By midweek, we should be back to more seasonable temperatures in the 60’s.

  I remember once back when I was I middle school when we got a few inches of snow in early October.  But between then and now, I don’t remember any real snowy days before November.   It’s usually late December or January before we get any major snowstorms.  Where we live at is just close enough to the ocean to get somewhat milder winters than the rest of the state.  We get plenty of cold weather, but precipitation usually comes with a warm front, so the temperature often warms to around 40 degrees, and it often arrives as rain.

  I guess I’ll take living here over some areas.  Montana and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan are two places I’d like to visit sometime, but only during the summer, or in early fall.  My brothers once encountered snow in June as they crossed the Montana Rockies during a cross-country trip.  That’s unheard of here.  The furthest west I’ve ever been was Indianapolis, and that was on a Labor Day weekend about 9 years ago.  I have taken trips to Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, but both of those journeys were during the summer, as well.  I’ve never been beyond the East Coast during the winter.  I like snow sometimes.  Snow can make anything look nice, and I don’t mind seeing it in October once in a while.  But I don’t want to live in a place where I can’t see the ground between November and April.

Some Fall Pictures from Playwicki Farm

   

 I finally remembered my camera when I went out, and got some fall pictures at Playwicki Farm near my home.  There is something I look forward to as September approaches, and somewhere in late August or early September, we get our first blast of cool air.  Then, as September rolls on into October, I watch as the leaves change and always hope I’ll get a chance to take some pictures once the peak comes.  On Tuesday I was able to take advantage of the opportunity.

  I also noticed that Playwicki Farm has its own scarecrow display somewhat like Peddler’s Village, although I didn’t take any pictures of it.  They seem to just be stuffed leaf figures, and not as elaborate as the contest at Peddler’s Village, and I don’t know if it is an actual contest.   I didn’t notice any awards or indications that it was a competition.   Peddler’s Village, of course, is a popular tourist spot, and is well known along the east coast.  People from all over place entries in the scarecrow contest, and go all out with their designs, modeling them after famous people or characters.  Maybe Playwicki’s display was just designed by park patrons or schoolchildren.  I’ll try to remember to check again soon to see if it is.

My Memories of September 11, a Little Late for the 10th Anniversary

The flag hanging from our porch

  Everyone who remembers September 11, 2001 can recall exactly where they were when they heard the news.  I’m a little late on this, but I’ll share some of my memories of that day.  I was fairly new at my job, having been there about four months.  It was a little humid, but it looked like it was going to be a nice pleasant day as I drove along I-95 to my workplace in Princeton, NJ.  Everything was going as normal for the first few hours, but I started to notice something as I saw all the supervisors and managers talking with each other with concerned looks on their faces.  It wasn’t long before I found out what it was about, as I walked by a woman who had a radio at her desk.  I thought I heard the radio announcer saying something about a plane crashing into one of the World Trade Center towers, and I knew something had happened  I also heard a woman saying that the Capitol Mall was on fire.  I finally put it all together when I asked my friend Bernard, who worked next to me, and he confirmed that two hijacked planes had crashed into the World Trade Center towers, making it obvious there had been a terrorist attack like none other before or, so far, since.  

  A while later, an all staff meeting was called in the main auditorium/conference rooms, the chairs were arranged with two monitors set up showing live footage from ground zero.  By that time, both towers had collapsed.  I then found out it was the Pentagon, not the Capitol Mall that was on fire, although the Capitol Building was later revealed as an intended target.  I forget exactly when and how I heard about flight 93 crashing in western Pennsylvania.  We were addressed by the CEO, a good man who had friends working in the World Trade Center.   After addressing the situation, he closed up shop for the day, and I was soon on my way home.  I had no idea what might happen next.  I had a feeling that theterrorists might not be finished yet, and since there are several nuclear power plants within 200 miles of me, my concern was that they might be the next target.

    Back home, I spent the rest of the day watching the news, on television and online.  I walked out onto the golf course near my home that night, and since all planes had been grounded, the sky was unusually silent.  Since I live in a metropolitan area, near several airports and military bases, the sky was normally full of lights from low flying planes, but not that night.  All aircraft had been grounded, and the highways of the air were closed.

  Although business would soon return to normal, there were some things that would not be the same again.  If nothing else, we now had a reason to always be looking over our shoulders.  Something like this didn’t seem unthinkable to me, but just so highly unlikely that I didn’t think it was much to worry about.  It did happen, however.  And it did provide some inspiration and patriotism.  In the aftermath, outgoing New York mayor Rudy Giuliani was transformed from tabloid fodder to a national hero.  The NYPD and FDNY, to whom risking life and limb was their livelihood, would get hero status as well.  It became fashionable to display American flags, although it was apparent many people weren’t familiar with flag etiquette.  The words “God Bless America” began showing up on signs everywhere.  Perhaps a spirit of patriotism could help today.  It won’t make the economy better by itself, of course, but it may inspire something positive that can make a difference.  

Historic Fallsington Day

Travis loves heavy machinery

The give and take jugglers

  Last Saturday, I visited nearby Fallsington for their annual Historic Fallsington Day.  Since my sister-in-law grew up across the main road from the village, she goes there every year.  Beside that, it offers her yet another chance to catch up with her many friends.  I’m a fan of small towns, and these kinds of main street block parties, so I came along.  As with most block parties like this, the streets were lined mainly with concession stands and arts and crafts vendors.  There were plenty of hot dog stands, since hot dogs are easy to make and a good way to raise money at events like this. The center stage was at a large x-shaped intersection known as Meetinghouse Square, which was probably the center of the village back in colonial times, when it actually was a small village surrounded by farmland. 

  These kinds of events are naturally family-oriented, so there was plenty of family entertainment.  Several entertainers were on the program, but we were just there long enough to see a set by the Give and Take Jugglers, and a children’s folksinger whose name I forgot.  When we parked in the grass at the elementary school, we pulled up next to a young woman in unusual looking tight clothes who was freaked out by a spider she saw in her car. The insect had disappeared, but remained somewhere inside the car and now she couldn’t find it.  I saw her a little while later. It turned out she was a gymnast and trapeze artist who performed with the jugglers.  I didn’t get a picture of her performing, because I didn’t have the camera on hand at the time.  But I did get about half of her on the edge of one of my photos, while she was off to the side.

  We headed back home after about two hours.  The program lasted until about 3 or 4 in the afternoon, and there were several more shows to go at the main stage.  My sister-in-law didn’t get to meet all her friends, but since we had the baby, we were on his schedule, and had to get him home for a nap.  We were soon on our way, and that was it for this year.

Sign of the Times

The former Stockburger's lot

  This is a picture I took back in June.  The abandoned building and lot belong to the former Stockburger Chevrolet dealership in Newtown, Pa.  When I zoomed in on the façade on the right side of the photo, I saw what looked like the Stockburger name on the façade.  I guess that’s about all that’s left of it.  And, of course, this isn't the only one, as there are a few dealerships I can think of that closed recently.  Stores go out of business all the time, but lately, with the economy being what it is, I have been seeing a lot of retailers closing their doors.  Borders bookstore comes to mind, although it may be more than just the economy that led to their folding.  I may do an entry on the Oxford Valley Borders, which used to be my favorite bookstore, but right now, I’ll focus on what is seen in this picture.

  I remember Stockburger used to do radio and television ads, making sure to identify their location as beautiful downtown Newtown.  It sat on the corner of Sycamore Street and Richboro Road, across from the 7-11.  Just a block or two away is Bill Marsh Ford, which was Stockburger’s biggest competitor, or at least the nearest one.  In the same way that Newtown is celebrated for its antiquity, the rivalry between Ford and GM is an old American tradition in and of itself.  Now, at least within the small corporate limits of Newtown Borough, it looks like Marsh will have no competition for the time being.

  Maybe things will turn around, and scenes like this will become less frequent.  I don’t know how, but hopefully the economy will bounce back, and with it business and hiring will pick up again, too.  I normally don’t watch president’s speeches, and I didn’t watch Obama’s address on Thursday night, either.  However, I do check the recap online, usually on NPR.  I have a general idea what his proposals are, and I just hope whatever is done, the end result will be fewer scenes like the one pictured here. 

The Ship Has Arrived

The UBC Mariel

...and the tugboat

                                     

  I’m going back to the archives for my entry today.  I’m going back to April, when I took a ride to the Bristol (PA) waterfront.  It’s one of my favorite nearby places to visit, just a nice little historic town on the Delaware River, although some of the neighborhoods surrounding the town are notoriously rough.  But I love the antiquity of Bristol Borough along the Delaware.  On top of that, it was a beautiful day, and I finally had my camera with me when a ship came by.

  After parking in the municipal parking lot and getting out of my car, I heard a faint siren, which was coming from the Burlington Bristol Bridge.  That meant it was about to open.  I left my camera in the car, so I had to run back and get it, and then hurry along the walkway to the riverfront and get into position.  I made it in time, and I was ready to go as I looked up the river and saw the ship coming, accompanied by a tugboat. 

  After I returned home, and uploading the pictures, I was able to zoom in on the name of the ship, and then look it up online.  It was the UBC Mariel, and its homeport is St John’s, Antigua.  I haven’t researched Antigua much, and don’t know much about it other than its location in the Carribean.  I assume the ship just sailed up the east coast to get there.  I didn’t look into what kind of cargo the ship might have been carrying or unloading.  I think there was much more ship traffic on the river when the US Steel Fairless Works was in operation.

New York State of Mind in the Park

52nd Street Band in action

  I’ve been trying to expand lately.  I like to take pictures of places, usually parks and rural settings.  That’s how my interest in photography got started in the first place.  There were places I liked to go and tell people about, but obviously, I can’t take everybody everywhere I go.  So I figured if I can’t take the people to those places, photography is a way of bring the places to the people.  I started taking pictures with disposable cameras, and then brought a point-and-shoot film camera.  Over the next few years, I received another point-and-shoot film camera, and later a point-and-shoot digital.  A few years ago, my brothers pooled together and got me a Canon A-590 Power Shot Digital.  I still don’t have an SLR, but I like the Canon I have now, and I still want to master it before I buy an SLR.

    Having taken plenty of pictures of places, I haven’t taken many pictures of people yet.  That’s where I’m trying to expand.  I started with taking some pictures of my small nephews, and I’ll eventually try to get some pictures of concerts and sporting events.  I had an opportunity last week at the park, when the 52^nd Street Band played the Wednesday Night concert series.  As the name would suggest, they are a Billy Joel tribute band.  I caught only a few songs, but found a fairly decent spot to take pictures, and continue the learning process by trial and error.

  It was getting dark, so that presented another area I could expand into with my photography.  I had to play around with the modes, and then adjust the digital settings to find what would be the best kind of picture I could get.  I found one I could really use, and the others turned out too dark to really do anything with.  The process continues.  About the band, I’m not a huge Billy Joel fan, but in general I like his songs, and liked the way the 52^nd Street Band played them.  To check them out, their official site is 52ndstreetband.com, and they can be found on Myspace and Facebook.

Lake Caroline

Lake Caroline, Fairless Hills, PA

 

  I had been driving past Lake Caroline all my life, but until last week, but had never stopped there.  We passed by it all the time.  It was on the way to relative’s houses, or to places we would shop, but I don’t remember stopping there.  It seemed to be just that lake, which I think is a dammed up section of the Queen Anne Creek.  There is some park space around it, but other than that, there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of recreation.  Across Oxford Valley Road is a public golf course, which I think is part of the park property. 

  Since the weather was sunny and pleasant, I decided to stop and get some pictures.  The park is adjacent to the Lower Bucks County Chamber of Commerce, and I went through their parking lot.  Since it’s a small park, and most of it is just open grassy space, there weren’t a whole lot of people.  There were a few families fishing, so I guess the lake is stocked.   Since there weren’t any trees except around the lake and the perimeter of the park, the only thing people could do on the grass is bake in the sun.

  I’ll be making my back to a lot of these places soon.  Fall is coming, and I plan on getting some foliage shots in the parks around my area.

Deer in the Camera Light

I saw this in Core Creek Park on Saturday, and right away knew that I had a very limited window of time to get a picture of that deer.  I was walking from a trail in the woods that led out into the cornfield, and there it was.  I tried to play around as much as I could, frantically adjusting the settings with my limited technical photography skills.  A natural canopy was formed by the trees and the corn, as well as the shadow on the ground to effectively form a large black tunnel.  The open field looked like a small box on a black wall, and the deer stood near the center of it, and now it was looking dead at the camera.  This isn’t something that happens every day, so I wanted to get a picture.  It wasn’t going to win a Pulitzer Prize, but it was something different.  There are lots of deer around, but they don’t just pop out and look right in my direction when I have my camera on me.

  I just did the best I could in those few seconds, with the equipment and whatever skills I had .  What’s seen in this picture is the furthest the zoom could extend.  I played around quickly with the ISO and shutter speed, to get the best light.  As far as composition, I think the result follows the general rules, but obviously a deer can move faster than I can move or adjust the camera.  In the end, though, I was able to snap the picture while he/she was still looking in my direction.

This was once an Amusement Park

Burlington Island from the Bristol waterfront

  I remember going to the waterfront in Bristol when I was a child.  My parents would sometimes take us to look at the boats that went up and down the river.  The waterfront park we watched from sits across the river from Burlington Island, which I later learned was once the site of an amusement park.  There was a lake contained within the island, and several rides, including a roller coaster, Ferris wheel, and a carousel.  But by the time I was a child and visited the waterfront, any visible semblance of an amusement park was long gone.  There are some old ruins that can be seen by the boaters who stop on the island, but nothing that can be seen from the Pennsylvania shore.

  To learn more about the island’s history, I did a quick online search and found out there was more to it than just the amusement park.  At one time the island was inhabited and it is in fact the site of the first European settlement in what would become New Jersey.  It had held a fort and a trading post at different times.  Around 1900 it became a recreational park, and soon the rides were built.  It lasted until 1928, when a fire destroyed most of the rides, and another fire in 1934 finished off what was left of the amusement park.  Later it was owned by Penn Warner Cement Company, although I don’t know if the island itself had a specific use for them.  It is now managed by the City of Burlington.

  During its amusement park heyday, Burlington Island obviously could only be reached by boat from Bristol, so people got to the island by ferry.  On the Burlington side, the channel is fairly narrow, so there may have been foot bridges connecting the island to the land.  If there were foot bridges, they are gone now.  Any ferries across the river, of course, are long gone as well, but the island is still accessible to boaters.  From the pictures I have seen, there is a trail there, and some relics from the old amusement park. The boaters who visit the island use it for fishing, and some adventurous activities like diving into the lake. 

A View of Pemberton Lake

  As I made my way back from Long Beach Island two weeks ago, I was looking for a place to take a few pictures.  I wanted to get pictures somewhere in the interior of New Jersey, along the way between there and here.  Since a good part of the drive is through the vast Pine Barrens, I wanted to get some shots there, along Route 72.  I could have pulled over, but I felt safer if I could find a place to park and leave the car for a few minutes, so I passed through the 20 miles of pinelands.  As I went from 72 to Magnolia Road at the Four Mile Circle, I remembered the large lake along Magnolia Road, and I thought that would be a good place to get some pictures of a natural area.

  As usual, the weather was hot and sticky on the way home.  Once I got out of the car and made my way to the small clearing to take the pictures, I was reminded that the insects are abundant at this time of year, especially near lakes and rivers.  I heard the mosquitoes, and felt one or two ants on me as I tried to shoot the pictures.  It was best to just get in and get out.  So I was back in my car and on my way in about three minutes, and not long after that was over the bridge and back in Pennsylvania.

  I’m not very familiar with the town of Pemberton itself.  The route I take to the shore bypasses it.  It sits on the edge of the Pine Barrens, and also near Fort Dix, which together with Maguire Air Force Base and the Lakehurst Naval Base occupy a good stretch of Burlington and Ocean Counties.  Although this area has seen its share of development, there is still a good amount of farm land nearby, and along with it several roadside farm markets.

    With its proximity to the Pine Barrens, the Pemberton Lake area has some of that region’s folklore attached to it.  A few miles down Magnolia Road, toward the Four Mile Circle, it merges with Ong’s Hat Road.  Supposedly, a man named Jacob Ong threw his hat in the air, and it landed hanging on a pine tree branch, somewhere in the vicinity of where that road now sits.  For a general idea of the people and folklore of the Pine Barrens, I would recommend The Pine Barrens by John McPhee.  Just keep in mind that this book was published in 1968, and the culture of the people there may have changed drastically since then, although the region has remained mostly rural.    

  I hope to get back to that area sometime, because I do want to take some more pictures of the Pine Barrens.  My goal would be to take them from the top of Apple Pie Hill, the highest point in the Pine Barrens, with the vast forest of pines below.  Right now, I’m glad I have these pictures to post here.

LBI Pics for This Year

The beach in the evening

Veteran's Bicentennial Park

Bay Village, showing the ship

Bistro 14 in Bay Village

Country Kettle Fudge Store

    I made my annual trip to Long Beach Island last week.  My family rents a house there for a week at the end of July, and I usually join them toward the end of that week.  I love the island, and spending time there, but I find a few days there are enough for me.  I don’t participate much in the water sports or spend much time on the beach, at least not during the midday hours.  I spend most of that time inside, usually reading or listening to the radio and checking the Jersey Shore radio stations.  Sometimes I’ll venture out for a brief period and get some pictures, like the ones I have posted here. 

  The main attraction to the island is, of course, its natural setting, along the ocean and the bay. There is plenty to do in those two places. But there are also plenty of man-made attractions that help people spend their money, and can in and of themselves bring people to the island during the off season.   It lies in Ocean County, which is blessed with an abundance of beachfront and Pine Barrens land.  Tourism is probably its main industry.  LBI itself occupies 18 miles of shoreline, and most of the Barnegat Bay lies within the county boundaries.  And I can’t forget to mention that Seaside Heights and Island Beach State Park are in Ocean County too.  That town, of course, is host to a popular reality show that, if nothing else, has created its own media sensation and made 15 minute stars of its cast.  I don’t know what direct effect that show has had on tourism for Ocean County, but for the past few years it has been featured weekly to a nationwide audience.

    Long Beach Island probably got its name because it is long and narrow, running 18 miles from top to bottom, and never more than a few blocks wide from the ocean to the bay.  This is typical of the barrier islands that line the east coast from New England to Florida.  There is one bridge/causeway to take traffic on and off the island, near the geographical center at Ship Bottom.  At Ron Jon’s Surf Shop, the causeway ends as it runs into the main boulevard of the island, where most of the shops and restaurants are located.  In each of the towns, water towers bearing the town names are visible from the boulevard, letting travelers know where they’re at.  Since we stay in Beach Haven, near the bottom of the island, I make a right and go south along the boulevard.  Going left would lead toward the lighthouse, and through the more affluent communities of Harvey Cedars and Loveladies, where those who can afford it are yearlong residents with beachfront and bayfront houses. 

  I go through several of the beach towns as I make my way down the boulevard toward Beach Haven.  Each town is marked by its own water tower, which also serves to let the vacationers know where they’re at.  There are many other visual cues that let me know that I ‘m nearing my destination.  There are also many favorite places I try to visit each time I travel to LBI, most of which within walking distance of where I stay in Beach Haven.  I have plenty of pictures from past years that I may post later.  Right now, I here is what I have for this year, posted above.

A Visit to Styer's

   I took a ride to Styer Orchards today, which is a fairly popular destination in my area, or at least it was at one time.  Often, relatives who came by to visit made sure to stop there, since they were nearby.  I had my camera on me and took a few pictures of the fields around the market.  As can be seen in these pictures, the fields immediately behind the market are mostly empty, with a few cornfields.  And a row of small pines that look like they might be Christmas trees.  The actual orchards they are famous for are farther off. 

  Their specialty is apples, with basketfuls of different kinds of apples, as well as apple cider and apple pies.  They would always have a box of complimentary small apples that anyone can pick from.  They also had a cider fountain that dispensed for about a dime a cup if I remember right.  Today, the free apples are no longer there, but the fountain is still around.  The cups of cider are now 75 cents, which still sounds cheap to me, since it is under a dollar.  At one time during the mid-90’s, I was told that cider was no longer produced on the premises, but I think their mill is back up and running today, since their own brand is back on the shelves.  It must be exclusive, since I don’t see it in any supermarkets in the area, and most people I have shared it with are not familiar with it.

     Over time, the area around Styer’s has changed.  Other than the orchards on their property, the surrounding farmland has long since been replaced by housing developments.   Across the railroad embankment and Woodbourne Road once sat Buehl Field, which was a popular air field where people could take rides in a single engine plane for 10 dollars.  Sometime in the 90’s, the field was razed to make way for the over 55 community that stands there now.  There also used to be a small turkey farm right along the tracks, across the road.  I remember seeing and hearing the turkeys from outside the store.  I don’t remember exactly what happened to the turkeys, but they too are long gone. 

  Regardless of what has changed, I’m glad the best things (to me, anyway) about Styer’s still remain.  The orchards and the market are still there, and the apples and by-products they’re known for are still being produced and sold.  Hopefully the old line “some things never change” will remain true here for the foreseeable future.