I never forgot one visit by the couple who lived in NYC. I wanted to show them the the Susquehanna River at night. To get to our vantage point we had to pass under a railroad trestle and it was a little bit muddy. She refused to go there because she might get her shoes a little bit dirty. All I could do was shake my head. Thus she missed seeing how beautiful the river looked at night.

NYC Is Another World

Author: siggy

NYC is another world.  I was there briefly–forty-eight hours.  So many people.  All, seemingly, in a rush.  Surrounded by thousands of people.  I took the subway to get around.  It is a world I am not in too often any more.  I was glad to get back home surrounded by trees and quiet.  My dogs gave me a terrific greeting jumping all over me when I entered my house.  I left my wife for my trip.  It is difficult for us to go away with our menagerie–all four dogs and seven cats.  Maybe, once a year my wife and I go away usually to the NJ shore.  I was glad to get home.  To peace and quiet although I was glad to see part of my family in New York if only briefly.  NY city is just another world.

I used to be addicted to playing pinball machines.  I would be coming home from collecting money from my paper route customers.  It was 42 cents for a week of newspaper delivery and many of my customers would give me two quarters and tell me to keep the change so I often would have a pocket full of change, particularly quarters.  Before I went home, I would often play pinball at the local candy store.  That is what you called them back in those days.  You know it was a long time ago.  Playing a game of pinball only cost a quarter.  And not only that you got five balls per game.  Today one game costs 50 cents and you only get three balls.  Inflation, indeed!  Of course the days of five balls per game and a quarter each game go back almost fifty years.  I am dating myself.  I, also, remember when gasoline was 33 cents a gallon.  All those days are long gone.  Of course, those days you made a whole lot less a week.  In 1970, I made an $100 a week and thought that was a lot.  Then tickets to the Fillmore East were $3.50, $4.50 and $5.50.  Those were the days.

Even in NYC others want a connection with nature.  I was visiting my friend there and I noted facing one window were all kinds of houseplants.  Yes, you are surrounded by concrete pavements and buildings but others still desire that connection.  Sure there are parks in the City.  And they are well attended.  I remember going to one nearby my friend.  And huddled in one bush was a robin.  I never had seen one in February before.  It is so easy to feel divorced from the world God has created living in such a big city.  It is just a little bit harder there but the popularity of houseplants indicate but (???) every person wants that connection.  A world really never too far away.  There is the wind, the sun, rain and even snow and even the ubiquitous pigeon that remind you there (???) nature is not too far away.  It just seems that way sometimes.

Everytime I see a bright red cardinal in my backyard I am awed by its beauty.  I could not believe it when I was in the car and my passengers could not identify one that flew across our car.

My visitors were from NYC and maybe never saw one in the heart of the City.  It is such a common songbird yet such a beautiful one and the sighting of the male never fails to take my breath away.

The female is quite drab yet if you see her usually her mate is not too far away for they mate for life.  They love to feed on the sunflower seed I put out in the yard although they are more wary than some others birds that come to the birdseed I put out.

It is always a treat to see the brightly red colored male.  And I don’t take them for granted.  My heart always skips a beat when I spot a male.

It Amazes Me Every Time

Author: siggy

It amazes me every time I go to a four way stop in crowded town and each car lets the other make a turn.  I know drivers in other areas of the country are not so polite.  I have lived or driven in NYC and NY and drivers are not that polite.  It is dog eats dog to use a cliche.  It never fails to amaze me.  Is it the slower pace here?  I just don’t know.  Central Pennsylvania is another world.

Every time I pass a river or creek I want to look upstream or downstream. I don’t know always know why. On certain bridges, I hope to spot a great egret or a snowy egret, a considerably smaller bird, although both are completely white.

It always has something to do with the unknown. I never know exactly what to expect. Even when the river is parallel to the road I still try to peer between the rapidly passing trees to see what I could see.

Every body of water fascinates me from no matter from what vantage point I view it–car, train, whatever. I have been this way as long as I remember.

I keep my eyes peeled for any ducks or other kind of birds that I pass always wanting to identify them. I was amazed that one of two visiting friends (from NYC) could not identify a bird as common as a male cardinal. I guess you do not see many birds in the middle of the city.

I have always made it my business to name the birds I see. And if I see one I don’t recognize, I try to remember some distinct feature of it so I can consult my bird book and properly identify it.

I always pay attention to the birds around me. I grew up in the city but my Mom had a garden with all kinds of things in it including tomatoes and all kind of flowers, an apricot tree and even a fig tree. And that is, of course, an incomplete list.

On weekends my Dad often took us to the mountains and seashore and lakes. I owe both of my parents a great debt for introducing me to nature. I grew to love birds and took care studying them and loved to identify them–even from a speeding car. I learned to respect nature and the wild.

The brightly red colored cardinal (the male of course) still takes my breath away.  Every time.  It is one of the most beautiful song birds I have ever seen.  I was amazed when my friends could not identify it when it crossed the road right in front of us.  (They live in NYC.)  I also love hearing it sing.  It is still one of my favorite song birds.  And still relatively common.

When I see the bird feed on the ground there are generally two at one time–his drably colored female is usually with him.  They mate for life.  As a rule they are somewhat cautious and flush easily.  It is always a treat for me to see the male.

I watch plants grow.  The tomatoes still on the vine I am keeping a close eye on.  Periodically I check the ten day forecast:  frost has not come yet although October is in the second week.  I will pluck off the remaining tomatoes before the temperature hits 32 degrees overnight.

Sometimes I just pay attention to the plants growing wild.  I observed how beautifully colored that swath of grass was–a deep burgundy.  I never paid attention to those wild grasses before.

You never know what you will notice growing wild (or even in the confines of your home).  A few weeks ago I discovered one tiny mushroom in my ivy plant.  The next time I looked it was gone.

My wife planted a twig of a cactus in a coffee cup on the kitchen window ledge and it must have sprouted roots for I observed it growing.  It was only a tiny discovery but it still gave me pleasure to observe.

Some indoor plants I do not pay attention to for days and sometimes weeks and then I suddenly notice it has grown.

Even in NYC where almost everything is paved over people want to connect with nature.  My friend whose party I went to, his whole kitchen window was full of plants.

Everywhere I go people like watching plants grow.  It is their connection to nature and the outdoors.

I live in paradise.  My house is on the edge of the country.  There is a farm a quarter of a mile away.  goats3Within a mile a family has chickens, goats, and horses.  I love seeing the baby goats when they are so tiny.

The view from my large living room window is another portal into paradise.  I watch a steady stream of birds come into my view.  Birds I have never seen anywhere appear at my feeders like the magnificent red bellied woodpecker.  About once a year I see the exotic fifteen-inch red crested piliated woodpecker although it is far more likely I hear its wild cackle first.

We even had a brush or two from the local black bear who now stays away.  Our four dogs who now are enclosed by a large wooden picket fence now frighten him away.

There is so much beauty here and sometimes I do not see it.  I forget I grew up in the city–a large town.  I can see cottontails play outside from my kitchen window.  My two friends, a couple I have know for years, are going to visit us next week from NYC.  To them this is wild country.woodscreek I now have to view the land from their standpoint, change my perspective.  It is too easy to become blind to your surroundings.  Somehow I need to lift the veil that has grown in front of me and again see the beauty around me.

I had fallen in love with Central Pa.  I knew things had changed when once I was coming back from NJ (where I had lived for the past two decades) and I thought, “I am coming home”.  It is paradise here and I have to remind myself of that fact.  Every time I drive up the Juanita Valley, my breath is taken away by its magnificent view of the River and its surrounding mountains.  Even closer to home, when I drive into town from the back way and peer down into the Susquehanna River Valley, I can easily imagine I am viewing the fjords of Norway.  The universe is in my own backyard.  All I have to do is open my eyes.  It’s here.  I do not have to travel to Maine, Alaska or Hawaii.  It is all here.  Paradise.