Dec
6
2015
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.
Jun
15
2014
Being a father is not a right. It is a privilege. Sunday was Father’s Day. My son called me to wish me “Happy Father’s Day.” I did not hear from my daughter: she had hung up on me several weeks ago and cursed me out. I had written her a letter and she reacted violently to my words. Either we have a relationship based on truth or we have no relationship. It is her choice not to talk to me. I am not her friend but her Dad. And I will continue to speak the truth whether or not she likes it.
Lynelle and I celebrated Father’s Day by taking the Millersburg ferry across the Susquehanna River and eating at a great restaurant that was walking distance. Millersburg is a great quaint town. I took many pictures with my new digital camera of the river and of the town. I could not think of a better way to spend Father’s Day.
Apr
29
2013
My birthday was actually two weeks long this year. My sisters (and their husbands) threw me a birthday bash at a beautiful restaurant with the Susquehanna River in the background. My sister in California arranged her itinerary (she and her husband were going to Spain) to be there. 
The last time were were all together was two summers ago although this time my nephew and wife were there. We were a party of thirteen. I also invited some friends. The weather was perfect (we ate on the deck of the restaurant) and so was the food. We were commemorating my sixty-fifth birthday. My one sister made the same cake my Mom used to make for our birthdays. She went to a lot of trouble for me. I don’t have many relatives but they are scattered from Shore to Shore. Maybe if I make it we will have a seventieth birthday party. We will see.
Jan
1
2011
“501 Must Visit Natural Wonders Of The World,” is a book I have that has extraordinary accompanying photos on glossy paper. I think this book was a Christmas present to my wife. I am sure I bought it in the discount bin of a big book store.
Every once in a while I open it up and view one amazingly beautiful photo after another. Travelling is not an option for me. It is not that I would not mind.
If you can’t view the beauty right in front of you, a trip to one of these spots would be a waste of time and money. I do not feel impoverished. I am still thrilled every spring when life awakens.
For that matter, winter has its own beauty. The Susquehanna River viewed from the top of the valley still takes my breath away. Snowfalls isolate the street I live on and all the trees that are covered with white. This only happens a few times a year.
I still love watching the birds come to and fro my feeders I view out side our large living room window. It was not that long ago that the slate covered juncos came back. I have a friend that calls them ‘snow birds’.
I have no need to go far to see beauty. You first have to see what is in front of you before you travel at great expense to see the foreign and the exotic. I will leaf through this book but I will not lust after these places depicted in glossy photographs.
I know there is much to see in my own backyard so I don’t have to go far to see beauty. I just have to open my eyes and pay closer attention. Wonders are all around.
Feb
5
2010
A snow storm was coming. The waitress said, “I don’t care, I don’t work tomorrow, let it snow.”
I overheard another say, that later the snow will be heavy–a few inches an hour.
The person I was sitting next to said, ‘Lancaster will get it worse.’
There were all kind of rumors floating about the oncoming storm.
I heard an fragment of a conversation regarding the policy of gays in the military, “If it is not broke don’t fix it.” And then, ‘If someone comes out, they will be killed.’
All this while I was enjoying my bottomless cup of coffee.
On the way home I briefly stopped at the shore of the Susquehanna River, as I often do after I stop at the diner, quickly glanced at the River’s surface, which seemed pretty calm. There was no indication a storm was set to arrive in a few hours.
I saw someone must have launched a boat in the River. A truck was parked there. It must have been a die hard fisherman. It was bitterly cold and the middle of winter. I shrugged my shoulders. I finally went home.
Oct
17
2009
I still watch birds after all these years. I love identifying them and seeing a new species for the first time. I have four feeders which I can view from my large living room window.
The one filled with suet is placed near the trunk of my large white pine tree. I still get a kick out of watching the downy woodpeckers come and go up and down the trunk of the tree seemingly at attention.
The beauty of the larger red bellied woodpecker still takes my breath away. Other species of woodpeckers have come but usually it is only the downy woodpecker and the occasional red bellied.
I spotted a grosbeak feeding on the ground the last two days but I am still trying to pin down the exact species. I had never seen one before.
I was driving once on a major highway and a ruffed grouse literally “exploded” in front of me missing my windshield by inches.
Every time I visit a friend there is the same blue heron wading in the same spot in the same pond as if it had not moved an inch in weeks.
It was not until I had moved to this state did I see a great egret, a big majestic white bird. Now I search for a glimpse of him every time as I travel along the Susquehanna River. They migrate South in the Fall. The egrets usually can be found wading at the perimeter of the islands. Usually I see the smaller white snowy egret, though.
God has made so many types of birds and I glory in his creations. When I least expect it I see a new species. I still love watching and identifying birds after more than a half of century. I feel old now.
Sep
28
2009
I stood at the River’s banks. Usually after I had coffee and sometimes breakfast at the local diner on the way home I would stop at the bank of the River and gaze out at the surface of the water and the mountains. I never spent a long time there.
It has been several months since I was at this spot. The wind was blowing on the surface of water stirring it up. It was not too cold and not too warm. Rain clouds were in the distance.
Fall had come. There was a slight chill in the air although I really wasn’t cold yet. Coming here is always like entering another world. Sure I often pass the River from a distance but peering out from its shore is always a different experience.
Too much time had passed from my last visit. Now I no longer wanted to be here. It was a little uncomfortable although it still was a mild sixty-two degrees. I knew I would now only view the River from a distance until it got warmer again.
There was some regret: too much time had passed since my last visit. I had missed too much. Its face is always different: The lighting is always different on the sky, water and mountains and trees. Every visit. I now will await the warmer weather.
Jun
19
2009
Familiarity breeds discontent. Sometimes paradise is in your own backyard. For example I had no idea a large patch of raspberries lay in the furthermost right corner of my yard. I discovered that accidentally when a surveyor came in because we had to know the exact boundary of our property.
I considered driving twenty minutes to go to a state park to go fishing. I looked around and realized I only had to drive a few minutes to be at the shore of the River, which usually was deserted. Paradise is always somewhere else.
I decided to stay put. I plan on watching the sun go down on the mountains of the nearby Susquehanna River. I simply will bring my Coleman lantern for light. I may even build a fire to enjoy the darkness which will descend on the River.
I also considered camping there. There is even a closer area for me to camp only mere minutes from me–Lake Heron. Sometimes you have to take a closer look at your surroundings to determine you do not have to go far to find paradise.
Toads of all sizes keep appearing in front of our garage attracted by the night light. You never know when a box turtle will turn up at our footsteps. We discovered that another bird built a nest only steps away from our door. Today I saw a bird alight on it but was not able to identify it for it flew away too quickly.
There is so much beauty in our own backyard. I simply have to open my eyes to see what is actually in front of me. I really do not have to go far to land in paradise. It is here. Right in front of me all along. I just have to pay attention.
Jun
10
2009
I have fallen in love with Central Pennsylvania especially the county I live in–Perry County. It is God’s country if you allow me to be that presumptuous. There is open space here. Farms, valleys and two major rivers, the Susquehanna and the Juniata, lay here.
The ride up the Juniata valley on Route 322 literally takes my breath away: it is so beautiful. Closer to home, every time I drive into town I want to capture its beauty on film of the view offered from the hill of the Susquehanna River and its valley crisscrossed by various small islands.
I live on the edge of country. From my window I watch the birds come to and fro my feeders. I was thrilled yesterday when I saw an indigo bunting alight on the ground.
We have had bears raid our bird feeders several times. In fact, this state is second in the nation for bear hunting. The smallmouth bass fishing from the two Rivers is superb. I never forgot my first trips up the Rivers on a airboat. It was like entering a world I had no idea even existed.
There is so much beauty here and people who have lived here all their lives do not always fully appreciate it. I do. I grew up near NYC where there were not too many open spaces.
We are less than an hour away from Hershey and Harrisburg, maybe three hours from NYC and Baltimore. It is the best of two worlds. I do not take this beauty here for granted. The neighboring counties are running out of land to build on.
I would like Perry County to remain in an unspoiled state as much as possible for the next generation and subsequent ones. Perry County is a treasure I would like others to experience.
Apr
30
2009
I only spend a short time there: After a quick cup or two of coffee at the local diner, I drive to the nearby Susquehanna River. I view the ever-changing water and mountains lit by the upcoming dawn. It is such a short time I spend here but it may be the most important part of my day.
The seconds here (and they are not more than that) remind me there is a world, universe just below my sight that I have no idea of. I am transported to another world. The time here reminds me I have to be aware what is just beneath my eyes may be a world I know nothing of.
This tantalizes me. It also prompts me to be more alert of every step I take. The familiar may have become too familiar. Habits sometimes imprison you and somehow you need to free yourself of them and see what truly is there for the first time.
My short visit to The River is a reminder that I often have blinders on and must take them off. There is world after world just below the worlds we are familiar with.
Even your own backyards which you view every day can become too familiar to you and if you can change your focus another universe will open up to you. Universe after universe is right under your eyes. There are no lack of universes to explore. All you have to do is remove the veil under your eyes. My visit to the shore of the River is a daily reminder of this.
Apr
24
2009
I love my local diner. For the first five and a half years I did not even set foot in it. It is a mere three miles from my house. Finally I started going there. I was waking up early and frankly was lonely. My wife was not up yet.
At first, I would just get a cup of coffee there. I was learning about the lives of the waitresses (I do not like the word server) in dribs and drabs. I learned that Sharon had almost worked there for thirty years. She loved what she did. And there was Jane and others whose lives I slowly entered.
They were making a living from serving me (and others) but it was more than that. They had running relationships with most of their customers. The local diner’s rules were pretty relaxed: I saw customers going in back of the counters and serving themselves coffee because the waitress was just too busy at the moment.
I would sit at the counter taking in all the conversations around me. You might say I was eavesdropping without being too obvious about it. I heard some big tales especially about hunting. This county shuts down when hunting season for deer starts the Monday after Thanksgiving. In fact, this state ranks two in the nation for bear hunting. Some of the tidbits and snatches of conversation I heard were fascinating.
I would not talk to too many people. I could tell some customers, particularly the men, were curious who I was. I would take my time, let them take me in. One waitress asked me if I had just moved here. It was only last summer when my town had their 200 year anniversary. I realized I had to do things a little differently if I wanted to meet people in this town.
I started watering the plants in the post office and gradually grew to know the postmaster and the other clerk: we became friends after a period of months. I would water the plants six days a week. And not only that, I would run into other people.
I started going to a local church where I felt very comfortable and met people in my community there. Going to the local diner was just another step in my involvement into the community.
Going to the diner had other ramifications: I would occasionally go to the the Susquehanna River which was less than an hundred yards away. I went there today and mist was rising in swirls from the surface of the water. It took my breath away. I have spent more time visiting the River in my town since I started going to the diner the last four weeks than in the first five and half years I have lived here. All because I am occasionally getting my morning coffee at my local diner.
It is an absolutely magnificent River. It is another world. You never know what you are going to see there. It could be a bald eagle or a great egret or some other exotic bird or creature. Usually when you least expect it. I missed having being able to walk to it which had been a five minute walk from my house in Duncannon. Now I am back. There are so many reasons visiting the diner has changed my life. Visiting The River is only one reason.
Apr
9
2009
I live in paradise. My house is on the edge of the country. There is a farm a quarter of a mile away. 
Within 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.
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.
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