The 12th Day of Christmas

Today is Epiphany, a Christian holiday celebrating the visit of the Magi (the wisemen) to the infant Jesus in the Manager in Bethlehem. It is also known as the 12th and last day of Christmas - and is the traditional day that folks take down the Christmas decorations and put the Christmas tree out for pickup.

For me, the Christmas holiday isn't over until I get to see the Christmas display at Longwood Gardens.

I'll do a more complete entry on this year's visit to the gardens later - physical therapy has been brutal of late, and its a struggle for me to type much at one time.

However, here's a sneak preview...



Inside the conservatory - the theme is red and white flowers. Breath-taking...visually, aromatically, aurally and when you get to the hot chocolate stand, tactilely and gastronomically.



Its easy to get dazzled by the lights, music and sheer beauty of the gardens. The outdoor fountain display is magnificent. The traditional holiday music is played in the outdoor theater and a computer runs the lights and fountains to the beat of the music.



Dazzled by the show, and confused by the signs, here we see traffic leaving the gardens, literally, stacking up.

New Years Resolution

Ever since the ill-fated New Years resolution that left me sleeping on the sofa at night, I've been a little leery of making them - but I promised someone this year I would at least make one of them - for "them," although I know its really for "me." I'm not real good with resolutions - but promises to others - well, I do try to keep my word.

For those that don't already know - several years ago (I should almost say "once upon a time" its been so long ago) I made a New Years resolution to sleep on my sofa until the time came I had company in bed. The "intent", which badly backfired, was to prod me to "get out there" and starting dating people again - something I had given up as a lost cause. Well, it sort of turned out to actually be a lost cause since I've gotten rather used to sleeping on the sofa - even in a house with four bedrooms, three of them with beds (the other has a sleeper sofa).

So, anyway, here it is...



...this year I resolve to put some people in these pictures, people I am walking and talking with.

I used to belong to a walking club, the Brandywine Walk Club, and even walked across the state of Delaware with them in one day. Sounds impressive doesn't it? Crossing the whole state, and in a day, no less, but Delaware is only 8 miles wide and one point and it is only 16 miles wide where we walked, on the flat and level Chesapeake and Delaware canal. I even joined them on a couple other walks but these people were roadrunners...or at least I nearly had to run to keep up with them! I'm talking about "8 month pregnant moms pushing twins on a baby stroller passing me" slow...so I didn't get a whole lot of pleasure out of those walks.

So, I'm going to ask at the next Physical Therapy session if they have a walking club for the folks doing hip, knee, and/or ankle rehab - and if so, I'm going join up...and if not, I'm going to keep looking for a local "sedate plodders" club to join. Any helpful suggestions (or even heckling or catcalls) are welcomed.

By the way, the trail in the picture is on the Schuylkill River a little west of Phoenixville, near the closed Pennhurst State (Mental) Hospital which is now being turned into - you guessed it - more (bleeping) housing developments. I may have been among the last ones to walk this trail...

Getting Around

I was rummaging through some old pictures a few days ago - and I wanted to share some of them. I think they have a general theme to them - how folks got around back in the day, as well as today. I also noticed I too, have been getting around.



This wooden bridge spans the Delaware and Raritan Canal in Griggstown, New Jersey. The canal used to connect the Delaware River near Trenton, NJ to the Raritan River and the New York City harbor. Today, the canal towpath is a walking and biking path, the canal used to carry coal from the Pennsylvania Pocono Mountains to New York City.



More of the Delaware and Raritan Canal - now being enjoyed by canoers, it used to host steamboats plying trade to and from NYC and points north to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and points south after its coal carrying days were ended by the railroad.



The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal follows the Potomac River from Washington DC up into the hinterlands of Cumberland, Maryland. The canal was the brainchild of none other than George Washington. Its 164-mile length has been preserved and is a mecca for walkers, backpackers, and bikers. This lock house is about mid-canal at milepost 70.



A rare feature when it comes to canals, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal has a tunnel. The Pawpaw tunnel located in Pawpaw, Maryland saved a half dozen miles off the route but was a brutal building endeavor as its construction was through solid granite and predated the invention of dynamite. I've walked about 1/3 of the way through this tunnel - but not having a flashlight, I had to turn around and come back to where I started.



Speaking of tunnels, here is a picture of my younger brother peering into the 1,931 foot long Black Rock Tunnel, Phoenixville, PA - built by the Reading Railroad in 1835-1837, this is the second oldest railroad tunnel in the United States and the oldest still in use today. It is now owned by Norfolk Southern. The tracks go from Philadelphia to Pottstown to Reading and then on to Pottsville, PA.



Imagine the fury of the pounding drive wheels of the steam locomotive! This is the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad's locomotive pulling into the Cumberland, Maryland train station. All Aboard! You can get a ride that goes into the wild mountains of West Virginia.



This is much more modern (but still old!) diesel locomotive sitting in the Central of New Jersey's train station in Jim Thorpe, PA. Jim Thorpe, renamed from Mauch Chunk (American Indian for "sleeping bear") to honor the great native American athlete, is on the Lehigh River and is also called the Switzerland of America.



Its fall foliage season in the Pennsylvania mountains! The perfect time to take a train ride.



Lots more modern and certainly more stealthy than the steam locomotive, this is a Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk. This stealth ground attack aircraft was formerly operated by the United States Air Force and has now been retired from service. I saw it up close and personal at the Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware during an air show a few years ago.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures - I'm sure there are more where these came from.

The Hard Season

The holidays are a hard time for many.

For many people Christmas is the loneliest time of the year. Many people face personal crisis. They might have a problem with their marriage, with their children, or with their job or lack of one. They may have an addiction to drugs or alcohol. They may be facing illness or the death of a loved one. And many, many people feel an emptiness inside, a knowledge that something is missing, but they don't know what it is.

The same is true of the least loved of all the aliens, the Orange Striped Barrels (OSBs). Some of them are lost, lonely, and feel quite off-orange this time of year.



Here we see an OSB dart out from of a long line of barrels and run in front of a car...



Badly dented, the OSB is left on the side of the road and is presumably dead.

Photos from roving Photojournalist LadyStyx

Seriously, this Christmas you can help those that need help cheering up.


Bake cookies or candy. Deliver them to friends and family.
Play board games or cards together.
Do a puzzle together.
Go Christmas Caroling. Be sure to visit the local nursing homes.
Visit friends. Tell them you enjoy having them in your life.
Have a family slumber party. Bunk out on the family room floor together
Build a snowman. Give him or her a name.
Have a movie marathon, both old and new movies.
Visit a shut in. They will enjoy the company.
Go ice skating.
Drive around and look at Christmas lights at night.
Make a video to send to far away friends and family.
Spend time together just talking.
Make apple cider or eggnog.
Take a senior citizen to lunch or invite them to your home for a meal.
Take in some free community events.
Adopt a needy family.
Make a list of New Years Resolutions as a family.
Play video games with your kids.
Tell your family how much they mean to you.
Make hot chocolate.
Take food to a local pantry or homeless shelter.
Watch a bowl game parade.
Donate old toys to a homeless shelter.
Make an old fashioned gingerbread house.
Have a snowball fight.
Have the children put on a puppet show.
Watch old home movies.
Reminisce about loved ones who are no longer with you.
Make homemade bird treats.

Source of the list of things to do