Its not a Bridge or a Culvert!

The structure I thought was a culvert in the previous entry has been identified. My thanks to Harry L. Rinker for the heads up.

Its a stone aqueduct built for the Schuylkill Canal! Here is a very similar aquaduct that is in the same locality - I'll have to find this one! (Note to self: take GPS - 40°07′44″N 75°28′02″W) No wonder I couldn't figure out what road used this "bridge"!



This picture was taken by J. Clear on January 13, 2008 and included in Wikipedia! This puts the age of the structure, which was built no later than 1825 at 184 years old.

Someone Lost a Nut!

While walking on the now completed, "new" Oaks to Phoenixville portion of the Schuylkill River Trail, I noticed this tree growing out of a bridge/culvert.

Several questions came to mind.

Is it a bridge or a culvert and when does one become the other and vice versa?

How old is the bridge and how old is the tree?

Did a squirrel lose a nut? Or did some other animal drop the nut down the outside of the bridge into a crack? Could a bird have done this?

Why was the bridge built?



You know me, I had to know...

Asking a civil engineering pal of mine, I found out that a culvert usually is either circular or rectangular in cross-section and has an all-enveloping structure. For instance, a large diameter pipe under a road can be called a culvert. So long as the cross-section is complete (i.e. a roof, 2 walls and a floor), it's a culvert.

Thus this is a culvert - I think... :)

As for the purpose and age of the structure, (see how I deftly avoid calling it a bridge or culvert?) outside of the folks that built the trail I don't think there has been a road here in decades. This bridge is not part of the trail although the trail used to detour over it during its construction.

I suspect the structure was built around the time of the Perkiomen Railroad around 1874 since it appears that the wagon trail was used to bring building supplies and laborers to the railroad bridge site in order to build the where the railroad crosses the Schuylkill River. Furthermore the stone used here matches the stone used in the older part of the railroad bridge (it was obviously rebuilt at least once).

I'm just guessing but the tree looks like a 30-40 year old one to me.

As for how the nut got lodged in the bridge, its anyone's guess!

I don't know what will become of this structure - it has a certain grace - but no modern purpose.

Longwood Gardens 2009

Here are some pictures and a couple videos I took while at Longwood Gardens. I hope you enjoy. The prose is mostly just nonsense.



If I were a moose and you were a cow
Would you love me anyhow?
Would you introduce me to your folks
Would you tell your friends, "No moose jokes!"
If I were a moose and you were a cow

Would you invite me to your club
And risk a cruel bovine snub
Would you lead me down the receiving line
And boldly boast, "This moose is mine!"

Would your parents watch us graze
Shake their heads, "It's just a phase"
Or would they thank the stars above
Their precious heifer's found her love?



Dashing through the snow
In a one horse open sleigh
O'er the fields we go
Laughing all the way
Bells on bob tails ring
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to laugh and sing
A sleighing song tonight

Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh



As the deer panteth for the water,
So my soul longeth after you.
You alone are my hearts desire
And I long to worship you.

You alone are my strength, my shield.
To you alone may my spirit yield.
You alone are my hearts desire
And I long to worship you.



Percy the puny poinsettia
Is hanging his bloom in dismay
If they had just kept him wetta
He'd be a houseplant today
Folks liked the other plants betta
Now he's alone on the shelf
Even a plant with no uncle or aunt
Shouldn't spend Christmas Day by himself

Holiday shoppers would stop by the counter
And pick up a plant to take home
Until one by one all his friends were adopted
And Percy was left all alone



We're flowers, you and I.
We share a light.
I need you.
We're Orchids.

But I long to love you like flowers do
Just to feel your sweet perfume
I want you.
We're Orchids.

Will we never get to be?
Will I ever get to be?
Will I ever get to feel you in me?

The seeds lie unaltered
But on some planet, on some other moon.
We bloom still.
I love you.
We're Orchids.



This is 1,100 pounds of cranberries laid out in a shallow fountain pool...



Inside the conservatory...this is the main building and it is huge and always breathtaking, no matter what time of year.



Just outside the gates of the gardens, there is an old Quaker meeting house (Longwood Progressive Meeting of Friends) with a cemetary. This very old grave is being displaced by a old tree. The grave stone was just about illegible - the year of death was 1858 - I think. More on the meeting house can be found here.

A couple videos for you to enjoy:



Music, lights and cascades of water. I don't know if you can hear the music.



Inside the conservatory there are waterfalls and turning Christmas trees. You might hear the waterfalls.

Looking at My Subaru

A while ago, I was looking at my Subaru and was curious about the logo and what it might mean and where it came from...so, you know me...I couldn't sleep nights until I tracked it down.



Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI), the parent company of Subaru, is currently partly owned by the Toyota Motor Corporation, which owns 1/8th of FHI that Toyota in turn, bought from General Motors in 2005.

Subaru is the Japanese name for the star cluster Pleiades, which roughly translated into English means, "to govern", "unite," or "gather together".

The company logo is influenced by the star cluster. The large star in the logo represents Fuji Heavy Industries, and the five smaller stars represent the current five companies that are united under the FHI group.

FHI started out as The Aircraft Research Laboratory in 1917 headed by Chikuhei Nakajima. In 1932, the company was reorganized as Nakajima Aircraft Company, Ltd and soon became the primary manufacturer of aircraft for Japan during World War II.

FHI (Reorganized) was established on July 15, 1953 out of the war rumble when five Japanese companies, known as Fuji Kogyo, Fuji Jidosha Kogyo, Omiya Fuji Kogyo, Utsunomiya Sharyo and Tokyo Fuji Sangyo, joined to form one of Japan's largest manufacturers of transportation equipment.

Bonus points to anyone that can properly pronounce and say those five names, five times, really quickly! And I hope Tori's computer reader doesn't faint or pass away on her!

So now what I really want to know now is, who actually won WWII?