Monthly Archives: May 2020

What’s New?

pandemic,

Things are gradually and (for the most part) cautiously coming alive. Plants. Streets. Optimism.

But, things are still turned a bit upside down, like the sunset in the picture above which happened last week. A big cloud of fog descended on the valley just as the sun was setting, and all the color went to the bottom instead of up into the sky. Life is like that right now, right?

The hardest thing is uncertainty. How long will we [fill in the blank]? When will [fill in the blank]? Is it safe to [fill in the blank]? Who knows; wait and see; not for awhile… pick your answer.

And so, we soldier on, Zooming and writing emails and calling/texting. Getting outside. Planting flowers and vegetables. Hoping for the best.

Here are some photos from the past few weeks in my world. From the realm of the real and the virtual; we live in both these days.

Baby plants awaiting transplant into the garden.
At Big Springs State Park, a stand of virgin timber “untouched by the hands of man.”
This is how we are “meeting” our new summer interns.
Nothing beats a cute otter puzzle for a diversion from working! Even a virtual otter is better than no otter at all.

Life in Lockdown

Uncategorized, ,

Blogging in the time of the pandemic is, well, sort of boring. Not much really happens, so there’s not much to write about. And, people are so sick of screens that I’m not sure they need any more reading-on-a-screen.

But, still, what is a blog for anyhow? Mine, because I have relatively few readers, is as much a chronicle of where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing than something I think will ever go viral or have hundreds, much less thousands, of readers.

And, so, as usual I go through my latest photos to see what I’ve found interesting or important to document. Much of them had to do with getting outside in our portion of rural PA. Enjoy if you have not been able to do so yourself and stay safe!

We”ve been taking a lot of long walks in the woods. Finding new parks and new trails.
I take a lot of photos of plants, sort of a digital herbarium. Then you can check their identity with a Google i.d. tool. This is mayapple which I should have known!)
Revamp of garden previously mostly rocks and weeds! Thanks to our landscaping buddy, Tim, and his marvelous little digger.
The late spring has meant more time to appreciate cherry blossoms. These were on the campus of the Mercersburg Academy.
Driving around rural Pennsylvania you inevidibly come across some interesting industrial history like these old coke ovens that fed the steel industry in earlier times. Now a good place for wildflowers to grow.
and theres this on nights when it’s clear…