4TH OF JULY IN STATE COLLEGE

Carol drove to Seven Mountains Thursday after work. On Friday we went down to Tom and Ann's for a celebration of the day. Carol didn't arrive until late Thur evening so we missed Friday morning's bike parade.



We got there just as Casey was starting work on her Tie-Dye shirts, socks and baby clothes for the upcoming sidewalk sale. More about it in a later blog. Carol went into "bus man's holiday"mode and worked with Casey. Also with Sarah, who was making Pet Rocks for the sale.



Then she took Casey, Sarah AND Ben to the park to see the playground and pick black raspberries. When they returned, she and I went for a ride around campus and downtown.

Back to the house for a wonderful picnic. Then we left early to go see the stuff at 4th Fest. There was music, food, animals, dancing, lots of fun stuff to do while waiting for the fireworks. Which are spectacular. I don't know what the average is for some of the other displays around the country, but I remember three or four rockets, then a short pause of a few seconds, then a couple more. THIS one is 45 minutes of 4 per second, then the finale of 49 per second -YES, PER SECOND. Here is a YouTube video of the last regular segment and then the finale. This guy was sitting near us. The sound on the video is poor. What we - and he - didn't know is that it was being broadcast on a local FM station so we were supposed to bring a boom box. Because all the fireworks are choreographed to the music. We were completely out of breath when it ended.

Saturday we went on a 2 hr ride on the Honda through some of the prettiest country in the East.



Remember - if you click on the picture, you'll go to a large version.

Over Pine Grove Mountain into "Happy Valley"



Saturday afternoon the family came up to Seven Mountains Campground for the picnic hosted by the owners. They had bar-b-que pork, ribs and chicken catered and everyone brought something. WAY too much food !

Too short a visit - Carol and I went down the mountain Sunday morning for Church and to say her Good By's to everyone. Then she drove back to Salem. Uneventful except for the thunderstorms. She pulled into a rest area, called me and said, "Look at the weather radar, please. How much of this stuff is there and when will it be out of my way?" I was able to give her good news, "Wait about another 15 minutes and it will all move east of I-81." She did. And it did.

The trailer sure seems empty. I'm making plans to return to Salem at the end of the month.

A BLAST FROM THE PAST

The weekend after Casey's birthday, a group of Penn State Alumni gathered at Mountain Acres for a long weekend of "pickin' and grinnin'".

In the early 1960's the student union building - Hetzel Union Building - or "HUB" had a music listening room with sound proof booths around two sides where students could listen to albums (remember THOSE??).

A group of us known officially as the "Penn State Folklore Society" but generally called "those Folkies" were completely wrapped up in playing and listening to folk music. The group ran the "This and That Cafe" to showcase local talent and also sponsored concerts - Tom Rush, Doc Watson, Bonnie Raitt, and many more that have been lost to my old memory. And played almost every day and evening in the HUB music room. I played string bass back then and although I hadn't played in years, I could never bring myself to sell my bass.


Here's a 1964 picture of me, Stan Jay and two unnamed players.




Stan Jay is now the owner of Mandolin Brothers simply the best guitar shop in the world.

I had lost track of the folks until I overheard a conversation at a bluegrass jam last winter. I had been attending the weekly jam for a few weeks when I heard someone say, "It was so cool. After the concert Doc Watson came to some guy's house and jammed all night long. At about 6:00AM we drove him and his son to the airport." I said, "Excuse me - that was Joe Head's house, I think on Burroughs Street. 1964 or 1965. Yeah, it was a GREAT party." Then I learned that the "Old Folkies" had been holding reunions every two years.

So here I was, camping just two miles from Mountain Acres. I made one trip with the truck to move my bass - I haven't figured out how to carry it on the Honda - and commuted daily on the bike to meet old friends and make new ones.

Tom, Ann and the kids came up for an evening of music. On the way out, Ann said, "Your friends are such a warm friendly group of people." Yes, they are.

Here are some pictures of us, all a little older than in that one from the HUB.





The fella on the right in the last picture is Jamie Ackerman and I've a GREAT story about him. Mary Ann and I lived in NJ just after we were married. And our friends from the little hick town where we were raised came down to "go to the City." One of the nicest, but most innocent and sheltered ones was Betty, younger sister of Mary Ann's best friend. We took her to the Village to "see the sights." She was amazed at the, shall we say, "diversity" of people there. When she saw a white boy with a huge red afro walking towards us on the sidewalk, she dragged us out into the street so she wouldn't have to pass him on the sidewalk. As we walked down the middle of the street, "afro" yelled, "Tom and Mary Ann. What are YOU doing here?" and ran out into the street to hug us. Betty melted into the pavement. When I told this story to Jamie and his wife, Judy, guess what she pulled out of her wallet !



Great music, wonderful food and drink and hours of engaging conversation.

Life is so Good.

My Ballet Girls

The BIG weekend of June 13th included not only Casey's 10th birthday, but also the latest performance of the dancers from the Arts Conservatory of Central Pennsylvania .

Casey and Sarah study there and this was the first year that they were BOTH in the performance.

The main feature was a Hillbilly version of "Peter and the Wolf." Cameras were not allowed at the performance so you'll just have to take my word that they were both ADORABLE.

Here are some "green room" shots.