Juglans nigra

 

Poplar & Walnut -12 by Allison Huyett

    This green parking garage stub Poplar & Walnut – 12 makes the pick of the litter, to pick up where we left off. The black walnut grows here; Juglans nigra, with its round green nut casings aplenty, secreting pungent messages. The tulip poplar is one of the more dominant trees in these forests. Tall and proud and straight. The flowers that look like tulips and leaves that second the motion. But the parking stub is from Philadelphia, travelling here like a burr on wheels.

    Two boatlike wooden shapes are stacked near the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sign at the upper lot. The bottoms of the skiffs are wire mesh, like large dirt sifters, what are they for and why are they here?

    It’s a dark day on the trail, overcast and damp, yet dry. It could rain but it isn’t now. A heron stands perfect and straight on a midstream stone near the pipline, it looks like a yin-yang symbol stretched tall, the way its neck bends and the legs descend. It is curvature & armature – 12. (Today is a twelve day).

Ron, Walk

Nuts on the Rise by Allison Huyett

 

 

   A rise in nuts. Tears from fears. Can the squirrels keep up? Can I get back on the horse? Woe is not me! Whoa, maybe.

   Ron reports he thinks there are more black walnuts on the ground this year than ever before. He says take care walking or running on the trail, not to turn an ankle. A non-walnut related injury (and the doctors) curtailed his running for now in favor of walking, the kinder, gentler exercise.

   The quasi-cruciform scarlet and pin oak leaves have dropped like fallen soldiers. Today is all water, path and relationships, with a hint of center: earth and fame. Intense and negative thoughts have given way, thanks to Ron’s company for two miles and a sharing of troubles of the last two weeks. Feel almost human again. One heron waits on fallen limb.

Pick Five 4

  

Pick Five 4

  

 

 

 Wet. Wet. Wet.

 That’s what we get.

 Straight from the grocery store,

 sticky. Pick 5 for:

 Why are you rhyming?

 Checking my timing.

Shelly

  

Shelly by Allison Huyett

 

 How out of  joint can a morning be?

Tiny writing on the back of the yellow trivia card. Great big Shelly in cursive writing on the towpath. Walk done when I see the sun.

   What is the straight and narrow? A heron wades in the straight and shallow waters. Strait and wide.

   Even so, find odd number 033 READ.

 Time to hit the Easy Button and go to Staples for printer ink. Different route than normal way home from walking.  On the way an SUV just has to pass me in the right lane, which is reserved for turning right.

   The vehicle  goes straight past me. Toward the bottom of a gentle hill, is something I would rather not see. A squirrel lies in the middle of that lane. The squirrel body twitches. Either it has just fallen from some lines above or it has just been struck or both and I want to get out and check on it, but I know I cannot. That was not easy.

   At 7:45 an employee opens the front door. Maybe they are open early? Maybe he just came out for a smoke. I find $500 corner of a lottery ticket. The dictionary has no squirrel picture so I use an upside-down sphinx as a substitute.

DURO 6 Arias, Constitution Day 2009 and the Paper Czar

Constitution Day by Allison Huyett

 

 

   We the editors of  The Heron Report present the preamble of the United States Constitution and some items donated by the Paper Czar.

   Our own day begins with a kind of preamble. We walk along the creek. We come to the studio and office and and convene with our in-house representatives, including the Paper Czar. We make arrangements.

   Breakfast is one of the sweet spots of the day. The bakery frequently employs paper bags. We like to read the printing: brand and size at the top, name and date stamp on the bottom. The stamp reveals who made the bag and when. A creators mark! Here is the work of Arias, from June 29, 2009. We wonder what Arias looks like.

    From our preamble along the creek, we report one big heron, airborne from a large sycamore. The big bird swoops large, wingspan big as the Ben Franklin Bridge.

Target This: Lifted Shop!

   A little green heron at the locks eludes the trusty lens. This bird is quicker than the eye. Delicate.

   While looking for Phillies logo tissue boxes (sold 0ut) at Weis market and Target D”Wyomissing, spotted triangular Kleenex®  brand boxes with watermelon and juicy citrus colors. Bought 2. Paid cash. Whoa! $6.34.

   New brand with arrow ⁄↑ up & up which I have reorganized and Feng shui placed according to flying star! Up stuff.  Go figure! I did it! AH! HA! What a wonderful shelf  life. They should notice a jump in sales right away. Wise move.

up & up F/S tissues

Weekend Warrior: Step Back in Time 7.19

  

Ken Reinard, Colonial Angler

    There are happiness islands. There are treasure islands.

   What is the nickname for Berks County? The Green Diamond!  And so it was set, Sunday, with a jewel-tone day at the Heritage Center, happiness and treasures both.

   Berks County Parks and Recreation placed the accent on recreation, as park staff, volunteers and presenters beckoned: Step Back in Time. In so doing, some of the past was brought forward, so we may learn, participate and reinterpret.

   No doubt, they did it. They did it with songs. They did it with stories. They did it with dress-up and toys and games and arts and crafts. They did it with fashion show. They did it with musketry. They did it with demonstrations.

Colonial Games

   All dressed up, with interesting places to go: behind the lines of Civil warfare. On a houseboat named Mildred.  Along the banks of the Tulpehocken creek with a colonial angler.  It was the perfect day for a date like this, complete with entertainment and refreshments. This week, a review of  each.

Special thanks to Berks County Parks and Recreation and the camera shy Ms. Cathy Wegener, Supurrintendent of Interpretive Services.

/Frederick K. Wal/

  

Sudoku rebus 7.19.09

   So reads a strip of paper under the overpass. A signature. Pick of the litter. 

   When is a tree more like a mushroom? This uprooted, toppled over, sawn to a long stump tree has been left to grow moss and grass. A sculpture, this remnant. Plump mushroom cap and stem.  

   A heron sounds, satisfying the requirement described in the Peterson Field Guide: Voice: Deep harsh croaks frahnk, frahnk, frahnk.

   Heronspotting: One. Location: summit of  bare-branched, toppled tree in creek along Tulpehocken Road.

   Open conversation of bicyclists: Overheard in Reading

A:  ” … asked what his ten year plan was.”

B:  “And the response was?”

A:  “What ten year plan?”

  In the middle of the path in the middle section: sine curves for 1/16 mile. Speak softly and carry a swizzle stick.

  Feng shui: It is a ten day! Water.

  Also find: 29 sticker and star band aid piece. Tippy top!

lizness katthundheit!

  

Liz Hess art 2009

 

   Cherchez le chat?  God bless the animals!

   July’s edition of Furry Friday at the  Humane Society of Berks County www.berkshumane.org unleashed the work of Liz Hess, a bilingual Lancaster, Pennsylvania artist who speaks the language of Sweden, where dog is hund and cat is katt.

    Behind every great artist is a fine fuzzy friend or two; Hess’s cat, Claude, and her dear dog, Prudence, help with the Lizness business: multiple series of paintings, pastels and prints. We particularly like the parity: for every canine picture,  there is an equal and opposite work for felines.

   Itching for rain? Hess also paints likenesses of red umbrellas, some with animals.

    A giclee (“spraying with ink”) technique is used for about one-third of the paintings. 

    Hess makes a charming habit of annual travel abroad. She lived most of her third decade in Sweden (Lapland).

   Visit: www.lizhess.com

Picket Charge

   For the Fourth, Warrior and Edgar visit a painted picket fence with artwork in lieu of fireworks. Free admission.

Warrior

 

I heart USA.