Preserve and Protect

  

 

pathling 8.12.09 bitemyhorse.com

True date synchronicity: Ron has caught and released one sunny and two bass (12) by the time I get to walk. On the rampart of the bridge is a lovely pigeon, a thoroughbred. It wears a blue band.

   “Someone’s racing pigeon, ” says Ron.

   I capture the bird with digital technology. I discover I have lost many previous photos due to operator’s formatting error. This means the baby heron pictures are missing, a sickening thought. Some photos are saved on computer at home. Gone are the monkey pictures and a picture of a landscape painting propped up on the sidewalk in front of a house. Retrieval factor: some chance.

     No sense crying over spilt milk, but I find the loss bothersome. Several days ago I had been eyeing the Cash for Clunkers vehicles around the area, and suddenly the story broke.

   Laura runs by, wearing a tee-shirt that shouts from the back: SHARE THE ROAD with a bicycle image below. A man walks toward me with a sleeveless shirt reading SEX ON THE BEACH with a martini-style glass.

   It’s a three day, for green and wood, so if you ask the question What am I wearing? I wear a green shirt with the motto Preserve and Protect, Twin Falls State Park, West Virginia, with a raccoon (halfway between a bear and a dog, says an old encyclopaedia)  emblem. Photos uploaded today.

Plump It Up

   The answer to Tuesday’s third trivia question: Super Soaker.  What toy outsold others in 1991-92? The water pistol that pumps when you want.

the snail

   Back at the salt mines, first thing crossing the path -  a  transcontinental journey – a snail. A pathling in action! One of my personal symbols, along with the turtle, slow-moving triangle and the sun, among others.

   Across near the picnic peninsula,  heron crouches and dips its bill into the water in an area and in a manner that suggests minnows or small fry.

   Numbers are written 258. Aha! There he is, there is Candelario up ahead, with an umbrella and no cane.

“Ready for rain?”

“I want to be prepared,” he says. “Have to stay one step ahead.”

He has plans for vacation next month.

“Plan to be here tomorrow?”

“Yes.”

Variety of wildlife, nothing exotic, a bunny, a little green heron, a leopard spotted knapsack, a deer, the geese.

Upper lot: six vehicles, dark teal, maroon, gold, red, forest, silver (going counterclockwise from the entrance). One has R O G oval sticker positioned vertically, reading down. Startled. The driver sits inside, reading the Reading? newspaper. Other sticker of interest. I’m Able.

 Ruth runs west to my east: “If you can get over to the Institute, I have two paintings there.”

Gobs of pathlings today.

A disposable aluminum pie tin brightens up the meadow. I’m thinking Π (pi) tin. Pie plate, pi plate.

Thinking about making a map, and about Graphjam. www.graphjam.com

A container of plaster of paris mix and a plastic tub and a glass beverage container with watermelon design wait their turn at the Heritage Center. 

 

The Watermelon Woman

Victor is here. His tee shirt is red. His back right shorts pocket is empty: almost as good as a forecast, no rain.

He says he worked on home and yard yesterday and is feeling it this morning. 

“I’m tired too.”

“A little sex would perk you up.”

Romeo, Romeo. Wherefore Art Thou?

 En route home, truck with a logo of gradually increasing letter thickness: © recall. Subheading: Your Information Securely Managed.  The final “l” is plump and wide.

 

http://www.recall.com/recall/us/en/home

/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!

Summer Evening Stroll: The Golden Link

 

Cathy Wegener

Robert Hopkins

 

  Nature and structure were predominant themes of  Wednesday’s Interpretive Series: Summer Evening Stroll along the Tulpehocken creek near Reading, Pennsylvania. Cathy Wegener, Superintendent of Interpretive Services and Robert Hopkins, West Nile Coordinator for Berks County Conservation District, led the event at Gring’s Mill.

   Wegener handled the structure side with well-chiseled facts: the 79.5 mile Union Canal was called the Golden Link,  joining Philadelphia to Middletown.  Boats 1/3 the width of river boats transported people, goods and produce. Canal’s demise partly due to construction flaws: “It leaked!”  Did you know: canals were built with clay bottoms and a kind of submerged wood floor?

   Hopkins is a man so comfortable in nature he can hold purple loose strife in his hand and live to tell us about it.  He also touched on subjects such as wild bergamot, colony collapse disorder and rhus juice.

Emits Showers of Sparks

   Warning! Emits showers of sparks, reads left wing of bee. The bee is cardboard. The bee is found intact on the ground, a perfect specimen. Nearly epic semen.

  Sounds like: squirrel-claws. Trapped in trash bin. Hides under picnic plates lightweight bottles. Wedge bottle into /PUSH\ flap: egress.

   Heron Monday morning, here on site of mill dam. Nearly egrets.

GB Heron

 

At upper end, view from metal bridge.

go fish

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a pathling:  X marks the spot?

pathling

If the mission of RiverPlace is to connect communities through the power of the river, then the Tulpehocken creek proves it can unite generations and bring together people from Philadelphia and Bowmansville – two men and a boy.

Joey, Joe and Edgar

Right, left!

heron afoot

Starburst

  Rainy enough to drown ducks. Two heron. One on the wall of the mill race channel, rare sighting there. Next a few yards away opposite side on inside bend at the picnic peninsula. The park staff and crew are here. Walk to the 9 marker and do some puddle-jumping. The previously mentioned white hairband on the walk at the 8 marker is now reshaped. It looks like the pacifiers that are droppped and left behind with increasing frequency throughout the spring. Like water, under the bridge.

   Quick pick me up! A torn off piece of Starburst candy bag near red bridge, incorporated into today’s Sudoku Rebus. Star. Stay, Stayman apple, estate, start, state, stall, stamp. It’s a nine day, reds and stars are the order. Under the umbrella of helpful people and travel.  As part of Last Minute Productions, working on PPA grant to get it in on time. I feel strongly about deadlines.

Body Love: Protect the ORE

Protect the Or

Today’s Recipe for Towpath Magic Squares  

    

ingredients:

one  Pick of the Litter: Body Glove tag

blue and yellow edge design from discarded mini burger candy

Shape of the day ( letter, T on side)

One Disney oval tag as found

several pathlings:

• six leaves on stem
• six broken pieces of branch as arranged by nature
• pair of bark pieces

Y stamp (?? because some Y shaped twigs presented themselves)

Star stamp

one copy of chrome jumping deer hitch cover, reduced to 33%

Directions: Mix inside head and using magic markers, ink and gel pen, and YES! paste, pore over Sudoku square pan.

Taking time: one hour. Yield: one completed Sudoku rebus, nine sections.

 (  While shopping for these items, spotted one heron to report, flying elongated, making noise, up by the metal bridge. One groundhog and a TURTLE! near the mill. )

Tree Vectors

 

Tree Vectors

 

 

     The great unanswered trivia question today is where do yoopers live? 

   Pounding rain overnight clears the way and has showered down stringy things from the trees near the six marker, site of a suicide last century. I like the spattering of the tree things and, using an envelope, draw them with arrows to show the tips.  Tree vectors.

   First heron at 6:57, at the mill picnic bend and there is heron in each of the three miles I walk to the end without beholding any men. Two women and I greet each other in the first mile. New writing on the wall: (Heart) DONNIE + AMANDA in white on the red foundation of the covered bridge.

   Quiet time. Some bunnies. Baby bunnies. Some envy. How a female duck can sleep standing up with her beak tucked all the way around in the top of her wings.

   Notice of Water Safety Training June 14, sponsored by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Laura running. Absence of gray kitty. Where is it? Heron squawk. No turtles today. Talk to the two ladies near the pipeline. Early is best. A color comics umbrella from the Reading Eagle. Where to buy footwear for walking. How to get along with the geese.

   A heron in the middle of the creek at midway of the way back. Two fly fishermen. Victor is here. He has no interest in fishing. I share with him that a former boyfriend said when he fished he liked to figure out the life cycle and what fly works at a certain time and in which spots. Victor said if they’re hungry, they’ll bite! (I do not tell him at artist group last night the word was FISH and we revealed our creations and exchanged ideas about techniques and materials. My catch of the day was a Sudoku rebus. It got thrown into a mix of photo collage, paper mache, paper collage, quilting, pen and ink and watercolor and gyotaku for a most satisfying art fest, good cheer and awesome chocolate fudgies.)

   Traffic picks up mildly with a runner or two; I pick up a Juicy Fruit wrapper. As I finish my walk,  a heron flies above the creek, headed upstream, a good omen for the day. Last find: a tiny round green inspection label with PASSED written on it. Come to think of it, a driver passed me with some degree of unpleasantness first thing this morning. Drive safely!

Turtledom and turtledee

   What people precede our arrival? Along the creek where I walk, the Native Americans lived. They named it the Tulpehocken, ” land of the turtles.”  In China, turtles were the original divining objects.

   Someone that has preceded my arrival since yesterday has inscribed a series of circles in the path, each about a yard in diameter. A well-rounded person, who delights in repetition and practice. One here, two there, some where the artist kept going round once the first complete arc was drawn. I like them.

   Although I have made it my mission to file the heron report, today I feel duty-bound to report two turtle sightings. The first, at 9:04 a.m. is a large snapping turtle in the grass between creek and towpath, near the locks. It looked to me like the turtle was prepared to cross  the path and visit the pool of water – turtle soup? - in the locks. Taking time. Contemplate carapace. Beware of spiked tail. Resist all temptation to touch it. Magnificent medallions. Four, five, four, align. One above tail a route sign.

   Nine minutes later:  a box turtle in the grass to the right of the path. Friendly, touchable turtle, with a high domed shell that, somewhat unfortunately, reminds me of military helmet. Its markings resemble calligraphy, one of the sections is sheared off, as if turtle took a tumble or got into a scrape. Touch it. In goes the head.

   Both turtles are gone when I pass the spots on the way back, having sped away.  I’ve pulled a scratch-off lottery ticket “Royal Riches”  from the drum at the end of the trail, hoping to draw the turtles. Have to use memory. On to business, on to business.

   I feel turtle-like today, slow but in a winning way. Two herons: one vocalizing and flying at height equal to the tree crowns over the creek near the metal bridge. The second, also flying, and comes to roost on a leafed branch that projects over the water. Laura runs, Victor and I stop and talk,  a park patrol fellow bicycles through (new).  Educational moment going on at the red covered bridge: a park volunteer with class of children. More and more newcomers.

   These are the pathlings and marginalia for today, plus a bathing buzzard at the mill dam bridge. Stop the presses!

4.5 Mishers of Fen

trout r us

 

A fisherman has caught a trout and he checks the net, releases the fish.

Tongue and groove is what the sudoku rebus tells me today – it has already before, this month. Projection fitting into corresponding niche.

A rib sticking out, to join another piece at just the right place.

 

Saturday saw dozens of fishermen and four heron in one area. Unheard of!

(Opening day of trout season.)

 Palm Sunday. Faith, fishers of men.

 

 

See something I never see: two herons within twenty feet of each other. Even though they nest in colonies they usually fish alone.