PHILADELPHIA

The city of Philadelphia is only 45 minutes away for Dickie and me. That makes it fairly easy to make the trip in off-busy hours. We did that again last week when we went to the Central Library in that city. Here’s a shot of the Library building:




We went to hear Jonathan Kozol, who was promoting his newest book, The Shame of the Nation, which describes how our inner-city schools are now more segregated than ever across the whole nation, with the exception of Kentucky. He’s right, you know. Our country has a problem here that hasn’t been resolved by the civil rights movement of recent times, and the problem won’t go away unless and until it’s addressed honestly and fairly by people of good will. If you’re not aware how severe the problem is, you might want to take a look at this book. Here’s Kozol at the podium prior to his talk:




Just across the street from the Central Library is the Franklin Museum, which is presently featuring an exhibit on “The Human Body”. We didn’t take it in on this visit, but we hope to another time. I did walk by and snap this picture of the newly painted steps leading into the museum:



While we were in Philadelphia, we dropped by the office of our daughter-in-law, Lisa, who is now teaching at Drexel University. Lisa got her Doctorate in Philosophy (Psychiatric Rehabilitation) last spring from the College of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and has just begun teaching in her new position at Drexel. We’re proud of her and her accomplishments. Here’s the happy professor in her office:




Here on the home front Dickie and I put up a new bird feeder on the kitchen window the other day. Now we have chickadees, titmice, and nuthatches dining with us. Here’s one of the chickadees that joined us the other evening:




As I’ve mentioned earlier, occasionally, our daily walks take us to nearby Shadow Lake. It’s a pretty place and private enough that the wildlife can feel fairly secure. Ducks and geese are often present. Here’s a tiny flock of Canadian geese fleeing our presence on a recent visit:

LONG BEACH ISLAND

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Our travels last week took us to Long Beach Island, a place we became familiar with many years ago as a spot to spend a summer vacation - which we did several times. One of the attractions there is the Barnegat Bay Light House which is no longer functioning, but is still a tourist site. I spent a while talking to the attendant on duty. Bruce was 84 years old and said he still made the climb up to the top of the lighthouse about four times a week and, occasionally, twice a day. We should all be in such good shape. Guess I'm not, since I decided not to make the effort on this occasion.

It was a good day to take a picture, with the clouds in the background. I also found the moss on the rocks along the barrier that protects the beach from erosion intriguing, so I took this picture:

We have our own little watering hole in the neighborhood here in Brotherton Acres. It's called "Shadow Lake". It's only a little over a mile from our house, so we walk to it every once in a while. In fact, we did that again this morning. In California we often walk in a county park that is home to a great blue heron rookery, so we see them there regularly. Today we saw a great blue high-tailing it to the other end of the lake as we approached. The proof is in the picture below. Look carefully, just at the shore line near the middle of the picture. That's him flying away:

When the water is calm, it makes a great mirror. As the fall progresses, the colors will become more spectacular, but, even now, the mirror effect is enchanting. Here's a shot I took on a recent morning when the water was very still. You can hardly tell which is real and which is reflected:

There are some other tantalizing effects that the water produces. There is a drain at the lower end of the lake that funnels the overflow down below the dam there. When the sun is right, the water looks very blue in a photograph, so much so that you would almost think it was sky and, in a photo like the one below, the drain appears to be floating out there in the ether. I call this one "The Black Hole". OK, so it takes a little imagination. Bear with me here:

That's it for today!