The Garden Electric

  This will be a very skimpy start on Flower Show pictures.

The entry wasn't nearly as fancy as usual. It was divided off like a room of its own with a scrim. That's a fine-mesh cloth that you can't see through unless there is light behind it. There were two big floral towers- one on each side.

I think maybe it was supposed to look like walls of an outdoor courtyard. Maybe. What they did do was have lights inside the space that changed colors. When you were inside the Exhibit Hall looking back at the entryway, all the large plants inside the entry were silhouetted in the changing colors.

There will be lots more sharing of flower exhibits in the weeks to come. This is just a tiny taste.

We all lasted until almost 5 pm, then headed back to Dave and Rachel's for dinner. At the last minute we realized there was no dessert. Dave went out hunting, but all he could find on a Sunday night was a fancy cake, so we jokingly celebrated all the spring birthdays.

Tonight we said goodbye for now to Pam and Larry. Larry is Marie's brother. Their daughter, Melanie, came this year too.

And, I actually managed to collect Dave, Rachel, Anya, and Mia together for a family picture of them.

Long day, but all good.

I'm sure when I have time to think about it, there will be a lot of new things I learned at the flower show today. Right now, the one that stands out is that I did not know coleus grows in a sort of shrubby or clumpy form with tiny leaves as well as the familiar varieties we all put in gardens and window boxes. They seem to be all the same species, though: Coleus scutellariodies. This cultivar is called 'Copper.'

See Games and Music

Games and Music

  David had to do a lot of running around to deliver his immediate family members various places, but then he was able to play a game with the rest of us in the early afternoon. This is a cooperative game called Forbidden Island. The island is always in danger of flooding and disappearing under the sea. Your team has to try to collect the four treasures and leave the island by helicopter before the island sinks. The longer the game goes on, the quicker the water rises. We had played it years ago, and I remembered it was fun. We tried it again today and agree that it's still fun. We won both times we played. It's different every time because the playing board consists of dealing out the game tiles in a random manner.

The main event of the day was a concert. Rachel sings in the Mendelssohn Chorus (celebrating its 150th year). For this concert they teamed with the Pennsylvania Girl Choir and the Keystone Boychoir. There were about 250 singers.

I liked this concert quite a lot. Because there were kids involved and also several guest conductors, more than the usual number of songs were more upbeat and less solemn. My favorites were an unusual arrangement of "Loch Lomand" and an African song "Nda wana" that translates as "I found the children playing while the birds were singing by the river Mulambo, as they resisted sleep."

Here is Rachel.

One thing that was pretty special to me was that the concert was held at Temple University. This is my mother's Alma Mater, but I'd never seen any part of the campus before.

Since these are all old buildings, I'm sure Mom spent time in all these places.

You know I love to learn new things. I'm thinking maybe I should try to include one thing in each blog post since there is something almost every day. Today there were several things, but I choose to tell you about the ocean drum, an instrument invented in 1972. It is a drum filled with metal beads. When slowly shifted, the sound is similar to waves on a beach or sand blowing. It was used during my third favorite song, a brand new piece called "We Are Waves." An example of words are "We are waving; we are waves; we are particles; we are sparkles; we are waves of sound and light, sound and life."

Here is the ocean drum being played.

Tomorrow- Flower Show!

See Walking Rachel to Work

Walking Rachel to Work

  Five of us walked Rachel to work this morning. She's "Senior Manager of Learning Experiences" at the Franklin Institute.

I always like this huge art installation that is just around the corner. It's called Reflecting Wind. It's made of polished metal squares that can move with the wind. A movie would better show what it does, but it shimmers in breezes similar to a water surface. Even in a still picture you can see the patterns that form.

Of course, Philadelphia is known for its row houses. This is a nice-looking street. It's much wider than most of the residential streets. For example, the street Dave lives on is one way with a parking lane on each side. The one traffic lane is just barely wide enough. Delivery trucks can get through, but people typically fold in their mirrors when they park.

Some of the spring trees are already in bloom. I didn't walk down the block to check what kind this one is.

We walked home on the Riverwalk beside the Schuylkill River. This is a really nice urban pathway.

And I got what may be my favorite water pattern picture yet.

Dave had to go to a funeral, Mia went to school, and Rachel worked and then had an evening practice. But the rest of us mostly ate meals and played games.

Today was the longest I've walked since I got home- close to three miles.

See Onward to Philly

Onward to Philly

  We have made it to Philadelphia.

Today has been pretty much non-stop. Before we left town we had to get groceries. We also stopped to see Marie's friend (and mine too, except I don't live here), Selma. She is 94 and broke her leg last year. She's now in rehab and actually doing quite well. Marie does all kinds of things for her and checks on her lots. When I get to be 94 I want to either be as tough as Selma, or as Marie's Aunt Agnes (who did die a few years ago), who was amazing).

Once we got to Philly, it has been non-stop people. I only got pictures of some of them. David and Rachel are our hosts. David is Marie's son, and he's my "extra" kid, too. We ate in two shifts, but eventually everyone was here and fed.

There are 5 other relatives here, but I didn't manage to get good pictures of them yet. But I got a picture of the important stuff: Marie with the good chocolate. This a traditional flower-show-weekend treat.

These weekends are non-stop crazy. Stay tuned. Tomorrow may be the calmest day yet, but 9 people in a small townhouse precludes true calm. Good thing we all like each other. I'm the only one not a relative, but they all say I'm family.

See Sunrise from the Train

Sunrise from the Train

  Marianne from the Toledo area was a total trooper, agreeing to take me to the train station at 2 in the morning. I caught a quick nap on her sofa before we headed out. Our friendship began because of the trail, but discovered we have many more things than that in common, including trains.

The train was full, which is sort of interesting in its own right. This is the Lakeshore Limited from Chicago to New York and Boston, with a split at Albany. I got on in Toledo and got off in Albany. The first time I took this train was in 1975, the same year Amtrak established the line. I took toddler Steve and went to NY to see my mother. We had an entire train car to ourselves. That sure wasn't the case today.

I've taken this route four times, that 1975 trip, then once in the 1980s, and once in 2002, and today. This is the first time it's ever been full when I rode, and it's also the first time that it was pretty much on time. The worst was in the 1980's when I had to sleep on the floor in the station in Rochester and wait for 12 hours because there were mechanical problems.

Anyway, I managed to get a couple more hours of sleep on the train. My seat mate went to get breakfast at about sunrise, which was great for me, because I was able to scoot over to look out the window. The sunrise was spectacular with mammatus clouds lit from below. Even through the crummy train windows the pictures aren't bad. This color is accurate.

Sunrises and sunsets have to be just about the most ephemeral sources of beauty in our lives. It was still looking nice about 5 minutes later, but then the sun actually rose, and all the glory faded.

It's a long way across New York State, by train or car. Train was a great option for this trip. I didn't have to drive. The price was less than I would have spent on gas, and it didn't take much longer. I can't really do that 17-hour drive in one day any more, although I used to. And we were just going to park my car at Marie's house and only take one vehicle to Philadelphia, so there was no reason I had to take the car.

I packed enough food. There was a cafe car in the train, but I opted to not have to spend any extra money. I took my pillow and a blanket. I didn't need the blanket, but I think I'll get a neck pillow before the return trip.

Finally, we crossed the Hudson River to arrive at the Albany-Rensaleer train station.

Marie picked me up and we crossed back to the west side of the Hudson and headed south to her place. The Thruway runs between the Hudson and the Catskills. We think this is Timmerman Hill ahead.

We arrived just in time to fix dinner, and then go do some prep work on a project she is involved in. Now we are crashed. We'll take a picture of us tomorrow. For now, you know I'm here safely. Really tired, but all is well.

See Working My Way East