SkyWatch over Mt. Princeton

SkyWatch this week is from a few years back, our 2005 family vacation to Colorado. There is a fine line between Colorado at 0 degrees and Colorado at 100 degrees, this week right here was the warmer of the two. After leaving Colorado Springs we headed cross country and around lunchtime found ourselves on the outskirts of Buena Vista. We stopped at this overlook outside of town and took some pictures before heading into town for lunch at the park. After lunch we headed on down the road and over Independence Pass.

E. C. Snyder (PG 100)

Painted Gentleman 100. Has it been that long? On my whirlwind tour of Harrisburg last month when we got into the area of Mulberry Street and South 18th Street we hit a treasure trove of Painted Gentlemen. This is E. C. Snyder, Inc. Planing Mill, Lumber Yard and Warehouse. There were other painted ads on other adjacent buildings that you'll see soon enough. On the first picture I did a little extra tweaking, kind of gives it an HDR look I think.

Forsythia in Bloom

The first mass color of the spring around here has got to be the forsythias. The winter wheat in the farmers fields takes on an almost iridescent green color but it still is not to "Hello Spring" yellow of the forsythias. The cherry blossoms are popping in Washington DC but they're still a week or two away up here. Before long it was all turn to a rainbow of colors.

Great Black-Backed Gull

Meet the Great Black-Backed Gull. The largest of the gulls they are shown here in the adult and the immature. I'm sure you always thought they were all the same. Guess again. OK, this will be the last of the birds for a while.

The Other Cardinals

Although we saw a few female cardinals at Wildwood Lake most of my pictures were of there backs or focused on a nearby tree limb. These are two of the best I got that day. I got good male cardinal pictures, too, but this year those don't seem hard to come by.

It's Crocus Time!

Springtime. And some of the first visitors from below... the Crocus'. I don't personally have crocus' at my house, these were literally popping up all over my Mother-in-Law's house. The front gardens, the side gardens and even creeping out into the yard. And just like a Cheech and Chong movie she had white ones and some purple ones and some little bitty yellow ones. These pictures were taken with my macro lens. At times I was nearly touching the flower. And if you look close you can see a focus ring on some of these. The end of the yellow is in focus and so are some of the petals, but the base of the stigma and the tips of the petals are out of focus. And if you hadn't noticed look at the flake of pollen on the bottom petal of the first picture. Cool.

Friendship Hose Co. Newville, Pa

Just a few facts about the Friendship Hose Company. Remember I posted the old Resolution Fire Company building? Well in 1874 the Resolution became the Friendship Fire Company, serving Newville along with the Independent Fire Company. Then in 1895 the joined together to become the Friendship Hose Company. From 1916 until 1979 this building on the northwest corner of West Street and Glebe Avenue was their home. In May of 1979 the bought the old Newville High School building which the renovated and still serves them today. This building shows the tell tale signs that it once served as a firehouse. The blocked up doors, the vacant bell tower and, my favorite, the cornerstone. It looks to me like this currently serves as the home of the Borough of Newville's offices.