Jim's 98th Birthday

We had lunch today with our friend Jim Alexander and his daughter Jeannie. Jim turned 98 yesterday. For this and many other reasons, Jim is a hero of ours!

Butterfly Garden at Powdermill III

Yesterday we celebrated the opening of the butterfly garden at Powdermill. Dr. John Wenzel thanked Nikki and me for our gift of the garden and introduced Martha Oliver, the garden designer. Martha began her remarks with a poem by Emily Dickinson: 

TO make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,—
One clover, and a bee,
And revery.
The revery alone will do
If bees are few. Martha's point was how the garden would benefit the propagation of bees, but I think there is a lot in this poem about dreaming dreams and making them come true, one small bee (step) at a time.

Martha then led us on a tour of the garden, pointing out the plants and the insects that are attracted to each.

The garden is beautiful and will be a magnet for butterflies and children alike. We are grateful to John Wenzel, Cokie Lindsay, and Martha Oliver for making our idea, our gift to children in memory of Tina, truly come alive.

What's a celebration without a little reception? The wine, cheese, smoked salmon, and conversations were wonderful!

Powdermill -- even more alive!

Biking the C&O Canal Towpath II Aug. 2011

Jim Roberts, Jane Butler, Nikki, and Dave enjoy a nice dinner at City Lights restaurant in Cumberland, MD, the evening before our big 62 mile ride to Hancock, MD.

Here we are, ready to go on our big adventure.

Jane preps her camera for the group photo below.

Here we come.

There we go.

East portal of the famous Paw Paw Tunnel. Bikes need to be walked through this 3200' very dark tunnel.

Rest stop at the site of the remains of the Round Top Cement Mill along the canal. It had already rained very hard and we are wet and the trail is very muddy.

But WE DID IT!

A well earned fist pump!

What's In The Garden?

The summer is coming to a close but parts of our SW PA garden are still filled with color and life, especially around the front lamp post -- both red and white hibiscus.

The phlox attract the butterflies.

A plot of rudbekia.

Red hibiscus.

Magnolia tree seedpod.

Some glads starting to say goodbye.

It must be football season in western PA. Here's our black and gold spider.

GO STEELERS!

Flight 93 Memorial

A couple of days ago Nikki and I went back to the site of the crash of United Flight 93 to check on the progress of the memorial, Phase 1 of which will be dedicated on Sept. 10 and 11. We feel particularly connected to this place because the plane flew over our house only minutes before the crash. The heroism of the passengers and crew in bringing the plane down continues to move and inspire us.

Below is the new visitor's shelter.

Lots of windmills have been built on the nearby ridges over the past 10 years.

The white walls mark the path of the plane.

The actual crash site, now designated a cemetery, is marked by the 17 ton boulder in the background.

We learned that only 6 minutes elapsed between the time the passengers started their attempt to re-take the plane and the time of the crash. We were also told that the plane was upside down when it crashed at 570 miles/hour. The courage, the dedication, the commitment of these passengers to save the lives of others they did not know is a story that needs to be told again and again. The U.S. Capitol building, the likely target, was spared, as were the lives of thousands of people. The terrorists were denied this part of their awful plot. We are eternally grateful.

Biking the GAP

Yesterday I rode the 37 miles from Ohiopyle to Smithton on the GAP to stay in shape for the big ride coming up at the end of August. The first 10 miles are down hill heading toward Connelsville on the west side of Laurel Ridge.

Ready to go. Nikki dropped me off and will retrieve me in Smithton in about 4 hours.

This is the Youghiogheny River just downstream from the falls in Ohiopyle. Great white water rafting here.

Typical trail down the ridge. River is pretty "noisy" here but hard to see through the trees.

Trail is much more level here as is the now very quiet river.

Here we are in Connellsville, a little less than half way to Smithton.

The trail from Connellsville to Smithton was very flat and much more open. It was also in excellent condition. There were several bat houses along the trail.

Anyone home?

Arrived in Smithton after 3.5 hours, a good ride! Smithton is the birthplace of Shirley Jones and used to produce Stoney's beer at their brewery. The place hasn't recovered since Shirley and Stoney's left. Of course, the demise of the coke, coal, and steel industries along the river just clobbered so many of these once thriving small towns.

Butterfly Garden at Powdermill II

A few days ago we went over to Powdermill to check the progress of the butterfly garden. As you see it is developing beautifully and will achieve our goal of being a garden of great interest and activity for children. Thanks again to John, Cokie, and Martha for a very professional job. Can't wait to see the educational programming that will be developed for kids.

This was to have been the site of the butterfly garden. Good decision to move it to its new location. This site works much better as the new herb garden. Note the water barrel.

Charlie's Playdate at the Greers

Stephen and Mei Greer and their three children, George, Ashley, and Haley, live in Hong Kong but are spending much of the summer here in Ligonier with Stephen's parents. So we set up a playdate for Charlie to make some new friends.

Charlie was a bit shy and kept to himself at first. Superboy on the Batcycle.

But pretty quickly he was pulling Haley in the wagon. Is that cute, or what?

We picked a lot of blackberries -- very tasty. The dog helped but was not good at sharing.

The kids enjoyed a popsicle break and watched a low flying plane with great interest.

All together now with new friends. Does it get any better than this?

Weight, Weight, Don't Tell Me

Two years and 3,000+ miles of biking have strengthened my legs, increased my stamina, and improved my balance, but have not resulted in the loss of an ounce of weight. It was time to take some action, so I signed up for Weight Watchers Online. The program looked good on the screen, as it were, but after a couple weeks of effort I just couldn't make friends with the point system. So I developed Dave's Food Plan (DFP). The DFP centers around the foods shown here -- lots of fruits and veggies (cabbage salad, anyone?), baked chicken, some fish, baby carrots for snacks, and a comforting vin ordinaire at the end of the day.

No baked goods, no bread, no dessert, no pasta, no cream sauces. So far I'm down 8 lbs.

A Family Day

Last Saturday we went to the Columbus Zoo, a Smith family favorite place. Our main interest was the polar bear exhibit, and it did not disappoint!

The tank is filled with rainbow trout. Yummy, unless you're the trout.

Brian and Nikki closely watched Henry and Charlie in the polar playground.
Charlie had a blast running from place to place.
Long runs with short legs does take a toll on a guy!
We capped off the day with a pasta dinner.
Well, enough is enough, I guess.