The Next Week

           It’s Thursday.

          I’m starting a letter to you on a Thursday.

          Not my normal normal writing day, but normal for the last two times I’ve talked to you. I’m thinking this time and once more will catch me up to date.

          Our trip to Niagara Falls was nice and we all enjoyed ourselves, but it was nice to get home to my critters.

          The following, and final week of my handsome brother-in-law’s visit, included a trip to Steamtown, the train museum, in Scranton.

          Road pictures, anyone?

Look at the birds! I think they’re all swallows. If I zoom in, I can see the V-shaped tail on some of them.

          We arrived really, really early for the trolley ride. I walked around and took pictures, but I bet that doesn’t surprise you.

          There were invasive Lantern Flies all over the place, both alive and dead. This one was caught in a web.

           I Googled it and found out nothing eats these things. I asked one of the Rangers why.

          “Maybe it’s just that they haven’t figured out yet they can eat them,” he speculated.

          Finally, it was time and the trolley came.

           The engineer had a couple of jobs to do before we could depart the station.

The trolley doesn’t turn around. The engineer drives it from either end. Depending on which way he’s going he has to disconnect the power from one end and connect it to the other.

Then he locked out all of the switches so no other train could get on the track we were on.

“Do other trains use this track?” I asked.

“Yeah. Mostly freight trains making deliveries and mostly in the evening.”

When they were ready for us, we boarded the trolley and started on the ten-mile round trip. I’ll show you the pictures from the trip.

“What’s gondola poo?” I asked and pointed to a train car.

We left the train yard and pass the munitions plant.

I spotted a wildflower in the woods that I knew. It’s a Cardinal Flower.

Relics.

Once we got back to the station, Cork, Dee, and I walked the overhead walkway and looked down on all the old trains. Some had weeds growing out of them.

        

Mike found a bench where he could sit and people watch while he waited on us.

          Several of the buildings were still closed! They’ve been closed since 2022. Mike asked around and found out it’s because repairs were needed. The original contractor didn’t install some of the systems correctly and the buildings don’t pass inspection. I guess they’re still waiting for funding to do the repairs and in the meantime, the Visitor Center, Theater, Technology Museum, and Locomotive Cutaway Exhibit are all closed.

          Be that as it may, we still managed to do enough walking for two gimpy old men.

          Our next adventure was to go and see the Intrepid. We had to get up early for the drive to Scranton, which takes over an hour. Mike likes to be early, so even though our bus was scheduled to depart at 7:25 AM, we arrived about 45 minutes ahead of time.

          I didn’t take a lot of road pictures but here’s a misty morning landscape for you.

          The bus station is right outside the gates of Steamtown so we didn’t have any trouble finding it. We got our boarding passes and settled in to wait.

          Once the bus arrived, we boarded with all the others heading to the City. I took a few pictures as we left the Scranton.

          The bus made a stop at another bus station to pick up more passengers. This gal didn’t want anyone to share a seat with her so this was her solution.

I didn’t take a lot of pictures for a couple of reasons. One was that I had reflections on the window and my camera always picks them up, and second, I didn’t want the clicking of the shutter release to annoy the other passengers.

          My first glimpse of the city skyline.

          How did they get the graffiti on that wall? 

          These sculptures were in Port Authority Bus Terminal.

The Port Authority Bus Terminal is one of the busiest and largest bus terminals in the United States, with 200,000 people passing through every day. Opened in Midtown Manhattan in 1950, it has multiple levels and serves as a hub for many bus lines, including Greyhound, Trailways, and NJ Transit. The terminal features a variety of amenities such as shops, restaurants, and waiting areas.

And art.

This gal had a display of her mixed-media art. I browsed her work and appreciated the time and talent it must’ve taken to make them.

Skyscrapers that reach to the heavens. Cars and bikes and people everywhere! Tall people, short people, old, young, fat, skinny, and a rainbow of colors, as well as languages.

The Intrepid is about a 20-mintue walk from the bus terminal but if our gimpies had walked it, they wouldn’t’ve had anything left in the tank to walk around the aircraft carrier. We hired a taxi.

          Our first look at the Intrepid.

          Making our way from the ticket area to the deck of the ship, I see a water fountain that lets you fill up your own container. I took the opportunity to fill my empty travel coffee mug with fresh, clean, cool water.

          We go into the hanger deck and see a scale model of the Intrepid. It’s 1:40 scale and measures 22 feet long. It weighs 550 pounds and stands about 4.5 feet high and just as wide. It consists of approximately 250,000 LEGO bricks and took nine months to complete.

          You know something? Y’all might think I’m smart (or maybe you don’t think that at all) but it’s sometimes the simplest of things that confound me.

          Case in point, these phones. I knew if you picked them up and put them to your ear that you’d hear recordings of events, or stories, or facts. I picked one up and no matter which way I turned it, I couldn’t get the handset from the hanger. I put it down and moved on.

          A few minutes later a little kid walks up beside me, picks up the handset, transferred it to his other hand, and it’s the cable that passes through the opening, not the handset!

          Ay-yi-yi! So obvious now! I’m such a dummy!

          There were props all around that allowed for photo ops. A couple of times I offered to take a photo so the photographer could be in the photo, too. 

          We walked around and looked at stuff then went to the outside displays.

          I was more taken with the skyline.

          The semis look like toys compared to the size of the cruise ship.

          Mike wanted to see the Concorde but that was an extra fee so we were content to just view it from the outside.   

We might’ve gone up to see the control room but the line was too long and standing makes Mike’s chronic back pain even worse.

   

          We left the Intrepid and hailed a taxi back to Port Authority. We found a place just across from the bus station to have a bite of lunch. Mike found us a seat at the window so we could people watch as we ate and Dee went out and took our picture. 

          I took more road pictures on the way home.

          We were almost back to Scranton when I noticed a passenger across the aisle use his foot to pull down a footrest from the seat in front of him. I hadn’t noticed it and it sure would’ve made the two hour ride more comfortable had I known it was there. I’m such a world traveler, aren’t I?

          I don’t know what what’s hanging in the tree. 

           “A parade float maybe?” Cork guessed.

          We were almost back to Wyalusing when we came upon the scene of an accident. This guy lost a tire...

...and this guy found it.

          Towards the end of Cork and Dee’s visit, Mike and Cork’s sister Toni and her son Tom came for a mini family reunion.

          They spent an afternoon looking at old photos Toni brought and reminiscing.

          On Cork’s last night with us we all went to the Wyalusing Hotel for dinner, one of Mike’s favorite places to eat. 

          The next morning, before the sun had burned off the fog, Cork and Dee were on the road.

Toni brought me a couple of gifts. She brought me some of her late mother’s costume jewelry.

“I thought maybe you could do something with them,” Toni said.

There are several art projects I’ve seen made with jewelry. Or I can make molds from them. Or I can just wear them. There are a few pieces I really like and I’m going to wear to church on Sundays.

When Toni heard I had birds, she brought me her old bird cage. It’s a beautiful cage! It even has a perch on top for birds like parakeets or cockatiels.

          I’d was outside when I heard rustle, crash, then the unmistakable cheep, cheep, of a bird in distress. I went to the fence and who do I see coming through the brush with a bird in his mouth? Blackie!

          “Blackie!” I yelled. “What did you do?” I opened the gate and Blackie dropped the bird. It was not my intention to make him give up his catch. He caught it fair and square. But since he dropped it and left, and since I have a new birdcage, it was like providence.

          I picked up the baby robin, put some bedding and water in the bird cage, and settled him in. I wasn’t going to keep him. My only intention was to let him rest and recover then I’d turn him loose. This little guy seemed like he was doing okay but when we came back from dinner, he was d-e-d dead. I think he flew into the glass hard enough to break his little neck.

          Toni and Tom stayed in the apartment and every time they came over, the dogs would bark like crazy. The last night before they left, Bondi warmed up to Toni and climbed into her lap for a little scratch. They have a little dog and it’s a Chihuahua mix, too, so Toni was delighted.

          I have more stories and I have more pictures, but we will save them for next time.

          Remember, you’re all in my heart.

          Let’s call this one done!

          Done!