The Farewell to Local "Keeper of Christmas" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about a fellow named Jim Morrison, known to generations as "the Keeper of Christmas" in his role as founder and former curator of the beloved national Christmas Center died October 13 of natural causes at Kadima Rehabilitation & Nursing Home in Lititz, PA, where he spent two years of his life, according to those closest to him.  He was 85 years old.   The National Christmas Center opened its doors in 1998 in a 20,000-square-foot building in Paradise Township, where it remained for the next 20 years.  During that time thousands of people, including myself and my dear wife, made our way through the museum to marvel at the antique decorations from Christmasases past.  The center now operates seasonally in Dauphin County near the county line.  The center had been a lifelong vision for Morrison that developed as a child in New Jersey, when his mother drove him to Philadelphia the day after Thanksgiving to see the holiday-themed store displays.  "Everybody flocked to see the start of Christmas," Morrison told Lancaster Newspaper in 2018.  "My mother did so much to make Christmas great."  In the days after Christmas, a young Morrison would roam neighborhood streets lined with discarded Christmas trees and plucked from them any ornaments he could find.  "As a teenager, if there was snow on the ground on Christmas Eve, he'd put on skis, then take them off to walk up to the front doors of others in his neighborhood," recalled Katherine Miller, a Berks County woman who assisted Morrison at the center, "so when the kids woke up the ext morning, it would appear as though Santa had been up and down the street."  Morrison''s Christmas collection grew through his years of serving in the U.S. Army.  He was a model-maker, crafting items like a wooden gun case that held a pair of pistols the Texan Rangers gifted to President John F. Kennedy, and 250 sets of bookends that president Lyndon B. Johnson gave others as gifts.  "He also made models of the terrain in Vietnam to help the military in planning whatever actions they were doing over there," Miller said.  Morrison later ran a small company that restored historic houses in Wahington, D.C.  Along the way he sold antique postcards, and one of his customers was the former Gotham Book Mart in New York Cty.  The connection led to Morrison putting up a Christmas tree on the store's balcony decorated with antique ornaments that could be purchased by customers, with proceeds going to help the needy.  He opened the Christmas Center in Lancaster.  There was a reason behind the center's location, as the area has historical ties to Christmas.  "The first documented Christmas tree in America was in Lancaster city in 1821." Morrison was quoted as saying to LNP.  "It was the Germans that started the tree.  Possibly Martin Luther by putting candles on the tree.  So many things happen with immigration.  They brought their traditions to Lancaster.  They would wrap the tree in cotton to look like the new-fallen snow.  All the references came from Lancaster and those trees.  It's just a strong Christmas tradition in this area.  And I wanted people to learn about that."  For 20 years, Morrison estimated tens of thousands of people made their way through the museum each year to marvel at the antique decorations that took visitors on a journey through Christmas history; the center was featured in national magazines an on the Travel channel.  Morrison and co-owner Muretagh closed the Christmas Center in January 7, 2018, largely because of their ages.  About a year later, Morrison and Murtaugh sold the contents of the center to David Abel for an undisclosed price.  Abel is the steward of Stone Gables Estate in West Donegal Township, where he led the reconstruction of the iconic Star Barn and surrounding outbuildings.  He plans to put the Christmas collection in the reconstructed Belmont Barn, which was dismantled along Fruitville Pike in 2015 and is currently in storage.  The center still operates each Christmas season in a leased warehouse in Dauphin County that's about 5 miles north of Stone Gables Estate.  A celebration of life to remember Morrison, was be held at the Star Barn, 1 Hollinger Lane, West Donegal Township.  Morrison will be buried in a private ceremony at a cemetery in this hometown of Haddonfield, New Jersey.  Before his death, Morrison approved the engravings for his headstone, in descending order, will be his name, birth date, and the title by which he most enjoyed being called....SANTA!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Giving Thanks For Friendsgiving" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Across the United States, group chats are blowing up.  Who's bringing dessert?  A side dish?  A caserole?  The wine? More wine?  The discourse isn't necessarily anchored to the fourth Thursday in November, and the people texting share neither DNA nor deep-rooted emotional baggage.  Rather, such pressing questions revolve around an unofficial holiday nominally in the Thanksgiving orbit that's slowly formed its own customs and significance over the last decade or so to become a standalone celebration in its own right.  The result, Friendsgiving, has become one of my favorite events on the calendar year.  Sometimes traced to November 1994, when the TV show "Friends" aired its first Thanksgiving episode, the concept floated around for some time before the word Friendsgiving appeared in print circa 2007.  The fledgling traditions received a boost four years later after Baileys Irish Cream use it in an ad campaign, and each November since, it has grown more popular, breaking through the American lexicon by the mid-2010s.  But what if instead of thinking about Friendsgiving as a recent phenomenon, we consider it a welcome return to a time with our culture centered on friendship?  In classical philosophy, friendship was considered to be the summer bonus, or highest good.  That's because the ancient Greeks and Romans viewed the relationship as a glue that held civic life together, uniting private and public spheres.  As Ariostotle once wrote:  "Friendship or love is the bond which holds states together, and that legislators set more store by it than by justice; for concord is apparently akin to friendship, and it is concord that they especially seek to promote."  America's founders also understood friendship in this light.  "Inspired by an 'Aristotelian concept of friendship as collective tissue,' early Americans understood male friendships 'as crucial to the nation-building project and its creation of worthy republican citizens encouraging empathy between citizens in a society that no longer cohered through shared loyalty to a monarch,'"  American literary scholar Michael Kalisch argues in The Politics of Male Friendship in Contemporary American Fiction.  Marginalized communities in particular continued to advance older notions of friendship, recognizing the ways in which it provided a powerful alternate mode of intentional community and organizing.   Indeed, Kalisch contends that while the republic's separation from Britain is often "framed as a refusal of 'paternal authority,' male friendship offered an alternative metaphor of civic association in the nascent independent nation." one that united it with France's cry across the ocean for liberté, égalité, fraternité.  Both revolutions, Kalisch posits, were "galvanized by the egalitarian promise of friendship" - even though, as he points out, such a promise only extended to white men.  But if ideas of friendship and love were long seen as interchangeable, friendship's decline in the American civic space coincided with the separation of these spheres.  By the late 1800s, these new delineations between familia, romantic and platonic love resulted in friendship becoming "increasingly feminized, privatized, and removed from the public sphere of republican and democratic politics," observed Dartmouth gender and literary scholar Ivy Schweitzer in her book Perfecting Friendship.  In the 20th century, friendship remained on society's periphery, Schweitzer continues, as "Western culture developed an obsession with individual selfhood and sexual desire."  So dramatic was the drop off, she notes, that by the 1990s, the American literary critic Wayne C. Booth confessed, while reading about Aristotelian friendship, "to be puzzled by the modern neglect of what had been one of the major philosophical topics, the subject of thousands of books and tens of thousands of essays.'"  But the understanding of friendship as a civic model wasn't abandoned wholesale during this period: Marginalized communities in particular continued to advance older notions of friendship, recognizing the ways in which it provided a powerful alternative mode of intentional community and organizing.  In "Feminism for the Americas", UCLA historian Katherine M. Marino shows how friendship was embraced as a model of social democracy during the rise of a global movement for women's rights.  Leaders like Panamanian feminist Clara Gonzalez, Marino writes, understood that friendship corresponded "to the real needs of modern life, which is essentially a life of relationships, of interdependence, of solidarity, of mutual aid, of social action and of love."  The concept of the "chosen family," first articulated in 1991 by anthropologist Kath Weston in Families We Choose: Lesbians, Gays, Kinship, illuminated the ways that queer and transgender individuals, too, had pushed the notion of friendship to encompass deep, deliberate bonds that existed outside of legal or genetic ties.  The rise of Friendsgiving from an ad hoc replacement for being far away from home on the holidays into a ritual all its own suggests we're seeing a larger, mainstream push to celebrate and honor these non-familial social relationships.  And I hope its popularity is an indication of broader willingness to reconsider the role that friendship can play in our society.  So, if you're participating in a Friendsgiving of your own this year, consider if you're advancing a model of friendship that the ancients might recognize.  And maybe save a toast for Cicero and his treatise Laelius de Amicitia (How to Be a Friend), and cheers to the benevolent (mutual kindness), consensus (consensus), caritas (devotion), and fidelities (loyalty) that you're cultivating together.  It was another extraordinary day the life of an ordinary guy. 

The "MEET THE LAWN BOYZ" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Turned my morning paper to the "SPORTS" page and there was a large photograph of four young men in their practice uniforms holding their football helmets.  And then...I took a closer look at the four players and realized they all had bleached blonde hair!  And....I actually liked the look!  The headline read, "MEET THE LAWN BOYZ."  Now, I just knew I  had to read the story even though they weren't my hometown team of Manheim Township where I graduated from and went back to teach for close to 35 years before retiring from teaching.  Story, written by Lancaster Newspaper writer Jason Guarente read.... "Preston Schooner suggested the nickname.  Some, including his teammates, didn't get it at first.  Lawn Boyz?  What's that about?  Lampeter-Strasburg's senior explained that the initial letters, LB, are the same as linebacker.  Then he explained the rest. "This is our field; this is our lawn.  We're going to do what it takes to protect it."  Great defenses of yesteryear were often known by memorable monikers.  "The Steel Curtain", "The Purple People Eaters", "The Fearsome Foursome", "Doomsday".  L-S has adopted "Lawn Boyz," always with a Z - as used in recent war by Penn State's running backs as a way to describe the four seniors who fly around and make hits.  Schooner and Emory Flyer are the inside linebackers.  Dominic Brown and Danny Weidhler play on the outside.  They're a vital part of the Lancaster-Lebanon League's strongest unit.  L-S is 13-0 and two wins from the school's first state title.  The District Three Champs will take on District Seven winner Thomas Jefferson in the PIAA Class 4A football semifinals at Altoona's Mansion Park at 1 p.m. today.  "The Pioneers" have made their "D" their identity.  A stop is better than a score.  A big hit is better than a big gain.  The four linebackers see each other make great hits and great plays and it fires them up!  "We're trying to make a better play than the last guy!"  The Lawn Boyz are a tightly knit group.  They love playing together.  They're grateful that fate has placed the four of them on the same team at the same time...this time!  Even their jersey numbers keep them close.  Weichler is #5, Brown is #7, Fluhr is #8 and Schonour is #9.  L-S has held its opponent below 10 points in eight of its 13 games. Only Wyomissing  in the District final and Daniel Boone in Week 5 have surpassed 14 points.  Each of the four linebacker positions has a nickname of its own.  Weichler, the outside strong side, is "Bandit".  Brown, the weak side outside, is "Wolf".  Schonour, the inside strong side, is "Shark".  Fluhr, in the middle, is "Mack".  Fluhr has the reputation as the baddest dude of the bunch.  The biggest guys, Fluhr and Schonour are on the inside with the smaller, quicker guys, Brown and Weichler on the outside.  All four play both ways.  Brown is the leading rusher while Weichler is the top receiver.  Schonour has given a nickname to the backup linebackers.  They're the "Lawn Babies."  Basically "Lawn Boyz" in training.  One thing is clear....L-S is having a blast with this undefeated season.  The "Lawn Boyz" like to hit hard and make plays.  "New lawn, same Boyz!"  The crew is about to hit the road to Altoona, where they hope to protect another piece of sacred ground.  Here's hoping I might write another story to tell about the "Lawn Boyz" and their latest championship!!  It was another extrarodiary day in the life of an ordinary guy.     

(left-right) Danny Weichler, Preston Schonour, 
Emory Fluhr, and Dominic Brown

The "Are You Ready For Some Cranberry Sauce?" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Weeks before Thanksgiving, some of the cranberries that will be on dinner plates today were floating on the Rocky Meadow bog in southeastern Massachusetts.  The cranberries have turned this pond pinkish crimson.  Several workers, up to their waist in water, gently corral the berries toward a pump, that vacuums them up onto a waiting truck.  There, the berries are run through a system that separates them from leaves and vines and are transported to a processing plant which eventually turns them into sauce, juice or sweet and dried berries.  The native wetland plants that produce cranberries start growing in May.  When they are ready to be harvested, farmers flood their bogs with water and send out a picking machine to shake the berries from the vines.  Then more water is added to the bog, and the freed cranberries float to the surface.  "The season has been pretty good this year.  We've had a pretty good crop," said Steve Ward, a second-generation cranberry grower, on the edge of his bog.  The harvest runs from September through early November, and Ward is expected to produce between 15,000 and 20,000 berries, the best crop he has had in three years.  About 80% of those berries will go to Ocean Spray, a massive producer of cranberry products in the U.S.A.  This bog is one of nearly 300 in Massachusetts that cover some 14,000 acres, and this year farmers are projected to produce 2.2 million barrels of cranberries, with one barrel amounting to 100 pounds.  That's an increase of 12% over last year.  Massachusetts is the second-biggest cranberry-producing region in the U.S. behind Wisconsin, and the industry there dates back to the 1800s.  Despite the size of the sector, farmers in the state have weathered several challenges over the years, from trade wars to falling prices to a glut of berries.  Some have sold off their bogs or moved to diversify by putting solar panels around their bogs. Ward has two solar sites near his bogs and is considering putting floating solar installations on his water holes and reservoirs.  Ward said farmers are also having to adapt to a changing climate - which the Massachusetts Cranberries, a group that advocates on behalf of the industry, said could lead to a lower harvest this year.  "We have had some challenges with some of the hot weather and had one of the longest dry spells we have ever had," he said.  "We are having more 90-degree days clumped together.  The cranberry plants just don't like that type of weather.  Our average temperatures, especially at night, are higher.  Cranberries need cooler temperatures at night."  In a few hours I will be sitting down to have a fantastic Thanksgiving meal with my family.  Perhaps cranberry sauce will be a part of that meal.  I really don't care where it came from of who made the cranberry sauce, as long as it is part of my Thanksgiving meal.  I just love the flavor and texture of the stuff.  So, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone reading this story today.  You better put down your device and head to the table before all the cranberry sauce is gone.  Its was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! from our house to yours!  LDub

The "We All Must Meet Our Maker Sometime!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Sun was shining brightly and the air had a slight chill to it!  My wife and I had just arrived at the Mount Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church for the funeral service of Mr. Barry R. Walton.  I had known Barry since the early 1970s when we were both Industrial Art teachers who were in the early stages of our teaching careers at Manheim Township High School in Neffsville, Pennsylvania.  We shared the same classroom when he taught Graphic Arts and I taught Graphic Arts and Photography.  At times I taught Photography in the attached "Darkroom" when he had a class in the Graphic Arts room at the same time.  We learned pretty quickly how to share the space that was needed by both classes at the same time.  But, we never had any problems while sharing the same location. Luckily, the classes weren't huge in size with perhaps 15 to 20 (boys and girls) being the norm.  We worked together so he could use the printing presses with his class while I was using the darkroom for my class.  We both seemed to have the same personalities which made it easy to share the space that was needed for both of the classes.  Yes...there were times when one of the rooms was open, which made it easier, but the Industrial Arts curriculum was very popular at Manheim Township, so the room was shared quite a bit.  At the front of the Graphic Arts room was an open classroom which Barry would use when I needed the space at the rear of the room for allowing my students to matte and frame their photography projects.  When I knew he needed the space for his classes, I made sure my classes were working in the darkroom making prints for their projects.  In the many years we taught in the same space, I can't think of a single time that we had any problems.  Of course...we both shared the same laid-back personalities which made it so much easier for both of us as well as the students in both of our classes.  Barry also taught wood shop and metal shop which made it easier for scheduling since the wood and metal shops were separate from the Graphic Arts/Photography room.  Our school Principal and Guidance Councelors were all great at scheduling so we could use the Graphic Arts/Photography Darkroom very efficiently.  Barry and I also shared a small room next to the Graphic Arts/Photography area as our offices.  Took away from having to work at our desks while the other was teaching in the same area.  Not quite sure how we did it for all the years we taught together, but I would guess our personalities to be about the same which made it so much easier to handle.  Actually...I might fill in for Barry a few times and he would take over my class a few times when needed without any problems.  Our students realized that both of their teachers had the same personalities and worked to help us make it all happen.  Yeah...there were some times when a student or two might create a problem, but we were there to help each other when necessary.  At times I thought the Principal made the Barry/Larry schedule so we could work together in the same space and still have a great learning experience for both our Graphic Arts and Photography students.  After retirement we both kept in touch with each other and met a few times a year to share our retirement stories.  Barry recently died.  I'm certainly going to miss him!  Hard to replace a good friend whom you managed to teach with and get along with for close to 30 years!  But, life isn't always what you want it to be...and you must find the best way to carry on your life.  We both retired some time ago, but still found time to visit with each other.   I'll miss Barry and my visits with him over the past couple of years.  Life will go on...and we must cherish our memories from the past!  And....I have many great memories!   It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Retired Industrial Arts Teachers from Manheim Township H.S.
Barry is seated while I am on the far left (w/o "any" hair).

    

The "Rebranding Of Companies" Draws Ire!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about the new Jaguar automobile.  Seems that when many people consider a new Jaguar, they picture a British-made car purring confidently along the Italian coastline - a vision of familiarity that conveys "that dreaming, longing feeling we all love."  Well, those people are now not sure what to think about the Jaguar since the the 89-year-old company announced a radical rebranding this past week that featured loud colors and androgynous people - but no cars.  Jaguar, the company says, will now be JaGUar.  It will produce only electric vehicles beginning in 2026.  And say goodbye to British racing green, Cotswold Blue and black.  Its colors are henceforth electric pink, red and yellow, according to a video that has received backlash online.  Its mission statement: "Create exuberance.  Live vivid.  Delete ordinary.  Break moulds." "Intrigued?"  @Jaguar posted on social media.  "Weird and unsettled" is morel like it, Vogt wrote on Instagram.  "Especially now, with the world feeing so dystopian," the Cyprus-based brand designer wrote, "a heritage brand like jaguar should be conveying feelings of safety, stability, and maybe a hint of rebellion - the kind that shakes things up in a good way, not in a way that unsettles."  Jaguar, a sturdy symbol of British tradition and refinement, was one of several iconic companies that announced significant rebranding in recent weeks, upending a series of commercial - and, yes, cultural - landmarks by which many modern human beings sort each other, carve out identities and recognize the world around them.

The JaGUar symbol

Campbell's, the soupy, 155-year-old American icon immortalized in pop culture decades ago by Andy Warhl, is ready for a new, soupless name.  Comcast's corporate reorganization means that there will soon be two television networks with "NBC" in their name - CNBC and MSNBC - that will no longer have any corporate connection to NBC News, a U.S. legacy news outlet.  So how much do our consumer decisions - what we buy, were we travel and even whom we elect - speak to who we are?  Certainly, it's a question for those privileged enough to be able to afford such choices.  But, volumes of research in the art and science of branding - from "brandr," an old Norse word for burning symbols into the hides of livestock - say those factors do contribute to the modern sense of identity.  So rebranding, especially of heritage names, can be a deeply felt affront to consumers.  "It can feel like the brand is turning its back on everything that it stood for - and therefore it feels like its turning its back on us, the people who subscribe to that idea or ideology," said Ali Marmaduke, strategy director with the Amsterdam-based Brand Potential.  As for me... I'm not sure what to think!  My memory isn't what it used to be and now....with all the new names and identities, how will I ever find what I am after when I check online websites or walk the aisles at my local grocery store.  Will a bag of cat litter now be called a bag of "soupe de poop"?  Hey....I guess I shouldn't have typed that last line since it will definitely give someone an idea as to a new name for their old product.  It was another extraordiary day in the life of an ordinary guy.      

5 Ways to Improve Your Brain Health Every Day! Story

Taking care of your cognitive health ought to be - well, a no-brainer.  According to a survey published this past March, 87% of Americans are concerned about age-related memory loss and a decline in Brain function as they grow older, yet only 32% believe they can take action to help control that trajectory.  "All of us want to be cognitively intact for as long as possible," says Dr. Seemant Chaturvedi, a neurologist and stroke specialist at the University of Maryland Medical Center.  The good news is that "there are definitely risk factors that can be modified."  Changing our lifestyle habits can go a long way: drinking excessive amounts of alcohol, for example, can damage the parts of the brain involved in important functions like memory, decision making, impulse control, and attention.  Smoking is similarly perilous.  It can lead to cognitive decline and dementia, while increasing the risk of stroke.  Prioritizing healthy behaviors like exercising and eating a nutritious diet can increase the likelihood that when we reach our 70s and 80s, we're still able to summon important memories, drive a car, and engage in a wide variety of activities.  And there's no such thing as "too young" to start taking these steps.  "Even if you're in your 20s, what you're doing now will help you maintain brain health later in life," he says.  With that in mind, four neurologists told about what we should all do every day for better brain health.  And...they said...

Manage your chronic illnesses - If you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes, it's essential to make sure it's under control.  Each condition can "damage the blood vessels in the brain and increase the risk of stroke and dementia," while diminishing cognitive function, Chaturvedi says.  In one study, for example, people who had hypertension in their 40s to early 60s had a 6.5% steeper decline in cognitive skills in their 70s, 80s, and 90s, compared with those with normal blood pressure.  That's why it's important to get your numbers checked regularly, and to work with your doctor to establish a treatment regimen.

Exercise for 30 minutes - Your entire body will benefit if you work out at least a few days a week - and that includes your brain.  Research suggests that exercising improves cognitive processes and memory, while increasing the thickness of your cerebral cortex, which is responsible for tasks like language, thinking, and emotions.  "We're learning more and more about the benefits of regular exercise for brain health," Chaturvedi says.  "Even in patients who have mild dementia, it's recommended they engage in exercise three to five times a week." PS - I couldn't find out if typing was considered as exercise!

Eat like you're vacationing on the Italian coast - Dr. Carolyn Fredericks, an assistant professor of neurology at Yale School of Medicine, always recommends her patients follow a Meditteranean diet, which emphasizes fruits, veggies, whole grains, fish, nuts, seeds, and healthy fats.  "We've tried over the years to find the secret ingredient that makes the Mediterranean diet work," she says.  "Like, could it be the omega-3s in the fish, or the vitamin E in the nuts?"  But what appears to be most impactful she says, is the style of eating and emphasis on whole foods.  

Challenge your mind - People often ask Dr. Roy Hamilton what kind of mental stimulation is best.  Should they put together puzzles or play Sudoku every day?  What about video games?  Rather than focusing on one pursuit, Hamilton recommends curating a "diet of intellectual activities."  He compares it to asking a nutritionist what you should eat for a healthy diet: the answer wouldn't be carrots, more carrots, and only carrots.  Make it a point to exercise your brain in a variety of ways, just as you feast on lots of different snacks and meals.  

Rest Up - Not getting enough sleep is a key risk factor for dementia, says Dr. Augusto Miravalle, a neurologist at Rush University Medical Center.  Research suggests that people in their 50s and 60s who get six hours of sleep or less per night are 30% more likely to be diagnosed with dementia than those who log at least seven hours.  So what should you do if you lie awake at night counting sheep?  Miravalle suggests improving your sleep hygiene by taking steps like avoiding caffeine and alcohol in the evening, limiting naps, and putting away electronics before bed.  

These five ways to improve your brain health will work best if you do all five...every day.  But, if you can't find the time each day, at least try to do just a few everyday if possible.  Perhaps by the end of the week you will have had a chance to hit all the exercises at least a few days each which should at least put you on the right track.  And...isn't your brain worth it?  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  

The "You Just Have To Read These Stories!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading a page in my monthly Reader's Digest Magazine titled "Glad To Hear It!"  Just had to share it with you since the three stories were all so moving!  The lead title of the stories was "Glad To Hear It"...and I most certainly was!  The stories were...

Dancing the Tears Away.  Jarom Ngakuru, a Maori man living in Robinson, Texas, was devastated.  His grandmother had died in their native New Zealand and he couldn't get home for the funeral.  That's when, he said on a TikTok video, his co-workers "brought home" to him.  His brother-in-law taught the men the intricate choreography of the Dhaka, a traditional Maori dance.  They gathered in a large room and surprised Ngakuru with the dance: a quick squat, a vigorous thrust of the arms and a stomp of the feet accompanied by guttural shouts, followed by more complex moves, stomps and chants - the hallmarks of the Dhaka.  Halfway through, a stunned Ngakura joined them.  At the end, the men held their last position as Ngakura wept in his brother-in-law's embrace.  Said a video commenter from New Zealand, "I don't think they even understand how beautiful an act this is."

White Knight/Black Belt.  Han An was inside his family-run tae kwon do studio near Houston when he heard a scream from the cell-phone store next door.  An, followed by his family, ran over and found a man assaulting a woman.  An, an eight-degree black belt, grabbed the man's shirt, but the man slipped the hold.  So An grabbed the guy's pants, pulling him off the shaken woman.  As the man punched and bit, An's son Simon joined the fray, helping to pin the attacker to the floor.  The younger An told the Washington Post that although his father had prepared them for emergencies, "it still shocks me ... because this is, for me, a once-in-a-lifetime thing."

A Cut Above.  Some 25 years ago, the customer sitting in Irvin Russel Pelton Jr.'s barber chair in Detroit had come back from a war zone with the horror he'd seen still fresh in his mind.  Pelton let him vent.  Afterward, "He handed me an envelope.  It was a suicide note," Pelton told ABC 7 News in Lawton, Oklahoma.  It was more than a haircut that saved the man's life - it was Pelton's willingness to listen. And now that he retired, Pelton is traveling to all 50 states in his RV to give free haircuts and lend an uncritical ear to veterans and others so that they know "we care about them," he told WGR in Buffalo, New York.  Pelton is amazed by their transformation.  "Something as simple as a haircut can change a person's life." 

AMEN!! 

The "Grower Of The Year Award" Story

It was an ordinary day.  The pumpkin king is proud and boastful, hellbent on a dynasty of huge gourds, years after year, after ascending to the world's throne last week.  Dave and Carol Stelts, giant pumpkin growers from Western Pennsylvania, won the much-coveted "Grower of the Year" (GOTY) at the 29th annual Ohio Valley giant Pumpkin Growers Weigh-off weighing three pumpkins that totaled 7,729 pounds.  Hard to close your eyes and see something that huge in size.  That's about the size of an African elephant!  Stelt's largest pumpkin - 2,731.5 pounds - was just 18 pounds shy of the current U.S. and world record.  "We absolutely slayed it," Dave, 65, told the Inquirer on October 18.  Last month, the Inquirer spent a day at Stelt's "Valley of Giants" farm in Enon Valley, about 45 miles northwest of Pittsburgh in Lawrence County, where he obsessed over the states of his giants, which were still on the vine, and whether he would defeat his biggest rivals, the Paton Brothers, who grow pumpkins along the southern coast of England.  They're all friendly rivals, prone to rib one another every chance they can.  During that visit, Stelts made it clear the GOTY award was his mission, not the world record.  While his home was filled with dozens of ribbons, pumpkin-shaped trophies and fake, giant checks, the GOTY was a void in his life.  Stelts said the world record could be a fluke, a stroke of luck.  Grower of the year is awarded to the competitor whose top three pumpkins weigh the most.  Last month, Stelts hinted that winning the GOTY might prompt him to retire and take Carol on a summer vacation, finally.  The award seems to have only fueled his pumpkin passion, though.  He's not going to let the Patons take his throne.  "Oh yeah, I have to keep beating those limeys," he said.  The Paton brothers couldn't immediately be reached for comment.   "They weren't as heavy as they thought and we were heavier than we thought," Stelts said.  When the Inquirer spoke with Ian Paton last month, he described giant pumpkin growing as a "sickness" and mentioned his quest to break the 3,000-pound mark.  "None of his is normal," he said.  It was another extraordinary day in  life of an ordinary guy.

LEADS Honors Local Landmark Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about the Watt & Shand Department Store in downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania featuring a Christmas Tree ornament.  Some readers remember when Penn Square had more than one Christmas Tree during the holiday season.  For years, The Watt & Shand Department Store in Lancaster city was decorated with three-story lighted Christmas trees on its building's exterior.  That detail from local Christmases past is honored in LEADS' 2024 Lancaster landmark ornament.  The ornaments are $25 each and available to order online at LancasterLeads.org.  Shipping is $4.95 for the first ornament and 95 cents for each additional ornament.  They are also available to purchase in person from the following Lancaster locations: 

Building Character, 342 N. Queen St., rear warehouses.

The Turkey Land at Lancaster Central Market, 23 N. Market St.

LancasterHistory, 230 N President Ave.

Lancaster City Welcome Center, 38 Penn Square.  

LEADS, Lancaster's Economic Action for Downtown's Success, is a volunteer organization with the mission of making Lancaster city a more attractive place to visit, shop and live.  The group hosts an ornament fundraiser annually, picking a different Lancaster architectural landmark each year to honor.  Other sites honored in recent years include James Buchanan's Wheatland, Long's Park Amphitheater, and Franklin & Marshall College's Old Main.  This yer's ornament depicts the Watt & Shand building at Christmastime, with the Penn Square Christmas tree displays affixed to the building's facade.  Added in the 1970s, the trees survived until 2005, when they were no longer usable.  Watt & Shand, a department store, was founded by three Scottish immigrants in 1878.  In 1887, work began on its now-iconic building at 25 S. Queen St.  The building was designed by celebrated Lancaster  architect C. Emlen Urban.  The former Watt & Shand building is currently the home of the Lancaster Marriott and Lancaster County Convention Center.  The ornaments are from Beacon Design in Lincoln, Rhode Island. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  

A Crash Course In Cranberries Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading that some cooks will insist on making their own cranberry  sauce, laden with plump whole berries and ingredients like honey or orange zest.  Others swear solely of the stuff in a can.  Americans in the latter camp consume more than 5 million gallons of jellied cranberry sauce each year - just between Thanksgiving and Christmas!  While 68% of Americans say they love the taste, another 15% just love the way it jiggles.  If you've ever seen a slippery cylinder of jellied cranberries wriggle out of its can, you'll recognize what Farmers' Almanac aptly describes as the satisfying whoosh-plop.  The man who first crammed cranberries into a can was New Englander Marcus L. Urann.  In 1912, wanting to extend the berries' short selling season, developed a sauce that could be preserved in big batches.  He sold his jellied concoction under the name Ocean Spray Preserving Co.  Later, he joined forces with two competitors to form a cooperative that today comprises more than 700 family farmers.  As one of only a handful of native fruits cultivated in North America, cranberries were an important indigenous food source. Vitamin C and antioxidants, especially anthocyanin and flavanols, give the tiny, tart berries their dark crimson hue.  Native American tribes from the Cape Cod Pequots to the South Jersey Lenni-Lanape, and farther west to the Algonquins of Wisconsin, culled cranberries in the wild from low, long-running vines within bogs and marshes.  Bogs are one of North America's most distinctive types of wetlands: spongy beds with thick moss, acidic waters and peat deposits.  The North American cranberry harvest kicks into high gear every autumn with the top-producing state, Wisconsin, producing around 60% of the annual U.S. crop.  Massachusetts, the second-largest producer, is home to the oldest continuously cultivated cranberry seeds - some vines are more than 150 years old.  Iconic images of farmers walking in knee-high, ruby red seas of cranberries propagate a popular myth: that cranberries grow in water.  In fact, they have air pockets that allow them to float.  So the night before the berries are ready to harvest, flowers flood the bog.  The next day, they churn the water with giant water reels, or "egg-beaters," to shake the fruit from their vines.  Then, crews wade in and corral the bogging berries with large brooms.  These cranberries are considered "wet harvested" and are used mostly for juice drinks and sauces.  About 200 cranberries get squeezed into each can.  "Dry harvesting," by contrast, yields fruit that is sold fresh in the produce aisle.  In this case, a mechanical picker gently combs the berries off the vines and deposits them into burlap sacks, often to await a helicopter that swoops in and airlifts the berries out of the bog.  How's that for a dramatic exit?  Whether you stir up your own sauce, shimmy it out of a can or simply want a serving of table side trivia this Thanksgiving, our all-American cranberry is the answer!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  

Saul The Drummer! Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading an article I found in my AARP The Magazine.  Story was titled "Music Is Hope."  Tells the story of Holocaust survivor Saul Dreier who formed a band to comfort others.  His story began...Music has the ability to crack open hearts, to change minds, to heal, to comfort.  When I was 89, I read about the concert pianist Alice Herz-Sommer, who'd died at 110.  Like me, she was a Nazi concentration camp survivor.  And also like me, she had used music as a way through that terrible time.  After the war, she continued to play to try to heal hearts.  I felt that I needed to honor her in some way.  It came to me that I should organize a Holocaust survivor band to continue her work.  I told my wife, and she said I was crazy. I told my rabbi, and he said I was crazy, too!  But I was very stubborn.  During World War II, I was sent to several concentration and work camps in Poland.  My whole family was killed, and I alone lived.  There was a famous cantor in one of the camps with me, and he would sing jewish songs.  And in those moments of music, I found escape.  One day, I realized that he needed a beat, so I managed to get two metal spoons, and I drummed for him: pum, pum, pum.  Almost every night, we would all gather and sing, even though we were starving and exhausted.  That is how I learned the drums.  When we were liberated, I was sent to a displaced person's camp in Italy, where there were actual instruments.  I played the drums for the people in the camp and the town.  Such joy!  After I went to America, between work and raising a family, I didn't have time for music.  But reading about Alice Herz-Sommer brought me back to the way music can reach hearts.  I bought some drums for my band idea.  At first, my wife said, "Either the drums go or you go," but when you've been married for so long, you fight for five minutes and make up 10 minutes later.  Through people at my temple in Florida, I found other survivors and their children.  Our first concert, in 2014, was at the temple.  We played Jewish, Polish, Hebrew and dancing music.  We got a standing ovation!  I felt like the sky had opened.  And my wife?  She said, "I live with you 51 years, and today you are my celebrity!"  In 10 years, we've played all over. America (including the White House), Israel, Canada, Brazil and Poland.  I will play for as long as I can, because music is hope.  I am not interested in politics or taking sides.  My purpose in life is to get people to see that we area all one, we all sing the same song.  - As told to Beth Levine. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Saul Dreier on drums

Taming Of Adult ADHD

It was an ordinary day.  Picked up my morning paper and began to read Dr. Mike Roizen's column titled "Taming Adult ADHD.  Went like this...Can't focus?  Are easily impatient?  Hate dealing with multitasking?  You may be contending with adult ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder).  Join the crowd.  More than 15 million adults have been diagnosed with ADHD (many more go undiagnosed) and have to deal with the work, relationship and internal conflicts that can arise as a result of the disorder.  So, what can you do to tamp down your symptoms and lessen your risk for associated health problems such as alcohol dependence, obsessive compulsive disorder, drug abuse, intermittent explosive disorder and - yup-obesity?  Stimulant medications such as Ritalin and Adderall can be useful - around half of adults diagnosed with ADHD have been prescribed such drugs.  But fully 71% of them report that they have trouble finding available medication.  Fortunately, there are non-drug therapies that can ease symptoms.  Establish routines.  You can help yourself get organized by making lists for different tasks and activities and using a calendar for scheduling events.  Break down large projects into smaller, manageable tasks.  Enjoy daily aerobic exercise.  It can reduce impulsivity and hyper-activity and improve executive functioning.  Yoga and meditation are also calming and improve executive functioning.  Plus, research indicates that neurofeedback (a kind of biofeedback that teaches self-control of brain function) can help control impulsivity and agitation.  Consider various supplements.  Research shows that there are potential benefits from taking melatonin (ADHD can disrupt sleep cycles), pycnogenol (French maritime pine bark), green coffee bean extract, and caffeine or caffeine and L-theanine.  For more ideas, read "The Best Supplements for Boosting Focus and Attention" at iHerb.com/blog.  Dr. Mike Roizen is chef wellness officer and chairman of the Wellness Institute at Cleveland Clinic.  To live your healthiest, visit shareware.com.   p.p.s. - I have found that writing a daily blog is a big help in staying young and staying healthy.  I look forward to writing each day, sometimes a few times each day, so that I can pass along my life's stories as well as stay healthy along the way.  I'm sure that just about everyone reading my stories has just as many interesting stories they could write about and share with others.  Give it a try sometime and see how much fun writing can be.  You don't need to be an English teacher to write a blog!  I was only a "C" student in my English classes in high school and college, and no one writes to me telling me how awful my stories are due to my spelling and writing.  Hey!  Send me how to reach your blog and I will gladly read it.  Being that I'm retired, I have all the time in the world....some days!!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.     

The "Ben Franklin...Man Of Many Letters" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading my latest edition of "The Saturday Evening Post."  Was turning the pages when I came across an article titled "Benjamin Franklin, Man of Letters."  Boy did that bring back memories of times past....long ago.  I taught Industrial Arts (I.A.) at Manheim Township High School in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania beginning in the mid-1960s.  I took over the Graphic Arts Department when the former I.A. teacher became an administrator in the high school.  At the time we were still teaching letterpress, which included setting type by hand in a composing stick, placing the handset type in a "chase", or metal frame, and placing the chase in a hand-operated letterpress.  We had 2 letterpresses which were both run by electricity, rather than the older presses that were powered by the press operator. My students, both boys and girls, loved the course since they could do everything by hand and see a printed result as soon as the inked type struck the paper.  I still think back to those days every time I read a story about letterpress printing.  My latest edition of "The Saturday Evening Post" had a rather large article that was titled "Benjamin Franklin...Man of Letters."  I closed my eyes and pictured the many students I had over 50 years ago who may have been reading the story as I was.  Do they, (both boys and girls) remember setting type and printing it on the couple of letterpresses we had in our print shop.  I'll bet they never forgot that course I taught in the Industrial Arts department, especially the day I, their teacher, got my hand caught in the press, but still have all my fingers (my right trigger finger is turned nearly 90 degrees to the right, but is still useful.  Looks a little funny, but became a good teaching tool!)  The latest Saturday Evening Post had a short, 2 paragraph story titled "Franklin And The Post" which I have copied for you to read to allow you to also see what Benjamin Franklin must have been like during the very early 1900s.  So enjoy the story... 

"Franklin And The Post."  The Post's connection to Ben Franklin is one of the reasons Cyrus Curtis chose to buy and relaunch this magazine in 1897.  Back in 1728, when the young Franklin began publishing the "Pennsylvania  Gazette," it carried news and articles on various topics from correspondents to other publications, and often enough by Franklin himself.  "The Gazette" reflected his interest in people, science and politics, his keen sense of what people wanted to know, and of course, his wit.  His editorship made "The Gazette" the colonies' most popular publication.  "The Gazette" ceased publication in 1800, but Franklin's old print shop remained in business at No. 53 Market Street, Philadelphia.  In 1821, Charles Atkinson used this shop and its press to start a weekly publication.  It was to be delivered with the Saturday afternoon mail, so he called it "The Saturday Evening Post." Though it wasn't started by Franklin, the "Post" carried on the spirit that animated the Gazette: Franklin's practical, inquisitive, lightly skeptical, and basically moral tone, but was always leavened by a sense of humor.  It was hoped that they could follow in his footsteps.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  

  

The "I Know A Story" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading the column in my Sunday Newspaper titled "I Know A Story." These are stories sent to the newspaper by local residents whom love to read the newspaper and share their own stories.  Today's headline on the story read..."Ephrata, Lancaster were filled with shopping options in 1930s."  The story was submitted to the Lancaster Newspaper by Martha Kurtz.  The following was her story..... I was born in 1928.  When I was a little girl, my family lived in Ephrata at Good's Crossing.  The trolley stop was next to our driveway and would come by our house hourly.  If we wanted a ride, we stood by the tracks.  When my younger brother was around 5 years old and I was 9, we picked strawberries to earn money.  This was when we started our independent trolley adventures.  For 7 cents of our hard-earned money, we could ride the trolley to downtown Ephrata.  In the 1930s, Ephrata was a thriving town with lots of different stores: Whities, a newspaper stand, sold greeting cards, writing paper and newspapers; Abe Choens, a men's store, sold suits, shoes and clothing for men; and Seldomrige's, a clothing and home goods store, purchased clothing in New York City.  I liked to go in there and look at their dresses, even though I couldn't afford to purchase anything.  There were two banks in Ephrata and three drug stores.  Ephrata also had two department stores: Harris' Department Store and Spritzler's Department Store.  At the end of the season, Mr. Spritzler would take the clothing inventory that didn't sell and give it to my older brother to donate to the Mennonite Central Committee.  There was a JCPenney store, a Woolworth's five-and-dime, a bridal shop that sold fancy dresses, Haines Shoe Store, Sprecher's Hardware Store, a movie theater and a bowling alley.  There were no shopping malls, so people came to Ephrata to shop.  In the evening, Ephrata was crowded with shoppers.  My mother grew up in downtown Ephrata; she was a "town girl."  She enjoyed going to Lancaster to window shop and to buy her "coverings" (Mennonite headdress).  For 25 cents each, my mother and I would ride the trolley to Lancaster.  We would ride through the countryside; The first stop was Akron, then through the fields we would ride to Brownstown, Leola and then along Marietta Avenue to Lancaster City.  If people were standing along the tracks, the trolley would stop to pick them up.  In Lancaster, the trolley stopped at the Square, which hasn't really changed much.  On the corner was Watt & Shand Department Store.  This would be our first stop on our day out shopping.  We would look at things that were too expensive for us to purchase.  We would have lunch, soup or a sandwich at the Rendevous restaurant on the lower level.  Our next stop was Hager's Department Store.  On the second floor was a room which was like a separate store.  Here they sold "Plain clothing," and they called it "The Plain Store."  The saleslady wore a cape dress and a covering.  They sold Plain men's suits, men's black shoes, women's plain cape dresses, women's black shoes, black stockings, coverings and bonnets.  It a man didn't find a suit he liked in The Plain Store, he could pick one from the regular men's section and the Hager's tailor would convert it to a "Plain suit."  This is where my mother purchased her coverings and Plain, comfortable black shoes with laces and a 2-inch heel.  After shopping at Hager's, we would go to Woolworth's department store on Queen Street.  This was one of Woolworth's first stores, which opened in 1897.  My mother would always purchase a bag of cashew nuts here for us to eat on our trolley ride home.  On Sundays, we could buy a trolley day pass for 50 cents and travel anywhere in Lancaster County.  The trolley was a big part of our life in the 1930s.  The author, age 96, lives at Garden Spot Village in New Holland.  Her daughter, Darlene Walker, says this story was part of a family project during the pandemic - compiling her mother's memories into a "book of life."  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Thru The Viewfinder" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about the staff photographer at Lancaster Newspaper, Blaine Shahan, attempting to take a photograph of the aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, for some time.  He thought he would have to take a trip north for that to happen.  Then, earlier this year, he saw posts on social media with pictures of the northern lights nearby.  The farthest south I'd seen them was in Maryland, Blaine said, which suggested I might get to see them in Pennsylvania.  On October 5, I saw a Facebook post that the northern lights might be visible after sunset.  So, I took a ride to Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Clay Township because there's a good view of the northern sky from the parking lot by the boat ramp, and it's really dark there.  When I arrived, it was obvious I wasn't the only one interested in seeing this.  With the darkness, it was hard to tell how many people were there, but I'll say there were at least a couple dozen.  I set up my camera on a tripod and waited.  I shot a few pictures of the stars over the lake, but I didn't see any northern lights.  Earlier that day, I had installed an app in my phone that shows indicators of the aurora borealis, and at that time, it was showing aa 0% probability of seeing them.  I stayed there for the better part of two hours, then called it a night.  Five days later, on October 10, I saw social media posts again that the northern lights might be visible.  I checked the aurora app, and now the viewing probability was 1%.  That was good enough for me, and I headed out the door.   As I walked to my car, at 7:30- p.m., I could see a red glow flickering in the sky above the houses across the street, which I photographed.  It's about a 45-minute drive from my home in Lancaster Township to Middle Creek, but I thought that would be the best place for me to see and photograph them.  When I arrived at the boat ramp at middle Creek, the parking lot was almost full.  Once again it was dark, so I couldn't see all the people, but I'm guessing it was close to 100 if you count the people by the boat ramp, along the shoreline and people who stopped at other places close by.  Like the previous Saturday, I set up my camera on a tripod and waited.  I didn't see anything in the sky, but when I took a picture with a long exposure, I could see a green band  running across the sky just above the horizon.  At that time, I wan't sure if the green glow I was seeing was the northern lights or not.  I shot more pictures with different exposures trying to find my sweet spot.  Then, at just about 10 p.m., the sky started to light up again.  People around me were commenting, and some were cheering as yellow, green and red lights flickered across the sky.  The picture I'm sharing today is a 6-second exposure.  This means that in this image, you're seeing the flickering that happened over a 6-second period.  What I was at 10 also confirmed that the green band that I saw an hour earlier was the northern lights.  Blaine's method was:  Nikon D4 camera with a Nikon 24-70 mm lens zoomed out to 24 mm.  Exposure time was: Six seconds, with an aperture of f-7.1 at 3200 ISO.  I have tried to take photos such as what you see here for years, but have never been successful, thus I have given up.  I'm so glad I had the chance to see and read about Blaine's photographs that he successfully took of the aurora borealis, or the Northern Lights.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Is Alcohol The New Smoking?" Story

The following story was partially written by Dr. Douglas Zipes, M.D. who is an internationally acclaimed cardiologist, professor, author, inventor, and authority on pacing and electrophysiology.

It was an ordinary day.  Reading an article in my latest Saturday Evening Post titled "Is Alcohol The New Smoking?"  Seems that America tried to rid itself of alcohol once before.  Prohibition was a disastrous failure that spawned an illicit industry of manufacturing, transporting, and selling alcohol.  Speakeasies sprouted like mushrooms, memorialized in many books and movies like "The Great Gatsby."  Members of Congress proposed a prohibition amendment in 1917, which was adopted as the 18th Amendment in 1919 and implemented the following year. Religious consumption of wine was exempted, as was home production of limited amounts.  Well, 13 years later, in 1933, the 21st Amendment reversed this course due to public outcry, the growth of illegal activity, and the decline of tax revenues after the 1929 depression.  The "wets" defeated the "drys" and have held the upper hand ever since.  But today, there is a burgeoning temperance movement, not from a legal standpoint, but instead inspired by health considerations.  It reminds me of what happened with smoking.  When I trained as a physician at Duke Hospital in the late 1960s, I could smell tobacco in the air during evening strolls through downtown Durham.  Smoking and smokers were everywhere: planes, restaurants, homes, hospital rooms.  At that time, a well-known cardiologist is even said to have used a hemostat to pick up and smoke a cigarette (to avoid contaminating his gloves) during heart catheterizations.  Today, smoking bans are enforced all over - not by Constitutional amendments, but because medical science proved its adverse health effects.  Of course there will always be smokers, just as there will always be drinkers; individual freedoms will prevail, allowing smokers and drinkers to do as they please, regardless of the health consequences.  But, could the same fall from grace that occurred with smoking and also bring down alcohol?  Recent data support the conclusion that no amount of alcohol is beneficial, and any amount is harmful to your heart and other organs.  Considering the burgeoning number of establishments serving nonalcoholic drinks, the "drys" are gaining on the "wets."  Mocktails - cocktails minus the liquor - appear with increasing frequency on menus in restaurants and bars across the country and have taken the boring out of alcohol-free drinks.  More than 3 out of 5 U.S. adults who have ever smoked have quit.  Hopefully, in theirs to come, the same statistic might apply to drinking alcohol.  However, at least two major differences distinguish smoking cessation from alcohol abstinence and may prevent this from happening.  First, nonsmokers were bothered by their neighbors' smoking, which helped lead to its ban, a case that doesn't apply to drinking except that in situations of extreme inebriation.  Second, nondrinkers often feel socially pressured to drink at parties and celebrations.  Whether alcohol abstinence is nearing the end of its beginning or the beginning of its end is too early to judge.  At the very least, however, we can hope for moderation to conform with the U.S. guidelines of no more than one drink per day for women and two for men.  Only time will tell.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  

"Drought Watch issued For Lancaster County, Pennsylvania!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading in article in my local newspaper  titled "Drought Watch Issued For County."  Didn't look good, at least for the near future.  Perhaps you might want to read it for yourself and make your own conclusions.  Drought declarations are based on four factors: precipitation, storm flows, groundwater levels and soil moisture.  The state Department of Environmental Protection makes its drought declarations after assessing the departures from normal ranges for periods of three to 12 months.  It also factors in information it gets from public water suppliers.  Drought watch residents are encouraged, but not required, to reduce water use by 5% to 10%.  There is worry about fire.  "Much of the Commonwealth is at a high risk for fire danger as a result of dry conditions, and it is critical that Pennsylvanias use extreme caution when handling fire or void any burning as these conditions persist," state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn said as the drought designations were announced.  Adams, Allegheny, Butler, Carbon, Chester, Clearfield, Columbia, Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, Fayette, Franklin, Greene, Indiana, Lancaster, Lawrence, Lebanon, Lehigh, Lucerne, Monroe, Northampton, Northumberland, Perry, Philadelphia, Pike, Somerset, Washington, Westmoreland and York counties were put under a drought watch.  Berks and Schuylkill counties were put on a drought warning which means residents are encouraged, but not required, to reduce water use by 10% to 15%.  The third level of drought declaration is drought emergency, which can be declared by the governor and emergency water restrictions can be implemented.  DEP won't implement mandatory water use restrictions outside of a drought emergency. Public water systems may implement their own measures.  Here's hoping the rain will fall from the sky soon and for a fairly long period of time.  Certainly don't want to have a flood stage called for Pennsylvania, but we really need the water to drop from the sky and help provide for water for everyone.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

A Brief History of the City of Lancaster, Pennsylvania...my Hometown!

It was an ordinary day.  Checking out some stories about my hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  I have been asked quite a few questions over my lifetime and thought it might be fun to let you know a bit more about the city in which I was born, grew up, and still live in with my wife, Carol, at Woodcrest Villas.   Well, the city is known as the "Red Rose City" sue to its link to Lancaster England.  Lancaster became a Brough in 1742, a charted city on March 10, 1818, and surrendered its ancient city charter and became a Third Class City under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on May 27, 1924.  A few more bits of information follow....

• 1729: James Hamilton laid out the city
• 1742: Lancaster became a borough
• 1818: Lancaster became a charted city 

Lancaster is one of the oldest inland cities in the United States. It's located in south-central Pennsylvania, along the Susquehanna River.

Here are some other notable events in Lancaster's history: 

• 1777: The Continental Congress met in Lancaster for one day to escape the British. Lancaster was the nation's capital for a day. 
   
• 1799–1812: Lancaster was the capital of Pennsylvania. 
   
• 1730: The first court sessions were held in a tavern near the Susquehanna River. 
   
• 1738: The first courthouse was finished in Penn Square. 
   
• 1751: Edward Shippen, a former mayor of Philadelphia, moved to Lancaster. 

The Continental Congress met in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on September 27,  1777.  This was a brief period when Lancaster served as the nation's capital. The Continental Congress members fled Philadelphia and convened in the courthouse at what is now Penn Square.

Lancaster is one of the oldest inland cities in the United States of America. It is 71 miles west of Philadelphia and is snuggled along the north and west by the mighty Susquehanna River.

German immigrants, known as Pennsylvania Dutch (from “Deutsch” meaning German), were the first to settle in the area in 1709. At that time it was known as “Hickory Town”. The Honorable James Hamilton laid it out in building lots, and in May 10, 1729, it became the county seat. John Wright, a prominent citizen, gave it the name “Lancaster” after Lancaster, England where he formerly lived. The city is known as the “Red Rose City” due to its link to Lancaster, England. Lancaster became a borough in 1742, a charted city on March 10, 1818, and surrendered its ancient city charter and became a Third Class City under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on May 27, 1924.

Lancaster was an important munitions center during the Revolutionary war. It was the National Capital of the American colonies on September 27, 1777, when the Continental Congress was fleeing British forces (who had captured Philadelphia). From 1799 to 1812, Lancaster was the capital of Pennsylvania.  So, you see, my hometown of Lancaster carries a bit of history behind it.  Something that not every town in th United States can claim.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "Why Walking Is So Good For You!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading about "Why walking is so good for you!  We know you hear us say over and over again - that you have to walk everyday.....no excuses!  That's because we're so convinced of its importance!  You see, walking (aiming for 10,000 steps daily!) doesn't just strengthen your circulation, put oxygen to your brain, improve your balance, and provide a chance to spend time with your posse, it has even more health benefits.  According to Harvard Medical School, walking for as little as 15 minutes helps reduce cravings for sugary snacks and chocolate.  That happens because it ups circulation of feel-good endorphins and reduces stress.  it also can help ease arthritis-related joint pain by strengthening muscles that support your hip, knee and ankle joints and keeping them lubricated.  And hoofing it for just 6 miles a week can help prevent arthritis from setting in.  Walking also turns on genes that produce the protein irises, which helps you stay smart and strengthens your immune response.  One study found that a 20-minute walk at least five days a week results in 43% fewer sick days compared to non-walkers.  And it can help defeat the power of weight-promoting genes.  As Harvard study found that the effects of those obesity genes were slashed in half by walking briskly for an hour a day.  All for just putting one foot in front of the other!  For more information on how to incorporate walking into your daily life, check out our audiobook "You on a Walk" and Dr. Oz's article "More Movement May Increase Longevity - Here's Why" at iHerb.com/blog.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  

The "An Adventure With One Of My Former High School Students" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Sitting in my easy chair looking at a calendar titled 2024 AFRICA, Photography by Keith Grebinger.  I taught Industrial Arts at Manheim Township High School (MTHS) in Neffsvillle, PA.  I had graduated from high school at MTHS in the early1960s and went to nearby Millersville State Teacher's College to become a teacher.  When I graduated from Millersville I found that there was an opening at MTHS in the Industrial Arts Department.  Didn't take long to apply, receive an interview, and begin teaching at my alma mater.  I eventually asked the school district if I could begin a course in photography and they were more than willing, providing that I provided them with a curriculum for the course I wanted to teach.  One of my early students was a young man named Keith Grebinger.  At the time, I was teaching photography and he had selected my course as one of his minor subjects.  Great student with a real knack for taking photographs.  After he graduated from MTHS two years later, with two years of my teaching under his belt,  he opened his own picture and frame shop in nearby Neffsville, PA.  And....to top all this off... I eventually  retired from teaching, and asked Keith if I could work for him at his photography and frame shop!  Seemed a bit odd, being the worker and not the boss, but we worked together just fine.  I learned probably as much from him about framing and mounting as he learned from me about the art of photography.  I worked part-time for Keith for close to 10 years before I  finally called it quits and totally retired!  Recently made a visit back to Keith's shop in nearby Neffsville to see what he was working on at the time and found his latest photographic masterpiece...A calendar of photographs that he had recently taken in Africa of the wildlife of Africa.  13 remarkable calendar photographs that he had taken of the African wildlife and African scenery!  I talked about his trip to Africa with he and his wife Cindy and how much fun it was to take the photographs of all the wildlife.  Today, he and Cindy own and operate Grebinger Gallery / Lancaster Picture & Framing in Neffsville, Pennsylvania which is between the towns of Lancaster and Lititz.  So, if you want or need a professional photographer or a professional framer, just give Keith a call at 717-569-9335.  I'm absolutely sure you will enjoy Keith's work as well as Keith, himself!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Keith Grebinger

A few of Keith's selection of frames

Keith and his wife Cindy

A design showing logo's of all the professional football teams

Framed Michael Jackson design

Yours truly, when I worked for Keith...cutting a few mats.....and 
No! I didn't ruin the mat cutter!