A Rainy Florida Evening

We were riding in the back of the minivan together. A chance to have a little chat, to ask her questions, to show that I think about her and care. It is short ride from the restaurant to their house. Before we pull out of the parking lot, she turns her back to me at a 45-degree angle, puts her earphones in, and stares out the window. There will be no conversation this evening. I will not force the situation; I know she feel awkward talking to her uncle and I understand how that feels. Nevertheless, as I watch the back of her head, with the occasional flashes of her face reflected in the window when we pass beneath streetlights, she continues to look passively at the never-ending rows of strip malls, and an 11-year-old cuts me to the quick. 

Random

The smallest things can make me contemplate the randomness of life while I am walking. I espied a black walnut, stuck between the branches and the trunk of a small sapling. I think about the odds of a walnut dropping from a tree above, in a way that would be just right so that it would get caught on a rather small tree. Given how many trees there are in Pennsylvania, it is probably not so odd that this type of thing would happen at some point. But I wonder about the odds of me seeing this; of it happening so close to a trail where people might observe the phenomenon. I always wonder why so few deer while walking; and, I never see any foxes. A difference of ten minutes, earlier or later, might change what animals, people or other things I might see and experience during my walks. Often it is just random what we observe, and who we meet, in life. Of course, someone might have placed that walnut in the tree too. Then, it is not random.

Wanted to ride your bicycle?

Walking on the trail, a rather large man, seemingly too big for his modest sized bicycle, approached.  He was wearing a tie-dyed t-shirt and used a rolled up bandana as a headband. I caught his eye as we neared one another and, since he was wearing earbuds, I gave him a polite nod rather than verbalizing a greeting. He returned a two-finger salute to me. Although the salute was unique, generally it was the kind of encounter that is usually quickly forgotten. Until, when I am sure he thought I was out of earshot, he startled me with an emphatic, "Hey!" After a slight pause, continuing to warble,  slightly off-key, "Another one down, another one bites the dust."

Frackville, PA

Holy Ascension Russian Orthodox Church, Frackville, PA

Anthracite coal was once a dominant source of employment and life in Frackville, is a small borough in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. Arriving into town from the interstate, on Lehigh Avenue, the primary thoroughfare through town, the only thing that appears to shine is the domes of the Holy Ascension Russian Orthodox Church, constructed in 1915, can be seen far in the distance. Otherwise, the commercial buildings, are seemingly covered in a thin layer of coal dust and grime. Driving requires a navigating a series of potholes that one fears could do real damage to a vehicle. 

Sidewalk on Lehigh Avenue

Water town at the industrial park

Deindustrialization, along with the disappearance of coal mining jobs, has not been kind to Frackville. On the edge of town, an empty industrial park sits idle. The Schuylkill Mall, also on the edge of town, adjacent to the interstate, had just been demolished, even though signs still thanked patrons for shopping. I walked through the business district of Frackville on a Thursday morning in August. Several people were out mowing their lawn before the heat of the day sets in and washing hung from clothesline along residential streets. But commercial activity in the town was limited to a service stations and small restaurant. Chinese restaurants and pizza place would offer services later. Lehigh Avenue as a hole, however, was a series of abandoned building blocks, architecture redolent of better times in need of repair, with cracked sidewalks sprouting weeds and grass. In one abandoned building a campaign sign from two years prior reads, “Veterans for Trump.” I walked by the library, tempted to wander in, to find it there were heavy fans attempting to dry the carpets. The doors of the library propped open by bound volumes of National Geographic magazines. 

St, Michael's Ukrainian Orthodox Church

The grim economic fate of the borough obscures the history and background of the community. The local churches reflect the immigrant population of the century ago, with several Orthodox congregations dotting the neighborhoods. Walking in the residential streets, one can find a mixture of well-maintained domiciles, with gardens and well-apportioned homes, with a smattering of dilapidated dwellings punctuating the few square blocks that surround the commercial district. On the other hand, brick factories, warehouses, and fraternal buildings sit empty, awaiting a new usage and return to better times. 

More photographs from Frackville.

Breakfast and Children

After the complimentary breakfast at the hotel, I was waiting for the elevator when a woman about my age came carrying a full tray of food. I offered her to enter first and asked, because she had her hands full, to push the button for her floor. She thanked me. After the door closed she stared at the control panel on the elevator and said, “I was just thinking my son is probably old enough to get his own breakfast,” I smiled, nodded my head and offered that I heard my mom’s voice in my head with saying that I should be getting her breakfast. This is not actual true, she’d would never make this request of me, but it makes for good small talk. The woman laughed and added that her son was going to be legally able to drink next week. I suspect that he was old enough to get his own breakfast.

Nice Toys

On a flight from Sydney to Hobart I shared a row with two other passengers. While I occupied the aisle seat, a Chinese student returning for university studies in Hobart occupied the middle seat and an unaccompanied boy, about eight-years old, was in the window seat. The flight attendants checked on him several times prior to takeoff, asking if he needed anything. He expressed the hope that he could have an iPad so that he could watch “shows” during the flight. During the flight, one of the attendants gently scolded him for not eating his apples because, “they are good for you.” The student kindly asked about the rather large stuffed border collie that occupied most of his legroom space. The student duly studied it very carefully, graciously commenting on how nice it was, to which the boy replied: “Every time we get toys, I always get the most expensive one. My mom says that I have expensive taste.”

Matthew Flinders and His Cat

Lucie ready for a picnic

The arrival of three kittens in our household this past spring has altered our lives: it has changed routines, conversations and, perhaps, improved our moods. While spending time with our clowder, not a day goes by without a laugh or a chuckle generated from out furry ersatz children. Lately our conversations have focused on the prospect of Lucie, Pip and Coco traveling as they get older. Will they join us on vacation? How will we arrange the car when they travel? What destinations would be feline-friendly? To that end, we have begun to introduce evening excursions around town. Upon returning, the kittens are praised for their bravery and limited vocal complaints emanating from the backseat. We assure ourselves that they will be good at traveling. 

The Statue of Trim at the State Library of New South Wales

The clowder appears to be off to a good start, but no matter how well the three do, it is doubtful that they will ever that they will ever travel even ten percent of the distances covered by Flinders’s cat. Trim is memorialized with a statue on Macquarie Street at the State Library of New South Wales in Sydney. He accompanied his human, Matthew Flinders on an exploration from Britain to Australia, and then in a survey of the continent. Flinders was the first to refer to Australia as a continent and his subsequent book and atlas were lauded.  His story is interesting as well, but a statue of a cat, among the pantheon or monuments of colonial leaders in Australia’s largest city, draws interest and imagination. 

Flinders with Trim in the background

Flinders wrote a loving tribute to his feline companion upon his death, which is recorded on a plaque at the library: “The best and most illustrious of his race. The most affectionate of friends, faithful of servants, and best of creatures. He made the tour of the globe, and a voyage to Australia, which he circumnavigated, and was ever the delightful and pleasure of his fellow voyagers.” 

Even after just a few months, we have grown completely smitten with LPC. As I write this, they are less than six months old; their curiosity knows no bounds, and they are hardly the picture of a calm demeanor and stateliness that are often associated with cats. Nevertheless, Trim is an example of why we value cats in our lives. They are good companions, wanting to share our home and time, they make us laugh, and the reciprocate our affection with theirs.

Paw prints on the railing leading to Trim's location