A Bend in the River

We had a clear day between rainy days, and my husband and I seized the opportunity to do two things we had not done in quite some time: we went to the Altoona Eat 'n Park for a fabulous, huge breakfast, and then we spent some time on the Lower Trail, which runs along the Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River.

My breakfast was the super senior griddle smile, which included two eggs, potato cakes, toast, and bacon, with a side of blueberry pancakes. Those pancakes were well beyond what I was able to eat, so they came along home with me. We shopped at the Big Lots next door with a coupon, but got overcharged and had to go back in and straighten it all out; all's well that ends well, I guess.

To access the Lower Trail, we parked by the Flea Market at Water Street, and my husband changed into his jogging clothes while I took off with my camera. I was in search of green views and shady scenes with benches along the river, and I was not disappointed.

As soon as I got on the trail, I spotted some people in boats on the river. Just as I stopped for a look, and a few photos, one of the boaters caught a fish on his fishing line, reeled it into his boat. If I'd had an unobstructed view of that, you'd probably be looking at THAT photo.

But here is a look from a few minutes later: two canoeists rounding a bend on this green, green scene. In winter time, it looks like this. In case you're curious, here is what the view looks like looking back UP the river from this point, in a prior Blip. Here's another view looking upstream, this time in autumn splendor. And yes, those are some gorgeous sycamores bending all over the place.

I looked for snapping turtles in a pond along the trail, but did not spot any. You know, I could spend a lifetime waiting to try to recreate the snapping turtles' underwater ballet, photos I lost in a catastrophic memory card failure three years ago.

That experience changed me, and changed the way I do photography. Now, I simply buy all the memory cards I want on Amazon, and I fill them up, and I put them in tiny baggies and label them, and KEEP THEM. That's memory card #30 in the camera right now. Yes, I have suffered catastrophic losses in the photography area, and now I am a belt-AND-suspenders kinda girl, thank you very much!

Well, there was one more bit to this story, and here it is. I had walked through the Flea Market, which is deserted during weekdays, and had spotted a pair of pretty blue soup tureens. One had chips but the other was perfect.

One sign said all items on this table are one dollar. Another sign said all items on a different table were a dollar per BOX. The tureens and a bunch of other stuff would have fit in a box. But they were not on either table, no price marked.

I took the one perfect one, and I picked up a sort of wrought iron wire frame thingy, which even now I don't know what it is, but I like it and I see it has lots of potential (don't worry, you'll see it eventually!). I put my dollar in the lock box, and I left. So I even got a bonus teenie-tiny Flea Market shopping trip, along with my stroll along the river.

Now, I find there's a thing I want to say about hanging out by the river. There is something about moving water that sets the mind and spirit at ease. When I visit this river, I have a feeling of stepping back into time. No, it's not really that; it's the feeling of time STANDING STILL along these shores. And so this is my pick for song of the day: the U.S. Army Band Pershing's Own, with Time Stand Still.