A Lovely Last Day Of July Near My Home

Out and About my region(within a 5-10 mile radius of my home) of Central Pennsylvania with two of my granddaughters today: Kaercher Creek Park-Hamburg, THE DRIEBELIS STATION COVERED BRIDGE spans Maiden Creek just outside Lenhartsville, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary-Kempton(can see this mountain from my back porch), Russo's Pizza & Downtown Hamburg, Hamburg Park and the Schuylkill River, Wilderness Trail McDonalds-Tilden Twsp., Cabelas, and the Tilden Twsp.Playground

July Sunday Afternoon Tuscararoa State Park Lake

Blue sky, butterflies, my lovely family and a mountain lake, what more could I ask for on a lovely late July Sunday afternoon?

"The water of Tuscarora State Park Lake is so clean and clear that you can see your feet in the deep water."

PA Has Much To Offer For Family Fun

Two great attractions in less than a 50 mile radius of my home.  Had a fun weekend exploring! Hershey, PA Chocolate World, free admission with many not so free things to do inside.  However the ride and factory worker experience is free, with added photo at a cost if  you choose to purchase it.  Reading Museum, $8.00 Adults and $5.00 for children and seniors(65+ ID).  The arboretum and gardens are free. 

Rachaelyn's Baby Sprinkle

A Baby Sprinkle is held to celebrate the forthcoming birth of a second child. My cousin Kathy held one for her daughter Rachaelyn on Sunday July 15, 2012 in the lovely new home of Rachaelyn, Garrett, and their son Matthew. 

Truly The Information Highway Part Two

I have found that the Internet is a great learning experience.  Through the online posts of new friends and acquaintances I have stumbled upon many interesting and exciting destinations.  Today I will touch upon two more of them, with a link to more.

*China Danxia is the name given in China to landscapes developed on continental red terrigenous sedimentary beds influenced by endogenous forces (including uplift) and exogenous forces (including weathering and erosion). The inscribed site comprises six areas found in the sub-tropical zone of south-west China. They are characterized by spectacular red cliffs and a range of erosional landforms, including dramatic natural pillars, towers, ravines, valleys and waterfalls. These rugged landscapes have helped to conserve sub-tropical broad-leaved evergreen forests, and host many species of flora and fauna, about 400 of which are considered rare or threatened.

China Danxia is a serial property comprising six component parts (Chishui, Taining, Langshan, Danxiashan, Longhushan, and Jianglangshan) found in the sub-tropical zone of south-eastern China within approximately 1700 km crescent shaped arc from Guizhou Province in the west to Zhejiang Province in the east.
China Danxia is the name given in China to landscapes developed on continental red terrigenous sedimentary beds influenced by endogenous forces (including uplift) and exogenous forces (including weathering and erosion). It is characterized by spectacular red cliffs and a range of erosional landforms, including dramatic natural pillars, towers, ravines, valleys and waterfalls. The process of its development is characterized by a particular rock sequence, tectonic background, climatic conditions, erosional processes and landforms and these processes have been presented as an interim model.

Due to the combined endogenic (tectonic uplift) and exogenic (climatic, erosion, weathering) forces, and other factors, the Danxia landforms have been developed in red sedimentary sequences continuously from the Neogene until the present.  The six component parts represent the most important examples of "least eroded" to "most eroded" Danxia landforms, providing a range of different aspects of the phenomenon, and illustrate both the range of landforms in relation to the forces and processes that formed them, together with a range of associated landscapes.

Criterion (vii): China Danxia is an impressive and unique landscape of great natural beauty. The reddish conglomerate and sandstone that form this landscape of exceptional natural beauty have been shaped into spectacular peaks, pillars, cliffs and imposing gorges. Together with the contrasting forests, winding rivers and majestic waterfalls, China Danxia presents a significant natural phenomenon.

Criterion (viii): China Danxia contains a wide variety of well developed red-beds landforms such as peaks, towers, mesas, cuestas, cliffs, valleys, caves and arches. Being shaped by both endogenous forces (including uplift) and exogenous forces (including weathering and erosion), China Danxia provides a range of different aspects of the phenomenon of physical landscape developed from continental (terrestrial) reddish conglomerate and sandstone in a warm, humid monsoon climate, illustrating both the range of landforms in relation to the forces and processes that formed them. The component parts represent the best examples of "least eroded" to "most eroded" Danxia landforms, displaying a clear landform sequence from "young" through "mature" to "old age", and with each component site displaying characteristic geomorphologic features of a given stage.

The property is state owned and its protected status varies between the six component parts: most have national park status, though land status also includes national nature reserve, national forest, and geopark. Each one of the six component parts is protected under relative laws and regulations at both national, provincial and local levels, which ensure the adequate long-term legislative, regulatory, institutional and traditional protection of the outstanding universal values.

Efficient management systems at different levels have been built with enough qualified staff in China Danxia areas. Planning for the serial property is advanced. An integrated management plan has been prepared for the property as a whole, as well as individual plans for the six areas in the series. These plans identify a clear rationale for management and mechanisms for the protection of the property. Research and adaptive management techniques, including baseline condition assessment and monitoring of change for both natural values and species have been established. Local communities are aware of the World Heritage nomination and all stakeholders are also very supportive of the World Heritage proposal, which ensures the long-term management.
 *Reposted information on this amazing place on earth from: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1335/

Here is another link to this remarkable place:  Click Here




A lovely tunnel of trees lining a train track in Kleven, Ukraine

 Known as the Tunnel Of Love by the locals.

 The tracks are still used, but not that often, and the ride through is a bumpy one!

 *A sense of cool, calm and peace always accompany your every move in the Tunnel of Love. Come during the day, you will be brought into the country as a fairy tale. At that time, the tunnel looks bright with sunlight slip between the thick foliage. Sit quietly on the train, take out your camera, and capture every wonderful moment as it passes through this tunnel. Open the window, feel the fresh air into every room in your lungs
 * As per: http://world-travel-advisor.com/the-most-romantic-tunnel-in-the-world/



10 most fascinating tunnels:  http://www.oddee.com/item_98237.aspx

A Mother You Can Trust

Diane July 1952

When I was a child I depended on my mother for everything.  I was one of the lucky ones because my mother was dependable.  She took care of my every need with pure unconditional love and understanding.  She instilled in all of her children the ability to forgive and love everyone with that same unconditional love. Her two favorite bible quotes were: Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.  And  Matthew 6:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.

The message I understood throughout my time on earth with this blessed soul I knew as Mom was that whatever I did here on earth should always have the common goal of lifting up others, forgive myself for my mistakes as well as forgiving others for their mistakes, and to live as though Heaven meant something to me.  

She had shown us by example that prayer is necessary to keep an open dialogue between us and our God.  That just as surely as we knew we could trust her, we can put our complete trust in God because God is dependable.  

 

"I am so thankful that I had the kind of mother who could be trusted!" 

Family Gardens in July

 July 2, 2012 picnic at the lovely Victorian home and gardens of my daughter Jamiann's In Laws in Topton, PA. 

We May Never Pass This Way Again

I love this song.  I saw them perform it live, many years ago in Philly!  A song with a great message!

 We May Never Pass This  Way Again 
                                                     Seals and Croft

Life, so they say, is but a game and we let it slip away.
Love, like the Autumn sun, should be dyin' but it's only just begun.
Like the twilight in the road up ahead, they don't see just where we're goin'.
And all the secrets in the Universe, whisper in our ears
And all the years will come and go, take us up, always up.
We may never pass this way again. We may never pass this way again.
We may never pass this way again.
Dreams, so they say, are for the fools and they let 'em drift away.
Peace, like the silent dove, should be flyin' but it's only just begun.
Like Columbus in the olden days, we must gather all our courage.
Sail our ships out on the open sea. Cast away our fears
And all the years will come and go, and take us up, always up.
We may never pass this way again. We may never pass this way again.
We may never pass this way again.
So, I wanna laugh while the laughin' is easy. I wanna cry if it makes it worthwhile.
We may never pass this way again, that's why I want it with you.
'Cause, you make me feel like I'm more than a friend. Like I'm the journey and you're the journey's end.
We may never pass this way again, that's why I want it with you, baby.
We may never pass this way again. We may never pass this way again.

The Lord Is My Shepherd ~Restoring Faith

The Lord Is My Shepherd is an excellent book written about the 23rd Psalm by Roy Smith a Seventh Day Adventist.


This was the Psalm my sister Irene recited to our mother when she went to be with the Lord on the evening of March 30, 1992. Along with the Lord's Prayer, and the 100th Psalm, our  mother taught us to memorize it when we were very young.  


In his little book Roy Smith wrote this advice near the end of the last chapter:  

The greatest terror of our day is not the threat of an invader but the assaults that being made on faith.  Even worse than to live under a tyrant is to live under a great fear of utter death.  To enter the grave is only an incident in life, but to lose confidence in the moral order of the universe and the final victory of righteousness is to die a terrible death.


As the aged psalmist watched the curtain of death drawing down upon life, and saw the lights going out one by one, he lay down in peace with the prayer upon his lips; "I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever."  


As we stand in the midst of a shattered world, with great cities and *hoary traditions lying in ruins all about us, the psalmist's confidence may be ours also.  The surest defenses of a nation are not in its military equipment but in its spiritual resources. The great need of the hour is for great faith.  And in this emergency the ancient shepherd's psalm, a mighty assertion of faith comes to guide us and hearten us.


The gate of the sheepfold is closed. The sheep are asleep. High overhead the stars and the centuries look down upon us, and across the ages there comes a song: 

The LORD Is My Shepherd
A Psalm of David.
1	The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2	He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:          he leadeth me beside the still waters. Rev. 7.17
3	He restoreth my soul:          he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4	Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,          I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5	Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:          thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6	Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:          and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

http://www.abebooks.com/Lord-Shepherd-Smith-Roy-L-Review/866106910/bd

*In this instance hoary means ancient.