Happy Autumn!

A happy first day of Autumn to all, from the land of the Poconos. The air has been crisp, clean and cool during the evening but the temperature rising up to the pleasant 70's during the day.

The sun has been a frequent visitor. However, an autumn fog pays a visit ever so often in the early morning. It drapes itself heavy on the mountain and there are even large white circles on some of the highways to act as reference points in spacing yourself from the car in front of you. As noted before, the roads are very zig-zaggy and 'Y' intersections common. It's tough being at a stop sign, craning your neck to see if a car may be coming, when the intersection is shaped like a Greek lower-case lamda 'λ.' I'll often spot a tricky curve or hidden turn off and search for a memorial marker off the side of the road. They seem to be a relatively common thing on these twisty routes.

Many of the Poconos towns are like little versions of Stillwater, Minnesota. Built on the Delaware or smaller versions of it, small villages focused on milling or tanning sprung up.

I've had a chance to poke around after or between shoots and take in what I can. The Italian influence if very noticeable. Within most towns, at least half of the restaurants are owned by and serve, Italian food. So, I've been taking full advantage of every joint I can find. In Hawley one night, I went into the sleepy town and visited such an establishment. I ordered some spaghetti and meatballs. The feel was cozy and simple, with at least three old couples eating and the owners going back and forth between the kitchen and a table with their family members at it. That is quite a common scene in most these Italian joints. I find great comfort in stuffing my face with spaghetti and meatballs and watching the families interact.

In Milford, a town notable for its Victorian architecture, I visited a famous 'pork' shop called Fretta's. Boy oh boy! The meat hung from everywhere! I was given samples of the capicola and salivated over their cheese, marinated artichokes, peppers, mushrooms, olives, and dry goods. They originated in Little Italy and were known originally as a 'pork shop' since they immigrated into communities that were mainly Jewish and Irish before them.

It's funny to talk to these folk, with their New York, New Jersey and Philly accents and attitudes. As I listen to them go on and on and on and start to realize that, damn! This is what it must be like for my friends when I ramble on and on and don't shut the hell up! It is such a cultural thing. You need to get a German, Irishman or Norweigan liquored up before they start to sound like a dago! Oh, and by the way, when I looked up the derragatory term 'dago' being used for the name of a sandwich... The very first reference was to a story done by Minnesota Public Radio. And where did they visit? Yarussos! So, lots of wonderful Italian food and people around here. I will miss that quite a bit when I leave here.

Hawley, Miford and oh yes, Honesdale. A longer stretch of town which bore similarities to the others, but with pointier church steeples. Just one block off the main drag there were three tall churches, each in succession of one another. As with all of these towns, its very pretty to see the church steeple or cornices of old buildings against the tree covered mountains in the background. Calling them hills would be more appropriate, since that is what they look like. But they are beautiful.

As far as wildlife, there is a lot of oppossum roadkill. Squirrles love playing in the trees and its common to hear the screech, screech of a hawk. Deer are plentiful and the Fall Web Worm, a type of catepillar, builds webby masses in many of the leafy trees. Inside you see the little wormies, curled leaves and scat.

The woods are lush and gorgeous. Just tonight I took a little stroll in a fruitless search for the remains of the French-Indian War Fort Hyndshaw. The walk was along the ridge of a bluff. The setting sun made orange the trees and foliage and the high branches raised the ceiling of the canopy to decent heights. White-tail deer sprung through the ferns and the chill brought a certain stillness. There was maple, ash, hickory, birch, oak and other trees I was clueless about. Vinca grows quite freely on the bed of the woods.

Delaware Water Gap is the name of the town and location where the river cuts through the Poconos mountains. A glacier once split them in two and the rock is left exposed. You look over at New Jersey and see a jagged cliff face rising many hundreds of feet upwards.

Above Delaware Water Gap is a small village called Shawnee. Here you can find the Shawnee Inn (haunted), where once Jackie Gleason played golf. He would also frequent a locals pool-hall in the village as well. Lucile Ball, Eisenhower and Bob Hope made visits and Mr. Green Jeans, from Captain Kangaroo once lived there. At the top of the village was the old Presbyterian Church and graveyard, with graves going back into the 1700's. They had a puzzle of how they were going to fit the church in the graveyard and decided they would just incorporate them into the tombstone. I searched, and was able to find a tombstone of a French-Indian War Vet!

I've made a visit to the Poconos Indian Museum. It was quite basic and very low budget. But, I will admit that it was one of the best museums I've been in. You had tape recorder on which you pushed the play button and walked through the small hallways. The information was clear, well-researched and concise, the displays excellent at interpreting information and the artifact collection superb. They also had a medicinal listing of plants once used and cites for their research. The Linape were tricked by settlers in a deal called the "Walking Purchase" which is worth looking up.

This blog is infrequent, jumbled and rushed as I've been spending any down time planning and managing. With another guy on the road to manage in addition to myself, I've been able to structure the show and also orchestrate some of what is happening back at headquarters as well. Just last night I had to plot my next journey of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and New York, all of which I'm doing in October. The other guy I'm sending to the Adirondacks and Catskills. So, autumn will be spent in a place that will be wonderful to experience autumn! In other words, its been hectic but exciting, in a way.

I'll be heading down to the haunted Jim Thorpe Inn tomorrow and then down to Fairfield and Gettysburg (speaking of haunted places) along the border and then shooting back up to the Poconos. Yo-yo style!

Here's to Rick Wright, the PInk Floyd keyboardist that passed away last week and now has joined the Great Gig in the Sky.

Must run now, but I hope to catch you soon!