Seth’s Sightings

On our way home from enjoying a meal in Bethlehem as part of Downtown Bethlehem Restaurant Week, we drove into the sunset. The day had been damp. We’d driven through a thunderstorm to get to our destination, and now, as light faded, there were fantastic cloud formations rising up from the dense woods that we could see off in the distance. Some of these formations hugged the hillside, making for wispy white blankets reaching up toward the ridge tops.

One of the more interesting was a version of this as we came through the Lehigh River gap near Palmerton. The clouds

by Seth Isenberg

hugged the base of the mountain, and then rose slightly, it seemed, to let the Turnpike tunnel road in. The glow of the tunnel lights illuminated the bottom of the clouds, and then out towards our direction across the river.

Critter sightings were limited of note was a single turkey and hunting foxes, including a female a couple of hundred yards north of where I sighted a male.

On our ride into the office on Monday we drove through a hailstorm.

PennDOT crews have been out doing milling and paving on the road between Weatherly and White Haven. On rainy Monday there was no sign of them, as the forecast promised heavy rains with thunderstorm. Our sure-footed Kia encountered some trouble in deep spots of water.

At the Palmerton Gap, the Appalachian Trail comes down to the road. We noted that the heavy rains had washed a substantial amount of stone from the trail out onto the roadway. There must have been a gulley-washer, as there was debris all along the roadside for about a quarter mile.

It looks like we’ll be seeing more thunderstorms through the week.

Congratulations to Ross Chastain for his NASCAR win at Nashville celebrated with his signature watermelon smash.

Also of note, U. of Florida put on an offensive show versus L.S.U. in the men’s college world series 24-3.

This weekend we are planning to see The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Abridged, Revised, Again, performed outdoors at the PA Shakespeare Festival (so no rain, please). We’ll include a farmers’ market stop on our way.

Fireworks from City View Park in Hazleton are part of our Saturday plans as the 70s Flashback Band performs a free show there that night, with a break for the fireworks… weather-permitting.

Next weekend, along with the Briggs Farm Blues Festival Friday and Saturday, will be some blueberry picking out towards Berwick. Midmonth we plan to take a trip for an evening at the Benton Rodeo, and also enjoy an afternoon at the Pow-Wow in Drums.

Looking far out, we plan to see more of the performances at the PA Shakespeare Fest, some of the shows of the Pocono Mountains Music Festival, and attend all the races at NASCAR weekend at Pocono Raceway.

It’s going to be a busy month.

Good health to all…