The Irregular September 2019

sept 2019 FREE

Photo of Shalom Neuman © 2018 Alan Pajer

FUSING THE ARTS

by Thaddeus Rutkowski I’ve known the artist Shalom Neuman for a number of years. I regularly read my work aloud at his art space, the Fusion Arts Museum, which was (on event nights) filled with activity. Also, it was close to where my wife, daughter and I live. Fusion Arts occupied a storefront on Stanton Street on New York’s Lower East Side, between Eldridge and Forsyth Streets. My family and I live about a block north of there.

wife. So my confidence was lifted, and I didn’t turn down many (if any) invitations to read there over the years.

The Unbearables took their name from a longer handle: The Unbearable Beatniks of Life. This label referred to the former Life Café, which was located on a northern corner of Tompkins Square Park, and sounded something like the title of Milan Kundera’s novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being. The key words here were “unbearable” and “beatniks.” These writers were “intolerable,” thanks to the fact that they were descendents, if not by blood then by I presented my short prose along with the Unbearables, a sensibility, of the Beats (Burroughs, Corso, di Prima, Fergroup of writers led by Jim Feast and Ron Kolm. At first, I linghetti, Ginsberg, Kerouac, Snyder, Whalen, et al.). Of didn’t know if I was really welcome at the events, because course, not all of the Unbearables were influenced by the my work is somewhat edgy and sometimes explicit. But at Beats. I consider myself more of a Minimalist, in the style one point I asked Shalom (I have always known him by his of Beattie, Brautigan or Carver, though I certainly apprefirst name) what he thought, and he said he liked my stuff. ciate the strength and rhythm of Beat poetry.

I got the same vote from Orange (a.k.a. Karen), Shalom’s continued on page 4

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Artistic Endeavors page 11

Gardening page 13

The Irregular

The Irregular Lydia E. Bruneo Publisher & Editor Michelle L. Corby Creative Director Contributors: Carole J. Heffley Richard F. Hope Christine Lake Dawn Ouellette Nixon James Jacob Pierri Pam Ruch Cathy Stoops Pages 1, 4 and 5 of this issue have been generously provided and paid for by Converging Arts Media Organization, the nonprofit that represents IF Museum, Easton, PA. Special thanks to Shalom Neuman, Deborah G. Fries and Thaddeus Rutkowski.

Reach us at: PO Box 85 Easton, PA 18044 610-258-4330 bruneo1776@aol.com Founded by Carole J. Heffley and James R. Hicks, Jr. 1996

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September 2019

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A SPOOKY SEPTEMBER SOIRÉE

by Christine Lake For many, the beginning of fall means cooler weather, hayrides and pumpkin patches.

For some, that season also brings to mind the spooky and scary as Halloween prep gets into full swing. For those folks, a late-September event offers an early kick-off to the most supernatural season. Paranormal & Psychic Weekends presented by the “Pocono Witch” and published author E. Massey will visit downtown Easton from September 27-29 and features a full slate of activities around the downtown area, including a ghost hunt at the State Theatre.

E. Massey, a practicing witch for over 30 years, has facilitated classes and workshops on Witchcraft and magick throughout the United States, but his home base is in the Poconos.

He’s put on four other Paranormal & Psychic Weekends in the East Stroudsburg area, but this will be the first in Easton. “Originally, the plan was to keep these events based in the Poconos, but I received a lot of recommendations from people to do them in other locations, and Easton was one of those,” he explains. “About 3 or 4 years ago, the Paranormal Spirit Finders (PSF) and I did an investigation at the State Theatre and it was a really great experience for us, so going back made a lot of sense.” The State Theatre, of course, is said to be home to the spirit of J. “Fred” Osterstock who managed the company that owned the theater from 1936-1965. In that investigation, PSF had a full conversation with a spirit they believe to be Fred’s granddaughter, and also experienced music and mysterious footsteps in the ballroom area.

The Paranormal & Psychic Weekend features a full slate of events that will allow attendees to see a different side of the city. “Obviously, there’s the spiritual side, but it can also mean finding a new business or a new street to walk that visitors may not have seen in their usual routine.” James Pierri, owner of the Auset Gypsy Metaphysical Emporium and a co-host with Massey and others of the podcast 4 of Cups adds, “Easton is so historic, architecturally stunning and up and coming. I’m sure the ghosts of this town have lots of stories to tell.”

On Friday night, Massey and PSF will conduct a mini-investigation of the newly opened Three Birds Coffee House, which was a funeral home in the 1800s. There will also be a wine tasting mixer beforehand at Unwine with Art, and the historic ghost walk that benefits the Sigal Museum. Saturday begins with a meet and greet with the weekend’s organizers at Three Birds, then guests can get one-on-one readings with Pierri at Auset Gypsy Metaphysical Emporium. The ghost hunt at the State Theatre will take place on Saturday, September 28 at 10 PM, and it features celebrity investigator Mark Keyes of the Travel Channel series Paranormal 911 and Destination America’s The Haunted. Keyes and medium Virginiarose Centrillo will also give a talk and book signing prior to the investigation that evening.

Sunday offers more one-on-one readings and then the Psychic Dinner at Black & Blue.

Tickets are available for the full weekend, or for each day individually.

As for what to expect? The unexpected, of course. “There will be lots of walking, so wear stylish yet sensible shoes,” advises Pierri. Other than that, every investigation and experience is different. For the best experience, though, both Pierri and Massey recommend bringing an open mind, and maybe a buddy—“to cling to, if the spirits get rowdy!” says Pierri.

For more information, a full schedule of events, and tickets visit e-massey.com/ paranormalweekends or facebook.com/Paraweekends.

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The Irregular 3

FUSING THE ARTS continued from page 1

Surrounding the readers at Fusion Arts were artworks by Shalom. Some of the larger works could be described as kinetic robot sculptures. Humanoid in form and gigantic in scale, these pieces bowed and waved when they were turned on. I think they would have been particularly engaging for a child, especially if the child could flip the switch to make the robots go on and off.

In all of Shalom’s works, there is a primary element of play. In one series, a group of basrelief “faces” recite short works spoken by the Unbearables. The recitations are triggered by motion, so that the voice begins when a viewer walks by. The features of the faces are exaggerated, but, oddly, they fit in some instinctive way the voice that speaks through them. Some of the writers—including Steve Dalachinsky, Gabriel Don, Feast, Bonny Finberg, Anthony Haden-Guest, Bob Holman, Kolm, Tsaurah Litzky, Yuko Otomo, Jill Rapaport, Tom Savage, Carl Watson, Carol Wierzbicki, and myself—have said that they recognize themselves in these artworks.

On one occasion, I was able to exhibit one of my works in a group show at Fusion Arts.

The show probably had a theme, forgotten now, but I tried to make sure my work had some portion of “fusionism” in it. I showed a small, fourteen-by-eleven-inch collage of the building across the street from a former apartment of mine. The image was of a brick facade, over which a network of leafless sycamore branches lay. I used colored paper, graphite pencil, and Crayola crayons as my materials. That was as “fusionistic” as I could get.

A couple of years ago, Shalom moved his operations away from Fusion Arts and his studio in a Brooklyn garage to new quarters in Easton, Pa. In the summer of 2017, a pared-down group of Unbearables—Dalachinsky, Lee Klein, Kolm, Otomo, Watson, and I—went to visit the new digs and read in the Allentown Art Museum, which has a collection of early works by Franz Kline, who was born in Wilkes-Barre. Most of us traveled in Shalom’s “Artmobile,” a car with a painted canopy and colorful body striping. The car was relatively small, so one of us had to ride in the open trunk space behind the back seat.

On the way to Easton, I drove and Shalom rode in the back. For the return trip, Shalom and I switched places.

We stayed in a former beauty school that Shalom plans to turn into an art school, offering residencies for various “fellows.” We were given new sheets and pillows in packages that had never been opened, and we slept on inflated mattresses in gallery rooms, next to those giant kinetic robots. In the morning, we made some recordings of our works, perhaps for future use in the “faces” series. After the hard work was done, Shalom took us to breakfast. We couldn’t (at least, I couldn’t) ask for more.

At left: Facade of FusionArts Museum with Shalom Neuman’s art car, 2009 Top Right: l.-r. Unbearables Ron Kolm, Thad Rutkowski, Steve Dalachinsky, Yuko Otomo and Carl Watson, 2017 Bottom Right: Artist Taisuke Morishita’s exhibit at FusionArts Museum, 2006

ABOUT SHALOM NEUMAN Shalom Tomas Neuman was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in the aftermath of WW II. He is the last surviving male of a large Jewish family, most of whom perished in Nazi Germany’s Holocaust. His family escaped from Prague’s Communist regime in 1948 after his father’s name was placed on a Communist death list. They immigrated to Haifa, Israel where he spent his childhood. When he was 12, Shalom, his sister and his parents immigrated to Pittsburgh, PA. He has lived, worked and maintained a studio on the East Coast of the United States since 1980.

stitute of Technology and has been a visiting lecturer at The School of Visual Arts, Yale, Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, Beer Sheva College and Ra’anana Cultural Center in Israel.

He has been exhibited extensively in galleries and museums in the United States, Europe, South America, Asia and Israel. His work is in the collections of the National Shalom received a BFA and MFA in the dual disciplines of painting and sculpture from Gallery of Prague (Czech Republic), Museum Kampa Carnegie-Mellon University in 1970 and 1972, respectively. He won the Damrosch (Czech Republic), Kafka Museum (Czech Republic), ElScholarship to study in France where he received The Beaux Arts painting prize. Sha- lis Island Museum (New York), Museum of Modern Art lom did his post graduate fellowship in painting and sculpture at Indiana University.

(Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA), Museum of Modern Art (Nice, France), Museu Da Image E Dom Som Shalom is the recipient of the Premio Galileo 2000 Award for Art XV Edition, pre- (Sao Paolo, Brazil) and the private collections of Elaine sented at Teatro della Pergola, Florence, Italy on September 23, 2013.

DeKooning (East Hampton, New York), Enrico and Roberta Baj (Milano, Italy), Rosa Easman (UBU Gallery, Shalom spends part of the year working in Prague where he also maintains a home New York), Chemical Bank (New York), Paolo Martini and studio. He has taught at The Cooper Union, Parsons School of Design, Pratt In- (Rome, Italy), Miguel Cardia (Portugal), and Ivan Karp (O.K. Harris Gallery, New York) amongst others.

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September 2019

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FUSIONARTS MUSEUM AND IF MUSEUM

by Deborah G. Fries FusionArts Museum was located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, NYC. It was started in 1984 by fusionism artist Shalom Neuman. In its infancy it was Shalom’s studio, garage and living space with a tenant photographer inhabiting the top floor and part of the basement for his darkroom.

There was a constant bombardment of stimuli, a created perpetual chaos. Because everything was moving (including the audience), observers were like a pedestrian walking through an unknown city, drawing the audience in. This is the strength of fusionism - there is always something else to be seen, another idea or form to be explored and experienced. It is an art form that needs to be revisited over and over again. One visit is never quite enough. This remains the concept behind fusionism to explore an alternative to creativity that goes beyond following a linear sequence The space morphed very quickly that year into a make- or progression. It is the understanding that art is limitless and therefore a multiple of shift gallery and performance space. It’s proximity to all multiples. Fusionism maintains that the creation of artistic genre hybrids is the the Rivington Sculpture Garden (literally around the most honest attempt at defining contemporary culture. It is a historically important corner) was particularly advantageous to Shalom who albeit much neglected contemporary art movement. created multiple fusionism events in the Garden.

Shalom began to create a more formal exhibition space at FusionArts Museum with The Rivington Sculpture Garden was one of the more gallery director Deborah Fries in 1997. In 2004, under the organizational name of extreme examples of fusionism occurring on the Lower Converging Arts Media Organization (doing business as Fusion Arts) it was granted East Side during the 1980s and involved the empty lot temporary 501(c)3 status, achieving permanent not-for-profit status in 2008. on Rivington Street. This piece of unused property was commandeered by a group of artists who began to weld FusionArts Museum, ABC No Rio, Kenkeleba House and A Gathering of the Tribes a huge metal structure combined with myriad found ob- were the only remaining spaces from the artistic heyday of the 1980s and 1990s to jects from the neighborhood within the empty lot. What become not-for-profits. All four spaces shared a mission to support marginalized began as mere sculpture set the stage for its eventual writers, musicians and visual artists in the East Village/Lower East Side and encourevolution into a temporary autonomous zone where the aged the exhibition and performance of literature, music and art that was outside the rule was that there were no rules and the participat- radar of the mainstream media and art world. ing artists were free to be creative without any creative constraints or boundaries being forced upon them. In In the early 2000s, FusionArts Museum curated three group exhibitions and two solo the midst of the imposing and steadily growing metal art exhibits at A Gathering of the Tribes. The exhibits always featuring artwork by and found object sculpture and scattered throughout its fusionism artists, pan-disciplinary artists who create art that combines all the various mass were musicians, actors, performance artists and disciplines into one cohesive piece. The exhibits also included readings by writers visual artists all of whom were individually creating who were published in Tribes Magazine as well as the Unbearables, a loose collective their own art within the sculpture, thereby being cre- of noir humorists, beer mystics, anarchists, neophobes and passionate debunkers. ative and innovative within the art form while simultaneously creating a new art form.

IF (International Fusionism) Museum in Easton, PA is now Converging Arts Media Organization’s art exhibition space after FusionArts Museum closed in 2012. It is The Rivington sculpture garden provided the ideal at- located at 107 North 4th Street in Easton, PA in Easton’s downtown historic district. mosphere for a fusionist like Shalom to create “fusion- IF Museum is housed in the former Churchman Business School, itself an historic ism events.” It was fertile ground for experimentation. building with 1942 modern design and art deco detailing.

The time and place provided him with the circumstances to be able to incorporate everything from sound, music, IF Museum is a contemporary PA art space solely dedicated to the exhibition and movement, lights, painting, theatre, and poetry into the archiving of fusionism (multidisciplinary art), an under-recognized and under-exstructure that was continuing to expand. Shalom was hibited art form. Many of the artists exhibited here have been creating fusionism able to create a living, moving work of fusionism. By for decades with no representation or dedicated exhibition space. While its primary placing the performers aesthetically within the structure focus is on artists from the Easton area, artists from other states and other countries a vibrant and very complex image was created. are exhibited as well.

The fusionism performances in the Garden had no controls other than the placement of the various artists within the structure. The lighting was Shalom’s own computerized dimming system, a system that enabled him to use light to “paint” various portions of the structure, heightening the visual effect on all who watched.

https://artfusionism.org

Ritual Tension in the Rivington Sculpture Garden, 1986

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Shalom Neuman (l.), Deborah Fries (r.) in front of FusionArts Museum, 2000

September 2019

Deborah Rabinsky, Director and Curator, IF Museum (l.) and Sharon Smith, Marketing Director, IF Museum (r.) in front of artwork from the permanent collection at IF Museum in Easton, PA, 2019

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WALKING TOUR Groetzinger Building (408-10 Northampton Street in Easton, PA)

by Richard F. Hope 4-story building with a “modern” style façade, half-round porch roof over entryway, previously decorated in colors but now covered over with sand-colored paint. The façade style has been identified as Modern commercial”. The brickwork visible on the side of the building (above the lower neighboring structure) is clearly much older than the façade. A modern building survey suggested a construction date of c.1850 for the building underlying the façade. By contrast, a notation on a glass slide picture in the possession of the Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society suggests that the predecessor building was “Razed” in June of 1910, implying that the brick Groetzinger Building currently in place dates only from the early 20th century.

This building is located on the eastern half of Town Lot No. 215, as laid out in 1752 by William Parsons when Easton was established. A later Easton historian, probably relying on old Easton tradition but with no source specified, stated that this Lot was the site of “the hotel of Peter Kachlein and the Opps”.

Tavern co-proprietor Col. Peter Kachlein (1722–1789) (also spelled Kichlein and other variations) was a very prominent figure in early Easton history. He is said to have attended the University of Heidelberg in Germany before immigrating to America, and was certainly at least schooled in that university town. He had been one of the early settlers in the area, perhaps establishing a far about two miles West of what would become the town in 1749, before Easton itself was even surveyed or established. For both of these reasons, he became prominent in Easton’s German community. As early as 1755 he was one of six trustees entrusted with subscription money to build a schoolhouse in the new town (“which also may occasionally be used as a church for any protestant minister”), and he personally subscribed £2 towards the project.

There are records confirming that he kept an inn at some location in the 1750s, among them a report by the Easton Constable in 1754, and two in 1755, listing “Peter Kitlin” as a person licensed to retail liquor “by Small Measure”. At the term of court for September 1758, “Peter Keichlein” sued Timothy Horsfield in his capacity as executor of the will of Easton’s founder, William Parsons. Kachlein claimed that on 23 February 1757, Parsons had requested and guaranteed payment for “Meat Drink Lodging and hospitality” to be provided to sixteen men plus “Lieutenant Miller”, and “also for divers Indians and fodder for their Horses and Geldings”. For this, Kachlein claimed the sum of £12 12 shillings and eightpence, as well as another £5 that Parsons owed him, plus other “divers Sums of Money” for other, unspecified “Labor and Services”. Timothy Horsfield answered this complaint (in a document which is missing from the file), and attached a countersuit against “Peter Kechlein of Northampton County Innkeeper” at the term of court for September 1759. This offsetting claim (in a document which still exists) asserted that “Kechlein” had owed Parsons a debt of £9 14 shillings and ninepence. No resolution to these offsetting lawsuits is on file, but they clearly establish “Keichlein” as the proprietor of an inn during the period between the Easton Indian Treaty Conferences of the French and Indian War. They also suggest that the hostelry catered to a military company, as well as to “divers Indians”, during an Indian Conference. Rev. Condit’s History of Easton, Penn’a confirms (apparently based upon oral history, although no source is identified) that Col. Kachlein had been “a hotel keeper, and rented his large room in his new house, up one pair of stairs, to the Commissioners for holding courts, elections, and all other public business.” This was presumably before Kachlein became a Commissioner himself, in 1759, which would have made it necessary for him to divest his ownership of the tavern serving as the Commission’s meeting-place in order to avoid a conflict of interest.

After leaving the innkeeping business, Peter Kachlein went on to have a brilliant career in Easton. He built Easton’s earliest mill on the Bushkill – a grist mill – opposite Mount Jefferson in 1761 or ’62. He added a saw mill in 1762 located slightly downstream at the bend lying in Easton at the base of Mount Jefferson to the West of 4th Street. Kachlein assumed a prominent position in Easton before the Revolution, serving in a variety of local offices

including the county Sheriff. In 1774, just before the Revolution, he was the second man elected to the county Committee of Safety that ultimately took responsibility for the area’s rebellion against the King. In 1776, he was the local militia Colonel and leader of the “Flying Camp” send by Northampton County to aid General Washington in 1776. His regiment served gallantly under Washington at the disastrous Battle of Brooklyn (Long Island), but with great loss to itself (including the capture of Colonel Kachlein himself).

Kachlein’s bravery during the Revolutionary War preserved his reputation as a prominent citizen after his return to Easton was secured. In 1789, he became the first Chief Burgess of Easton when the town was formally designated a borough.

Meanwhile, in 1759 (apparently after Col. Kachlein had ceased being an owner in the inn), Lot No. 215 was finally officially “patented” by the Penn Family to Valentine Opp (sometimes indexed as Upp), for a ground rent of 7 shillings per year. Significantly, this is the year after the huge Indian Treaty Conference of 1758 concluded in Easton, during which here had been a critical shortage of accommodations for the visiting politicians, soldiers, and others who attended them. With the burning need for another inn relaxed, Opp apparently decided to sell the inn, but wanted to get an official land title in order to do so. At some time after 1759 but before 1766, Valentine Opp sold Lot No. 215 to Anthony “Asheir”. This sale was probably done about 1763, which is when Anthony “Asheir” sold the house that he had held on the other side of Northampton Street.

• Philip Mixsell Sr. was apparently a brother of Jacob Mixsell, the wealthy Easton merchant who acquired the land underlying the Mixsell House at 4th and Ferry Street. Mixsell House served for many years as the headquarters of the Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society. Since the opening of the Sigal Museum, it continues to be operated as one of the Society’s museums.

Despite his move to the South side of Northampton Street in about 1763, “Asheir” did not remain long at that location, either. In a deed dated 1766, he resold the Kachlein/Opp tavern property to “cordwainer” (shoe maker) Henry Shnyder. Tax records list Shnyder as a shoemaker in 1772, but in 1774 (then spelled “Schneider”) he had become an innkeeper. A map by historian A.D. Chidsey shows the house of Henry Shnyder (which was, accordingly, the original Kachlein/Opp tavern building) on the western portion of Lot No. 215 in 1776.

Henry Shnyder retained the property until he died in 1778. His widow, Juliana, then immediately married John Shook, the neighbor next door (on Lot No. 214, to the West). A guardianship was established for five of the Shnyder children who were under the age of 14. In 1893 (fifteen years later), the youngest girls had presumably reached age 14, and the oldest son (Peter) had already died before his 20th birthday. The oldest daughter had by now married John Herster, who became one of Easton’s most successful merchants, while daughter Eliza (who had not been listed as a minor in 1778) was also married (to Christopher Meixsell). At this point, the oldest surviving Shnyder son, Henry (Jr.), petitioned Orphan’s Court to have the family home valued, so that the estate could be settled among the surviving children. This was done, and a value of £200 8 shillings and fourpence was placed on it by the Sheriff’s “Inquisition”. Henry Shnyder Jr. himself acquired title, presumably at this money figure, and immediately sold the western half of Lot No. 215 to his enterprising brother-in-law, John Herster. Shnyder continued to hold the eastern half of the Lot until 1812, when he bought out the annual ground rent obligation to the Penn Family under the original property “patent” on the whole Lot, thus clearing his title. He then immediately sold the remaining half of the Lot that he still owned (with a house on it) to Philip Mixsell Jr. for $6,500.

Philip Mixsell Jr. (1819–1871) was well connected in Easton society. He was the son of Philip Mixsell Sr. (1777–1780, also known as John Philip Mixsell) • Anthony “Asheir” (also spelled “Asheyer” or simply “Esser”) had been Easton’s butcher (“victualler”) at the time of the Indian Treaty Conferences, which had provided him with a grand opportunity for . increased profits serving the influx of people into Easton. However, he had been pressured by the canny Quaker delegation into giving up his house for their accommodation during the 1758 Conference – or else Quaker Nathaniel Vernon would boycott “Asheir’s” meat business.

Since Vernon was responsible for buying beef for the more than 500 Indian attendees, this was a serious threat, to which the butcher had been forced to bend.

Philip Mixsell Jr.’s mother was Mary (Wagener) Mixsell – a daughter of Daniel Wagener, scion of the redoubtable Wagener Family of Easton, whose family fortune originally stemmed from a complex of mills along the Bushkill. Philip Mixsell Jr. held his half of Lot No. 215 until 1838, when he sold it for $3,500 to Jacob Wagener, his uncle (his mother’s brother).

Jacob Wagener (1790–1859) was Daniel Wagener’s older son. When Daniel Wagener died, Jacob and his younger brother, Daniel D. Wagener, were each given a mill from their father’s estate. Jacob Wagener pursued business interests “chiefly in partnership with his brother David [D. Wagener], until [the brothers] had each secured a competence. Jacob then retired from business and devoted himself to literature and science.”

• By contrast, Jacob’s younger brother, David D. Wagener, was more aggressive in business, both in improving his inherited mill, and in administering his real estate acquisitions. David D. Wagener was later known as one of the three “rich men of Easton”.

photo by Lydia Bruneo

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September 2019

Jacob Wagener had, in his youth, obtained “an excellent English education.” He was generally regarded as a “public-spirited citizen” known for his “culture and learning”, particularly in literature and the sciences of mineralogy and botany. He made specimen collections in both sciences, which he contributed to his alma mater, Lafayette College, and also sat on the College’s Board of Trustees. He was reputed to have the “best mineral cabinet” collection of anyone in Pennsylvania outside of Philadelphia.

When Jacob Wagener died in 1859, he left this parcel, together with all of Lot No. 216 next door (stretching to the corner with 4th Street), in trust to his daughter Emma, wife of William A. Porter. Charles M. Mixsell was named

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Walking Tour Groetzinger Building (408-10 Northampton Street in Easton, PA) as trustee. By 1867, the trustee of the property applied to Northampton County Orphan’s Court to sell this parcel together with the adjacent Lot No. 216 that Jacob Wagener had also owned, because “The buildings . . . are old and need frequent repair and expenditures thereon to preserve and keep them tennantable”, and the commercial situation warranted building “new modern structures” which the trust was not willing to undertake. At that time, there was a stone building and a brick building on Lot No. 216, while on the eastern half of Lot No. 215 a “House” still stood, built of unspecified construction materials. That “House” was, presumably, the remains of the old Kachlein / Opp tavern, left over from colonial times. A room in that house served as the office of Abraham Horn Jr. for about four years. Horn was, among other things, the Captain of the company raised by Northampton County for the War of 1812, a member of the Legislature, and the postmaster in Easton for ten years beginning in 1829.

Orphan’s Court granted Emma Porter’s trustee permission to sell the properties, and Adolph Groetzinger Sr. acquired these parcels in 1868 for a combined price of $45,000. Groetzinger thus became the presiding landowner of the block stretching in both directions from the SW corner of 4th and Northampton Streets.

The Old Groetzinger Mill Adolph Groetzinger Sr. (1815-1888) had immigrated to America from Hanover (Germany) in 1837. Although he was trained as a baker, in Easton he became the operator of a flour mill on the South (right) bank of Bushkill Creek opposite Goose Island. This was the second mill in Easton up the Bushkill from the Delaware River. It stood on a mill race at the bend of the creek lying North of Mount Jefferson and West of 4th Street, opposite the island in the creek.

The original mill on this site had been built as a saw mill in 1762, by Peter Kachlein on the South (right) bank of the Bushkill opposite “Goose Island” (also called “Ihrie’s Island” and described as a “Grass Island”).

This was the same Peter Kichlein who had been a co-proprietor in the Kachlein / Opp inn, discussed above. Over the subsequent years the saw mill – one of two mills that Kachlein had founded – had been altered for use as a fulling mill, an oil mill, and a grist mill over the years. In 1854, it had been sold to Adolph Groetzinger (“Adolphus Krotziner”), who converted it into a flour mill, which was very successful. By 1877, Groetzinger’s mill, then known as the Mount Jefferson Flouring-mill, was grinding “nearly 30,000 bushels of grain annually.”

Having established his fortune in Easton, Adolph Groetzinger retired from active involvement in the business in approximately 1879, and died in 1888, leaving the mill operation in the hands of his son Charles (1847-1917).

Charles retired in approximately 1907 and died ten years later. After Charles, the mill was abandoned. A picture of the mill dam and (indistinctly) of the “Old Groetzinger Mill” was published in 1900.

The Groetzinger Family’s Western Parcel on Northampton Street Adolph Groetzinger’s 1868 deed to his Northampton Street properties specifically confirmed the Orphan’s Court description that a “House” was located on this particular westernmost land parcel. Groetzinger thereafter rented building space on this parcel for many years to the Mack stoves and tinware store.

• In 1873, the store was knows as Mack & Edelman, then listed as 150 Northampton Street under the street numbering scheme then in effect.

• It became No. 410 when Northampton Street was renumbered in 1874. In 1881 the store was run by Elias B. Mack, and lasted into the 20th Century.

A picture of E.B. Mack’s Store shows a 2-1/2 story wood frame structure with a single small dormer. This old structure was undoubtedly the old “House” that had been referred to in Orphan’s Court. The picture seems to indicate that Mack’s Store was run only out of the eastern portion of the ground floor. A notation on a glass slide copy of this picture dates the image to 1910.

After Adolph Groetzinger Sr. died in 1888, his property was left to his wife (Matilda) for life, and after her death on 13 January 1905, the property was divided up among the children. Under Adolph’s will, his son William was to have received the building and lot “now occupied by C.B. Mack” on Northampton Street.

• The Groetzinger Estate Executors opened up the alley in back of their three Northampton Street properties in 1907, before parceling them out to separate owners.

• William Groetzinger was also to receive a half interest in the nearby Franklin House property at 418-26 Northampton Street.

William Groetzinger had been trained as a bookkeeper, although he had later attempted to run a restaurant.

However, he had died in 1895 without any children, and thus was no longer eligible to receive the inheritance from his father. Under the default provision in his father’s will, his three surviving siblings split his interests instead. Adolph Groetzinger Jr., one of the three siblings, petitioned Orphan’s Court to sell the property, and Orphan’s Court allowed a public sale. Another sibling, Charles Groetzinger, purchased the property while their sister, Louisa Odenwelder (wife of Asher Odenwelder) turned over her interest to her brothers. Adolph Groetzinger Jr. died on 5 July 1907 leaving his half interest in the inheritance to his brother, Charles. Thus, both by purchase and by inheritance, Charles ended up with complete ownership of the parcel. Charles, like his father before him, had started out as a baker and then turned his attention to running the Groetzinger flour mill. He later also went into real estate investment, and became “one of Easton’s wealthiest residents”.

• In 1960 (when the glass slide copy was made), the May’s men’s clothing store was actually located at 404 Northampton Street – in the Odenwelder Drug Store Building next door – and not in the Groetzinger Building at Nos. 408-10. It is thus unclear whether the Sigal Museum’s notation was accurately attached to this building, or not. However, since the old frame house was removed at some point, and replaced by a brick building, it seems likely that Charles Groetzinger did make this improvement, probably soon after he had resolved its inheritance from his father’s estate. That would be consistent with the date in the glass slide’s notation, at least. The Easton City Directory of 1925 identifies 410 Northampton Street as the “Groetzinger Building”, further suggesting that a new building was in place by that time.

As sole owner, Charles Groetzinger was in a position to make improvements to the property (as his sister, Louis Odenwelder, had done with her parcel next door). It appears that he replaced the old building with a more modern structure. A notation on the Sigal Museum’s glass slide copy of the 1910 picture of the Mack store shown above, states that the building was “Razed” in June of 1910, and Mack’s was later superseded by the “May’s mens store”.

Charles Groetzinger died on 1 January 1917 at age 69. He was buried in Easton Cemetery. He left his estate, including this property, to his widow, Catharine Groetzinger. The Groetzinger Building was then occupied by a “McCrory 5 and 10 cent store” and valued at $60,000. In 1930, the tenants had changed: the eastern entrance of the Groetzinger Building (at 408 Northampton Street) led to the Liberal Credit Clothiers, while the western entrance (at 410 Northampton Street) went to the Easton Optical Co., and to the Grand Army Hall.

In 1936, Catherine Groetzinger leased the building to Somachs Inc., a women’s fashion store. The Grand Army hall continued on the second floor.

Catharine died in the next year, on 17 June 1937, at age 83, and was buried with her husband in Easton Cemetery. Her will left the building to her niece, Marguerite Wenzelberger. As shown in a 1941 photograph, the Groetzinger Building had not yet received its modern-design façade or porch. Instead, it featured a white façade with deeply layered recesses for the second-floor windows, similar in some respects to the second-floor windows still visible in the Odenwelder Building next door at 404 Northampton Street built by Louisa Odenwelder and her husband. The 1941 photograph also shows a wide white expense over the ground-floor show windows and doors, featuring the “SOMACH’S” store name in modern, sans serif characters. Marguerite Wenzelberger renewed the lease with Somach’s in 1944.

In 1976, Ms. Wenzelberger sold the building to John and Robert Piparato, for $45,000. Based upon its style, it seems likely that the Piparatos were responsible for adding the “modern” facade to the building. The Piparatos held the Groetzinger Building only three years, until 1979, when they sold it for $38,741.18 to the S & S Realty Company run by Matthew and Cesare Sportelli. Unfortunately, the Sportelli business ran into financial difficulty; in 1981, the Sheriff seized the Groetzinger Building for a sale to the Lafayette Trust Bank. Less than two months later, Salvatore Sportelli and his wife Patricia bought the building back from the Bank. Four years later (in 1985), Sportelli sold the building to Alick Smith, Jr. Al Smith, a Black Belt and a member of various karate halls of fame, established the Red Dragon Karate Headquarters (also called the Imperial Red Dragon Karate Academy) at 408 Northampton Street for 15 years, until 2001. Smith said he was forced to move his dojo from the building in 2001 because his student population dropped from 80 to 30 in a year – a decrease that he attributed in part to “an awareness of crime in Downtown Easton”.

In 2002, Sidney R. Garrett purchased the building for $110,000. He and his wife, Ann C. Harding, began converting the karate dojo into a residence and art studio for themselves. They are both artists, both having retired as professors from Louisiana State University. In 2003, they obtained a variance (based upon prohibitive cost) from the Zoning Board exempting them from having to install a fire rated ceiling between the commercial area of the building on the bottom floor, and the residence upstairs. They had already done significant work on the building façade, as well as upgrading the building’s plumbing and electrical system and installing a security alarm.

[In the interests of space, the endnotes to this article have been omitted. The complete article (including endnotes) will be filed in the Marx Local History Room of the Easton Area Public Library, and in the Sigal Museum Library of the Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society. The author’s articles on this and other buildings in the Easton Historic District are also available for review or download from the www.eastonhistory.com website.]

E.B. Mack Store, 1910. courtesy of Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society, all rights reserved

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September 2019

The Irregular 7

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Charles Klabunde Gallery & Studio 73 N. 2nd Street, Easton, PA 610-252-1938 Original etchings, drawings and paintings by Charles Klabunde. Open Thur.-Sat. & 1st Sun. 12-5pm & by appt.

CharlesKlabundeArtist.com

Allentown Art Museum 31 N. 5th Street, Allentown, PA 610-432-4333 Fresh Perspective: Modernism in Photography, 1920–1950 thru Sept. 22, Collecting across Cultures: Japanese Textiles in the West Rotation 1 thru Dec. 1, Designing Hollywood: Golden Age Costumes from the Gene London Cinema Collection Sept. 29-Dec. 22, and Danny Lyon: Prison Sept. 29-Jan. 5.

Open Wed.-Sat. 11am-4pm (3rd Thur. till 8pm) & Sun. 12-4pm. allentownartmuseum.org Arts Community of Easton: The Susan Huxley Gallery at the Quadrant 20 N. 3rd Street, Easton, PA 484-894-6652 Artwork by Aaliyah Kee thru Oct. 31. Open Tues.-Sat. 8am-5pm & Sun. 8am-4pm. eastonart.org Banana Factory 25 W. 3rd Street, Bethlehem, PA 610-332-1300 Resident Artist Annual Exhibition thru Oct. 20, A Collaboration of Creativity: David C. Driskell Master Artist & Curlee R. Holton Master Printmaker thru Oct. 27, and Celestial Bodies thru Oct. 27.

Open Mon.-Fri. 8am-9:30pm, Sat. & Sun. 8:30am-5pm. bananafactory.org/events/ exhibitions

Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center The Fine Art Galleries 522 W. Maple Street Allentown, PA 610-347-9988 Rising Above: Works of Art

by Lehigh Valley Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence Sept.

9-Oct. 30, reception Sept. 12, 6-8pm. Open Mon.-Fri. 10am6pm & during programs/events. bradburysullivancenter.org/galleries Brick + Mortar Gallery Silk Mill Complex, Unit 101 1247 Simon Boulevard Easton, PA colleen@brickandmortargallery.com

Vast Expanses: Works by Mariejon de Jong-Buijs and Katrina Bello Sept. 7-Oct. 6, reception Sept. 7, 6-9pm.

Open Fri. & Sat. 12-6pm, Sun. 12-4pm & by appt. brickandmortargallery.com

Communications Hall Northampton Community College 3835 Green Pond Road Bethlehem, PA 610-861-5300 Parallel Lines - An Exhibition of Paintings by Jan Crooker and William Hudders thru Oct. 25, reception Sept. 12, 6-8pm.

Open Mon.-Thur. 8am-9pm, Fri. & Sat. 8am-5pm. northampton. edu/news/events-calendar.htm Connexions Gallery 213 Northampton Street, Easton, PA 610-250-7627 Devin Feely: Sabali Sept. 7-30, reception Sept. 7, 7-10pm. Open Mon. 12-5pm, Thur. 12-7pm, Fri. 12-8pm, Sat. 11am-8pm & Sun. 12-6pm. connexionsgallery.com

Cedar Crest College Theatre Samuels Theatre at Tompkins College Center 100 College Drive Allentown, PA 610-606-4608 Schoolhouse Rock Live!

Sept. 26-29. cedarcrest.edu/ academics/performing_arts/ events.shtm

Buck Hall Lafayette College 219 N. 3rd Street, Easton, PA 610-330-3311 Antony & Cleopatra/National Theatre Live Sept. 8, Film and Media Studies (FAMS) Speaker Series: Presenter Racquel Gates, Associate Professor of Cinema & Media Studies at the College of Staten Island Sept. 19, and One Man, Two Guvnors/National Theatre Live Oct. 6. calendar.lafayette.edu 8 The Irregular

The Eagle Nest Gallery Nazareth Area High School E. Center Street, Nazareth, PA 610-759-1730 Paint Box Art Club Membership Show thru Sept.

20, reception Sept. 12, 6:308:30pm. Open Mon.-Fri. 8am3pm & during cultural events. hs.nazarethasd.org/en-galleryhome-page

Easton Hospital Gallery State Theatre Center for the Arts 5th & Northampton Streets Easton, PA 800-999-STATE Arts Community of Easton (ACE) Group Show Sept. 13-Nov. 9, reception Sept. 13, 6-7:30pm (ACE Awards presentation 6:45pm). Open 90 minutes prior to most performances. statetheatre. org/gallery Easton Public Market 325 Northampton Street Easton, PA info@eastonart.org Arts Community of Easton (ACE) Artists. Open Wed.-Sat. 9am-7pm & Sun. 9am-5pm. eastonart.org Gallery at St. John’s 330 Ferry Street, Easton, PA 610-258-6119 Pop Art, Author to Unique Artistry and the life of Christian R. Schaare Sept.

8-Oct. 27, reception Sept. 8, 12-3pm. Open Sun. 12-3pm & by appt. stjohnseaston.org/ ministries/gallery

ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks 101 Founders Way Bethlehem, PA 610-332-1300 ArtPop 2019 Winners Exhibition thru Sept. 15.

Open Mon.-Wed. 3:309pm, Thur. 4-11pm, Fri. 4pm-12am, Sat. 11am12am, and Sun. 12-9pm. artsquest.org/arts

Bucks County Playhouse 70 S. Main Street New Hope, PA 215-862-2121 Always . . . Patsy Kline thru Sept. 7, The Young Dubliners Sept. 14, and 80th Anniversary Gala starring Tony Danza Sept.

28. bcptheater.org

Country Gate Theatre 114 Greenwich Street, Belvidere, NJ 908-475-1104 Sweeney Todd Sept. 28-Oct. 6. countrygate.org

The David E. Rodale and Rodale Family Galleries The Baum School of Art 510 Linden Street Allentown, PA 610-433-0032 13th Annual Morning Call Juried Exhibition thru Sept. 11, Faculty and Staff Exhibition thru Sept. 11, and Kacper Abolik: Year of the Dog Sept.

19-Oct. 18, reception Sept. 19, 6-8pm. Open Mon.-Thur. 9am9:30pm, Fri. & Sat. 9am-3pm. baumschool.org

Easton Theatre Co-op Easton, PA 610-216-5151 Broadway Cabaret with EAHS Musical Theatre Sept. 21-22 at Paxinosa Elementary School, 1221 Northampton St., Easton. eastontheatrecoop.org Moravian College Theatre Arena Theater/Haupert Union Building 1200 Main Street, Bethlehem, PA 610-861-1489 Holy Laughter Sept. 20, and Teatr Brama Presentation Sept. 27. moravian.edu/theatre

Civic Theatre of Allentown 527 N. 19th Street Allentown, PA 610-432-8943 Sunset Boulevard October 1127. civictheatre.com DeSales University Act 1 2755 Station Avenue Center Valley, PA 610-282-3192 The Glass Menagerie Sept. 25Oct. 6. desales.edu/act1 Hunterdon Hills Playhouse 88 Route 173 West, Hampton, NJ 800-447-7313 Barefoot in the Park Sept. 10-Oct. 16. hhplayhouse.com September 2019

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Lehigh University Art Galleries 420 E. Packer Avenue Bethlehem, PA 610-758-3615 The Teaching Museum: Selections from the Permanent Collection thru Dec. 8, and Crochet Coral Reef: By Margaret and Christine Wertheim and the Institute For Figuring Sept. 12-Dec. 8, artist talk & reception Sept. 12, 5-8pm. Open Tue. 11am7pm & Wed.-Sat. 11am5pm. luag.org

Gallery on Fourth 401 Northampton Street Easton, PA 610-905-4627 Dan Welden: Aesop’s Fables thru Oct. 6. Open Thur.-Fri. 5-8pm, Sat. 11am-6pm & Sun. 12-5pm. galleryonfourth.org Grossman Gallery Lafayette College 243 N. 3rd Street, Easton, PA 610-330-5831 Kim Thomas Malm and Michael Kondel: Common Ground Sept. 3-Oct. 12, artists’ talk Sept. 19, 4:15pm (Media Room 2, 248 N. 3rd St.; reception at Grossman Gallery follows). Open Tues.-Fri. 11am4:30pm, Sat. 11am-4pm & by appt. galleries.lafayette.edu Hunterdon Art Museum 7 Lower Center Street Clinton, NJ 908-735-8415 Cliff Lee: Porcelain Master, Holly Lee: A Jeweler’s Journey, Works by Mia Brownell and Martin Kruck, and 2019 Members Exhibition Sept.

22-Jan. 5, reception Sept. 22, 2-4pm. Open Tues.-Sun. 11am5pm. hunterdonartmuseum.org

IF Museum/Academy 107 N. 4th Street, Easton, PA 610-258-0777 After Images: New Works

by JongWang Lee by appt. artfusionism.org ME-Art Studio 22 S. 3rd Street, 2nd floor, Easton, PA 908-319-4864 Gallery and working studio of Beverly Murbach-Erhardt featuring watercolors, acrylics and art cards. Open Fri.-Sat. 11am-4pm. me-artstudio.com

Payne Gallery Moravian College 346 Main Street Bethlehem, PA 610-861-1491 Wole Lagunja: Contemporary African Meets Traditional thru Oct. 19. Open Tue.-Sun. 124pm. moravian.edu/art/paynegallery

Rotunda Gallery at City Hall 10 E. Church Street, Bethlehem, PA 610-398-1451 Gerald Simcoe: Paintings thru Sept. 21, and BFAC Curated Abstract Exhibition: The Shape of Things to Come Sept. 27-Nov. 5, reception Sept. 29, 2-4pm. Open Mon.-Fri. 8:30am-4:30pm. bfac-lv.org SmARTivities Showcase 60 Centre Square, Easton, PA 484-544-3954 Various artists and working studios on display. Open Tues.-Sat. 10am-6pm & Sun. 12-5pm. smARTivities.net Williams Center Gallery Lafayette College 317 Hamilton Street, Easton, PA 610-330-5361 Tsukioka Yoshitoshi: Japanese Prints from the Taubman Museum of Art’s Permanent Collection Sept. 3-Dec. 15. Open Mon.-Fri. 11am-5pm, Thur. 11am-8pm, Sat. & Sun. 12-5pm, and performance nights 7:30-9:30pm. galleries.lafayette.edu/category/ exhibitions

Museum of Ethnography 22 S. 3rd Street, 2nd floor Easton, PA 908-798-0805 Tolerant No Longer (6-minute film) thru Sept. 30. Open Tues. & Fri. 11am-4pm, Sat. 11am-2pm & by appt. maryaclarity.com Nazareth Center for the Arts 30 Belvidere Street Nazareth, PA 610-614-0404 Paintings by William Christine Sept. 8-28, reception Sept. 8, 2-4pm. Thur. 6-8pm, Sat. 10am12pm & by appt. nazaretharts.org

Shawnee Playhouse River Road, Shawnee-On-Delaware, PA 570-421-5093 Country Fried Murder Sept. 1422, and Born Yesterday Oct. 4-20. theshawneeplayhouse.com

Nurture Nature Center 518 Northampton Street, Easton, PA 610-253-4432 Drawn to Earth: Works by Judith Brandon Sept. 13-Nov. 20, reception Sept. 13, 6:30-9pm.

Open Wed. 12-4pm, Thur. 6-9pm, Sat. 12-4pm & by appt. nurturenaturecenter.org

Muhlenberg College Theatre 2400 Chew Street Allentown, PA 484-664-3333 The Importance of Being Ernest Sept. 26-29. muhlenberg. edu/academics/theatre-dance/ onstage/mainstage MunOpCo Music Theatre Scottish Rite Cathedral 1533 Hamilton Street Allentown, PA 610-437-2441 Mama Mia! Oct. 12-20. munopco.org Northampton Community College Theatre 3835 Green Pond Road Bethlehem, PA 484-484-3412 Amadeus Oct. 17-20. ncctix.org

Zoellner Arts Center Lehigh University 420 E. Packer Avenue, Bethlehem, PA 610-758-2787 ext 0 NY Jazz Rep Orchestra: Big Band Tribute Sept. 7, LUVME: September Songs Part I Sept. 8, MOMIX: Viva Mix Sept. 14, PBS39: Sesame Street Road Trip with Grover and The Count Sept.

15, The Princeton Singers: Infinite Variety Sept. 21, LUVME: September Songs Part II Sept. 22, Dept. of Theatre: Smart People Sept. 27-Oct. 5, Stefon Harris + Blackout Sept. 28, and LUVME: September Songs Part III Sept. 29. zoellner.cas2.lehigh.edu Call 610-258-4330 to advertise

Ronald K. De Long Gallery Penn State Lehigh Valley 2809 Saucon Valley Road, Center Valley, PA 610-285-5261 Chris Bonner: Fire Wood Fired thru Oct. 12, reception, Sept. 5, 5-7pm. Open Mon.-Thur. 11am-5pm, Fri. 11am-3pm & Sat. 10am2pm. lehighvalley.psu.edu/ronald-k-de-long-gallery

Pennsylvania Playhouse 390 Illick’s Mill Road Bethlehem, PA 610-865-6665 And Then There Were None Sept. 27-Oct. 13. paplayhouse. org Pines Dinner Theatre 448 N. 17th Street Allentown, PA 610-433-2333 Clue The Musical Sept. 6-Oct. 27. pinesdinnertheatre.com

September 2019

Star of the Day Event Productions Lehigh Valley, PA 484-809-9228 Disenchanted! Sept. 19-28 at Macungie Institute, 510 E. Main St., Macungie. staroftheday.org State Theatre Center for the Arts 453 Northampton Street Easton, PA 800-999-STATE The Piano Guys Sept. 13, Eastern PA Paranormal & Psychic Weekend Sept. 28, and Stage On Stage: Amanda Danziger Oct. 6. statetheatre.org Touchstone Theatre 321 E. 4th Street Bethlehem, PA 610-867-1689 Festival Unbound Oct. 4-13. touchstone.org Williams Center for the Arts Lafayette College, High Street, Easton, PA 610-330-5009 Jazzmeia Horn Sept. 13, Reigakusha Sept. 19, Faculty Recital: Skip Wilkins Quartet Sept. 21, and The Improvised Shakespeare Company Sept.

25. williamscenter.lafayette.edu

The Irregular 9

New Film Festival in Easton Celebrates Film, Food & Spirits at SILK, the City’s newest arts destination

by Dawn Ouellette Nixon A new Lehigh Valley film festival, the SILK Festival on the Bushkill, will debut this month at the Simon Silk Mill in Easton.

Not to be confused with “Movies at the Mill”, the annual film festival organized by Easton based filmmaker Gershon Herkson, which was previously held at the site, the SILK Festival is a separate entity with its own unique momentum.

The new film festival will make its inaugural appearance at the iconic renovated silk mill at 13th Street and Bushkill Drive on the evening of Saturday, September 21 from 6-11pm. A screening of a selection of international and local short films will mark the occasion.

VM Development Group’s SILK, in conjunction with the Karl Stirner Arts Trail (KSAT); the City of Easton; FIFO (Fade In/ Fade Out), a film making consortium based in Easton; and multiple sponsors, has designed the event to celebrate the film, art, music and culinary community in the Lehigh Valley, hence the festival’s tagline—Celebrating Film, Food & Spirits.

Jennifer Kennedy, SILK’s director of leasing and property management is especially excited to show off the Simon Silk Mill’s final renovations at this rebirthed event. “Gates will open at 6pm and the party will be in full swing until 11pm,” she says.

In addition to an assortment of select food and beverage purveyors, there will be a DJ-led dance party and a special guest emcee, Lehigh Valley native and famed actor Daniel Roebuck.

A character actor for more than 30 years in Hollywood, Roebuck’s credits include The Fugitive, U.S. Marshalls, Lost, Matlock, The Man in the High Castle, and many more. Roebuck is also a filmmaker in his own right, having recently filmed his award-winning debut feature, Getting Grace, here in the Lehigh Valley, and is in pre-production on his follow-up production, The Hail Mary, also scheduled for production here.

The busy actor and filmmaker is looking forward to coming back to the Valley for the film festival. “If it helps further filmmaking in the Lehigh Valley, I will always try to help,” he said.

Films slated to screen at the event include an array of genres including the world premiere of No Other Way, a drama about how far a son will go to save his dying mother, a screening of Tigers in the Soup, in which a teenager reconciles his parents’ breakup with the help of his mother’s new boyfriend, and the trailer for Control, in which women in the sixties attempt to take control of their lives.

Tickets for SILK Festival on the Bushkill are on sale now online and at select Easton locations including Two Rivers Brewing, Terry’s Italian Restaurant, and several restaurants at the Simon Silk Mill in Easton for $20.

Tigers in the Soup (2014), written and directed by William D. Prystauk

10 The Irregular

For information about film submissions, contact Bill Hartin, Founder/CEO of FIFO, at 610-360-0508. For information about food and music, contact Jenn Kennedy at 484-544-3895. Additional information online at silkfotb.com.

September 2019

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ARTISIC ENDEAVORS Dan Welden exhibit at Easton’s newest gallery, Gallery on Fourth

by Cathy Stoops There is a new gallery in Easton: Gallery on Fourth at the corner of 4th and Northampton Streets is currently exhibiting twenty-two works on paper by world renowned printmaker Dan Welden. “Aesop’s Fables” is the title of the exhibition though a gallery handout tells us the allusion to ancient tales about animals and inanimate objects (frequently in pairs) solving moral problems is metaphorical, not literal.

But in spirit Aesop and Welden’s work are deeply connected in a shared appreciation of natural law. We don’t think of nature as being moral. Yet nature does seem to be ever seeking ecological balance at every level and in every niche. Harmony may have something to do with morality.

Welden describes his work as being “experimental”. He does not know what it’s going to look like until the end. He begins by being “aware of what is resonated” in front of him and then he responds to that.

“Aesop’s Fables” began while Welden was exploring an abandoned field. He came across a pile of aged zinc plates fused together. As he pried them apart he observed that the natural process of oxidation had created markings on the plates and that where two plates had been pressed together they were now mirrored pairs. In the exhibition, Welden maintains these pairings as they were found. One of his responses to the oxidized imprints came by making lines (he makes his own tool for this)—lines that seem to connect the dark masses but alternatively may be shredding and breaking away; lines that seem certain in their forwardness but innocent of destination; lines that run like a map of the artist’s nervous system across the paper’s surface. Stepping back one sees wind, breaking light, emerging shores. These prints are enigmatic, they are mysterious yet familiar. They may be abstract, but both the materials and the artist are expressing.

The artwork is a result of an interaction.

BUY LOCAL

Weldon’s environmental awareness has extended into the development of safe, environmental alternatives to chemical methods which have been harmful to printmakers. He is the innovator of a technique called Solarplate (solarplate.com).

There will be a closing reception Sunday, October 6 from 12-5pm with a talk by the artist Dan Welden at 2pm.

For more information, contact Lisa M. Kovacs, Director of Gallery on Fourth, at 610-905-4627 or email info@galleryonfourth.org. To learn more about the artist, visit www.danwelden.com.

Dan Welden, Speedy Hare and Steady Tortoise, 2019, Etchings on paper, each 38 x 35 inches (framed). courtesy of Gallery on Fourth

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September 2019

The Irregular 11

IRREGULAR BOOKSELF

with Carole J. Heffley, International Correspondent writing from “Like it’s another country”… North Carolina I absolutely love humor in a novel. Jim always knows by the guffaws and belly laughs erupting from my chair in the living room that I have found a good book with both story and humor. Here are a few I have had the privilege of reading lately. ****FIFTY THINGS THAT AREN’T MY FAULT: Essays from the Grown-up Years by Cathy Guisewite ©2019, 336 pages If the name of the author rings a bell, and well it should, Cathy Guisewite is the wise and funny cartoonist of the nationally known “Cathy” cartoons where the angst of a young multi-insecure overweight woman was hilariously featured daily. The cartoon was a staple of my daily reading as it was for millions of fans of newspaper “funny pages”. Ms. Guisewite finally succumbed to “burn-out” about 15 years ago and “Cathy” disappeared. When a national magazine wrote that Cathy Guisewite was back with a new book in print, I had to read it. My wonderful M&M Library was right on my request and I had the book in hand within days. Just like the Cathy of the cartoon, Cathy the author is beset by insecurities, this time about her teen daughter who has left the nest for college, her aging parents, and her own status as a divorced woman.

She still has insecurity over being overweight and trying so desperately to “fit in” the clothing styles seen on models in magazines. Essays such as “Why There’s a Lifeless Body in Dressing Room Number Two” and “The Day I Outgrew All My Shoes” put a smile on my face. Her essays on relations with her daughter list all the things I say to my granddaughter . . . much to my chagrin. And her writings on thoughts on her aging mom bring to mind the way my daughter thinks of me! In her hilarious moments on life, Cathy picks up on things that we all think of and even do . . . to our embarrassment. It’s a book of more truth than humor or fiction. Cathy is back! This is a fun read!

Enjoy the return of our favorite young woman, now a middle- aged daughter, mom and bff . . . Cathy. ****THE ROSIE PROJECT by Graeme Simsion ©2013, 295 pages From the first page to the last, this romantic comedy is (seriously) one of the funniest books I have ever read. Professor Don Tillman is a world expert on the subject of genetics but we soon discover he has Asperger syndrome which leads to situations that lead to uproarious humor while never laughing at the character himself. Don has never had a second date and has only 2 friends in the world. He is awkward to the max. As his personality marked by the Asperger’s plays out while on his quest to find the perfect mate, I suspect that the author has intimate knowledge of the personalities of people afflicted with Asperger syndrome. Through the laughter, readers cannot help but feel sympathy for Don, who, try as he may, just does not fit into social situations. Don lives his life by ordering his day into minutes; his dinners follow a weekly schedule; he is obsessed with time and schedules. The professor makes up a questionnaire to find the perfect woman for himself while trying Internet and speed dating options.

The paper is 16 pages, doubled-sided! The book is slim, a fast read, and one that you literally cannot put down for fear of missing something on the next page. As funny as the story is, it is incredibly sweet at the same time as well as offering a needed, sympathetic perspective on Asperger’s. Will Don find happiness and a path to social acceptance? Hold on to your funny bone, it’s going to be a bumpy ride. There are over 10,000 reviews on Amazon for The Rosie Project, overwhelmingly positive. It is easy to see this novel as a movie. There is also a sequel to this New York Times Best Seller. ****STILL LIFE WITH ELEPHANT by Judy Reene Singer ©2007, 304 pages I doubt that this book has been on anyone’s radar but it should be. I laughed and even shed a tear while reading it. The novel revolves around a young woman, Neelie, whose husband, Matt, has cheated on her with his associate in veterinary practice. How does she find out? Well, the associate in question calls her with the news that Matt is in love with her and that she is pregnant! What could be funny about that? Just wait and see. Our heroine, a horse trainer, is hearing impaired so what she hears and what is being said are hilariously often different. For example, she hears that her husband is going to get a collie when in fact he says he is getting a colleague. Ultimately, she goes to Africa with him to rescue elephants and to see if the marriage can be saved and the story kicks into high gear. There’s romance, laughter and even adventure awaiting the reader here. Don’t miss it if you can find it (probably online). It can be read comfortably in a weekend. One review on Amazon said: “Like a great jelly doughnut, Still Life With Elephant, is light, sweet, and even a bit addictive.” I couldn’t agree more!

12 The Irregular

September 2019

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GARDENING

In Praise of Goldenrod article and photos by Pam Ruch Autumn is approaching, and so my thoughts turn to goldenrod.

Companion to milkweed and ragweed, it colors our fields with late season yellow, each stem containing a multitude of tiny nectar-filled flowers, which fluff into seeds that attract a long list of birds. A field full of goldenrod is a field full of life.

I have made a practice, over the past few years, of visiting these fields of gold to see what fascinating things I might find. Goldenrod is an education in ecology. It has taught me to go beyond the question, “What’s eating my plant?” toward an understanding of the relationships between plants and insects, predators and prey.

Fields of Canada goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) are beautiful, but this is not the species you want in your garden, as it is a spreader. Instead, plant a non-spreading type, such as S. rugosa, S. caesia, or one of the well-behaved hybrids.

Ecosystem Engineers Galls, abnormal growths of plant tissues, are common on goldenrod. A round gall, which looks just like it sounds, occurs when a fly lays eggs in the terminal leaf bud of a goldenrod plant. When an egg hatches the larva chews into the stem, its saliva stimulating the plant to form a swelling, rich in protein and starch, that will provide it with sustenance for the better part of a year. Eventually the fly larva chews an exit hole from which it will emerge as an adult the following spring… provided it’s lucky enough to avoid predators. A woodpecker or chickadee may peck open the gall and extract the juicy larva. Or a tiny wasp might penetrate the gall with its ovipositor, so that its babies can consume the fly larva and take possession of the space.

A flower gall, also aptly named, is caused by a tiny midge laying its eggs on a leaf bud, which stimulates bunched up growth. Pull one of these bunches open and you’ll learn why this midge is known as an “ecosystem engineer”. You’ll likely find all kinds of life—other midges, spiders, tiny beetles, and more—in the crevices created by the gall.

An abundance of galls might reduce the flowering, and therefore the seed production, of goldenrod. So the plants have developed an ingenious strategy: In spring, the tender stems of some young goldenrod plants duck, that is, they bend toward the ground, confusing the egg laying flies. Later in the summer, once the flies have finished laying eggs, the stems straighten up and produce their bounty of tiny blooms.

Flower galls, also called bunch galls, offer hideaway spots for spiders, mites, aphids, and other insects, making them fortuitous spots for predators!

Why We Need Plant Eaters Goldenrod is also host to myriad miners, chewers, suckers, and stipplers. This does not seem to affect the vigor of the plants in the least. Lift a leaf and you may spot lace bugs. Open up a flower gall and you’ll be likely to find the adult phase of the goldenrod leafminer, or a tiny treehopper. Look closely at a tender stem and you will undoubtedly find aphids. Brown patches on leaves indicate the presence of tiny larvae feeding between the upper and lower surfaces of the leaves. All of these plant eaters can be seen as beneficial, despite the minor damage they cause. Why? Because they are prey for predators. And predators keep the balance in our gardens.

Hidden in Plain Sight My favorite goldenrod sightings are the intrepid hunters, particularly those that are masters of camouflage. Some predators, such as ambush bugs, spiders and carnivorous wasps, are generalists; others, such as lady beetles, are more specific; and still others, notably the wasp parasitoids, target specific hosts. Spotting the small but mighty goldenrod spider is a challenge, as its coloration has evolved to exactly match the flower buds it patiently patrols. It can even change from yellow to white as the situation warrants. Likewise, an ambush

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September 2019

The Irregular 13

GARDENING

In Praise of Goldenrod bug blends in perfectly with its surroundings as it waits to snatch its prey with its knifelike pincers and then subdues it by injecting it with venomous saliva. It then sucks the life out of it. Now that’s drama!

Take the goldenrod challenge. See how many insects you can photograph and identify on this one species. You’ll be amazed. It may even prompt you to see your garden as a community of plants and insects, rather than as a decorative landscape feature. This can completely change the way you care for it. But that’s a topic for another column.

Horticulturist and writer Pam Ruch, caretaker of the Nurture Nature Center Urban Recycle Garden, tends gardens in the Lehigh Valley and beyond, and presents gardening and nature journaling programs throughout the region.

Can you spot the ambush bug?

Goldenrod soldier beetles play two roles: pollinator and predator.

Round galls house gall fly larvae. If you find one, let it stand until spring, when the adult gall fly will leave its protective quarters.

Many species of bees and wasps are among goldenrod’s myriad pollinators.

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14 The Irregular

September 2019

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IRREGULAR EVENTS Community:

Every Thur. 10am-4pm: Cops ‘n’ Kids Reading Room.

NCC Educational Center, 25 S. 3rd St., Easton. Info: 610332-6405, 610-253-8271, copsnkidseaston@gmail.com, copsnkidseaston.org 1st & 3rd Sat. 10am-12pm & Every Thur. 11am-7pm: Cops ‘n’ Kids Reading Room. Easton Community Center, 901 Washington St. (9th St. entrance), Easton. Info: 610332-6405, 610-253-8271, copsnkidseaston@gmail.com, copsnkidseaston.org

AT THE LIBRARIES

Friends of the Delaware Canal 145 South Main Street, New Hope, PA Susan Taylor 215-862-2021, friends@fodc.org, fodc.org Sept. 28: The Friends of the Delaware Canal 32nd Annual Canal Walk. 9am. The Forks of the Delaware River Recreation Area, 210 S. Delaware Ave. (Rt. 611), Easton to the PA Fish and Boat Commission parking lot, 1440 Easton Rd. (Rt. 611), Riegelsville (9.49 miles)

Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center 400 Belfast Road, Nazareth, PA 610-746-2801, jacobsburgsp@pa.gov, Every Tues. & Thur. 10am-3pm: Senior Connection, a free community senior program offering social and mental dcnr.pa.gov/StateParks/FindAPark/ stimulation for older adults. Arndt’s Lutheran Church, 1851 JacobsburgEnvironmentalEducationCenter Arndt Rd., Forks Twp. Info: 610-253-3732, Nancy Walters Sept. 7: Lehigh Valley Greenways Festival. 12-4pm 610-253-0726, nancywalters@rcn.com Sept. 11: Hike for Health. 5:30-7pm Sept. 14: Dutch Oven Campfire Cooking. 10am-1pm, Every Tues., Wed, Thur. 9am-1pm: Silver Connections: reg. req./$10 Fun for Seniors. Easton Area Community Center, 901 Washington St., Easton. Info: 610-253-8271, Saints1@ptd.net Sept. 14: Monarch Tagging. 1-3pm, reg. req.

Sept. 20: Family Night: Crayfish. 6-7:30pm, reg. req.

Sept. 28: Signs of Autumn Hike. 2:30-4:30, reg. req.

Every Sat. thru Dec.: Easton Farmers’ Market.

Sept. 28: Celestial Wildlife. 7:30-9pm, reg. req.

(Sept. 7: Sunflower Day, Sept. 21: Chile Pepper Day).

Sept. 30: Monday Morning Birds & Beans. 8-10am 9am-1pm. Centre Sq., Easton, PA. Info: 610-330-9942, eastonfarmersmarket.com Moravian Historical Society 214 E. Center Street, Nazareth, PA Sept. 6: ArtsQuest’s First Friday Events. 6-9pm. Banana Factory, 25 W. 3rd St., Bethlehem. Info: bananafactory.org. 610-759-5070, moravianhistory.org Sept. 6-7: Bushkill Creek Bug Symposium. Fri. 5-8, Karl Stirner Arts Trail 13th St. entrance, Easton; Sat. 9:30am2:30pm, Landis Cinema, Buck Hall, Lafayette College, Easton. Info: karlstirnerartstrail.org Sept. 7: Easton PA VegFest. 11am-5pm. Riverside & Scott Parks, Easton, PA. Info: 610-608-3070, eastonpavegfest.com Sept. 7-Nov. 11: The Maze. Wed.-Sun. 11am-6pm, $8/ adults, $5/ages 4-12, Free/Veterans&Military and ages 3 & under. The Farm in Harmony, 231 Brainards Rd., Harmony, NJ. Info: 908-386-2925, thefarminharmony.com

Delaware Canal State Park 11 Lodi Hill Rd., Upper Black Eddy, PA 610-982-5560, events.dcnr.pa.gov/delaware_canal_ state_park

Book Fair. Sat. 9am-3pm (Easton Hospital reps 9am-1pm, Lehigh Valley Therapy Dogs 10am-1pm), Sun. 9am-2pm Sept. 17: Meuser Book Club: The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. 2pm

1st & 3rd Mon.: Quilting Club. 6-8pm Sept. 7, 21: Saturday Sew Day. 6-7pm Sept. 14: American Sign Language w/Allison Didden. 11-11:45am

Memorial Library of Nazareth & Vicinity 295 E. Center Street • Nazareth 610-759-4932 • nazarethlibrary.org Hours: Mon. 10-5, Tues.-Thur. 10-8, Fri. 10-5, Sat. 9-4, Closed Sun.

Easton Area Public Library (Palmer Branch) 1 Weller Place • Easton 610-258-7492 • eastonpl.org Hours: Mon. 9-5, Tues.-Thur. 9-7, Fri.-Sat. 9-5, Closed Sun.

Thru Nov. 10: Exhibition: Hall Boys: Student Life at Nazareth Hall Sept. 14: Historic Nazareth Walking Tour. 4-5pm, $8 Sept. 15: Opening Lecture by Benjamin Walbert followed by a reception for Hall Boys: Student Life at Nazareth Hall. 4pm​ National Canal Museum 2750 Hugh Moore Park Road, Easton, PA 610-923-3548, canals.org

Thru Sept. 29: Museum and/or boat ride. Wed.-Sun. 11:30am-4:30pm Oct. 5- 27: Weekends only 11:30am-4:30pm Sept. 13-15: Forks Community Days. Fri. 5-11pm, Sat. 11am-11pm, Sun. 11am-7pm. Forks Township Community Thru Dec. 29: Current Exhibit: What the Rivers Saw: Park, 500 Zucksville Rd., Easton (Forks Twp.). Info: 484-239- Mapping 200 Years of the D&L Corridor’s Living Landscape Sept. 7: Dinner on the Canal: Black History on the Canal.

1189, forkscommunitydays.com 4:30-7pm/$55 Sept. 14: Dinner on the Canal: Pirates of the Canal. 4:30Sept. 19: Destination Arts: Third Thursday. 5-8pm.

7pm/$55 Multiple Art Venues in Downtown Allentown. Info: 610Sept. 28: Dinner on the Canal: Olde-Tyme Country. 4:30751-4929, downtownallentown.com 7pm/$55 Sept. 29: Walking Tour of Hugh Moore Park’s Industrial Sept 21: Free Workshop to Help Manage Excess Past. 1pm/adm. price or $5 Property Water. 10am-12pm. Mariton Wildlife Sanctuary, 240 Sunnyside Rd., Easton (Williams Twp.). Info: 610-252-7633 Nurture Nature Center 518 Northampton Street, Easton, PA Sept. 21: Cruise Night w/ Joyous. 5-9pm (music 7-9).

610-253-4432, liesel@nurturenaturecenter.org, Centre Sq., Easton. Info: 610-250-6600 nurturenaturecenter.org Sept. 21: SILK Festival on the Bushkill: Film, Food and Every Wed. & Sat. 12-4pm, Thur. 6-9pm: Science on a Spirits. 6-11pm, $20. Simon Silk Mill, Bushkill Dr. & 13th St., Easton. Info: Bill Hartin 610-360-0508, facebook.com/FIFOLV Sphere & SOS Explorer Touch Screen Kiosk Sept. 6: Easton Star Party. 8:30-10pm at Scott Park, Larry Holmes Dr., Easton Sept. 21-22: Riverside Festival of the Arts. 10am-5pm.

Sept. 10: National Weather Service Presentation: Riverside & Scott Parks, Easton. eastonriversidefest.org Understanding NOAA Forecast Tools. 2-3pm, 7-8pm Sept. 13: Exhibit Opening: Drawn to Earth - Judith Sept. 27: Easton Out Loud: Puppy Love. 5-9pm.

Downtown Easton. Info: 610-250-6533, eastonoutloud.com Brandon. 6:30-9pm Sept. 19 & 21: What Powers the Earth? Science on a Sphere Energy Show. Thur. 7pm, Sat. 1pm Sept. 29: Wag N’ Trail on the Farm hosted by LV Business Group. 11am-4pm. Camel Hump Farm, 1311 PennState Extension Northampton County Santee Mill Rd., Bethlehem. Info: pets@lvbg.org, lvbg.org 14 Gracedale Avenue, Nazareth, 610-813-6613, NorthamptonExt@psu.edu, extension.

Live Music: psu.edu/northampton-county Every Fri.: Free Range Music in the Acoustic Kitchen (Sept. 7: Pentley Holmes, Sept. 14: Lauren March, Sept.

Sept. 5: Lehigh and Northampton County Master 21: Ben Tyler, Sept. 28: Craig Thatcher & Nyke Van Wyck).

Watershed Stewards TapTalks: History of Water Quality 6-8pm. Easton Public Market, 325 Northampton St., in the Lehigh Valley w/Jim Wilson. 6:30-8pm. Birthright Easton. Info: 610-330-9942 Sept. 10: Bach at Noon. 12-1pm (doors open at 11:30am). Brewing Company, 57 S. Main St., Nazareth Sept. 11, 18, 25: Exploring the Small Farm Dream Central Moravian Church, 73 W. Church St., Bethlehem.

(3-Evening Course Series). 6-9pm/$175. Gracedale Nursing Info: 610-866-4382 x110 or 115, bach.org Home (Tower One Conf. Rm. & Victorian Gardens Rm.), 2 Sept. 13: Live at the Falls: Smith Compound Band.

Gracedale Ave., Nazareth. Register at: extension.psu.edu/ 5:30-9pm. Scott Park, Larry Holmes Dr., Easton. Info: exploring-the-small-farm-dream liveatthefalls.com

History & Nature:

Easton Area Public Library (Downtown Branch) 515 Church Street • Easton 610-258-2917 • eastonpl.org Hours: Mon.-Thur. 9-9, Fri. 9-6, Sat. 9-5, Closed Sun.

Every Thur.: Sew Others May Be Warm Knitting/Charity Group. 1-3pm Every Thur.: Chapter #14, Soc. PA Archaeology Meeting: Bring your Indian artifacts for typing, age determination. 7pm. Info: Len Ziegler 908-750-4110 2nd Thur.: The Writers Café. 7-9pm.

Info: glvwg.vebmeister@gmail.com 4th Sat.: Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group meeting. 10am-12pm.

Info: glvwg.vebmeister@gmail.com Sept. 18: Forever Young Adult Book Group: The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis. 6-7pm Sept. 19: True Crime Library Book Group: Scott Peterson. 6-7pm Sept. 24: Adult Book Group: Uprooted by Naomi Novik. 6-7:30pm Mary Meuser Memorial Library 1803 Northampton Street Wilson Borough 610-258-3040 • meuserlib.org Hours: Tues.-Thur. 9:45-8, Fri. 9:45-5, Sat. 9-4, Closed Sun. & Mon. 1st Tues.: Open Mic Nights. 6:30-8pm Sept. 7-8: 44th Annual Community

Sept. 3: Brainy Bibliophiles Book Club: The Magus by John Fowles.

6:30-7:30pm Sept. 9: Historical Tour of the Library.

11-11:30am Sept. 10: Historical Tour of the Library.

6-6:30pm Sept. 11: Nazareth Book Club: Fly Girls by Keith O’Brien. 6:30pm Sept. 21: Cooking Class: Cooking on a Budget (ages 18+). 11am-2pm. reg. req.

Sept. 27: Daytime Book Club: Becoming by Michelle Obama.

10:30-11:30am Phillipsburg Free Public Library 200 Broubalow Way • Phillipsburg 908-454-3712 • pburglib.org Hours: Mon.-Thur. 9:30-8, Fri.-Sat. 9:30-5, Closed Sun. Every Fri.: Pinochle Club. 12:30pm Sept. 3, 17: Yarn Crafts Group. 5:30pm Sept. 9: Laughter Yoga. 12pm, 7pm Sept. 9, 23: PFPL Writers Group. 6pm Sept. 18: Book Forum. 1:30pm Sept. 19: Film Screening: The Public.

7pm Sept. 24: Digital Marketing Workshop.

6:30pm Sept. 25: Happy Bookers Discussion Group: The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough. 7pm

Sigal Museum (NCHGS) 342 Northampton St., Easton, PA 610-253-1222, sigalmuseum.org

Sept. 4: Lunch & Learn: A History of the Early Industrial Revolution in the Lehigh Valley. 12:30-1:30pm Sept. 14: Photographing the Past: the Civil War at Historic Sept. 5: Sunset Paddle. 6-8pm, $10/reg. req. Giving Pond Recreation Area, 1125 River Rd. (PA-32), Upper Black Eddy. Easton Cemetery. 2-4pm, $5 donation Sept. 18: B.Y.O.B. – Bring Your Own Baby Colonial Tour.

Info: Katie Martens 610-982-0161, kmartens@pa.gov 10am, $15 (includes $10 in EPM tokens) Sept. 13: Full Moon Paddle. 7-9pm, $10/reg. req. Giving Pond Recreation Area, 1125 River Rd. (PA-32), Upper Black Sept. 21: The Walking Purchase Healing Journey.

Eddy. Info: Katie Martens 610-982-0161, kmartens@pa.gov 9am-6pm. Stops include Peace Fair at Buckingham Friends Meeting House, Lahaska, PA; Governor Wolf Sept. 14: Birding for Scouts. 9-10:30am, reg. req.

Historical, Bath, PA; Bond Farm, Jim Thorpe, PA. Info: Jacobsburg Environmental Center, 400 Belfast Rd., bachmannplayers.com / lenape-nation.org Nazareth. Info: 610-746-2801 Sept. 21: Smithsonian Day. 10am-4pm Sept. 14: Dutch Oven Campfire Cooking. 10am-1pm, Sept. 21: Dog-Friendly Historic Easton Walking Tour. $10/reg. req.

1-2pm, $10.

Sept. 15: Pedal & Paddle with the FODC . 10am-3:30pm, reg. req. Tinicum Park, 963 River Rd., Upper Black Eddy.

Have an event taking place in the Easton area? Email it to Info: Katie Martens 610-982-0161, kmartens@pa.gov us here at The Irregular, bruneo1776@aol.com. Events will Sept. 21: Delaware River Cleanup with NJ Clean be placed on the events calendar at the discretion of the Communities. 8:30-11:30am. Various locations publisher. Or consider placing a display ad with us; email or Sept. 25: Fall Equinox Hike. 5:30-7pm, reg. req. Tinicum call 610-258-4330 for rates.

Park, 963 River Rd., Upper Black Eddy.

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September 2019

The Irregular 15

Aries- Astrological cluster F**ks throughout rigid Virgo then into social Libra will make the slip into autumn months active profes­sionally and socially! Don’t forget to actually stop and enjoy the change of seasons amidst family obligations, work crunches & friendly Soirees! They’ll be no time for yourself so forget that! On the bright side accomplishing personal bests and proving you can do everything at once will make you feel the victor! It’ll also make you a ticking time bomb so choose your battles wisely.

Taurus- Pumpkin spice everything from coffee to muffins and all those delectables in between will challenge your willpower so evi­dent in past summer months! Cravings, urges, wants and tempta­tions could over come you like Never before! Conjunctions be­tween Venus and Mars In disciplined Virgo give a good battle until both stars slide into Libra then it’s all over! Food, lovers, sex and shopping indulgences consume you! Enjoy!

Gemini- Guiding star Mercury sits comfortably in homey Virgo with the Sun for a bit sharing data and conversations pertaining to the practical sides of life. It’s an excellent time to sort, edit and look into new directions that make life run more smoothly. In mat­ters of love look at the mechanics of relationships or lack there of and give it an oil change, you’ll be surprised how nicely every­thing runs! Keep scarfs handy for unpredictable windy autumn days.

Cancer- Time and time management flow differently amongst your sign than the others. Some of you might be full swing in autumn adoration while some of you still cling to summer lov’n! Being in between is a safe place but don’t outlast your stay there. Facing the present could have its uneasy challenges but energies in the air have undeniable power now so tap into that and confidently move forward.

Leo- Summer’s over, face it! Collect all your citrine crystals and keep them close until next year. Keep a sidekick, support buddy or assistant close by during autumn months; having someone to keep you upbeat will be worth it. Accept challenges custom designed for your problem solving, trying anything different could have di­sastrous results. In love, let your partner lead until it’s your turn and you’ll know exactly when that is!

Virgo- Back to school, work and reality all falls under your signs dominion; is it any wonder or surprise?

It’s up to you get regi­ments back in order; map out schedules for work and family. We’d be lost with out you! If holding gripes towards someone remember that you’ll attract more bees with honey than vinegar, save the vin­egar for washing the windows, yes that needs to be done now too!

Libra- You have some prep time before arranging autumnal social mixers and get-togethers. Does it seem like that’s all Libras do? Yes! Nobody does it better. The “idle hands are the devils work­shop” philosophy works perfectly here, keeping active keeps away problems and overthinking. Don’t let work interrupt a loving heart. The personal touch works best so keep intimate conversa­tions face to face.

Scorpio- Pop culture calls Autumn Scorpio season now, congrats! Work with boundaries and see limitations as challenges to help you instead of as walls keeping you in! There’s a lot of power in you and if it’s unbridled it can be dangerous. Channel your thoughts, energy and focus in healthy yet provoking channels and a new reconstructed you is the result.

Sagittarius- They’re either with you or against ya! Does it matter? Of course it does! Your success is based on other production and that production is based on other people’s want to do so. Lead the way, dazzle the crowd with pep talks, charm them with your per­sonality and then afterwards hope it worked.

If single or stuck in a love triangle don’t make any sudden decisions, let Venus do Her job and things sort out on their own.

Capricorn- Having both Guiding Star Saturn and Brooding Pluto in Capricorn has its pros and cons.

Pros are somewhat feeling comfortable in your own skin and home, living by your own phi­losophy without being challenged. The cons, never being satisfied with your own body and home, others not living by your philoso­phy and always being challenged!

Aquarius- Why rock the boat when everything’s going so good? Career, public relations, family and love life may be smooth sail­ing! That’s why you’ll rock the boat, be it boredom or anxiousness that if you don’t rock it that Fate might! Spend more time involved in work and relationships now, it’s good for ya and shush those voices telling you otherwise!

Pisces- Sometimes people just won’t understand where you’re coming from. When that happens retreat into your fortress of soli­tude, meditate or zone out but don’t get upset or do anything you’ll regret. When they do understand you it’s a spectacular occasion when progress and magic is made! Keep your love alive and don’t kill the magic.

The Irregular

September 2019

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