Category Archives: PA.

Aug28

My encounter with Flutterby

Posted on Wednesday, August 28, 2013 by Dianne

Last week when Brian was cutting the grass, he said a Monarch butterfly came out of nowhere and he wasn’t sure if he swatted at it or it was just hurt. It was laying in the grass and not really moving a lot. It let me pick it up and it’s one wing looked a little ‘out of joint’. I put it up on a zinnia in a pot and would check it the next day.

The next day it was on the ground, so I scooped him up and put him on the white butterfly bush. Almost immediately, it started to drink through its tube-like tongue, the proboscis, as it went dipping it into each little flower middle.

It still wasn’t moving it’s wings as much as it could, but it looked happier.

The same thing would happen day in and day out for a few days. I moved it around back to the purple butterfly bush too.

You can see the damage on the wing.

Then it started getting braver and wouldn’t let me pick it up. I watched it fly over the roof one day and then land on the branch of the chestnut tree near very prickly burrs. It could surely impale itself on one of them. It then took off again, flying a little zig-zaggingly around the yard.

I haven’t seen it for a few days, but it was neat to be the guardian to such a fragile creature.

All life is fragile.

After looking at photos, I’m pretty sure this is a ‘she’ as she has lots of spots around the border on her wings.

My Moon flower vine and Passion flowers are gracing me with their blooms. I plant the moon flowers by seed and bought the Passion flower plant back in May. What unique treats. The moon flowers smell like talcum powder.

On a personal note, I had been working once a week at a church preschool and they asked me to come in twice a week now and 3 times a week once a month! I’m really flattered by this.

A few days ago, I had injection therapy on my back in three spots. I took one Valium and did fine. The worst one was the shot near my tailbone as the doctor really jammed it in there (fanny area). I can see a difference already! I know I can handle something that some people get put under anesthesia to get. It was only 10-15 minutes. I sure did not like laying on my tummy the most. Sure hope it lasts a while.

Aug26

The Reading Pagoda daytime and evening

Posted on Monday, August 26, 2013 by Dianne

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This gallery contains 18 photos.

The last few times we have gone past Mt. Penn near Reading, PA., I saw a pagoda way up at the top and wondered about it. I mentioned to Sean how much I’d like to see it up close and so we took a day trip there a few weeks ago. We drove through Reading, […]

Aug13

Chanticleer Gardens-Part 1

Posted on Tuesday, August 13, 2013 by Dianne

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This gallery contains 21 photos.

Visiting these gardens have been something I wanted to do for a few years, but never got around to it until a few weeks ago. They have a Facebook page and their photos were tempting me so much! So Brian and I went over to Wayne, PA and spent a few hours enjoying the property […]

Aug3

Second Chocolate town of Pennsylvania

Posted on Saturday, August 3, 2013 by Dianne

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This gallery contains 16 photos.

Back on July 24th (I know, I am behind all the time lately), Brian and I took drive up to Lititz, PA. It’s closer than the other chocolate town of Hershey, PA., but to me it smells very delicious right outside of the Wilbur Chocolate Factory. It smells like mom’s kitchen, or my kitchen or […]

Jul15

Got to love Souvenirs!

Posted on Monday, July 15, 2013 by Dianne

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A few days ago, Geocaching.com offered a ‘get outdoors and geocache’ souvenir if you found a cache on July 13th. It is added to your souvenir page almost like a stamp collection!

Brian was at work and I was trying to find an interesting cache to look for. I found one located near Wooddale Bridge in nearby Delaware. It was big enough to add a travel bug or swag to. I wrote down the directions which were 3 turns. So of course the GPS on the phone went out (I need to use my GPS device and upload caches to it!) so we went by my handwritten directions. Thank goodness. Brian was getting a little perturbed as he thought the bridge was closer. Opps…maybe 7 miles away. So we found it-no other cars were around, so we could take our time (mostly me) looking. It wasn’t hard to find at all! Yes!

Isn’t that a nice bridge? It was constructed in 2008.

See that big hornet’s nest on the upper left?

Look at all the raging water from all our rain.

The cache wasn’t too difficult to spot as it wasn’t hidden well. I hid it a bit better. You never know who is going to come along.

I hadn’t signed it or added the little Eagle with the travel bug attached to it.

Driving back we stopped the Mount Cuba Center and drove up their long drive. We saw this gorgeous mansion at the top. It belonged to the DuPont Copland family!

This is just used for administration and an educational facility now!

We decided to go up to Kennett to check out a new cheese steak place. The night before, the place was packed! When we got there, a bike race was going on and the middle of town was portioned off.

See the racers whiz by!

We walked down to the new market place and there was indeed a cheese steak place, a crepe place and seafood area and a wine seller. We decided not to get a sandwich as we had a burger the night before. We ended up in a Mediterranean place and ordered a cheese tray (very skimpy and no crackers) and salads that had lots of greens, but little of anything else for the price. I always wanted to try it, so now I know the dinners ‘and’ salads are pricey. Nice waiter though.

Some shots from around quaint Kennett Square, PA

Jun28

Chadds Ford in 5 minutes

Posted on Friday, June 28, 2013 by Dianne

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Sun setting over Chadds Ford, PA, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

On the way back from my mom’s house, I asked Brian to turn down Creek road to where the Chadds Ford Historical society is located so I could get my Instagram shots for the day. I was really pleased with these shots of the beautiful landscape and building.

The side of the Chadds Ford Historical Society

There’s something about the sun raising and setting that adds a special ambiance to a photo.

We did a little caching on the 23rd near the state line in DE. First we went to Mill Creek Meeting house. What a quaint place. The GPS pointed to a group of trees, but the hint was ‘metal on metal’ and we found the bison tube near an old chain link fence.

This is the side facing the road.

The Quakers are a very peace loving group. Brian is a peace loving person too!

We then went down a side road where this place use to be.

There were quaint old homes back here that had been renovated. I’ll have to go down this road some other time to take more photos.

We found a cache in a guard rail- but near the end of it-a pink pencil box and another cache in a guard rail in a magnetic key box. Brian took this photo and I used an Instagram filter.

We get to see such pretty sites on these little excursions!

We’ve had heavy rain late in the afternoon for days. A few days ago we saw this:

Awesome!

Sean went for an interview up in the city of Lancaster yesterday the 27th. We tagged along hoping the big farmer’s market would be open, but it wasn’t. So we looked for a geocache around the corner. It was opposite a convenience store. We started to look for it and the shop guy poked his head out of the door and said ‘you’re cold’…as we were near a phone pole. He said he could see it from up where he was standing and I backed up a bit-there it was under a smelly trash can (the kind with wheels) ugh.

Sean was in with the guy at the LanCo Conservancy for over an hour. It’s only part time work through September. It’s also 45 miles one way from our house. Some things to consider. But maybe the guy knows somebody. It seems it is who you know these days.

I went to see an Orthopedist doctor today. I guess the young lady I was seeing before was an assistant. Seems she got the issue with my back wrong. I have lower left ligament issues. The doctor thinks that my fall last year even shifted my pelvis a bit. And the physical therapy that caused me pain was all wrong for my issue! Now don’t you think they would have figured that out the first time I went there? I am to get an MRI, but in the process of seeing if the insurance will pay for it.

We lost an old apple tree yesterday. Down it went in the direction of the yard, not the bank. We don’t get the previous owner’s reason for planting trees on a bank. You can’t pick the apples without a long tool. They weren’t so great and the deer and wildlife were enjoying them today.

The tree was behind her.

I thought I’d get a break from doctors and have two things to do the week of the 8th, 45 minutes in opposite directions, Monday and Friday. When it rains it pours-literally.

Jun20

Figuring out the coordinates and getting the prize!

Posted on Thursday, June 20, 2013 by Dianne

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This gallery contains 15 photos.

Yesterday Brian and I were off to do our bimonthly food run. We have a few stores we like, but we decided to go to the one up in Gap, PA. They had some ‘buy one get one free’ items and I think they alone were worth the trip. But first, we did a little […]

May6

Tick tock, tick tock

Posted on Monday, May 6, 2013 by Dianne

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We hadn’t been caching for a week and I was itchy to go look for a few over this past weekend. I hadn’t been feeling good, so was ready for some fresh air too! Saturday I had missed a big Geocaching event and was a bit bummed by that.

We drove over to the Landenberg, PA area to find the ‘Ticking Tomb’. Here is the write up about it on the geocaching page:

Back in 1764 when Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon were surveying this area in order to figure out the border of Pennsylvania with that of Delaware and Maryland, the English King held a contest to see who could develop the best device to measure longitude. Charles Mason developed this device, a chronometer, but legend has it that it was swallowed before it could be submitted for review by Fithian Minuet, who was an infant at the time. He grew up to be a successful clock maker and he and his wife Martha lead a happy life and had many friends. It is said that you could hear the chronometer ticking in him his whole life and that it STILL ticks in him to this day. Many people have put their ears to his tombstone and heard the ticking. Edgar Allen Poe heard the ticking and was supposedly inspired to write “The Tell Tale Heart.” George Alfred Townsend told the story in “Tales of the Chesapeake.” And most recently, Ed Okonowicz included the tale in his book “Up the Back Stairway (Spirits Between the Bays).”

Interesting right? But alas, the ticking sound people thought they were hearing was probably from underground springs and something like rocks and dripping water has shifted as no one is hearing that sound anymore. Anyway, I enjoy visiting the old meeting houses and seeing interesting markers like this:

This was the heart shaped stone that we were suppose to look for-the tomb was to the left of this.

What’s really neat is that we had to figure out the coords for the cache by looking at surrounding markers and to plug in the numbers we got to get the new numbers for the final location. At first we were walking all around the cemetery, in the tall grass too. I looked at the description again and the ending coords were very close to the ‘suggested’ parking. We had parked down the road a bit. So we walked passed the parking lot and the numbers went down. I saw an old stump and looked closer and saw a tell tale pile of sticks and there was the cache! Not that close to the cemetery!

I never found of cache before! I was pretty proud of myself!

This is a neat old place and is used for a nature center. Lots of taxidermy showing thorough the windows.

We then went a little bit down the road to a nice trail with two nicely made bridges and found the cache in a handmade wooden container under the second bridge.

We did go get some pizza after our excursion which wasn’t as good as it usually is. Someone over salted the ingredients in it. Then we looked for one more cache and approached it from the incorrect direction. It was on the other side of a stream we were near. When I got home and read the logs, we were the only ones who didn’t find it! It shows that you have to read the logs carefully. A new geo pal said she’d show me where it is since she found it ‘first’ several years ago. She’s got many thousands of finds.

On a personal note, had a few days bad last week from overdoing it. Climbing in and out of the SUV is rough. I have noticed the bottom of my legs are red, almost like razor burn! And I can’ hardly button my jeans. I decided to ask pharmacist and when I mentioned my legs, he said to call the doctor. She called within a few hours and said I am retaining water and to stop the medicine I have been taking about 5 weeks. I have to wait a week to see if my legs get better and then I will call her back.

May1

Two lips-I mean tulips!

Posted on Wednesday, May 1, 2013 by Dianne

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Just a little play on words there. Ha ha!

Happy May Day!

My son Sean and I headed over to Longwood Gardens a few days ago so we could see most of the tulips in their full spring glory. I can pretty much say I felt like I was in Holland as the waves of colors and the varieties of tulips were amazing!

Hi Sean!

There were other pretty flowers like poppies

Pansies and such

Tower of Jewels

Canterbury Bells and Begonias

And many more gorgeous things and plants!

Apr29

Caching, history and tulips

Posted on Monday, April 29, 2013 by Dianne

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I realized it’s been a while since I did a blog post. I’m going to keep this blog as long as possible as it’s a good record for me. I now upload my camera photos right to Flickr and Instagram, so it will be semi-updated there on the sidebar. They won’t have details like my blog, but you can kind of see what I am up to.

So what have I been up to? LOL Well. for one thing, we are climbing up to 300 geocache finds. This is pretty good for someone like me with my issues, but when we go out looking, I tend to forget I hurt sometimes.

Last Friday we went down to historic New Castle, Delaware to look for a few caches. First I wanted to stop near Wilmington to see ‘the biggest cache’ some people have ever seen, this of course is according to the logs for it. Well we found the location and the van-yes, it was the back of a van, like one used for a/c or heating which was near the business where it was parked. We were confused to where the key was to open the cache, feeling around under the bottom of the vehicle for a ‘MKH’-you all know what that is. All we did was knock off rust down there. I finally went into the business and they told me where to look and within a a few minutes we had it! So then we unlocked the back of the van instead of the side-it said to unlock where a certain number was located-duh. I guess we were too excited to see it after all the hype.

Here’s what we found:

This was facing the back. I guess that’s a seat for photo ops! The lights even went on!

Right under this was a big notebook for the log book! There was a travel bug hotel (I was hoping for a bug, but it was empty) and lots of swag.

It was way cool!!!!

We then headed to New Castle and were stumped with a few caches on where to park for them. We had to resort to just picking and choosing off the phone. We did find one near a piling after a bit of a search. The piling was in water and we didn’t feel like falling in. So we took a photo. The cache owner said you have to sign the log, but we can’t be running down to New Castle hoping that the water receded. Finding it was hard enough!

See what I mean? It was mucky all around this area too. You’d need some of those thigh high boots, ‘just in case’.

We snagged a few others and headed to the farmer’s market. We were looking for something to bring home for dinner and found a half of rotisserie chicken and two sides, so bought 3. We had enough chicken for a sandwich the next day! Wow!

Pretty mural near the walkway of the Delaware River

Battery Park coastline near the walk.

The next day was Saturday. We were sitting around and I remembered that a big craft warehouse place in Lancaster County was closing. The discount was up to 60% off and we decided to take a drive there-it would take about an hour. Of course I was again itchy to grab a few caches. We stopped at one called ‘Ghost Train’. It was on an old wooden train bridge. Brian made the find! So proud he saw that one as I was going away from the structure.

We didn’t get to the sale until 4:30 and the place closed at 6:00. I did power shopping. I picked up mostly some Christmas decor and a few Christmas gifts. I got a few things I want to embellish too.

We were going to a smorgasbord, but about 5 lines had 30 people each waiting to get in. And they all will get in and touch all the serving spoons, you get my drift. We ended up retrieving a few caches, one at a tiny cemetery and the other in the parking lot of the restaurant. We had to leave and come back as a full tour bus was right near where we needed to look! They would have wondered why those people were messing with the lamp skirt. Ha ha!

There is a smaller restaurant under the smorgasbord and we ate there. The cheesesteak was a mess! They cut all the way through the bun and piled all this marinara sauce on it. I had to cut it up to eat it as I couldn’t pick it up.

There is a 40k square foot gift shop-it goes on and on! I found an owl wind chime and some Burt’s Bee facial cleanser I needed.

I asked Brian to stop one more time for a cache as I have always wanted to see it. It was an old grist mill in the heart of Amish country. It was getting dark, so I turned on the handy phone light app and although it was 20 feet off, we did find the ammo can.

We had a pretty fun day and found 10 caches in two days!

I think Longwood Gardens will be my next blog post. Sean and I went on Sunday. I have never seen such a variety of tulips in such an array of colors. Here’s a sneak peak!