SOUTH CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA

The Box and I got around a bit today, a clear and crisp fall day here in south central Pennsylvania. The day began with a trip to the polls to vote. We vote at the Lutheran church on the hill in Linglestown. I was mostly interested in voting against someone I know, who is not worthy of holding public office.

Next we zipped south on I-81 to the Cameron Street exit to find the offices of Graphtech Printing, a company that is producing a calendar with photos from Beyond Second, the Website to which I contribute pictures taken within the City of Harrisburg. Someone from Graphtech had written, asking for a high resolution copy of a photo I had taken of stained glass at Christ Church on Harrisburg's Allison Hill (pictured above left).

Unfortunately, the photo was not of the correct resolution, but I offered to re-shoot the photo and come back with the results. As luck would have it, someone was at the church and let me in. I retook the photos and headed home to "process" them.

On the way home, we stopped at historic Paxton Presbyterian Church in Paxtang to take some photos of fall foliage there. It's a beautiful eighteenth century meeting house with a cemetery populated by famous early families, including John Harris. The large campus has some great old trees.


After cropping the photos, I went back to Graphtech and left them with the receptionist. We'll see if they're good enough for the calendar. At least it was nice to be asked.

Next, it was off to Middletown to pick up a friend and zip down to Root's Market in Lancaster County. Sarah wanted a chocolate shoofly pie, which is now residing in our freezer until we see her. The Amish girl who sold it to me smiled and agreed with me that it's not a traditional pie but certainly tasty.

I bought some card stock to make a cover for the choir directory I am working on for Market Square Church. And I almost resisted (but not quite) a Moravian sugar cake baked by a Mennonite family. We had this cake for the first time at an organ concert at the Moravian Church in Lititz and never forgot the wonderful taste! I did resist the giant whoppie pie (or "gob" as yinz in Pittsburgh call them).

It was getting cooler as my friend and I decided it was time to leave Root's. We stopped into a building filled with chickens, pigeons, and rabbits and admired the future Easter bunnies. We endured the moaning and groaning of one of the vendors about how no one was buying his license plates and metal signs, all the time blowing cigarette smoke in our direction. Finally, we strolled past the endless boxes of gadgets, what-nots, and thingamajigs that you find somehow attractive but know will only end up in a drawer.

Here's a view of the outdoor "midway" at Root's. There's another "street," too, and of course the main building filled with vendors. Click on the arrow to watch the action.