With the gracious co-operation
of Prolog we
now have an up and running web page. This will eventually
permit
a lot more to be accomplished. My profound thanks to everyone.
Son George is my web master. He and I
can be
contacted through the main Index page.
You may note that this is the fourth volume of the second
year
of these epistles therefore, at my web master's behest, we are renaming
them, Book 2, Volume 4
It is still warm outside but it is very
wet and
damp out there. This
morning my blood glucose was 131 and the weight 195.
I sat up on the park bench
with my
trusty 8 O'clock coffee and the camera. I was
thinking about
the pictures I have been
taking. If I had the present camera and the technology available when
Queen and I walked our 2 1/2 miles a day every day I could offer more
variety in the photographs that I have in here. It is nice
walking past other peoples homes to see what they have done.
We simply can't
do it anymore. It is amazing what one can see just on our small jaunt
along Columbia Avenue.
It was a far cry from
those warm mornings when I sat up there under that magnificent canopy
of green in the "tent" <Sigh>
I got some e-mail the morning that
I
wish to include
here,
Hi
Bob,
I'm enjoying the Palmerton
Press very much and thought you
and
your readers would be interested in a bit of nostalgia.
There's a
wonderful website where you can listen to old radio programs for
free. I heard about from the guys on Blue Ridge Cable's
"Computerwise" program. The web address is www.radiolovers.com.
Check it
out!
Best,
Jane Lach
Also
this from Bill Danneberg Jr.:
Bob,
You are correct. I do indeed
appreciate seeing that photo of our old
homestead on Columbia Avenue. In fact, I enjoy seeing all your photo
coverage of Palmerton. Keep up the good work! I
visited
Palmerton for the first time in years during our most recent PHS Class
of '58 reunion. The town looks nice, very well kept.
Bill Danneberg
We went for our walk this morning and
while is isn't
cold it is not an inspiring day so far. I took along
the camera
but
did not see a thing worth photographing on this dull dismal looking
day. Oh by tomorrow things are expected to change. I suspect the
hammer is being lifted for a shot of real winter.
This morning Queen wanted to go to the
Post Office
for
stamps. As I was waiting in the car I got a real shock. I saw an
"elderly woman"
leaving the building walking with considerable effort and using a
cane for support. As I looked at her I discovered that I
knew
her. She used to be in my High School class. I will not use her name
but I
told Queen when she arrived back at the car, I had best count my
blessings. I
described her and she said the women was very pleasant to her in the
Post Office. We can thank our lucky stars
that
things are as good as they are for both of us. Oh I
often
complain about our aches and pains but we manage somehow to keep going.
One must play the cards that we are dealt. I don't have to
like
it
though!!<sigh>
Then we parked above Shea's and we
conducted a
sort of
walking tour of the various business's that are open for the Christmas
season. I had to pay the telephone bill so we documented the trip.
The
Hager Furniture Company
Spillane's Store and front window
I got an e-mail from Betsy Burnhauser :
Bob - I also
remember that Arner's bakery was next to Pupak's tailor shop.They had a
shop out in the 600 block of Delaware at one time, too, I think. In
fact, they might also have been up on the hill near where the grooming
shop just recently went out of business, also.
Please suggest to the Gersbach's that
the historical
society would be an
appropriate recipient of things they don't know what to do with from
Minerva's house.
I really hit pay dirt
on the Arner's
Bakery story. I
got this from Terry Eckhart, a new reader,on the subject. It fills in a
lot of the story.
DEAR
BOB, THANKS FOR THE LATEST "PALMERTON PRESS". KEEP
SENDING
, PLEASE. SOME FURTHER INSIGHT ON THE
SHINSEC
BUILDING. AS I REMEMBER AHNER'S BAKERY, IT WAS
MAHLON AHNER
SR WHO STARTED IT . I THINK THEY HAD A TRUCK FROM WHICH HE
WOULD
PEDDLE BAKE GOODS. THEN JR TOOK OVER. IT WAS MRS
KUNTZ
(MOTHER OF DONALD) THAT WORKED IN THE BAKERY. KEEP
THE GOOD
NEWS FLOWING. TERRY
Thanks Terry!!
We have been going
through a bit of a
time with
Butternut. He had been waking Queen at 4 or 5 in
the
morning. With my bad hearing they could tear the house down around me
and I would not hear it. Ha!! He either was barking or whining. She got
up, went downstairs, and
let him out of his
crate. Then she let him outdoors after which he would sleep on
the
landing while we
slept until 7 AM.
We now have set things up so that he now
sleeps at
the
top of the stair steps on a dog bed we fashioned from one of his older
beds. So far he loves it.
Queen is such a kind soul. She knows he
is using her
to gain more privileges. I suspect his long term goal is to
sleep
on her bed as he does in the afternoon!!! I wouldn't bet against it!!
Son George and grandson Andy were here
for a mac and cheese meal tonight. They brought up their old dishwasher
and a few
items for the house on Lafayette Ave. Then
this afternoon they did some shopping and went for a Christmas tree.
They
selected the tree and
Andy
cut it down
The
tree then was bailed for
taking home to Delaware.
George
and the tree
About
7 PM they left
for Delaware. This
evening we got their two
rings
that they got home safely. Well now at 11:05 it is time for
bed.
Sunday
December 12,2004 7:20 AM
35.7 at
Slatington E.S. and 36.6 in the bus stop
It is rather cloudy
this morning but it
isn't cold.
Queen and I are heading out for a walk.
<8:30> We are
back. We
only met a man walking his dog this morning. There wasn't
much moving outside.
I will continue with our "walking tour"
of downtown
Delaware Avenue.
Seen below
on the left is the Watch Me Grow Day Care Center run by Judy
[Davies] Schwartz, Tommie Davies' sister, and her daughter Lisa Anthony
There is a new
eatery next door called
"Simply
Something". Queen and have eaten there and the food is good
and
plentiful. She specializes in
sandwiches. The owner is a very personable young lady.
The Dry Cleaners
share the old
Holczman building with a new green goods and grocery store
called
"The C&C Food Outlet." They are where Werley's tobacco and
Bryers
Ice cream store use to be located. Geza Holczman had his haberdashery
store where the dry cleaners are now.
Then
in the old Post Office
building is a new clothing store called "My Store".
A
Window at the Palmerton Library This
used to be in Tommy Goodrich's soda
fountain
The
former Earl Seip residence where many a kid took their piano
lessons and the George Chmiel residence
The
Palmerton Neighborhood House
Finally
we arrived at the Palmerton Telephone Office
The
tree was beautiful and the young lady was gracious in permitting me
to take her picture.
I saved this one for last. On our way to the Post Office we passed
this
home at 1st Street and Lafayette Ave. Sallie Debman used to live there
a long time ago. I rented her garage at one time many moons ago.
My
night time pictures stink but this
is the same scene at night
I
don't know who they are but every year they go all out for
Christmas decorations. I bet PP&L loves them!
One thing I did notice was that Palmerton has a very viable business
center. We did not get pictures of them all by any
means but
it was fun doing
it!!
This evening I went down to the bandstand to get
some pictures of the Christmas carol sing-along. It was
raining and it was raw and cold.
Things were
still
being set up
when I got there
This
is what I would call the old St. John's Rectory
I have not mastered the art of
nighttime photography. Joel Kern said I should use a tripod. I didn't.
Instead I braced the camera either on the car roof or held it tight
against a lamp post. I am glad I don't do this for a living!
I
would quickly starve to death!!
Monday, December
13, 2004 7:23 AM 34.1 at
Slatington E.S. and 36.1 in the bus stop
It is a wet day out there this morning.
Snow showers
are predicted for today with much colder weather on the way. The blood
glucose this morning was 125 and the weight was 195.
We just got back from our walk and the sun was just coming
out. It is a welcome sight indeed!
Here is a picture
of the Dichysn's kitchen window. Jean has the house all
decorated now. It always looks nice.
The
Kovacs home with workmen and
Christmas tree.
Today is the dreaded sheet day. I realize that
Queen likes
her "easy listening "
music while she works. That is fine
but right now we both object to the wall to wall Christmas music. A bit
interspersed here and there would be welcome. However they wear out
the
whole meaning of the season.
As I sat up on the upper park bench this morning I
had the song" I'll be home for Christmas" running through my head.
Most
of
the time I hear it as a kind of background music. But this morning the
words hit home. "I'll be home for Christmas if only in my dreams."
Oh I
realize I am home with my wife and the love of our family
but at
times like this I hearken back to my youth when all of
our family was here at this house together at Christmas.
My Mom was doing much as Queen is doing now. Scurrying around
making Christmas cookies and getting things ready for Christmas. The
house smelled so good. The older folks all mysteriously disappeared
taking packages with them to appear later all Christmas
wrapped.
One thing I do know is that my Mother
would be
delighted to know that there is a Mrs George R. Elliston
living
here now. She would particularly appreciate who the Mrs. G.R. Elliston
is. She loved Queen while she was her daughter-in-law, my
brother Dick's wife. I recall coming
home from High School when my Dad was still alive but no longer working
due to his heart attack. I remember walking in the front door
after
school was over on the last school day before Christmas. They always
ended the
week with an
assembly and a Christmas program. I remember smelling
the marvelous odor of Mom's baking. I
distinctly
remember hearing
my Dad playing the piano. My Dad was a remarkable man. His only formal
education was at the St. James Episcopal Church School in
Lancaster, Pa. Then he apprenticed at a large Lancaster
printing
firm and
learned the printing trade. After he and Mom came here he
also
taught
himself Greek and since my older brother and sisters were
taking music lessons he decided to learn also. He was instrumental in
having a performance of Handel's Messiah
performed
here at St. Johns
Episcopal
Church.
My Mother told
me that as a baby she would put my
bassinet in the same room where
the others
were taking music lessons from Mr Kellet. I guess my love of music
started early. Ha! Dad
had a great love for the music of Friedrich Chopin. We still have Dad's
entire
collection of Etude
magazines up in the garage. Now
Chopin
is
difficult to play even by skilled pianists. However he loved to hack
his
way through the études. In addition to his lack of expertise he
had caught one finger in a printing press years
ago
and had permanently disfigured that finger. Guess what is now an all time favorite
of mine? You
got it! The
music of Friedrich Chopin,
the études in particular. Ah what wonderful memories!!
Last week we were in
K-Mart and I took some pictures
of Queen shopping.
She
just loves
to look. She can't shop like she used to but she still loves to go
shopping.
One new thing I learned while George and Andy were here. I was trying
to install a shortcut for my Windows XP, so that I
could
shut the machine down
quickly without having to go to start, turn off computer, and the whole
nine yards. I wanted it to close all the programs
in an
orderly
fashion. Andy
said I didn't need it. All the most modern computers will do that job
if you tap the shutdown button. Not hold it just tap it. It really
works just fine. I don't know if it works for Windows 98 or not. One
thing though if you keep a lot of programs open as
I do you may have to help it a bit. Try it sometime. There is so much
simple stuff that I
simply don't know a damn thing about. Sheez!!
Tuesday,
December 14, 2004 7:27 AM 31
deg at Slatington E.S. and 32.7 in the bus stop
There is just a
touch of white outside
this morning.
I noticed on my trips to the bathroom last night the lights were on out
at
the Blue Mountain Ski area so I guess they were making snow.
This morning my
weight was 195 and the
blood glucose
was 139 after last nights spaghetti meal.
I saw a very interesting article in
the New York Times science section
that Google is planning to expand their services. The article is below.
Google
Is Adding Major
Libraries to Its Database
Published:
December 14, 2004
Thor
Swift
A
book is scanned at Stanford
University. Google's plans for digital
files include the University of Michigan and the New York Public
Library.
The
challenge for publishers in
coming years will be to continue to
have libraries serve as major influential buyers of their books,
without letting the newly vast digital public reading rooms undermine
the companies' ability to make money commissioning and publishing
authors' work.
From
the earliest days of the
printing press, book publishers were wary
of the development of libraries at all. In many instances, they opposed
the idea of a central facility offering free access to books that
people would otherwise be compelled to buy.
But
as libraries developed and
publishers became aware that they could
be among their best customers, that opposition faded. Now publishers
aggressively court librarians with advance copies of books, seeking
positive reviews of books in library journals and otherwise trying to
influence the opinion of the people who influence the reading habits of
millions. Some of that promotional impulse may translate to the online
world, publishing executives say.
But
at least initially, the
search services are likely to be most
useful to publishers whose nonfiction backlists, or catalogs of
previously published titles, are of interest to scholars but do not
sell regularly enough to be carried in large quantities in retail
stores, said David Steinberger, the president and chief executive the
Perseus Books Group, which publishes mostly nonfiction books under the
Basic Books, PublicAffairs, Da Capo and other imprints.
Based
on his experiences with
Amazon's and Google's commercial search
services so far, Mr. Steinberger said, "I think there is minimal risk,
or virtually no risk, of copyrighted material being misused." But he
said he would object to a library's providing copyrighted material
online without a license. "If you're talking about the instantaneous,
free distribution of books, I think that would represent a problem,"
Mr. Steinberger said.
For
their part, libraries
themselves will have to rethink their central
missions as storehouses of printed, indexed material.
"Our
world is about to change
in a big, big way," said Daniel
Greenstein, university librarian for the California Digital Library of
the University of California, which is a project to organize and retain
existing digital materials.
Instead
of expending
considerable time and money to managing their
collections of printed materials, Mr. Greenstein said, libraries in the
future can devote more energy to gathering information and making it
accessible - and more easily manageable - online.
But
Paul LeClerc, the president
and chief executive of the New York
Public Library, sees Web access as an expansion of libraries' reach,
not a replacement for physical collections. "Librarians will add a new
dimension to their work," Mr. LeClerc said. "They will not abandon
their mission of collecting printed material and keeping them for
decades and even centuries."
Google's
founders, Sergey Brin
and Larry Page, have long vowed to make
all of the world's information accessible to anyone with a Web browser.
The agreements to be announced today will put them a few steps closer
to that goal - at least in terms of the English-language portion of the
world's information. Mr. Page said yesterday that the project traced to
the roots of Google, which he and Mr. Brin founded in 1998 after taking
a leave from a graduate computer science program at Stanford where they
worked on a "digital libraries" project. "What we first discussed at
Stanford is now becoming practical," Mr. Page said.
At
Stanford, Google hopes to be
able to scan 50,000 pages a day within
the month, eventually doubling that rate, according to a person
involved in the project.
The
Google plan calls for
making the library materials available as
part of Google's regular Web service, which currently has an estimated
eight billion Web pages in its database and tens of millions of users a
day. As with the other information on its service, Google will sell
advertising to generate revenue from its library material. (In it
existing Google Print program, the company shares advertising revenue
with the participating book publishers.)
Each
library, meanwhile, will
receive its own copy of the digital
database created from that institution's holdings, which the library
can make available through its own Web site if it chooses.
Harvard
officials said they
would be happy to use the Internet to share
their collections widely. "We have always thought of our libraries at
Harvard as being a global resource," said Lawrence H. Summers,
president of Harvard.
At
least initially, Google's
digitizing task will be labor intensive,
with people placing the books and documents on sophisticated scanners
whose high-resolution cameras capture an image of each page and convert
it to a digital file.
Google,
whose corporate campus
in Mountain View, Calif., is just a few
miles from Stanford, plans to transport books to a copying center it
has established at its headquarters. There the books will be scanned
and then returned to the Stanford libraries. Google plans to set up
remote scanning operations at both Michigan and Harvard.
The
company refused to comment
on the technology that it was using to
digitize books, except to say that it was nondestructive. But according
to a person who has been briefed on the project, Google's technology is
more labor-intensive than systems that are already commercially
available.
Two
small start-up companies,
4DigitalBooks of St. Aubin, Switzerland,
and Kirtas Technologies of Victor, N.Y., are selling systems that
automatically turn pages to capture images.
Copyright
2004 The New York Times Company
It looks
as
though they are taking an excellent product and making it even better.
Bah
Humbug !!
Before
we walked I sat up on the upper park bench
with my camera and coffee.
When Queen and I went for our walk this
morning we
met Romaine Biege and two other walkers, Shirley Neff, Gail
Nonnemaker, and her dog. They were returning from their 3-1/2 mile
walk.
Golly!!
I had to make an emergency trip to IGA
for some food
coloring that Queen needed for her cookies. Four small bottles of the
stuff for almost $5.00. That must figure out to a "skillion"
dollars per gallon!!!!
Then this morning Queen called and made
an
appointment at Dr. Nicholson's office for me at 10:45 AM. I have been
working at a small cough and the beginnings of a cold. He had
previously given me
medication that if taken soon enough will knock it
out So
we are trying it again.
We
got out of there a bit after noon. So I have a batch of stuff to take.
I
hope that takes care of it!! I complained to him that I just can't do
things that I used to do. He replied,"Oh you can still do them but it
takes three times as long to do it". Very true!! Doctor Nicholson told
me
relax and don't get all tensed up about things. I guess he knows me
pretty well!! I do not have any patience. He said folks coming to see
him often think they have a catastrophic terminal disease.
Most
of the time they don't. I think he was trying to tell me something!! I
think he was hinting that a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous
thing. I would also add" He who treats himself has a fool for a
doctor".
I wonder if that is why I am known in this house as "Doctor Quack"? Ha!!
My blood pressure was good 140/83 and my
weight was
down a pound. Queen's cholesterol was down from 220 and now
is
185. That too I suspect is due to the bran we both have been using.
Queen has been mixing up cookie doughs
all
afternoon and now has gone up for a well deserved rest. She
really works hard at that job, but she loves it!!
I plan to make homemade vegetable soup
for supper.
It is cold enough so that should be a welcome meal on a cold night such
as tonight.
The soup turned out very well. I cooked
the beef in
the pressure cooker along with a can of beef broth and then added the
veggies. I added the carrots, celery, onion, potato, green beans, green
pepper, frozen lima beans, and tomatoes. I pressure cooked that for 6
minutes. I also cooked some spaghetti to add to the mix. It
was
damn good. The rest will go out in the bus stop for storage.
Wednesday,
December 15, 2004 7:17 AM
18.1 at Slatington E.S. and 18.5 in the bus stop
We are in shock. Last evening our nephew, Dr
David Guyer,
called to tell us that my brother-in-law, his father, Walter Guyer, was
dead. Apparently he had a
dental appointment in town somewhere and was hit by a car at a
street corner and killed instantly. David said the police had not
determined exactly what happened. I just spoke with Walter the other
day. So far I am at a complete loss for words. I still
desperately miss talking with my sister Dot, his wife, and
now
this. Walter called us on a regular basis. I was so proud of how he at
90 years of age had
become as proficient at the computer as he did. I only wished we lived
closer so I could have given him some" hands on" help. That is what he
really needed.. He did have AOL which is entirely different from what I
am using but I would have tried.
I was sitting up on the upper
park bench this
morning contemplating yesterday's events. I did see Lee and Marlene
Bollinger. They didn't see me behind the glider but they did when I
called to them. They were bundled up as though they lived in Alaska.
<8:15>
We just got back
from a short walk. It
is darn cold but fortunately there is no wind. We just wanted to get
out a bit and get a snoot full of air. We also just wanted to
talk a bit.
Last nights news hit us hard. Last evening I sent e-mails to
all
of our children. This morning a really heart felt reply came to us,
"Bob
and Ruth,
It is shocking news.
A quick death is
merciful for someone who's lived a long life like Walter. But
for
those close to him, it kind of takes your breath away. E-mail
is
a poor substitute for being with you at this time. This loss
is a
reminder of how precious the two of you are to us and the place you
have in our lives.
Our love to both of you.
Fritz and Belva"
The above note means a lot
to Queen and I. We read it together
and deeply appreciate our wonderful family. No coin of the
realm can possibly substitute for family!
Never, never,
be afraid to tell someone you love that you love them.
It means
a whole
lot!!
IT IS LATER THAN YOU
THINK!!
As I
sat up
there this morning with the sad feeling of Walter's death upon me I
started
to walk back to the house and saw this.
I took these
pictures today on
12-15-04 with the grim knowledge of his passing but the sure
knowledge
that the world just keeps on going! "As
it was before, is now, and ever shall be, world without end"
**********************************
We
decided to do our food shopping this
morning. Tomorrow Queen has an appointment with Karen Arner
to
have her hair cut. The next day I have an appointment at Dr
Walter's office to see Dr. Ross, a specialist, who visits
here
once a month.
Dr. Walters wants him to check
me for possible Macular
Degeneration that may be just
beginning in
my left eye. This is not a happy turn of events but I am told while
they
can't cure it, it can be held in check with laser treatments. I hope
so.
The sight of daughter Mary's ex-mother-in-law, Lillian Rau, who is in
the advanced stages of the disease, is not a pleasant thought.
However yesterday's events surely make me think ! Hey I am still here
and able write about it, see it, and still be able to complain!!! I
will
write more later when I can better collect my
thoughts on
the subject.
Tonight for supper I
made salmon, two
boiled red
potatoes, cooked carrots, onion rings and cottage cheese. We had
cookies
and coffee for dessert. Queen mixed up and baked another batch of a new
cookie dough tonight !!
Thursday,
December 16, 2004 7:09 AM
19.1 at Slatington
E.S. and 18.5 in the bus stop
It is darn cold this morning. I will be
heading out
to the park bench with my coffee and perhaps Butternut. He
may want to
go a second time. I was out and got a few pictures. It is damn cold
this
morning but there is no wind.
I
took a few pictures while I was
out. There is a lot of stream arising from folks chimneys in the frosty
cold weather and the sun glistening on a jet plane overhead.
After I
went in the house
Queen arrived
downstairs shortly thereafter. We decided to do as we did yesterday and
we walked down to 4th Street and back. On our walk was the
faithful Romaine
Biege just finishing her walk..
A short time ago
Dick Guyer called and
filled us in
on his father's death. Apparently Walter was walking on the sidewalk
when a
car hit a parking sign knocking down the sign. As the sign
fell
it hit Walter on the back of the head causing severe trauma. He never
regained consciousness. Apparently
Walter was an innocent victim of a small accident that had
very
bad consequences for Walter.
Dick said
there probably will
be a
memorial service for Walter between Christmas and New Years. We are
still in shock. I know the Episcopal Church speaks in one of its
prayers of this "transitory life". Earlier
in the page I wrote of my visit to Dr. Nicholson who said medicine can
do a lot, but he also said, "When
the man
upstairs call your name, that it it."
This is very true!!!
This
morning my blood sugar is 132 and
my weight
194. This morning as we were returning from our walk we saw the garbage
truck in the alley behind our house. I had not taken the stuff up
there yet so I scurried around and lugged it to the alley put it in
the car trunk and took it up to the 100 block of Columbia where they
were still picking stuff up. The young man smiled and took it
out
of the trunk . <Sigh>
This afternoon I
will be taking Queen to
Karen
Arner's for a haircut. Golly I will have to make an appointment with
mine also. Now that Queen is in the cookie business appointments will
be hard to get!!
<3:30 pm.> We are back
from the beauty salon.
Queen looks
great!!
Karen's Shoppe
Karen
with my Queen
A
few pictures I took of Queen outdoors
I managed an
appointment with my barber and she cut my hair. Now, perhaps I will be
able to hear the doctor tomorrow!
I see in
tonights Times News that Joel Kern had an excellent picture of the snow
making
Blue Mountain Ski Area.
