Best Colors Yet at Cold Stream Dam/Sunflower Grace

When I met the guy who would eventually become my husband, he was renting a garage apartment in Philipsburg, and I was renting a room in State College. Several moves and many years later, he still has the same dentist that he had back then.

The latest appointment involved the unhappy news that he needed several fillings, and so on this day, he took care of that. On his way, he dropped me off to do a little walking tour of Philipsburg, which took me maybe an hour and a half. He would pick me up later at the Cold Stream Dam; I had a book along, in case his appointment ran late.

I started near the post office, with the historic John Henry Simler House, built around 1807, the oldest standing building in Philipsburg. From there, I wandered over to the Rowland Theatre, which was gorgeous back in the day (wandered around exterior; could not go in; did not see any list of showtimes).

I took pictures of Victorian houses. I took pictures of flags: Imagine All the People Living Life in Peace. My tour also took me past the Philipsburg House, the Memorial Park, the Old Mud (or Union) Church, and the Founder's Oak. You may see the Simler House, Mud Church, and Founder's Oak in this August 2021 blip of mine. If you want to read up on the history of Philipsburg and some of its more interesting places and events, this is a good place to start.

The distance I walked was only about a mile or a bit more - flat, easy walking - and I ended up at Cold Stream Dam, which was renovated in the recent past, and it is really lovely there. The spot is a magnet for fishermen. They have put in benches, a few little structures, and a gazebo or two, there are picturesque old-fashioned lamp posts, and the fall foliage colors reflected on the lake were the best I've seen so far!

So I was standing there at Cold Stream Dam in Philipsburg, taking pictures. I mean, LOTS of pictures. And I meandered over to the sunflowers on the hillside, most of which have gone to seed now. The birds were going crazy over them, and I was trying to get some shots.

I had my head phones on, but soon I noticed that the young man on a riding mower who had been doing some landscaping work had pulled it over and stopped it; he was gesturing to me to take my headphones off so that he could talk to me. WHAT NOW?, I thought, interrupted from my own little tunes, my own little world.

"Ma'am, do you want me to move my truck so you can get better pictures of those sunflowers?" the kind young man asked. I shook my head and thanked him and said No, it was OK, no need to bother. (Where I come from, we are not big on being "beholden.")

But he gestured broadly - his truck was blocking the last, best flowers, he said - and in spite of my protests, he went ahead and moved his truck anyway. In the extras you may see the sunflower shot I got, with an assist from the groundsman at Cold Stream; I consider it a team effort.

In a whole stand of sunflowers mostly gone to seed, this was the very best golden, glorious set that was left. They are still in full bloom and they are gorgeous. I was walking around looking and acting like a photographer, and he simply wanted to make sure I got a decent picture of them.

So here's a shout-out to him: Thank you, young gent, for your courtesy. Thank you for granting me ACCESS (a big, big word in my world) so that I could get this much, much better shot! Just two strangers here, giving and receiving grace.

It is my custom to include a soundtrack song with my images, and I've got two for us today. First, let's celebrate the gorgeous color change with Cyndi Lauper's True Colors, one of my all-time favorite songs. And second, let's celebrate the kindness of a stranger with this tune, whose words were written on one of the flags I photographed: John Lennon's Imagine. I'm also including a lovely cover of Imagine sung by Chris Kläfford. Enjoy!

Thought for the day:
“Pour God's love out of you in pitcher fulls, not thimbles.”
― Shannon L. Alder