Super Sipper / Gate and Garden

It is August, and there is something very special about this month: it is the only time of year that Penn State's Berkey Creamery sells a flavor called August Pie. What is August Pie? It is vanilla ice cream, with a blend of peaches, nectarines, and red raspberry sauce; and it is my current favorite. It is also sometimes quite hard to come by!

My husband had an afternoon appointment in Pine Grove Mills, but before that, we went to town, did some shopping, ate out, and he dropped me off on campus for a visit to the Arboretum; my last stop would be the Creamery, where I would pick up the much-coveted August Pie! (Of course, I called in advance to make sure they had it; this isn't my first August Pie rodeo!!!)

So we went to town, and we were both starving, so we ate and got our errands started a bit earlier than necessary. This left us with a gap in the middle of our plans, which we decided to spend along Spring Creek. We took Shiloh Road and went all the way to the end of it, and parked near the fish hatchery. There are big warning signs saying this is a high tick infestation area, so be vigilant. We were.

Our intention was only to stroll around and put in about a half-hour, but we came across a huge field of flowers planted just for the pollinators, and boy did I hit the jackpot! For do you want to know what we found in Spring Creek Canyon? Do you want to know?????

Hummingbird moths!!!! Now, I have not seen a single one this year, but I saw several on this day. They are notoriously difficult to photograph, and they are very fast and their flight pattern is very flittery. Zip zip zip, here and then gone!

But I did manage to snag a number of decent shots, and above is a personal favorite. Meet Hemaris thysbe, the hummingbird clearwing, a member of the Sphingidae family. They are gorgeous and I am SO HAPPY to have finally seen a few!!! Yay!

And then I visited the law school library and the Arboretum and the business building, but I was sad to find (and document) two dead birds on the ground in front of those big windows I like to photograph on the business building. I am trying to get in touch with someone at the University to ask what they are doing to manage bird strike. What a tragedy.  :-(

But setting that part aside, it was a fine visit. And the Arboretum is perking along at high summer now, and the lily pond is swinging. I've put a photo of the bench and transformation canopy at Childhood's Gate in the extras. It was gorgeous there and it sure felt like coming home.

I also had a really neat experience where I met a cool stranger, and we stood and talked talked talked for 10 minutes without stopping. I was standing by the big sundial taking monochrome pictures of the dramatic clouds, when an older woman behind me asked me to help her with her cell phone. 

She was trying to get a photo of the new art museum, which is wrapping up construction, and she wasn't sure she was doing it right. Well, I'm no cell phone expert, since I don't have one, but I told her I thought that pressing that round button should do it, and she did that, and I wished her luck. Take a few more, I said, just for good measure: that's what I'd do. And she did.

We talked about the art museum, and life, and some current events, and the amazing clouds. And then she told me that she was 93 years old, and I called her a liar! She was spry and very good on her feet and very sharp, and I told her I just didn't believe it. She said that she was indeed 93, and that she has to pick girlfriends younger than her (in their 70s) to hang out with since most people she knew have died.

She asked me what I thought about the new art museum. I told her I had some mixed feelings about it. She said, "I want to love it, but honestly, I don't like it." I told her that I was a big fan of the old museum; have been since the 80s when I lived in North Halls and visited it several times a week. Maybe we'll learn to love the new museum when we see it from the inside, I told her. But the opening is a long ways away; we must go at least a year with no art!

I retired from my job a few years ago, and I don't get out in the social world as much as I once did. It was delightful to meet and talk with a fun stranger. And it was one of those chance encounters that I could tell neither of us wanted to end. But eventually, we parted, and I wish I would have asked for her name. I may be only in my 50s, but I think I would make her a good friend.

After that, I went to the Creamery, bought a box of August Pie ice cream, put it in a little cooler pack in my daysack, and then into the bigger cooler in the car when my husband showed up a few minutes later. Our final stop at the local fruit farm yielded nature's bounties: apples, peaches, tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, and sweet corn. Oh, NOM!

So all in all, a grand day was had (setting aside the birds): there was shopping, there was eating out, there were hummingbird moths and flowers along the creek, there was a chance encounter with a delightful stranger, there were fresh local veggies, and there was . . . oh my goodness, my quest is complete!!! . . . August Pie!!!!

Now, I have two photos so let's have two songs. My first one is for the hummingbird moth above, which I absolutely adore. So my song for that is Don Henley, with Love Rules, from Fast Times at Ridgemont High (though the video includes scenes from other 80s films as well). For the picture of the entrance to Childhood's Gate, here is Stevie Nicks, with Gate and Garden.

Some of Anita's rules to live by:
If there's something beautiful to see, go and see it. And take your camera!
Take a chance; say hello to a stranger!
Eat your favorite ice cream flavor even if it has to become a quest to do so!