Whipple Dam / Long-Tailed Duck at Stone Valley

It was a glorious blue-sky day in central Pennsylvania, and everybody got up and went outside. For our part, my husband and I decided it was time to go get some ribs from Doan's Bones, not far from Whipple Dam. We'd snack, and then have a big two-lake adventure.

So we did that. We went and grabbed a half-rack of ribs, my husband brought along assorted sides - cheese and hot peppers and baked beans and potato chips and extra sauce - and we had a lovely but messy lunch at a picnic table at Whipple Dam. I think I had barbecue sauce all the way up to my elbows! But it was so good.

I took a few photos along the lake at Whipple Dam, which is quite possibly my all-time favorite swimming hole . . . except in late summer when it gets really hot and clammy here, and then it's Greenwood Furnace for me, which is the coldest local place to swim.

The sky was that breathtaking shade of bright blue that it can only be in February and September. The sunlight was almost stunning to us. It's been so cloudy for so long in central PA. We were like turtles, sticking our heads out, going, "What's that glowing orb up in the sky?" I admit that when I looked at this water, I wanted to get into it, no matter how cold it is. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, the beach is closed.  ;-)

Then we packed up and headed for Stone Valley, which isn't far away. We marveled that they used to hold the Sy Barash Regatta there. It's such a tiny place, with the roads small and limited. I can't even picture all of that traffic, stuck on those roads. (In 1982, they moved the Regatta, with a new no-booze policy, to Bald Eagle State Park - in subsequent years, I saw the Hooters, REO Speedwagon, and Joan Jett perform there.)

But I digress. The water was beautiful and the sky was blue, and we grabbed our chairs, found a sun spot, and sat and read our books. I saw a bird out on Lake Perez and grabbed my super-zoom camera. A picture that I took of what turns out to be a long-tailed duck is included in the extras; I believe it's my first time seeing one.

Long-tailed ducks are apparently prodigious swimmers, able to dive up to 200 feet, in search of snacks. I did not see this one do that. It mostly hung out on the surface, bobbing around, looking cute. They are more typically found in the Great Lakes and on the seashore, so it was a treat to see one in central Pennsylvania, in February.

For my blue-sky scene above, I wanted this song: Tommy James and the Shondells, with Crystal Blue Persuasion. I have a second song, but I have to admit that it's unrelated to the photos. I just want it. It's the best thing I saw on the Grammys on this night, and it's Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs, with Fast Car, the first time she's performed it live in many years. I walked into the room to see this song begin. And I stopped absolutely dead in my tracks: "Why that looks . . . . that sounds . . . . like TRACY CHAPMAN." And then I just sat down and cried; yes, I cried through the whole thing. So much to love, so much respect. Well DONE. Here are also links to their respective individual performance videos of the song: Tracy, Luke.