Summer Fun at Greenwood Furnace / No Surrender

It was a Monday morning, and one of the funnest things to do on a Monday, as an ex-working person, is to go and do the things that you NEVER COULD HAVE DONE on a Monday before, back in the days when you were working. So there, HA!

So it was on this Monday morning that my husband and I ended up driving over to Greenwood Furnace for a delightful, chilly swim, and then enjoying an ultra-tasty lunch at Couch's (another sloppy joe meal for me, hooray!).

When we got there, the beach area was much fuller than we had imagined. There were kids of all ages and sizes, and even a few adults, in the water. The largest group, I initially thought were Mennonite, but as it turns out, I adjusted my thinking: once they got dressed, I realized they were most likely members of an order of Amish. Also, they were having WAY MORE FUN than anybody else there!

The photo above shows you the couple with the wonderfully colorful umbrella who sat in front of us. Beyond them, in the water, are the folks I was talking about. The ladies wore dark - black or blue - swimming dresses and had some kind of white netting over their hair. 

They almost all had floaties, or shared one with one or more others. Several of them wore flotation vests, in addition to all of that. They spoke only in German, a dialect we locals might call "Pennsylvania Dutch."

Now, I am a photographer who loves to take pictures at the beach. And this is what we've got that passes for beach in land-locked rural central Pennsylvania. A thing I really enjoy is capturing beach photos that show the diversity of the folks who ended up here, together, totally by accident. It somehow makes me smile!

So anyway, all of that was delightful. This is the best swimming area in central PA at this point in time. All of the others are low, or dirty, or too warm. So I highly recommend it: Greenwood Furnace is where you go in late July and all through August, to enjoy the grace of the cold, clear water. And then we went home.

Missing from these pages of late has been the zaftig little gray kitty (LGK, to us, real name: Stryker) who belongs to some neighbors. In colder times of year, he is out and about a lot, and visits us nearly every day. In summertime, he either doesn't go out much or simply doesn't visit US. We saw him a night or two ago, and it was the first time in WEEKS. Maybe months.

My husband came into the house around 7:30 p.m. and asked - LGK was here. Did I want to come out and get some photos? And so out I ran with my camera, and I petted LGK and said nice things to him and took his picture. A photo is available in the extras.

Now, a word of explanation may be in order. In the photo, LGK is lying on his back, with one paw lazily lifted in the air. My husband - for whatever weird reason; you know how people get with cats - had a white tissue of some kind, and was waving it over his head. Is it the white flag of surrender? I'm simply not sure! Look at LGK's face: I'm not sure if that's a smile, or a look of indifference. I can imagine him saying: "Anyway, if you surrender, very well; I accept!"

So here are our two photos for the day, and let me end with a few pithy observations regarding our differences and our strengths. So listen up. It is the diversity of our nation that makes us strong and great. There are people here who are different from you. It's always been this way; it will always BE.

These people may think differently, or act differently, or speak differently than you. Their skin color, or race, or sexual orientation may be different than what you are used to. They may dress in ways you don't understand; they may TALK in a language you don't understand.

But they are, in their own ways, strong, and beautiful, and good, and true. And they are to be respected, and treated with kindness, and/or left alone, if that's what they most want. It is NOT up to you to make decisions about - or FOR - any other people, and that includes medically, personally, or in ANY OTHER WAY, or to treat them badly just for being different. 

So if you're tempted to act mean to others who are not like you, knock that sh*t off. This is America. Act like liberty matters; give others the freedom - and the grace - you want to claim for yourself. And now we return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

I've got two photos and so here are two soundtrack songs. First, for our diverse group in the swimming area above, I've got Kacey Musgraves, with Follow Your Arrow. And for the white flag that's being waved in the extras over a rather zaftig little gray kitty, I've got Bruce Springsteen and crew, with No Surrender.