Sue

LAST DAY!

2009-02-10T21:21:22Z

Last day to take advantage of Cal Schenkel's dirt cheap sale of art which will be an investment guaranteed! go to www.ralf.com

Who's Cal Schenkel? You can get the whole rundown on Wikipedia.

Photos at Schuylkill Valley Nature Center, Philadelphia.PA

2009-01-06T06:25:20Z

to see my hike click on tree

Some art....

2009-01-06T05:54:22Z

Click on image to see gallery

Happy New Year

2009-01-06T05:52:43Z

Cal and I are trying to figure out how to post photos and art in my journal....stay posted!

crowatdusk @ 2008-11-05T17:44:00

2008-11-05T23:17:42Z

I struck up a conversation with an 87 year old African American women in the waiting room of the doctor's office in downtown Phila. today. I asked her if she's happy, in reference to the election. She said "I voted for Obama.............but...................I'm afraid." I just waited. She told me she was afraid he could be assassinated. She said the "clincher" for her support for him was when she saw his beautiful little girls, and heard him say he wanted them to grow up without the struggles he's seen. She said she grew up with many struggles in a small town in Virginia about 65 miles south of Richmond. She came to Philadelphia in 1942 at the age of almost 20. She didn't say anything else about her life except that all her family members have passed away - all of them. She said she's lonely. Then the nurse came for her and I guess I'll never see her again. But I'll never forget the way she spoke and looked. When I woke up this morning the first thing that came to mind as the fog of dreams cleared was Obama will be our President - omigod! Then I thought of all my old African American neighbors back in the Germantown section of Philadelphia and got a bit choked up for the amazement they must feel. Joy. I can now feel proud of my President!

crowatdusk @ 2008-11-04T23:40:00

2008-11-05T04:43:48Z

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE HAVE PREVAILED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

crowatdusk @ 2008-11-04T20:10:00

2008-11-05T01:11:48Z

WOO HOO! Obama just won Pennsylvania!

a pup is alot of work!

2008-04-04T01:35:25Z

I'm drawing a blank about the past 2 months - nothing remarkable has happened. Unless you like dogs but I don't think most of my friends here do. My new pup Lucy has progressed hugely with the training I've been giving her. She's so smart! But oy! It's been alot of work, for a stray found in the city can mean numerous hurdles - she went into heat a few days after I got her and was like a wild animal to deal with in the beginning training.I could almost tell the minute her hormones began to calm down. A street dog with PMS - no, actually she is the most affectionate dog I've ever had. This is partly due to my only ever having Siberian Huskies which are very independent and don't always take to lots of cuddly stuff. But Lucy loves attention. She's to the point now where she can just hang out and play with a toy if we're busy.

She was found in the East Mt. Airy section of Phila. by my friend at work. She obviously never had any structure or direction. I got her all her shots and had to get her dewormed - then deal with her being in heat....now I am dealing with a case of ringworm. This is not a worm but a fungus. We scrubbed down the house with bleach and I sent for an expensive fungicidal shampoo and rinse for the dog. As with children, ringworm is usually seen in young dogs whose immune systems are not fully developed. We humans have not caught it thank goodness.

So once THAT is over with the only thing I have to do to get her on track is get her spayed and then some pro training. I'm waiting to get her spayed until the ringworm is cleared, but also because I want to time it when her progesterone levels are higher and her uterine and surrounding tissues have had a chance to strenghthen, thus less chance of surgical complications. She's never around other dogs for these two reasons right now(ringworm and unaltered). But part of the training I want to do by June will involve socialization to dogs and other humans. The little contact I have seen her have with others has been playful. I want that to continue as she matures out of puppyhood. And especially because her appearance(everyone comments on the pit in her) carries a stigma so she has to be really well behaved or someone could make trouble for us.

She's so smart and with such a sweet disposition I think she'll turn out to be a great dog and companion when I'm outdoors alone - I haven't even been able to feel safe at the beach house alone off season when the shore is like a ghost town. I hear every sound at night. Cal's Mom loves being entertained by all Lucy's puppy antics and playfulness, and Cal is like "a boy and his dog" - rough housing on the floor with her. She was mouthy and a little nippy at first but I did away with that quick, using a squeaky toy of all things-she's afraid of the sound. All I have to do now if she begs or tries to climb onto a chair where she's not allowed is set the squeaky toy nearby and she calms right down. I'll get some photos up here soon. Well all I've talked about is the dog which may interest dog folks and bore the rest. But we're quite fond of this little dog - little compared to the huskies and Cal's former Shepherd.

short but sweet....

2008-01-28T03:27:21Z

Just a quick note cause I'm off to dreamland - gotta get up real early for work tomorrow....

Today was Cal's birthday. I had to work but put together a yummy dinner for him. He didn't want to go out. His Mom and I gave him presents and we all watched Extreme Home Makeover. His daughter Raven called him too which I know was really special to him. Wish she and her husband and child lived closer. He has a grandson, Django.

Also we just got a pup. She's a stray a friend of mine at work found but didn't keep cause she already has 2 dogs and a cat. I'll post photos soon - cute little black mutt with a perfect white cross shape on her chest. Lucy. Very smart - learns commands quickly. And she doesn't bark - a real plus! Even when the neighbor dogs bark at her. A reason I always had huskies. This dog has a face like a baby bear.

crowatdusk @ 2008-01-15T19:53:00

2008-01-16T01:11:45Z

woo hoo! tomorrow is a day off! And earmarked to do art - although I called my doc (internist) up for an appt figuring it would be a week's wait and they gave me a slot for tomorrow morning. i like getting downtown phila. once in a while and it's gonna be sunny. park and walk through a nice park and just be in the midst of a diversity of people i miss in the burbs. maybe duck into a funky shop here and there and Essene, the little macrobiotic market. get home in time for the afternoon sun to shine through my magic window into my art corner.

we're in a goofy mood here tonight - laughing about how if there's a recession we'll never know the difference!

and i can sleep in tomorrow til 8:30 - WOW three extra hours - jeez this work schedule is killing me - still not used to getting up while it's still pitch black outside....it's just not natural :-O

crowatdusk @ 2007-12-14T00:17:00

2007-12-14T05:35:06Z

I am SO looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow - and i have 2 days off in a row! Yeah! Gonna go crash now instead of hanging out with this computer half the night - so I can have more hours of daylight tomorrow. Cal is making his dinner now - an extreme night owl. He'll be painting the night away and then I'll get to my drawing table late morning while he's asleep in the same room....now that the cold has chased him indoors he reminds me of a little kid when he paints; on the dining room floor on his knees, legs tucked under,(by the heat vent), paints and brushes scattered about. And the art is so colorful and free spirited!

Thanksgiving canoe pix

2007-11-23T23:21:21Z

My folks wanted us to visit for Thanksgiving on Saturday so they could accept a dinner invite for the actual holiday. It worked out perfectly for me to go canoing on the warmest Thanksgiving day since 1901! I went to a lake and paddled down to a more isolated area and at first I thought I was mistaken but I saw a total of three bald eagles! I was using Cal's funky digital camera so these shots aren't too great but I wanted to share my excitement. I knew bald eagles have been increasing in number in PA - I saw one a few years ago in southern Lancaster County by the Susquehanna River. It got pretty windy and I had to paddle back against a challenging headwind. I got the boat loaded onto my car just as a heavy rain suddenly poured down. It ended very soon and was followed by a spectacular sunset through clouds.I caught that with my camcorder. I also walked along the bank of the lake toward where I saw the eagles and saw a lot of deer hoof prints. Saw mallards in the water and Canadian geese flying overhead with all their honking. It was a fine day. Later Cal cooked a Thanksgiving dinner of tempeh fried with onions, seitan, mashed potatoes, turnips and rutabaga, and zucchini with tomato sauce. Yum!

Please pass this along....

2007-10-30T00:19:23Z

I can hardly fathom there exist people who would fight to allow aerial gunning of wolves in Alaska to continue!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Mu_rqmFpL8

car for sale

2007-10-09T03:51:43Z

I posted my 1997 Hyundai Accent for sale on Craigslist.com and have gotten several replies already!

I can't believe it feels like July in October. It's gonna change later this week though, but it'll be nicer for outdoor activities - it's too hot to expend any energy.

That's all for now - in the middle of day job days....

what's with my health?

2007-09-07T01:03:41Z

After my last post I went back to Wissahickon Park and hiked extensively through all my old haunts, even climbing up Toleration point to stand next to the old Quaker statue and enjoy the breathtaking view. Soon after that I got a very big calligraphy job from the Phila. Museum of Art which took about 25 hours to complete. I have arthritis developing slowly but surely in my fingers, so I stopped working out at the gym during this time to avoid overwork. The writer's cramp from lettering was outta this world. That's not the issue now, but the point is I haven't swung dumbells for two weeks (and when I work out it's strenuous to "failure") so I don't think strain is a cause. I have pain in the lower right quadrant of my abdomen - sore even to a light touch - no, my appendix is long gone. Going on four days, this is laying me low. It hurts more when I eat so I haven't eaten much all day even though I'm hungry. Made an appt. with my internist for tomorrow. I have a scary history which I hope isn't somehow coming back to haunt me. I'll spare y'all. Since then I've built myself back up to be very active, strong and energetic especially for my 54 years. My co-workers who are nearly all half my age compliment me on this. The aging process I do have to deal with like arthritis, the need for bifocals,and hot flashes aren't apparent. I just don't want the good health I've been enjoying threatened. I have plans to go canoeing and kayaking this fall and get into even better shape cycling. I found a pair of cycling gloves with gel palms I want to get. This is the first full day off I've had since I can't remember, the weather was great, and I just laid around reading paddling magazines, sketching(that's a good thing) and napping. What a waste overall. I did have this wondrous dream while asleep about being in a tent in a beautiful otherworldly environment - the sky was orange, like the afterglow that occurs moments after the sun sets in the coutryside in fall. Only even richer hues. I was looking at the sky and a UFO silently floated by, paused and continued on. It was shaped like a tent only full round, kinda geodesic. I was very excited about this. Then another one appeared, passed over, and started to circle back. The phone woke me up.
I'm gonna go read. A friend at work loaned me a book which I just started. An Adirondack Passage - The Cruise of the Canoe "Sairy Gamp". It's about a woman's month long journey following the route of a 19th century outdoorsman and writer, George Washington Sears, paddling through the Adirondacks. She had a canoe built to the same specs as his - imagine, a 9 foot 10 1/2 lb. canoe! His was cedar, hers kevlar. My friend knows I dream of making such a trip in that beautiful area of the country.

Fun day in Philadelphia

2007-08-17T05:04:11Z

My LJ friend and now Cal's friend too, efleck999,came back to visit us after his harrowing experience in NYC (see previous entry.) He got here Tuesday evening and crashed. Next day we were all just at the house doing our own thing and I thought efleck999 should see more of Philly - after all, he traveled all the way from Reno. So we got kind of a late start but I drove him to some of my favorite old haunts - the view from a former local. In doing so I realized that I need to get to some of those places more often.

First stop was my favorite - Wissahickon Park. It's part of Fairmount Park which is the largest municipal park in the world. As we hiked down to the Wissahickon Creek and stood on an old stone bridge high above the water which further along cuts through a dramatic gorge flanked with high cliffs, I emphasized to Eric that we were IN the city limits! We made our way down to a sandy little beach area at the waters edge and he waded out a bit, taking photos all along. I reminisced about the many times going back over the last 15 years that I hiked this woods with two of my dogs. There are still remnants of statuary and stone guard houses going back to the days of the WPA and further.

We then drove along Lincoln Drive which winds alongside the creek to Kelly Drive, which follows alongside the Schuykill River past Boathouse Row to the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA). I pulled off of the drive, parking by a big shed housing sculling canoes, and we walked down to a big floating dock. We were just in time to see a dragon boat full of people paddling up to the dock. The sun was setting above the opposite bank , casting shades of pink and orange on some odd shaped clouds.

I then drove to the PMA, where I worked for almost 9 years, and circled around the building to the front, parking right by the "Rocky steps". I wanted to show my guest a spectacular view of the city. By this time it was dusk and the lights of the skyscrapers were all aglow. I pointed out the Ben Franklin Parkway stretching out to City Hall which has a tower topped by a statue of William Penn. By now the clock faces on the tower were a deep yellow glow in the evening. When we left I drove down the center of the Parkway (which is a lovely tree lined boulevard, not an expressway as the name sounds) and circled around City Hall - continued down Broad Street's Avenue of the Arts past the historical Academy of Music and the new Kimmel Center - hung a left onto Pine Street, and a right onto 8th took us right down to South Street (remember the album?)

We wandered up and down and ended up getting cheesesteaks at Jim's which has been there forever and the walls are covered with photos of famous folks who stopped for a bite to eat. Driving home I showed efleck999 my old neighborhood in the Germantown section. Brought Cal some greens and squash from his favorite market Essene (macrobiotic) at 4th below South. He had too much work to do to go along. At 2 AM we were taking turns zipping up and down the street on a scooter I trash picked at the shore. Eric called it a night and headed upstairs, and Cal and I hung out downstairs til about 4AM. Now I've got a few days to get back on track for an early work(day job) schedule next week!

P.S. Efleck 999by the way had, a few days ago before the NYC jaunt, gotten himself downtown to see Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell too.
When Cal and I got up this AM he had already caught a train back downtown and a bus to New York to visit yet another LJ friend. He called us later from White Plains....Hey Eric, keep us posted on your next adventures! We'll see you "when we do"....maybe in FL?! if not before.

crowatdusk @ 2007-07-20T00:44:00

2007-07-20T05:02:51Z

we were able to return to the shore again for 2 days....in between work days. juat arrived at 10:45 tonight. don't know what the weather will be like tomorrow but i don't care. mom surprised us by making reservations for Cal and I at our favorite Japanese restaurant for tomorrow night. treat. it's a small intimate place with great food. we brought art stuff to do. Cal has orders to fill and he is able to paint anywhere, even on the beach (too distracting for me) before we left i worked out at the gym - really pushed myself to the limit. i want to be able to handle more challenging paddling this fall, and just be stronger and stave off osteoporosis - will be getting a dexa scan soon....i'm a prime candidate for it and the age too. so anyway i'm just winding down to go to sleep and play tomorrow. see if my Mom wants to go to the beach - i can borrow for free from the lifeguard station a wheelchair with balloon tires for on the sand. my sister was here with her and took her right to the ocean so she could put her feet in! i remember when i was a kid my mom played football with the guys, and she and i would go for 5 mile bike rides before school. we almost lost her several times in the last 2 years. every visit is a blessing.

crowatdusk @ 2007-07-14T13:30:00

2007-07-14T17:49:19Z

I finally got a chance to get away to the beach, even if for a couple days. Yesterday I did absolutely nothing other than ride my trusty old bike around looking at the bay, the ocean, the clouds....walked the beach, Cal and I got a kick out of watching a kid trying over and over to master his skimboard and he finally did it! Shot film of various things. Visited with my Mom and Dad and nephew who is down all summer working between college semesters. Cooked fresh salmon on the grill ....Cal's an excellent cook. It's kinda hot right now so I'm just sitting under a ceiling fan. I love kayaking down here but save that for off season due to heat and avoidance of crazy tourists on jet skis! there used to be a great place to rent kayaks but they closed and the only one left, which I rented from once, is crappy. So a kayak is on my list but first I gotta get a car to transport one, not to mention my poor canoe sitting outside at home gathering dust. So cycling has my outlet in the meantime. Before long we'll live somewhere where we can do those things year round!

Out Of The Blue

2007-07-07T05:29:33Z



"Out Of The Blue" on Google Video
The Definitive Investigation of the UFO Phenomenon (2003) An excellent video that discusses various UFO's and UFO cover ups.

crowatdusk @ 2007-06-06T21:53:00

2007-06-07T02:33:22Z

My "hometown" is getting into People Magazine a bit too often. Actually that's what my Mom said to me today as she still lives there....Lancaster County, PA. The latest murder which appeared in national news occurred just 4 miles from where my parents live, and where I have often, including fairly recently, taken midnight walks. The last time I did this, I think in April, I felt pretty creeped out because it's really dark - the whole county is mostly really dark at night! And nowadays I am without the usual big Siberian Husky by my side. I have been reading blogs about this murder. I used to frequent the Freeze and Frizz. Whoever did this knew the lay of the land to have made it to the burger joint from the Blossom Hill area in the dark. I feel safer in my Philly suburb than I would "up the country" nowadays. I have the added plus of a cop living right across the street, with frequent cruiser presence. But even with a dog, I can't believe how I used to walk around at night in the Germantown section of Philly as late as 2AM! I would see stuff too, but I think I was a "regular" , walking basically the same streets and park for 12 years. One night I was walking down the middle of a side street and I heard one guy say to another "she's OK". Still, it was STUPID. I was never bothered by anyone in the slightest, luckily. Maybe the big dog was enough of a deterent. The first dog I had there was a wolf hybrid. I used to get asked all the time if it was a wolf and of course said no. (I think it's a really bad idea to breed wolves with dogs; this dog was a rescue. She came to Phila. with me from Lancaster Co.) She was big too.
We're going to get a shepherd before long. A couple of weeks ago I was looking into doing some bike touring which I never did before. I thought the Amish countryside would be a good "safe" place to give it a try - minimalist gear- tent and all, on the bike. Alone. No way. If you know my art you can see that my drawings are from night. They began with sketches done on sight with a penlight. The one place I used to frequent, Middlecreek Wildlife Refuge in Lebanon County, is beautiful under the moonlight. Sometimes even after I moved to Philly I would come home from work, eat, drive with my dog to a lake in northern Lancaster Co. where I had an old canoe stashed, go canoeing til 10 or 11 PM, drive to Middlecreek and look at the stars and get back to Philly around 2AM.

crowatdusk @ 2007-04-05T19:54:00

2007-04-06T00:13:22Z

Today it actually snowed! So tonight I found myself sifting through photos from last fall - found this pic of my old bike at a beach where I had ridden it on a dirt path to this little inlet at the Jersey shore. I can't wait to go back there! I'll have a day off saturday to do art in the meantime.
My partner Cal just updated his website for a promo - it's linked to his MySpace which has alot of fun and funky art all over the place, and links to some cool articles if you're into the 60's pop culture scene. Check it out at www.ralf.com