Awoke this morning to find all the windows fogged over. The outdoor humidity and the indoor a/c were in conflict . . . The big Harris Street Methodist Church fall bazaar has been tentatively scheduled for September 17th, much earlier than last year. Mark your calendars and then keep in touch with us; we will be blogging this info again as the event approaches . . . Note to the Harrisburg Young Professionals: your garden strip dividing Forster Street needs weeding badly . . . Apparently a micro burst struck the 2200 block of North Second Street Saturday early evening. A huge tree came down and flattened an auto. A welcoming canopy that had been erected at the home of Lennie and Mary Whitcomb for the Harrisburg Art Association soiree was carried down the street. No one was injured as far as we know. Eileen Young and Angela Lawson who were art the art exhibit stopped at our uptown house to tell Bob and me the news. They stayed for a little refreshment and a lot of gossip. Both have attended several of the HAA events and they agree that the soirees continue to get better and better . . . Bob made us stuffed peppers for Sunday supper. I think these are the best he has made in the 26 years he has been cooking for me . . .

I am trying to walk at least a mile every morning, weather permitting, and thanks to a loan from Joanne M-W. I now have some small weights to carry with me. I sometimes wonder what my uptown neighbors think when they see this old fart chugging up their street with arms flailing. But no one has called the cops yet, at least to my knowledge . . . There is a large patch of cone flowers at North Second and Peffer Streets which is now past its peak. It was spectacular earlier. Today when I passed there was a flock—and I do mean a flock—of gold finches having breakfast. I was sorry I hadn't noticed them earlier for they fled as I approached. There may have been a dozen, give or take. I had never seen so many in one place before and they were quite a colorful sight when they took to the sky . . . a Happy Birthday to Diane Neiper, JJ's grandmother . . . Megan Zeigler is entertaining her long-time friend Ann from Dallas and brought her by to see The Bare Wall this afternoon . . . despite a lot of free publicity I have read that the Hodge Podgery shop on North Third Street will be closing soon. Over the past several years so many businesses have tried and failed in the strip between Forster and Harris Streets along that North Third corridor. But we can continue to hope that at some point the area will come to life once more. When I first came to town in the early sixties there were still numerous successful enterprises there—Bill's Furniture and 5&10, Furlow's, Greenberg's clothing, the Army/Navy store and the naughty StarArt movie house just to name a few. (On second thought, do I have the Greenberg name correct? There were several of them in the area merchandising a lot of outdoor togs; good quality and an excellent price.) We all had hoped that the HACC campus might give a boost to retail in the area but thus far it does not appear to have done so . . .

Happy to have our regular postman, Mark Tamanini, back with us after a month off for hospital surgery . . . According to the signs, a new coffee shop is slated for the building now under renovation at Green and Muench Street . . . Had a phone call from my sister last night who said there hadn't been a whole lot on my health condition in the blog recently and she was concerned. I brought her up to date. She has problems of her own. Her resources planned for retirement had to be used to nurse a sick husband who has since passed away and her only son now is suffering from cancer. She survives by working at Wal-Mart where she has been for 13 years. She has worked all departments and is currently assigned to the garden section, a tent erected on the asphalt near the store entrance. Of course this means no a/c and, at age 69, she must heft those big bags of peat and fertilizer off the trailers when they deliver. Having health issues of her own, she asked the manager to please assign her to another department in the store but was told that there would not be an opening in the foreseeable future and if she didn't like it she could quit. Unfortunately sis needs whatever income she can manage, so that is not an option. I have often heard that Wal-Mart cares diddly for its employees and this might be an example . . . I may have reported this before: as you will recall, Mayor Thompson's first official act (even before spending $35,000 on her office) was an edict declaring that every instance of the Steve Reed name be painted out or pasted over; he was to be a non-person in the history of Harrisburg. Well, I certainly don't want to upset the mayor, but thanks to my morning walks I know of at least two signs which still bear Reed's name as our mayor . . .

Overcast and cooler; most welcome . . . today's TripAdvisor visitor was from New Jersey . . . Sold another ship's bell . . . Bob and I just remembered that this is carnival week in Marysville. We used to go every year on Wednesday night. Always good food and the entertainment was a "one-hit wonder" group from the fifties. The crowd would go wild when they finally reprised their song . . . Betty Emmers (87) and I (75) can't understand why we can't remember the name of the person we were introduced to yesterday but we can recall all the gossip about someone from the sixties and seventies . . .

Bob Murray will celebrate his birthday on Saturday and Rick May will hoist a beer or two on Sunday in observance of his natal day . . . The shipment of Maine bells arrived today as promised. This time around I purchased the Cape Cod Bell, a much larger version with really deep tones. It is heavy; now I need to find a place to display it ($55) . . . Have you tried calling the police department lately? If not, get ready for a shock. There is no human on the other end these days. Instead we get a long and complicated menu in both English and Spanish. I finally was directed to where I wanted to go, but once there I got an answering machine that promised someone would call me back in a few moments. Well, almost two hours later I called back, not having received the promised return call. This is the worst possible arrangement and certainly is not a satisfactory replacement for the dispatcher who used to answer. We do not always have a 9-1-1 emergency but sometimes we do need to speak with a patrolman and those "menu" options frequently do not address our problem. I hope the CAN leadership gets on the ball and quickly files a complaint on our behalf . . .

Somewhat overcome by the hot weather early this evening and was stretched out on the bed before sunset . . . Night Out observance in Midtown was quite an event. Harris was closed in front of the church between Susquehanna and Third; free hot dogs and burgers. The "balloon man" was making treats for the kids. Sabrina and Felix got to sit in the cab of a fire truck and Allan Johnson had his retro pedal ice cream cart on the scene. It was a very nice turn out, but that is when the heat got to me . . . Placed my first order for Christmas cards this morning; hard to believe that time is rapidly approaching again . . . Thanks to Lee Spitalny for the bag of fresh peaches. Bob will probably caramelize them and serve them over ice cream . . .

My walk most mornings takes me up or across Muench Street. I hope there is a history buff out there who can tell us how “Muench” came to be pronounced Minnick. Dr. Bob Coldren thinks it has to be related to immigrants from Germany in some way . . . Chris came through his painful but successful facial surgery and is now resting at home. He assures us he will be just as handsome as he always was once the swelling subsides . . . nice visit with Jacquie Kirby Hensel this afternoon . . . Need to say a “thank you” to all who continue to send me messages of encouragement--Barbara Allen locally and Joanne Miller in Williamsport are the latest. You have all helped to sustain me through these difficult times and your acts of kindness are most appreciated . . . Talked with my gal in Maine this morning and another shipment of handcrafted bells will be on the way to us within hours . . . My morning travels take me up side streets and down main avenues, and I am fascinated by the fact that, judging from the architecture, we must have had a little corner grocery on just about every block or two. I wonder how they managed to exist on so few sales. Perhaps I am in error and not all sold groceries; I suppose some might have been tailor shops, purveyors of hardware and the like . . .