Low-key and hot holiday. Bob had a big picnic brunch with his family in Millersburg and we ended the day with a cook-out at the Battistis in Camp Hill. Hope everyone had a great weekend and that they are now safely home . . .

Quiet day. Nothing to report. Almost too warm for comfort. Bob and I spent a great part of the day on the stoop chatting with friends on their way to ArtFest. With attendance projected to be between 300,000 to 400,000 the $5 charge will produce nearly a million dollars at least . . . The city will take note, so don't be surprised if the MusicFest on July 4th and September's Kipona also inaugurate a gate fee . . .

A pleasant day but with a lot fewer people on the street than I had expected . . . Finished unpacking our most recent order of books and cards. The One Pot French cookbook ($19.95) is back in stock. New gift books for people turning 40 or 50. Don't exactly know how to market our Naughty Dots book; just like the connect-the-dots book you had as a child but the resulting pictures are definitely NOT for the kiddies . . . Our friend Gary O'Leary found our trip down a Greek mountain too lame and suggests instead a motorbike ride along a rocky cliff: http://www.wimp.com/scarytrail/ . . .

Bob and his niece Trish Boyer spent the morning decorating family graves in the Millersburg area. They were at five different cemeteries and Bob was pleased to see that there were new flags honoring veterans at each site . . . I have corrected my Rockville Bridge error in yesterday's post and have learned that Taylor is more or less a suburb of Scranton . . . Appreciated visits from a variety of shoppers today. Everyone in a pleasant holiday mood . . . Everyone says I have too much time on my hands; how else could I find so many weird but wonderful things on the net; and most of them totally worthless in the collective opinion . . . now if you want a real thrill ride, climb into a trucker's cab and drive down a steep Greek mountain. Be advised: this ride might give you a headache. It did me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AK3pSd7Oz4

Our friend and retired school teacher Jack Brandt has just finished a course in ceramics at HACC. He is full of enthusiasm for the experience and encourages anyone with an interest to check out the college's possibilities. His several works range from the standard mugs and tumblers to several very creative pieces. I am featuring one that I especially like. Sleek design, don't you think? It is from his private collection . . . I am surprised to learn that there are so many trainspotting enthusiasts in our neck of the woods. There are dozens and dozens of local videos available on http://www.youtube.com/. Just type in trains, Harrisburg, Pa and you will get hours of footage. Now, to be honest, watching a freight train passing by for five minutes won't set your heart aflutter unless you are an aficionado, but the trip across Rockville Bridge with views both up and down the river was interesting. (You can ride all the way up-river to Taylor though I don't know where that is, but we did pass the PPL Corp's nuclear power plant on the Susquehanna if I am not mistaken.) But, as I told you before, real trains "smoke" according to JJ, so most of these don't qualify and we would be back to Kipper cartoons in no time, I fear . . .

First, my thanks for those notes of concern sparked by the brevity of yesterday's post. I was not ill, just at a loss for words . . . Have been in a funk most of the day. I was awakened at five a.m. by the street sweeper and it took ninety minutes to fall back to sleep. In that time I thought about the blog and what I might write today. Maybe something about Memorial Day? But that got me to thinking about what has been memorable these last several months and it has all been BAD. Maybe there is something to that "end of the world" prediction for 2012 . . . Our cozy center city life that has been envied by many for years is becoming unglued at an alarming rate . . . The State Library has been virtually shuttered and the statewide system severely undermined . . . No more ten-minute saunters through the first floor exhibits at the State Museum; admission fee too expensive for a few refreshing moments with art . . . City Hall is in chaos and apparently rudderless . . . The People's Free Festival that we began as the Harrisburg Arts Festival in 1968 (now known as ArtsFest) is now charging admission "to keep out the trash and attract only serious shoppers." No more evening strolls for Schnader's French fries or Dodge City strawberry shortcake without first coughing up five dollars a head. But vendors can be happy that they will only have to serve the city's elite . . . Piccola wants control of the city schools to remain with the mayor's office despite the lack of any expertise on her part. The voters be damned. Buxton, at least, opposes this outrageous idea . . . City Council unanimously voted to rescind the rights to several parking meters that CAN residents have been using with permits for years. Council claims it will rake in at least $130,000 a month by penalizing these citizens. That is misplaced optimism, I can assure them. Many of those spaces along North, Second and Forster that are involved are as often as not vacant during the day. This is not going to be a budget-saving windfall. Talk of retaliation for this short-sighted slighting has already begun. Is another Tea Party uprising at hand albeit with sangria? . . . Stocks and world markets have taken another serious hit just when we thought recovery was underway . . . No fireworks for the Fourth . . . Mayor wants to double the property tax . . . Corbett wants to muffle free speech . . . No wonder I couldn't fall back to sleep . . . Time to get out of town. How about a ten-minute motorcycle ride through the back roads of Bedford County: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1LWHhWYmPo

Very nice day. Walked to the bank. Surprised that the streets were so empty. Have people already begun their holiday? . . .