Our Last Farewell, Goodbye

Goodbye to America, more specifically the east coast, more specifically Pennsylvania, more specifically Lancaster County, and most specifically Ephrata.  You will be missed.

Ephrata.  At The Crossing of Main and State

 Night time in Ephrata.  Goodnight. Goodbye.

I will be on a plane at this time tomorrow night.  I will be in the process of getting on that plane for the first half of the day.  The next time I will be posting will be when I am settled in my Northern Ireland apartment. 

Ode To Irene

Disclaimer: My wife and I are very lucky to have been in an area that was not hit terribly hard by Irene.  Don't get me wrong, just driving around you will come across some wreckage...and last I heard there was at least one death related to the hurricane in our area...but really, it was just a bad storm that created significant flooding in our area.

So I shall do something slightly different today...I'm going to let Neil Young take control of this post...let his song loop in your head as you check out the interesting side of nature's awesome power.

"Like A Hurricane"

Once I thought I saw you
in a crowded hazy bar,
Dancing on the light
from star to star.
Far across the moonbeam
I know that's who you are,
I saw your brown eyes
turning once to fire.

You are like a hurricane
There's calm in your eye.
And I'm gettin' blown away
To somewhere safer
where the feeling stays.
I want to love you but
I'm getting blown away.

I am just a dreamer,
but you are just a dream,
You could have been
anyone to me.
Before that moment
you touched my lips
That perfect feeling
when time just slips
Away between us
on our foggy trip.

You are like a hurricane
There's calm in your eye.
And I'm gettin' blown away
To somewhere safer
where the feeling stays.
I want to love you but
I'm getting blown away.

You are just a dreamer,
and I am just a dream.
You could have been
anyone to me.
Before that moment
you touched my lips
That perfect feeling
when time just slips
Away between us
on our foggy trip.

You are like a hurricane
There's calm in your eye.
And I'm gettin' blown away
To somewhere safer
where the feeling stays.
I want to love you but
I'm getting blown away. 

Ephrata's Caboose

Train tracks used to run through Ephrata, PA.  There are still signs of this...you just have to be observant....most of the time.  Sometimes you can just look for the massive thing in the middle of the town, which happens to be hard-to-miss and bright red...

The Reading Railroad

A soft, toy-like look lends itself nicely to the nature of the caboose.  The bright colors in the photo make it look like it should be part of a model railroad.

Entrance/Exit

Depending on which way you are going on Ephrata's Linear Trail, today's photo could be considered either the entrance or exit.  Anytime I want to go for a real quick bike ride, this is always my destination.  It is such a nice little trail, filled with friendly people and dogs, and it is (mostly) surrounded by trees...not something that can be said of most of Ephrata, PA.  Getting off the trail today, the clouds looked nice and dramatic behind these buildings, one of which was at one point in time a mill, all of which are rather old.  I took the photograph and edited it just a tad to get that old postcard-like look...

  A Picture Perfect Postcard

If you look close enough, you can see Ephrata's derailed caboose.  It's the red thing above and to the left of the white sedan in the middle-ground.  There is a pole in front of it.

Antique Fire Alarms

A nearby old building caught my eye the other day.  While riding around, looking for letters for my urban alphabet, I noticed an odd looking fixture on it.  Upon closer inspection I noticed it was an antique fire alarm system.  I found another one on one of the other walls of the building.  I wonder if this building was prone to going up in flames...thus the amount of fire alarms within a 30 foot radius.

The Viking

This one is pretty awesome looking, but not nearly as awesome as...

The Globe

This one has what appears to be the whole sprinkler system attached.  Also, it was manufactured in Philadelphia, PA...about an hour from my current location.

More Urban Alphabet

I figured I should probably finish up Ephrata, PA's urban alphabet before I leave it for...well...potentially forever.  I only have another 25 days left before the big move to Northern Ireland.  I must say, I am crazy excited.  Also, I realized that when I started this 365 photo project, without even knowing it, I started about 6 months before the day we leave.  I think its about 5 months and 20 days.  So I will have half a year in America and a nice contrasting half a year in Northern Ireland.  It will be quite interesting to go back and see what a busy day that requires a filler photograph in America is in comparison to a filler photograph in Northern Ireland...I assume filler there, if for no other reason than because I have never lived outside of the USA and thus will be amazed by everything, will end up being a lot better than even some of my good stuff here.  We shall see.

Urban Alphabet

More than halfway done...Hopefully I can finish it in the next 25 days.