An evening at Peace Valley Park

Sunday a week ago my wife and I spent part of an evening at Peace Valley Park near the nature center. It was a beautiful day with a bit of sun that has been so rare in the past month. There was a lot of nature to see and enjoy. A small portion of it we are sharing below.

Univest Grand Prix Bike Race

This past Saturday, September 17, I watched a large part of the Univest Grand Prix, a 100 mile bike race centering in Souderton, Montgomery County, PA consisting of 150 riders from 26 teams. The race is international and consisted of riders from the following countries: USA, Australia, Canada, Cuba, Sweden, Ukraine, Russia, Italy, New Zealand, Argentina, Belarus, Hungary, and Luxembourg. It was great fun to watch the riders. The winner was Canadian Ryan Roth from Team SpiderTech who completed the race in three hours, fifty two minutes, and twenty seven seconds. At one time,  I dreamed of riding like them. That will no longer happen; though before I was married, I did once complete a 100 mile bike ride in Lancaster County, PA. However, below are some photos from this amazing bike race.

Reflections

Yesterday afternoon, my wife and I went over to the old family farm house. It was the first time we were there since it was completely cleaned out after the passing of my dad earlier this spring. It was a time of remembering what was and what will be no more. Below is a poem I wrote expressing some of my continuing emotions from that visit.

Yesterday, a house bustling

A home filled with warmth

Kids filling the air with laughter

Home grown meals full of tantalizing aromas

Today, a house empty, forlorn

Silent, barren, crumbling

A large stump decaying

A time lost forever

A time of grief

Missing what used to be

Knowing what was

Is all but gone

Yet knowing

We who remain

Have what is important

Love that thrives above circumstance

Journey Aong the Perkiomen Creek, Part 2

Back on August 23, I took a hike along the Perkiomen Creek near Schwenksville going towards Gratorford in Montgomery County, PA. This is part two of that hike on a beautiful sunny day - something we have not been having often now with the various tropical storms affecting us.