• Plot Twist

    Posted on by Don Comment

    The story of this year is already turning grim…

    Ben and Jennie live in Altadena. They called Tuesday night to say they had to evacuate, literally at a moment’s notice and with not much more than the clothes on their backs, to escape the Eaton fire — they (and their cat) got out safely, and were at her Mom’s house a few hours away.

    Wednesday afternoon they called to let us know that their home and all their possessions, and in fact their entire neighborhood, were just gone. Clothes, furniture, books and artwork, their bank and grocery store and favorite restaurant… They lived in an enclave of tiny little cottages, and were very close with their neighbors; I expect that community will now be scattered to the winds. This is just plain awful.

    They spent the last day or so at a friend’s cabin near Joshua Tree to escape the fire pollution, and are now staying at a big AirBnB with her extended family. I don’t know what their immediate plans are, but they said they’ll take a month or so to deal with whatever needs to be done, and then relocate to the East Coast. They’ll stay with us when they get here.


    📂This entry was posted in day by day

  • Remembering My Uncle Frank

    Posted on by Don Comment

    RIP Frank Barth III (1942-2023)

    I wrote this post in January of last year, but never published it. Some additions and light editing, and here it is:

    My Uncle Frank passed away a year ago last summer. I really couldn’t write much about it at the time, but here’s a post to at least mark and remember his passing.

    Frank was my mom’s younger brother, the middle of three; he was just a few years younger than my mom. Here are a few photos I have from my mom’s photo book. These were taken at a park in Brooklyn, maybe Prospect Park.

    Uncle Frank, 1942
    Uncle Frank with Mom, 1942

    I have another photo from before my time, what looks like a vacation photo of my Uncles Pat and Frank as teenagers:

    Pat and Frank, ca 1958

    Here are some of my own photos, taken many years ago (and years apart):

    Uncle Frank With Christine’s Parents
    Me, Mom, Uncle Frank, Aunt Pat, And Dad

    The first was at my cousin Frank’s wedding circa 2003, and the second is when My uncle Frank an Aunt Pat visited my parents in maybe 2011 or so. This might have been the last time I’d seen either of them alive and in person: they lived in Florida, Aunt Pat had health issues and passed just at the start of COVID, and Uncle Frank followed her not all that long after.

    Uncle Frank and Aunt Pat had three kids (Patricia, Eileen and Frank), our families were about the same age and we spent a lot of our holidays together, but I hadn’t seen them in years; Uncle Frank’s funeral was a bittersweet reunion. Here we are together, my cousins, brothers and me at the post-funeral luncheon:

    family members posing
    Chris, me, Patricia, Kevin, Eileen and Frank


    📂This entry was posted in day by day looking back 📎and tagged

  • Procrastinating Already?!

    Posted on by Don Comment

    Happy New Year!

    Today will be the day I do my usual New Year things (hike, blog my greetings, etc). Yesterday was a day for the family: Emmi & Kyle came over with Iris, and we spent the day hanging out, Zooming with Ben & Jenny in LA, cooking and eating (including our New Year’s pork & sauerkraut), and opening up yet more presents. It was a long but very pleasant day.

    This is what I wrote just about five years ago, it kind of sums up how I feel right now: I’m glad to turn the page, but I’m not sure things will be getting better anytime soon. As always, we shall see.


    📂This entry was posted in day by day

  • Re-Re-Re-Litigating

    Posted on by Don Comment

    I saw recently that FreeCAD, the engineering program I played with once or twice in the past (it wasn’t ready for prime time), well it finally just reached its first official release version. I thought I’d give the new version a try, so I installed it (using Flatpak — probably a mistake, but it was the easiest choice in the moment) and got it running pretty quickly. The program looks the same, maybe a bit more polished, but it definitely works much better. That got me thinking…

    There was a work project I automated years ago, then extended the automation; and then (after I retired) I decided to re-do the whole thing using FreeCAD and Python. Looking back, the actual project was a little bit boring, but playing with the programming was fun, and so I found my old programs, re-worked them a bit, and it worked great.

    I won’t bore you with new pictures.

    One difficulty I did run across was that FlatPak builds apps isolated in their own little sandboxes, with their own version of everything they might need in the sandbox with them, and the version of Python shipped with FreeCAD did not have some of the library moduless my original script needed. And I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to install a library module in the sandboxed version of Python.

    All I needed from the library module was a root-finding function, and in the end it was actually easier to just write my own function than continue messing with the libraries. Strangely enough, my script now runs slightly faster despite my function being less efficient (bisection in Python vs Brent’s Method in C++ or whatever), probably because I got rid of the of the slowdown of having to load that library. Once again, for small problems, small brute-force solutions have their (small) advantages.

    (I don’t remember where I got the idea, all those years ago — I may have pulled it out of my ass made it up myself — but back in school I always thought that the magic number was 3000: when dealing with less than 3000 items, just use the brute-force approach.)

    I also went looking for some of the models I made in my last go-around with FreeCAD. I found a few and moved them from my old laptop to my new one — backing up the old laptop along the way, I don’t think it’s long for this world anymore — but the one I wanted to find, a model of a forged tee I made, was nowhere to be found. Oh well, I guess I can re-litigate that one too, if I really want.


    📂This entry was posted in looking back tech talk

  • Obligatory…

    Posted on by Don Comment

    So here’s my (by now sort of traditional) Thanksgiving offering:

    Enjoy! And for those who may prefer a more traditional holiday, uh, tradition:

    Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Don’t eat too much, that’s not the point.


    📂This entry was posted in day by day

  • Some Downtime

    Posted on by Don Comment

    I’m out on the town right now on a tour of coffee shops. I’m currently at Johnny’s Bagels, after a visit to Bitty & Beau’s, just tapping away on my laptop and enjoying the human parade in front of me — or “enjoying;” the people near me are squabbling about their food at the moment. Anne is still out of town through tomorrow.

    I visited my Mom yesterday. It wasn’t a working visit, just a “visit” visit but I did help her with a few household tech things (printer, etc); I also gave her the digital picture frame I picked up for her a few weeks ago. (I put my photos on it, the ones of my dad I brought to the funeral, and also the ones Chris brought.) I think she was pretty happy with it.

    On the way home last night I started thinking about historical markers, especially the ones relating to the Walking Purchase (my drive home essentially follows the route of the walk), so when I go home I went to the Pennsylvania Historical Marker Program, downloaded the Walking Purchase marker data, and added it to the geodatabase I started for the Walking Purchase. (Technically it’s a geopackage, and I currently keep it as part of my Native Paths project. Speaking of which, I am starting to see the end of what I’ve been doing with the native paths. Not sure what comes next.) I was reading “Promised Land” this morning, but that’s a little too depressing to read in big chunks.

    I’m getting ready to head back home, and watching the windy street out the window. It looks a lot more like November now, cloudy and blustery, and cool if not absolutely freezing. After weeks of warm and sunny, which was nice at first but became more disquieting as the weeks passed (and the drought conditions, and the wildfires and burn bans worsened), it was a pleasure to have two days of “wintry mix” last week. Even walking in it was nice — of course, I was dressed for it.

    Well it’s not raining right now, but I’m dressed for what we do have. Off I go.


    📂This entry was posted in day by day

  • Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

    Posted on by Don Comment

    This is what I wrote, twenty years ago.

    Right now I’m home alone. Anne’s sister Lorraine came down from Tamaqua last night (they were expecting snow), and they took off early this morning, picking up Laura on their way to a “sisters weekend” in Massachussetts. I might visit my Mom tomorrow, if I hear back from her, but otherwise I’m on my own… I am currently wearing a nice heavy wool sweater and eating fish chowder, and I will probably go for a walk in the drizzling “wintry mix” soon, to drop off some overdue library books. Thank goodness the weather has finally become more seasonable, though it is less fun outside now, and we still have a long way to go before the drought conditions are over.

    One other thing: I just signed up for Bluesky. I never subscribed to Twitter, and I’ve been on Mastodon for years but it’s kind of boring (though this might be down to how I use it); we will see about the new kid.


    📂This entry was posted in day by day looking back

  • Another One Bites The Dust

    Posted on by Don Comment

    So we flew out to Altadena last week, and saw this happen…

    Congratulations Ben and Jenny!

    We flew out early last Wednesday morning, meeting Emmi, Kyle & Iris, and David & Noemi, at the airport for our 6:30 flight. We were all flying together, Allentown to LAX by way of Chicago, followed by an hour or so drive to our hotel in Pasadena. (Anne and I also gave one of Ben’s friends a ride from the airport to where he was staying, but we were still checked in at our own place by around 4:00.) Dinner was at a local salad restaurant, and that’s where Ben and Jenny caught up with us.

    The next few days were sort of a routine: up early and breakfast at a local cafe, then fun time with Iris — we really got to know the local parks and playgrounds. Afternoons were spent doing touristy things: Thursday at the South Pasadena farmer’s market (followed by a dinner party at Ben and Jenny’s), Friday at the Santa Monica Pier, including a trip to the aquarium where I got to pet a shark. (Coming home Friday night was also our first real taste of LA traffic…)

    Saturday started with our typical morning routine, then we were off to the wedding venue, a park near Ben and Jenny’s home in Altadena. We got there a bit early and helped with setup, met more of Jenny’s family etc, and finally the big moment came. The wedding ceremony was lovely, and very personal, a mix of Quaker and Iranian Jewish traditions, with the mountains of the Angeles National Forest as backdrop. Afterward we all went to dinner at one of their favorite local restaurants.

    This was unfortunately where Iris reached her limit. She’d been a real trouper up to this time — on the flights, in the hotel and around town, but she’d finally had enough and started melting down; Emmi and Kyle took her home not long after we arrived. We stuck around quite a bit longer — the food and the company were great, and Jenny’s family were an incredibly fun bunch.

    Sunday morning we were all scheduled to go to the nearby town of Ojai for some sightseeing and a visit to the hot springs, but Anne and I offered to stay back with Iris to give her some chill time (and her parents some grown-up fun time). She got in a three-hour-plus nap, and then we just had fun playing in the hotel lobby and watching cartoons (and eating cookies) in our room. The downtime did her, and us, a world of good.

    Emmi and Kyle came back to the hotel around 7:00, with Ben and a bunch of fun stories about their time in Ojai. We had dinner in our room, then went down to the hotel bar where we met Jenny and some of their friends from the wedding. This was a little bittersweet, our last time all together — we were flying home in the early morning — so we laughed and talked, and stayed up maybe a little later than we should have…

    Monday was a long day, and it was all business: driving to LAX through the leading edge of rush hour, flying to Newark, and finally taking a bus back to Allentown. We were home by 10:00 PM, and we were toast.


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  • Back To That Old New Thing

    Posted on by Don

    I’m slowly digging out, getting back into some of my usual shenanigans: I went for a towpath ride today (and one several days ago), and I’m about to go upstairs to play my cello — first time in a month that I even took it out of the case…

    I also found another computer chew-toy, not so much a new thing as a return to something I was playing with a few years ago: I’m looking at pedestrian crash data using R. This time around, I have my data in a geopackage, and am using a different library to access it, which makes the whole process easier; I’m also limiting myself (mostly) to location data, and keeping the geographic scope limited to Bethlehem, though I am looking at a wider date range: 2013-2023. So far I’m having fun, but who knows when I’ll lose interest?

    We have Iris tomorrow, and Wednesday we’re visiting my Mom — I stop in to help her out with stuff maybe once a week. We’re also doing some backyard cleanup here, in preparation for the kayak storage racks Anne is building. Life goes on.


    📂This entry was posted in day by day tech talk

  • Anabasis 2024

    Posted on by Don

    We did our annual group ride and camping trip last weekend, beautiful Fall weather if not quite peak foliage (it was still pretty good), and some really nice riding.

    Friday: Up To Mauch Chunk Lake

    We started at the CAT office and rode up to where we could pick up the Nor-Bath Trail at Bicentennial Park, which brought us to the D&L at Northampton. We then rode the D&L all the way into Jim Thorpe, stopping for lunch at the Slatington Farmer’s Market, passing the newly repaired/reopened sections near East Penn and Weissport, and grabbing supplies in Jim Thorpe at the grocery store in East Mauch Chunk — the west side of town was a madhouse, the Fall Foliage Fest basically took over downtown. Luckily, we rode through the crowds easily enough and back into relative calm, and finally made it up to our campsites at the lake — we had three next to each other, and all along the lake shore. Sweet!

    CAT Riders at Bicentennial Park
    CAT Riders On The D&L
    Repaired Towpath Near Weissport
    Weissport: Foliage on the DL
    Lehigh River, Just South of Jim Thorpe
    Jim Thorpe from the Mansion House Bridge
    My Trusty Steed at the Mansion House Bridge
    Mauch Chunk Lake
    CAT Campers
    At the Campsite

    Saturday: Rockport and Back

    This was our recreational ride, up through the Lehigh Gorge to Buttermilk Falls, just little past the Rockport Trailhead. Our first stop was back in town, where we bought our lunches for later in the day, and from there we continued on to the Glen Onoko Trailhead, where a bunch of other people were joining us for the day’s ride.

    It’s a fairly straightforward ride up through the Gorge, beautiful sights all around and the occasional excursion train passing by. We were traveling at different speeds, and some with children and time constraints turned back early, but the bulk of us regrouped at Penn Haven and continued on to lunch at Rockport. A quick trip to Buttermilk Falls, and we were on our way back down the Gorge, and through town again, and back up the hill to our campsites.

    Some of the Saturday crowd set up camp with us, and others just went home after hanging out for a while, but this was our night around the campfire. The evening was gorgeous and the views of the lake and ridge were spectacular, but I couldn’t tell you more past sunset — I was in bed by 9:30.

    Home Sweet Home
    Meeting At Glen Onoko
    On The Trail
    Lehigh Gorge Trail
    The Crew at Luke’s Falls
    Jim Thorpe From Nesquehoning Bridge
    Nesquehoning Bridge
    Golden Hour at Our Campsite

    Sunday: Homeward Bound

    My Garmin ran out of juice some time before Sunday morning, but Sunday’s ride was mostly just Friday’s in reverse. We stopped at Hug in a Mug in Weissport for breakfast, and at the Slatington Farmer’s Market again for lunch, and when we got to Northampton Anne and I broke off to take the roads more directly home.

    Good Morning Mauch Chunk Lake
    Morning Mist
    Morning, Mauch Chunk Lake
    Lunchtime Bike Parking at Slatington

    And that was our trip!


    📂This entry was posted in the sporting life 📎and tagged