The Historic Sycamore At Pawlings Farm

My son is as much into history as I am. One day, he was telling me about how much he liked old buildings, which reminded me of an old barn I stumbled upon years ago, in a section of Valley Forge National Historical Park called Pawlings Farm. I've taken him to different areas of Valley Forge several times, but never to this section. So one Saturday morning, on our way to Target, I decided to stop by and show him the old barn.

He was fascinated by it; but on our way out, he saw something off in the woods that to me looked like the ruins of a smaller old building. Since we had plans that day, we left and went on our way.

The next day, when I asked him what he wanted to do, he said he wanted to go back and explore the area a little more. When we arrived, he pointed out a small old gravel driveway that led away from the barn, so we decided to walk down the path. As we rounded the bend, we found the partially-collapsed ruins of an old large house:

Beyond the house, the driveway continued...

...and my son pointed around the bend and said "THAT'S what I saw in the distance that I wanted to find!"  THAT...was one of the largest, most magnificent trees I've ever seen.

We must have stood there in awe for about 15 minutes, walking around it, taking it all in.

When we got home, we did some searching on the internet and found this blog post: https://www.valleyforge.org/blog/post/a-bough-to-history, which claims that this tree is approximately 260-285 years old, which place it's roots (pun intended) in the middle of the Revolutionary War...which to me is the most amazing part of all of this. That blog post tells the story, so I won't rehash it here, but to see all of this in person in my opinion, knowing the fact that this tree and the surroundings are so old and relatively untouched, is absolutely surreal.

Comfort Zones: To Flee, Or Not To Flee?

“You never change your life until you step out of your comfort zone; change begins at the end of your comfort zone.” 
― Roy T. Bennett

“Life always begins with one step outside of your comfort zone.” 
― Shannon L. Alder

“People who have their dreams fulfilled are those who go outside their comfort zones to fight for their dreams.” 
― Clement Ogedegbe

...and my favorite...

"It wasn't like standing still was bein' neutral. Standing still was going backwards. Standing still was IMPOSSIBLE." 
- Quincy Jones 
_______________________________________________

There are hundreds of quotes out there that talk about the necessity, the importance, and the value of breaking out of your comfort zone. And it's all true; all of it. To stay in your comfort zone is to stagnate, to get stuck, to stall.

But I'm going to take the other side of this for a quick minute; to totally diminish the importance of a comfort zone is oversimplifying things. Comfort zones provide just that - comfort.

Definition(s):

1. A state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint.2  The easing or alleviation of a person's feelings of grief or distress.

Don't. Be. Afraid

DON'T. BE. AFRAID. 

That doesn't mean that you have to let it all out right now, immediately, as there is something to be said for timing. But don't let fear be the roadblock (journey-pun intentional). Don't be afraid of what others may think, or feel, or judge...which is so easy to do, and I am guilty of such for myself...except less and less so, as I get older. I am starting to care less about what most people think. 

We all need acceptance, and dependence, and comfort, and warmth, and we need that from others.  But you have it.  We are all waiting for you to release what you have inside; we're all waiting for that gift, out on display, that makes us stop in our tracks and process it all in amazement. You have a gift that the world needs; be it a small impact or a large one; you are here with your set of qualities and experiences and gifts, and your unique combination of it all is meant to be shared outward, not trapped inward.

It's a tricky thing...keeping everything in balance, and there is something to be said for that. Balance is important, and our lives unfortunately are a struggle between the things we want to do and the things that are required of us, because of responsibilities and society and all of that...but it's a balance.  And there are no rules as to what that balance has to be; just that there has to be a balance.

So - let it out! Tune in to your instincts - find your place, find your time, find your confidence, and find your voice - find your release. Have faith in yourself. Have faith in your instincts. Have faith in your voice. Have faith that whatever it is you want to release, that you will be understood and cherished and adored no matter what you do, and no matter where your own path takes you. Because those of us who are connected with you, and know you, we're here, and we're not going anywhere. There will be those who don't understand, who judge, who put down and diminish, who will scoff and poke fun - they will be there. But they don't matter. Not in the least. 

You are not defined by your naysayers. You are not defined by your fears, nor your roadblocks. We want your voice...even though we don't know what form that will take, or what message will be delivered - those of us who are important will take whatever you have to offer...because we know how incredible it will be...

Reflections on Yesterday's Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Quotes

When it comes to Dr King, many people look at his impact on race relations, equality, and freedom, because he had such an impact at a time when racial issues had peaked in the forefront of society at the time. But I think this focus, though very important both in history and today, is a little bit narrow. His words and teachings have a much broader application, and I believe should have an impact across all humanity, in many of the issues and struggles that many of us are experiencing, have experienced, or may someday experience.

The 20 quotes that I selected yesterday, I selected using two guidelines: first, I tried to stay away from the most mainstream quotes; and second, I tried to stay away from quotes directly dealing with race. It was using those two guidelines that made me realize there is so much more to learn from his life and messages.

20 Quotes From Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Here are 20 quotes from Dr. King that I found today in browsing the internet; in no particular order. I tried to stay from the mainstream quotes that appear most often. 

I'll let these quotes speak for themselves...at least for today...

Philadelphia-Area Winter Weather Scorecard

The next time there is significant winter weather here in the Philadelphia area, keep score with the following list!  

Walking Into The Past

When I moved back to Phoenixville, the house I moved into (as a renter) was at the edge of the neighborhood where I hung out for all of my school years.  One of the things I started doing pretty quickly was taking daily walks. I had two reasons for this; one, for health reasons (become more physically active), and two, to explore the neighborhoods where I spent my childhood. 

Growing up, Phoenixville was a dying steel mill town just outside of the Philadelphia suburbs. When the steel mill completely closed down in the 1980s, the town had the typical air of a town disconnected from it's past and no clue about it's future. When I moved to Rochester in 2007, not much had changed; but there were some seeds of revitalization which ended up taking hold in a big way. Now, Phoenixville has been noted as one of the hot spots of the Greater Philadelphia area, in terms of nightlife and family living.  So, with my exploring nature, I wanted to spend some time revisiting these areas.

Why me? Why now, again? -OR- The Three Year Sabbatical

I'm back! Or...I'm baaaaack! 

It's been three years since I posted to this blog somewhat regularly. When I stopped back in 2015, my writing inspiration had run it's course. Post ideas had fizzled and my need for expression had faded. It was time to focus my energies on other needs and wants. As some of you know, I've spent the last three years to make some needed changes in my life; mainly moving back to Southeastern PA from Rochester. In order to do that, I decided to do a lot of decluttering and purging of stuff, junk, clutter, etc. (which will be the subject of an upcoming post). I moved from a two-bedroom townhouse to a one-bedroom apartment in Rochester in June 2015, and then from there to renting a room in a friend's house in Phoenixville July 2016. Finally, I moved from there back into my parents' house in August of 2017.  The reasons for the moves will also be an upcoming post. (See, I have ideas again!)

So, this time, I figured I'd start the same way I did back in February 2011. Why me?  Anyone who really knows me probably won’t be surprised that I’m (re)starting a blog.  I am totally into communicating and sharing thoughts and having debates.  For one, it keeps my mind active.  I firmly believe that one of the biggest keys to a long life is to keep your mind active.  You’ll find along this journey called my blog that there are some clichés I completely buy into.  In this case:  an idle mind is the devil’s playground.

The other reason for communicating and sharing thoughts is that on all levels, I firmly believe we are uplifted when we talk and we share; when we teach and we’re taught; when we validate and become validated; when we connect and become connected.  If more people looked outward instead of selfishly focusing inward, a lot of the worries have in our society would not be as widespread.  We all have a responsibility to each other.  Our friendships, our community, our society, and I’ll extend this all the way out to the human race, rely on that responsibility in order to achieve happiness at all those levels.

(Note: the above two paragraphs were basically copied and pasted from my very first blog post almost seven years ago...!)

Why now?  Last time, this started out as just something to do; a way to pass time. In addition, I've always enjoyed writing, at least on my own terms. But as I started posting on a regularly basis, I realized that I had a voice, and that voice wanted to express itself. And as my voice started to express itself, my thought processes started to change a little bit. My daily journeys because subject matter for posts; I would see something, or hear something, and that would trigger a thought, and become kind of a stream of consciousness; or sub-consciousness; and forming those streams into a post-able topic, with some level of organization taking place. In short, writing was very helpful for me to organize the many different thoughts bouncing around in my head. I think - often - about many things; some serious, some not so much.  And I need that again. This has been kinda brewing in my mind over the last few months. In preparing for this first post, I went back through my prior posts (143 posts over four years), and I could definitely see (and remember) the different ways my thoughts formed and transformed into posts.

Now that the holidays (and year-end close) are over, it's time for me to say Happy Accounting New Year, Welcome to 2018, and let's start this new journey!

In closing, again as steal from my first post; those who know me know how much I love to drive and to travel.  This is the (re)start of what should be a fun, crazy, inspirational journey where, as cheesy as it may sounds, we’ll laugh, we’ll shed a tear, and in the end, we’ll all walk a little taller and stride a little more confidently.  I’m gonna be all over the board here, as I was before; sometimes serious and sometimes just fun; plus I will probably do more in the area of photo blogging than I did before. So with that said; we’ll fly by the seats of our pants, up mountains and through valleys, and I hope to have a few passengers along for the ride!

Another cliché: To know your future you must know your past...

Final one for today:  Time to get this show on the road...