A Sunday Drive

This week's blog was all shot in one day, Sunday, March 25, 2007. My wife and I covered almost 160 miles traveling between Cambria and Somerset Counties.

One of the area's first festivals of the year is the Pennsylvania Maple Festival held in Meyersdale. In its 60th year the festival draws folks from all over the region, happy to be free of their latest bout of cabin fever. We left early in the morning and enjoyed a foggy drive. We also took the time to visit the Flight 93 Memorial site.

These wind mills are seen from the Garrett shortcut, about a mile out of town.

Dave Bicker - Living Historian of the French and Indian War

Bobby Edwards explains to visitors how maple syrup is made. The cooker shown in this picture is over 50 years. It takes 12 to 14 hours to reduce 40 gallons of maple sap to 1 gallon of syrup.

Making sugar cakes - The syrup is boiled and then poured into this 200 year old cucumber wood trough.

The syrup is stirred to help crystallization. When it "laughs" the syrup is poured into 4-1/4" tart tins to make sugar cakes.

Kaitlyn Berkley, this year's Pennsylvania Maple Queen, gives a hand in making the sugar cakes.

Ghost in the Head, Huron, a historic recreationist gives a demonstration on how to make fire using a piece of jute rope that he frays.

The Glade Players performed in the Historic Meyers Homestead which dates back to 1785.

Close up of the hammers used to play the hammered dulcimer.

Salisbury Viaduct, Western Maryland Railroad, with wind mills in the distance just north of Meyersdale on Route 219.

A Somerset County farm outside of Meyersdale.

Burkholder Covered Bridge built in 1870.

Amish girls walking along Route 30.

Trostletown Bridge built in 1879, rebuilt in 1965 and 1993 by the Stoystown Lions Club.

The rebuilt Stoystown Railroad Station now sitting on the Lions Club grounds.

Memorial message left by a visiting family on the Flight 93 guard rail.

Flight 93 Memorial Park volunteer explaining what happened September 11, 2001 to visitors using photographs and eyewitness accounts.

A wall of momentos left behind by visitors to the Flight 93 site.

Old drag line once used for strip mining.

At Last, Spring is Here

Business Day at Saint Francis University is an annual event sponsored by the Business Administration Department for high school students from Blair and Cambria County.
Shown in this classroom are students from Richland, Bishop Carroll, and Central Cambria.

A Saint Francis University student gets a little classwork done in the Pasquerilla Library.

Two Downy Woodpeckers. The male is landing on the suet feeder chasing the female away.

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Winter is hard on everything around here, even the billboards.

Jeff, the Comcast cable guy, working on the line in beautiful downtown Northern Cambria.

Now that spring is here DT Construction, of Uniontown, PA, is back working on the Northern Cambria Borough water lines. This part of the project will lay new pipe from the reservoir near Nicktown down to the borough.

Daffodils, one of our first signs of spring.

Farm on the edge of Hastings.

Turkey Buzzard taking off from a telephone pole near Thomas Mills.

Fence post along Ridge Road.

With the start of spring, it doesn't take long for the ice to begin melting along the edge of this pond on Holtz Road.

It's been a good year for the water table around this part of northern Cambria county. The spring runneth over.

I've had this cup for 22 years. I don't think I've ever drank a beer out of it. I now use it for feeding the birds.

Over the last week raccoons have torn down and run off with two of our suet feeders. Now the woodpeckers are using the sunflower seed feeder.

Welcome to Spring 2007. Crocuses, another of the first signs that spring has arrived in the mountains of Pennsylvania.

Sainthood

Cause of Canonization for Servant of God Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin

In forty years as a photographer I've shot the high and mighty, the rich and poor, and the good and the bad. But I've never had the chance to participate in anything as historic to the lives of the people of this part of Cambria County as the making of a saint. Even though we are not Catholic, or even religious for that matter, we had planned to go, watch and maybe learn something new. I was also fortunate enough to be the photographer for the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat covering these proceedings.

The pictures shown here are from just one-third of the ceremony that took place, and was the only one open to the general public. I hope that these pictures convey to you some of the pomp and circumstances that went into this festive day for the Seymour familey, the people of Loretto and the Diocese of Altoona Johnstown itself.

Father Gallitzin (1770-1840) is only the eighth American Catholic nominated for sainthood. For more information, please follow the links.

Betty and Frank Seymour, members of the Prince Gallitzin Historical Association, have spent many years studying the impact of Prince Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin on the area. Their understanding will play a major part in the canonization process.

The altar area of the Basilica of Saint Michael the Archangel, Loretto, Pennsylvania.

St. Michael stained glass window.

One of the stained glass windows on the south wall.

This organ was a gift of Andrew Carnegie. It is the only part of the church not paid for by Charles Schwab. For those of you not familiar with Loretto, steel magnate Charles Schwab had a summer home in Loretto and contributed thousands of dollars to the infrastructure of the village, and Saint Francis University.

Members of the Knights of Columbus

Looking down from the choir loft.

Just part of the early birds who started to fill St. Michael's an hour before the ceremonies were to begin.

Knights of Columbus lead the procession of church dignitaries down the center aisle.

Most Reverend Joseph V. Adamec, D.D., Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

Reverend Monsignor Michael Servinsky, V.G., Bishop's Delegate

Bishop Adamec addresses the assembled faithful at the beginning of the
Opening Session
The Cause of Canonization
The Servant of God
Demetrius A. Gallitzin

A priest listens intently to the remarks of the Bishop.

Betty Seymour reads the recommendation of the task force for the Canonization of Father Gallitzin.

Bishop Adamec signs his oath of Secrecy, Fidelity and Confidentiality in the presence of Notary, Teresa Stayer, Chancellor.

Frank and Betty read their oaths.

The Theological Commission -- Reverend Monsignor Timothy Swope, V.F., Rector, Very Reverend Father Christian Oravec, T.O.R., Reverend Father Demetrius Dumm, O.S.B., and Reverend Father John Slovikovski -- take their oaths.