Photo by Jeremiah Gadsby
M.K. Goddard State Park

I began writing this on Wednesday morning, planning that by the time Friday rolled around we would be at Greenwood Furnace for the return of a live, in person chapter retreat. My attendance was somewhat iffy because I got the miserable cold that Bill brought back from the beach. I fought it (valiantly, if I do say so myself) but it got me but good on Sunday morning. 

It seems that I managed to push through it, only to have Marci go down with COVID on Thursday morning! Ah, the best laid plans. So I am finishing this up and getting it scheduled for launch early Thursday afternoon and we will work on rearranging our workshop sessions to go virtual once again.

So, while it's possible that snow-covered park and forest pictures have appeared online in the time between my working on this and its launch, the masthead allows us one last transitional look at what was indeed a glorious fall. Photographer Jeremiah Gadsby remarks that "[t]he fall colors are doing their best to hold on but they're fading quick. Soon all the leaves will be down and it will be time to start finding eagles again."

Not an entirely unhappy prospect!

This regular feature is on hiatus for now; be sure to put a bookmark on the PPFF Events calendar and DCNR Calendar of Events so you don't miss a chance to participate in something fun over the next few months.

Good job, everyone. No one missed the fact that MOST bats eat bugs. Lots and lots of bugs (one little brown bat can eat 1,000 mosquitoes in an hour)! Although, indeed, a couple of Central and South American bats species DO drink blood and there are 160 species of fruit bats who wouldn't turn their noses up at a banana.

Congratulations to our randomly chosen October winner, Janie of Blair County.

Believing there is no such thing as bad weather, only poor chosen closing, let's kick off wintry November with a look ahead. What does the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Association predict for Pennsylvania's 2023-2024 winter season? (a) above normal temperatures and normal to below normal snowfall, (b) the usual in temperature and snowfall; (c) below normal temperatures and above normal snowfall?

Enter each week to increase your chances of a fabulous prize at the end of the month when I'll draw one entry from all correct answers received during the month.

I got two late submissions to the creepy photo question:

Photo by Johnny Russell. Moraine State Park.

Quote: Emily Dickinson, The Letters of Emily Dickinson, Vol. 1."
Letter to Elizabeth Holland, 1865.

By that I think she meant it to suggest a bleakness that doesn't seem quite fair. We have very good friends who live in Norway and the place really seems to sparkle.

Thus my choice of a rather more exuberant photo to illustrate the quote!