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Acupuncture--Energy Flows Redirected

The theory behind the practice of acupuncture continues to confound Western science, but despite the lack of understanding, its popularity is on the up...

This therapy, originating in Asia, is based on the concept that currents of energy called meridians flow through your body. However, no one has ever been able to conclusively demonstrate the existence of these meridians.

Despite the evasiveness of these energy streams, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) holds that alterations in these energy flows can disrupt health and cause pain. Consequently, an acupuncturist punctures your skin with specialised needles to redirect the body's vital energy.

Alleviating Illness

Despite the fact that western scientists have not been able to find satisfactory evidence of the existence of these energetic meridians, studies show that acupuncture works and is especially effective at relieving pain. This therapy has been used to alleviate a variety of conditions including chronic pain, nausea and even mental illness. In addition, some practitioners apply it to those trying to shake off the chains of drug addiction. (More recently, many practitioners now also successfully use acupuncture to relieve physical problems in animals.)

Of course, no matter what your perspective on this therapy, acupuncture's no panacea.

While you might use acupuncture to relieve the discomforts of chemotherapy, you wouldn't use this technique as your primary weapon against a dangerous disease like cancer. Still, this reliable therapy occupies a welcome spot as an adjunct to many mainstream therapies.

Consequently, many mainstream practitioners accept the validity of using acupuncture and many managed care companies reimburse this therapy. Some HMOs even keep a list of approved acupuncturists that they make available to enrolees.

Acupuncture East and West

The practice of acupuncture dates back at least 2200 years ago in Asia. Only during the last 40 years has it become well-known and widely available in the US. Today, 29 accredited acupuncture schools train practitioners in North America. In addition, traditional healers in Belize (south of Mexico) have been found to use a form of acupuncture derived from traditional Mayan medicine.

Is the use of acupuncture by Mayan shamans coincidence? Or further evidence that acupuncture meridians really exist? No one knows for sure, although some experts believe the Mayan use of this therapy supports the notion that the original ancestors of the Mayans migrated from Asia.

Needle Relief

Acupuncturists insert needles into the body to relieve pain or enhance bodily functions. TCM holds that acupuncture, and the manipulation of these tiny needles, moves and manipulates qi (pronounced 'chee'), the body's energy force.

"Acupuncture is a method of balancing the body's energy," says Carol Alexander, an acupuncturist at the North Jersey Health and Pain Relief Centre in Hackettstown, New Jersey.

"Disease occurs because of an imbalance... Insertion of the acupuncture needles into meridians will bring about the balance of qi."

Alexander has practiced acupuncture for 10 years and studied at the Tri-State School of Traditional Acupuncture in Stanford, Connecticut.

Alexander says patients sometimes suffer a blockage of qi or display too much or too little qi. The manipulation and placement of the acupuncture needles vary according to the need for adjusting meridian energy flow.

Acupuncture can be used to prevent disease and, if disease is already rampant, it can be used to help the body correct the problem.

In conjunction with her use of acupuncture needles, Alexander rarely prescribes single herbs but uses combinations of whole herbs that are very specific for different diseases and disease patterns. "Certain herbs, such as ginseng, are very prized in Chinese medicine," Alexander notes.

"Astragalus is an herb used in China and around the world to tonify the qi and increase qi energy as well as stimulate the immune system."

Liquorice Root

Alexander uses liquorice root for assisting digestion and for helping women with menopausal discomforts. On the other hand, she recommends whole food concentrates like bee pollen granules for enhancing the immune system, peppermint for treating gastro-intestinal problems plus fibre supplements as well as the antioxidant/antihistamine quercetin, coenzyme Q10 and melatonin.

"In terms of classes of nutrients, I use a lot of whole food concentrates: the green concentrates like barley greens, wheat grass powder, spirulina and blue-green algae," Alexander says.

"These are high in minerals, antioxidants, nutrients and fatty acids. I also use some soy products because the isoflavone concentrates are very much anti-cancer."

The Fine Points of Acupuncture

Acupuncture needles are very fine, as thin as hairs. They are available in a variety of diameters and lengths. When an acupuncturist inserts these needles, the sensation is that of mild pinpricks. (The needles enter the body at depths of only 1/8th inch to two inches.) In many cases people experience mild pleasure during needle manipulation.

"From a Western point of view it's important to explain that there is a distinct function of acupuncture treatment and that is to increase circulation," Alexander says.

"We do stimulate nerves and we know that with the stimulation of nerves many neurochemicals and neurotransmitters are released. They move through the nerves and find receptor sights, some in the brain, some in other parts of the body."

By stimulating nerves, acupuncturists can calm inflammation and deaden pain. These effects are believed to be linked to the release of endorphins and dinorphins, powerful painkillers and anti-inflammatories that the body produces for itself. Most acupuncturists use this therapy as part of an overall, multi-faceted treatment plan.

Unique Energy

"Qi is what makes you different from a sack of chemicals," points out David Molony, an acupuncturist at the Lehigh Valley Acupuncture Center in Catasaqua, Pennsylvania who studied at the Nanjing Traditional Medicine Hospital in China and has lectured at Cornell University.

What You Need

"You can manipulate qi with acupuncture, herbs and diet. Because people's bodies work differently, there are different approaches. When you ask the question what nutrients and herbs are effective at enhancing acupuncture, it depends on what the person needs, according to an Oriental Medicine diagnosis."

An Oriental Medical examination, Molony says, begins with a long list of health questions designed to reveal factors that contribute to disease. A practitioner measures your pulse in several different places along your arm, inspects your tongue, may press on your stomach, sniff your general odour and closely examine your nails and skin for signs of problems.

"You take in everything you can," adds Molony, a board member of the Acupuncture Society of Pennsylvania and former board member of the American Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.

"This gives you clues that you need in order to make your diagnosis."

Acupuncturists use nutrients and herbs that complement the treatment, as well as dietary and lifestyle counselling. Some acupuncturists don't specialise in herbal remedies, so these practitioners might go to a specialist like David Winston for advice. Winston, an herb expert skilled in Cherokee, Chinese and Western eclectic herbal medicine, works as an instructor, lecturer and consultant.

"In China, acupuncture is considered a complementary therapy; you generally don't go for treatment and get purely acupuncture," says Winston who is working on a book about saw palmetto (a herbal product derived from the fruit of the American dwarf palm tree).

"Herbal medicine, diet and qi gong are important therapies in their own right and acupuncture is one of those therapies. Qi gong is a form of martial arts that focuses on unique breathing and visualization methods. Qi is not exactly energy, it's energy in movement; it's what makes the blood move."

Open Blockages

Acupuncture is used to open blockages that sometimes build up in what TCM practitioners characterize as excessive heat or cold. These hot and cold spots do not always literally refer to the temperature of the body but are meant to depict changes in the character of the body's vital energy.

Chinese acupuncturists don't necessarily treat diseases, but target clusters of physical discomforts.

Winston says: "Herbal formulas change depending on the 'symptom pictures.' Somebody could have acute appendicitis but the symptom picture could vary. Usually Chinese acupuncturists use herbs like isatis (a very cold, drying herb that's a powerful anti-bacterial agent) and coptis (a powerful anti-bacterial herb)."

People often visit acupuncturists complaining of back pain or some type of musculoskeletal problem-a wrenched knee, a ligament that hasn't healed properly or perhaps a torn rotator cuff.

"If the injury is hot to the touch, it's red, it's inflammatory - that's a condition where there's excessive heat and in that condition the acupuncturist would give herbs that are cooling and anti-inflammatory such as the root of large leaf gentian."

Pain that Moves

If someone suffers pain that moves, pain that is sometimes exacerbated by damp or humid conditions, acupuncturists often prescribe clematis root, a wild variety of the garden plant that is an anti-spasmodic, or acanthopanax, a relative of Siberian ginseng used for damp pain.

"If there's pain with excessive dampness," Winston says, "acupuncturists might use duhuo, a drying herb that opens the meridians."

Molony agrees with Winston that when it comes to choosing herbs to enhance acupuncture, accurate analysis of the root cause of the health problem is paramount to making the right decisions. For example, if a person is qi deficient and her tongue is thickly coated, she may not be processing her energy properly. Phlegm builds up, decreasing energy.

"What you want to do is give them herbs that move phlegm, like citrus peel, and combine that with acupuncture points that move phlegm also, " Molony says.

For stimulating metabolism, Molony uses lactoferin-processed colostrum from cows. He uses ginseng and atractylodes as qi tonics and he adds herbs like magnolia bark or atractylodes alba.

Helpful Antioxidants

He believes antioxidants are helpful too, as preventive medicines, including vitamins C and E. These valuable nutrients disarm the harm that reactive molecules can wreak within the body.

So how important are herbs and nutrition to enhance acupuncture's effectiveness? Acupuncturists seem to agree that healthy doses of antioxidants (such as vitamins C and E plus antioxidants from grape seed extract) as well as specialised herbs, turn this therapy into a highly effective healing tool.

Those wanting to benefit from this penetrating technique should stock up on nutrients.

Then sit back, relax, kick off your shoes and let the acupuncturist do her stuff.

The Art of the Fly Rod

I recently started fly fishing. Part science, part art, part determination, this hobby is called the thinking man's sport, and rightfully so. Here's a piece about an artist who makes great fly rods. I can't afford one yet, but maybe someday... 

Thousands of miles from Rolf Baginski's workshop in Bremem, Germany, slender but strong strands of bamboo known as arundinaria amabiles grows in Kwangsi and Kwangtung, coastal regions in China.

The bamboo, also known as Tonkin cane, is one of this master craftsman's most important elements in his creation of Baginski Bamboo Fly Rods. The other elements are natural materials, a unique workmanship, tradition, and history.

An only child, Baginski started fishing when he was four years old, and he fell in love with the strong strand from China. "I can remember fishing with my father and I was using a bamboo rod. We were on a little river that runs through my grandfather's farm," he says. "While the fish were small, to me, a young child who loved nature, they were beautiful as any fish could be."

As he progressed through life, Baginski never forgot his first loves, that of the beauty in nature, fishing and bamboo. Before becoming a professional full-time rod maker he worked as a German history teacher , a manager of a community social center and a guitar player in a band called Westwind. Westwind recorded the music for the Marlboro cigarette commercials in Europe.

Today fly fishers around the world, many from the United States, are purchasing Baginski's rods and, as he says, enjoying "the rod of a lifetime".

"Split cane rods have seen a resurgence of popularity during the last few years and they are gaining more admirers all over the world," Baginski says. "The reason for this development is quite clear and obvious to me. Most products are industrial products, mass produced by the thousands in an automatic mechanized process. My rods are hand-built."

Baginski's Tonkin rods take many hours of work. Laboring seven days a week, 10-14 hours a day, to keep up with orders, this craftsman uses only select raw materials and the finest manual workmanship to produce a rod with superb appearance and an outstanding finish.

According to Baginski, more than 1,000 kinds of bamboo are known to science but only one, arundinaria amabiles, unites all the characteristic qualities for the production of split-cane rods. Also known as "the lovely grass" this special bamboo was named by F.A. McClure. It matures only in these regions of coastal China where the climatic conditions, including monsoons, perpetuate its growth.

"All of the rod makers of the past, through trial and error, found out that this material, the Tonkin cane, is the best for rod making. I think that was about 50-70 years ago. At first they used a kind of bamboo from India and it wasn't that good," he explains. "Every modern rod maker uses this material. It's especially great for it's fibers. It has 53% power fibers in the bamboo. Other bamboos do not have that much."

The Tonkin cane is the beginning a Baginski's long process, a process he continues to look at closely and change if he feels his customers demand it. "I lot of people are asking for a rod that uses a lighter weight line. It's hard to make a rod like that because the taper is so thin so I've been thinking about these tapers. I found a new way to make them. It was an easy solution after all. If you put more power in the tips of the rods and make them a little bigger, and build the other part a little thin, you have more weight in the tip."

Baginski's rods come in two types, Harmony and Horizon. The Harmony series come in lengths: 6', 6'6", 7", 7'6", 8'; line weights: 3, 4, 5; all have amboina wood reel seats, German silver/Argentine fittings, bushings, ferrules; natural, light flamed, dark flamed finishes, come in two pieces and cost between $1,120-$1,300 which includes rod, bag and shipping from Germany. The Horizon series come in the same lengths, and have the same features as Harmony but the line weights are 4, 5, 6 and the price range is different ($1,180-$1,360).

"People have asked me if they should buy a new fly rod every time a new model comes out. They tell me they want to find one rod, for them, for their lifetime," he notes. "This is the kind of rod I make."

A perfectionist, Baginski tries all his rods until he is satisfied. His fastidiousness produces a harmonious entirety that is a work of art. The process begins with the Tonkin-cane from China which, by the time it reaches Germany, has been cut, transported twice in China, and pre-dried over fire, giving the bamboo its characteristic straw yellow color. Once Baginski gets the bamboo, there are two ways he could go: 1) sawing and milling by machine; or 2) splitting and planing manually. He uses the second method which is essential to produce a first-class rod. "I split the Tonkin cane manually along the natural direction of the fibers to achieve the raw splices," he says. "During the production procedures the splices are straightened and adjusted as well as planed manually until the final shape is achieved."

Because the rod is made in this fashion, Baginski notes, the power fibers of the cane are perfectly straight and consequently fulfill the desired function. Meticulous? Check out the numbers: From the raw bamboo to the final product Baginski uses more than 200 working steps which usually takes him 40-60 hours. A rod that casts in an excellent way should also look the part, so this German artisan uses a triple dip coat lacquering process to make it shine line a bright star in the sky.

Baginski travels around the world and often to America to attend fly-fishing expos and talk to people about his rods. He attracts many fly fishing aficionados. After understanding the man behind the rods and his long intensive manufacturing process, some serious fly fishers become very interested in Baginski's rods. "I have a customer who is a producer for Sony and recently I got contacted by Donald J. Trump Jr.," Baginski says.

When he first started making bamboo rods Baginski did it as a hobby. The year was 1976 and eventually he ran out of money with which to buy more materials. He had taken some classes and collected some old cane rods but he was at a roadblock. Then he spotted a book by Dr. George Parker Holden titled "The Idyl of the Split Bamboo". The book changed his life. "After reading Holden's book I decided to sell my entire rod collection and use the money to purchase equipment necessary to make cane rods myself," he recalled. "At that time in Germany there weren't any professional bamboo rod makers so finding help was difficult but through trial and error I slowly learned the craft. Since there were no other rod makers and no shops I had to make many of my own tools."

The tools he made include specialized tools for splitting cane, pulling out ferrules, and for rounding the edges of the Tonkin-cane prior to putting on the ferrules. To him, it's all worth it, and, as a fisherman himself he does not want to make a customer wait a long time to get the rod. "It's an honor to have a customer who wants to order a rod to fish with, " he adds. "So I want to produce the rod as quickly as possible."

Baginski said there are several unique features in his rods including a special technique in wrapping the guides. "I use white silk and when I varnish the silk for the first time I heat the wrappings to dry them because silk has a lot of moisture. After they are heated I use a tongue-oil varnish on the wraps and the color disappears. That way one can see everything behind the wrappings. Also, I use a special functional design in my ferrules. I serrate my ferrules along their end."

When he is in the United States attending expos Baginski does take time out to go fly fishing. Where are some of his favorite spots? "I like to go to Henry's Fork on the Snake River in Idaho," he says. "I also like to go to a place called the Gunnison River. It is about four hours away from Denver."

When he occasionally gets out of his shop at home he fly fishes in his favorite spot in Denmark, where he catches brown trout, salmon, and sea trout and the season never ends. "I like using my 7 foot rod for a 4 to 5 weight line," he says. "This rod is compact so I can bring it on the airplane and it's tapered so I can fish both dry flies and nymphs."

If he is not in his workshop crafting the perfect fly rod, fishing or attending expos around the world, Baginski teaches. "I teach a few classes in Bavaria," he says. "But most of my time is spent making rods."

WHERE TO GET A BAGINSKI ROD

You can purchase a Baginski Bamboo Fly Rod through his U.S. distributor:

Richard Recchia

R.D.R. Services Inc.

342 Havanna Ave.

Long Beach, CA 90814

Tel: (562) 494-1402

E mail: drecchia@ultimateflyfishing.com

The Illustrator Man

"There he is! There he is!" A throng of children and parents,
books in hand, bump each other exitedly and jockey for position to meet a
jovial middle-aged children's book illustrator with a gray-flecked
beard.

Why the throng around Richard Egielski here at this Lambertville,
New Jersey, gathering dujring National Children's Book Week? For
one thing, the crowd has already met his characters in the pages of his
22 picture books; now they're determined to pay homage to the
creator.

Egielski's got great personal appeal--he's comfortable doing
readings for kids or presentations for grown-ups--but the audience
really values his methods, his slightly eccentric creative process, and,
most of all, his talent for capturing life at its most engagingly
bizarre. For most of his career, Egielski illustrated children's books
written by other authors. His shining moment came in 1987 when he won the
distinguished Caldecott Medal for best picture book in the United
States with his illustrations for Hey, Al by Arthur Yorinks. "It was like
winning the Academy Award," the illustrator recalled. But in
recent years, he's branched out to doing the whole book, from start to finish.
"I wanted to illustrate my own ideas, and do books that were image
driven," says Egielski, sitting in his home studio in rural Holland
Township, New Jersey.

Take Buz for example, a New York Times Best Illustrated Children's
Book for 1995 and a candidate for Pennsylvania's "Easy Reader Book"
award. The book uses whimsy to explain disease processes that
kids find hard to understand. With a large human eye providing a fitting
backdrop, two red-and-white pill capsules, with features like
those of the Keystone Cops, shine a bright light on a terrifed green bug. Part

fantastic voyage, part humorous fantasy, Buz stands out from other

children's books on the shelves. So, too, Egielski's most recent book, a
strikingly original rendition of The Gingerbread Boy.

Egielski grew up in Queens, New York, but always had a fantasy
about living in the country, especially when he watched the old Andy Griffith
television show. "When I won the Caldecott Medal for Hey, Al, I
got my first substantial check, so I came out here and used it as a down
payment on my first house," he says. "I drew a two-hour circle
around New York City and we ended up in half a duplex in Milford, New
Jersey, and then in Holland Township."

The home Egielski now shares with his wife Denise Saldutti (also a

published children's book illustrator) and his son Ian is listed on the
Historical Homes Register and is far removed from the scene of his

upbringing. "My dad was a policeman and I went to a parochial school
that I hated because they used to beat us all the time," he says.

"My parents didn't want me to go to the local high school because they
thought it was full of riffraff. I ended up going to a specialty
school called the High School of Art and Design, which saved me." In his
studio, Egielski is surrounded by framed illustrations of his work, his
wife's, and that of their teacher, famed illustrator Maurice Sendak.
Egielski credits Sendak with helping him establish his mindset
regarding picture books. "Before I took Maurice's class I used to like to
do pictures in sequences, one image following another, but I didn't
know what to do with that," the illustrator remembers. "In Sendak's class at
Parson's School of Design in New York, we talked about the picture
book, and he helped me learn how to tell a story visually using a
combination of exciting images that make kids want to turn the
page when they see them."

Struggling with technique wasn't the only thing this artist had to
deal with. In his early years during the 1970s, Egielski shopped his work
around but became frustrated. Children's book publishers didn't
find his images conservative enough. "The children's book publishers
told me to go show my work to magazines, but when I brought my
pictures to the magazines they told me my stuff looked like picture books.
I was trapped," he says.

Without much work, the young illustrator was propelled into living
at an artists' cooperative called Westbeth, an old AT&T building at the
corner of West and Bethoon Streets in New York City that was
converted into low rent apartments. "You sort of put everything on hold except
for paying your bills and feed yourself," he recalled. "I bought
as little clothing as I could, and I didn't go to the dentist for a couple
of years. It was tough but it was worth it. I was willing to take the chance."

Now the illustrator chooses to focus on the high points of his
career, such as Louis the Fish, also written by Arthur Yorinks. The book was
named one of the Best Books of 1990 by School Library Journal, and

eventually, the television show Reading Rainbow picked it up. "That
was a real break for us," says Egielski.

Egielski's work has garnered many awards, and it's clear
determination is the key to his success. Around the studio, several books are
scattered in various stages of development. Egielski spends many
hours meticulously going over his drawings, fine-tuning them into
colorful, action-packed scenes. When he needs a break, he plays
Beatles songs on his antique mandolin, jokes with his son, races
around his kitchen cooking a new recipe, or explores country
roadways on his bicycle. But mostly he works, creating unique pictures using
an opaque type of water color called gouache, and egg tempera--a
mixture of real egg yolks and paint pigments.

Considered fine art by collectors, Egielski's books, inspired by
his childhood love of comics, science fiction, and books like The Hobbit,
continue to engage. "Fantasy has a lot of visual potential and
kids like to fantasize," he says. Humor plays a big part in Egielski's work
too, as does irony. His comic images veer from the hilarious to the
poignant--as in The Tub People, where a forlorn tub toy stares up through a
prison-like grate, hoping his family will rescue him. Some
children's book illustrators and authors try to impart some lofty moral message
to kids. Egielski feels differently. "Teaching kids to read,
that's not enough? If you can do something that's fun enough to get a kid to
want to read it, that's all the teaching you need to do." Egielski's
work fulfills a single premise: If children realize books are fun, they'll want
to open them up, gaze at the pictures, and, eventually, move to the
words.

Recently there's been talk at the Egielski household about
Richard's work ending up on CD-Rom and kid's television programs like
Nickelodeon, but the artist doesn't much care about these newer
media.

"When someone is reading a book to you, or to a child," explains
Denise Saldutti, Richard's wife, "there's the closeness, the
bonding, a relationship that I don't think can ever be replaced."

It's in the heart of that bond that Egielski makes his lasting contribution.

Welcome to PNN!

Namaste readers!

Hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing.

Writing is indeed making a connection, and that's what I plan to do with you...connect...like electrical circuits...igniting...into the circle that doesn't end...the energy that is THE source of all things.  As George Harrison said: "I am You and You are Me and WE are here together".

O

mandala - a design symbolic of the universe;

from Sanskrit meaning circle

represents wholeness

The Brain Fed Grain Head's 10 Coolest Lyrics for Today

Feed your brain with grain.....

1) WE DIDN'T START THE FIRE (Billy Joel)

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnny Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio
Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, Television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe
Rosenbergs, H Bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, The King And I, and The Catcher In The Rye
Eisenhower, Vaccine, England's got a new queen
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning

What better way to start a list than with the ultimate 'list' song?
In one burst Billy succeeded in trying to educate and entertain simultaneously.
Moral of the story: passion was there from the beginning and we can't stop it.

2) IMAGINE (John Lennon)

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

What could be more applicable today, right now?? Nothing!
Countries were carved out by people; they really don't exist.
Look from space, no countries. Here's the kicker: no religion.
Joe Campbell said it best about religion (what we've killed for and are
killing for now): "it's the celebration of the mystery of not knowing". Anyone's guess is as good as anyone else'sso, drop it all and we'll be better off? Sounds like a plan.

3) TIME WARP (Richard O'Brien)

It's just a jump to the left
And then a step to the right
With your hands on your hips
You bring your knees in tight
But it's the pelvic thrust
That really drives you insane
Let's do the time-warp again.

Let's lighten up and dance, make love, enjoy life. How's that for a motto?
Not too shabby. I'll take it.

4) THUNDER ROAD (Bruce Springsteen)

The screen door slams
Mary's dress waves
Like a vision she dances across the porch
As the radio plays
Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey that's me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again
I just can't face myself alone again
Don't run back inside
darling you know just what I'm here for
So you're scared and you're thinking
That maybe we ain't that young anymore
Show a little faith, there's magic in the night
You ain't a beauty, but hey you're alright
Oh and that's alright with me


Whenever I hear these words I can't help but think of that human emotion captured by Bruce so poetically: loneliness. Being turned away (again) to face being alone (again) has to be one of the toughest things in life. But the Boss has great advice: overcome your fear, tell the truth, be yourself and everything will turn out okay.

5) GIRL ANACHRONISM (Amanda Palmer)

There I go again
Pretending to be you
Make-believing
That I have a soul beneath the surface
Trying to convince you
It was accidentally on purpose

Amanda must have listened to Thunder Road because she's talking here about the same thing: being you. I like the way her band, The Dresden Dolls, present her words too.
Edgy, cool, and full of energy. Check them out.

6) HELP ME (Joni Mitchell)

Help me
I think I'm falling
In love again
When I get that crazy feeling, I know
I'm in trouble again
I'm in trouble
cause you're a rambler and a gambler
And a sweet-talking-ladies man
And you love your lovin
But not like you love your freedom

This always hit me hard, due to the fact that I consider myself a romantic butfreedom always seemed just as important as love if not more. Joni's plea for help makes this a truly great lyric. To put all this in a few lines, wow, hard to do. To me she's one of the best of all time.

7) LEOPARD-SKIN PILLBOX HAT (Bob Dylan)

Well, you look so pretty in it
Honey, can I jump on it sometime?
Yes, I just wanna see
If it's really that expensive kind
You know it balances on your head
Just like a mattress balances
On a bottle of wine
Your brand new leopard-skin pill-box hat


Listening to the master at work brings a smile. Fave part: the mattress and wine image.
Dylan is indeed inimitable. As Hootie and the Blowfish sing: "Ain't Bobby so cool".

8) SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL (Mick Jagger/Keith Richards)

Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for a long, long year
Stole many a man's soul and faith
And I was 'round when Jesus Christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that Pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
I stuck around St. Petersburg
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the czar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain
I rode a tank
Held a general's rank
When the blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
Ah, what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah
I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made
I shouted out,
"Who killed the Kennedys?"
When after all
It was you and me

That last line does it best, but what a buildup to it. Lotta history. Mick and Keith are sometimes underrated as songwriters. Two of the best.

9) I AM THE WALRUS (The Beatles)

I am he
As you are he
As you are me
And we are all together.
See how they run
Like pigs from a gun
See how they fly. I'm crying.
Sitting on a cornflake - waiting for the van to come.
Corporation teeshirt, stupid bloody
Tuesday man you been a naughty boy
You let your face grow long.
I am the eggman oh, they are the eggman -
Oh I am the walrus GOO GOO G'JOOB.
Mr. City policeman sitting pretty little policeman in a row,
See how they fly
Like Lucy in the sky
See how they run. I'm crying - I'm crying I'm crying.
Yellow matter custard dripping from a dead dog's eye.
Crabalocker fishwife pornographic
Priestess boy you been a naughty girl,
You let your knickers down.
You can hear George's Eastern philosophy (I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together) and John's zany humor but which of the Fab Four came up with this doozy: "yellow matter custard dripping from a dead dog's eye"? Whenever I quote that line people look at me and say: "that's disgusting". Yep, but still a great lyric. And let's not ignore the sexual innuendo. How subtle compared to today's over-the-top sexuality in lyrics.

10) REDEMPTION SONG (Bob Marley)

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our minds.
Have no fear for atomic energy,
'Cause none of them can stop the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look? Ooh!
Some say it's just a part of it:
We've got to fulfil de book.

Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom? -
'Cause all I ever have:
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs.

This reggae hit always brings back memories of hangin out and havin a few and singin.
It's what we all are seeking: spiritually speaking, redemption refers to forgiveness or absolution for past sins and protection from eternal damnation. And Marley puts forth the notion that we, ourselves, can achieve this by first freeing our minds. Deep, very deep Bob.

TIBET

Recently the Tibet/China situation has garnered headlines.

Several years ago I wrote this piece after visiting a monastery for the weekend. I decided to call up Ms. Cutler and say hello. She remembered me after 11 years!

It's a complicated mess, but in my view, the monks seem like nice people.  Anyway, no matter what your view is on the situation, visiting a Buddhist monastery helps us along whatever spiritual path we are on.

PEACE ON MONTANA MOUNTAIN

A long gravel path leads the way to the Tibetan Buddhist learning center in rural Washington Township. One of the Skylands' most sublime settings, Labsum Shedrub Ling, as it's known in Tibetan language, is "a little special place that's open to the public", according to Diana Cutler, who along with her husband Joshua run the center. Buddhist contemplatives, the Cutlers open the center's doors the second and fourth Sundays of each month for a public prayer and meditation session in the temple followed by classes in Buddhist teachings.

The Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center (TBLC), Labsum Shedrub Ling, was founded through the great efforts of Geshe Wangyal, a Kalmyk-Mongolian lama who received his Buddhist training in Kalmykia and in Tibet. The center was founded in 1958. Over the years, Geshe-la took on Western students who had developed an interest in learning about Tibetan Buddhism. Before Geshe-la passed away on January 30, 1983, he appointed Joshua W. C. Cutler as director of the activities of the center. In the following year, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet, always revered by Geshe-la as the spiritual head of the center, advised that the English name be changed to the Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center to clearly reflect that its main activity is teaching Tibetan Buddhism.

In summer, winter, and spring, TBLC gives weekend seminars intended as intensive instructions on specific topics for beginners and advanced students alike. Our primary aim: to develop a Buddhism that is culturally American and, at its heart, not different from the Buddhism that traveled from India through Tibet to TBLC's Tibetan monk-scholars and students in the United States. TBLC also has a limited number of resident students who study Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy for extended periods of time. Living in this Buddhist contemplative community gives them a unique opportunity to apply the Buddhist teachings in a practical way. The Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center holds a weekly prayer and meditation session every Sunday beginning at 11 AM in the main temple followed by a class in the School House beginning at 1:30 pm-3 PM on Buddhist philosophy and meditation.

Understanding little about Buddhist philosophy, you don't know what to expect for a weekend seminar as you pass through the entranceway, an Asian arch hidden deep in the forest. Your anticipation heightens when you meet the staff here, especially the cheerful monks. Clothed in simple violet-saffron robes, you can't help notice their ways and mannerisms--bowing, hands held together as if praying, to you and the other students; helping to prepare (and clean up after) meals; smiling, sharing, speaking to anyone interested in listening at any time. Subtle leaders, they steer you toward "the true path", the final goal...enlightenment.

Enlightenment. Nirvana. Liberation from cyclic existence. Altruism. Noble truths. You hear these words throughout the seminar and you realize they're not just a new vocabulary for interested beginning Buddhists. "You could be the world's greatest scholar of Buddhism," one of the monks says, "but if you don't put these teachings into practice, they do no good."

Apparently, more and more of us want to do good. "More and more people are more aware of Buddhism nowadays," says Joshua Cutler, a soft-spoken man who also translates, with his wife, Buddhist texts from the Tibetan. "Back in the earlier years there weren't as many centers, books, teachers. Now there is much more information and they even have Buddhism on the internet and on computers."

The trees, the birds, the lotus plants in the spring and summer, the beautiful carp swimming in the nearby ponds, the meticulous gardens kept by the monks, the simple foods and the extraordinary comraderie. As Diana and Joshua like to say, "people who come here park the world at the door." "They come for the interaction with the monks. It's a little taste of Tibet," Diana concludes.

She's right. Most of all, you'll remember the monks. Quiet, reserved, simple beings the monks are happy people who care about others. "To truly serve others, we must first change ourselves," Geshe Tsetan instructs. "We must first realize we have problems and afflictions and then we must resolve to change them. Now that we've planted a seed in you, nurture it."

Energy Expo: World at Turning Point

One of the most moving speakers at the Energy Congress was Dr. Hermann Scheer. Scheer has been a member of the German Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany since 1980. He is the author of A Solar Manifesto, a groundbreaking book on renewable energy and of The Solar Economy: Renewable Energy for a Sustainable Global Future published in 2002. Dr. Scheer also serves as General Chairman of the World Council for Renewable Energy (WCRE) and is the president of EUROSOLAR, a non-partisan European renewable energy organization.

According to Sheer, the truth, as he sees it, is that our world currently faces a turning point, and we are at the borderline of the present global energy system based on at least 10 reasons. Here are Sheer's 10 reasons:

1) The liquid oil and natural gas resources--that is 60 percent of present commercial supplies and demands - run out. Proposals to extend the lifetime of the fossil energy system by using so-called non-conventional fossil energies will lead to tremendous price progressions and would definitely overstress the ecosphere.

2) The ecological limit of fossil energy consumption is closer than the limit of the resources.

"It's time for a general shift to renewable energies," Sheer emphasized. "This is the elementary challenge of our century. There is no time for further postponements."

3) The curve of cheap fossil reserves, and therefore its supply possibility, decreases. On the other hand the curve of energy demand will increase.

"Only renewable energy can avoid a crossing of the two curves of demand and supply in the near decades. If renewable energy is not introduced in a broad scale and in time the dangers of global economic crisis and energy conflicts will be the consequence," Sheer said.

4) The atomic option remains a negative vision. Even the usable uranium reserves will run out within five decades based on the present number of atomic power plants. The prolongation of the fission materials by reprocessing and fast breeder reactors will lead to incalculable additional costs and risks.

"It is irresponsible to leave future generations the atomic waste management for more than 10,000 years. And the peaceful use of atomic energy becomes more and more the bridge to a global proliferation of atomic weapons, which must be avoided in any case," Sheer noted. "Which political system can be kept stabile for thousands of years? Not a comeback of atomic energy is at stake, but the immediate acceleration of renewable energies."

5) The future option of atomic fusion is a non-option. No supporter of atomic fusion is asked and speaks about the costs, which will be at least three times higher than for atomic fission.

"They all ignore the prognosis of the former head of the plasma fusion center of MIT, Mr. Litsky, that if the fusion program produces a reactor, no one will want it," Sheer said. "And they ignore the fact that there is no need for another energy option if we take advantage of the solar potential which is annually 15 thousand times higher than the annual world fossil and nuclear energy consumption. The fusion prospective is unrealistic. The renewable energy prospective is real."

6) Because energy is a basic need of life, we can't leave these basic decisions for future energy supplies only to comparisons on actual energy costs and to the energy market. The costs for the outrunning conventional energies go up and the main victims are the third world countries. During the oil crisis between 1973-1981 there was an increasing of the public debt of the developing countries from $200 billion to $1.2 trillion because of the energy prices. Alone the increasing oil prices in this year leads to $60 billion more oil importation costs for the developing countries.

"Since the outrunning conventional energy costs go up renewable energy costs will go down because they are almost exclusively technology costs except for biomass. And the history of technology shows that all technology costs are digressive in the cost of technological progress and mass production," Sheer said. "The acceleration of renewable energy is not an economic burden, it is unique and new opportunity for the world economy.

7) Conventional fossil atomic energies have multiple negative macroeconomic side effects, such as the increasing need to protect globalized power lines against attacks, the high water consumption for mining extractions, and for heating power stations, as well as the currency costs for importation and the environmental and health damages. In contrast renewable energy sources have multiple positive macroeconomic benefits because they help to avoid all these negative effects.

"The practical challenge is the creation of policies for the transformation of these macroeconomic benefits into microeconomic incentives for application," Sheer said.

8) Only with renewable energies can we come to real energy efficiency. In the long, global, conventional energy chains, from the mines and wells to the customers, sometimes over distances of more than 20 thousand miles, there are many energy losses at each station, and each station is a cashier. Only with short energy chains, based on the use of indigenous renewable energies, can energy losses be reduced radically.

Sheer said that the central work for renewable energy research and development is to make short energy chains possible. "This is an absolute priority for new storing technologies and not only with hydrogen," he added.

9) Conventional energies are politically privileged everywhere in the world by large amounts of public money for research and development, by military protection costs, which are increasing rapidly, and by $300 hundred billion of subsidies annually. Alone for atomic energy there was a worldwide public promotion in a total amount of more than $1 trillion since the 1950s. In contrast to this, renewable energies are, up until now, politically discriminated nearly everywhere. Less than $50 billion of the taxpayer's money was spent in the last 30 years to promote renewable energies.

Internationally, Sheer said, there are governmental institutions for promoting atomic energy, like the International Atomic Energy Agency, but there is not one for renewable energies. "Time is overdue to overcome the double standard against renewables," he said.

10) For thirty years governments and international institutions have been aware of the limits of conventional energies and its broad damaging consequences. Since the oil crisis in the 1970's, the global 2000 report of the Carter Administration, the United Nations Environmental Conference in 1982, the Rio Conference in 1992 and the Johannesburg Conference in 2002, they have avoided the central point - the replacement of non-renewable energies by renewable energies.

"One element to circumvent the central point is the wording on sustainable energy," Sheer noted. "Because only renewable energies are, by definition, sustainable, let's speak directly about it. But the avoidance to come to the central point is a kind of mental barrier. All these international activities seemed to work on the assumption that global problems would require mainly common global actions. They tried to develop a global consensus for action. But consensus is always comfortable, no doubt, for the participating people. On the other side, consensus means, always, that the slowest mover decides about the speed. The result was the attitude of globally talking and nationally postponing. It is an indispensable contradiction to get speed and to have consensus at the same time."

Sheer concluded by saying that the consensus principle leads to what he calls a 'practical paralyzer.' "All remarkable progresses for renewable energies could not stop the already running facts that the global fossil energy consumption increases faster than the introduction of renewable energies," he said. "That means, up until now, world civilization continues its run into the fossil energy trap, and into mounting energy dependencies. The result of all these facts and trends is that the need to speed up renewable energy promotion is a must. For all countries to do this is in their own interest. No one should wait any longer for others or for an international consensus."

Haliaeetus Leucocephalus

Haliaeetus leucocephalus, the bald eagle, soars effortlessly over the Delaware River Highlands. Birdwatchers and hikers look up in awe trying to explain in words their excitement. The bald eagle lands in its enormous nest, a sanctuary built methodically over weeks, each branch selected by overprotective parents caring for young chicks nearly ready to fledge.

The beauty of this scene has helped our national symbol recover from a not-so-pleasant past, a time when Americans used destructive chemicals that hindered the fragile eagle eggs. Since its early protection in 1940, through the banning of DDT, its endangered status and its de-listing in June of this year, this beautiful bird of prey still needs our help to continue its quest toward an even more thriving success story.

In the Delaware Highlands many people have worked long hours to bring the bald eagle to this nadir. One of those people is Lori Danuff McKean, founder/director of the Eagle Institute, a Barryville, NY-based non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of the bald eagle. McKean says the experience she had when she first saw a bald eagle in the wild in the upper Delaware region was similar to the experience thousands still have.

"It's an awesome sight, a moving thing, and if you don't have an affinity for nature it's the thing that could get you hooked," McKean says. "I call it the ah, ha moment. We've been doing this for ten years so tens of thousands of people have had this ah, ha moment where they never thought about water quality or forestry or the environment but when they see the bald eagle in the wild they realize what it's all about."

This realization inspired McKean to get involved. "At the lowest point in the bald eagle's history in our region there was one breeding pair in New York state and one breeding in Pennsylvania which was in the early 1970's," she explains. "The breeding pair in New York was not successfully reproducing."

The overarching problem for the eagle in the early 1970's was the introduction of DDT, a synthetic pesticide, into the bird's ecosystem. "Farmers used DDT, it seeped into the water sources, the fish ate it, the eagles ate the fish but didn't die but the shells of their eggs were too thin and they couldn't incubate them," McKean says.

According to McKean, several things things led to the eagle's recovery. A very ambitious re-introduction program in New York and Pennsylvania, the banning of DDT, conservation of habitats in the Highlands and educating the public about the bird have all combined to create the eagle's success story.

"State wildlife biologists went to Alaska and Canada, places where the bird was not considered endangered, brought back eaglets, and over several years and used a hacking program until they were old enough to fledge," she says. "On top of that the people in New York state voted to pass a bond to set aside twelve thousand acres of habitat for bald eagles in a reservoir system that is adjacent to the upper Delaware. This was not done in Pennsylvania because of financial reasons and because there are different types of state land holdings like state game lands that are adequate to support the eagle population."

Hacking programs introduce eaglets into large three side cages put up in trees in traditional nesting areas. Biologists hand rear them and hand feed them until they are old enough to fledge, then they are re-introduced into the wild.

Another bald eagle expert in the Delaware Highlands is Yoke DiGiorgio, director of the Delaware Valley Eagle Alliance, a non-profit based in Narrowsburg, NY that works to increase awareness and understanding of the bald eagle and promotes conservation. Every January, a month when migrating eagles re-appear in our area, the Alliance sponsors Eaglefest, a festival featuring live bird demonstrations, observation sites, guest lecturers, films, poster auctions and eagle art.

Having immersed herself in the bald eagle for many years, DiGiorgio gets emotional when talking about the bird. She has been working on a wildlife film for the last 18 months, following eagles and observing there every move. "Eagles are fabulous parents," she says. "It's amazing how carefully the parents tread around their chicks. They pull their talons in so as not to hurt the young ones. When it's time to eat they feed the young ones the most tender portions."

According to DiGiorgio, there are now nearly 10,000 breeding pairs in the lower 48 states, up from 417 in 1963. "This was one of the greatest wildlife success stories in the history of this country," she says. "Bald eagle experts look to the new rules and need to monitor them to ensure the continued survival and prosperity of the species."

In her newsletter DiGiorgio's article "Protection After Delisting" quotes Dr. Larry Niles, former chief of endangered and non-game species program, Division of Fish, Game, and Wildlife and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. "Although U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was right to pursue delisting due to the rapid expansion of bald eagle population, delisting is a new national experiment," Niles says. "We have not had much experience in delisting."

Now considered by Niles and other experts a test case, what happens next to the bald eagle will reveal how America acts under the new rules and how those rules are enforced.

Monitoring will be key.

"The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act will now be the primary law protecting the bald and golden eagles," DiGiorgio says. "To ensure that eagles continue to thrive, the Service has announced it will work with state wildlife agencies to monitor eagles for at least five years. Should eagles again need the protection of the ESA, the Service can propose they be "re-listed". While there is cause to celebrate the remarkable recovery of the bald eagle, it is important to note that they are not out of danger. How eagle habitat will be protected in the future and the part we all play in habitat preservation is key to their continued recovery and prosperity."

How eagles are protected also rests on educators like John Serrao. A freelance naturalist who conducts nature walks for the Pocono Environmental Education Center and Skytop Lodge, Serrao is on the frontlines of increasing awareness and educating the public on what it can do to keep this elegant symbol thriving.

"When I take people on the nature walks we often see bald eagles," Serrao says.

"I tell them we are lucky we can see these birds because 20 years ago it would have been a rare thing. It's dramatic, it's a magnificent spectacle. You never get tired of seeing them."

Serrao says the recovery of the bald eagle proves that the Endangered Species Act works.

"I emphasize that this was a very important piece of legislation to enact."

When asked to comment on some recent news reports suggesting that the Endangered Species List itself is endangered, Serrao said he thinks any major problems with this part of the federal government come from a lack of funding from the present administration in Washington. "If we had an administration that was fully committed to backing the environment we wouldn't have problems with funding the Endangered Species program," he adds.

For the record, the Bush administration has added fewer species to the list than any other since the law was enacted in 1973.

What can be done to continue to protect the bald eagle? Perhaps Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring and one of the founders of the American environmental movement, said it best when she declared these words:

"Like the resource it seeks to protect, wildlife conservation must be dynamic, changing as conditions change, seeking always to become more effective. If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and the impressions of the senses are the fertile soil in which the seeds must grow."

When haliaeetus leucocephalus flies near us surely our emotions go wild, and hopefully, wild enough to grow seeds of conservation.

TRAVEL--Weekend Getaways West of New York City

New York City is an easy place to love - if from time to time you can escape the ubiquitous asphalt and relentless hustle. Which is why, as a lifelong tri-state resident who has been writing about travel for 20 years, I'd like to share a few of my favorite day trips and weekend getaways within two easy hours of the Big Apple.


GREAT WOLF LODGE
Scotrun, Pennsylvania

The Great Wolf Lodge opened to considerable fanfare in Scotrun, in the Pocono Mountains, in October 2005. It is owned by the largest family of indoor waterpark resorts, and boasts 92,000 square feet of indoor entertainment including its own gigantic waterpark. There is also an Aveda Concept Spa, a "cub club" for the kids or grandkids, and an upscale retail store called Buckhorn Exchange.

According to Dale McFarland, general manager of GWL, his firm chose the Poconos because family travel to the area has always been strong. "It's got natural beauty, there are a lot of activities for people to do, and we're close to the New York City and New Jersey markets," McFarland said. "So far the response has been overwhelming, more than we ever expected."

The Lodge has three eateries including the Bear Claw Caf, which features a vast selection of ice creams, homemade candies, and Starbucks coffee, and the Crossings Outlet down the road is a source of terrific shopping.  


SETTLERS INN
Hawley, Pennsylvania

Another great place in the Pocono Mountains is the Settlers Inn. Sip a frappaccino in a tavern that boasts 100-year-old chestnut woodwork. Play croquet near the herb garden overlooking the Lackawaxen River. Watch the golden orb dip into the water from a sunset dinner cruise on nearby Lake Wallenpaupack, and swirl Armagnac after a dinner of honey-peppered salmon with lime ginger and sesame sauce. 

A superb resort for the affluent traveler, the Settlers Inn at Bingham Park, Hawley, is less than two hours away from New York City, and has much to offer the discriminating visitor. Bird watching, fine dining, cross-country skiing, golf, and snow-mobiling are among the available activities.  Nearby are the Dorflinger-Suydam Glass Museum, the Ritz Company Playhouse, and Stourbridge Line Rail Excursions.

Innkeepers Jeanne and Grant Genzlinger are eager to explain the history of the Inn and how they've spent the past 18 years restoring the building.  Working methodically to create elegant comfort, they renovated and redecorated each floor along with 18 rooms and suites.  Today, guests can relax in white wicker furniture among antiques, flowered wallpaper, and quilted bedcovers.

My family enjoyed the food at the Settlers Inn above all else. The smoked chicken, fish, and beef from nearby streams and farms along with organically grown produce and herbs, homemade bread, and Amish cheeses made us want to stay inside and eat the entire weekend.  "I'm very interested in gardening and cooking and the confluence of the two has been real positive for me," said Grant, who meticulously oversees the restaurant and on-premises herb garden.


SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA

Educational yet fun -- that's what we took away from our day trips to Scranton. As you drive through this northeast Pennsylvania city, the architecture reaches out and screams: There's much history here! 

There's also so much to do. You'll have to plan your itinerary around your own preferences, but don't forget to visit the Steamtown National Historic Site.  This is the perfect place to start learning about Scranton, and the only place in the entire National Park System where the story of steam railroading and the people who made it possible is told.  Visit the restored roundhouse and turntable, participate in Ranger-led tours and train operation demonstrations, and watch your grandchildren's eyes pop out of their heads when they see the technology and history museums. 

A good transition from Steamtown for us was a delectable brunch at the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel. Located right off Interstate 81 at 700 Lackawanna Avenue in downtown Scranton, the hotel -- a restored train station -- offers an impressive glimpse into a city whose proud history is rooted in the development of the railroad, iron, and coal-mining industries.
After lunch, take in a dash of culture at the Scranton Cultural Center.  We were lucky enough

to catch a production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by the Missoula Children's Theatre, but the architecturally stunning theater with restored private boxes and spiraling ceiling features shows for people of all ages, year-round. 

There was so much to do in Scranton that we decided to combine two day-trips into one exciting weekend with an overnight stay at the Marriott Courtyard. There are plenty of nice hotels in town, but we chose this one because of its proximity to our next activity: snowtubinig. Under the lights of Montage Mountain Ski Resort, we flew down the slope at breakneck speed, swirling round and round over the icy bumps and hills.  A beautiful resort complete with outdoor fire and indoor snack bar, Montage is an excellent skiing and snowboarding spot with 22 trails on 140 acres - all powdery white from a powerful snowmaking system. 

Before relaxing in the Marriott's indoor pool and hot tub, we had dinner at Cooper's Seafood House, rated as one of America's top 125 independently owned restaurants. Platters of lobster, shrimp, crab, and scallops hit the spot, while the kids marveled at the 25-foot replica of the Smithsonian's blue whale hanging from the ceiling in the Whale Room. 

If you're traveling with grandchildren, and even if you're not, swing by the Everhart Museum before you get back on the road.  Here you'll enjoy display case after display case filled with birds, mammals, dinosaurs, rocks, minerals and natural history, plus hands-on opportunities and fine art.  The Everhart's Kristallnacht Reflections is a memorial to "the night of broken glass" - the first large-scale government-organized Nazi violence carried out against Jews in Germany and Austria, November 9-10, 1938. 


CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

Forty miles west of Philadelphia and 20 miles north of Wilmington, Delaware, Chester County, Pennsylvania can be reached by car in less than three hours from New York and encompasses such appealing destinations as Longwood Gardens, the Brandywine River Museum, the Brandywine Battlefield Park, and the Faunbrook Victorian Bed and Breakfast Inn.

The rolling hills of the Brandywine Valley are instantly calming and invite the traveler to drift toward the past and myriad events that unfolded here. Staying at Faunbrook unlocks a time machine. An imposing Italianate red-brick mansion constructed in 1860, the inn was handsomely restored by Judi and John Cummings, whose fortunate guests enjoy carved Honduran mahogany woodwork, antique furniture, a grand staircase, and wraparound veranda accented with ornate wrought iron. Faunbrook was once home to Smedley Darlington, a wealthy investor and congressman who entertained guests there during the late 1860s.

After a scrumptious breakfast, we headed to Longwood Gardens, where hyacinths mingle with forget-me-nots, sweetly scented white freesias blossom alongside primroses and pansies.  We saw palm trees, sinuous pools, hundreds of cymbidium orchids, and more than 2,000 blossoms as we strolled the winding stone paths through the hillside gardens.  These extraordinary botanical gardens at Kennett Square are set on 1,050 acres of the former summer home of Pierre DuPont.

Don't miss the N.C. Wyeth tour.  After viewing paintings by several members of the Wyeth family, including the famous Andrew Wyeth, we traveled by shuttle bus to the Chadds Ford studio that belonged to Andrew's father, N.C.  Known primarily for his illustrations, N.C. Wyeth bought 18 acres here with the money he earned for illustrating Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. Built in 1911, the studio remains filled with huge canvases and other artifacts, and appears to be left just as it was in N.C.'s lifetime.

Back at Faunbrook, Judi Cummings directed us to the Spence Cafe for a wonderful meal. Over spinach-and-arugula salad, pan-seared tuna steaks, and sauteed Louisiana crawfish cakes with Creole remoulade, we talked about the Wyeths, Darlington, DuPont, and Lafayette. We kept talking about them all the way home.


NEW JERSEY STATE PARKS

To many New Yorkers, New Jersey may be little more than the butt of endless jokes made by late-night talk-show hosts. But the Garden State does have its enjoyable places to visit, like four wonderful state parks: High Point, Stokes State Forest, D&R Canal State Park, and Worthington State Forest. 

High Point State Park in Sussex County is, at 1,803 feet, literally the state's highest point, a superb place for a summer or early fall getaway weekend. Expect spectacular views along the crest of the Kittatinny Mountains. The park's 14,056 acres extend eight miles southwest of the New York State border and offer golden opportunities for camping, swimming, hiking, boating, and fishing.  There are 50 secluded campsites along the 20-acre Sawmill Lake, about three miles south of the High Point Monument. Cabins are available by reservation only.

A portion of the Appalachian Trail passes through High Point State Park, and the Shawangunk Ridge Trail enables hikers to pass through High Point and continue north along the spine of New York State. Fishermen, listen up: Largemouth bass and trout are caught in the park's lakes and streams.  And if you want to launch a boat, feel free to do so at Steenykill and Sawmill Lakes. The High Point Monument is dedicated to the memory of New Jersey's wartime heroes.

 Not far from High Point is the magnificent Stokes State Forest, a great place to camp if you're up for a real wilderness experience complete with clear freshwater streams, scenic vistas, and elevations from 420 feet above sea level to 1,653 feet atop Sunrise Mountain.  Covering 12 miles of the Kittatinny Ridge, northwest of Branchville in Sussex County, the forest connects with High Point State Park to the northeast and the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area to the southwest.  Along with Worthington State Forest, these lands form a continuous corridor of public-owned properties along the Kittatinny Mountain Ridge.

Activities in the Stokes State Forest include picnicking (the most popular area is at Stony Lake, for which there is a parking fee during swimming season); camping (either ground or platform sites that include fire rings and picnic tables); cabins (in such high demand that a lottery is conducted every year to determine occupancy); hiking (a 12.5-mile section of the Appalachian Trail winds through the Forest); and boating (only small boats with electric motors are permitted in the waters of Lake Ocquittunk). A variety of animals inhabit the park - black bears, deer, bobcats, beavers, raccoons, oppossums, and skunks.

Also along the Kittatinny Ridge but near the Delaware River is Worthington State Forest. Occupying 5,830 acres, it contains some of the most rugged terrain in northern New Jersey, on which camping, hunting, fishing, boating, tubing, and rafting are among the pleasures to be explored.

Why visit these places?  John T. Cunningham put it best in his book, This Is New Jersey: "My advice to those who think only about the negatives of our state is this - get off the turnpike."