FALL IS HERE!

After a sometimes Hot Summer, Fall is finally here.  This is my favorite time of the year, when Nature gives off all her splendor for one last "look at me" before old Man Winter set's in.  For some reason, Fall is a bit late around here.  The Colors are very sparse.  Depends on where you go.  Further up North from my area, the leaves are changing more than here.  Normally, by now, there would be a lot more color.

This is what I mean about sparse color.  This Image was taken about a week ago.  There is very little color compared to the other one.  Maybe because of all the rain we've had over the past few weeks.  However, I was under the impression that the more rain you have, the better the color.  Guess that's not the case here.

As you can see I have a NEW image Watermark.  I think that this Signature Watermark makes my Images more professional looking, even though I'm no Pro Photographer.

Until later.

Les

HAUNTED SCHOOL

For a number of years now, I have been told that my former High School is Haunted by 2 Spirits from it's past.

Pictured above is what my old HS looks like today.  It truly has not changed much since my day's here back in the early 60's for my 7th, 8th, and 9th Grade.  The outside has stayed the same, the trees in the background have gotten bigger, and there is some more sidewalk here for the NEW HS that was built just behind this frame I took.  Oh Yes.  There was no yellow rail next to the school then, either.

The inside of the building is a different story.  After walking around the outside and shooting some more Images, I wanted to see the inside of this Hallowed old building.  I went in the white door you see in the center of the Image.  Went up the 5 steps, thru the open double doors, and then into what looked like a new small reception area.  The school is now the Administration Building for the Oley Valley School District.  A nice Lady came out and asked who I was.  I told her and asked if I could Tour my old school and take some Images.  She told me that I could, but would have to wait for a "Escort." that would take me thru the 2 floors!  Could not do this on my own.  School Laws have changed a whole lot!!

Another nice Lady came out and told me to follow her, as if I don't know where I'm going?  Anyway, I asked her point blank if the school is Haunted.  Her response was "Yes. I know it is.  I've seen it for real.  Many strange things happen here."  What!  So, it is true what I heard.  "Yes, it is."

This is looking down the 1st Floor Hallway.  The Old lockers are gone from the wall and Classroom doors are kept open for a reason.  I was told that the doors open and close for no reason.  Lights come on and off and voices are heard from no-ware.  The Circuit Breaker on the wall to the right is disconnected from any electric.  Interesting!  These were my old Classrooms years ago.

 Looking down another Classroom Hallway.  Notice the doors.  Footsteps are heard here in the Hallway and there is no one here!  The Wall color has changed.  They were not as bright back then as they are now.  These Hallways used to be filled with kids going to and from Classes years ago.

This is what used to be the Gym years ago.  Now, it's a storage area for old records.  Those red walls were not there when I was here.  They were built later on for some reason.  The original Stage is still here with just one of the basketball nets hanging in front.  There is still electric service in here yet.  The Gym floor is gone and so are the bleachers that were on each side where the red wall now is.  Sometimes, the lights turn off for no reason that can be explained.  There used to be HS dances here on a Saturday night, basketball games, and also a Cafeteria were once all here.

Looking to the front of the Gym.  The 2 doors in the back led to the outside.  I can view this Image and remember back from what was once here.  It's different.  I sort of wished it would have stayed the same, but nothing remains the same as it was.  I used to eat my lunch in here.  I had to pay a whole 35 cents for lunch!!  It was always a hot meal.  The new tables and chairs on the left are from a later time.  Not mine.

I know, what's up with this?  Just a chair and a toy piano, right.  Well, I was told a story about this.  4 day's ago this room was empty.  Nothing was in here at all!  2 day's later this appeared in the center of the room!!  No one else was in here.  It's a locked room.  Where & how did this get in here?  No one knows.  It was left as it was found.  Rather strange!

As I walked thru my old School, my inner mind went back in time visualizing what used to be here.  Back to the day's when Life was so much more simple for me.  I could look into the Classrooms that I used to go into for different subjects.  Now, these rooms are bare and tore up.  Blackboards still hang where they were, but no one writes on them anymore.  In the future this old school will be torn down to make way for a new Park.  The History of this school will be preserved in the NEW HS for another generation to see how we used to go to school so long ago.

Thanks for stopping by.

Les

NOTHING HERE ANYMORE!

This is all that remains of the Main Building in a Recreation Park that once used to be here.  The bright squares you see are all made of square blocks of glass.  I'm surprised that most of them are still here and not stolen as a souvenir of what happened here years ago.  This is in the same place as the previous Post where 2 teenagers were murdered.

There is not much left of the once popular place.  The roof has fallen in, and left just a huge pile of rotting wood.  Some of the brick walls have caved in.  Lot's of junk is in the inside.  You can't even tell this had a arcade in it with lot's of kids.  It truly is a strange place to visit ever since those teenagers were killed here.

Thanks for stopping by.

Les

MY OLD HOME

Here is a Image of my old home from back when I was a teenager in the early 60's.  I shot this picture last summer when it was a bit on the warm side.  Looks like a barn, doesn't it?

It really does not look like it now, but there is a whole lot that went on here in those years long ago.  The house did not look like what you see now.  A whole lot of work, sweat, and time went into making this home what it is now.  When my Step-Father and Mother first bought this place it looked like a broken down home that no one wanted.  However, my Mother & Step-Father saw possibilities with it, so they decided to buy it and fix it up.

There was hardly any roof to it,  the stone walls on the outside were crumbling at places, the windows were broken, the front porch was not there.  Just a big open space that had all kinds of junk in it, the land was full of weeds and trash.  There is a garage there under the porch, and it had no door.  This is just part of the outside.  The inside was a total mess, to say the least.  The floors needed new wood, the walls were a joke.  There was dust, and dirt everywhere you looked.  I was told that a rat was on the living room floor that I never saw!  The 2 lane road that you see now, was nothing but a dirt road that kicked up dust when it was dry.  Now, it's macadam.

Here I am, just turning 13, and had to work my butt off to help build and repair this home.  Everyday, there was work, work, work!  Cleaning up the land was one of my jobs.  My Brother Jamie, did not come around until 1960.  He was just a baby back then.  My Step-Father did allot of the work, plus outside contractors that were hired to perform some of the work.  New Windows, roof, singles, lots of painting were all done over a large period of time.  Finally, it looked like a nice home after working so much on it.  To have this much repair, my Mother must have taken out a loan to pay for it all.

Then, in April of 1960, my Step-Father passed away from a massive heart attack.  There was no one there anymore that could earn a living to support the expense of the house.  In a short period of time, my Mother sold this house and moved into a new House Trailer on the outside of Fleetwood.  The house was sold for $10,500!  Back then that kind of money was pretty good.  Since then, the new owners have stayed here since they bought it.  They added a new 2 bay garage, which you see in the back part of the Image.  They must have liked how we fixed the place up.

So, now you know that my Life when younger was full of work that taught me a lesson.  If you want something to look nice, you have to work for it.  It's not handed to you!

Thanks for stopping by.

Les

NEW YEARS DAY HERE.

This Image was taken on New Years Day 2017.  It shows me, my 2 Brothers, and my Sister.

I'm on the extreme right, so now you can see who is writing on this Blog.  Next is my Brother Roger who is about a year and a half older me  Roger is retired now, after working at Deka Batteries for over 30 yrs.   Next is Jamie. Jamie is still working for a living.  He works as a Maintenance Tech at a Custom Coating Plant here in Reading.  He also works another job, part-time at PepBoys Auto Store. He is very good with anything mechanical. .He's the youngster of all of us.  Jamie lives just down the street from me.  I almost can throw a stone and hit his house.  Then, is Carol who is 5 years older than me.  Carol has had a very rough Life in her past.  She was married to a US Marine who used to beat her.  She finally got sick of it, and left him.  She married another Marine later on, but he passed away on her at a fairly young age.  Her one Son, died from a Heart Attack when he was just a baby.  Was born with a bad heart problem.  Now, she lives alone not far from my Home.

On New Years Day, my Wife, always makes some Pork & Sauerkraut for the day's Dinner.  It is said that having this meal brings good luck for the rest of the year.  Well, I don't know about that one.  There is always more than enough to eat and we all walk or sit around after Dinner stuffed silly that we can hardly move.  The left-overs are always taken home by my Brothers and Sister, leaving just enough for us.  It usually lasts for a few day's, until my Wife and I finish it.  I'm sorry for the picture quality.  It was taken by the Wife with a Samaung Tab 3.

Thanks for stopping by.

Les

EMPTY BUILDINGS

While walking and driving around the Historic town of Shenandoah, PA I happen to drive right past this old looking empty building.  It caught my eye, so I pulled over to the side of the street.

What this building once was, I don't really know.  I know I have a few idea's of what it may have been long ago.  Could have been a factory of some sort?  A Office area for Coal processing when Coal was King in this area?  It's kinda spooky looking.  Looks as if it's going to fall apart at any time.  Has seen it's better day's.  Again, there was no one around that might have some knowledge of this, so I have to guess.  Since this Coal Mining town has much to offer in abandoned places, I did shoot more.  When I see buildings such as this, I often wonder what it was used for.  Who was here and why?  Why is it empty?  What happened?

Pentax K10d Tamron 28-80mm Lens

Thanks for stopping by.

Les

ELVIS CLOCK

Elvis still lives in this Clock that we bought last year.  My Wife just loves Elvis and his music.  So, do I, but just his popular music from the 60's & 70's.  Instead of having a bird come out and sing every hour, Elvis comes out of the doors at the top and sings one of his great songs every hour.  One thing about this is we don't care to hear him at 3 am, so we had to turn down the volume.  The clock runs on 2 D size batteries that last for a long time.  It get's allot of conversation. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Les