Fishermen on the Cold Stream Dam, Philipsburg

My husband had a dentist appointment in Philipsburg with the same dentist he has had since we first met. The last time he had one, I rode along and did a walking tour of Philipsburg, PA. Rain was expected on this day, but I had my umbrella, and I was completely willing to walk in the rain, as long as it wasn't total out-and-out downpours.

So he dropped me off by the post office, and I walked the same route I walked last time, which is to say that I started out at the John Henry Simler house (1807), which is the oldest remaining structure in Philipsburg. It has lots of red trim and is very fun to take photos of. You may see a picture of it in the extras.

I strolled up around the memorials and benches across from the borough offices, which are heavily featuring Easter bunnies and eggs at this time of year. Then I walked down East Presqueisle Street, past some churches, past Halehurst, and over to the Old Mud Church (also known as the Union Church), located between 6th and 7th Streets along the main drag.

I am a cemetery lover, and I had a fine little tour of the graveyard, stopping to photograph many stones, and some of the trees as well. I am a fan of dancing trees, and the extras area includes a picture of the Old Mud Church surrounded by tombstones, flags, and dancing trees. (A short video made last year shows the interior of the church and provides some history.)

My final stop, where my husband picked me up when his appointment was done, was Cold Stream Dam, which you may see in my main shot. There is a decent restroom along the edge of the main dam walkway (always good to know such things in small towns, where public restrooms are sometimes hard to come by).

I took a quick break there, and somehow managed to accidentally drown a tiny spider while washing my hands on the way out. In my defense, I tried to rescue him but the situation just kept getting worse. Sometimes you can't win and rescue is not possible. I apologized as I left.

I took a few photos of the dam and the fishermen and the very fine reflections. Turned, and saw my husband arriving in his big black car. So after fussing around with the attempted/failed spider rescue, I got less than two minutes to get my shots!

From there, I crawled into the car with my muddy boots on, and we drove to Black Moshannon, where we had a picnic in a pavilion as it rained. A break in the rain gave us about three minutes of photo op time before the wetness set back in again, and we took refuge in the car and headed for home.

Now, it is my tradition to include a soundtrack song, and I've got several for this day. For we put in my new John Mellencamp CD, Strictly a One-Eyed Jack, and that's what we listened to - for the very first time ever! - during our drives and adventures in the rain. We laughed to discover how many of the tracks were about rain! And finally, my dream has come true, for Bruce Springsteen also appears on the new Mellencamp album! (More on the Springsteen-Mellencamp connection over the years can be found here.) The funny thing is that we put the CD in the player and listened to it all the way through, and when we tried to take it out when it was done, it was STUCK!!! So I tried everything I could think of, and nothing worked! I pushed Power and Eject at the same time both with the car ON and with the car OFF (maybe I didn't hold it down long enough, hmm). I pushed a bunch of other buttons. The stereo made clicking sounds but indicated there was no disc in it. Great! Finally, on the drive home from Black Moshannon, the CD started to play all by itself. And then it ejected! "Grab it QUICK!" my husband hollered as it shot the CD out. I grabbed! I got it! Yay! So here is our soundtrack, which includes several tracks from the new John Mellencamp CD:

John Mellencamp and Bruce Springsteen, Wasted Days.
John Mellencamp and Bruce Springsteen, Did You Say Such a Thing.
John Mellencamp, Driving in the Rain.
John Mellencamp, A Life Full of Rain.