PALS Sunday Softball League: Hamentashan 16, Base Invaders 8

 By Nate Feldman

The Hamentashan softball team went to 4-0 in the PALS (Philadelphia Amateur League Softball) Sunday fall League with a 16-8 victory over the Base Invaders.

The Hamentashan took an early 5-0 lead.  The Base Invaders fought back to make the score 5-3.  However, midway through the game, the Hamentashan scored 11 consecutive runs, leading 16-3 at one point.  A late rally for the Base Invaders fell short.

Beaver Stadium in State College, PA

 By Nate Feldman

Today, I am going to Beaver Stadium in State College, PA to watch a college football game between Penn State and Villanova.

Here is a view of the stadium from the parking lot.

Here are the teams warming up before the game.

Penn State is leading Villanova 21-0 at halftime.

The stadium is filled with fans wearing Penn State paraphernalia.

Penn State won 52-6.  It was a dominant performance by the Penn State Nittany Lions team in all facets of the game.

The Great Allentown Fair 2025

By Nate Feldman

This last weekend was Labor Day, so once again, the city of Allentown, PA hosted its annual Great Allentown Fair.  I spent time with Taylor Hicks, a man I met at a meetup event where we saw the movie, Megan 2.0.  We watched a show of a person claiming to be the strongest man.  I got some dinner from a food vendor.  Then, we went to the building where they keep rabbits and other animals.  Here are some photos from the event.

 

Greetings from Canada, Three Great Things to do in Hamilton

 By Nate Feldman

For the first time in 31 years, I visited Canada, albeit very briefly.  I was in the city of Hamilton, Ontario for a night.  Here are three great things one can do while spending time there.  

1. Enjoy Great Parks

Hamilton has nice parks where you can spend your time at.  I visited the Waterfront Trail, which goes along the shores of Lake Ontario.

Another great park I passed by was Gage Park.  It's very large with a green house people can go inside and see many types of plants.  

2. Have Great Food

Hamilton is a multi-ethnic town with high-quality cuisine from throughout the world.  When I was there, I enjoyed some food from the Pizzeria Bros. restaurant near my hotel, a Canadian chain that specializes in quickly made pizzas with fresh ingredients.

I also had an amazing iced coffee with a scone at the Mulberry Coffeehouse on James Street North.  This is a very popular place for coffee and food.

3. Enjoy the Local Art Scene

In addition to having many art galleries, Hamilton is home to the Art Crawl, an event on the second Friday of Spring and Summer months where James Street North closes down for the evening and artists of all sorts gather to sell their work.  

A Short Biography of Cora B. Steigerwalt by Wardell F. Steigerwalt

*Below is an excerpt from a biography my grandfather was working on about his family.

By Wardell F. Steigerwalt 

Cora Belle Steigerwalt was born December  26, 1881: the daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Howerter, the youngest of eleven living children.  At that time, the family lived in the "Eile Dahl," or "Owl Valley" in Lynn Township, Lehigh County, PA.  She attended the one-room school sometimes known as Rausch's School.  

She was undoubtedly a bright child and a good student and was probably also the family favorite.  Her mother was 43 years old when she was born and may have already been suffering from diabetes, so Cora was for the most part raised by her older sisters, Alice and Elizabeth. 

Cora was raised in a family in which only Pennsylvania Dutch was spoken.  They attended the New Jerusalem Church every Sunday, where her father was the church organist for some 30 years, and in which German was the spoken language.  Her father, who was literate in German, subscribed to a weekly German newspaper.  

Professional Fastpitch Softball League: Atlanta Smoke 7, New York Rise 5

 

By Nate Feldman

Bill Edwards Stadium, Hempstead, NY

The Atlanta Smoke held on to defeat the New York Rise 7-5 in the final match of a three-game series on Saturday night.  The Smoke got off to a strong start, scoring seven runs in the first two innings, leading 7-1 at one point.

The Rise didn't go out quietly, however.  In the bottom half of the third, they began a rally, scoring three runs and loading the bases.  The Storm were able to get out of the jam, and from there, both team's pitchers settled down and didn't give up a run for the final four innings.  

The Smoke took two out of three in the series.  The two teams will meet again next weekend for another series, this time in Atlanta.  

New York Rise vs. Atlanta Smoke

Family Trips Presents, A Day at the Seneca Landing Special Park

 By Nate Feldman

Over eight years ago, in March, 2017, I spent an afternoon with Sara and Sofia, my daughters, in Washington, DC and at the Seneca Landing Special Park in Poolesville, Maryland.  I recently found a collection of photos and videos I took that day and made a You Tube video out of it with newly composed music.

This is what I remember about that day.  I remember that it was a Sunday in early March.  As shown by the video, the trees were still bare and everyone was wearing coats, so it was chilly outside.

We didn't go to the park first.  We first went to have lunch at Guapo's, a Mexican restaurant chain in the DC area.  We went to the branch in Tenleytown, close to American University where I graduated from. 

After lunch, we headed out west on River Road, which heads west along the Potomac River.  The Seneca Landing Special Park is located at about mile marker 23 on the C&O towpath, a huge trail that connects downtown Washington, DC to Cumberland, Maryland in the far western part of the state.  I had been familiar with this park since my university days when I used to drive out there for afternoon joyrides.  Although it isn't all that far from the DC metro area, it is quite pristine and bucolic out there.  

The Seneca Landing Special Park has the Seneca Creek Aqueduct, which meets at where Seneca Creek goes into the Potomac River.  The C&O Towpath crosses the Aqueduct, and you can either head towards Washington by turning left or away by turning right.  After the Aqueduct is a picnic area along the banks of the river.  Listening to the videos again, I can hear Sara asking me twice if the water in the Potomac is deep or not.   

After spending time in the picnic area, we went to the Seneca Stone Cutting Mill on the other side of the trail.  This was the old site of the Seneca Quarry, which has unique reddish pink rocks that were used in the construction of many iconic structures in the Washington, DC area, most notably the Smithsonian building.  All that remains now are its walls and an inside area that resembles a courtyard.  In the video, you can see Sofia climbing up a wooden post that was slanted and leaning against something (most likely the wall).  On this day, Sara called this structure the cavern, and as we are leaving at the end of the video, you can hear her shout out, "We need to say goodbye to the cavern!" 

We later hiked along the C&O Towpath.  At the time, the towpath was made of dirt, not the typical gravel that makes up most trails.  The views of the river are splendid along it.  You can see Sofia and Sara found a hollow log and decided to climb into it.  

Before we headed home, we headed back to the picnic area as the sun began to descend over the river.  There is a beautiful shot of Sofia sitting in a tree, basking in the waning sunlight.  

I have very fond memories of both this day and this time period when the girl were younger and used to go on a lot of adventures with me.  A lot has changed in the past couple of years since they entered adolescence and a messy custody case with their mother (which was decided in my favor but at the cost of the relationship we used to have).  Looking back, I wish I had enjoyed moments like these more while they were happening.  It's a great lesson for us all to heed.