Greetings to all who receive this community e-mail series. I do it all for you and as an excuse to keep getting new camera gear, while trading off other stuff. It’s a real “condition” among photographers called G A S, or Gear Acquisition Syndrome. All activities and events here in Wiley Walk #35 are those that I could get to and those that were not cancelled. I tried to “cancel” myself out by sailing off a 9 inch curb painted blue over on Bridalwreath Court in late October. Got to ride in the Big Boy Ambulance, too.
Craig organized the final Wiley 2024 Bocce tournament. A crowd of 14 exuberant spectators and players turned out for this fund raiser. Joe and Craig battled each other. Joe came over from his garden “critter hunt” duties to watch. The event was captured on video but not broadcast and there were no commercials.
MaryAnne and Carol pointed their phone camera lenses toward the action. Craig demonstrated ‘Bocce Pointing’. I managed one good shot of Joe in action. My one good one of Craig turned out to be not good (PTSD from the previous face planting on Bridalwreath . . . Post Traumatic Stupid Disorder).
Craig came up the winner, coming from a 5 to 2 deficit to a 12-9 victory. MaryAnne submitted the winner/loser circle photo. A couple of days later Wiley Food Pantry director Laurie arrived at the pantry to collect the $200 Bocce donation.
Wow! Used to be that Christmas cheer held off until after Thanksgiving. Well, way back in the used to be days it seems. So in late October I happened to be at Whole Foods and noticed the pre-cut live/dead Christmas trees were out front. On a run to the Evesham Library there stood the Letters To Santa mail drop. No sooner did daylight fade did I see pretty blobs of Christmas lights along the Wiley playground fence. I liked the blurry version compared to anything I had of sharp bulbs.
I’ve been keeping my eyes on the old Marlton Tavern condemned building on Main Street for quite awhile. Nothing happening. Until one day Wiley guy Tom, who apparently has been noticing nothing going on there, too, sent me the photo of some guys from Demolition By Dean. they had apparently wrapped up digging holes to disconnect utilities to the building. Tom shared that he thought in 2-3 weeks there might be some demolition going on.
Meanwhile, all around the Wiley Campus, a crew from Mudjacking was busy drilling holes in concrete sidewalk slabs so that an injection compound could get under to raise up the slab. Raise slabs to eliminate trip edges.
Once drilled and filled with the “mud” a bit of finishing concrete material filled the hole previously used in the injection process. This process continued all through Wiley. One day is cloudy and another day it is way sunny, so the tone of the sidewalk changed without me noticing, until now.
The Wiley Food Pantry Project, commanded by Barbara, happened on Saturday, November 23rd. All streets and courts were assigned specific items to donate. Snapdragon Lane did toothpaste, tooth brushes, pasta sauce and laundry soap. That’s volunteer Ron removing stuff from my car. All the donated goods end up divided for individual families. 60-70 families are served by the Wiley Food Pantry. This event is an annual Wiley Home Auxiliary gift to the pantry. Otherwise the first Saturday of each month is a collection date.
Again Ron was probably mindful of the sign in the steps. Everything donated is brought to the basement, which is a model of organized storage and efficiency.
Barbara (next to the car) greeted everyone who drove up to drop off. Here she is with Kathy. I could not resist sharing the photo I did of Sharon and Bill, who came down into the pantry proper. I was reminded of one of those trail cameras that are set up to record whatever motion happens.
Your humor mileage may vary!
For sure Wiley Seasoned Citizens do not have to go to Maine for Fall colors. For a brief time it is all blazing right here out our windows or along the walkways.
HollyBerries-by-TheLeaf-iums are right at eye level all around.
One lonely leaf on a worker’s truck mirror turns into a full view of what my car’s side view mirror showed.
Again a lonely leaf. But while shooting the berries nearby this interesting/odd tree growth seemed to call out for a photo.
Today, Nov. 25th, was the Wiley Coffee Hour group’s trip to breakfast. This time it was Cracker Barrel out on Rt. 73. Above (top) is one of a seemingly endless series of photos I started doing the Wiley white bus. Below (bottom) is a view of the restaurant’s unique retail shop of nostalgic goods. This beckons shoppers on the way in and on the way out. Those old fashioned Charles Chips in a can is $22.
MaryAnne and Craig make their way in and then into the center dining room where two tables awaited. 16, maybe 17 enjoyed the breakfast out.
Barbara discovered A LOT of breakfast choices. The array to the right is Bob’s breakfast. He said the bus driver needs a good one : > )
Oops! Misspelled Cracker Barrel. You will have this with older people.
I’ve managed to get back to baking blueberry muffins and chocolate chip cookies. The Queen is baking 3 Apple pies now, one for a birthday person and two for a Thanksgiving day celebration WE HAVE BEEN INVITED TO AND DON’T EVEN NEED TO DRIVE OURSELVES TO.
Sadly, it turned out the couple of teenage boys set fire(s) in Evesham pine woods in October. Big smoke, too.
What might be better than one baby picture to end the report? Well, two for sure and then a third photo for good measure.
Cheers.
Jon-