Bird Watching Wonderland: Central Pa.: a mecca for eyeing majestic raptors.

September 4, 2012 | by Kermit G. Henning

It’s no surprise that bird watching is the number one outdoor recreational activity in the United States. At least 20 percent of all Americans spend more than $36 billion each year in their pursuit of our feathered friends.

From homeowners with a simple backyard seed feeder to the ultra-serious birders who eagerly travel thousands of miles to add a single species to their life lists, birding includes young and old alike.

Right here in Central Pennsylvania we have one of the most celebrated birding hotspots in North America. Waggoner’s Gap is a ridge top lookout six miles northwest of Carlisle along the Blue Mountains.

During the 1930’s, new attitudes began to emerge about raptors. Instead of large-scale killings of hawks and owls, raptors began to be studied and protected. Migration routes along the mountain ridges spurred dedicated birders to set up lookouts along these ridges and keep counts of birds observed.

Places like Hawk Mountain, Bake Oven Knob and Sterrett’s Gap became well known in the birding community. Dr. Ted Hake of York County was one of the pioneer birders who made regular visits to Waggoner’s Gap, beginning in the late 1930s and continuing into the 1990s.

The first to regularly record numbers of birds was Lou Knohr, a high school teacher in Carlisle. His records stretched from 1948 to 1951. In 1952, counts were taken over by Dr. Bertram Henry. The first daily counts were made by Lou Knohr, starting in 1954.

By the 1970’s, interest had grown so much that regular monitoring of raptor migration was sponsored by the Appalachian Audubon Chapter, led at first by Michael Kotz, a high school student from Harrisburg. The Hawk Mountain Association of North America was founded in 1974 and Rich Peiffer, a high school teacher at Cumberland Valley became the first official compiler. Peiffer held that position until his death from cancer in 1981 and has since been succeeded by Greg Smith, Kim Van Fleet and the current compiler Dave Grove.

Daily numbers are recorded by a host of volunteer counters starting on August 1, and running the entire migration season to December 31. Detailed records are kept from dawn to dusk every day for seventeen species of hawks, falcons, vultures and eagles.

Because of its unique position, Waggoner’s Gap actually records more birds than more famous sites like Hawk Mountain in Berks County. The position of the mountains funnels the winds through the ridges and provides easy gliding for the migrants.

Broadwing hawks are by far the most abundant with astounding counts of over 5,000 a day during the peak. They are also among the earliest to migrate, with the bulk of the migration between August and September. Smaller raptors like sharp-shinned hawks and American kestrels are also early migrators.

Eagles are the most impressive visitors. On average, bald eagles number over 500 each year and golden eagles over 300. Even the novice birder can spot these huge birds as they sail by the lookout. And even the most experienced still get a thrill at the sight of these once rare and endangered visitors.

A well-maintained oval parking lot off state Route 74 is at the base of the site. A rocky trail leaves the lot at the right hand (uphill) side. It splits after about 100 yards, but both forks lead to the lookout. The right hand trail is less steep but longer. The lookout is an angled rock pile. Bring a cushion to sit on and warmer clothing than you think you might need. Space is very limited for chairs of any sort and it’s claimed very early in the day. There is a Porta Potty in the parking lot.

Take the best pair of binoculars you can afford and make the trip to Waggoner’s Gap. This is an amazing place right in our own back yard – take full advantage.

For more on Waggoner’s Gap, visit www.waggap.com.

Walk This Way: Take a stroll this fall to help end Alzheimer’s.

September 4, 2012 | by Tiffani Chambers

It only takes two words – Alzheimer’s disease – to stop life in its tracks. Every 68 seconds someone in America develops the currently cureless disease. Alzheimer’s is a type of dementia that causes problems with memory, thinking and behavior. It is not a normal part of aging, although the greatest risk factor is age.

Symptoms usually develop slowly and get worse over time, becoming severe enough to interfere with daily tasks. Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia – a general term for memory loss and other intellectual abilities serious enough to interfere with daily life.

Alzheimer’s disease accounts for 50 to 80 percent of dementia cases. Alzheimer’s disease is a growing epidemic and is now the nation’s sixth-leading cause of death. As baby boomers age, the number of individuals living with Alzheimer’s will rapidly escalate, increasing beyond today’s estimated 5.4 million Americans living with the disease.

With more than 280,000 Pennsylvanian’s living with Alzheimer’s, there has never been a greater need for the citizens of South Central Pennsylvania to join in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease by participating in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s.

Walk to End Alzheimer’s is more than just a walk by over 1,700 local people; it’s a reflection of their unique journey and experiences with Alzheimer’s and their commitment to end the disease. Our walkers drive our mission and their reasons for walking fuel our efforts to reach our vision: a world without Alzheimer’s.

Why We Walk …

As a walker for Alz-About-It, Harrisburg WTEA, I walk for the families that have experienced Alzheimer’s or a related dementia, and for those who have yet to hear those words associated with a loved one. Each step is a commitment to fulfill the promise to remember, honor, care and fight Alzheimer’s.

Others have their own reasons for walking.

— “I was just diagnosed, at age 52, with early onset Alzheimer’s,” said Mary Read, Mary’s Early Onset Alzheimer Fighters, Lancaster WTEA. “I was a nurse and lost my job. I have been laughed at, yelled at and called stupid because of Alzheimer’s. We need to spread awareness and raise funds to conquer this battle of Alzheimer’s.”

— “I am walking for my father who has this terrible disease,” said Jennifer Schultheiss, Family Pride, Harrisburg WTEA. “He takes meds to slow it down, but that is all it will do. Seeing him slowly lose his memory kills me as much as it does him. We need to find something that will stop this disease.”

— “We are walking this year in honor of Grandfather George W. Jones who passed away from Alzheimer’s disease,” Jordyn Elby, Poppy’s Crew, York WTEA. “As a family we were unaware of Alzheimer’s and how it affected the body. He battled this disease for many years- pulling our family closer together. We are walking in remembrance and honor of our grandfather. We want less people to lose their loved ones.”

Why Will You Walk?

By participating in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s you are leading the way! Together, we can raise awareness and funds to enhance Alzheimer’s care and support and advance research.

Please join us at one of our local Walks: Sept. 8 at Harrisburg’s City Island; Sept. 15 at York’s Cousler Park or Sept. 22 at Lancaster’s Long’s Park. For more information on your local Walk to End Alzheimer’s, visit alz.org/walk or contact Tiffani Chambers at 717-561-5020 or [email protected].

Tiffani Chambers is a Constituent Relations Manager at Alzheimer’s Association.

Flowers of Remembrance: From grief, a creative enterprise takes root.

September 4, 2012 | by Renee Heyden

Changing careers in midlife is not unusual. People get bored, or burned out. Or they want to try something they’ve always dreamed of but never had the nerve to attempt. But for me, a career change came about as a result of personal tragedy.

I had been a physician’s assistant for 30 years – most recently at Woodward and Associates in Harrisburg. I loved my work; I loved my patients.

Then, on July 18, 2011, our eldest daughter, Allison, passed away suddenly as a result of surgical complications. It was a great shock, and left an overwhelming emptiness in my heart.

Alli was only 24, but she was already an accomplished fashion designer living her dream in New York City. She was featured in many magazines, received awards, and designed six of her own collections. Alli had been voted one of the “Top 100 Up and Coming Fashion Designers” in the country.

Suddenly, I felt like I couldn’t go back to my old jobs. What was I going to do?

A few months after Alli’s passing, her publicist delivered a huge amount of remnants and bolts of material from our daughter’s apartment. When a friend of Stephanie’s, our younger daughter, gave her a small floral arrangement made of fabric and pipe cleaners, I got an idea to create unique, elegant, and everlasting flowers in Alli’s memory from the fabric she had left behind.

I named this fabric-flower enterprise “Alli’s Everlasting Arrangements.” The flowers we sell are one-of-a-kind, either stand-alone or in a vase. We also sell flower accessories, including pins, ponytail holders, headbands, and hair clips.

A father-and-son business in New York City – M&S Schmalberg Inc. – crafts the flowers. But I take an active part, by adding embellishments to each flower – various accents that enhance the fabric. If I’m stumped about which direction to go in, I’ve asked myself what Alli would have wanted. She liked glitz and bling.

Alli’s Everlasting Arrangements has a charitable component: we donate a percentage of each purchase to the fund set up in Alli’s memory at her alma mater, the Savannah College of Art and Design. The Alli Heyden Passion for Fashion Memorial Endowment Fund awards a scholarship each year to a deserving fashion student.

Our family has also donated a game-ready machine in Alli’s memory to Drayer Physical Therapy Institute in Susquehanna Township. Drayer holds a special place in our heart because Alli was treated there, and Stephanie had a summer internship there.

Some day I may return to my long-term career. But for now, enhancing and selling the floral arrangements in our elder daughter’s memory gives me a sense of contentment and emotional satisfaction much needed after the loss of a child.

Like our love for Alli, these floral arrangements last forever. They don’t need water, just love.

For flowers, visit www.AllisEverlastingFloralArrangements.com. The flowers are also available locally at First Impressions in Harrisburg and Pazazz in Lemoyne. We are working on national distribution. Renee Heyden lives in Lower Paxton Township.

Mystery Meet-Up: Whodunit confab slated for September

September 4, 2012 | by TheBurg Staff

For fans of mysteries, thrillers and suspense novels, the little shop of murder –Mechanicsburg Mystery Books & Gifts – is offering readers another opportunity to investigate the writers of whodunits.

The second annual “Murder as you like it” Mystery Conference is scheduled for Sept. 22, where 17 authors will be on hand for panel discussions, workshops and book signings at the day-long event.

“A lot of people around here don’t get the chance to see so many mystery authors in one place,” said shop owner Debbie Beamer.

Beamer, a lover of good mysteries who opened her shop 22 years ago, had long ago wanted to start the conference. It had its debut last year at Mount Olivet United Methodist Church in Mechanicsburg, where it will again be held this year.

Early on in the business, she had customers tell her they didn’t like mysteries, but instead detective novels, thrillers or suspense novels like James Patterson and Mary Higgins Clark. Beamer gently explained that those, too, were mysteries.

“They’re reading them and they don’t know it,” she said.

The shop, which had been in downtown Mechanicsburg for awhile before she moved to the west end of town at the corner of Trindle and Clouser roads, also drew customers looking for Bibles.

“I really thought about having a Bible section because I had so many people asking for Bibles,” Beamer recalled.

But the shop is strictly mysteries. For fans seeking behind-the-scene peaks at mystery writing by local and national authors, the conference, Beamer said, should reveal some secretes about plot and character development.

Conference sessions include how authors create and write about worlds that don’t exist, tropes mystery and thriller authors use such as “turn in your badge” and “you’re off the case,” where plot ideas come from, and how to approach a publisher.

For young readers age 6 to 10, there is a kid’s writing session in which children’s mystery author Traci Vallano discusses how to develop a story.

“I hope we get a lot of kids,” Beamer said, thinking of the next generations of mystery readers and writers. “I’m amazed at how many kids want to write.”

For more information about the conference, its authors and to register, visit www.mysterybooksonline.com. The Mystery Conference is from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sept. 22, at Mount Olivet United Methodist Church, 5000 Simpson Ferry Rd., Mechanicsburg.

Back to Béchamel: A cream sauce still has a place in our diets.

September 4, 2012 | by Rosemary Ruggieri Baer

By now, we have all heard of the famous pasta dish, Fettuccini Alfredo, referred to as a “heart attack on a plate.” Well, perhaps it is with good reason that pasta dishes with heavy, sticky, white sauces have fallen out of favor. In fact, these days, unless it’s whole wheat pasta with vegetables, the super health conscious among us are filled with disdain. To which, I say, what a shame.

Béchamel sauce as it is known in France or Bechiamella as it is sometimes called in Italy is considered one of the “mother sauces” in both those cuisines. Not only does it figure into many classic dishes but it is a building block for other sauces as well.

In northern Italy, delicate cream sauces bathe tender pasta with mushrooms, ground boar or pork, and top luscious cannelloni, tubes filled with ground beef, cheese and tomato. Lasagna Bolognese is unlike the heavy cheese laden version we serve in America: Béchamel sauce stands in for the ricotta and mozzarella cheese while Bolognese sauce replaces the marinara or ragu. It is wonderful! Béchamel is baked with almost any vegetable you can think of for a fabulous “al forno.” And bowties with little cubes of ham and baby peas, topped with Parmesan, can be made any time of year, not just spring.

The origin of Béchamel is debated. One popular story is that the recipe migrated to France with the Italian-born Catherine de Medici sometime in the 14^th century. Wherever it came from, Béchamel is not Alfredo sauce, which is heavy on butter and cream (maybe even cream cheese).

The key to making a great cream sauce is to use fresh ingredients and master the technique of making a “roux.” Do not overcook, and be patient until it thickens.

The Béchamel recipe that follows here is from “How to Cook Italian” by Giuliano Hazan. The ingredients are simple. The recipe can be cut in half or doubled. It is best made in a heavy saucepan.

Classic Béchamel Sauce

Melt 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter in a saucepan over medium or medium-low heat.
When melted, stir in 4 Tablespoons all-purpose flour. Whisk until the mixture is smooth. Cook for about 1 minute, whisking constantly but do not brown. (This is called making a roux) Remove the pan from the heat.
Begin adding 2 cups whole milk, a little bit at first, and mix with a whisk. It will be very thick at first.
Return to the heat and slowly add the whole milk, whisking all the while. You can add the milk more rapidly at the end.
Season with a little salt to your taste and several dashes of nutmeg.
Cook over medium heat until thickened, about 15 minutes.

You can refrigerate the sauce until you are ready to use it, but you may have to add a little more milk to thin it out.

Some important tips:

Use real sweet cream butter.
Use WHOLE milk.
Buy a whisk if you don’t have one.
Don’t omit the nutmeg. It adds such a unique taste,

Be adventurous with your little pot of Béchamel.

Make some tortellini and drizzle some white sauce on top followed by some good marinara and grated cheese. The two sauces together are wonderful.
Take a cup of Béchamel, stir in some marinara sauce until it becomes pink, add a ¼ cup of vodka, and some smoked salmon and toss with freshly cooked bow tie pasta.
Drizzle some Béchamel over flounder or sole, sprinkle with paprika and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
Make real scalloped potatoes by layering thinly sliced potatoes in a gratin dish with sliced onion, salt, pepper and a little cubed butter.
Try linguine with mushrooms, perhaps mixing together different kinds.
Fettuccini with jumbo lump crap is heavenly. Maybe add some chopped herbs.

The possibilities are endless, so experiment. Just one thing: When you see those little packets of “Alfredo Sauce” at the grocery store, just keep walking.

A Day of Art: Gallery Walk adapts as the city, art scene changes.

September 4, 2012 | by Peter Durantine

Like the ebb and flow of the Susquehanna River, caused by weather and seasonal change, the art in Harrisburg’s annual Gallery Walk, as well as the event itself, often reflects the changing times in the city.

When the Art Association of Harrisburg conducted the first walk 24 years ago, there were 15 galleries participating. The number has fluctuated over time, only a few years ago it reached as high as 31 galleries. This year, there are 19.

“This has been the way it’s always been, some come and some go,” said Carrie Wissler-Thomas, president of the Art Association.

Economic headwinds and last year’s flood, which postponed the event for the first time in its history, have taken a toll on gallery owners. The latest, Hodge Podgery, a Midtown shop that was to feature its artists’ Funky Fiber Art, recently closed its doors.

Yet, for a few galleries that have closed, “there are a few new ones that have opened,” Wissler-Thomas said. “It’s a treat for me, and gratifying, to hear the galleries talk each year about who they will be featuring.”

This year’s Gallery Walk – patrons can walk, drive or hire a bike taxi to visit the galleries scattered across the city – is Sept. 9. Patrons can fine plein air artists at their easels in the gardens at the Governor’s Residence and the hit-and-run street band, No Last Call, appearing at any given corner, performing a variety of tunes.

“We’re mostly playing rock covers and funk,” said Ted Reese, a trumpeter who works for the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra. “We’ll probably have between 15 and 20 people playing.”

It’s a pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon, and has drawn people from as far as Allentown, State College, Reading and York. The walk begins at the Art Association, but patrons can choose whichever galleries they want to visit.

One of the galleries is the lobby, designed to exhibit art, at Penn National Insurance on Market Square. It will feature oil paintings by Hershey’s John Davis. Another is Historic Harrisburg Resource Centre, 1230 N. 3^rd St., featuring art and architecture.

At the State Museum, 300 North St., patrons have a last chance to view the annual “Art of the State” exhibition before it closes. A tour by select featured artists is scheduled at 2 p.m. that afternoon.

The farthest gallery is Mitrani at Home, just north of the city at 3535 Walnut St., where local, national and international artists’ renderings of their favorite animals are featured. Proceeds from sales of pet toys and furniture benefit the Humane Society of Central PA.

The Art Association, 21 N. Front St., premiers its fall membership exhibition, “Out of the Blue,” following last year’s color-themed exhibit, “Red Hot.” The Melina Blackwell Acoustic Duo will provide music, including some blues, all day.

“We’re sort of on a color kick,” Wissler-Thomas said.

Patrons to Gallery Walk will see exhibited art and photography by hundreds of artists as they step into each gallery. The event is free, designed more to promote artists’ works than make sales, although art is for sale, Wissler-Thomas said.

“It’s just a way to get people to realize how much art there is,” she said.

The 24^th Annual Harrisburg Gallery Walk is 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 9. The event is free. For more information, visit www.artassocofhbg.com/GalleryWalk or call 717-236-1432.

A Steam Story: New technology maps city’s aging system.

September 4, 2012 | by Admin

Snaking under your feet as you stroll the streets from Harrisburg Hospital to Broad Street Market: Six miles of pipes delivering heat from a steam generation plant to the Capitol Complex, the hospital, the Hilton, and about 130 other buildings.

Harrisburg’s steam system was a turn-of-the-20^th-century technological marvel. Now, its maps are getting a 21^st century makeover. Owner NRG Energy Center, Harrisburg, has tapped Harrisburg University of Science and Technology students to use geospatial mapping to computerize and pinpoint information on the complex system’s many pieces.

“There are various steam traps that release water from the steam pipes, and expansion joints that allow the pipe to expand and contract depending on how hot or cold it gets,” said Jan Sockel, NRG’s Harrisburg vice president and general manager. “There are valves that turn parts of the system on and off, and there are valves that control the pressure of the system; there are a lot of devices under the street that regulate and make the system functional.”

About two years ago, NRG donated $40,000 for HU scholarships and offered to place students in real-world projects. That prompted HU’s Albert Sarvis, assistant professor of geospatial technology and project management, to write the project updating NRG’s existing maps.

First step: Identify 12 system features, such as pipes and fittings, and 10 to 25 attributes for each – pressure classification, insulation, last repair date, threaded or welded connection – down to the number of letters and decimal places.

Second step, now underway: Align information from the paper maps with coordinate-based GIS data – think Google Earth – to more precisely site each feature. The end result will be a database and maps that can be analyzed, manipulated, and easily accessed by everyone from maintenance crew to company executives.

“GIS is a specialized program,” Sockel said. “We don’t have that now. We have file drawers. Those file drawers are now loaded in this computer program.”

Recent HU graduate Amanda Zuck, first student on the project, participated in the long meetings to catalog every element and attribute. She now knows the difference between a sewer manhole and downtown Harrisburg’s 80 or so steam manholes. More importantly, she learned that NRG personnel were “a lot less scary” than she feared. She once bravely pointed out inconsistencies that others had overlooked.

“They’d say, ‘Nice catch. Oh yeah, thank you,’” she said. “I was one of them.”

Zuck envisions a career combining environmental science – her original major – with the art of GIS mapping. Maybe she’ll map wind turbines and their effect on life around them. Maybe she’ll map natural gas wells in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus shale.

“Eventually, it’d be cool to see the water tests,” she said. “I wouldn’t be the one out collecting samples, but I would be the person bringing all the data into the wells showing the pollution or lack of pollution.”

While NRG gets an efficiency boost from the new maps, it’s also helping build the next generation of utility workers and energy suppliers, Sockel said.

“The university is science, technology engineering, and mathematics,” he said. “That’s about everything we do here.”

Country-Style Gifting: Hidden treasures abound at Country Apple House

September 4, 2012 | by Ruth Hoover Seitz

A Middletown farmstead near picture-perfect: Horses graze behind pristine white fences, the landscape beautifully groomed. On the front porch of the former wagon shed, a flowered flag waves a welcoming word, “OPEN.”

This 167-acre working farm doubles as a gift shop, and the Country Apple House Gift Shop is a one-of-a-kind enterprise.

For owner Marjie Hartz, her gift shop is a “dream come true.” As a girl she first knew this setting as her family’s dairy farm. Twelve years ago, when her children had grown, Marjie opened what her customers call “a hidden treasure.” Several hint that they don’t want to share this shop with friends because they like to have their own source of unique gifts.

The shop’s environment is inviting and relaxing. Each shopper is greeted warmly. On a chilly day a cup of tea may be offered. Attention is personalized: Marjie remembers such details as keeping on hand a regular shopper’s favorite flavor of coffee.

And people return. A woman drove from York to pick up Savannah Cinnamon syrups she must have. Other gourmet food lines include Stonewall Kitchen from Maine and Wind & Willow cheese ball and dip mixes.

Apple House’s specialty lines are the result of Marjie paying attention to trends. Country style gifts like Boyd’s Bears were popular when she launched her shop in 2000.

“Now,” Marjie said, “customers like jewelry and handbags.” Kameleon’s sterling silver interchangeable jewelry is popular. Women can change JewelPops so that a pendant, earrings or ring match an outfit.

Marjie is a selective buyer. Scented candle lines are first tested at home. Besides tried and true Yankee Candles, she has Swan Creek soy candles and Milkhouse Candles, a blend of soy and beeswax. A hand therapy line, Crabtree & Evelyn, was recommended by a customer.

“Here, there’s something unique for your elderly aunt and for your teenage niece,” said Esther Stydinger, a shop employee.

And the prices are not daunting. All greeting cards are $2.25. Among the gifts are practical items such as reusable shopping bags, battery-operated candles and woven stair treads that people buy as mini-rugs.

Community fun is the focus of the shop’s fall open house. On Sept. 8, there will be tractor-drawn hay rides to the field for kids to pick their own free pumpkins and free pony rides provided by local 4-H clubs. Eastland Alpacas will be on hand for petting.

Both Friday and Saturday all items, except Kameleon Jewelry, are discounted 10 percent. Customers are invited to bring canned food for Middletown and Hummelstown food banks. Last year Chet, Marjie’s husband who maintains the grounds, hauled a truckload of donated staples.

At a time when little retailers quickly fade, the Country Apple House Gift Shop has been offering a singularly charming shopping experience year after year. Imagine yourself ending your shopping trip by stepping up to the fence to pet a horse.

The Country Apple House Gift Shop, 2142 N. Union St. (off Fiddlers Elbow Rd.) Middletown. Call 717-566-1072 or visit www.thecountryapplehouse.com. Hours: Wed – Fri 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m.; Sat 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

A Place of Gathering, Support: Seniors discover activities, warmth at historic Rutherford House.

September 4, 2012 | by Barbara Trainin Blank

Rutherford House is a partially undiscovered jewel.

Equidistant from the commercial Paxton Street and the bucolic Capital Area Green Belt, this senior center for individuals 55 and up offers a hum of activities that draws members – and visitors at public programs – from Carlisle, Middletown, Hershey, and Elizabethtown, in addition to Harrisburg and nearby townships.

All Rutherford House needs is to be further discovered. “We have about 150 members, and definitely want to increase that,” said Peggy Scrobola, executive director.

Scrobola has been at the center for a decade, and is its only full-time paid employee. Rutherford House relies heavily on volunteers to teach and run programs.

Kay Waddell has been volunteering since January through AARP: greeting visitors with her broad smile, distributing literature and schedules, and serving as the unofficial storyteller and “historian.”

Rutherford House has a colorful history. It is named for a prominent Harrisburg family, which built its first residence, known as “The Spring House” (it’s still on the property), in the mid-1700s. In 1858, the family erected a mansion and lived there for generations.

Dauphin County bought the mansion in 1920, turning it into a juvenile-detention center. Five decades later, Rutherford Family Mansion began to house a senior program co-established by Pennsylvania’s former First Lady, Muriel Shapp, after the Governor’s Mansion was vacated during Agnes. Originally called Capital City Late Start, the program led a nomadic existence in schools and churches before finding a permanent home—and name change—in 1978.

“I love it here,” Waddell said.

The center is a private, independent nonprofit, though funded in part by the county. Rutherford House leases the facility from the county for $1 a year and is responsible for its maintenance.

Waiting for a Zumba class is Becky Lovett, who has been coming to Rutherford House regularly for a year. She also takes aerobics, line dancing, and chair yoga.

Retired from the state, Lovett loves the opportunity to meet new people and socializing at programs and parties. “Everyone here is lovey-dovey,” she said. “And it’s a great deal.”

Membership dues are $30 a year. (Zumba is extra, at $3 a session).

Activities include Bingo; movies; a book club; quilting; cards; and billiards. Not to mention health and wellness and nutrition lectures and screenings and a monthly lunch brunch.

There are Fall Frolic and ice-cream socials; a resident chapter of the Red Hat Society holds a monthly meeting and sponsors theater outings and luncheons. The Visiting Nurses Association offers flu shots in October.

Rutherford House seems to win people’s loyalty. Cheryl Yablon taught exercise and dance there for nearly 25 years and misses it. “It’s an active senior center, with many classes,” she said. “The people who go to Rutherford are very warm and make others feel very welcome. Peggy tries to offer the best to her participants. We all try to offer as much as we can for seniors who are still in their own environments and want to interact with peers.”

The center is “very pleasant and accommodating, and the clients are very nice,” said Bev Sable, who has taught dance and fitness at Rutherford House for three years. In the spring she introduced Zumba Gold, a class that’s lower-impact but higher in its instructional component than regular Zumba. “It’s a nice, tight community.”

Every Wednesday morning volunteer Harold “Skip” Smedley mans a computer lab he helped set up—guiding perplexed would-be techies.

“I started dabbling in computers in the Navy and have been a coach and teacher here for 12 years,” said Smedley, a retired electromotor manager at Edwin Hill Heim Co.

So far the computer lab has been free, though Rutherford House might start charging a fee for non-members.

Walt Tomlinson often comes by with questions and to chat. A retired registered nurse at Osteopathic and former military man, he “hated” using the computer at the hospital and wanted to learn its benefits. “I also want to keep my mind active,” he said. “If I have a problem, I wait ‘till Wednesday, when I can see Skip.”

Seeing other people with whom they’ve formed friendships and participating in activities they enjoy makes Rutherford House a jewel for many.

“We’re always open to members’ ideas,” Scrobola said. “If we can fit it in and find an instructor, we’ll try to do it.”

For more information on The Rutherford House, 3300 Parkview Lane, Harrisburg, call 717-564-5682 or visit www.rutherfordhouse.org.

Capitol Shoe Repair Opens Downtown

September 4, 2012 | by Ruth Hoover Seitz

A state capital needs a good cobbler, and an award-winning craftsman like Lee Card needs plenty of foot traffic, which is why he relocated his shoe repair shop in downtown Harrisburg.

“I need more walking traffic, and downtown has people walking,” said Card, a third-generation shoe repairman.

Card opened Capitol Shoe Repair at 202 N. 2^nd St., in mid-August. He wore a black apron as he and his 18-year-old son, Alex, worked on shoes.

He cited economics as a reason why the art of shoe-making and repair has diminished–many shoes are cheaply made and inexpensive enough to buy new ones.

Shoe repair requires skill, said the 40-year-old Card, a former Marine and a National Guardsman who served two tours in Iraq. A certain level of physics is required to ensure a shoe is balanced for a comfortable fit.

“You have to have a little bit of an artistic eye for it,” he said.

Card, who started shining shoes as a boy in his father’s Lemoyne shop, bought the business in 1998. He’s a cobbler who enjoys his work and has won three regional awards for his shoe repairs. “My men’s half soles were the best in the nation,” he said, proudly.

Capitol Shoe Repair, 202 N. 2^nd St., 717-213-4140; Mon.-Fri., 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Sat. 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

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