Life's a Snapshot

Three Wise Men and a Baby

Bil Bowden — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 15:20:25 +0000

Aldersgate United Methodist Church Sunday presented its annual childrens pageant this year, the musical “Three Wise Men and a Baby” by Pam Andrews. From the publishing company’s website– ’Three kings, Elvistonia, the King of Rock and Roll, Garthonia, the King of Country, and Jamestonia, the King of Soul, head up a cast of characters that shine with humor and joy.’

Forty youngsters, all fifth grade and younger sang and danced in the musical production.

Snowy run for arthritis

Bil Bowden — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 21:41:34 +0000

WellSpan’s Walk/Run for Arthritis was a snowy affair, but 150 runners suffered through the cold and wet at Apple Hill. Some wore the weather at the finish line. The weather cut the number of participants, but everyone was smiling at the end. Or at least, smiled when the camera came their way.

From the Arthritis Foundation website–

The Arthritis Foundation is the largest national nonprofit organization that supports the more than 100 types of arthritis and related conditions.

Founded in 1948, with headquarters in Atlanta, the Arthritis Foundation has multiple service points located throughout the country. We’re also the largest private, nonprofit contributor to arthritis research in the world, funding more than $450 million in research grants since 1948.

The Foundation helps people take control of arthritis by providing public health education; pursuing public policy and legislation; and conducting evidence-based programs to improve the quality of life for those living with arthritis.

Stopping by Nixon Park

Bil Bowden — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 05:14:20 +0000

With Sunday’s snow (didn’t the meteorologists forecast 1-2 inches?), it gave us all the chance to venture outside and see the world in white.

And doesn’t everything look better with a fresh coat of snow?

Even Nixon County Park, a park with so many adventures just over the next hill or around the next bend in the trail, looks even more magical. Sometimes the park is most beautiful when you’re the only one there. No footprints, no tire tracks. Just you, the birds singing and creek water bubbling over the rocks. And if you’re lucky, the deer that nibbles at the bushes, apparently oblivious to your presence. Watch it closely, it might lead you to the rest of its family.

Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” is said by some experts to be the most famous poem in the United States. Some would disagree, but on Sunday afternoon, it fit a solitary journey into Nixon County Park. Below the poem is a link to an analysis. It might be overthinking the poem, maybe it’s spot on. What do you think?

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sounds the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

http://voices.yahoo.com/analysis-robert-frosts-stopping-woods-snowy-6445730.html

Strand hosts Nutcracker

Bil Bowden — Sat, 07 Dec 2013 02:18:55 +0000

By AMY PEIFFER

505-5444/@yorkweekend

The magic will come alive as young dancers from the Midstate Ballet will be on pointe Saturday, Dec. 14 and Sunday, Dec. 15 at the Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center for the Greater York Dance presentation of “The Nutcracker.”

The timeless classical ballet featuring the music of Tchaikovsky is one of the oldest annual holiday productions in the U.S. and has been a seasonal favorite at the Strand-Capitol in York since it was first presented by the Midstate Ballet in 1998.

A coveted role: This year, Ella Bernstein and Rachel Seymour have been selected for the role of Clara in the company’s annual production. Bernstein, 11, will perform Saturday and Seymour, 11, will perform Sunday. The girls are each in their third year with the Midstate Ballet company.

The stage adaptation of E.T.A. Hoffman’s classic story tells the magical tale of Clara’s Nutcracker coming to life. As Clara’s fantastic dream unfolds, she sails to the Kingdom of Sweets to dance and greet characters from around the world.

Special honor: In honor of the event, York City mayor Kim Bracey issued a proclamation declaring the week of Monday, Dec. 9, as “Nutcracker Week” in the city of York. The proclamation honors Greater York Dance for its 15th annual performance of the classic holiday ballet.

“The mayor’s proclamation is truly an honor for us,” Greater York Dance artistic director Lori Pergament said. “It recognizes the hard work of all of our dancers and volunteers, and illustrates the value that the city of York places on the performing arts.”

On stage: This year’s performance will showcase more than 100 dancers from the Midstate Ballet and Greater York Dance and will include professional dancers from the Pennsylvania Ballet.

Pennsylvania Ballet principal dancer Julie Diana will dance in the role of the Sugarplum Fairy. She is joined on stage by her husband, fellow principal dancer Zachary Hench, in the role of Cavalier.

Christmas Magic 2013

Bil Bowden — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 01:55:41 +0000

The colors are electric and more than a half million bulbs lead visitors on an eye-popping half mile stroll through Rocky Ridge Park.

The York County Parks opened the 30th annual Christmas Magic last week, and it continues every night until New Year’s Eve, except for Christmas Eve and Day. Along the way, see hot air balloons, penguins, candy canes, snowmen, reindeer and snowflakes. Visit with Santa Claus, follow toy trains around their sets, sip hot chocolate or sing along with the music.

Weekends are extremely busy, and visitors line up along the trail, sometimes making for a slow tour. If possible, wander the trail at your own pace during the week, when crowds are thin.

Admission is $8 for adults, $6 for ages 4-12, $7 for seniors. Children under four years are free. Groups of more than 12 adults cost apiece and more than 12 children are $5 apiece. No credit cards are accepted.

Hours are 6-9 p.m. weekdays and Saturday and Sunday 5-9 p.m.

Mail carrier nightmare

Bil Bowden — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 04:04:19 +0000

Davette Schlett steers the canoe into Five Finger Rapids along the Yukon River.

A Tuesday morning in York, and it is 20 degrees outside. Cold. Way too cold for this early in the season. But, oh, it could be much worse.

Lisa, our friendly mail carrier, was already grouchy last week when the temperatures dipped below freezing. Weather is a frigid foe to the postal service, making its job a little tougher. Dealing with unhappy folks getting nothing but bills in the mail, dogs hungry for a post carrier’s meaty calf and now Mother Nature freezing fingers? Lisa’s usually smiling face was frozen into a sour scowl.

Trying to get that smile back, I suggested to Lisa a “Could Be Worse” moment.

Imagine, Lisa, that it is 70 degrees COLDER than you are right now. Seventy degrees! Yeah, that’s gotta make you feel downright cozy.

Good hotels are in Dawson, but this brought a giggle.

Last week, it was -52 at one of Canada’s favorite vacation spots. Dawson, the town that exploded about 1900 to accommodate all those treasure hunters during the Klondike Gold Rush, is a tiny burg in the middle of the Yukon Territory. For a few summer months, 30,000 tourists mob this dirt-road town about the size of York County’s Mount Wolf borough.

Dawson is homey, comfortable and friendly with plenty of wooden nickels and tour bus tourism, and then blends that with genuine historical accounts and fixtures of what one author called “American’s Last Great Adventure” (the Klondike Gold Rush). If you’re looking for five-star hotels, restaurants and shopping, you’re looking in the wrong end of North America. Dawson is dirt roads, come-as-you-are dinner wear and white plastic dinner ware. And cold, rarely hot. It’s fun, educational and exciting.

It’s method of seduction is unique. Maybe because it’s so different from Orlando and Ocean City and San Diego’s glitz and glamour. And that to visit here and enjoy it is a badge of courage. It’s tough, primal. An eight hour drive from anywhere. When Jonna, a recent college graduate from Windsor, Ontario, vacationed here, she decided to stick around and now works for the Klondike Visitors Association. There’s fall color in August, she points out, the northern lights beam like waves across the long-winter night sky and in July last year, temps reached a scorching 93 degrees.

One Fort Selkirk church still has 1906 newspapers covering the walls.

We canoed the 400-mile-plus Yukon River from the Yukon capital of Whitehorse to Dawson twice, exploring the old Gold Rush towns along the river. Many towns grew up providing wood fuel for sternwheelers taking prospectors to gold fields. When highways were built — far from the river– the need for boats died, and many towns died as well. Ho otalinqua, Stewarts Island and Fort Selkirk and others faded into the forest, with no roads nearby. Selkirk is a gem, and even had 1906 newspapers still covering church walls. From the Yukon Tourism website–

Many of Fort Selkirk’s structures have been rebuilt by First Nation.

Since 1982 members of the Selkirk First Nation and the Heritage Branch of the Yukon Government have worked together to preserve and maintain the townsite. In 1990, these two groups agreed on a plan to protect and manage the site for the benefit of all Yukoners. The Fort Selkirk Management Plan recognizes the area as a living cultural site and as part of the Selkirk First Nation homeland.

Today the fruits of joint efforts past and present are being reaped. Each summer a small, government and First Nation funded, work crew made up of members of the Selkirk First Nation return to the town to maintain and restore Fort Selkirk to its past beauty.

First Nation members will continue to work on this location and others. But it’s a good bet they will wait until spring, because January is the coldest month of the year, and that’s still a month away.

An end and a new beginning

Bil Bowden — Tue, 12 Nov 2013 21:52:25 +0000

This story by Erin James should grab your emotions and twist every smile, every tear. Vicki Besore is a long-time teacher in the York City Schools, and the Dispatch did a video on Besore getting ready for her final year at Jackson Elementary. It’s a unique place to teach, some teachers would steer clear of it for any one of a dozen reasons. Besore wanted to teach here, it’s where she grew up. It never entered her mind that she’d teach in the ‘burbs.

Then we heard about Vicki adopting a young boy. Her natural kids are 24 and 28, so do the math and you realize Vicki’s not a youngster, although it makes you tired just watching her blur across her classroom. What in the world was she thinking? Three males in the house already, and she’s adopting an eight-year old boy?

She explained it simply. “There was a need,” she said. Period. If only more life decisions could be boiled down this easily. Of course, it helps that Gabe has the personality everyone loves and his big brown eyes have Mom, Dad and two brothers wrapped around his finger.

By ERIN JAMES 505-5439 / @ydcity

The conversation turned from baseball and book reports to serious matters, and the boy with the longest eyelashes in the world snuggled deeper into his mother’s lap.

“We’re your what?” she asked, coaxing 8-year-old Gabe back to security.

He smiled.

“We’re your forever family,” Vicki Besore told her son, a boy she’s known only about half of his life.

Thousands of children have crossed paths with Mrs. Besore, a Jackson Elementary teacher whose years of experience have graced her with the ability to quiet a room of 25 third-graders, explain the reason for carrying the 1, correct boys who earn attention from girls with flying projectiles, deliver high fives around the classroom, assign “points” to the good listeners and remind her students they’re smart — all in an hour, without breaking a sweat.

For 35 years, almost all spent in a third-grade classroom at Jackson, Besore has taught the children of York City. With husband John,

she raised two sons during that time.

And now, at age 57, Besore is once again the mother of a little boy, who also happens to be in third grade this year.

“No matter what he does, I just want him to be successful,” Besore said. “I want Gabe to be happy with himself.”

Mentor: About five years ago, the Besores volunteered to mentor a mother of three children. The family had arrived to live in an apartment owned by the Besores’ church.

“We were here if she needed us,” Besore said. “We were a support system for her.”

Things got tougher for the family, and eventually the mother asked the Besores to temporarily care for Gabe. The York County Children and Youth agency became involved. Reunification of the family was always the goal.

But, as more time went by, the Besores realized Gabe’s mother’s issues would not be quickly resolved.

They sat down with their adult sons, who said, “Go for it,” Besore said.

With the mother’s blessing, the Besores formally adopted Gabe in late 2010. The mother’s other two children, Gabe’s brother and sister, are being raised by their grandparents, who also live in West Manchester Township.

“He needed someone to love him, to guide him,” Besore said. “And I guess John and I still have enough to do that. It’s one more person to love.”

New approach: As new parents the first time around, the Besores read all the books and kept track of all the milestones, she said.

This time, as Gabe’s parents, with a little less energy but a lot more wisdom, the Besores have taken a different approach. They’re treating Gabe as Gabe and no one else.

“Your priorities change. I think you learn what to sweat and what not to sweat,” she said. “You have to remember that they’re all individuals.”

Besore said opening her heart to Gabe opened her eyes to the lives of her students and the baggage so many of them carry to school.

Steps: Today, Gabe is a boy full of questions and stories.

He eagerly boasts about impressive progress reports. He’s working on a book report about “101 Dalmatians,” and he’s proud of his honorary post as an assistant coach of the West York baseball team. He’s so tickled to have a teacher for a mom that he wants to be homeschooled.

“You’re tough,” Gabe told his mom. “I found out the hard way.”

The two have bonded over their passion for learning, Besore said.

Gabe’s also a jokester. He’s jockeying for parental approval to claim all of the home’s bedrooms once his 24-year-old and 28-year-old brothers move out. Ask him to name his favorite subject, and he doesn’t miss a beat.

“Recess,” he said.

(He quickly admitted he likes computer lab, too.)

There are days after work, Besore said, that “I don’t feel like I have any more to give when I come home.”

But then, she drives to the baby sitter’s to retrieve Gabe. And he’s wearing that smile.

“You just kind of find a way,” she said.

After 35 years, this will be Besore’s last in the classroom. Her retirement plans are vague for now, except for hopes of traveling more and maybe joining the church choir.

And, of course, raising Gabe.

“In one respect, it does make you feel young — but a tired young,” she said with a laugh.

– Reach Erin James at ejames@yorkdispatch.com.

Burning bush on fire

Bil Bowden — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 22:17:14 +0000

Northern mockingbirds are fun little creatures, and can be heard through the area usually imitating other birds’ songs. About the size of a robin, they’re usually seen this time of year near sitting around berry trees where they find breakfast, lunch and dinner. As they fly from bush to bush, check the bright white patches on the wings, which show up like circles.

Near this brilliant red burning bush is a pyracantha, loaded with berries he/she was no doubt enjoying. Mockingbirds will eat insects too, but prefers berries in the cooler seasons. Pyracanthas are ornamental bushes, making a strong barrier nearly unpenetrable because of its long needle sharp thorns. Its orange berries make for good meals and bright, colorful pictures.

Colorful York County

Bil Bowden — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 01:39:48 +0000

OK, for all the well-traveled York Countians out there, here’s a travel test. All these autumn 2013 photos were taken in York County, and most will be easily recognized if you have ever been there. OK, I couldn’t find the barn again if I had to.

Maybe you don’t have to travel to Vermont for brilliant reds and blues, or the Rocky Mountains for the electric yellows of the aspen.

Fun is sometimes off the field

Bil Bowden — Thu, 31 Oct 2013 20:42:03 +0000

Photographing kids playing any sport is as easy as it gets. Really, cute kids, action, a terrific autumn day. How can you miss?

One of my favorite people is Cole, who is becoming quite the soccer player in his rookie year. It helps that he has more energy than any six of his teammates. Just keep in mind when taking pictures of your aspiring Pele’, some of the best pictures come OFF the field.