Hooked On Books

Horticulture Building
Bloomsburg Fair - Bloomsburg, PA

The Horticulture Building is one of my favorite places to visit at the Bloomsburg Fair.  I know virtually nothing about plants and flowers, and if I'm being honest, it's not a subject that I really want to invest the time to be an expert in.  However, I really like looking at plants and flowers.  In this area, I'm kind of like a child with a book that has pretty pictures, but 

Speaking of books, the front of the Horticulture Building where you first walk in is decorated every year based on a theme.  This year, that theme is books - specifically "Hooked On Literature".

The main display this year is a large fish in a rowboat that is made out of old reference books and surrounded by blue flowers that are meant to look like the water that the boat is floating on.  It's not my all-time favorite display.  Something about using books as a prop feels a bit unsettling to me, but it does look nice and I respect the work that goes in to creating something like this.

  

There is a large permanent fountain behind the main display in the Horticultural Building.  It's a bit like a wishing well.  People who attend the Fair are encouraged to toss a coin into the fountain.  All of the money is collected at the end of each day to be donated to local charities.  There's a seating area around the fountain which I have always found to be a very pleasant place to sit, relax, and have an apple cider float.

One of the parts of this building that never fails to fascinate me is a little room in the top corner of the building.  You can see it in the top center of the photo above, which was taken from the area in between the fountain and the Hooked On Books display in the front (the stone wall with the books that you see on the right is part of the border wall that surrounds the display with the fish).

When you first walk into the building, there is a small office on the right hand side.  If you walk a little bit further into the building and turn around, you'll see the little room that I'm talking about above that office.  I'm assuming that there is a staircase in the office that leads up to this little room.  

Here is a close-up.  It's nothing fancy - just a sitting area with a few pieces of Bloomsburg Fair memorabilia hanging on the wall.  I've never been to this room, nor do I know what it's for, but I've always sort of imagined it being a little area where the folks who are in charge of setting up and maintaining the Fair can go to sit with a coffee and have a moment of peace and quiet while still being completely enveloped by the Fair all around them.

Best Dollar I've Ever Spent

Down Home Homemade Pudding
Bloomsburg Fair - Bloomsburg, PA

The rice pudding at this stand is pretty incredible, but they found a way to make it even better.

But How Does She Eat Funnel Cake?

Where else but the Bloomsburg Fair can you see a living headless woman and then walk six feet to enjoy an authentic Pennsylvania Dutch Funnel Cake?

Death Dodgers

Jimmie Lynch: Death Dodgers
Bloomsburg Fair (1941)
The large ad behind me was from a World War II era billboard.  It promoted a stunt driving show starring daredevil Jimmy Lynch, which was held at the Bloomsburg Fair from September 23rd through the 28th, 1941.  There's a lot of footage on YouTube from his shows and his work with Dodge.

Top Of The Beef

Top Of The Beef
Bloomsburg Fair - Bloomsburg, PA

These guys serve the best roast beef sandwich I've ever eaten in my life, and I make sure to have one at the Fair every year.  It goes great with a generous amount of horseradish and a frosty cold bottle of birch beer.

The Amazing Reeseo

The Amazing Reeseo
Bloomsburg Fair - Bloomsburg, PA

I'm sure that I'll eventually get to an age or state of health where I won't be able to eat things like this anymore.  Thankfully, that time has not yet arrived.

NXT Live In Bethlehem

NXT Live
Sands Bethlehem Event Center - Bethlehem, PA

The WWE developmental brand has been the hottest thing in professional wrestling for a few years now.  They performed to a sellout crowd at the Sands Bethlehem Event Center in Bethlehem tonight, and I was fortunate enough to be in attendance.  Here are the results of the show:

Tag Team Match	The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) defeated Riddick Moss and Tino Sabbatelli
Singles Match	Lars Sullivan defeated Oney Lorcan
Tag Team Match	Peyton Royce and Billie Kay defeated Dakota Kai and Liv Morgan
Singles Match	Roderick Strong defeated Hideo Itami
6-Man Tag Team Match	Sanity (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain) defeated The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly)
Singles Match	Johnny Gargano defeated Raul Mendoza (Mendoza was given a ton of support by the fans throughout the match, which was acknowledged after the match)
Singles Match	Kairi Sane defeated Sonya Deville (today is Kairi's 29th birthday, and the fans chanted Happy Birthday to her)
NXT Championship Match	Drew McIntyre defeated Andrade "Cien" Almas to retain the title. (After the match, The Undisputed Era ran to the ring to attack McIntyre.  Sanity, The Street Profits, Johnny Gargano and Oney Lorcan ran out to the ring to fight them off and to celebrate with McIntyre to close out the show).

Here are some photos from the show:

The Street Profits - Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford

Riddick Moss and Tino Sabbatelli

Lars Sullivan

Peyton Royce and Billie Kay

Peyton Royce and Billie Kay vs Liv Morgan and Dakota Kai

Peyton Royce and Billie Kay

Hideo Itami (the former Kenta in ROH)

Hideo Itami (the former Kenta in ROH)

Roderick Strong vs Hideo Itami - a match that could have easily headlined an ROH show ten years ago.

The Undisputed Era: Kyle O'Reilly, Adam Cole and Bobby Fish

Sanity: Eric Young, Killian Dain and Alexander Wolfe

Sanity: Killian Dain, Eric Young and Alexander Wolfe

Johnny Gargano

Johnny Gargano with what looks like a modified Lion Tamer on Raul Mendoza

Raul Mendoza was very impressive and had fans chanting for him throughout the match, which is a bit unusual since he was wrestling arguably the most popular star on the roster.

Kairi Sane wrestled tonight on her 29th birthday

Kairi Sane getting ready to drop the elbow on Sonya Deville

NXT Heavyweight Champion Drew McIntyre

Andrade "Cien" Almas vs. Drew McIntyre

After the main event match, The Undisputed Era hit the ring to attack Drew McIntyre

The Street Profits, Johnny Gargano and Oney Lorcan came to the ring to assist Drew McIntyre.  As The Undisputed Era made their escape, they ran into Sanity at the top of the entrance ramp.

McFadden's

Philadelphia Cheesesteak
McFadden's Restaurant & Saloon - Philadelphia, PA

After the game, we stopped at McFadden's for a beer and a cheesesteak.

Chase Utley Returns To Citizens Bank Park

Thursday, September 21st, 2017

Los Angeles Dodgers @ Philadelphia Phillies
Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA

Pitching: Mark Leiter Jr vs. Kenta Maeda

Results: Dodgers defeated Phillies, 5-4

I originally got tickets to the last Dodgers game at Citizens Bank Park this season because there's a decent chance that it'll be Chase Utley's last game in Philadelphia.  What I didn't expect is that we would see the game where the Dodger's clinched a tie for the NL West division title.  

One last game for my favorite t-shirt with the awesome dude who gave it to me.

The Dodgers came to town on Monday with 96 wins under their belt and a chance to reach the 100 win plateau at the Phillies expense.  Thanks in part to "Little Superman" Aaron Altherr, who homered in three consecutive games, the Phillies shut down the Dodgers and called upon Mark Leiter Jr this afternoon to go for a four game sweep.

I can't get over how young the Phillies lineup is as we close out the 2017 season.  Freddy Galvis is the only player in tonight's lineup who was born before 1990, and the 27 year old infielder just barely missed the cut at Nov. 14th, 1989.  The youngest person in the lineup was third baseman JP Crawford at 22 years old.

 

The first pitch of the game.

The Dodgers didn't waste time getting on the board.   Chris Taylor led off the game with a single and advanced to third on Aaron Altherr's error.  Justin Turner was hit in the hand by a pitch to put runners at the corners with no outs.  Thankfully, Leiter settled down and limited the damage to a single run after a Yasiel Puig sacrifice fly.

Justin Turner ended up getting pulled from the game in the next inning, hopefully as a precaution.  This led to a pretty massive shift around the diamond for the Dodgers in the bottom of the 2nd.  Logan Forsythe was moved from shortstop to third base to replace Turner in the field.  Chris Taylor moved from center field to shortstop to replace Forsythe.  Cody Bellinger was shifted from first base to center field to replace Taylor.  Chase Utley moved from second base to first base to replace Bellinger.  Finally, Austin Barnes was brought into the game to replace Utley in the field and to take Turner's spot in the lineup. 

Mark Leiter Jr facing Chase Utley in the top of the 2nd.

Phillies legend Chase Utley received a loud and well-deserved ovation every time he came to the plate.  He didn't have a great night at the plate.  He went 0-3 with a strikeout, and was replaced by pinch hitter Charlie Culberson in the top of the 8th, which brought boos from the crowd.  The strategy didn't pay off for the Dodgers, as Victor Arano struck him out on four pitches.

I like this picture of my pop.  You can see the reflection of the ballpark in his sunglasses.

I wanted to bring Dad to this game because there's a decent chance that this will be Utley's last game in Philadelphia.  He's a free agent at the end of the season and he's not the player that he once was, so it's not too unrealistic to believe that he may either retire at the end of the season or sign with an American League team to DH.  Either way, he has had a hell of a career and I think he's more than deserving of a spot in the Hall Of Fame.

 

Nick Williams hit a two run homer off of Kenta Maeda in the bottom of the 3rd to tie the game, and Rhys Hoskins hit a two run double in the bottom of the 5th to put the Phillies ahead 4-2.

The Dodgers began to climb back in the top of the 6th with a Curtis Granderson solo home run.  They tied the game with another solo shot in the top of the 7th, this time off the bat of Andre Ethier.  This was immediately followed by a Chris Taylor triple.  He scored on a Cody Bellinger groundout to give the Dodgers a 5-4 lead, which they held for the rest of the game.

The Phils didn't win, but it was a fun day at the ballpark, and I'm very glad I got to share it with my pop.