And thus do the weeks just fly right on past. Memorial Day was yesterday; now it's July 4 already. Can Labor Day really be all that far behind? Christmas? Let's not think about it. The heat will be here this weekend (if it's not already sweltering by the time you read this, it's only a matter of moments before it's upon you.) So let's hear a rousing cheer for clean lakes, rivers, streams, swimming pools, and puddles. After all, July is Lakes Appreciation Month so there's no reason not to find your favorite.

Enjoy the warm but keep safe. The Pennsylvania State Parks Book of Faces shared a good infographic on heat exhaustion and heat stroke that you might want to review. Drink lots of water, please.

And if you need to cool off a bit just feast your eyes on the masthead shot of Lake Nockamixon by Mark Bastert. Unfortunately for Mark, his birthday trip last year to Cherry Springs for dark skies fell victim to bad weather; fortunately for us, it meant he came home and took this photo instead!

Pam Metzger
Membership Coordinator

News of note

Many congratulations to the Friends of Nockamixon who will tomorrow dedicate the Board Safe accessible dock for which they have been fundraising for nearly five years. Their devotion and determination is worthy of a celebration. Head out to the Tohickon Boat Launch area and shout huzzah!

And while we are congratulating people, let's send a few to our own President Marci, named this week as Rotarian of the Year by the Harrisburg Keystone Rotary Club. We run her ragged for PPFF but she still finds time to do things like organize Pancakes for Puerto Rico and other amazing contributions to the local community. She makes us proud!

We also salute the 99th birthday of author and naturalist Jean Craighead George whose family, longtime readers will recall, spent their summers at Craighead House outside Boiling Springs, as handsome a setting and home as a person could wish. 

There is, alas, sad news from the purple martin nest from last week. A house wren took one of the eggs but the nest cam reveals three still to be hatched.

At work and play in the parks and forests

When July kicks off on Sunday it will officially be Park and Recreation Month. We've got the parks (and forests) that are just right for recreation.

North

How does an old-fashioned 4th celebration sound? R.B. Winter can help you with that tomorrow afternoon.

South

The Great American Good Time Music and Comedy Show on Saturday evening at Blue Knob will "lift your spirits and bring down the house." (And much the same will be said for the Friends of Shawnee's annual Fireworks on the Lake.)

East

Picked your winged creature: Saturday morning they'll be on the hunt for the Butterflies of Jacobsburg or Damsels and Dragons at Lackawanna.

West

An unbeatable combination in the cool of Linn Run State Park on Saturday evening - Movie and Mountain Pies. 

No matter what region of the commonwealth you want to visit, our website Events and the DCNR Calendar of Events are great sources for things to see and do. Bookmark them!

Picture of the week

The latest stop for the 2017 photo contest winners is Pymatuning State Park. Bookkeeper Debbie and her husband Mark got their first visit to Pymatuning to take care of the set-up this week (I'm betting they wished they had the pontoon with them); the photos will be there until August 1 when Bill and I go and retrieve them so stop in and check them out. Then enter your photos in the 2018 contest!

Take five for trivia

History buffs knew that Mont Alto became a "state forest reserve" (a predecessor to the parks system) in 1902 with the acquisition of the amusement park that it had been for employees of Mont Alto Iron Company. Historian (and Friends of Pine Grove Furnace chair) Andre Weltman was kind enough to share a portion of his local history slide show including these wonderful flyers about the park (click for a larger version).

Andre believes - and I agree - that a follow-up trivia question has to be "why is the roof shaped so funny anyway?"

Send in your answer and we'll enter your correct response into our monthly prize drawing. All correct answers each week will go into the hat and at the end of the month we'll draw one lucky winner. The more correct answers you submit in a month (up to four or the occasional five depending on the month), the more chances you'll have to win.

Pennsylvania Parks & Forests Foundation (PPFF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization - contributions to which are tax deductible to the fullest extent permitted by law. The official registration and financial information of PPFF may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling, toll-free within Pennsylvania, to 800.732.0999. Registration does not imply endorsement.

Pennsylvania Parks & Forests Foundation is a proud member of EarthShare and 1% for the Planet and is a Gold GuideStar Participant.