Note: As part of my Day Program, I contribure to the program’s newsletter. In June 2021, that Newsletter transitoned to a monthly basis as much of the elements of the program are back to a in-person status.
While I Can
There are many activities that I do in the fall, especially in the month of October with my family that I know I need to do because I know that they may not be promised to me in the future. In my life, I was thankful to have my maternal grandparents into my early thirties and that I have both my parents in my life and that they do what they need to do in order to remain active. They constantly remind me of others that are not as well as them and while it is not meant to shame oth-ers for their struggles, it is to remind me that we are not always not promised the ability to always do what we want to in our lives.
One tradition in my family every fall is to visit Pumpkinfest in Confluence. For nearly three decades we have collected t-shirts for the event and always have a good time there. It is the last thing I did with my grandfather as he started to decline due to his physical health condition and I will always relate that memory in my life when I visit that small community each fall.
Another activity that my mother and I specifically do in the fall is participate in a quilt hop where we visit various quilt shops and take in other attractions along the way. It was our fifth year because it was challenging to hear my mother say that she doesn’t know how long she can keep it up. An unplanned detour took us to the World Famous Horseshoe Curve near Altoona, PA that we have visited the past few years. This particular attraction currently requires the ascent and descent of 194 steps to see the focal point due to the other means of access being unavailable. I can remember the struggles we shared over the years of making the climb to the top. It has gotten better over the years and was more rewarding this year than it ever was. It is that memory that I continually treasure because I am not certain that I will be able to do it again.
November comes the thing that put me in the newspaper in 2019, the Connellsville Chili Fest. My mother and I visited 11 restaurants, sampling various home-made chili that he restaurateurs make. I was unable to go last year due to the ex-treme cold, but this year does not plan to disappoint with temperatures in the 70s and sunny. There are other smaller fall activities.
Lastly, I like to go to a place in the state game lands above my hometown of South Connellsville called Casparis , specifically a place called Lookout Point where you can see the S-Bend in the Youghiogheny River above Connellsville. It brings its fall glory. Then there is also the bike trail walk-ing that I persistently do to try to stay ac-tive as I plan to walk in the YRTC spring races this upcoming spring.
Dustin's Dynasty 