Are you enjoying the weather? There are a lot of wonderful things about summer and I’m determined that I’m going to enjoy the season and try not to dwell on any negatives. It has never been easy for me to tolerate high temperatures, particularly when the humidity climbs into the “muggy” stage. But I do want to feel like I got truly warmed up before the next cold season gets here. We’ll see how well I do by the time another couple of hot months have come and gone.

Last week, Nik Wallenda, a member of the famous family of tightrope walkers and aerialists, crossed a section of the Grand Canyon on a wire stretched 1500 feet above the canyon floor. Some local residents who work at Wire Rope Works in Williamsport were the producers of the steel cable that Wallenda used for his performance. Tom Secules, an engineer at Wire Rope Works, told me that this cable was originally produced for Wallenda’s Niagara Falls walk in 2012. After that performance, the cable was returned to Williamsport so that it could be checked, and so the length could be adjusted to the required (shorter) length for the Grand Canyon. Obviously, a high-wire act requires the highest quality cable, with no breaks, rough spots, or flaws in the strands of steel stretching for a quarter of a mile, and we can be proud that the best source was found to be here in our valley of PA! One interesting fact is that while most of the cable produced at Wire Rope Works is lubricated to protect the steel from corrosion, for the Wallenda order, the cable was left uncoated so that it would not be slippery.

As summer was still approaching, we all heard and saw many stories about the 17 year cicada and were told to be ready for these loud insects. While I have been hearing some cicadas, I don’t really notice any increase over what I remember from past summers. Has the hatch occurred and I have simply not been paying attention? Or is it still too early for the majority of them to emerge? Lightning bugs, on the other hand, seem to have found the recent weather to their liking. On warm evenings, some of the trees near my house have looked like they were strung with thousands of twinkling lights.

There will be many entertaining sights and sounds to be found at the Lycoming County Fair beginning next Friday, July 12. Is it possible to find just one thing that is your favorite part of the fair? I enjoy so many parts of the fair that it usually takes a couple of visits for me to see, taste, and experience it all. I hope I will see you there!

Hughesville locals

July 6, 9 to 4, 39th Annual Summer Antique Market on the Eagles Mere Village Green.

July 12, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Pre-school Story Hour at Hughesville Area Public Library. Call 584-3762,or visit HAPL at 146 South 5th Street to register your 3 5 year old

July 12 Lycoming County Fair begins

July 24, 4 to 8 p.m., Eagles Mere Civic Club annual Flower Show with a Downton Abbey theme, Community Hall on Laporte Avenue, Eagles Mere. Admission and parking free.