Take me out to the ballgame

Though winter has decided to make an encore performance (which I am not pleased about) spring sports have started up. I've covered a lot of high school baseball and softball thanks to my two internships, and now my second spring season here at the CDT, so it didn't take me too long to get back into covering the spring sports. Here are some favorites from the first week of play.

PIAA AAAA Semi-finals

Tonight I covered the PIAA class AAAA boys' basketball semi finals. The game was held at one of our local high schools since it was the half way point for both of the teams. Basketball isn't very big in Centre County, and as I pulled up to the building to an empty parking lot I figured it wouldn't be a big game.

I was wrong.

The guy at the door chuckled as he let me in, saying one of the schools brought 14 buses of fans. As I walked into the normally subdued gym, I was amazed. One side, all boys, clad in orange and white for Cathedral Prep, and the other side, a co-ed section of fans head to toe in black for Lower Merion. The game started out intense, till Lower Merion took a lead that Prep could not catch up to. The cheering continued through the game at a very entertaining level.

I was there to cover the winning team for our preview for the State Championships this weekend in the Bryce Jordan Center.

Sunny Days, Sweeping the Clouds Away

March in Centre County has never been so gorgeous! This week with temperatures in the 60s and 70s and the sun shining it has been difficult for me to get off my deck and go to work. So when I've been out on assignments I've taken the long route to where I parked my car which has allowed my photographic juices to get flowing (and some extra vitamin D). Here are a few images I've snapped this week that aren't my normal photojournalism.

As I cut through the Hintz Alumni Center gardens towards my car after photographing a science lab in a near by building, the iron archways caught my attention. I've walked through this garden hundreds of times as a student and being in town, it's a nice area to look at the ducks and just relax, but I never noticed the flower detail before.

Yesterday afternoon I was out adventuring the county photographing township owned bridges that are falling apart. They are in disparate need of repair to be up to Penn Dot standards. This is one of the rusted posted of a bridge in Spring Mills.

As I walked back to my car in a stone parking lot near another bridge in Benner Township this old train platform caught my attention. I liked that the sign said please and thank you.

Next to the platform was a tanker trailer all rusted but still proudly displaying it's vehicle number.

Being distracted for a few minutes to takes some images of the tanker ended up being a good thing also. A farmer who uses the bridge I had been photographing was on his way home and stopped to chat with me, and I ended up getting my first contribution byline on a front page story. So come on mother nature, keep the nice weather and my photographic eye going!

K9 Veteran Day

Today the Boalsburg Military Museum held a new memorial event on their grounds. With proclamations around the country to name March 13 National K9 Veteran Day, they held a special tribute ceremony today in effort to raise awareness of the holiday. Local law enforcement dogs from around the area were present to honor their fellow K9s around the world.

PIAA State Wrestling

For the last several weeks I have spent my Saturday afternoons at high school wrestling. The winter sport concluded it's season this weekend at Hershey's Giant Center with the PIAA State championships. We had 5 wrestlers make it to the final rounds, with one placing third. I made the drive to Hershey for their final bouts.

Yummy, Abe's Cafe

One Saturday a month we run a featured food or restaurant in our Centre Living section. The photography department has recently teamed up with the reporter to help make the feature visually appealing. I ventured to Belleville, about 45 minutes from our office, to photograph a growing hot spot, Abe's Cafe. Abe's is owned by Abe, and his wife, and they feature breakfast and lunch during the week, and then fine dining on a Friday night. Additionally once a month they have a special night called, "Taste of Art," which showcases a local artist and some delicious food.

All the food is homemade and uses local produce and meats. I stopped in during the afternoon when the cafe wasn't open, but Abe whipped up some goodies for me to photograph.

First up we have some sausage and cheese stuff mushrooms.

Mini crab cakes.

Mini reubens, with homemade sauerkraut and thousand island dressing.

Mini chocolate cakes with chai icing.