Traveling Watch

[mlcor]

I'm not sure where I want to retire: Saskatoon, Libertyville, or Ambler!

Jeannie

You might want to consider the winter weather in all of these locations before retiring (full time) to any of them.

[pepperami]

You might want to consider the winter weather in all of these locations before retiring (full time) to any of them.

Yes the weather is noticeably nice in almost all the pics so far!

[mlcor]

Yes the weather is noticeably nice in almost all the pics so far!

We can (and do) have some beautiful summer weather. But, for instance, last winter (2014-15), we got over 100 inches of snow. For you metric folks, that's over 2.5 meters. And our mean temperature in winter is somewhere around -2 C. Probably Saskatoon is a lot worse, though...

[pepperami]

We can (and do) have some beautiful summer weather. But, for instance, last winter (2014-15), we got over 100 inches of snow. For you metric folks, that's over 2.5 meters. And our mean temperature in winter is somewhere around -2 C. Probably Saskatoon is a lot worse, though...

We have less extremes in Ireland, almost like 2 seasons, Spring and Autumn

Snow like you described would appear once in a generation and cripple the country... We're not used to it!

Rain on the other hand can be an almost daily occurrence! Max temperature this summer was around 25degrees C.

Expecting a storm overnight and a yellow warning been issued..so lots of rain..again

[skywatch]

We have less extremes in Ireland, almost like 2 seasons, Spring and Autumn

Snow like you described would appear once in a generation and cripple the country... We're not used to it!

Rain on the other hand can be an almost daily occurrence! Max temperature this summer was around 25degrees C.

Expecting a storm overnight and a yellow warning been issued..so lots of rain..again

Rain.... ahhh, rain. I remember rain. She was a friend of mine. Where did she go? Four year drought in California and everything is on fire it seems.

[FuzzyB]

Art in Ambler is pretty big. We have two art studios, an indie movie theater, a playhouse, a young artists performing arts group, a dance studio, and a rotation art display.

My favorite is the Ambler Theater. It focuses mainly on independent films, but it will pick up some bigger releases depending on subject matter. Built by Warner Bros. in 1928, it recently underwent a major renovation to restore it to its former glory. They play a lot of older movies, too, as well as opera, plays, and concerts. It's a wonderful place to see a movie and still has its old-time ticket booth and inexpensive concession stand.








The Act II Playhouse puts on plays throughout the year and I believe has a resident playwright.




The old Ambler Department Store has a permanent Art in the Storefront display that showcases local artists.




The more eccentric art studio in town is quite unique. We had a Music & Arts festival in town and they do killer face painting.






Just this past week, Ambler kicked up its art appreciation another notch. The Philadelphia Art Museum (I'm sure most people can picture Rocky running up the stairs) is sponsoring an Inside Out exhibit in selected towns. They have installed high quality reproductions of artwork from their collection all over town. Here's a sampling.













It is always entertaining to drive by and count the number of people striking a Rocky pose. Of course, they also have a statue outside the museum.



I bet Bob didn't expect to get such a cultural experience in a tiny town in Pennsylvania.

[FuzzyB]

Bob had one more stop to make in Ambler. I know William likes his tools, so we went to one of the coolest hardware stores I've ever seen. Deck's Hardware has been serving Ambler for more than 100 years. Once you step foot inside, you will quickly see that some things have not changed in that store for 100 years. Parts are affixed to every inch of the walls. Aisles are any nook or cranny they could find. And they have pretty much anything you can imagine, including wheelbarrows to fit anyone. (Believe it or not, they had three other sizes of wheelbarrows smaller than the one pictured below.) The people that work there know exactly where every single item is located and know how to do anything. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

[FuzzyB]

One thing I forgot to mention is the skate park. Ambler has a great skate shop and a couple years ago, they built a skate park in one of our many parks. It's been great for the community.


(Picture borrowed from the internet)



Ambler has a storefront display contest every December. The Ambler Skate Shop always crushes the competition. Last year, they built an entire Nightmare Before Christmas display. The year before that, they converted the front of their store into the Muppet Theater.

[FuzzyB]

That wraps up Bob's tour of Ambler. Bob is all packed up and ready to go. We have an early wake-up tomorrow, but by tomorrow night, we will be chillin' in Maui.

Libertyville, IL to Ambler, PA - 792 miles

Ambler, PA to Maui, HI - 4,845 miles

I hope Bob signed up for frequent flyer miles!

[pepperami]

Rain.... ahhh, rain. I remember rain. She was a friend of mine. Where did she go? Four year drought in California and everything is on fire it seems.

Oh my Four years!

I like to think the trade off for all our rain is the greenery, view from my living room this morning



Every single leaf due to shed in the coming weeks

We get forty shades of green, you get those Californian girls .

If we get a few weeks without rain the authorities cry drought and impose water shortages! Four years is unimaginable!