Carolyn’s Online Magazine (COMe)
LAUREL MOUNTAIN BOROUGH, PENNSYLVANIA
The WP prompt for February 23, 2015, is Local Flavor…write about a typically “local” experience from where you come from, as though it’s an entry in a travel guide.
I’ve excerpted the following from a previous post, on CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS, the predecessor to Carolyn’s Online Magazine: Laurel Mountain Borough, Pennsylvania: Quaint
I am often asked why I don’t frequent the parks in my park-rich region. My response:
When I step out any door in my Laurel Mountain Borough (Pennsylvania) home I’m in a park. I’m surrounded by bird-filled trees; squirrels scampering for their share of the birdfeed; an occasional deer family stretched out on their back legs as they reach for apples on the tree outside our back door; wandering through the property, or a bear peeking in our living room window—all these things take me back to the days of yesteryear.
Night skies are clearly visible at any point they are not blocked by tall hemlock pines or hardwood trees. The stars have permission to shine brightly because the community does not have street lights. The only way to light your path is to carry a flashlight.
Perhaps the poem below will explain it further:
Laurel Mountain Borough—not the modernist’s town
Upon the gravel roads, those people would frown
No streetlights, no stores, no asphalt to boot
So quiet the night, you hear screech owl hoots.
Filled with the pinks of Mountain Laurel
And skittering critters, including the squirrels
With residents appearing to be saints
The atmosphere is really quite quaint.
Tucked into the Laurel Ridge foothills
Here once stood a needed lumber mill.
Now trees—hemlock and oak—are gigantic
They hold many secrets of the romantic,
It’s a place on earth like no other,
For parents, sister and brother
It’s here my life I’ll live out
With a laud of hurrah and a shout.
Now that you’ve discovered poetry is not my genre, I’ll offer you the following limerick:
The Borough is named Laurel Mountain
It has tall trees, too many for countin’
The aura is quite quaint
But you will find no complaint
Its riches flow through like a fountain.
Did either of these two creations give you the feeling that Laurel Mountain Borough is unique? Does either creation inspire you to visit my community? If so, let me know. I will take you on a tour of its one mile of roads.
To read the complete original piece click on Laurel Mountain Borough, Pennsylvania: Quaint
A bear peeking in your living room windows – !!!!! I hope y’all own a bb gun or paintball gun !
LikeLike