It was a strange sight, indeed, for folks driving through my neighborhood

Eight days before Christmas, with a forecast of snow for that evening, my neighbor was out hanging colorful holiday lights from his shrubbery. I was out cutting my lawn.

I figured it was my last chance to put the bagger on the lawn mower and suck up all the wayward leaves that had landed on my grass.

It also gave me an opportunity to bid auld lang syne to another year of lawn maintenance.

As I finished and surveyed my domain, I was pleased with the way the lawn looked.

Now that this calendar year of yard work has come to an end, I can spend the winter with visions of spring fertilizers, weeding, trimming, and mowing dancing in my head. Warm thoughts for the cold days ahead.

How strange was this past weekend?

Friday afternoon I mowed the lawn.

Saturday evening I used the snow blower to clear the six to seven inches of October snow from the driveway and sidewalk.

In addition to that, I have a maple tree that took a severe hit during the snowstorm. A number of large branches came crashing down.

In fact, as I stood on my front porch during the snow, I could hear branches from throughout the neighborhood cracking, as if a group of 16-year-old boys were standing around cracking their knuckles.

After I pulled the fallen maple tree limbs into a pile, I just looked at them and sighed: “Consider it nature’s way of pruning trees.”

When I think about the York Fair, I think about a piece of string.

When I was starting Hannah Penn Junior High School and was finally permitted to go the York Fair by myself, my parents gave me a Fair warning: pickpockets.

To combat that skulldugery, I was given a wallet with a zipper around it. Tied through the hole in the pull on the zipper was a piece of string. The other end of the string was attached to my belt loop.

If anyone would try to snatch my wallet, I would feel the tug on my pants. More than that, it would be impossible for me to put down my wallet and walk off without it.

Was it a bit overboard? Perhaps, but I always came home with my wallet.

Nationally known playwright and York Suburban High School graduate Ken Ludwig seems to have productions opening everywhere this November.

In an e-mail he notes:

“…I have three new plays opening in November. I wrote them over the past year or so, and the openings just happen to be around the same time.

” ‘Midsummer/Jersey’, my first play for high school students, will premiere at James W. Robinson High School in Fairfax, VA; ‘The Game’s Afoot (or Holmes for the Holidays),’ a new comedy-thriller, is opening at Cleveland Playhouse (in their brand new theatre, which should be fun); and ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,’ my first play for young audiences, will receive its world premiere at The Adventure Theatre in Bethesda, Maryland.

“Finally, I’m thrilled to report that the revival of ‘Crazy For You’ at the Open Air Theatre in Regents Park, in London, has been wonderfully received by audiences and the critics.”

Here’s a thought: Wouldn’t it burnish York’s creativity image if a Ken Ludwig festival were held here utilizing the stages available over the course of a few days to present his plays, musicals, new high school production, and children’s theater?

Joe Theismann prowled the stage of York’s Strand Theatre Monday evening (August 15) as if he were still in his Washington Redskins uniform, not the pin stripe suit, the crisp white shirt, and purple and black tie he was wearing.

The former quarterback — who was earning $1 million a year “back when quarterbacks were worth $1 million,” as he puts it — was the speaker at a “Challenge of Change” program presented by Scott Wagner and Penn Waste, Inc. to more than 1,000 people in the by-invitation-only audience.

Theismann, handsome with a full head of hair and gracefully athletic as he nears his 62nd birthday, moved across the stage as he lobbed motivational messages from stage left; rifled sports stories from stage right; told humorous stories from front stage center; faded to the back and then rushed forward to make a dramatic point.

As the spotlight glistened off of the diamonds in his two NFL rings, he poked fun at himself saying the one time he punted the football in a Chicago Bears game he became the holder of the record for the shortest net gain by a punter in the NFL – 1 yard.
Again and again he returned to the day in November of 1985 when his world crumbled on a football field. One of the best known quarterbacks of his era was entangled with the New York Giants’ Lawrence Taylor. His leg was broken in two places and his football career at an end.

It is one of the most dramatic and re-played football injuries ever recorded, but Theismann says he has only seen it one time on film. As painful as that hit was, his face creases in a broad grin when he recalls that actress Sandra Bullock talks about him in the movie “The Blind Side.”

It was after that life-changing injury Theismann developed his motivational approach to embracing change and challenge.

He emphasizes leadership, character, team work (he says TEAM is an acronym for “Together Everyone Achieves More”), education, and communication. To illustrate communication and listening, he announces: “Johnny’s mother has three sons. One is named Nickel, another Dime.” He then asks, “What’s the third son’s name?” He moves from left to right repeating the statement and asking the question. The answers from the audience come back, “Quarter” or “Penny.” He again states: “Johnny’s mother has three sons. One is named Nickel, another Dime. What’s the third son’s name?” The answer: “Johnny.”

He was a communicator when he became a color commentator for various sports programs and he put his own motivational advice to work when he became an entrepreneur and opened his namesake restaurant in Alexandria, Virginia.
He ended the evening with a flourish, throwing two footballs in the audience to the winners of random drawings. He still has the arm.

Harvey Diehl died last Friday. His name jumped off the obituary page.

Back in June 1982 I had written an article about Harvey. At that time heart bypass surgeries were relatively new. I had approached a local cardiac doctor about writing an article by following a potential heart bypass patient from diagnosis through surgery and recovery.

Harvey Diehl graciously agreed to allow me to share his life for almost four months as he went through the entire procedure and returned to work. That even included being in the operating room while his chest was opened and the five bypasses attached to his heart.

When you are a writer there are some stories and some individuals who stick with you. Harvey and Katherine Diehl were two of those people and the heart bypass story was one of those stories. Over the years, he would occasionally call me with a question or a story idea. He would begin the conversation with, “I don’t know if you remember me.” I could never forget Harvey and Katherine.

Katherine died several years ago. Harvey, with his repaired heart, had an extra 29 years added to his life after his bypass surgery.

When Harvey Diehl died last Friday, he was 90 years old.