AUG. 1, 2009: “It’s going to bring excitement and positiveness
to the community. It will fall on the heels of the state Little
League tournament which is always a big week. Then a week later
we’ll go into shooting of a big movie and then into the fall season
of the elk rut and then hunting season. It’s a good wave to be
riding right now.”

So said Tina Johns Lorson, executive director of the Cameron
County Chamber of Commerce, about the prospects of having a movie
shot in the hills of the Emporium area.

To us, that quote sums up why it’s great to live in this region.
We can go from a Hollywood film project to the elk rut in one fell
swoop.

We’ve been writing a lot recent about the weather this cold and
rainy summer. It feels more like September than August and, while
we don’t want to admit it, we’ve already seen the leaves start to
change.

Allergy season from spring is barely ending – and goldenrod have
appeared at the roadside. Apples and blackberries seem to have
sprouted virtually overnight and are ripening while we can still
smell blossoms from other plants.

Welcome to summer in north central Pennsylvania.

It can be a hard place to love at times. But, as one reader told
us the other day, “it gets in your blood.” He was pinning down for
us the final month in the calendar – August – when the Bradford
area has had noticeable snowfall.

But if you ever think bad thoughts about this region, put your
nose to work. The other day crossing Boylston Street there was that
indefinable smell of Bradford in the air. We ride our bike in the
evenings and love the scent of campfires, flowers, fresh-cut grass
and sawdust from just-hewn logs.

It’s intoxicating and perhaps what we miss most when winter
shuts us up inside without our sense of smell.

But winter is many months off and, besides, we’ve had
predictions that El Nino will make it milder than normal – warmer
and with less snow.

Meanwhile, revel in our short but sensuous summer. Look forward
to putting on the cuddly old sweatshirt at the end of August and
pulling out the corduroy pants.

Be grateful to live in the place where other people come to
visit but have to go home on Sundays.