Project Boys

What a marvelous, incredible childhood I had with a multitude of friends! Because of where we lived, there were lots of us who were the same age and lots of different places to explore which sparked our ingenuity and creativity. We were creative, but not always safe. Oh, what adventures we had!

My neighborhood consisted of what some people called the “Projects”.  Others referred to them as “defense homes”.  They were rows of buildings, each building made up of 2-9 attached white houses.  They were built for the Westinghouse factory workers during World War II.  After the war, a cooperative was formed and they were open to anyone who wanted to live there. My parents moved us there in 1949, probably to be close to other family members who lived in nearby buildings.

That’s me in the center!

Today, in old family photos of the 1950s Projects, the neighborhood looks dirty, rundown and dreary to me.  However, as a young boy growing up there, my memories are nothing short of wonderful.  I had many best friends.  We rode bikes, played a wide variety of games, did some dangerous things and explored.  We eventually knew every nook and cranny of the row houses and became familiar with all the woodlands that surrounded much of the Projects.  Living in such close quarters, Project kids knew each other better than most kids in other kinds of neighborhoods.  We walked to school together, were in the same classes, and walked home together.  And after school, on weekends and throughout the summers we spent most of our time together. We weren’t wild, but definitely were creative and adventuresome.

I invite you to join me for an entertaining excursion back as I celebrate the exuberance of youth in the 1950s and 1960s with my friends and me in…

“The Project Boys“!

Autographed copies are available for $20.00 (includes shipping and tax). Not available outside the continental United States. Mail check or money order to: Bill Beatty, 540 Genteel Ridge Road, Wellsburg, WV 26070. Please make sure to include your shipping address.

The First Day of Spring – For Me

Sometimes the personal doesn’t jive with the “official”.

The first day of spring for 2020 is officially March 19. It is always March 19, 20, or 21 every year. Spring Equinox is the official term for the day. An equinox is the exact instant when the Sun is directly overhead at the Equator and the Earth’s rotational axis is tilted neither towards nor away from the Sun. In technical terms, this means that at the instant of the equinox, the Earth’s celestial equator (our equator’s imaginary projection straight out into space) intersects with the center of the Sun. This happens twice a year — on the first day of spring and the first day of fall.

My personal first day of spring varies from year-to-year. This year it was February 18. One year it was January 21.

Since the mid-1970s, I have determined the first day of spring in a very specific and special way. It is the day when I first hear the drumming of a woodpecker and the laughing call of a White-breasted Nuthatch on the same day. It can’t be just a woodpecker tapping, nor can it be the nuthatch’s ordinary call. Those can be heard all year long. But the drumming and the laughing call seem to happen when the birds sense that the season is beginning to change a little.

Pileated Woodpecker (Photo (c) Bill Beatty)

Woodpecker drumming

White-breasted Nuthatch (Photo (c) Bill Beatty)

Laughing song of the White-breasted Nuthatch

For me, the first day of spring is a challenge. I can’t notice it if I am inside, so this challenge gets me outside — in nature. The cool air is refreshing. Being in nature clears my head. Sometimes I just saunter and listen. Other times the exercise is heart thumping, but either way, I know I am much healthier for being in nature. Always, I say to myself, “This has been a wonderful day! Remember this when it’s rainy, windy or oppressively hot.” I hope to accept this challenge again and again. I embrace the challenge. I embrace all the wonders of Creation and the renewal which is Spring.