You have a friend in Pennsylvania

So, I never liked the PA license plate slogan: "You've got a friend in Pennsylvania." As a purist, I preferred the older and nobler "Keystone State." Also, it seemed a lame quote from Sweet Baby James, who has a link to Belmont next town over from us. But I need to amend my opinion. I used a stairmaster for an hour at the motel. Then I went for a cool down walk into a Shamokin Dam neighborhood just west of the Econolodge. Every single driver waved unsolicited, even the man who passed me going the same direction as me. Wow!
Today is sunnier, so Dad and I went back to Norry to retake some pictures and find "Bill's Grocery" where Mom, Dad, Steve and Timothy first lived after moving from the Island (the island between Sunbury and Northumberland in the Susquehanna River.
Last night we went to Tedd's Landing (misspelt in my last blog, apologies) BBQ, up near the top of Blue Hill. We could see crew shells, 2 person, 4 person and 8 person in the water. Must be Bucknell students from Lewisburg. I remember going to Bucknell to see a science fair when I was around 8 years old.
Well, I'll let you know how Dad's big speech went!

I'm at an Econolodge in Shamokin Dam, PA, typing on the common computer here. I read all my recent emails and got one from my son who just moved to Edgewater, a neighborhood in Chicago, Ill. I just read the Edgewater Wiki article (but don't quiz me on all the streets and neighborhoods. Next time I visit, I'd like to go to a Swedish resturant and try lutefisk, featured sometime on Prarie Home Companion. I think the Swedes also make a berry syrup (can't remember which berry) that I've had on pancakes.
It was rainy today, but Dad and I drove by "Saint Monicas," once St. Michael's, In Sunbury, PA, where I went to school from K-4, and 679 King St. The concrete step in the front of the house has shrunk tremendously from my childhood days when I'd sit there to put my roller skates on.
We also saw the Joseph Priestly House (quiz points to anyone who knows his place in history), which I'd never visited,Priestley's grave, and up and down the streets of Norry (a.k.a. Northumberland, Penna. Then we drove to Danville and my birth hospital, Geisinger. The East Entrance, which was around in 1956, still houses the birth center. I suppose it was called a maternity ward back then.
The old Cherokee Merck Plant in Danville is now owned by Cherokee Pharmaceuticals. We drove into the visitor's parking (there's a guard house and fence, so we couldn't see the building Dad worked in) and took a few pictures. On our way out, I noticed a SUV following us. Once we got comfortably back in Danville proper, it turned around - it was a CP security car. Gee, I've never been suspected of espionage!
Looking forward to Dad's special day tomorrow. He is a charter member of the Susquehanna Chapter of the American Chemical Society and will speak at a reception at the Priestley house. Tonight we're going to check out Ted's Landing for supper. We had lunch at the Pine Barn Inn just down the hill from Geisinger. Dad remembers when Mrs. Bush owned it. It really was a livery and horse barn. A doc at Geisinger in the early 1900s stabled his horse there, or so the menu stated.
When I figure out how to post pix, I'll post them here.

Raspberries in September

This will be lame, but at least I'm blogging. I've been sharing my garden with Cami this summer. It's a great help to have a gardening buddy. Today we picked raspberries, again. I've never had such a harvest! Goes to show what happens when I actually work in the garden at least an hour a week.
I'm inspired by my niece Michelle's gardening on the Left Coast. She has canned pounds and pounds of fruit and had bumper crops.
My poor tomatoes look like skeletons with a little green on top and a few pale tomatoes on each one. The gardening center says they have fungal infections due to the huge amount of rain and cool weather we have had. The zucchini and pumpkin are similarly infected.
We'd only harvested a few eggplant, but today there are 10 growing! An embarassment of riches.
I just tried to add a photo. It didn't work. I'll try again next time.