on the road again

This time the destination is Birmingham, Ala., for the Hymn Society of America's annual conference. A first for me. Afterwards, we drove to Cummings, Ga., a bit north of Atlanta and visited nephews Matthew, seated, and Jason, standing, left, and Luke, right, and his son Josh. In front of Luke's house are his daughters Kristen and Sarah. We were leaving for an amphitheater concert of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. A storm had us all soggy by intermission. Sunday evening we stayed in Harrisonburg, Va., and had one great cone of red raspberry soft ice cream. More details later.

Huntingdon

I have a sister and husband who live in Huntingdon, Pa. The Fourth we drove 2.25 hours to see them. A charming town, indeed. Being the seat of Huntingdon County we have the courthouse. And we saw a park where the canal used to be before the railroad put the main line through the town. You see the historic church where they worship, and a strange, needle-like stone (not the original now) which native peoples had erected. And if you like unusual bird feeders--they have one in the form of St. Francis of Assisi.

birthday 66

Every time June 29 rolls around I get one year older. Family came and helped me enjoy the day. They watched me blow out the six candles. I blew upward to keep spittle off the perfect icing. I said a few profound words of wisdom but I forget what the gist of it was.

photo by Joel

week away

A beautiful week away on vacation! One day we biked part of the Pittsburgh to Baltimore rails-to-trails trail--well, 11 miles of it, anyway. Another day I drove 12 miles west on old U. S. route 40 to Addison, Pa., to see the extreme art of chain saw sculpting and the restored toll station.