Boston: Aug 5-9, 2009

Richard and I drove to Boston on Wednesday, August 5 for the annual AEJMC conference where I presented some research. This scrapbook showcases some of the touristy things we did in Massachusetts on Aug. 7 and 8.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

By the way, prior to leaving for Boston (on Monday, Aug 3) Richard put up nine pints of raspberry jam from the berries we picked the previous weekend. After work that same day we went and picked some wild blackberries, which are now frozen and will at some point turn into jam. This last Saturday, Aug 15, Richard went to some boggy marsh and picked blueberries. We may just keep these frozen and cook them in things, they are delicious.

Jeep'n in the Rain

The rain storm this afternoon reminded me of an experience I had almost one week ago on Aug 12. I decided to get out of the house and spend the afternoon doing something other than research. So I went to State College (10 miles away) to run some errands. Typically when I stay home and do research I don't take the jeep out (actually, it's quite rare for me to do this, especially since we took the top off), but the sun was shining and I wanted to check some items off my to-do list. I was running a little behind (I was trying to get home at the same time or just before Richard) and had one last stop at the grocery store. While in the store I called Richard to tell him I was in Wegmans’ bakery trying to resist their delicious pastries. During our conversation he asked if it had been raining. I assured him there was no rain and it had been a perfectly sunny afternoon. Well, after peeling myself away from the bakery (No I didn't buy anything, but I fantasized about eating their chocolate cake and fruit tarts.) and walking outside it began to sprinkle on me. I knew Richard would be leaving work in a few minutes on the other side of town and see the same thing, so I laughed and thought of our conversation. I had just gotten on the freeway when the downpour started. I drove right into some heavy rain clouds that gave me “very little” visibility. The only solution I could think of was to pray, follow the outline of the white lines on the road–the only thing that kept me on the road—wipe the rain off the inside of my windshield, and keep going. Since we don’t exactly live in a city, I wasn't near anything I could drive to for cover, so I just kept going. After a driving few miles at 55 mph (that’s the speed limit on the road) the rain eased up a little, at least enough to give me better visibility, and I realized that I didn’t seem to be getting too wet. Until that point my biggest problem had been visibility. But just as I began slowing down to get off our exit (basically a big circle you make a 360 on) the rain drops seemed to penetrate me. Apparently, the slower you go the more wet you get! I made it off the exit and noticed some bikers hovering under the overpass. Hmmm, what were they afraid of, getting wet? Eventually you have to get to your destination and the rain didn’t look like it was going to let up anytime soon. Well, at this point I only had two miles to go, so I kept driving. As I approached the first of four stop lights it was red and I had to come to a complete stop. That was disastrous. When I stopped the rain began pelting my eyes so hard that I could barely see. At that point all I wanted to do was drive and NEVER slow down. As I approached our home all I could hope was that Richard beat me home waiting with the garage door open. Unfortunately, that was not the case so I parked the jeep outside and ran to our front door. By the time I got to the door Richard drove up with the garage door opener.

I must have been the funniest looking thing on the road. From a few honks I received I have no doubt other drivers were thinking, “What is that crazy woman doing?” The lesson I learned through all of this is that when you’re caught driving a topless jeep in the rain, drive as fast as you can and never, never stop. Too bad we didn't capture any pictures of this, I was drenched.

A Patch of Berries

Yesterday Richard and I went on a splendid date. We got up early and went hunting for blackberries. First we ventured to a beautiful park with a small river/large stream that was rumored to have wild berries growing alongside it. What we really like about this park is the covered bridge that ties two parts of the park together. It’s really neat. Unfortunately all the berries at the park were no longer producing, but our search wasn’t in vain as we did find a “few” ripe raspberries along one of the roads on the way out of the park.

We didn't expect to go hunting for berries too long, but I really wanted to get blackberries from the forest area just south of State College were we were first exposed to and ate wild berries. This is the area where we spent a few days with the youth on the Pioneer Trek last July. For the most part the area is lined with trees and you follow a gravel road up and down forested mountains. It's a lot different driving through the area rather than walking the area, but either way it's beautiful. We didn't have to drive far to find tons of raspberries along the road. The patch of berries we picked stretched 30+yards, making it a bit bigger than just a patch of berries. We really got into picking and kept climbing through and into the bushes to get more ‘ripe’ berries. I’m sure we were quite a sight to behold. As you can imagine, we didn’t exactly come out of the experience unscathed. Raspberry bushes are lined with THORNS (large and small). There are also a lot of other "things" that grow with them that have even bigger thorns too. By the end our arms looked like we were clawed by cats. The thorns seemed to like my hair too as the thorns kept catching and pulling it. But every scratch was all worth it!!! We have a lot of raspberries. After making a serious dent in the berry bushes we once again went looking for blackberries. Although we didn’t find any good patches of blackberries, someone at church informed us of a road by the airport that has blackberries growing on it. We checked out the road after church and it looks like we’re going to pick berries once again this week. I can’t wait to make some homemade wild raspberry and blackberry jam. YUM!

The morning was quite mystical with fog covering the entire valley. At 64 degrees, the temperature was just right for picking. By 11:00 a.m. the fog rose, and so did the temperature, making it a sunny day. I finished the day making a baby quilt for a friend and Richard went fishing for bass and catfish (he caught both). I guess you could say it was a great day in Central Pennsylvania.