Wednesday, December 30, 2020

2020 Retrospective, 2021 Plans

When I wrote my 2019 post about what I hoped to do in the next year, I never could have imagined that 2020 would be... well, 2020. Then again, nobody could have seen that coming.

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Underground Railroad, Harrisburg, Dauphin County

As I write this, my region is feeling the effects of Winter Storm Gail. Jim Cantore, famous fan of "thunder snow" from The Weather Channel, has traveled over to Bethlehem to experience the storm firsthand. When he shows up, you know it's serious. I've got chili in the slow cooker and we're planning to basically just graze and try to relax. I hope everyone affected by the storm is warm and safe.

Before I get into today's quest, a quick word of thanks to everyone who has sent congratulatory messages on the publication of Laury's Island. The response has been more than slightly overwhelming - I was even interviewed by my local TV news station! (It will air next Monday, December 21st. Details are on this page down at the bottom.)

I had planned, as my last quest for 2020, to talk about the two historical markers dedicated to George Taylor. However, I seem to be missing a couple of the photographs I need for the post; I know I took them, but for the life of me I cannot find them. So we'll leave Mr. Taylor until the new year, by which time I should have either found or replaced the pictures, and today I'll add one more new guest photographer to this blog. My parents were in Harrisburg some weeks back, and while they were in the vicinity, they were kind enough to send me a few pictures of markers they encountered.

Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Colonial Mansion, Lancaster, Lancaster County

Last time, I said that I thought I'd be able to make an announcement in my next blog post. Those of you who follow the blog's Facebook page may have already seen it, but I've published my first history book! I'm altogether pleased with the results and I look forward to hearing what my readers think of it. You can read all about it on this page

In an effort to keep myself organized (my friends can tell you how very good at that I am not), I made a list of the subjects I was going to cover for the remainder of the year. I kind of chuckled when I checked the list and realized that I would be heading back to Lancaster County for this week's entry, because I was thinking about it recently. The Allentown Farmer's Market has an Amish bakery, where I got some pies last week for Thanksgiving, and their sign proudly mentions that their goods come from Lancaster County. 

Anyway, I collected the pictures for this post when my best friend Andrea and I were in the city earlier this year, so with December being as dismal as it is currently, it's good to go back to that sunny day in June. (All social distancing cautions were observed, I assure you.) We had smoothies and saw a lot of dogs.