OVER THE RIVER AND THROUGH THE WOODS

Jon and I were out the door before 7 AM this morning to take our traditional "walk to the polls." It's primary day in PA and ever since we've been self-employed, we've made it a tradition to walk the two miles through the woods and down to the bustling berg of Fogelsville to cast our votes.

It was a perfect morning--after all, it IS Earth Day as well as primary day. The little dirt road behind our neighborhood snakes along a trickling stream and through dense woods. The birds were doing their best to drown out the drone of traffic you begin to hear as you near the Interstate that borders Fogelsville. At the end of the dirt road is a small farm pond surrounded by wetlands. We often see a Great Blue Heron and kingfisher feeding there and ducks and geese stop by frequently for a brief hiatus. We did see the kingfisher as well as red winged blackbirds, woodpeckers, robins and assorted sparrows, finches, juncos, crows and vultures. We saw a few cars and a pedestrian or two as we finished our walk to the Fogelsville Fire Company, our district's polling place.

In "the old days" we used to vote in the Fire Company garage, right there with the fire trucks. That was most cool and very exciting. Today, we vote upstairs in the big room where they serve banquets and have chicken and waffle (yes, that's right) dinners. (Note: It shocked us no end when we moved here from the West many years ago. "Chicken and waffles?" we cried. "Ugh." But our 1-year-old son taught us to shut up and eat. He loved the stuff.)

We signed in, got our "voting cards" and cast our ballots using the new electronic machines. It doesn't take long at all to vote in Fogelsville. We were back home in about an hour after we left, refreshed by the exercise and the process of voting.

Now, back to the queries, chapters and manuscripts.