Seth’s Sightings

The newspaper business that produces The JournalHerald is a member of several newspaper organizations, one of which held its annual conference in Charlotte this past week. My sister and brother live in and near Charlotte, so Ruth and I could fit some learning in and fit family visits in afterwards.

Flying in became too complicated and expensive due to the need of a rental car. Even more than the recent trip week took to New England, this road trip was going to be a big one. We spent last week getting ready, then took to the road on Wednesday, even while completing the Journal of Penn-Kidder.

The ride is mostly Interstate 81, and the Journal of Penn-Kidder got finished in Staunton, Virginia, at an accommodating Cracker Barrel, shipped back to the press to be printed that night, and put out by the Journal team the next day. Our trip was supposed to end that night in Roanoke, but the booking systems we use couldn’t find a room. We ended up walking in to one of our possible hotels to learn that it was Virginia Tech’s graduation weekend, and there were no rooms available in the entire valley.

Our systems showed full hotels almost all the way to North Carolina on our route. So we decided to go directly south toward Martinsvile and try our luck there. The first hotel there was full (and creepy), but the second one right up the road, a Quality Inn, had a nice room for us.

It was an easy few hours to Charlotte the next day, where we went straight into the conference’s meetings.

Thursday was a busy day, including a presentation by me as a part of an idea exchange about some custom association newspapers that we do. Ruth, meanwhile, completed the Journal of the Pocono Plateau to send to the press that evening, though taking time for some sessions and a networking dinner.

The conference filled Friday, ending just after 5. Then it was family time. My brother Matthew and his wife Elsie took us and my sister Elise out to A Piece of

by Seth Isenberg

Havana restaurant, where we enjoyed Cuban and Latin American food, and some terrific music. As the evening progressed, there was dancing, including by us.

Elise drove us back to our hotel, where we were asleep minutes after getting into bed.

Saturday we did more visiting, and also went out to the Lodge Cookware Outlet Store, had lunch with Matthew and Elsie at the Original Pancake House in downtown Charlotte, and then went back to the hotel with the expectation that we’d go swimming, since it was 80-some degrees. Sadly, the hotel’s outdoor pool doesn’t open until Memorial Day.

Our evening was a family meal at Matthew and Elsie’s home.

Sunday we were off from Charlotte and headed to the Raleigh area to visit my niece Hanna and her husband James, along with our nephew Christopher. They took us out to lunch to something new (for us), a hotpot restaurant. A pot of boiling soup is placed on a burner in the center of your table. Meanwhile you order a variety of meats, seafood, eggs, tofu, vegetables, and more. That comes on huge platters served on a giant tray, then off-loaded to practically fill the large table. Items are very quickly cooked by immersing them in the boiling soup. It helped that James was expert at this, and he and Hanna led us through a fine and fun meal.

As our visit wrapped up, we were taken to a local strawberry patch, and got wonderful, beautiful freshpicked strawberries to take home with us.

I drove through the sunset, ending up in Lynchburg, Virginia for the night. This hotel had an indoor pool. Before we left on our ride north on Monday, there was some quality pool time spent.

Off through Virginia’s wine county we went, eventually getting back to Route 81. We made a stop in Harrisonburg to get some tourist information, but otherwise mainly stuck to the Interstate, getting home after dark.

Sightings are always varied on a road trip. One of the most interesting happened on Sunday, as we travelled across the center of North Carolina. We stopped at a Bojangles for some biscuits for breakfast. A man had just pulled in behind us, and he was hauling a big black bull in his trailer. I

Penn Lake

Continued from page 5 also was the low bidder for grass maintenance at $2,500 ($35 per hour for any additional hours if needed).

It was noted the borough still has remaining ARPA funds after allocating money to the above project.

Council chairman Paul Rogan and Longmore will survey the borough for its most important drainage concerns and post for bids on PennBid. Drains need to be cleaned and Rogan will check to see if ARPA funds can be used for this project.

Council addressed a call from property owners on Hollenback asking that a swale be installed along the road in front of their property. Rogan said the complimented him as we walked past. He said he’d just bought it, having recently sold his former bull, wanting to switch up the genetics and improve his herd. 1200 pounds of gorgeous. The most interesting bird sighting was what I though was a mynah that had set up on a light post by the hotel. Each time I went out to the car, this bird was singing away, with a seemingly repertoire of bird songs, one right after the other. A drive such as this means going from early spring into early summer down in Carolina. Foliage was lush and flowerful. We enjoyed the flower variety during all of our daylight drives. On our ride towards home, we sighted a lot of calves and lambs, another of the beautiful things about spring. borough will do the swale but not the pipe required under the driveway. The solicitor suggested consulting with the engineer. Rogan indicated there has been quite a bit of activity regarding the dam. Grant writer Jim Brozena met with PEMA to resolve issues. A statement will be submitted to PEMA for reimbursement on work already completed. There is ongoing work regarding appraisals and easements. The signed proposal was returned to Streamline to proceed with the design.

Public comment at the end of the meeting was from Carl Becker advising council the grinder pump has been going off at a vacant neighboring property. It was suggested Aqua should be asked to check out the problem.