Seth’s Sightings

Our newspaper business is a member of a multi-state organization of community newspapers. At the end of last week, we attended that organization’s conference, held in Harrisburg. Due to my pending time in the hospital, we paid to take the dogs with, so the family was together.

Bull and Spookie are good travelers, though Bull tends to try to climb up front with us a bit. They also tolerate time in the car when we need to have dinner or attend a meeting. What was most fun was to be with them in the hotel room. The event was in the Best Western Premier and they had been renovating. We were given a beautifully laid out room on the first floor, with new everything. We brought a blanket for the dogs to lie on, and we set up our camp on the cushy bed. To keep the room comfortable, the heating/cooling system had a fan that made

by Seth Isenberg

noise enough to mask the sound of heavy traffic—the interstate was just a few hundred feet out back.

Our room was close to our meetings. It was also close to other conference rooms, and there was to be a wedding. It proved to be quite fancy—some of us joked that we should be “crashers,” but they were dressed far more elegantly than we were.

We had a successful meeting, we learned things, made some new friends, and generally had a good time.

One of my tasks while there was to pick up a member at the Harrisburg train station. As we had brought the dogs, this meant loading up the dogs to make the pickup (we couldn’t leave the dogs alone in the room). On this run, it took a few extra minutes for me, since I didn’t precisely know where the station was. It turned out the train was a few minutes late, and our friend had just reached the front of the station as I pulled up. Perfect timing.

As a treat, I took her on a mini-loop tour of the state capitol before the quick ride back to the conference.

On the return trip I parked and paid the meter and accompanied her into the station. The front hall is a beautiful older design with polished wood and marble. In the bridge area that extends over the tracks, the place had a distinctly old bus station feel, with old wood benches and a dingy paint scheme. We waited until the train arrived, and I went down to track level to see her into the train, and to experience a little bit of Harry Potter. I’d never done this before

As I made it back to my car, I was able to see the train slowly pull out in the direction of Philadelphia.

Our arrival home Saturday was in plenty of time to go out to the game dinner held by Faith Church at Sliver Ridge Hunting Club. This was a good feed, and I had some luck with the tricky tray.

We were able to watch the Penguins outdoor hockey game in the Cleveland Browns football stadium on AHL-TV. Our guys lost that one in overtime, but came back the following day for a regular time win. We still have tickets available for the next few games. If you’re interested send an e-mail to journalsethi@gmail.com.

Sightings this week include several foxes in both Lehigh and Foster Townships. I sighted two on Sunday night—they may have been out because it was garbage night.

Crocuses have joined our flowering plants at the house. The snow drop cluster is putting on a spectacular show, while the crocuses are very modest just now.

I finished this column while driving toward Philadelphia after Monday night’s snowfall. Our area was pretty with its fresh light coating of powder. So was the drive south. The morning run had us passing a fair number of trucks, some of which were still blowing snow off their top sides. Of note were the number of critter haulers bringing their loads to Hatfield.

The snow area ended south of the Quakertown area. I’m home from my surgery as we send this off to press. Best wishes of good health to all.