I’m back in Maryland after a great week in Upstate New York with my family. It felt good to spend more than a couple of days wrapped around a holiday to visit, eat good food (so much good food), help Mom with a bunch of winter chores, see my sister, and also to just sit and relax. I also did something I wish I’d done more of while Dad was alive: I asked my Mom questions about her life before she was married, how she met him, and what their life was like before they had us kids. I’ve got more questions to ask but I learned some things I didn’t know about.

New York State is beautiful at this time of year. I drove up on a Sunday afternoon and it was getting dark before I made it to central Pennsylvania, but over the next week the leaves around us began to turn. My sister lives up on a hill at a decent altitude for that area, so the winding road leading to her house was flecked with golds and yellows and oranges, all brilliant in the bright sunshine. I started for home early in the morning yesterday, so I was in the middle of Pennsylvania’s peak colors by lunchtime.

I think my only beef with the whole trip is that the radio stations along I-81 only play bible study, country music, or conservative talk radio on Sunday afternoon; it’s like the Steelers or Eagles don’t even exist.