A couple of Fridays ago, Nancy and I headed out for Pennsylvania with a full agenda for the following 12 days. We picked up a cake and candles on the way and arrived in Gallitzin late Saturday (Sept 8) in time to join in the celebration of Nancy's Mom's 89th birthday.

On the next day Nancy spent the afternoon with 9 fellow graduates of Altoona Mercy Hospital's class of 64. It was the first ever reunion for those fine ladies.

On the 11th Nancy's Mom and Aunt Nina joined us for a drive to Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. We stayed in the Embassy Suites, and this was the view from our window. While I have clearly located the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, I can't figure out how to get to it without getting wet.

Here are the 3 ladies standing in front of the American Falls just down river from the more famous Horse-shoe Falls pictured above. We all returned to Gallitzin on Thursday, and on the next day Nina had out patient surgery on her right knee. She was up and about and well enough to join us for dinner last Sunday.

On Tuesday, on the way back to Huntsville, we stopped in Herndon, Virginia, to visit my Uncle Tom and Aunt Betty. Uncle Tom retired from the U.S. Army Mapping Agency in the 60s, where he was a cartographer. He also just celebrated his 89th birthday, so I treated everyone to dinner at the Outback Steak House.

Uncle Tom is an artist, but the most amazing things we saw were his etchings. He actually "draws" or etches onto a thin sheet of copper. He then rubs ink into the etched copper and uses a press to make prints. We were very impressed.