Hi, Frank!

Had a feeling you'd like my Thoreauvian approach to news analysis...

Pennsylvania is a state bereft of large natural lakes, leaving nothing like a beach except for the Erie 'panhandle' ceded to us (after some argument) by New York. From where I sit, that's a minimum of four hours away. As for a real beach, with salt water and tides: even though there's a town an hour from here called Jersey Shore (on the Susquehanna River right next to Williamsport), the genuine Jersey Shore is every bit of 6 hours away, as is Delaware's.

The woods, on the other hand, are right behind the house I live in part of, as is the end of one of the sinuous ridges called 'mountains' in these parts (its highest point is an hour's climb away), and a spring-fed creek with attendant wetlands. I'll just have to make do... (:-D>

E'