Karen that sounds like such a wonder place to visit. Very relaxing with no motor vehicles. Bet it pretty.

Lori I'm glad you are far enough away from the fires to be safe. The smell is terrible though isn't. There were fires in Montreal last year that were so bad we could hardly stay outside the house or car but we were in no danger otherwise.

Happy Halloween everyone! Do you have your costume on? I still have my orange and black spirit day at school clothes on. So I have pumpkins hanging from my ears and a pumpkin decorated vest on.

Karen, you should be a travel agent. You always seem to have good travel advice.

The fires are still raging here--not right near us, but you can smell it in the air and see it in the sky from some places. They're having a hard time controlling it, but the weather seems to be changing now so hopefully that will help.

Richard, how about trying Newport, RI? We went there and stayed at a B&B several years ago, toured some of the mansions, had dinner at the warf and also went to the Kool jazz/food festival. Saw Hammersmith farm where Jackie grew up and she and JFK were married, Rosemont (I think) cottage where the Great Gatsby was filmed. The shore walk is beautiful. I love Newport! Don't know much about Providence, sorry. In PA, we have friends in Bucks County, near Philly. Stone farms, cute villages, very picturesque. Good luck in your travels! We went to Mackinac Island, MI a couple of weekends ago. No motor vehicles are allowed so you walk, bike or ride horses. We took a carriage ride around the island. The views were beautiful and most of the village is Victorian homes, lots of B&B's. Its great and only about 4 hours from us.

Wow, long quiet break here in the Blog. Richard may I ask what you did in Portland? We don't get there often as it is a good 6 hours or so drive. I know people who go down and back in a day trip but not me. We're more likely to drive through on our way somewhere else, like NH or MA. We go maybe once a year if there's a weekend concert and we can plan to stay the night. Last time we did that we heard Ray Connick , Jr. perform. He was amazing. That was a couple of years ago.

We've moved back into fall. There is no more snow and the rains just keep coming. In fact with temperatures in the 50's it's almost like spring. I'll tell you, I wouldn't mind if we were already on the other side of winter and getting the screens back in the windows. I love Summer Time. I'm afraid we may have to mow soon!

Be well everyone - for those out west in CA - please be careful

Hi Bloggers, I feel like I just pulled my finger out of an electric outlet. I have been working non-stop since Jan '03 trying to stay employed (that is the electric outlet in this story) and forgot to take vacation. Now I have a lot of vacation time saved up and the company has a "use it or lose it" policy. I will be taking many weeks off between now and Jan '04. I went to Portland ME last week- I had never been there and I had a pretty good time. I am calming down, it feels good! Anyone have travel tips for Providence or Philadelphia? These are on my quick-trip, check-em out, try to have fun list.