Upstate

Interesting weather continues to plague me. Monday was the wettest March day on record in this area, but this was short lived as Tuesday took the throne 24 hours later. That makes it the wettest March ever. But then on Wednesday the sun came out and today was perfect weather. The easter weekend is also predicted to be warm and sunny all round so I shan't complain too loudly!

My sun shone down on Lancaster county in Pennsylvania which has one of the largest Amish populations in the world. While I'm not about to donn the prayer cap and pledge my alliegance there is a beautiful simplicity and sense of logic and peace to the way these people live. They have as little to do with the outside world as possible so no phones, TV, electricity or vehicles. They are farmers and live pretty much self-sufficiently, making all their own foods from bread to cheese, preserves and chocolate all without the use of chemicals or preservatives. The area has a rustic feel with lots of farmer's markets and craft shops, the specialties being patchwork quilts and handmade furniture with people clopping by in horse-drawn buggies. The word that immediately springs to mind in 'quaint' but there is a purpose to everything that is done and I have to say I respect them for holding strong to their values.

From Lancaster I headed northwest through the rolling farmland of Pennsylvania to the Delaware River which I then followed through miles and miles of trees towards the Catskills in New York State. Then I drove through miles and miles of trees, changing from the Delaware to the Hudson River. Because of the recent rains the rivers were in flood and in many places had broken their banks. So the descriptive words for the area are 'trees and water, water and trees'.

Some way along the Hudson I stumbled on the Vanderbilt and Roosevelt mansions. Actually that's not true, the buildings and grounds are so ludicrously large that they loom up out of the trees and water, making stumbling upon them impossible. It's quite a contrast from the Amish homes further south.

Now I'm back in the city and looking forward to easter in the sunshine!