January in Wyomissing
We flew from Jacksonville to Philadelphia, Thursday, January 17, 2008 and flew back to Jacksonville on Monday, January 21, 2008. This  provided us with an opportunity to visit Sal and Kate and the rest of the family and to see the improvements they have made to their home.
On Tuesday, January 22, Tom was scheduled for Jury Duty, but was excused.

Thursday, January 17, 2008: It rained most of the night. We got up at the regular time and finished packing. Then it was off to work. I picked up Lyd at JWJ and we dropped the car off at Champions Airport Parking. Security was very light and we went through quickly. We then learned that our incoming plane was delayed and we had lost our arrival window in PHL due to traffic and weather. Our 1710 departure was looking more like 2000. They told everyone not to leave the area as this could change. They boarded us at 1830 and the Captain told us we had a 1940 departure window, but he wanted to be ready if that changed. Sure enough, air traffic gave us a 1905 departure window and the captain said we should expect a 2040 arrival. As we approached PHL, we were stacked and spun and finally touched down at 2100. While sitting in the JAX airport, we decided that trying to get to Wyomissing tonight was ridiculous and not even safe, so with Sal’s assistance, we took a room at the Marriott at PHL, which at $256 was pricey. Room 601 was a nice room until we began to notice other people’s belongings were in the room. After a quick call to the desk, we were moved to 1016 where we wound down for the night.
Friday, January 18, 2008 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: We awoke just before 0700 to a foggy PHL morning. We both slept well. The price of $256 for this room makes the Contemporary Hotel price of $241 look good. We had an effortless drive to Wyomissing and arrived at 1030. Kate was home a little later and we had a nice lunch. In the afternoon, we looked at the slides of the contents of 4030 and K&S made some selections of what they would like to have. I called the clerk of the court, and I am excused from jury duty on Tuesday. For dinner, we took them out to the Green Hills Inn where we had a very nice dinner. After a few episodes of two and a half men, all went to bed.

Snow!

Green Hills Inn

Saturday, January 19, 2008 Wyomissing, Pennsylvania: I got up a little before 7 and turned the thermostat from 60 back up to 66, where Sal likes to keep it in the winter. I then read the Times-union, electronically, until Lyd got up around 8. We went to see Goggleworks, an art gallery in Reading. Then we went on to Viva, a nice restaurant. In the evening, we were joined by Ray, Corvita, Santo, Ann, Bob, Mary Beth and Lindsay for a dinner of pasta, sausage, meat balls, and Corvita’s egg plant salad (for which we want the recipe). Tony and Sally Donato and their 5 month-old-daughter joined us for dessert of Anne’s pies. Lindsay left and we played a game of Trivial Pursuit. The Donatos left and Lyd retired and we played a little Polish Poker. We finally broke up around 1045.

Sunday, January 20, 2008 Wyomissing, Pennsylvania: The house phone rang at 0430 and again near 0500. I got up at 0730 and the outside temperature was 19o. Lyd was up shortly thereafter. At 0830, Sal came down to report that the early phone calls reported the death of Kavita Patel, Kate’s good friend from PA school; cause of death unknown. Kate is feeling ill and is going to try and get some more sleep. 0947: Kavita was experiencing a shortness of breath and then collapsed. Kate stayed in bed all day and said she was going from both ends. She slept through dinner. In the evening, we watched the earlier version of Hairspray. Kavita’s viewing will be on Tuesday and the funeral on Wednesday.

Monday, January 21, 2008 Wyomissing, Pennsylvania: It is 15o this morning. Sal slept on the couch to not disturb Kate. Kate came down and was much better. I found Kavita’s obit in the Lansdown, PA ReporterOnLine. We saw a deer out beyond the fence. The drive back to PHL and the flights home were uneventful and we were in the house around 1900.