Scattered Thoughts . . .

Every year, the Amherst Railway Society's Railroad Hobby Show starts with a rather high-pitched steam whistle blowing in the distance when the doors open. This year, the steam whistle was from a real, life-sized narrow gauge steam locomotive! We parked in a sea of cars and then started our trek toward the four huge buildings housing this immense train show. Typically, this can be a brutal, bone-chilling walk but, c ompared to our weather in Vermont, the weather in Springfield this year was quite mild in the upper 30's which allowed us to dress relatively lightly. This makes a tremendous difference while walking around indoors all day long.   Between the four buildings showcasing this train show, Boothbay Railway of Maine, set up some temporary narrow gauge tracks and one of their steam locomotives. Throughout the show, we would hear this locomotive's steam whistle blowing... we could even hear this whistle blowing while at our hotel a couple of miles away... boy, that

Adam was scheduled to arrive in Vermont sometime last week but, as luck would have it, his aircraft had a mechanical problem and they diverted to not only a different airfield but to a completely different country.  Adam has had the worst luck in air travel ever since we sent him to a Young Eagles encampment when he was 12 years old... a school run by the Experimental Aircraft Association. No matter when he has flown... no matter where he has flown... whether it was with the airlines or during flight lessons or with the military... he has consistently run into weather cancellations and maintenance cancellations. This three or four leg journey was no different. On the positive side, this time, his aircraft actually diverted to a country which he had intended to visit. His leave schedule never worked out for a trip to this country so his originally planned visit was cancelled. Now, here he was stuck in this country for three or four days!  This diversion actually turned into a luc