A Peaceful Day and a Busy Week

Sunday we had a free afternoon so we loaded the collies (we were dog-sitting for DD#1 and DSiL) and headed for the Delaware Valley to explore a new place. Knitters who knit the designs of the Hebridean She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named might recognize the area as the setting of her book, Stillwater. We didn't go to Stillwater itself, but we were in the area, driving through farmland and wild hills. Trees still held fall foliage, despite the October snowstorm. The dogs enjoyed the views from the back of the SUV. We discovered a nearly deserted mill town called Alexandria, which now holds an apiary. I think the town isn't totally deserted; according to the 2010 US census it has a population of something like 200. We'll have to go back another time and see it when the apiary is open for selling honey and beeswax.

Our ultimate destination was Milford, on the east bank of the river. It's tiny too, just a bit larger than Alexandria. Its claim to fame is having been the site of a Delaware & Raritan railway depot and boasting the oldest on-site beer brewery and pub in New Jersey, The Ship Inn. The Delaware was smooth as glass. We walked across the bridge to Pennsylvania, to an even tinier town, where we discovered the Delaware Canal and towpath. Once back in Milford, we just had to sample the offerings at The Ship Inn. Ales, porters, stouts, and beer were on tap. For $6.25 we received 4 ounce glasses of every offering. I liked one of the porters and ordered an additional glass of that. DH couldn't decide which to get, so he wound up drinking all the samples. He discovered he does not care for wheat beer. DD#1 told us Skye likes porter, but I wasn't taking any chances. Rocky gets car-sick so he received his prophylactic dose of Dramamine before we set out. I had nothing to give a drunk Skye in case of nausea on the way home!

We came out of The Ship Inn to this site:

This turned into a most busy week for me. I'll be interviewing oncologists about their prescription decisions very soon; I was supposed to interview one today in fact but she had to cancel at the last minute. It'll be exciting to find out why they choose what they choose when the practice guidelines are not clearly defined.

I also started freelance writing for www.Textbroker.com. I write about anything and everything. The pay's not great but the faster I write, the more I earn. In two weeks I made over $200, enough to pay some utility bills. While writing the articles, I learned about Treasury bonds and their yields, what pipes to put into a new house, and what a reverse mortgage is. The one fiber-related assignment I saw, but declined, was on crocheted scarves. Not that I have anything against crocheted scarves, but the client's instructions were unintelligible. I learned quickly that clients do not respond to requests for clarification. I suppose if they wrote clearly enough to begin with, they wouldn't need to pay a writer to read their minds.