Hi Barbara, Great Idea! My name is Fred Hill and I am a retired Art teacher from NJ. June marks my 11th year of retirement so you can see I'm no spring chicken, just and old rooster. My wife and I lived in Bergen County NJ for 37 years and raised two children, a boy Scott and a girl Christine. Both children are on their own, Scott is single and Chrisine is married with two children. We are known to them as Meema and Peepa. My first attempt at growing AV's was with two that I salvaged from a local supermarket. To my delight they grew and bloomed with the help and encouragement of a collegue who was a member of a local club. It just happened that my violets were in bloom at the time of their show and she suggested I enter them. I won blue ribbons on both and of course I was hooked. I joined the club in 1981 and have been a club member since then. My collection grew by leaps and bounds and before I knew it I had about 75 plants in my basement. Since then my collection has varied from 100 to 200 plants but now I have cut back and have about 75 again. Three years after joining the club I was elected president and served two years, then another two as secretary and two more back as president again. Seems like I am always holding an office. About ten years later I went to a judging school, took the test, passed and became a student judge. Three years later I passed the advanced test and took it three more times. With four 90+ scores under my belt I was eligible to take the senior exam. I have taken it twice now and after I pass next year I will get my gold card. During the intervening years I joined the Tristate AV Council and the NJ Council of AV Judges. I have been a member of both groups now for almost 20 years. For some stroke of bad luck I was elected president and held the office for 8 years. I just recently abdicated.......lol. I am the current treasurer of the judges council and have been for the last 12 years. When I retired in '97 we sold our house in NNJ and moved to an adult community in Columbus NJ. I am now a memeber of the Garden State AV Club which is the oldest local in the state.....oh and I am the current recording secretary. The club has a web site which I have linked below. I hope my intro wasn't too boring or long. When you get a chance check out the clubs web site. It's a little out of date but still nice to look at. Fred in NJ Here is a link that might be useful: Garden State African Violet Club.

Hi Jeff, I'm a PA gardener also. I am so looking forward to Spring, when things start to come alive again. I'm in Chester County, PA near Lancaster Amish country; lots of farms near me. I have a couple of small areas that I am trying to get going with perennials- making rock gardens, because our propery is loaded with rocks. Wherever I dig - ROCKS!! Anyway, it will be interesting to share ideas, seeds, plants, whatever. Look forward to hearing more from you and other PA gardeners when Spring is here. Sue

Yes, that trip was great! And, much later on, we were towing our travel trailer thru Gettysburgh in the downtown area. My dear wife dropped something out of her purse, opened her door to look for it, and promptly dropped the purse out of her door, scattering everything onto the street! Well, that caused a great tie-up, with much horn blowing, cursing and gnashing of teeth! One guy offered to tar and feather us (Not really, but the nasty looks we got made us think of that!) She finally got everything scooped up, and off we went. and then, there was the time in some medium sized town in PA. We had just gone around a blind bend, when the emergency brake pin on the trailer came out suddenly! We stopped so quickly, i almost had a heart attack--and so did some of the drivers behind us! Ohh, we wore out our welcome right quick! And, i got the pin back in and LEFT! And, the time i backed the trailer bumper into the grille of a really nice 85 Chevy owned by a Navy man in uniform! OHHH ! And that was at a work area, with alternating single lane traffic! I jumped out to go back to see what happened, and lo and behold, the left rear tire on the trailer was hissing . And we had traffic all snarled up! I left our son with the guy and his family, got the trailer to a spot i could park it, then went back, got his car off the road, took him into town to get a tow truck, took my tire in to get it fixed, and finally got our son back! That bit happened near Bennington, Vermont! Camping fun, eh? By: Rustyj

Jerry: Yes, we have an ice mine in Coudersport, PA.! For many years, they advertised it all along the hiways and byways, in PA. and Ohio, but i haven't seen any for quite a while! Many years ago, when i was a kid, my parents would tell about the "Ice mine" in Coudersport! I heard it so many times, when my kids had grown some, we decided to take a trip to see it, and other things in PA.! The mine is up a long dirt road (may be paved by now) well off the hiway! There is a parking lot, and a souvenier store. In front of the mine is a large wooden portal where they take you into the mine. They run trips every 15 minutes or so. Now, when you finally get inside--there in front of you is a large hole in the ground, sort of dug into the hill-side, with steps and a pipe railing around it. Back in that hole, by keenly adjusting your eyesight, you can see a large sloping pile of ICE!!! The hole is about 8 ft. across, sort of egg shaped. There are skylights in the roof, to dispell some of the gloom! I don't remember how much it cost to get in, but 2 adults and 2 kids wasn't cheap! And, forever after, we called it "The suckers mine"! Rustyj