greetings from Philly!

Sal and I are here in Philadelphia......we had a good trip up, no lost luggage and our flight actually arrived 20 minutes early. Before we even went to baggage claim, we stopped at a pretzel stand in the airport terminal.....gotta have us some Philly pretzels (with mustard, of course)!

Sal and 2 of his PhD students are here to attend an American Chemical Society chemistry conference, and will be presenting their research findings (typically this conference is attended by about 15,000 chemists!). Take a look at the cool research that Sal's presenting.

Sal also has a lot of family here in Philly....his brother & his family, aunts, uncles, cousins.....so being here on business also provides a nice opportunity to visit them. Last night, we went out for some good hometown Philly pizza with Sal's brother, Paul, and his wife Ruth:


Ruth was so sweet to put together a "goodie bag" of our favorite snacks (pretzels, Skittles, Almond Joy, etc.) for us to enjoy in our hotel room. Thanks again, Ruth.....so thoughtful!

Although we're glad to be here, we left Florida with worries on our minds. One of our dogs, Buddy, seemed to be developing a mild fever just before we left. But he's getting lots of TLC from my parents, a.k.a. "Grandma & Grandpa". Grandma took his temp this morning and it seemed normal, although his nose is still warm (unusual for a dog). We'll see how he is on Monday and determine if he should go to the vet. We love you, Buddy!

And then there's Tropical Storm Fay. Seems like the forecast models have her crossing right over Florida on Tuesday:


Yikes! I hope she brings only some rain, not much wind, and doesn't strengthen into a hurricane. A perpetual worry here in The Sunshine State, I suppose.

So when I'm not glued to The Weather Channel, I'll be blogging again from Philadelphia soon.....bye for now!