Terrie,MD

The University of Massachusetts is actually in a small town in Western MA. It is in Amherst. There are 3 colleges in this tiny town - UMass. Amherst, Amherst College & Hampshire College. Smith & Mt. Holyoke Colleges are each 6 - 10 mi. from here. The town next to us, Hadley, is a small farming community set in the flood plain of the Connecticut River. We do have mini traffic jams at "rush hour" or we can get stuck behind 10 cars behind a tractor driving down the road at .6 mph., just nothing like DC. Here is a fact that will surprise you (It did me when we first moved here): The Pioneer Valley is known for it's fine tabacco! I thought that tabacco was only grown in the South. Shade tabacco is grown here & is prized as the outer wrapper for cigars. A hail storm this last summer was disastrous for the farmers since it damaged the leaves (poked holes in the leaves). Many of the kids here have worked on the farms in the summer, picking cucmbers & tabacco.(One of my own daughters did & the work was very hard and hot:-(!) I have talked to women that, when they were kids sewed the leaves together so they could be hung to dry. The tabacco barns are really unusual since the sides are louvered and can be opened to the breezes in the summer to dry the leaves.To pick the cucumbers, the kids lie on their stomachs on a low flat wagon. They lean over the sides, pick the cucumbers & throw them over their backs onto the wagon. Amherst is about 2 hours from Boston & about 2 hours from Albany. The nearest big(ish) city is Springfield. Probably more information than you ever wanted to know:-)!! Tonight I'm having fresh ravioli with meat sauce and a caesar salad. How about you?