Ann Silverthorn

(Sunday, March 9, 2025) by Ann Silverthorn with Jim DeDad As mentioned in yesterday’s post, we had the day free until 4:30 p.m., when we would leave by coach for our dinner cruise on Sydney Harbour. Our tour manager, Cam, had provided many options for Sydney activities in one of his frequent, informative emails, and we…

(March 8, 2025) – by Ann Silverthorn with Jim DeDad We enjoyed a delicious hotel breakfast at 7:00 a.m. and then met our group at 8:00 a.m. to take the coach down to Sydney Harbour (which we walked to yesterday). Cam was a great narrator on the coach and shared volumes of information with us,…

(March 5, 2025 to March 7, 2025) – by Ann Silverthorn with Jim DeDad) After eight months of waiting, it was finally departure day for our March 5-24, 2025, AAA/Collette “Australia’s Outback to New Zealand’s South Island” tour. We slept until 7:30 a.m., because our plane wasn’t scheduled to leave until late afternoon. I made scrambled eggs,…

Have you heard of Brockway, PA? Have you been there? Well, we were recently, there and a few things impressed me that I’d love to tell you about. Why were my husband and I in Brockway? Because he’s nearly 100% Italian, and he wanted to explore his roots. The Brockway area happens to be one…

As Millcreek Township, in northwest Pennsylvania, moves forward with the attempted sale of the Erie Golf Club property, located on Old Zuck Road, there’s an approximately 40-acre section of concern. Potential bidders on the property are being informed about the property’s history, but many Millcreek residents have no idea that it was once a dump…

Note: I am a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and wrote this article for my chapter’s newsletter. The Daughters of the American Revolution has a complicated legacy regarding American contralto, Marian Anderson (1897-1993). Raised in Philadelphia, Anderson showed her musical talent early on, but because she was black, she was turned down…

There was once a telephone service in Erie, Pennsylvania, that was subscription based, designed so that a sole interest could not direct the future of the company. Well, that was the plan. As early as the 1870s, telephones were in use in Erie, but they were rare and very expensive. The Bell Telephone Company held…

I knew it was coming. I just didn’t think it would be this soon. I don’t like that it had to be this way, but DVD Netflix will ship its last disc on September 29, 2023. The reason given is that the DVD market is shrinking, and the company didn’t want to compromise the depth and variety…

My writing friend, Sue Henninger, had a great idea recently to visit the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, NY, for a break from the editing of our novels, neither of which are funny. She learned that the center has a new Carl Reiner exhibit that shares his creative process, career highlights, and also sketches the type of human…

Just outside Erie, Pennsylvania, in Millcreek Township, a former one-room schoolhouse sits smack in the headlights of “progress.” Located on West Eighth Street near Presque Isle State Park, the structure has a long history that possibly dates back more than 150 years.  The schoolhouse is not currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places,…