SUSQUEHANNA TWP. AND HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA

This week the Box took no trips to exotic destinations like New Brighton but proved its usefulness by hauling me yesterday to the annual book sale of the East Shore Area Public Library.

Since the library building is undergoing renovations, the sale was held in a strip mall in Susquehanna Township. There were thousands of books donated by friends of the library, and some deaccessioned from the library's collection. There were also CDs, DVDs, and those video dinosaurs, VCRs, with old movies no one watched the first time around.

Outside, boxes held a couple hundred "free" books. Boy, that is the end of the line for them. I felt sort of sorry knowing that the city incinerator would be the next stop for them. Still, I could not bring myself to bring one home, since there was absolutely nothing that interested me.

Susanne did her civic duty by working several hours at the sale, straightening books on the tables so that the titles were always visible for a quick scan. Of course, she came home with a nice stack of books.

I had to refuse Susanne's invitation to get a bite to eat because I was heading to the State Farm Show Building on North Cameron Street in Harrisburg to meet a friend recently retired from PennDOT. We had the usual "hot dog basket" from the lunch wagon (PennDOT folks working on the road call it the "roach coach") and then strolled along the two rows of vendors selling fruits, vegetables, cheese, flowers, and baked goods.

There I saw something I had never seen before -- orange cauliflower, which I later learned has been propogated from a single mutant plant found in a cauliflower field in Canada. Just right for your Hallowe'en dips!