The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (IPA: /?p?n.s?l've?.nj?/) is a state located in the Middle Atlantic region of the United States of America.

One of Pennsylvania's nicknames is the Quaker State; in colonial times, it was known officially as the Quaker Province, in recognition of Quaker William Penn's First Frame of Government constitution for Pennsylvania that guaranteed liberty of conscience. Penn knew of the hostility Quakers faced when they opposed rituals, oaths, violence, and ostentatious frippery.

Pennsylvania has also been known as the Keystone State since 1802, based in part upon its central location among the original Thirteen Colonies forming the United States. It was also a keystone state economically, having both the industry common to the North, making such wares as Conestoga wagons and rifles, and the agriculture common to the South, producing feed, fiber, food, and tobacco.

Pennsylvania has 51 miles (82 km) of coastline along Lake Erie and 57 miles (92 km) of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary. Philadelphia is Pennsylvania's largest city and is home to a major seaport and shipyards on the Delaware River.

Pennsylvania is 170 miles (274 km) north to south and 283 miles (455 km) east to west. Of a total 46,055 square miles (119,282 km²), 44,817 square miles (116,075 km²) are land, 490 square miles (1,269 km²) are inland waters and 749 square miles (1,940 km²) are waters in Lake Erie. It is the 33rd largest state in the United States.^[15] The highest point of 3,213 feet (979 m) above sea level is at Mount Davis, which was named for its owner, John Davis, a schoolteacher who fought for the Union Army at the Battle of Gettysburg. The lowest point is at sea level on the Delaware River, and the approximate mean elevation is 1,100 feet (335 m).Pennsylvania is in the Eastern time zone.

The original southern boundary of Pennsylvania was supposed to be at 40° North latitude, but as a result of a bad faith compromise by Lord Baltimore during Cresap's War, the king's courts moved the boundary 20 miles (32 km) south to 39° 43' N. The city of Philadelphia, at 40°0'N 75°8'W, would have been split in half by the original boundary. While he was a captive, Cresap, a Marylander, was paraded through Philadelphia. He taunted the officers by announcing that Philadelphia was one of the prettiest towns in Maryland.

Pennsylvania's diverse geography also produces a variety of climates. Straddling two major zones, the southeastern corner of the state posses the warmest climate. Greater Philadelphia lies at the southernmost tip of the Humid continental climate zone, with some characteristics of the Humid subtropical climate that lies in Delaware and Maryland to the south. Moving toward the mountainous interior of the state, the climate becomes markedly colder, number of cloudy days increases, and winter snowfall amounts are greater. Western areas of the state, particular cities near Lake Erie can receive over 100 inches of snowfall annually, and the entire state receives plentiful rainfall throughout the year. 

Michigan (IPA: /'m???g?n/, roughly MISH-uh-gun) is a Midwestern state of the United States of America, located in the east north central portion of the country. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name was a French adaptation of the Ojibwe term mishigami, meaning "large water" or "large lake".

Bounded by four of the five Great Lakes, plus Lake Saint Clair, Michigan has the longest freshwater shoreline in the World, and the second longest total shoreline in the United States. In 2005, Michigan had more registered recreational boats than any state except California and Florida. A person in Michigan is never more than 85 miles (137 km) from open Great Lakes water and is never more than 6 miles (10 km) from a natural water source.

Michigan is the only bi-peninsular state. The Lower Peninsula of Michigan, to which the name Michigan was originally applied, is sometimes dubbed "the mitten," owing to its shape. When asked where in Michigan one comes from, a resident of the Lower Peninsula may often point to the corresponding part of his or her hand. The Upper Peninsula (U.P.) is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, a five-mile channel that joins Lake Huron to Lake Michigan. The Upper Peninsula (whose residents are often called "Yoopers") is economically important for tourism and its natural resources.

The Upper and Lower Peninsulas are connected by the five-mile-long Mackinac Bridge, which is the third longest suspension bridge between anchorages in the world. This is the source of the name "trolls" for residents of the Lower Peninsula, for they live "under" (south of) the bridge. The Great Lakes that border Michigan are Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. Michigan also abuts Lake Saint Clair, which is between Lake Erie and Lake Huron.   To our guest this week Mrs. Kathleen VanBeekom. WE LOVE YOU KATHY  

The history of my parents is an important part of how we were raised.
Dad was raised on a farm in Dakota, I mention that because he reminded us of it every day.  In Dakota winters, my grandfather would take all 5 of his kids to school in a horse-drawn sleigh, and the boys would have to get out and shovel every once in awhile if the path was drifted over.  They had baked potatoes in their coat pockets to keep them warm and to eat later at the one-room school house. 

When my father grew up, he joined the Air Force and served in the Korean War.  That's how he met my mother, through a friend in the Air Force from Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.

My mother had 9 kids in her family, her father also worked long hours, both of her parents died when she was in her teens.  Mom finished school while working after school and trying to take care of her 2 younger brothers with help from her older sisters and brothers, of course.  She was 17 when she first met my father, then they became penpals and eventually got engaged and then married a few years later. My father had to take Catholic classes before they got married, and then they promised the priest to raise us Catholic.  Obviously they did that!

I was raised in suburban Philadelphia in a small town called Conshohocken.  I was the youngest of 6 kids.  I have 2 brothers and 3 sisters. Both of my parents were somewhat overprotective, my father never drove into Philly...probably because he grew up on a farm in South Dakota and I think he wanted to keep his thoughts on open spaces but the real reason is he didn't want to get lost or stuck in traffic.  My mother was born and raised in Conshohocken and even though it was a small town, it was still very close to a large city and she wanted to know where we were and who we were with.

We had a huge backyard, one-fourth of it was my dad's garden, we also had peach trees and cherry trees. I remember playing all the usual backyard games with neighborhood kids, hide & seek, freeze-tag, we played Barbies and GI-Joes, waited on the curb for the ice cream truck in the summer, and caught lightning bugs at night.  We didn't really need to wait for the ice cream truck, my parents always had ice cream in the house, but something about saving our allowance to buy something from the truck was more interesting.  In those days we knew the ice cream man.  He would give kids a ride around the block sometimes.  Nowadays that seems like a bad idea!  There are several ice cream trucks driving around now at all times of the day.

My family always had supper together at the big kitchen table, all 8 of us.  It was crowded but we had to behave properly because our dad didn't put up with any shenanigans.  My mom cooked supper almost every day unless the weather was too hot, then we'd have sandwiches.  One time she bought a head of cabbage instead of lettuce for the bacon-lettuce-tomato sandwiches and my dad badgered her about it. "The sandwiches are called BLT's, not BCT's!  The L is for lettuce!"  Anyway, not everyone grew up on a farm, it's easy to confuse a head of cabbage for lettuce, isn't it?  Mom maintained her sense of humor with him, mostly by humming when Dad started on his tirades.  Then later we kids would imitate Mom by humming when we didn't want to hear what someone was telling us.

We had to eat what was put on our plates and most likely sit there until our dad got up from the table. He was really stressed out when we were young, he was the only breadwinner sending 5 kids to Catholic school.  He worked 10 hours most days as was a welder for Trane-Adex.  Philadelphia summers can be brutally humid so he would always come home real sweaty from wearing the helmet all day, and had lots of tiny holes in his shirt from the welding sparks.  He relaxed as he got older and there were less kids in the house, I think he also ran out of energy for yelling.

Dad found refuge in his garden, he was raised on a large corn farm Dakota and so his backyard garden in suburban Philly was his special place.  I think our yard was the only one in town with large stalks of corn growing, he had lots of other vegetables and numerous small flower beds all over the yard that we had to be careful about while running around playing.  He wanted the yard to look like a botanical garden, it was more like an obstacle course for us.

Sundays were about church, reading the newspaper, not making noise during whatever game was on TV, eating supper together and cramming in homework before bedtime.  Almost the same as most other days, except we had a "Sunday Dinner" which was usually roast beef or ham, and Dad was home all day.

We all went to church together every Sunday.  We kids also went to church sometimes during school times because the Catholic school had Novena mass every Tuesday morning, and a First Friday mass once a month during school time.  That was a lot of "sit, stand, kneel!"  We still had to go to confession on a regular basis even after we were going to public school, our parents sent us to evening chatecism once a week.  That's when public school kids who are raised Catholic have to go to class on their free time and be reminded that we're Catholic.  I eventually convinced my mother that I knew enough, the rituals were permanently drilled into my head from my 6 years of Catholic elementary school. 

We attended Catholic school up until 6th or 8th grade, except for one of my sisters who has cerebral palsy, she went to public school because it was barrier-free.  The Catholic school had tons of stairs on the outside and inside. My friends went to the public elementary school which was right across the street from the school I went to.  We always compared what we learned and the attitudes of the teachers compared to the nuns.  The tuition became too expensive after awhile, so the older kids went to public school starting in 9th grade, and then my brother and I went public in 7th grade.  I didn't like public school, it was chaos compared to the strict no-nonsense complete order of Catholic school. 
 
The public high school was huge, there were 2,000 students in the entire school, about 500 in each grade 9th to 12th.  I realized right away that public school students are more interested in their daily fashion show and materialism than in learning.  Well, some of them were serious.  I was in Advanced Placement classes for half the day where there were only 12 students in the AP program for my grade.  They were TOO serious, that's when I was glad my parents didn't put pressure on me to go to college.

As my older brothers and sisters all grew up and left the house, I was the only one left. I had to do all the house chores that were previously done by the other 5 kids, including helping my dad with yard work.  When I was young, the older girls never had to do yard work because my brothers did it then!  My father was in his 50's by that time and sometimes I also had to help him shovel snow. 

I attended church every Sunday with my parents until I was 20 years old. Dad's rule was, if you're living under my roof, you'll go to church.  No church, no roof!  That was okay with me because it was only 1 hour per week, and Dad didn't really pay attention in church, either.  After the first 15 minutes he would sit there and study the palms of his hands,  I always thought he was watching his lifeline get 1 hour shorter during each weekly mass.  Mom had a beautiful singing voice, she was in the school choir when she was a teenager and loved to sing, Dad would sing a few words then make some nearly-singing noises for a few, and then more words.  They were people, I realized that as I grew up.

Here's info about Conshohocken, but the photo is of an industrial area (they could have used a different picture!).  The town itself is really cute, there are lots of churches, hills and valleys, and small mom & pop stores.  Most of the families have been there for several generations and almost everyone knows each other.  My mom was born and raised there and I grew up in Conshohocken until I was 20 years old.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conshohocken%2C_Pennsylvania

The picture at the bottom of this site is one of the old mansions that was used as the police station for a long time, there were numerous old mansions that were torn down or used for apartments or businesses: http://conshohockenpa.org/index.shtml

Now here's Grand Rapids, Michigan.  I've lived here since 1985.  This is a beautiful quiet city that doesn't even seem like a city, it's very relaxing here even though the winters can be harsh, the people and the scenery are well worth it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Rapids%2C_Michigan

Income Opportunities and Advertising Resources: http://www.topbiztoday.com  http://community.adlandpro.com/go/5146/default.aspx