1 Across: Mine entrance

4-letter word for mine entrance has to be "adit" as every crossworder knows, or soon finds out. Today I got photographic proof that there is such a word when Don and I toured The Sterling Hill Mining Museum just north of us in New Jersey. I know what you're thinking ... a mining museum??? Get a life.

The tour was fascinating. It was recommended to us by a friend (Sean). This mine, closed in 1986, was one of the world's riches sources of zinc, and now is home to the largest collection of flourescent rocks - its beautiful! The tour starts in a museum with an intro, then takes you into the mine through this entrance, sorry "adit", then along the tunnels to the actual shaft (that goes 2 Empire State buildings deep). With other stops learning about drilling and dynamiting, calcium, zinc, and manganese, and the various roles of the miners, it was actually very interesting. Our guide, Bill, was a wealth of knowledge.

Who knew - all this is NJ.

Dragonfly closeup

This big dragonfly guy decided to join me with my morning coffee a few weeks ago. My camera is not great at closeups but I thought this was pretty good.

We are all discombobulated around here today with July 4th being a mid-week day off. Weather has been cooler than usual for this time of year. The fireworks display at the beach was beautiful once again, but this year we were wrapped in blankets.

Other news: We are still without a working kitchen. My contract was renewed for another 5 weeks. My brother and his family are in Thailand and Hong Kong on vacation. My daughter turns 15 on Saturday.