Today I am thinking about my cousin-in-law. His son has a birthday coming up and they look so much alike.

Both my husband and Bruce are gone but these memories live on. We took two trips together and they were both good.

The first trip was to Amish country in Ohio. We stayed at a bed and breakfast there.

In the evening we sat on the porch with other vacationers. One couple hailed from Oregon and informed us that they did not have fireflies. They were intrigued with those.

The food was delicious, in fact, so much so that I bought their cookbook. There were snacks at night, then a big breakfast. The owner gave a devotion during the morning meal.

We ate so much that we did not need any lunch. We survived on cheese and crackers. I remember that Bruce really liked the samples of the cheese. He chose carefully what he was going to take home. That evening we ate at the little restaurant in charm. My husband and I found that quite by accident on one of our trips to the area. We always got a good meal there.

Once we got back to the bed and breakfast, Marcia and Bruce took a hat and pitchfork off the wall and posed for a picture – like that Gothic one of the farmer and the lady.

Although it was a short trip, we used it to plan our next excursion. The next time we went to Vermont.

Bruce liked to frequent diners so we did a lot of diner meals. It was a great trip. I went to a big farm in the area to produce a feature article. That was fun for everyone since they got to go with me.

On our way back to this area we took the ferry across Lake Champlain and came down through the Adirondack Mountains.

With a large interstate connecting the area, it is a lot different than it used to be. When we were ready for lunch, we traveled quite a distance before we found a place to eat.

We passed through a small town, Jericho, Vermont. On our way through we saw a small museum. We stopped to look around. What a treasure that little museum was! It was near the home of Snowflake Bentley.

I had no idea who Snowflake Bentley was, but I was about to find out. I found out that Wilson Bentley was born on February 9, 1865 in Jericho, Vermont. The area where he lived was in the heart of the snowbelt. Each winter they expected approximately 120 inches of snow.

Wilson did not attend school except for a few years. His mother was his teacher. Wilson documented that his mother had a set of encyclopedias that he read cover to cover.

Wilson kept a record of the weather. He was especially interested in the weather.

He learned a lot about snowflakes.

Most crystals had six branches. “I found that snowflakes were masterpieces of design,” he said with no design ever repeated.

Wilson began drawing the snowflakes that he saw. Although this captured each of the snowflakes, Wilson was not happy with that method for long. He longed to purchase a camera with a microscope. The camera made images on glass negatives. It could magnify an image from 64 to 3600 times.

Wilson enhanced the images by cutting away the dark portions of the negative. His images were crystal clear.

Each snowflake begins as a speck too tiny to be seen. Molecules of water attach to the branches. The temperature and the wind make a difference in the formation of the snowflake.

The photographs taken by Wilson were purchased by colleges and universities to study. Even today, those who want to study snow crystals use his book, “Snow Crystals”.

This little out of the way museum turned out to be a treasure trove of information. I purchased a book, “Snowflake Bentley” written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin. The book has a story along with sidebars about Bentley’s life.

I noticed that it was illustrated by Mary Azarian. I knew that I had a copy of an alphabet illustrated by her that appeared in our electric cooperative magazine. That was enough to get me hooked. It was a good read and a wealth of information.

Since I was still teaching at the time, I used my new resource with my students.

They learned about Snowflake Bentley and about snow crystals.

One snowy day we all donned our winter apparel and went outside to observe snowflakes. I think that gave them a new appreciation for the beauty of snowflakes and their very different patterns.

Ann Swanson writes from her home in Russell, Pa. Contact hickoryheights1@verizon.net.