Sitting on Amtrak pulling out of Schenectady on my way back from a gig in the Mohawk Valley. Sunlight streaming through the trees in their autumn colors; swamps and wetlands glistening. Did 3 readings (Schenectady, Johnstown and Schoharie), and a speech at Canajoharie High. What a great time I had! My hosts were the Mohawk Valley Library Association, and these people know how to organize. In Schoharie I was a little nervous, because for some of the characters in the book I set there (STONE QUARRY) their motivation for a lot of what they do is to get out, or get their kids out, of the county because there's no future there. When I got to the venue -- the DAR Hall -- sixty people were waiting. One of them actually came up and said to me afterwards that she'd really enjoyed my talk and she just wanted me to know she'd come prepared to hate me. I was nervous at the high school, too, because, well, high school students, you know? But they were great, only one really obnoxious and a number who asked questions that showed they were writers, too.

This is a perfect time of year to be upstate and these last 2 days were the perfect weather to be here in. The library people put me up in Schenectady in a B&B called The English Garden. A lovely room and a very comfortable bed in what's called the Stockade district, historic streets and houses beautifully maintained. That area, late 18th and early 19th century, reminded me of Philadelphia's old streets. The rest of Schenectady is newer, from the late 19th and early 20th. I'm a sucker anyway for these upstate towns and cities, places that just about hit their stride at the turn of the last century. Thomas Edison founded GE in Schenectady -- thus, The Electric City -- and it was quite a prosperous place. The downtown is full of two- and three-story commercial buildings with elegant facades -- Grecian-temple banks, terracotta-covered stores, elaborate brick-patterned office buildings. The small towns up here echo that aesthetic. They entire area started falling on hard times in the 60's and 70's, and it's pretty depressed today. But Schenectady is showing some signs of revival, and has some things going -- cafes, theater companies -- that make it seem like it could actually happen. Some of the smaller towns have plans, too -- a yogurt plant is coming to Johnstown, which means not only factory jobs but a lot of milk bought locally. And Sharon Springs, where one of my world-favorite B&B's is located -- the terrific Clausen Farms -- is having an absolute revival, with a restored grand hotel, a marvelous little tea shop/bakery, houses being spruced up like crazy, and talk that the other, larger grand hotel and the sulfur baths right downtown -- built over the springs themselves -- have been bought by Korean investors and will be refurbished and reopened as an Asian spa.

I love New York.