Watering Trough

A neighbor's farm ....see the farm photo above. When I was growing up, you could not see this house from the road, because a huge white Dairy Barn sat in front right along the road. It belonged to the same family for two generations, then it was sold. The new owners took the barn down. When it was a working farm, the cows would be taken across the road from their pasture, twice a day for milking. Traffic would have to stop, to let the cows cross. The barn sat right on a curve in the road. The road by it, next to the pond was given the name Baker's Watering Trough Road, when they named the roads. When I was growing up, none of our roads had official names, let alone any signs with the names...now every road around my parents farm have names to them!

I'm Back

I know I have not written in a long time. I didn’t even have time to write last month about my plans to “go home” to visit my family in Pennsylvania. I went home Sept 27 through October 3rd. It was a wonderful week, and great visit and a real boost to my spirits, being able to be with family that I miss so very much!

One of my friends, who reads this blog, asked me last week if she can soon see something other than “Mama Mia” when she looks at my blog. Well, here you go…some new reading material for you – I did the posts about the visit in segment so you don’t have to read all at once. (Thanks for your interest!)

PA VISIT - going home

I can’t believe all the visiting I accomplished when I was there. My next posts will tell you about them. I focused on seeing my Aunts and Uncles, as they are all getting older. In between I saw some of my many cousins, and some friends that I was able to get together with. I have finally learned, that I cannot possibly see “everyone” when I go home, (unless maybe if someone hosts a huge family gathering). I don’t feel I can ask anyone to host a big gathering, but some times I do “gently suggest”. This trip I did not say anything, because there was a big gathering last November when I was home. When I go home next time, I will try to visit the friends and cousins that I didn’t’ get to see this time. That’s the way I do it.

I was surprised that the weather was on the wet side a lot of the days, much like it has been here in Duluth. We did have one or two sunny days, but it wasn’t as warm as I was expecting it to be. I hadn’t even taken a coat with me, as I was sure it would still be pretty warm!

I returned to Duluth last Saturday, Oct. 4th. My plane landed at 1 pm, I went home and took a 3 hour nap. I was tired!

This past week, I was back at work. There wasn’t as much piled up for me, as I thought there might be, but I was too tired when I got home each evening to write. I was able to get caught up on everything, so I can go to work tomorrow morning, starting fresh. I also got back into my exercise routine, going to the gym early, before work every day last week but one.

I took a lot of photos. I would dearly love to put them on this site along with the posts, but in the past when I have added photos, I have been told by those who’s photos I put on, that they would rather that I hadn’t. So now, unless I ask permission, I do not post photos. I didn’t get around to asking anyone of my family if I could post their photos, so I will not. I did, however take a lot of landscape photos, and I WILL be posting them for those not in PA to see the beautiful landscape there! (The photos may not get posted until tonight or tomorrow night - so be sure to check back)

PA Nieces, Nephews and Cousins

Our niece and her husbands beautiful home built last winter and spring. Note that the home is made to look like the old farm houses from the area, using stone that looks authentic. Of course, this home has all the modern conveniences. The views from the windows all overlook woods and nature, and the run that flows by the house (photo below). There are two staircases, at each end of the upstairs hall because Matt said all old homes had two staircases.

This home and lot is so beautiful. My niece and her husband are very fortunate to have a home like this at such a young age. They have been planning it though for at least 5 years, Matt told me that he and his Dad worked for 5 years to clear the land!

I regret that I didn’t get to see many of my nieces and nephews, but did see some. I spent time with Lisa, and Mitchell who still live with their parents. I also visited with nephew Ryan in his new home he recently purchased, and with niece Angela and her family, in the new home they just built last spring. (see photos above) All of my nieces and nephews now are out of high school, Mitchell just graduating his past spring. I can’t believe they could all be grown up already!!!! Lisa and her fiancé are getting married the day after Christmas, ’09. That will probably be either my ’09 trip home or my ’10 trip. Some of my nieces and nephews have children, and of all of those children, I only saw Annie.

One of my cousins lives just up the road from the farm. One afternoon I stopped to visit her at their home. She and my cousin Bev were the only 1st cousins that I saw this time. When you have a huge family, you just can’t see everyone on a one week visit!

Aunts and Uncles - Mom's side

My sister and I visited Aunt Mae and Uncle Gilbert, and Aunt Elizabeth, the only aunts and uncle left on my Mother’s side of the family. Uncle Gilbert, age 85 is in stage 4 kidney failure, but you’d never know it by looking at him. He looks real good. He is still active as a retired pastor, doing weddings and funerals, and when we arrived, he was in the middle of writing a commentary on his computer on a book that he had just read. He is very busy! Aunt Mae says that she believes that as long as he is doing The Lord’s work, that The Lord will keep him here, so she “prays everyday for work for him!”

Aunt Elizabeth moved into a new home, she wanted me to see, that I didn’t see last visit. So, she had me there for brunch, and one of her daughters joined us, Bev. I was not able to see Bev last time, so it was great to be with her. Aunt Liz is doing well and is happy in her smaller home. She lost Uncle John, (my Mother's brother) at age 62, because he did not take care of himself. He had diabetes very badly, but did not follow the guidelines for a diabetic, that he should have. She and my Mother always said there was no reason for him to die that young, had he taken care of himself.

A Great Aunt

We also visited my Mother’s only living Aunt, on either side of her family. On her Mother’s side, my Grandmother had 7 siblings, and I was close to all of those Great Aunts and Uncles when I was growing up. Great Aunt Dot who is 93, is the only one left. She is still in good health, lives alone in an apartment, and told us she wonders “why she is still here”, when everyone else is gone. She only has one son and one grandson. She lost Uncle Denton in 1969, so she has been on her own a long time. She was so happy that we went to see her, she got Wiley family photos out from the past that we enjoyed looking at and we spent a whole afternoon with her.

Aunts and Uncles - Dad's Side

So that I could see all of my Dad’s brothers and sisters, my Aunts and Uncles, one of my aunts arranged that we would all get together for lunch at a restaurant. That was great, there were 10 of us. We had a nice two hour visit, catching up with them and their families. One Aunt couldn’t join us, Aunt Sylvia, who suffers from Alzeheimer’s. See post “Aunt Sylvia”

Aunt Sylvia

ORCHARD COUNTRY (doesn't look like it from the photo, but this was a steep hill) Orchard Country - less than 20 minutes from our homestead.
I stopped one day to take a photo of this beautiful country church in the middle of orchards, and view of the mountains in the background. Across the street was this apple orchard, and I visited with the owner, who was picking apples off the ground, that came down the night before during the bad rain and wind storm. He didn't want them to rot on the ground, so he was picking them.

THIS photo above, was a cherry orchard that we picked cherries in (for $ - .30 a bucket), our Dad went with us and we all picked cherries, everyday for about 2 weeks.
Chester Grove Church - this church sits at the top of a hill and in the background are the mountains, it is a beautiful view.

These photos above were not taken on the hilly hill lined by orchards that I talk about below.

One Aunt that couldn’t join our lunch, was my Aunt Sylvia, who is now suffering from Alzeheimer’s. She is my oldest aunt. She is a retired 1st grade teacher. My uncle Dick, who passed away in August, was a retired teacher and principal. Education was very important to them, and they were both good teachers.

She and Uncle Dick were the aunt and uncle that would come to visit us in Duluth many times over the 39 years I have been here. One time they made a special trip out here, just to pick up our 2 year old Dawn and me, and bring us back to PA for my brother Steve’s wedding! I will never forget that trip, and how good Aunt Sylvia was at getting a very overly tired 2 year old to sleep in our motel room that night in Michigan on our trip back. Their last trip here was in 1997, when they came out especially for our Rob's Graduation Party. They brought along their Granddaughter.

I probably mentioned to you before, that Aunt Sylvia and Uncle Dick are the aunt and uncle that did so much for me when I was little, they would take me places and take me to their place for a weekend, they always enjoyed having their first niece, I think because they had no children at the time, and I was the first grandchild. Uncle Dick was a principal at an elementary school and one summer, I took a Math summer school class at his school (I was terrible at Math, and Mother thought I needed more tutoring in it!). I was in sixth grade, and I rode back and forth to Carlise every day with him for summer school that summer. So, even when I was older, he did things for me. Aunt Sylvia would have lunch and an Ice Cream Soda waiting for me when we got home. Some days we would stop at a restaurant (something I never got to do), and I always got a hamburger with Onion (because that's what he ordered) and fries!

She lost Uncle Dick in August, age 85, due to a major stroke. They have one daughter, who last December moved them into her home, after she and her husband put a lovely addition onto their home, with a nice apartment for her Mother and Dad. I spent an afternoon and evening with her. She seemed to know it was me, but with Alzeheimer’s you just never know. Although she told me “I bet your Mom and Dad are happy to see you”, which led me to believe that she did know it was me. (Not remembering that my Mom and Dad are both deceased). They live just outside of Carlisle, and to get to their house, I went the hilly way, up over the mountain. It’s a beautiful road that goes through Adams County fruit orchards. It is a beautiful drive! I wanted to stop and take photos, however, the shoulders of the road were so narrow, I was afraid to. I did stop at one of the fruit stands and picked up fresh fruit to take along. I am so thankful to see what wonderful care, their daughter, Jennifer and her husband Gary, have taken of them both, and now their Mother. They are so happy to have her there, and with the grandchildren there, it's really good for Aunt Sylvia. Her sisters, who get together monthly to play bridge, came up last month to Jennifer's house, and Aunt Sylvia is still able to play bridge, they said it's remarkable how sharp she still is with bridge!

Going Home

This is the view of the farm that my sister sees from their home at the end of this lane.

This tree used to be small when I was growing up, and I would play "house" along the lane in what was a field by the lane, and is now my sister's yard. Look at the beautiful ivy she has planted by the tree trunk.

Julie's lawn, by the road. The white farm house you see from her yard, is our uncle's home, which used to be the farm house and farm that my Father grew up on. The house was built by our Great Grandfather John. When I was growing up both sides of this road had grown up "fence rows", so we wouldn't have seen the road.

This is my sister's home. Her husband and his Father built this home together. They lived at the farm house with Mom and Dad while the house was being built.

It is much different going home without your parents being there. I lost Dad in ’04 and Mom in ’05, so it’s been awhile, and I have been home since then, but it still is hard.

I stayed with my sister and her family. She is right up the “lane” from the farm that we all grew up on. I think you will remember my telling you that my brother Tim and his family now live in the farm house. Our youngest brother does the farming. Tim did a lot of work inside the house the first year he lived there, now this past summer he spent time working on the outside of the house. He found the original shutters from the house, in the attic. He painted them and is in the process of putting them on the windows, after painting and caulking the window frames. The shutters have really added to the stone house, and make it look even more colonial! I am so thankful that they are taking good care of our family homestead, and I know that Mom and Dad know!! (See photos that I will post)

Sisters

My sister Julie was able to take two days vacation from her job while I was there. We had two great days together, visiting the aunts and uncles, and just being together on our drives to the relatives. Coming back from Aunt Mae and Uncle Gilberts, we got lost (they live in an area we are not familiar with), and thought we were going to be stuck in the boondocks by the Conewaga Creek in the dark. Thank goodness for cell phones! We called Uncle Gilbert and found out where we made our mistake!

One evening just my sister, and my two sister in laws got together for an evening of visiting and fun. It was great fun, and I think bonding like that was good for us all. I have a great photo of us that evening, but as I said before, most of my family do not want me to post their photos on the “world wide net”, so I respect that.

I brought a book for each of them called “Strength Finder 2.0” by Tom Rath. It is a book that our new manager at my job in July gave to each of us on our “team”, to read. It has a test that accesses and shows you your “Top Five Strengths”, and it was a very helpful book for relationships at work, and thought it would be fun for us sisters to share what each of our “top 5 strengths” were. It was fun. It was a good conversation starter for the evening!

Brothers

Farmer Brother Mark - and his dog "Tootie"
Tim's Beef - grazing in pasture
Corn - soon ready for harvest

I have three brothers in Pennsylvania (we lost Jerry in ’03). Steve, Tim, Mark. Tim picked me up at the airport, and Steve took me back to the airport. Some visits I get together for breakfast with “just my brothers”, but didn’t get that accomplished this trip. But, I did spend quality time alone with each of them, except Mark, who was working out of town that week. He came home Sunday so he could see me, and we did visit that evening. Mark works construction, many hours in the summer. He’s a hard worker, he works construction, and in between he does the farming. He gets laid off in the winter, and he usually requests to be laid off in the fall, so that he can get the fall harvest in.(and so he can hunt). The week I was there, was his last week to work the construction job. Mark also has the 15 year old terrier mix dog, Tootie that used to be our Mom’s dog. I was able to see Tootie a lot, since my sister keeps him for Mark, while he’s away working.

My last night home, us siblings and spouses all got together and went to a new restaurant (for us) in Mt. Holly Springs (Cassels), so I got to go over the mountain roads again. When we were kids, and we went on that road, we called it the “Roller Coaster” Road, because the hills were high and the dips were low… we always got that roller coaster feeling in our stomachs! We had a lovely evening together.

Friends - Pennsylvania Visit

The best way I have found to visit with friends when I go back home is to either meet them for a lunch or a breakfast at a nearby restaurant that is convenient to both. So, I had breakfast with Susie one day, and Betty the next day! Susie, a friend I made after my high school days, and Betty, a close friend from my high school days. Betty and I went to a local diner in East Berlin. It was fun sitting in the booth that had 2 photos of graduation classes of East Berlin High School (which is no more) from the 40’s and 50’s. One of the photos, my Aunt Sara and Aunt Grace were in.

My best friend through elementary school and high school, and my Maid of Honor at our wedding, lives in New Jersey. Bless her heart (as Grandma E. would say), she drives up from there to see me every time I am home. We had a wonderful Saturday evening together!

Another friend, from 1st and 2nd grade (until she moved away), got in touch with me a few years ago, and now we visit each time I am home. A week before, she had surgery for blocked arteries in her neck, so I went to visit her at her son’s home, where she was recuperating. He lived in an area, also that I was not familiar with…that was fun to find! I had the chance to meet her son, and visit with him also. He is a chef at an Italian restaurant.

I didn’t see as many friends this trip, as I do sometimes. But, so thankful to see those that I did see!