Pennsylvania Dutch Country

Michael finally got a day off after working twenty in a row. Rather than stay around the house and do the stuff we needed to like mowing and weeding, he opted for a trip out of town just to get away. We went to Lancaster County which is southeast of us and not far from Philly. We had a heck of a time getting there because of traffic but we started in the city of Lancaster. We went to The Demuth Museum that is in the artist Charles Demuth's house. Big disappointment in that there were no works by Demuth displayed. Oh darn. But it was great to see his house. Michael is a big fan because Demuth was part of a movement called Precisionism. These guys liked painting pictures of factories and water towers. We also got to meet the director of the museum who had curated the exhibit we saw of works by Luigi Rist. Then we went to the Central Market. This is housed in a fabulous old building and you can buy goods ranging from foie gras to gummie bears. We bought lunch at one of the stalls, then had peanut butter fudge for dessert from another and bought plum jam to take home. Some of the stalls were run by Amish families, others were ethnic like Thai, African and Italian foods. It was one of the most amazing markets I've ever seen.

Then we headed down the road to the Pennsylvania Dutch country. I have to tell you that Michael and I felt like voyeurs. It seemed indecent to stare at these simple people in their buggies and on their farms. It was embarrassing to see people hopping out of their cars to take pictures of a family loading a wagon with hay. It's a real paradox. The Amish deserve their privacy and yet they depend on tourists to buy their goods. You can hardly make a living these days just by horse-drawn labor on a farm.

Michael was pleased to see that the Amish are able to live simple and healthy lives on beautifully kept farms. It was shocking to me to see farm houses unhooked to electricity even though the electrical poles line every road. You wouldn't think you would notice such a thing. But a house standing alone, with no lights on and with no electric or telephone lines is a pretty amazing sight. They do use electricity for some things like milking machines evidently. And they do use telephones although they do not have private lines in their homes. I learned that their objection to modern technologies are not that they are evil in themselves but that they detract from a simple lifestyle and that they make people prideful and covetous. This explains the odd rules that allow them to use gas powered string trimmers but not own an automobile.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow and tell about other stuff we saw.

Pattern mania

A lovely lady from church brought her patterns from her business to church to give away. They sat there for weeks and weeks and finally I took them home. GL is excited about all the costumes and will be getting a lot of kids' clothes patterns. ML will be getting women's patterns and kids' clothes as well. But since there were over 400 patterns in the group, what to do with the rest? I'm thinking about it. Right now, I'm tripping over pattern boxes in the living room. I actually love patterns. I love pulling out the instructions on patterns just to see how something is put together. Especially Vogue. They use so many fascinating techniques.

Other news is that my dad's 90th birthday approaches and my trip to Louisiana and Texas. Sure wish Michael could come with me but he says it's impossible.

We called S, our six-year-old grandson, for his birthday on Friday. "I love you a billion and six," he exclaimed. "There are a billion and six people on the earth and I love you that many!" What a cutie. He likes his birthday better than any one I know. One year he wanted us to sing the birthday song for him over and over. We'd finish and he'd say "Again, again!" Pretty cute. We gave him a corduroy coat and he was even excited about that. Luckily GL also included a big box o' Nerds in the present or else we might have dropped in our popularity rating.

Shipping to MF in the Czech Republic is always a challenge but I lucked out. Her husband N is coming to Dallas/Fort Worth next week, so I only have to ship the patterns that far. I'm also including some Christmas presents. When your kids live in Europe, you have to think ahead. MF and I had lined up their Christmas presents from the grandparents and their birthday presents. But I didn't have anything for the grownups. So I'll ship that to Texas too.

We're in the process of refinancing our mortgage. I know, I know. We just moved in last year. But the rates are advantageous enough that we can reduce our mortgage from 30 year to 15. Every time I think about the fact that the Denton house was close to being paid for, I makes me slightly ill. I mentioned this to a friend at church today. He's a real estate appraiser and we were talking about the ten-year-old kid who appraised my house. Okay not ten, but he looked no older than twenty or so. I asked him how long he'd been appraising houses and he said, "Not too long." Anyway, back to my story. I told him how hard it was to give up the perfect house. He looked at me and said, "From what I can tell about you, any house you and Michael could live in together would be the perfect house." What a great compliment. But I still hold to the fact that if this house in PA is perfect, then the house in Texas was perfecter.

Overindulgence

We went to two different places to eat last night. Both were over the top in calories and goodness. We went to the favorite pizza place in our neighborhood. We had never been since Michael isn't much of a pizza fan. Plus, he gets a lot of it at work. Pizza Palace was impossibly crowded and we couldn't find a parking place so we did what my son-in-law T always recommends, we had dessert first. We went to the place next door which was opened recently by a co-worker of Michael's. We had been one other time and were absolutely amazed at how good the ice cream was. He makes it right there and it also has what they call mash-ins like the Marble Slab. The first time I went I had pear. This time I had peanut butter. Amazingly good. We talked to Carl and of course Michael wanted to know all about the ice cream making process.

Then we went to the Pizza Palace. We found out that you shouldn't order pepperoni or sausage. Just plain pizza. It comes out much faster. It was absolutely delicious Silician square-cut pizza. I cannot even imagine how many calories it had per slice.

We won't be going to either place very often. We are really trying to be good and stick with our healthy diets. I have lost five pounds which I would really like to keep off. I have a closetful of clothes that don't fit when I weigh five pounds more than I do now. But it's awesome to know they're both there. The ultra-fabulous thing about the Back Mountain Creamery is that they won't close this month. Rita's and all the soft ice cream places like Dairy Queen shut up for the winter. It's very discouraging. Good to know that I can now take care of an ice cream need even in wintertime.

Seven Unrelated Thoughts

First, the pattern. I was looking for another pattern and I found this one that I've been looking for forever. I have favorite dresses I made for all the girls and this was MF's. I made it up in lavender and she looked like a dream in it. As I remember, the fabric faded so I'm not even sure if GL wore it. The pockets and collar had embroidered flowers and tiny rickrack. Plus piping. I thought it was too late for my granddaughters but it's a size six. So now it's up to the mommies to decide. If they want one for their girls, I'll make one up for them. (A little longer though and in fabric that won't fade!) If it's too out of style, at least I have it to remember by.

Second, the leaves are already changing color. It's been a very cool August. I'm so not ready.

Third, another loser who stole funds from a kids' sports league was on the front page this week. There have been so many it's hardly news. Maybe they should just put them on the back page the way they do the drive-by murderers in Dallas, Texas.

Fourth, new curtains. I've been here a year and a half, Michael tells me. It was about time. I could put my hand through the holes in the bathroom eyelet curtains. When I took down the kitchen curtains they all but disintegrated. You can't tell much from the photos, but I think they came out nicely.

Fifth, Michael had another emergency at work and so he was at work a big part of the day on Saturday, at the airport picking up a part at 1 AM Sunday morning, back at work on Sunday and he tells me he has work to do today as well. It was a huge problem and I'm cool with that but the timing was just so wrong. So much for our three-day weekend.

Sixth, I'm still homesick. Why? I thought I would have adjusted by now. For a long time, I was okay. But recently, I find myself wanting to go back home. I can think of three reasons. Number one, fifty per cent of my children now live in Denton and where am I? Reason number two is that I've never had any trouble getting a job. But I haven't gotten so much as an interview here. Thirdly, it's Michael who knows people here and who has all kinds of connections. In Texas, he worked in Decatur or Fort Worth and I worked in Denton. I knew hundreds more people than he did around town. But here it's just the opposite. And we haven't even mentioned Mexican food.

Seventh, life is still extremely good. I've lost a few pounds which means that my winter suit skirts will probably zip now. The homesickness comes and goes but mostly goes. I just try to put it behind me (like Satan.)