Hidden Valley Camping Resort - Mifflinburg, PA

August 13, 2010

We were up early and ready to load the RV for our weekend in southern Pennsylvania with our SMART group. We had been having problems with our step retracting on our RV and had an appointment in Williamsport to have them serviced. It was raining gently when we arrived for our appointment. It took about an hour for them to assure us they had been repaired and we were on our way, with a quick stop at Mickey D's for a salad. As we traveled down the road we noticed our steps had once again come out and wouldn't retract. So much for that service call. Lou drove very carefully to avoid any obstacles that might pop up. We arrived at the campground and got set up just before it stated to rain and rain it did. I believe the total was close to two inches.

Due to the heavy rain, we did not venture out to the clubhouse, we stayed in the RV and enjoyed our books. At 8:00 it was still raining and we decided to make a quick trip into Mifflinburg to look for a place to eat. This actually w as Lou's birthday and I couldn't really think of celebrating his birthday with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, although that is my favorite sandwich. We ended up at Perkins for dinner and had a delicious dinner and for desert we split Hershey's Choc. Kiss pie that was very rich and tasty. We later found out that the SMART Club had a birthday cake for Lou, and we enjoyed it the next day.

Friday it rained most of the day and we again stayed in for the majority of the day. We did have a pot luck dinner that evening and we were able to gather with the whole group and have a good dinner and for enjoyment that evening we learned a new card game. Hand and Foot. It came easy for me, as it was very near Racehorse that I used to play with my parents and that game is close to Canasta. With Racehorse and Hand and Foot you use six decks of cards. It made for a fun evening.

Saturday morning we were around early and back to the clubhouse for a business meeting. The Pennsylvania chapter (The Keystoners) are hosting the National Smart Muster in September and we have over 120 rigs coming for the event, so as you can imagine there is much planning underway. This event takes place September 6th at Centre Hall Fair Grounds. We will be there for nine days and nights.

After the business meeting, we had lunch and were off to find a place Preston was aware of called Street of Shops in Lewisburg. There are 125 shops located in a restored historic Woolen Mill. This was a dream of a place for me. We spent three hours there and I could have stayed much longer, as we were getting ready to leave, Preston told us there was another set of shops downstairs, so I just had to see it. This was like different antique shops set up. I could not believe my good fortune to find a framed print of a picture that hung in my first grade classroom in Charleston. That picture has been a favorite of mine since then. I had never been away from my parents except, to stay with my Grandpa and Grandma, until I started school at a very tender age of five years of age. I cried for days after I started school, however, I found that the kind gentleman in this picture resembled my "daddy", so as time went by, when I missed my "mommy and daddy", I would look at this picture and it seemed that it was me in the boat with my daddy and I would do a bit better that day. As time passed I learned to love school and did up to the day I graduated.

While at the shop, I also found pieces to go into my Village collection of Pfaltzgraff. This has been a collection later in my life, I started out with Americana and Pfaltzgraff decided to make that a collector's set, and no longer make those pieces. I then purchased Heritage and gave that to my daughter and she tired of it and gave it back to me, it was a large set, service for twelve and I ended up shipping that to my son and daughter-in-law in Florida. I then purchased Folk Art and just wasn't happy with the colors, as my true love was for the Americana. Then I started picking up odds and ends of Village from Goodwill and darn, I really have grown to like that, so after Lou and I were married, we have used that and I found the complete and unchipped canister set there for only $25.00. I also found some small plates and saucers, I almost have a complete set of service for eight. I was delighted. Lou said, he could hear me on the other end of the store, and knew I had found something great. I came away feeling darn good, but we had to leave before seeing the whole area, as we had dinner reservations at The Country Cupboard at 5:00 and we still had to change.

We all had the buffet dinner special at the Country Cupboard, one of my favorite restaurants to eat at and the table chatter was just wonderful. I love to hear other travelers tell of their stories. I sat close to Bernie and Betty Brown, and they were telling me of their adventures traveling for eight months to Alaska. The evening went much to quickly.

It again rained while we were braking camp to come home and rained most of the way home. We arrived home to find that only one half inch of rain had fallen here. Much more is needed.

Today, Monday is going to be catch up day, ironing, completing the laundry and want to fix a nice dinner tonight with some fresh peaches that we purchased at a farmer's market. Tuesday, I am off to Elizabethtown with my granddaughter to see her new college. School starts soon. sss

Hand Thrown Pots

August 10th Tuesday - Hot and Humid

I mentioned in a previous post that Krista had been down to work on ceramics in our garage. The pictures above show the story.

When Lou and I went to Tyrone to help Preston with his new deck, I spotted hand thrown pots sitting by his work shop and inquired as to what they were for and Preston told me they were left over from a project that he had done for one of his sisters and then he went on to tell me if I wanted them I could have them. Well let me tell you it did not take me long to sort through them and discard the ones that were badly broken and put the rest in a plastic container for the ride back to Wellsboro.

On the way home, Lou asked me what I was going to do with all of those pots, actually 62 pots made that trip to our garage. I told him I was going to glaze the insides in clear glaze and on the outside I was going to paint each and every one with a different color, so we could see what all of the paints looked like. The reason for this is, I bought out a Ceramic business several years ago and Krista and I have been buying paint whenever we would find it some from Goodwill, some from The Salvation Army and yard sales and some we have purchased new from our supplier.

Krista likes to pour the molds, and I usually clean and do some painting, and we both load the kiln, but due the my late husband's health and then Krista's cancer we have not been able to do much in the ceramic line. I guess these little pots got Krista going, as she took it upon herself, to paint them after I had run them through the dishwasher and fired them once to remove any traces of mildew or soil. We came up with the idea of not glazing the bottom of the pots, but would give each pot a number and add that number to the jar of paint used on the sides of the pot, and take pictures of each pot with the jar of paint after they were fired the final time.

You can see the results of mostly Krista's labors and Lou's and my enjoyment in seeing the finished product. Thanks to the hand throwing of Preston, each pot is different from the other. This is a project that united two families with a product of love that can be seen.

Now we are coming up with all kinds of ideas of "what to do with the pots". I know four of them are going to have dirt added to them and I am going to plant herbs in them, so I can have my herb garden when we travel this winter.

Tobyhanna Army Depot

August 6th Friday - Sunny Beautiful day.

Lou and I were up very early and on the road to Tobyhanna Army Depot at 6:00 am. We had signed up for a day of activities and seminars for retired Armed Forces personnel. The colors were being presented at 9:00 and our goal was to arrive in time for that.

It was a beautiful drive down and we drove for a couple of hours and decided to take a break and have a quick breakfast, who has better coffee than McDonalds? Not only that we really had a good breakfast and had time to chat and enjoy the setting.

The total drive to Tobyhanna was three hours and the scenery was wonderful, as it was a beautiful day and we could see activity every place we looked, from farmers harvesting grain, so some Amish finishing their haying. Beautiful fields of corn and family gardens lush and ready for the harvest.

Upon our arrival to the base, we found huge tents set up with vendors filling the spaces. They had information on everything a retired person could ask for. Even a health clinic was in operation, checking blood sugars, blood pressure, and giving our menus for special diets. If we had been interested in a nursing home, I do believe we could have reserved a bed on the spot.

We did pick up a little information for future use regarding health benefits. The planned program was very short with their choice of speakers and we were soon dismissed to tour the base by bus and a bus ride to the cafeteria for our lunch. During lunch we were able to chat with a couple from the same town we will be camping this weekend, so that was enjoyable for us.

The seminar Lou and I decided to attend was given by a retired officer that was now an attorney. He talked and gave out information for over an hour and he covered every topic one could think of. Explained the new tax law as they will affect retired persons along with inheritance tax changes as of this year and how best to overcome the changes. I took many notes and we both found it all very interesting. Lou and I stayed after the seminar for some questions that we had and he was very gracious to answer any and all questions.

Of course, any time we visit a base, we visit the Commissary and the PX and we again saw most of the people that had been at our seminar. We picked up some things that we always try to get on base and were back on the road for home at 4:00 pm.

We drove into the sun coming down and of course, going home it was the same thing, so we stopped in Williamsport and had a very relaxing and fun time for dinner, and arrived home safely at 9:30 pm.

We had been a bit concerned about Estee, as we left her at home, as she is aging and having difficulty getting around, so we were delighted to walk in the house and find a note from Krista saying that she had been down and had been working on ceramics in our garage and she took Estee out with her and before she went home fixed Estee a special dinner, fed and loved her. It is really nice to have family close by that seem to know what needs to be done and when it should be done.

Square Dancing

August 6th - Friday Sunny and Cooler

On Wednesday night square dancing was a bit different. We started out with a picnic at 6:00 pm; however, Lou and I were not able to attend that portion of our evening. He has been working with the mechanic at our garage trying to install the new towing hitch on our new car and they have had one problem after another. This project started on Tuesday and isn't completed yet. Hopefully, today will finish up the project.

Back to square dancing, there is a group of square dancers throughout New York State that like to camp and they met at Ives Run to camp for the week and this group of retired people joined our group for an evening of dancing. Some of the square dancers belonged to groups that had closed and no longer dance on a weekly basis, others still belong to active groups. We all joined in and had a really good time. Their colors are red shirts and white pants and for summer our colors are just "casual" some of our seasoned dancers do wear the Canyon Square green shirt. We had three to four squares dancing at all times and a good time was had by all that attended.

I wished I had remembered that I had my camera with me earlier, as the pictures I snapped quickly was as we were all preparing to go home.

Yesterday, my granddaughter, Michelle called me and asked me if I would join she and her mother for lunch at the Native Bagel, I was baking at the time she called and I quickly finished up that job and went into town with them and spent a very enjoyable afternoon with the two of them. Michelle is getting excited about going off to college at the end of this month. In fact, we are planning a trip to Elizabethtown in several weeks so I can see her campus. This also should be a fun time.

Tonight is square dancing here and I need to get things cleaned up a bit before everyone arrives. We are having sundaes for our snack tonight. One of the girls have the recipe for Gus's Candy Kitchen hot fudge sauce and she is making that to bring along. For those of you that don't know about Gus, he was the gentleman that owned and operated The Candy Kitchen in Wellsboro when the majority of us were in school and what a treat it was to have $.25 to stop in at Gus's and have a hot fudge sundae and a fountain Coke. The shop is gone now as is Gus, but the memories are very vivid in all of our minds.