On the Road Again - Day One

December 27th - Sunday 55 Degrees - Wellsboro, PA

Fifty two years ago today I gave birth to my second child, my one and only son, Gregory Scott Bryant.  The first thing I did this morning was to make a post on Facebook to wish him a Happy Birthday.

After celebrating Christmas with all of our families, first on Christmas Eve at  Susan's house with her side of the family.  It was a bit different this year, as Shawn and Tim has a bet with Sue and  they lost, so they had to wear "ugly" sweaters that were hand made by family members, and they were really good sports about it and wore them with great pride.  Everyone kept in mind that we were leaving for Florida soon after Christmas and gave presents that were really useful for our trip and very thoughtful.  Sue and I spent time talking about Christmases in the past and our kids have all agreed that the most memorable Christmases were the ones that we drove from Ohio to Pennsylvania and spent them with my parents on the farm.  It was a lot of work for all involved but lots of good memories for all involved and I will have to write some of those stories on my Yesterdays Blog later.

On Christmas Day we went to Krista's house for dinner and presents.  We spent a lot of time sitting at the dining room table talking about previous Christmases also and the many memories that we all have from years past.  Lou shared memories of one Christmas when his parents were both unemployed and there was no money for presents, but some how they purchased a truck for him and how  happy he was with it and that he kept it for years after.

Saturday we went to Lou's house to have Christmas with his family.  Twenty-nine people were there to celebrate the holiday.  Casey and Allie came the furtherest coming from Georgia.  It was a nice day to catch up with everyone and stories on what everyone was doing.

We were up  this morning at 8:00, finished the laundry, packing between rain storms, got to talk to my brother a few minutes and were ready to leave our house at 10:30 am, we went to the Fair Grounds  to hook up and then waited until the rain slacked up a little.  Finally, we were on the road at 11:05.  Put in a Willie Nelson tape, Maci curled up for a nap.  We got to Steam Valley and it sure was steamy there, but once we got beyond Williamsport, the rain stopped and beyond Harrisburg, the sun came out.

It was great coming through St. Mary's and not to have to worry about scrapping the side of the motor home.  They did a great job widening the road there.

We got to 81S @ 1:50, really made good time.  Chambersburg, PA  Fort Letterkenny, where my brother had been on Christmas Day.  He visited his grandson and wife there.  We stopped at the last rest stop in  PA to have our lunch and walk around a little and let Maci walk a bit.

We went past James Buchanan's birthplace = Molly Piticher Highway = Mason/Dixson Auto Auction
Quickly zipped past the 10 exits in Maryland and into West Virginia and we were into Virginia where gasoline was $1.85 at Flying J.

We arrived at our destination - Candy Hill Campground in Winchester, VA at 4:30 pm.  Reservation was confirmed and our pull thru spot was waiting for us, same spot as last year.  We got rid of all of our winterization and I put our dinner in the oven.  It was 75 degrees and it started to gently rain, after we got finished.

Our dinner was roast turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, baked squash, sweet  potato casserole, glass of wine and coffee and cookies.

Tomorrow will be a long drive, it is over 450 miles to our next destination.

View out our front window

Visit to Corning Museum

September 13th Sunday

I have been trying to do some fall housecleaning and have our bedroom and bathroom done and decided I needed to give my shoulder a rest, so we had planned on going to Windmill Market on Saturday, but when we awoke to rain, Lou suggested we go to the Corning Museum, as he knew I wanted to see the Pyrex display, so that was our day yesterday.

I had been employed at Corning in Wellsboro, PA in the early 60's after college and was deeply disappointed to not find one thing in the Museum that was made in our factory.  All of the Christmas decorations that were for sale in their gift shop were made in China!!  Maybe we all need to vote for Mr. Trump.  Indeed, there were many beautiful items on display and much time and effort have gone into bringing the museum into fruition and that can't be overlooked.  Local residents are given a huge discount on admission which was appreciated.  We did spend nearly four hours going through the  museum.

One of the stained glass windows
 

A glass display with crows

One thing I found very interesting was how they made window panes years ago.  I had always wondered why older window panes would have different depths of glass and now I know why.

Glass was poured in a circle and panes were cut from the circle and of course, the glass would flow downward making it thicker at the bottom and around the edges.

We had to walk outside and around several buildings to the library to see the display of Pyrex.  I was hugely disappointed in this.  I have seen more Pyrex in Goodwill stores than here, although it was interesting to see my yellow, red, green and blue bowl set sold new for $2.50.

I don't think a day goes by that I don't use my bowls.

I remember these, but don't have them anymore!

Maybe this all means that I am just getting old!!

This week promises to be cooler, so hopefully with Lou's help I can get some work done outside and some work done inside.  I have ordered a new lawn tractor and it will be delivered on Friday.  This will have power steering so should help me in a huge way.  Lots to get done before the leaves fall.

 

August Happenings

September 13th - Sunday - 53 Degrees low this am and cloudy

The month of August has moved along very quickly.  After we got Michelle moved  into her apartment, Lou fractured four ribs, so he was laid up and not able to do much, so I took over the majority of his jobs and that was a bit much for my shoulder.  I have had an injection into it and am awaiting some relief from the discomfort from that.

We had some days of intense heat and humidity so I took advantage of the A/C and cleaned out cupboards and drawers and found afghans that mother had made and I wanted to make sure that all of our grandkids and greatgrandkids had one that she had made, and all have been claimed with the exception of the blue one.  Michelle thought she wanted the brown one, as she wanted to have a brown sofa, and indeed, she did find a brown sofa that someone had discarded and the price was right, so it was a good choice for her.

We had our drive way sealed and the cracks filled the last of the month.  The young man that did it for us did a fine job and we were very pleased with the job.

Ben McClure's truck and equipment.

They spread it all by hand, therefore, there were no splatters.

We certainly appreciated the fine workmanship displayed by Ben on a very warm day.

Lou celebrated his 89th birthday on the 12th of August.  Krista fixed him a wonderful birthday dinner a day early with his favorite cake for dessert.  Home made German Chocolate.  Actually, we celebrated his birthday on three different days with different family members, at two different restaurants.  A great time of celebrating.

The end of the month found us at our Square Dance Camp Out in Morris, PA.  We had a really good turn out this year, and everyone was eager to help and all of the jobs were done quickly and it seemed like we had time to visit and enjoy out time together.  The weather was cool and we were glad that we had heat in our motor home. 

July Happenings

July 29th - Wednesday - 94 degrees

This has been a busy summer and I realized I have not done many posts and I have not been keeping up my diary, so when I look back for some information, I am going to be lacking, so will get some information down to help me remember the goings on of the summer.

We have spent some time at Lou's Homestead working, he had to have a holding tank replaced and that was finally done, and some of his family came up and helped him with that project, so while they worked at that, I worked at trimming some bushes and trees on the other side of the yard, didn't have many tools to work with, but enjoyed the task at hand.

Roses along the road

Bushes after  some trimming

Roses with the addition of an arbor 

An Oak tree that Casey moved.

The next weekend, Brion, Janet, Casey, Allie, Spencer and Meredith came and they all helped and I can tell you things happened, I didn't have my camera, so didn't have pictures of the work in progress, they were busy every minute, cutting down trees, grinding up brush, hauling wood away, cutting grass.  Janet helped me transplant ground cover to put in the beds that I had cleaned out, things looked so much better.  We got the blueberries all covered up with netting.  Lou and I have to use ladders to do that, but Casey and Spencer are way over 6 feet tall, and they just reached up and did it!!

July 15th we drove up to Fort Drum with Janet and Brion to witness Spencer in the Change of Command Ceremony for the Echo Company.   Spencer is a Captain in the Army, who just became engaged to a lovely gal from Delaware.  We got to see his home in Watertown, which is beautiful and located on a lake and the view from his porch is just beautiful.  It was a very special day for us.

While we were there we got a  phone call from Michelle telling us that she had been selected for a position at Weidner University in Chester, PA.  She is going to run their lab for them starting on the 10th of August.  I was speechless.  This was her first professional interview since she graduated from college.  We are so very proud of her.  She just called me to tell me that she signed a lease for an apartment.  She had sent me pictures of it and was so hopeful that she would get it and she did.  God is looking out for our girl.  Now we will have to look for items to furnish an apartment for her.  Thankfully, this one has all of her appliances, even a dishwasher and washer and dryer.

On the down side of July.  When Lou had his physical Dr. Nespola called and told us that Lou's hemoglobin was very low and he needed to come right in to be crossed and matched for two units of blood, so we did that, and then he had to have a colonoscopy and gastroscopy which he did, but everything was fine, it was determined that his body just does not absorb iron, he was put on iron and will have more blood work done in a week and he will decide the course of treatment at that time.

When Lou brought the motor home over to the house to pack for the Muster, he was trying to get into the driveway quickly and missed the driveway and ended up in the yard and got stuck.

After the wrecker arrived

Stuck in the mud!!

I used my electric chain saw to cut the limbs off the apple tree so we wouldn't mar up the motor home anymore when they pulled us out.  I got my chain saw stuck, and my brother came to the rescue with his saw and helped us finish up the job.  I have to admit the tree looks better with the trim.  We still have to fill in the ruts left by the tires.

The State has repaired the sluice on our property and today when I ran the weed eater, it certainly made that job a lot easier.  I had taken pictures of the damage the rain had done to the sluice and the road and sent a letter and it was no time until they were here and had it fixed.  I was very impressed.

It looks like August is going to be very busy, with Michelle's move, we have two trips to Bath scheduled one for Lou's hearing aids and one for motor home repairs, doctor and dentist appointments, Lou's birthday and lots of outside things to do, that are waiting for cooler weather.  Thankfully, we have made our reservations for Florida and have that task taken care of so that will make planning a lot easier as we go into fall.

The picture at the top of the post, is the replacement of the fountain that I used to have.  Lou and I took the barrel out and put this in its place.  This we can take in during the winter and not have to cover it.

I am off to fix fried green tomatoes for dinner, one of my friends called last night to remind me, it was time to fix fried green tomatoes and bacon, so went out and picked a couple of big ones for dinner tonight.  Thanks, Jim.