Eat your heart out

This is for all you up north. It may have snowed here on the first, but it has been steadily warming all week. Yesterday it was 80 degrees in town and 65 plus here in the country. This is of the flowering pear trees that G & M have by the ponds. There are lots of them in bloom in the area.

Valley Forge, Philadelphia

In Dec. of 1777 George Washington and his soldiers went to Valley Forge. In Feb. of 2009 B and E went to Valley Forge and it didn't feel any warmer than in 1777. There wasn't any snow but the wind was blowing and it started out being overcast. Since it has valley in it's name, I always thought that they were camped in a valley. NOT SO! Their cabins outlined the ridge that circled around the area. We rented a tape and drove the area. There are some monument marking the different areas and where different regiments were located.
Would you believe that these housed twelve people?
After being there it was easy to see why they chose this area.
The next morning we went into Philadelphia. It took us a little doing, but we found Independence Hall. We say the Liberty Bell and a copy of the Declaration of Independence. It was one published at the time to be read in another area. The signed one is in DC. We were able to go into Independence Hall and some of it's rooms.
The court room was interesting. It was to the right of the mail hall with no door, just a rail
like is in our court rooms today. The proceedings were very open to the public. Note the cage in the rt. for ground where the accused stood.

We also saw where the Senate and House met as this was the capital until the District of Columbia was formed.

The following is of the room in which the signers of the Declaration of Independence met and hashed it out. The next is of the chair at the front of the room. Ben Franklin said that he didn't know if it was a setting or a rising sun. When the Declaration was signed he said he decided that it was a rising sun.

Knit Knit

While we were in Tenn. my sister-in-law was crocheting scarfs and caps for her grand daughters. I did a set to help her out and to pass the time. That led to me doing scarfs for B, By, and L for Christmas. By wanted a cap too so I did one for him while we were there. Since I did not bring along a winter cap for me I knitted one for me. Then when we got to West Point C wanted a poncho and P needed a cap. So the crochet hook and knitting needles came out. Here are C and P in theirs.
It has been a number of years since I have done any of this, but I did remember how.

Hanging Out

I guess that I had better get this updated. We have been hanging out at West Point.

Not long after we got here we had a good snow storm. School got canceled two days because of snow one day and ice the next. The kids had fun playing in it.

The weather now has changed. We have had a few days above freezing, one in the fifties, and most of the snow is gone. Funny thing, there were three robins who showed up two days before it first got warm. We thought they were lost but maybe they knew something we didn't.

C has done quit well with her art. Last year her picture won her category locally and then won regionally, and went to the national level. She has won again this year locally. We got to see this years before it went on to the next level.

We have been to two more music performances. One of those was a steel band, which of course, our son-in-law is in. You just can't sit still listening to Calypso music. They were playing in an old church just off post.
Since we have never taken the official tour, B and I decided that we would do that. It took about an hour and we learned a few things that we didn't yet know about the area.

Last week-end the other set of grandparents came. C turned eight on Friday. She had a party at school, one at the bowling alley after school, and then one at home that evening with family. Do you think she had enough parties?

Then Saturday morning was her baptism. We were glad that we could be here for that.

Thanks to the other grandparents and all their points, B and I stayed in a motel while they were here. That gave them more time with the kids and the kids a chance to get some pool time. Of course B loved that too.
The weather here has changed. We have had a few days above freezing and most of the snow is gone.

Going In A Circle

I thought that maybe I had better let some of you know what is going on in our world. I know that you are just dying of anticipation to find out as our lives are so interesting.

I think that we are going in a circle. We left the cold country of Indiana and took off for West Point, NY. We had been to both places last fall. But family does have a certain pull for us. While in Indiana we saw some below zero weather. With the wind that they have there, it makes it VERY cold. We had a great time with By and L.

Traveling to West Point, we passed through the part of Pennsylvania that my maternal grandparents came from. We have talked about maybe settling near relatives. In the phone book there were around forty listings with my maternal grandfather's name. It is not a common last name. There were about that many for my maternal grandmother's name also. I told B that maybe we needed to settle there.

We had some warm weather here the day after we arrived. It was above freezing two days ago. However, it has cooled off again. B says he is ready to head back to Tennessee where it is warmer.

This afternoon we got to go the West Point concert band's Sousa concert. Our son-in-law plays in it. It was an enjoyable concert to listen to. Besides, I love marches.

There is a question that I have been pondering for the last couple of weeks. Maybe some one of you has an answer. If you eat your cereal out of a short, wide glass or a mug, is it okay to drink the rest of the milk when the cereal is all gone? I will await your answers.

Scissors Please

I guess I should update this and let you know what is happening.

I had been needing a hair cut since the last one was about a week before we pulled out of Yakima. Remember, that was the beginning of September.

Some years back I had started to let my hair grow out and then went to get it 'styled.' Well, she just cut it short. Since it is easier to care for and I was still putting it under a scrub cap every day at work, I just left it short. Now, since it has had some time to grow out again, I thought I would try for a longer style.

L needed to get hers trimmed too, so off we went to her beautician. While we were waiting, I found a picture of the style that I have been wanting. So I was able to show the woman and she did a great job of trimming it and shaping it for what I want. It still needs to grow out more for the 'finished' production.

How are these for looking like mug shots? It still needs to grow out more. Of course this picture was taken after I had fixed it a few days later. We should have taken a picture when I got back from having it cut and she fixed it. Eventually, the back will be longer too, but I have to wait for the rest to catch up. I also had to buy a straightening iron due to my curls.

Where's The Ark?

It was one evening in Dec. that we saw the first flash of lightening and heard the thunder. G said that they were in a drought and needed the rain. We had received some rain a few times before this. By the time B and I went out to the trailer it was pouring with lots of thunder and lightening.

I have never seen lightening storms like we had that night. It was probably around 10:00 when it started. At 2:00 AM it was still going on. I'm use to lightening and thunder at the start of a storm, but not lasting this long. There were some times that it shook not only the trailer, but also the house. Some of the lightening was within a quarter mile of where we were. Bob wondered if the baseball back stop would still be there in the morning; it was. It was still pouring down rain in the morning. A neighbor said that it was four and a fourth inches so far.

I wonder if one of the reasons that the thunder was so intense is that the clouds are much closer to the ground here. Since there are no mountains that force the cloud layer higher, the lightening is also closer.

If you look back at the picture of the ponds you can see that they were not full. By morning the water was going over the top of them. The overflow pipes were air locked. B and G got those going again but were not able to fix them for a few days so it continued to overflow at times.

It rained most of the day, about another three inches. And it rained the next night. By the second morning, when it was still raining, I asked if I should be building and ark. G said that the next time they have a drought in the area he is going to invite us to their place.