Amish Country Anniversary Trip

For our anniversary trip this year, we chose to go to Lancaster County, PA--dubbed Amish country.   We started in the city of Lancaster where we walked around a bit, and ate lunch at a local market.  Then out to the countryside.  I love the serenity there and we checked out some new places this time.  We stayed in Lititz, a Colonial era town.  In Lititz, one of our first tours was the Sturgis pretzel bakery and museum.

                                                  Here we were  learning to fold a soft pretzel.

Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery

The plaque says On this site in 1861 Julius Sturgis established the first pretzel bakery in the new world. You can click on the caption for more info.  The house had been in his family since the 1700s.

                                    Dave demonstrates how they turned the pretzels in the hot brick oven.

Across the street was the oldest girl's boarding school in the country. The building in the back was taken over by Washington's army during the Revolutionary War for many months to be used as a hospital even though the people who built the town were Moravian pacifists.  Only Moravians were allowed to settle there initially.  A wealthy man gave a German Moravian preacher 4000 acres to establish a town of followers there.

In Lititz we also went to a Wilbur's chocolate factory.  They had a small museum of old molds, machines and tools.  We ate some yummy food in Lititz including sumptuous multi-course breakfasts, and a cafe with great tomato pie.  Then we headed a few miles south to the heart of Amish country.

We had never taken an Amish buggy ride, so I thought it would be fun. I loved it. Our guide, a girl about 20 who belonged to The Brethren' church, of which the Amish are an offshoot  told us a lot about their culture. We rode to an Amish farm, where a pretty Amish girl about 12 year's old had a basket of fresh homemade cookies for sale. How could I resist that!?

This is a one-room schoolhouse similar to that which our guide attended.  They are located about every mile in the area as Amish children walk to school.  They are only required by Federal law to attend until they are 14, where upon they are needed by their families to farm full time.

Next are some pictures of Amish people who are out and about working on their farms and traveling into their teensy towns of Intercourse or Bird-In-Hand or Salzburg on a Saturday afternoon.  While I realize that the Amish don't like to be photographed, I mean no disrespect, and I hope I didn't offend anyone, or act too obnoxiously touristy.  I just really admire the Amish people and like to get up close and see how they live.  They manage to live with grace without electricity.  Their farmhouses are so amazingly clean, and their farm so beautifully kept by horse-drawn teams.  I learned that many of these people only grow corn to feed their own dairy cows.  Some grow tobacco as a cash crop.  Anyway, here are some of the people we saw.  Oh, and bicycles are not allowed, but scooter are.

In this picture, you can actually see me in the mirror of our buggy on the right. As the other buggy with the woman and darling children with hat and bonnet overtook us, our guide said, "Amish road rage". :)

Here's another view of them from the front of our buggy.

                                     An Amish scooter

And lastly, here are a few pictures of our beautiful Bed and Breakfast where we stayed--a 6th generation German farmhouse.

Happy 28th Anniversary, David!

NEW POSTERS

Four posters are now available as reminders of the skills taught in four of my books, Listen and Learn, Be Careful and Stay Safe, Cool Down and Work Through Anger, and Share and Take Turns.

Gift from Liberia

Dave and I have been friends with a family from Liberia.

The man traveled to Liberia recently for his father's funeral, bringing with him a picture of Dave and I to show his mother a picture of his 'brother' in America. When he returned a few weeks later, Dave and I were honored at his home with traditional Liberian clothes that were made for us my his family there.

April at the Beach

 On April 2-3 we went to the beach with Erika, Tyler, Julia and Andrea--before Julia had to go back to school.  It was a bit windy on the boardwalk.

 
We got up for the sunrise, which is always beautiful at the beach.

                                           Here's a look back at where we were staying.


Andrea brought her ukelele to serenade, and we flew our kite.

                                                                        Tyler and  Erika

Fearless Dave and Tyler raced in to the water, ...and then back just about as quickly.

Simplified Chinese

Although this isn't simple for me to read, the 15 books in my 'Learning to Get Along' series have now been translated into simplified Chinese characters.  I am excited for the many Mandarin speaking children that the books will now reach!

Flower Show in Philly

March 13th was a large Flower Show in Philadelphia with so many forced blooms on various themes. I went up with two friends for the day.

This was one of my favorites.  The "pineapples" in the background are of solid flowers.

This was a fun chandelier idea made from tin planters.

This was a new space saving way to grow a garden.  This wall was made of solid lettuce.  I was craving a salad about that time.  :)  Pretty hand canned produce in the jars.

These tomato plants grew on an overhead trellis.  How convenient for nibbling.

An array of tulips.

This vendor made beautiful jewelry from real flowers.

This vendor had beautiful flower and fruit displays for sale.

 

There was lots more.  But you didn't want to see the boring stuff, right?