What I did on my Summer Vacation
Well, we didn't get to go to Pennsic - again. But we did have a nice, relaxing week with family.
Once the window was re-installed, we packed for a week in West-BG-Virginia. We arrived at my brother's on Tuesday afternoon, taking our time travelling the "old road" and stopping at Hawk's Nest Park. Tom has lived alone for several years and is not the best house-keeper. His girl friend sometimes comes up to help him get ready for holidays, but it's kind of hard when there are motorcycles on two porches and a large tool chest (the professional kind) in the front hall. He even has a Cider Press someone gave him in the living room. I usually spend my first day or two cleaning just to be able to cook for everyone. (This is the house built by my G-G-Grandparents in 1871 and is on the National Register of Historic Places, so it's no shack. Seven-eight bedrooms. 9.5' ceilings. Formal dining room. Big front porch.)
Wednesday was the twins' birthday (sister and other brother). Of course, they wanted the party at the house. We managed to put on a pretty good party on short notice. Dogs and burgers on the grill and plenty of other foods, including corn and tomatoes from my sister's garden and cucumbers from my brother's. We actually got a group picture with everyone but my niece who is doing an internship in Pittsburg.
Thursday was a recovery day. I spent some time in the late afternoon trying to find the roses under all the other vines on the arbor in the garden. I filled the wheelbarrow and barely made a dent in the garden. Tom said the roses had bloomed quite a lot this summer (I guess before the vines covered them). I found one last bloom. It was not quite open fully the first day. I took pictures and now have one as my wallpaper. When we were little, my older cousin and I used to play under the arbor and our grandmother taught us how to pop rose petals on the back of our hands. This rose reminded me of that.
Friday, my other brother came up and gave son R. a guitar lesson. Chuck has played in various bands for years, and we went to hear his current band on Saturday night. The venue was geared towards Country music, and the band is versitile enough to play that one week and a rock dance the next.
Sunday was devoted to Steam. Tom has a steam engine mounted on a jeep frame that he fires up sometimes and drives around the yard. It's quite a site. He also has some old steam whistles that he mounts on it.
I spent some of my time taking pictures around the house and scanning old photographs. Usually, I get at least one day at the Archives and History library, but that didn't happen this time. Not a very productive trip for Genealogy.
R. got to fire his potato gun - with crab apples. His cousins may be making one of their own, they had so much fun with his.
As much as we enjoy going to SCA events, home and family is even better.
Once the window was re-installed, we packed for a week in West-BG-Virginia. We arrived at my brother's on Tuesday afternoon, taking our time travelling the "old road" and stopping at Hawk's Nest Park. Tom has lived alone for several years and is not the best house-keeper. His girl friend sometimes comes up to help him get ready for holidays, but it's kind of hard when there are motorcycles on two porches and a large tool chest (the professional kind) in the front hall. He even has a Cider Press someone gave him in the living room. I usually spend my first day or two cleaning just to be able to cook for everyone. (This is the house built by my G-G-Grandparents in 1871 and is on the National Register of Historic Places, so it's no shack. Seven-eight bedrooms. 9.5' ceilings. Formal dining room. Big front porch.)
Wednesday was the twins' birthday (sister and other brother). Of course, they wanted the party at the house. We managed to put on a pretty good party on short notice. Dogs and burgers on the grill and plenty of other foods, including corn and tomatoes from my sister's garden and cucumbers from my brother's. We actually got a group picture with everyone but my niece who is doing an internship in Pittsburg.
Thursday was a recovery day. I spent some time in the late afternoon trying to find the roses under all the other vines on the arbor in the garden. I filled the wheelbarrow and barely made a dent in the garden. Tom said the roses had bloomed quite a lot this summer (I guess before the vines covered them). I found one last bloom. It was not quite open fully the first day. I took pictures and now have one as my wallpaper. When we were little, my older cousin and I used to play under the arbor and our grandmother taught us how to pop rose petals on the back of our hands. This rose reminded me of that.
Friday, my other brother came up and gave son R. a guitar lesson. Chuck has played in various bands for years, and we went to hear his current band on Saturday night. The venue was geared towards Country music, and the band is versitile enough to play that one week and a rock dance the next.
Sunday was devoted to Steam. Tom has a steam engine mounted on a jeep frame that he fires up sometimes and drives around the yard. It's quite a site. He also has some old steam whistles that he mounts on it.
I spent some of my time taking pictures around the house and scanning old photographs. Usually, I get at least one day at the Archives and History library, but that didn't happen this time. Not a very productive trip for Genealogy.
R. got to fire his potato gun - with crab apples. His cousins may be making one of their own, they had so much fun with his.
As much as we enjoy going to SCA events, home and family is even better.