Trip to Pennsylvania - Part I

Max’s civics club worked very hard this last year to raise enough funds to go on a trip to Pennsylvania. They did: bake sales, a car wash (did I mention it was 36 degrees the morning we started washing cars?), calendar sales, bulb sales, and more. Enough funds were raised to pay for seven students and two chaperones. Several other parents and two siblings (Colette included) went along on the trip as well. Technohubby had originally planned to go, but he used quite a bit of his vacation time with his hospital stay and recovery earlier this year, so opted not to spend most of the rest of it on the civics club's trip.

For our lodgings, the group rented a large home in the Pennsylvania countryside, right in the heart of Amish country. The house had three levels, five bedrooms, two baths, two kitchens, and was beautifully situated on 45 acres of land. The expansive lawn in front was so beautiful, and we all enjoyed watching these geese parents and their brood of goslings meander all over it every day. This is just some of the front lawn, looking towards the house. The boys discovered that there was an otter living in the pond too!

We traveled down to Pennsylvania on Monday. On Tuesday, we drove into Philadelphia for a full-day of touring the historic sites. The first stop of the day was the National Constitution Center.

Here is our group waiting to go into the National Constitution Center, with Independence Hall in the background.

The boys with their wristbands for admission.

Two quotes in the lobby poignantly display two opposing viewpoints on the Constitution.

Our visit there began with a multi-media presentation that was a quick lesson in American history with an emphasis on the Constitution. The major part of the museum has excellent displays depicting various aspects of the Constitution (no photography allowed). Then as you exit that part of the museum, you enter a room full of life-size statues of the men who were the delegates to the Constituional Convention.

Above the lobby is a display of all the state flags.

Then it was time to move on for our tour of Indpendence Hall, my favorite place in Philadelphia!

The Assembly Room in Independence Hall. Oh, if these walls could talk! In this room, the wording of both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were debated and finalized. We held a special fondness for the table at the top left of the room, because that’s where the delegates from New Hampshire sat.

I love the beautiful, simple furnishings in this room. It makes me think of the small tables where Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott wrote their famous novels, in the sense that it reminds me that great thinking happens best when ensconced in simplicity.

The lovely room we exited through to the outside. All the paint colors in Independence Hall are exact reproductions of the origianl colors.

The group then walked a few blocks on the cobblestone streets of historic Philadelphia…

…and arrived at Benjamin Franklin’s print shop, post office, and the site of his home. The post office is still a functioning U.S. post office, although it deals only in stamps and letters. It is also the only U.S. post office that does not fly the American flag, because its existence pre-dates the founding of the United States.

Between the post office and the print shop (the print shop not being in its original location) is a brick tunnel. Benjamin Franklin’s home was originally situated through this tunnel.

The print shop was a re-creation of print shops of the era.

I love the tools of historic print shops!…ink and letters and words and paper and smudgy aprons!

One of the best things about this print shop was that hanging everywhere were Benjamin Franklin’s words!

Then it was a short walk back to the main historic area to view the Liberty Bell.

We returned to the house for burgers and hot dogs for dinner. The guys did the grilling!

The students loved the volleyball court, where many, many games of volleyball took place during our stay.

Once it was dark, it was time for s’mores…every night! In addition to preparing all the dinners ahead of time (even hamburger patties were seasoned and formed and frozen ahead), our family also provided the group with homemade marshmallows for s’mores. We made plain marshmallows and coconut ones. And let me just say that a coconut marshmallow…well…it takes a s’more to a whole new level!

Trip – Part II coming soon.

A Visit

A luna moth spent the day on our deck! We were thrilled! We haven’t had one come for a visit for two years.

It was a good day for hanging out on the deck!

Laughing

When Theo came to play last week, he brought his ball and chain.



Enjoying a shared sense of humor, the girls and I couldn’t resist attaching it near his ankle and watching him toddle around…dragging it behing him.

Easter at Our House

We had a very blessed Easter Sunday praising God for his gift of salvation! We hope you did too!

Walter, Felicity, and Theo spent the day with Walter’s family. So it was a quiet afternoon at our home…quiet, but delicious! And I had a fun time setting and decorating the table.

I had seen an Easter centerpiece idea online, so I did my own take on it. I used a large, antique wash basin with a prickly wreath (symbolic of the crown of thorns), and in the center I placed yellow tulips (symbols of new life). Pretty, although it was difficult to see each other well.



I used my new linen, hem-stitched table runner…a true find at the thrift store…Williams-Sonoma tag still on it, but selling there for $3.99! Score! And did anyone else try those new coconut M&M’s this Easter? Yum!



This year we tried dyeing brown eggs from a local farm. (Their egg cartons have a tag attached that says, “From free-ranging, organically-fed, HAPPY chickens!”) We used food coloring to dye them, and got some really fabulous shades with the brown eggs.

A good day!



Easter

Glory to God! The morn appointed breaks,
And earth awakes from all the woeful past;
For, with the morn, the Lord of life awakes,
And sin and death into the grave are cast.

Glory to God! The cross, with all its shame,
Now sheds its glory o’er a ransomed world;
For He Who bore the burden of our blame,
With piercèd hands the foe to hell hath hurled.

Glory to God! Sing, ransomed souls again,
And let your songs our glorious Victor laud,
Who by His might hath snapped the tyrant’s chain,
And set us free to rise with Him to God.

Darkness and night, farewell! The morn is here;
Welcome! the light that ushers in the day;
Visions of joy before our sight appear,
And, like the clouds, our sorrows melt away.

Great Son of God, immortal and renowned!
Brighter than morn the glory on Thy brow;
Crowns must be won, and Thou are nobly crowned,
For death is dead, and sin is vanquished now.

-John Brownlie (1911)

A Birthday Celebration

This week we celebrated Felicity’s birthday! The birthday girl requested a salad bar dinner with: green salad with all the toppings, her mother-in-law’s orzo salad, my fruit salad, and Colette’s baguettes and chocolate cake.

Colette did a masterful job on the cake…oh my! It was slathered in ganache, which was allowed to set before another softer layer of ganache was pooled up on top, dribbling down the sides just a tad, and crowned with fresh raspberries. Yum!

There were pink tulips!

Colette set the table.



Deluxe fruit salad, as requested.

The happy birthday girl!

For the greens part of the salad bar, we had: mixed field greens, baby spinach, chopped romaine, cucumber, grilled chicken, red bell pepper, green onions, cheddar cheese, grape tomatoes, red onion, toasted pecans, dried cranberries, parmesan cheese, onion crisps, croutons, bacon bits, black pepper, ranch dressing, Italian dressing, ceasar dressing, and raspberry-walnut dressing.

"Happy Birthday to you..."



Timely Information: How To Hard Boil Eggs So They Peel Easily

This week, with Easter just around the corner, many of us will be hard boiling eggs. Here’s how to do it so that the shells peel off easily. I tried it today for the first time, and was thrilled with the results!

Put a saucepan full of water on the stove to boil.

Next, you want to use a push pin to poke a hole in the fat end of each egg. You don’t want to poke it all the way through the shell, just part way. (If you happen to poke it all the way through, some egg white will leak out as you boil your egg, and your egg will have a flat part on one end instead of being nicely oval.) I cushioned my egg carton by placing a thick kitchen towel between it and my countertop, so that it I felt a little more secure that I wasn’t going to break an egg doing this. Not sure if that helped or not, but it made me feel better.



Carefully lower the eggs into the boiling water.

Reduce to a simmer and simmer for 15 minutes.

Remove eggs from water and drain in a colander or seive.



Immediately plunge them into a bowl of ice water. Let sit in ice water for 16 minutes.

Peel eggs, rejoicing that this is so easy!

As an added bonus, when you use this method, you don’t get any strange gray-green color around your egg yolk…just nice yellow and white eggs.



Easy! Delicious!

For the source for how I learned to do this (with more detailed information) click here.

Spring Home Atmosphere

This is the second in a series of postings on how I think about the atmosphere of our home in a seasonal manner.  If you'd like to read the first posting, Winter Home Atmosphere, click here.



In my mind, each season has an atmosphere all its own, and that atmosphere spills over to: the kitchen, touches of beauty and comfort, and our activities. Here is how I am thinking about this spring:

Spring

Growth.  Bloom.  Color.  New.  Clean.

The Kitchen:

-fresh eggs

-quiche

-asparagus

-lemon desserts

-strawberries

-grilling

Touches of Beauty and Comfort:

-fresh flowers on the table

-open windows

-forsythia branches indoors

-lighten and brighten decorative touches

-fresh air

Activities:

-Easter!

-spring cleaning

-make soap

-creatively dye eggs

-lighten wardrobe

-clean out closets

-start seeds

-travel

-plant garden

Turning ONE!

It seems hard to believe that a year has passed since Theo was born one snowy day last spring. What a delight to watch him grow and become part of our family! For his birthday, we all went over to Walter’s parents’ home for a celebration.

But first, Colette made him a spectacular cake covered with spots!



Presents were purchased and colorfully wrapped!

All because we love this little guy to pieces!!!!



He ate his cake with great gusto, much to everyone’s delight!

Happy Birthday, little guy!

A Wedding Get-Away

Having long anticipated a trip to North Carolina for a friend's wedding, we decided to forge ahead with our plans. Heeding doctor’s advice for Technohubby to get out and walk a bit every 1-2 hours to prevent blood clots, it took us a bit longer than it might have otherwise. But we’re really glad we went!

We left New England with 15″ of snow on the ground, but by the time we got to Connecticut, we had left any snow coverage behind. Just the four of us and the Rubber Chicken about to cross that bridge in the distance, the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River just outside New York City.



It was just a day’s drive to friends’ home in northern Virginia, where we enjoyed their gracious hospitality as overnight guests. It was such a blessing to reunite with old and dear friends!  Great conversation! A game of Stratego between the boys. Comfortable beds. Good food! It was a short, but wonderful visit!

The wedding was in North Carolina.



Pretty stained glass windows in the church.

And they were pronounced husband and wife!



There had been thunder and lightning the night before in Virginia. But all were grateful for just a slight sprinkling of showers the day of the wedding. Remember that green brocade and silk I purchased in New York City in January? Well…there it is in its finished form.



The reception was held at this historic inn. So pretty!



There was great rejoicing! Dancing! A harpist! And delicious food!

The next day, after a breakfast open house at the bride and groom’s home, we bid farewell to our friends and went off exploring. We headed for North Carolina’s Outer Banks. There we discovered the Wilbur and Orville Wright National Monument, which consists of a small museum (building to the right), recreations of the Wright Brothers cabins where they lived while conducting their experiments in flight (two wooden buildings to the left)…



…and at the top of the hill from which they launched the first flight, this monument to their accomplishement.

It was a great trip!