Day 25 - Adios, au revoir, auf wiedersehen . . . good night!

How did it get to be the end of my trip? This time tomorrow, I will be back in Tennessee . . . provided somebody picks me up from the airport . . .

I sang (and attempted to play the 12-string) "Farther Along" in church this morning, and the fine folks of Spartansburg UMC were very kind, as always. This afternoon/evening, my Aunt Sue and her husband Lee came over to visit from Meadville, and we had a lovely dinner and a nice visit.

We have to hit the road at 9:30 a.m., so I should probably be packing right now. But first I'll tie up a few loose ends.

When I was at Papa and Gorgeous's in Vancouver, I was astounded to discover that Papa had assembled himself a wine rack made out of PVC pipe. This was of particular interest to me, since my Dad (the vintner and brewmaster), had done the same thing a few years back.



And remember when we went to the Amish store here in Pennsylvania mere days ago? Well, we didn't take any pictures while we were there. But when I was poking around on my parents' computer, I discovered these two photos of the exterior at Schrock's. In addition to dry goods, Amish schoolbooks (in German), and just about every kind of gummy candy you can imagine (and some you wouldn't want to), they also have turkeys . . .



. . . and peacocks.



They also have really cute puppies for sale, but alas, I have no photos of them to share.

I started on this trip three-and-a-half weeks ago--in part, to get some insight into the question, "What's next?" So it seems like it would be apt to share some of that insight here . . . even though I really *should* be packing. For some reason, I am reluctant to talk too much about the conclusions I have come and am coming to--maybe because I'm afraid they will sound flighty or stupid to other people. But I'm coming out of these 25 days with an inkling of a plan, and since you've been such faithful readers, I guess I can let you in on what there is of it.

You probably don't know who Laurie Berkner is (unless you are reading this from Abbot House #3), but briefly, she is a professional kids' musician. Meaning she writes and performs music for children. A lot of her stuff is played on the Sirius "Kidstuff" channel (#116), as well as on TV. I have previously mentioned the fact that while I was out in Sunriver, I was exposed to a whole bunch of kids' music, of wildly varying quality. Laurie Berkner is good at what she does--and I feel confident that I could be good at it, too. I briefly mentioned this idea here while I was in Oregon--and now that I have had a couple more weeks to marinate in the idea, I have decided to pursue it. It may seem to come out of the blue to some of you--but to me, in a lot of ways, it seems like something I've been preparing to do all my life.

Anyway, once I get home I'm going to start talking to some Nashvillians about what that might mean as far as concrete "next steps." And I'll be looking for a part-time stream of income (possibly at Starbucks), as well as doing some knitting on the side, looking into selling tea and coffee cozies at some of Nashville's local coffee and tea shops, and probably some babysitting.

Okay, seriously . . . must pack. Thanks for reading and going along with me through this journey over the last few weeks. I hope you'll stick around for the new journey about to begin!

Day 24 - Primal Fascinations

Okay, so here's the scoopage on yesterday's festivities. It occurred to me while we were watching the fantastic display that there must be something in our hard-wiring as human beings that fascinates us about sparkling, flashing lights. I mean, on a purely rational level, there isn't any reason for fireworks at all--except we are drawn to the spectacle. And the Canadohta Lake fireworks were, indeed, spectacular.

But first came the picnic! Here is the view from John and Grace's of the aforementioned lake. (It seemed a lot lighter out when I was snapping these pictures.)


Lots of our family was there, including my bro and sister-in-law, all the way from northern Virginia. What's in the blue bag held by Dave, you might ask? Well, I could give you a hundred guesses and you would most likely still not come up with the answer: little rubber duckies, which were distributed to any and all willing recipients.


My dad and Uncle Conrad. Dad is wearing his "Beeriodic Table" sweatshirt, but unfortunately I didn't get a recognizable photo of it.


Our crew from Mayville, New York. For those of you keeping track, all these folks were also at the Hot Fish Shop a week earlier.


Pictured in the yellow shirt is John, our cousin and the founder of the feast. (I didn't get any pictures of his wife, Grace, but she is equally responsible for the festivities!)


Sad to say that we all left hungry, as there was nary a thing to eat.


This is what happened when my mom was testing to see if she had successfully disengaged the flash in anticipation for photographing the upcoming fireworks display. (Hint: She hadn't.)


And now, the fireworks! I don't think that pictures can really do them adequate justice, so I'll offer a bit of explanation. These were launched from right down the hill (you can see the truck in the picture of the lake). So they were pretty much *right* over our heads. Very bright, and very loud.









This is my favorite one. I pointed the camera a bit lower in order to see some of the area from which they were launching the shells. You can see the silhouette of a tree in the white flash.



After the fireworks, things got *really* primal when John lit the big bonfire. The second photo is included in an attempt to give a sense of scale.



Tomorrow is my last full day here in Pennsylvania. Sad, but there's lots of stuff to do that awaits back in Tennessee. Maybe I'll finally get outside for a run tomorrow . . . but don't hold your breath that I do.

Day 23 - "If everyone made Spanish Coffees at night, there would be no wars."

Okay, so I didn't get around to posting an entry yesterday--or to be more accurate, the day before yesterday, since it is now Saturday here in the Eastern time zone.

We headed over to Tidioute on Thursday afternoon to visit my Aunt Nanci and Uncle Bill. The best thing about the ride over was that I didn't get carsick! We had a very nice visit and a lovely dinner. After we got home, four out of the five of us enjoyed some Spanish Coffee. Because of the open flame and sparks, it is smartest (and safest) to make each one at a time, even if several are being made. We attempted to photograph the flames and the sparks a couple of times, but were unfortunately unsuccessful.

Unbeknownst to us, Kristen and Nick were in Sunriver doing the same thing! They were also unsuccessful in photographing the more dramatic aspects of the beverage construction, but did provide us with the record of the finished product. (K is also responsible for the wise quotation providing tonight's title.)



Liz and Dave are heading back to Virginia tomorrow, which meant that today, we needed to stop by Shrock's, a local Amish-run general store that has many interesting items. We have often purchased herbs and spices there in bulk much less expensively than they would be in the stores, as well as things like different dried fruit and a wide variety of snack items. You might not realize it, but those Amish love their sweets. Anyway, we bought a number of notable things, none of which I will divulge here because some are returning to Nashville as gifts.

Tonight was the picnic and fireworks we have been building up to all week, and they did not disappoint. We took a bunch of pictures to share them, but since they have to upload over dial-up (happening at this very moment), I'm not going to be able to post them until tomorrow. I promise they'll be worth the wait!

Day 21 - Cue "The Stars and Stripes Forever"

If these photos don't make you feel patriotic, the terrorists have won. (I keed, I keed.)




Our big Independence Day celebration will not be happening until Friday, but we did have a mini party by making Spanish Coffee, the fireworks of hot bean beverages! Delish. Other celebratory activities included watching bits and pieces of "Monk" and "MythBusters" whilst knitting. A fine day indeed!

Well, Liz and Dave are here now, so that's it for today. Happy Fourth!

Day 20 - "No comment"

Whoops. It came to my attention today that, in spite of my encouragement for my loyal readers to post comments, I had actually left the settings in such a way as to make it difficult for aforementioned comments to be posted. So again I say: WHOOPS! I think the problem has now been remedied.

There was at least one potential photo op today, but unfortunately, we ran into some technical difficulties. I guess I'll refrain from commenting on it, in the hopes that it will be recreated later in the week.

I finished another Coffee Cozy, version 1.3. This one is navy blue and lime-ish green, with two buttons on the handle flaps, to keep them closed and thus keep the warm goodness in. Do the Swedes give out a Nobel Prize for knitting?

Dave and Liz are arriving from Virginia tomorrow! I am confident that their presence will provide impetus for photographic record that has been waning these past few days.

I think today is the twins' birthday--so, happy b'day to D&D, wherever you are!

Day 19 - Hooked on Phonics worked for me

Mom took FGTatWSC back to the library today, which was fine since I finished it over the weekend. I am now reading short fiction out of A Treasury of Great Mysteries, copyright 1957.

After I finished the dark brown Coffee Cozy (TM) for Kristen and Nick in Sunriver, I made the leftover yarn into a hotpad, with the intention of felting it. Unfortunately, we ran out of time to do the felting before we had to leave for Portland, so I left it there for Kristen to do herself--which she has done splendidly! And here are the photographs to prove it. (It took me a minute to figure out that they were taken on top of the patio table out on the deck.)




I just realized that I'm down to my last week of vacation! Guess I still have a little more time to be "productive," i.e. read What Color is Your Parachute? and stuff . . . but I'm not sweating it too much. I do have a couple of new songs I am working on that I'd like to finish before I get back, but if that doesn't happen, it won't be the end of the world, either.

But if you do have any reading suggestions, I'm certainly open to them! Thanks for your e-mails letting me know you're reading. Oh, which reminds me--I'm without cell service here in Sparty, but I am trying to check my e-mail a couple times a day, in case you happen to be trying to reach me. Or, you can just wait a week and stop by my new digs in Nashville!

Day 18 - "Heavens to Murgatroid!"

Today's title is not particularly apropos of anything, other than the fact that it was uttered by a television commentator on the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament this afternoon, after which I vowed to incorporate it into my personal lexicon. (I did have to look up how to spell it and, sadly, the Interweb seems to lack consensus on the matter. I like this spelling best.)

My eyes are much better today, thankfully. I have *mostly* succeeded in not rubbing them when they itched intermittently throughout the day.

Sunday has been a bit of a smorgasbord, filled with bits of this and that. I did make it to church at Spartansburg UMC, which was a treat as always. After a lunch of leftover sausage and peppers (mmmmmmmmm) I took a little walk just up the road to Woodlawn Cemetery.

At this point in my life, I haven't yet known many people who've shuffled off this mortal coil--but of the ones I've known and loved, the great majority of them are memorialized at Woodlawn. I guess it is considered by some to be kind of our "family cemetery," although this is not strictly true. However, it would be accurate to say that I do share DNA with a fair number of Woodlawn residents.

My grandmother, who was born and grew up in the house I am currently in, was the youngest of six siblings who survived infancy. I realized today that all but one, my great-uncle Eugene, are buried at Woodlawn. Uncle Gene and his wife, Aunt Martha, are in Redmond, Oregon--where they lived much of their lives. We passed through Redmond going from Portland to Sunriver and back again earlier this trip--yet at no time did it even occur to me that I could have stopped off to visit them. After seeing the other five all together this afternoon, I felt sort of negligent about that. Oh, well--perhaps on my next visit.

Other lessons learned today:

1) The wool yarn from Aunt Nanci shrinks to about 75% of the original size when a single strand is knit up and felted.

2) Bacardi 151 will light on fire, but regular Bacardi (80 proof) will not. Which makes for a far less satisfactory Spanish Coffee experience.

3) Buttons can be made out of many materials in a wide variety of colors, sizes and shapes. They are nifty.

4) Garfield the cat (not the one from the funny papers) is very skinny and very sweet, and surprisingly gentle for an outdoor cat.

That's it for this tired Eastern Daylight Time blogger. Happy July!