Gee, There Sure are a Lot of Burgs

Yesterday Anja I went for a quick trip to visit Papa Rick in Dillsburg (near Harrisburg) who was staying with friends. We got to go trampolining and kitty holdin', see a cool train set, feed some fish in a pond, and play a kid guitar.



















On our way home we hit a really bad thunderstorm. Unfortunately, the heavy rain started once we hit the interstate, but after a stressful while of slowly going up, down, and around the mountains, it finally let up. Eventually, I noticed the windshield wipers started making noise telling me they were dry. So I turned them off and thought the most of it was over. We could still see lots of lightning in the distance--what a beautiful pink! But, it was quiet and relaxing as we drove for a while, watching the storm seemingly fade into the distance. In a blink, what seemed like an entire lake at once fell upon the car. I couldn't see at all! I let up on the gas and turned on the wipers, which didn't help immediately. It took a couple seconds to know for sure things were fine, that we weren't going into a ravine or something, but that's a very long time when you're cruising at 60 mph. To break the tension the rest of the way home, we named as many 'burgs as we could: Harrisburg, Phillipsburg, Boalsburg, Pittsburgh, Anjaburg, Truckburg, Streetburg, Mamaburg, Kittenburg, Bugburg...





Meet our garden plot. There are probably about 50 out there. Our garden neighbor is at the left of this shot. Don't tell her I forgot her name, again. Today we dug more troughs where a heavy rain can pool. (Should've done that more before yesterday, d'oh.) People get such a kick out of helping new gardeners, coordinating trades of seeds or future veggies, telling each other of plants they brought from their home countries... it really is a lot of fun. We might get a frost Tuesday, so I'll hold off on transplanting for a couple more days.

Gorgeous Weather

I'm not rubbing in how great the weather has been because if you still have cold weather, you're probably suffering a little. But it's been absolutely beautiful and no one here is taking it for granted. It will be crummy again soon. So we've been revelling as much as possible.

Anja got a Highlights magazine subscription for Christmas from Great Grandma Betty and she read it outside for 10 minutes all by herself.

Lovely Ladies

The neighbor ladies are having tea and crumpets talking about the American tax system. Er, or maybe it's juice, animal crackers and suggesting how to not fall over in their chairs in the lumpy grass. Clockwise we have Anja, Clover, Julia, Mimi, Seo-Jung, and Xara.

A couple weeks ago Seo-Jung (Danielle) kept forgetting and asking my name. We noted it was difficult to learn a name in another language. I said, "Well, you sometimes use an American name, maybe I should have a Korean name." She thought for a minute and decided I should be called "Mindalay." I not only liked how it sounded but I could actually say it. I asked Hwan-Mee, her mom, what it means. Dandelion. I told her it was perfect because I love the color yellow. She hugged me and ran off.

New joke from Darren, age 6:

2 + 2 = chocolate pudding.

Last Thursday

Last Thursday we went to Milbrook Marsh and made sure to wear our Wellies/galoshes/gum boots. Everyone got muddy, but that was part of the plan--what fun to jump in a little river! Despite her pout in this shot, Clover loved it. It would have been wonderful to canoe here--little rapids, windy path the creek takes, birds and trees, etc. Probably not relaxing with a 3 year old, however. Maybe next year.

Just the beginning of a lifetime of tree climbin'.






Lots of buds on trees. Should see lots of flora and fauna soon.

Came out to see the rainbow

It's not a dental appointment, it's a scary face.

Shaver's Creek: Reprise

Shaver's Creek had their annual Maple Sugar Festival. Usually anything that has "sugar" or "festival" in the title is something I have to check out. But a festival of sugar? Yes! They showed how maple syrup is made, had maple syrup for sale as well as maple sugar cotton candy. It was all very Vermont-y.

Everybody came for the pancakes. Here we see the giant griddle just like in the Curious George book. We suggested they get a monkey to help, just like in the book.
















Toe-tappin' bluegrass music. The violinist is out of view. They were pretty good, but it was too nice outside to sit long.









At a newly thawed pond there were some kids poking sticks in the muck. Anja wanted to too, but naturally I told her, "No, Sweetie. If you get too close and fall in, you will be sad because your body will be sooooooo cold. It's only 35 degrees outside." She fussed a little, but as if our lives were scripted, on cue, a boy fell in and got all wet. Lucky for him we were not too far from the main building and could get warm. A nice sense of self-righteousness gave me a little smile, "See Mu? Sometimes I'm right."

We visited our favorite owls. The mama Barn owl was sitting on her eggs but her spot was too tough to photograph. Maybe next time we'll get to see some babies!

Fancy Face

Anja insisted I take a new picture and that she "would smile nice to put it on the blog." So, here she is, lovely as ever. It hurts a little to look directly at it.

Earlier we were listening to The Sound of Music and during '16 Going on 17' we came to the part (admittedly a line I don't like) where Liesl sings, "I need someone older and wiser telling me what to do..." Without prompting, Anja asked innocently, "Why does she like bossy people?" That's a good little feminist.