I traveled back and forth down Rt. 772 to Wilmington, DE four times this past weekend. It was a lot. But the scenery is great, there through Amish country....like a postcard. Tunnels of corn. Yep, the corn is as high as an elephant's eye as they say in Oklahoma. And I saw some really unusual sights, two of which were within 1/4 mile of each other. Truly eye-popping!
I don't know how it works with mules. They're sterile, right? Does this mean that they're asexual? I'm not sure, I'm not that up on muleology. But I found out that they definitely HAVE a sex life. Most definitely! I was just coming out of a corn tunnel when there in the pasture on the right was one mule mounted on another mule....OK...having sex. I've seen this before.....interesting, but not anything to write home about. But THEN, Mule #3 hopped on board, mounting Mule #2. Holy Mackeral!, it was a Mule Menage a Trois! This was quite a stack-up! I'm wondering how Mule #1 felt about all this....that's definitely a heavy load if you're the mule on the bottom. Truly, I am NOT making this up. I would never think of a thing like this....EVER! I do wonder now, thinking about it, I wonder if farmer Stolzfus is aware that sometimes there's Mule hanky panky....a mule threesome even!.... out there in his field.
I kid you not, I went around the curve, it couldn't have been more than 1/4 of a mile when I came upon the next great sight there on the left. It was a giant Amish CUPCAKE!! There was this little, small, tiny miniature horse straining to pull this cart up the driveway incline to the main road. This poor little guy (or gal) was having quite a struggle trying to get his footing in the gravel to make it up that little hill with his load. The cart was a small straight-sided yellow homemade wagon, probably built with 6 year-olds in mind. But in this cart were two very sturdy older teenaged Amish girls, round-faced, billowing over the top of the cart sides. My first thought was "muffin" but with their bottoms and pastel dresses swelling over the edges of the cart, I swear, it looked like icing, a confection, a cupcake. Except that I felt sorry for the little horse pulling his giant cupcake, I would've been really laughing...actually, I was laughing, but felt a little cruel about it. So I was quite relieved, when I looked back in my rear-view mirror, to see that he'd made it up the gravel drive and was actually pulling the cupcake down the flatter, paved, main road.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Ellen's Garden Party and Assorted Other Good Times
I like taking pictures and usually at any Wag event, I bring along the camera and catch people at their best.....or at least.....hahaha. Sometimes, though, I forget to bring the camera, or I get lazy, or I don't know, sometimes I feel like pointing my camera at someone and taking pictures is an intrusion. Also, I don't always want to be focused on recording a good time for the future, I just want to concentrate on having a good time right now. Does that make sense?
We've had a couple of events that I thought were wonderful that weren't recorded. Kathy's yoga night under the sky.....ah, so relaxing...and then good food and conversation al fresco. I love those lazy summer outdoor gatherings. The yoga was very cool, laying there, looking up, watching birds and planes go by. Taking time to notice the silhouette of the trees against the sky. Really, really nice, Kathy. We all needed that. Actually, as I recall, I think this event developed out of need. A need to have something to look forward to. I know my sagging spirits lifted when I saw Kathy's Yoga Night coming up out there on the horizon.
Another recent gathering....oh my!....at the Walker Estate needs to be shouted about. Holy mackeral, the GARDEN! Holy mackeral, the VIEW! from their deck! Holy mackeral, the great SAUSAGES! and other food. A night in June on the Walker deck overlooking the garden, with beautiful surroundings, great food, and even better company.....well, it's recorded in my memory as a superb and wonderful time. Thank you, Jono and Julia!
And that Ellen! Talk about gardens! Put the rest of us to shame, why don't cha?! Plant extravaganzas, oh my! Planter combinations, oh my! Whatever-it-was-we-had-to-drink, oh my! Cecille joining our group again, how good! and laughing, laughing, laughing, oh my! So sweet, Ellen.
Friday, July 18, 2008
A Disturbing Conversation.......and a Repeat of History?
I was recently with a group of women when one of them started talking about....MUSLIMS!...in an "Oh my God, the sky is falling" tone of voice. From the conversation and the way she said MUSLIMS!, it was obvious that she equated MUSLIMS! with terrorists. She related, oh the horror!, that a court in VA had upheld the right of a MUSLIM! school to teach "Jihad". Though she didn't say this exactly, the fear I sensed was that she believed that MUSLIM! schools were teaching young terrorists to take over the country.
I found her attitude really distressing and told the group, please, not all Muslims are terrorists. But what frightens me about the conversation, is that this is how prejudices take hold...in the small coffee klatches where the fear of differences can brew, where neighbors voice their contempt of a group of people they don't understand and where intolerance gels into something solid.
Most Muslims are not radicals; most Muslims are not terrorists. And though some radical extremists.....really bad guys....have perverted jihad to mean war on innocent others (in the name of God), generally, jihad is about the struggle or stiving to improve one's self and society. It's the responsibility to do the right thing.
When I was in Portland, I came across the Japanese-American Historical Plaza....Bill of Rights Memorial, which told the story of the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. I remember how astonished I was when I first learned about these prison camps as a young adult. I was furious with my mother for not telling me about this, though why this should ever come up in conversation I can't imagine. I was likewise furious with my American history classes too, for I'd never heard of it there either. But what a dark chapter of our history....where fear trumped reason.
Through the car window
A glimpse of pine
Oregon mountains
My heart beats faster
Returning home
Sure, I go to school
Same as you
I am an American
The Statement of Congress.....an official apology to Japanese American citizens placed in internment camps during WWII....enacted in 1988. I sincerely and truly hope we never have to make this kind of apology ever again.
I found her attitude really distressing and told the group, please, not all Muslims are terrorists. But what frightens me about the conversation, is that this is how prejudices take hold...in the small coffee klatches where the fear of differences can brew, where neighbors voice their contempt of a group of people they don't understand and where intolerance gels into something solid.
Most Muslims are not radicals; most Muslims are not terrorists. And though some radical extremists.....really bad guys....have perverted jihad to mean war on innocent others (in the name of God), generally, jihad is about the struggle or stiving to improve one's self and society. It's the responsibility to do the right thing.
When I was in Portland, I came across the Japanese-American Historical Plaza....Bill of Rights Memorial, which told the story of the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. I remember how astonished I was when I first learned about these prison camps as a young adult. I was furious with my mother for not telling me about this, though why this should ever come up in conversation I can't imagine. I was likewise furious with my American history classes too, for I'd never heard of it there either. But what a dark chapter of our history....where fear trumped reason.
Here are some photos of the Japanese American Monument......a monument that moved me to tears. The arrangement is like a Japanese rock garden and the boulders include poems from some of the people who were interned in those camps. Japanese Americans were taken from their homes, put into prison camps, stipped of their property, deprived of their means of making a living and removed of their dignity. And all the while Japanese American troops were fighting for American freedom. How ironic. Grandmothers and grandfathers, young mothers and children ...all were imprisoned. 
Mighty Willamette!
Beautiful friend.
I am learning
I am practicing
To say your name.
Mighty Willamette!
Beautiful friend.
I am learning
I am practicing
To say your name.
Through the car window
A glimpse of pine
Oregon mountains
My heart beats faster
Returning home
Sure, I go to school
Same as you
I am an American
The Statement of Congress.....an official apology to Japanese American citizens placed in internment camps during WWII....enacted in 1988. I sincerely and truly hope we never have to make this kind of apology ever again.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Vacation Oddities
The vacation had all the great high-lites you could hope for.....beautiful scenery....snow-covered mountains in the distance, river gorges, bays, waterfalls, gardens and the Pacific Ocean with haystock rocks. Lots of walking in the cities, over bridges, along rivers, through parks, a day of biking on the ridge and through the city.....good food and drink....great weather. It was wonderful.
But there were some really unique and unusual items along the way....Vacation Oddities.
Already told is the story of the World Naked Bike Ride. Don't ya think Lititz needs one of those. Who's in? Haha. I wish I had photos, I really do, but the whole thing took us by surprise in the middle of the night. I wasn't prepared for camera action.
In Portland I had read about the Voodoo Doughnut Shop....HAD to go there, HAD to see it. It took about an hour and a half of walking, turning the wrong way, retracing steps. I figured it'd be worth it though, and it was.
The woman sitting there asked me if I wanted to share the bench. She told me the story of taking the Maple, Bacon-Covered Bar Doughnut to a friend in Seattle and it bringing tears to the eyes of her friend. Thatsa GOOD doughnut!
The Voodoo sells all sorts of oddball doughnuts. Some are covered with frootloops. There are all sorts of coverings and jimmies......on and on. There's a cock-and-balls doughnut. It's huge! This is the signature doughnut....The Voodoo Blood-Filled Doughtnut. I got one to bring back to Steve and met him in the parking garage of the hotel where he'd checked out after finishing up with work. We gobbled that Voodoo Boy down, right there on the trunk of the car. I ate an arm and a big chunk of his body......and felt positively blood-thirsty! Notice the pretzel stab to the heart. Yiyiyi!
In a northern section of Seattle we sort of stumbled on the Summer Soltice Festival of Freemont. The floats and groups were so RANDOM.....it was great. Again, a few naked bike riders at the beginning....usually body painted and decorated. This group.....a graduation-robed steel band ( what an odd combo)...and.....other stuff. Dunces dancing around the edges. Weird!
One of the biggest groups included about 200 belly-dancers, bellying down the road, all dressed in bubble-gum pink. What a hoot....no pictures of that. Rats!
This was the end of the parade....drums, bongos, grass skirts, dancing. The really funny thing here.......niether Steve nor I saw the body-painted woman right there in the middle of this photo while we were there, only later while looking at the photos...how strange, how truly bizaare! but there she was.....probably an earlier World Naked Bike Rider. Well, you get the picture.
But there were some really unique and unusual items along the way....Vacation Oddities.
Already told is the story of the World Naked Bike Ride. Don't ya think Lititz needs one of those. Who's in? Haha. I wish I had photos, I really do, but the whole thing took us by surprise in the middle of the night. I wasn't prepared for camera action.
In Portland I had read about the Voodoo Doughnut Shop....HAD to go there, HAD to see it. It took about an hour and a half of walking, turning the wrong way, retracing steps. I figured it'd be worth it though, and it was.
The woman sitting there asked me if I wanted to share the bench. She told me the story of taking the Maple, Bacon-Covered Bar Doughnut to a friend in Seattle and it bringing tears to the eyes of her friend. Thatsa GOOD doughnut!
The Voodoo sells all sorts of oddball doughnuts. Some are covered with frootloops. There are all sorts of coverings and jimmies......on and on. There's a cock-and-balls doughnut. It's huge! This is the signature doughnut....The Voodoo Blood-Filled Doughtnut. I got one to bring back to Steve and met him in the parking garage of the hotel where he'd checked out after finishing up with work. We gobbled that Voodoo Boy down, right there on the trunk of the car. I ate an arm and a big chunk of his body......and felt positively blood-thirsty! Notice the pretzel stab to the heart. Yiyiyi!
In a northern section of Seattle we sort of stumbled on the Summer Soltice Festival of Freemont. The floats and groups were so RANDOM.....it was great. Again, a few naked bike riders at the beginning....usually body painted and decorated. This group.....a graduation-robed steel band ( what an odd combo)...and.....other stuff. Dunces dancing around the edges. Weird!
One of the biggest groups included about 200 belly-dancers, bellying down the road, all dressed in bubble-gum pink. What a hoot....no pictures of that. Rats!
This was the end of the parade....drums, bongos, grass skirts, dancing. The really funny thing here.......niether Steve nor I saw the body-painted woman right there in the middle of this photo while we were there, only later while looking at the photos...how strange, how truly bizaare! but there she was.....probably an earlier World Naked Bike Rider. Well, you get the picture.
Re-constituted Movie/Cosmo Night
Oh geez Louise, now EVERYTHING is underlined....what's with this? I can no longer move photos around either so they're not in order. Oh well, you've seen them all before anyway. Still and all, it'd be nice if there was an order. But WAIT A MINUTE!!! Why-o-why did the underline stop? Heavens!! Just enjoy the photos.....again. It was a fun night....
And now, moving on......
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Sing now.....What's Goin' On......What's goin' On....
OK, what IS goin' on?......
What's goin' on?......Marvin Gaye is singing in MY ear when I look through these photos.....
Ellen and Marcy love playing dress-up!!
OK, so THIS is the photo that needs a title.....awwww....aren't they cute?!!
Actually it kinda looks like DOUBLE TROUBLE!!
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