SHIPPENSBURG
VISIT
May, 2011
RED OAK
B&B
When Bob and
Camille visit family in Shippensburg, they stay in the beautiful home of John
and Darla. Built by Darla’s grandfather and father, this stone house was
moved by truck from its original site a few blocks away.
A NICE
PLACE TO RELAX
John and Darla put
a great deal of work into their gardens and have made them into a playground for
their grandchildren with viewing seats for the old folks.
WELL, HAIL
The evening of our
arrival turned into a blustery affair with tornado sightings and moth ball sized
hail.
SAFE AND
SOUND
Darla made it home
from work safe and sound and showed us her pet menagerie.
INTERACTIVE
PETS
Darla’s chipmunk,
sheep and pig all make sounds and several of them move their head and limbs
around, too!
BIKING
WITH JOHN
John took us for a
couple of bike rides. Camille is removing his sunglasses from his saddle
bags prior to his trial run at riding down the train tracks. The ride
actually went well for about ten yards before the rear tire slipped from the
track.
BOB AND
FIBI
The next day, Bob
and Deb and their family drove into Shippensburg for a family gathering.
We were admiring Fibi’s tongue but didn’t manage to catch the perfect shot of
the way it stuck out in profile.
GRANDKIDS
Brandon and
Joanna’s brood share a meal at a community room Mom reserved for our family
potluck. Clockwise from left front: Micah, Jacob, Bethany and Ben
Brandon engages
his children in quality family bonding through the cunning use of a bag of gummy
worms.
CHIT CHAT
We all enjoyed the
opportunity to get caught up with each other. Seeing Joanna relax was
definitely worth the price of admission, which in our case was a pan of faux
turkey tettrazzini.
What a pleasant
surprise to walk into the room and see that cousin Brian had brought Mom’s
sister, our Aunt Jeanette up from Maryland! Johnny took advantage of the
situation as did we all.
SISTERS
Jeanette and
Janice are seven years apart and survived the Great Depression. Mom,
a.k.a. Janice was only five years old when the depression came knocking at their
door. Grandpa Roderick lost his job, the family had to sell their home and
cars and Grandma Doris went to work baking for the neighborhood. Those
were lean times and Mom tells of walking to school in upstate New York with only
a summer coat, cold and hungry with only bread and honey to eat. This is
the point in the narrative where we all pause a moment and give thanks for our
good fortune.
FIRST FILL
Jim feigns
discontent about having to fill his new Chevy Volt’s gas tank for the first time
but really he is quite pleased that he was able to run the car on the same tank
of fuel since the end of March. Show off!
SUNDAY
MORNING BREAKFAST
We joined Mom, Jim
and Kathryn for breakfast Sunday morning at Select, one of Mom’s favorite
restaurants.
STORIES
When Mom tells a
story she tickles her own funny bone. We were glad she wasn’t trying
to drink her orange juice at the same time!
ANOTHER
BIKE RIDE WITH JOHN
John and Camille
went for a Sunday afternoon bike ride along the old rail trail and spotted this
pair of grazing horses. The photographer in John was happy to humor Camille as
she clicked away, hoping for the perfect shot. The countryside is littered
with beautiful ponies like these two.
TREASURE
HUNTING
We biked to a
midden heap and searched for bottles. John found two nice ones, suitable
as bud vases and gave them to us.
RED
DRESSES
Catching Camille
and Mom dressed in red is not much of a challenge. Camille is Janice’s
first born and only daughter. After that came five brothers who rarely
wear red. Camille will be fifty-seven this year and Mom will be
seventy-nine.
Here we are in red
again on Maui ten years ago outside our friends B&B.
[ Home ] [ Trouts Farm Gardens – May 2011 ] [ Annual Trip North – May & June, 2011 ] [ Wild Kingdom – May 2011 ] [ Shippensburg Visit – May 2011 ] [ Dickinson College Farm Tour ]