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.

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