This guy Kelsey, is my mom’s terrier mix. He was rescued by my brother almost 4 years ago (out in this area). Yesterday Brian had a blast playing with him-they were doing a tug of war with a toy and Kelsey can jump several feet off the floor! Cute little fella.
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Today, Sean and I had a late start going out. He had some school work to do, so we rolled out of here about 3:30. I had asked him earlier if he would like to go to a cache I’ve wanted to get to for a while, but we ended up going down to the […]
This is a National Broadcast Radio story about Kennett Square, PA.
In the late 1800s, two Quaker farmers from Kennett Square, flower growers, went to Europe, where people were already farming mushrooms, and they brought back some spores. They started growing them. A few Quakers or their descendents are still in the business today.
There’s a penetrating smell in the air, not exactly a rotting smell, more like fermenting. Tractors are rushing around like bees in a hive, turning and mixing giant steaming piles. -The priest from our church once said ‘that’s the smell of money’.
Chris Alonzo says it used to be really helpful having so many mushroom growers so close together; it made them all more efficient. But we’re so big now, he says, we’re trucking in hay for compost from a hundred miles away. There’s not nearly enough housing that our workers can afford. Maybe, he says, this mushroom capital of the world has gotten too big.
Dan Charles, NPR News.
Today was the funeral of my high school pal John’s mom. If I ever met Mrs. D., it was probably an occasion like graduation, but I have a feeling we never spoke. Over the last 4 years or so, I’ve gotten to know John and his family and felt like I needed to go and let them know we appreciate them and the important part in their lives Mrs. D played. I’ve seen photos of her as a little girl to a 90 year old lady. I had a feeling special memories would be shared and they were, from a few grandchildren, a cousin and a classmate of John and me. It made me think back to my Grandmom Ruth’s memorial service in 2000 and how only a friend of my mom’s (besides her) could talk as her grandchildren were a mess.
It was like reading a true life story and listening to special nuggets of this family’s life. John’s cousin offered some Biblical touches which were nice. I agreed with him in that people shouldn’t blame God for misfortune as it’s definitely something evil like Satan doing the dirty work. People forget God is Love and all that is good in our lives. I appreciate that reminder.
So do take the time to tell your friends that you do care for them! Some of the best times I’ve had in the last few years is meeting my online pals in real life. I wish I could with each and every person who had been so nice to me over the years. : )
Since it was indeed international EarthcCache Day, I ‘really’ wanted to participate. I dropped the shoes sorting, etc but we first went to church. Unfortunately, there were only about 3 in this immediate area. Most of these are near mountains, which in Pennsylvania are up near the Allegheny or Pocono Mountains.
So we went to church and the priest said indeed he had given me a recommendation for my job. Yes! We headed to the one near the White Clay Creek, got very close and the bridge was torn up before the turn we were going to make! Rats! We wasted 30 minutes. This was one I hadn’t printed out a paper anyway. We headed to Delaware near Wilmington and the Brandywine River. We were on a time crunch as Brian had to be at work at 3 pm. We got there about 1:40 and were just blown away by the area! An old mill had been converted to condos!
The fall foliage is just starting to turn
We were standing on a foot bridge here.
Then we headed to the Wilmington Blue Rock cache. It’s amazing!
This is suppose to be a horseshoe shaped gorge. It’s so grown up, I didn’t realize it had that shape until I got home The rock is way in the back.
We had to answer questions about the Bancroft Mills (above) and the colors of the natural rocks in the gorge.
We had to rush a bit and got home with only 20 minutes for Bri to eat and change!
Today Sean, our adult son, (he is a grad student studying GIS-mapping) joined us for a little geocaching outing back to Southern Chester County. I got an email notice that a Halloween themed cache was out there and fairly new, so we decided to see it. (First we stopped at Saladworks for lunch). We got there and it was a very small cemetery and where the remnants of small church had been. Sean had his phone and I had mine….the GPS was a little jumpy but I saw both a big tree and a trio of bushes-hmmmm….so I peeked under the bushes and there was something all covered up-kind of weird as it was in a cemetery! Brian got under and pulled it out and uncovered it-yikes!
The ‘little guy’ sat up when the lid was opened! The most clever cache we have seen! Thanks!
Of course I needed to look for a few more caches. The area is getting swamped with housing developments, but this was a pretty area near the Little Elk Creek, that flows into Maryland.
So we encounter this bridge…again the GPS is jumping between both sides of the bridge. We get within a few feet and it goes up. So I look at the hint and it says ‘near the plaque’. Then it’s a piece of cake.
We all posed here-lol
I like that the ‘guy’ above me said ‘construction, found by accident’
We then ventured to an Old Meeting house from about 1862. The place was in bad shape, and we tried as we might, even inside, we didn’t spot the cache. I think it was missing. We took more photos and the two inside the meeting house came out a bit out of focus-from the phone camera and the Canon. Spooky!
All the windows are shuttered and the foundation must not be good as there are huge cracks and the windows aren’t straight.
See how blurry this one and the one of Sean and me are?
We then went toward the town of Oxford and I remembered there was one near a florist shop. We stopped and I found it quickly as I had seen photos of where it was, though I think it was changed.
We drove down past where I thought my pal from high school lived and we saw his house! There were a lot of cars in the drive, but I know they have a few. When we got home, Brian read where John’s mom had passed away today. : ( It’s like we were drawn to that area as something was going on. Deepest sympathies pal.
We went and I got the yummy pretzels from the Amish place, but the place in general was going to close in 15 minutes. We also went in the new Walmart and got a few things we needed (and Sean gets a discount). There was a Chinese buffet and we got take-out and brought it home.
So it was a nice day. I am a bit achy from changing out my summer clothes to winter clothes. I am still working on that. Plus I brought in plants. I am not sure if I am going to save the coleus, maybe I’ll take cuttings. I also got a flu shot a few days ago, and that may be a side effect. I went down to take my mom and she had a runny nose and got one anyway. She woke up yesterday feeling crummy and she has a full fledged cold. : (
I may do yard clean up tomorrow!
Got email about a Best Buy needing a person to demonstrate the Keurig coffee maker for 4 weekends before Christmas…thinking about it. But that’s 8 hours on my feet and my back is still bad. I have to go back to the chiropractor to find out about my x-rays and what treatment I may need.
It was the third Wednesday in a row I got up at 7 am-boo hoo right? It’s really hard for Ms Hoot here!
The first day was the magazine job and of course now it’s the preschool ‘assistant’ job. I am not the main teacher, but I seem to be the floater-go where they need me. I’ve been in with a lovely lady named Charlene who leads the 3 yr olds. I said my son was turning 26 and she said she had a 42 yr old son! Wow! I thought she was younger than me! She also has a granddaughter. She was concerned about getting a flu shot and I said it’s not a bad idea. I will probably get one along with my mom. The children are cuties, some boisterous boys of course. : ) You can tell their little minds are going faster than they can move their lips! Today one of the assistants came in and showed them sign language for a number of farm animals. They were all fascinated! They paid attention for almost 15 minutes. The rainy weather has held them in a lot this week, so I could tell by just seeing them the one day a week I do that they have pent up energy. I suggested rugs for them to sit on for story time and they have plastic dots of different colors to use instead. That worked a bit. I think I would have put the circles down first and then let them just sit down on one instead of pick one. That caused a little commotion. I’m surely learning about children all over again!
I did a little Halloween home decorating for a few days on Monday and Tuesday. I’m not finished, but I have an ‘owl theme’ going on here. I didn’t realize I had so many! I need to take more photos, but I tried some without a flash. I am still having hip/back issues and need to see what’s up with the x-rays.
Brian took me out for a Jake’s burger tonight and asked if I wanted to find a geocache or two. I never turn that down-lol. I looked at the phone app and there’s a cute farm series around this area and there was an orchard we hadn’t hit, so we went. First we bought apples and a ‘ghost’ pumpkin. I mentioned the geocache to the lady and she knew where it was and I said not to tell me. I wanted to mention this to her as it was closing time. The cache was in a tree from the 1860s under a bunch of ivy!
We found the dairy we visited a week or so ago and got some toasted coconut ice cream and butter-all on the honor system. It was after dark and the door was open. I am sure they have a camera on the place-I wrote down what I bought, put the money in the cash box and got my change. The ice cream is delicious too!
Hope to see my mom tomorrow!
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I’m counting my solo trip to Tweed’s Tavern in the trio. Brian had off on Friday, so we headed south to the Oxford, PA area. Brian use to work out of an office there, but we didn’t go near the town, but another town, Lincoln University which has a college and upper Oxford, more in […]
Today I decided to get my lumbar x-rays and then go over to Hockessin, DE to a cache with the Tweed’s Tavern in the title. Well I get there and my phone is acting wonky. I am just waiting to get an iPhone now that I’ve had the iPad for 9 months as they are better! I finally got the GPS loaded and went over to the tavern. I thought it was an easy find, like in the bushes….boy was I wrong!
I looked around the outside of the tavern a bit and read it’s only one of 50 log cabins left in the area and from the 1790s. I believe it was moved up so they could expand the road. I didn’t go inside, but could see a long table and Windsor style chairs inside.
Once covered by additions and stucco, hand-hewn logs now can be seen in the side and front of restored Tweed’s Tavern, which was spared from demolition and moved from its original spot along Limestone Road less than a mile north. The building — where the cellar had housed Delaware’s earliest-known brewery — temporarily was “parked” on a small lot owned by the Department of Transportation before plans were worked out to make the restored inn the centerpiece of a new state park that bears its name.
It’s quite a place.
So I walked down this one trail, no…the map was showing it was ‘behind’ the large fitness center. I walked back and forth on that trail like four times. I am sure the people on the treadmills were watching. Plenty people passed me on the trail. I then decided it had to be in a wooded area-it figures I wasn’t really dressed to look. I should have read the hint as it said ‘you aren’t getting tired’ or something like that. Lo and behold I saw an old tire with a cider block on it-went and looked and it was under half a cider block! Yay!
See the tire underneath? I didn’t have my traveling bag, so I just signed the log.
So I was pretty proud of myself as my geo buddy Bri was at work and I was solo. I headed to another cache and it was easier to find in a big tree stump. I had gone by it, went back and looked closer and there it was!
This had a bunch of charger cords in it for swag…I thought that was different. I didn’t take any as I have one in both cars.
I looked for another one, got with 175 feet of it and no way was I going in the woods where it pointed without a trail. I read where another cacher walked along the road. I didn’t want to do that by myself. I get a big pricker scratch-ouch! I went in the fitness center to wash it off.
I came home and made Sean his dinner. Ever try the Kraft creme sauce? I browned up chicken and red peppers and stirred that in-yummy! Had a side of asparagus and a rice trio.
Brian is off tomorrow and we may go caching down the pike near where my pal John and his family live. Bri also worked there at one time. I feel like I’m in a competition with this lady I met at the picnic. I have 139 and she’s at 130-lol. I could get about 5-10 tomorrow (or more) if I really tried. I have to see how my back is. It was hurting while I was making dinner. Guess I walked a mile or so today.
I went over to the church at 9 am today and was pleasantly surprised to see a big, open lobby with a ‘cafe’ area (wow) and then the area I was lead to-I never expected to see such a dedicated space for the children! There were rooms for infants to 4-5 year olds (all labeled). They had a number of ladies there and I ended up with the 3 yr olds-6 boys and 1 girl! This is their 4th week and the kiddos still need to learn to settle down and step away from the toys-plenty of those! I was more of a helper today. I’m not sure if she just needs me for an assistant or a teacher. I do think they need 3 adults for at least 10 each of the 2-3 years. We had a few crying boys when their moms left. The teacher today didn’t say that the one fella’s mom was right in the church. I told him and he seemed better and started to play. I have a background check and a child abuse form (standard) to fill out. I bought a money order for the one, but missed where they said they would pay for both of them. I guess they will reimburse me. It’s only 9-11:30 once a week. I figure I can still do eBay, etc. which I haven’t gotten into yet. So I know they won’t have the Bible study if the weather is bad or bring the kids in sick (crossing fingers). It’s nice to see a church with such a lovely area for children. Yay!
Collages & Creative Goodness 