The most delicious raspberries ever known to man.  I put them in two years ago.  Got about a dozen last year about 2 quarts.  I also have tons of wild black raspberries all over the place, made lots of jam, pies, etc.  And just this year I discovered the Mother Lode of blackberries, these wild berries have been left to their own devices who knows HOW long and are huge.

Here’s my lima beans, and a shot of the expensive solar-powered electric fence that doesn’t keep anything out.  That equipment to the left is the solar panel that keeps it charged, and it sure shocks ME if I touch it. Not so much the groundhogs or deer.  I have gotten out the Havaheart trap for the groundhogs.  The deer will just have to wait until hunting season to die!

And here boys & girls, are the branches from actual trees that I cut while trimming the property last fall.  However we try to save EVERYTHING and now they’re the trellis for the King of the Garden limas.   Just my way of keepin’ it green!..and saving dough.

My tomatoes from the “Back forty”.  This is a piece of ground right by the creek, so I always risk flooding…nothing this year, though. The soil is a lot less clay-y, and the tomatoes are doing…OK.  About 50 plants, there are lots of the paste kind for sauce, 8 or 10 beefsteak just for lunches during the summer, and I’m trying a new variety, Brandywine Red.  The first tomato was one of those, and it tasted pretty darn good.

I started these pumpkins, squashes and melons pretty early but they didn’t do well once they outgrew their pots…anyway they also didn’t take well at all to being transplanted.  Next year I’m using those jiffy pots.  Hope to get SOMETHING, the large plant is a Big Max pumpkin (or Dill’s Atlantic Giant, I can’t remember which), the smaller one to the left is butternut squash.  I also have some melons…

Look closely boys and girls, that may be the only melon I get.  it’s a varitey called Minnesota Midget, developed for far nothern climes (which we seem to be in) and they are supposed to mature very rapidly.  Started these early, too.  Actually that particular melon isn’t even big enough for me to determine whether it was fertilized.

More pics next week!

The Last, and worst, day of my London vacation….

So we arrive at Heathrow terminal 4 after mistakenly travelling to terminal 1, 2, and 3. Our boarding pass didn’t say which terminal we should go to. Our flight was due to depart at 4:20, we arrived at 3:24.  The ticket agent immediately tore up our boarding passes and said we couldn’t board the flight since it was less than an hour before departure.  I said I hoped I didn’t fall asleep at the wheel on our final car ride home, and she replied, “Even if I could let you board your original flight I wouldn’t, now.  You should have known which terminal you were flying out of since it was on your ticket” (although she said, “tickeet”).  Not interested that we had very limited internet access and never really saw our “tickeet”.

We were then shuffled off to another ticket agent whose name tag read merely “Di”. She told us there was no other way for us to get home except to pay a $500 ticket change fee.  I told her I had already paid such a change fee once, back in April, when the kid’s passport didn’t arrive in time. I’ll admit it, I began to cry, that’s when Di stated she did not want to take such abuse and called over some supervisor type. She had the same annoyed and unhelpful attitude.

We were then shuffled off to another ticket agent.  I decided I would let my son handle this transaction since my emotional state was apparently annoying to the staff.  No dice, I was required to stand before this agent, to identfy myself and hand over my credit card.  She told us we would now be flying into JFK, not Newark. I asked about flying standby, to which she replied, “Don’t take your bad day out on me” and said there was no possibility of standby and the change would cost me $572.  By this time I was so upset I couldn’t really speak, and I didn’t catch her name.  I went to sit down on a baggage scale.

At this point she tells my son to please not swear.  He actually hadn’t….This slip actually made me aware, on further reflection, that these agents were actually trying to generate an emotional reaction that would justify their bad behavior.

Another staff member named Shawna saw me crying and, seeming quite concerned, asked if I was OK.  I explained my problem, she went over to the ticket counter, and never spoke to me again.  However she did strike up a conversation with a nearby sky cap, about 4 feet away from me, that both of them found extremely hilarious.

Yes, the airlines are hurting.  They will only have a $2.5 billion profit this year (that’s all of them, not just Virgin, but still…)  What a way to ruin what was a great vacation.

Sorry this took so long but my computer suddenly decided not to download pictures.  So I’m using the one in the Mountain cabin.

Here’s CJ and one million other tourists in front of the British Museum.  It was awesome but we didn’t get there until, like, 2pm and they close at 5:30, which is not nearly enough time.  He’s the one standing in between the pillars, in front of the steps, with that stupid Old Man hat on. 

The British Museum really is a must-see, if only for that alone.  But I still wish we had taken the tube to St. John’s Wood to see the crosswalk.

These people have pitched TENTS and live in them opposite Parliament to protest taxation.  And you thought the Tea Partiers were crazy!

We decided to go to Greenwich on the last day so we could stand on the Prime Meridian.  0′, 0″, you know.  Kinda cool.  Took a “Thames clipper” which is part of the public transit system, and even faster than the tube.  Took the tube back, and didn’t make it to Heathrow until 55 minutes before our flight left.  THAT story next….

This is the London Eye, when you’re NOT on it….notice the missing pod?  I got kind of freaked out when I saw…I figured it was one that FELL OFF!!  But my son explained, it’s pod #13!!!  So there IS none!!!  Ha, superstitious Brits.  Notice the puffy, white clouds in the sky.  This was an amazingly nice, sunny, although a bit chilly, day. 

Here’s a poster from the Imperial War museum’s Ministry of Food exhibit.  Mostly the exhibit is full of posters like this that urge people to grow their own food since because of WWII, they weren’t getting any imports.  They were terribly concerned about people getting enough vitamins.   My favorite is the savoy guy, I don’t even know what savoy is.  There’s also a “Blitz experience” exhibit where you sit in a bunker and they shake the floor around to simulate what it was like to get the crap bombed out of your city during the war.  My son is the one who made us go to the Imperial War Museum, having the “Y” chromosome and needing to see lots of rockets, bombs, and guns. 

British museum next….try not to go on a Sunday, since you will share history with every single human being ever born.  Here I am regarding the Rosetta Stone.  Again, the kid made me to it…I am not a real museum type, plus, every Saturday when I was growing up my mom took us to the University Museum in Philadelphia, and I’ve seen Egyptian and Roman stuff til it’s coming out every orifice.

By the way I wore that jacket every day, never expected to have to, it was 86 degrees when we left for London and 50 when we got there, and never got above 60 the whole time!

Train from Cardiff to London.  Highly civilized, the bar car also serves latte.  Jumped right on the “hop on, hop off” bus, for a tour of the city.  Saw every damn sight there was, in, like, 40 minutes…too many to take in…got off to see Buckingham palace, which you really can’t get close to these days.  Best part…and the old fashioned guards right next to the modern day, both carrying effective-looking semi-automatic weapons!

Tower of London next morning, there is a real Beefeater guy (tower guard) who gives you a tour and explains all the torture and beheading you could ever ask for.  The guards pack the real heat here, too.

Next was dinner at a pub, then a ride on the “London Eye” which until recently was the largest ferris wheel in the world.  You ride in an enclosed pod with a bunch of other tourists.  The views are great.

Me and the 20-year old.  Arrived at our first destination, a charming medieval village called Lacock (pronouced Lay-cock), with an abbey originally built in the 1300’s.  About an hour from Stonehenge, which, as one poster said, is a bunch of rocks in a field.  Sorry…I didn’t get a vibe at all.  Maybe it was the fact that there were, like, a million tourists and highway on both sides.  Maybe it disrupts the electro magnetism.

2 nights there, then Cardiff.  Yes, we went because they film Dr. Who there.  Wanna make something of it?  Yes we toured the tiny little Dr. Who Exhibit which costs 6.50 pounds (like, 9 bucks) each.  Yes, we spent an obscene amount of money at the gift shop. But Cardiff was a great city, reminded me of Scranton since it’s no-frills, except for Cardiff Bay, and very working class.  Wish we had more time there!

First person to identify who (or what) I’m shaking hands with gets a free Cathy Donnelly CD!!

London’s next!

Been to Disney World, Disneyland or Disney anything.
Worn makeup (except in a play)
Seen the Exorcist
Been to Las Vegas
Jumped out of an airplane (why would you?)
Had Cable TV
Been arrested (but I’ve been pulled over, like, a million times)
Broken a bone
Seen a movie (in a theater) alone
Performed the Heimlich maneuver on anyone
Knitted or crocheted
Shot or even SEEN heroin
Lived outside the US
Eaten an oyster
Been a bridesmaid or even been in a wedding (except to play & sing)
Bungee jumped (again,why?)
Gotten a tattoo
Cleaned an oven

No, this isn’t a Bucket List.  I pretty much DON’T want to do any of these things, except maybe the Heimlich, definitely the tat,  and living abroad.

Things I HAVE done that I think are pretty cool:

Been to Singapore
Written songs
Gardened for 25 years
Learned to speak French
Birthed three people (and nursed ‘em all)
Taught college
Bought my own house
Learned to stay in the moment

Contra Dancing is way, way cooler than Square Dancing, and way older as well.  Sometimes called New England Folk Dancing, you can show up to a dance with NO experience and NO partner and have a rollicking good time.  There are certain steps they’ll teach you, but they’re easy, and the tradition is to CHANGE partners each dance.  There’s live music, and people usually bring munchies for the breaks.  There’s usually no alcohol (something I appreciate, not being a drinker).  It runs about 2 1/2 – 3 hours, but you can certainly sit out a dance if need be, or leave early, or come late.

Generally, a leader, known as a caller, will teach each individual dance just before the music for that dance begins. During this introductory “walk-through” period, participants learn the dance by walking through the steps and formations, doing what the caller says.

At most dances, nobody dresses up, or down, but you’ll see  “peasant skirts” or other full, lightweight skirts, even on men sometimes.  Low, broken-in, soft-soled, non-marking shoes, such as dance shoes, sneakers, or sandals, are recommended and, in some places, required. However, dancing barefoot is also common.

There’s a real sense of camaraderie without condescension here.  At least, the dances I’ve been to in NePa.  Everybody is extremely tolerant of newcomers; they know you don’t know the steps and will call out encouragment and helpful tips (like the one about looking right into your partner’s eyes when you spin, otherwise you’ll get dizzy).  They also know you’re going to LOVE the whole thing and will soon become part of the group.

And I’m happy to report there’s no correlation between the Iran-Contras and the Kingston Contra Dancers!!

The ones in Kingston are the first Saturday of the month (mostly), sponsored by the Chicory House. The next one is February 6, at 7.30 pm, at the Church of Christ Uniting in Kingston, Sprague Ave, Kingston PA (that’s where they usually are). Admission to the dance is $9 for adults and $24 for families.  Well worth it!

What say we show up next Saturday with a whole bunch of newcomers!  See you there!!

Information on the dance: folkloresociety.org

Here’s a video from a place I’ve actually danced at! The quality’s awful but it’ll show you what Contra dancing’s all about   Contra dancing in Glenside, Pa

Yes I hang my wash out all year ’round.  It gives the clothes a smell and feel no chemical could ever impart.  And what cracks me up, is, when I started doing this 25 years ago, I was frowned upon by my neighbors.  We weren’t that kind of neighborhood (although in fact we were).  When we did move to Yuppiville, NJ, it was even worse.  The neighbors couldn’t stand us, and not just for the wash, which was actually mostly hidden behind the detached garage.  NOW it’s all about green, and they try to convince us on TV not to put our clothes in the dryer.  Hah!  25 years head of you.  Think of all the precious electricity I’ve saved.

And here’s the biggest myth about hanging the wash in the winter….yes, the clothes do freeze when you first put them up (or, in reality, the water in them freezes, making them like a board).  But then, wonder of wonders, the water does evaporate.  Or actually sublimates, since that is the process of a substance going directly from a solid state to a gaseous state.  But our fabulous sun can do that!  And voila, the clothes dry.  It takes a little longer (like three or four times as long as in summer), and if it rains or snows, they have to stay up there.  But they do eventually dry.