We usually hang out in Chambersburg, PA for a day or so at least once a year. You see, our dear nephew is also our doctor and we do our best to get in for a check-up annually. (We see others in his practice, but we still consider Mike to be our personal physician!). And annual check-ups aside, spending time with these guys is always fun! Of course, they are a busy family – with school and homework and sports – but there was still plenty of time for games and conversations and giggles. Oh, and there was some pretty delicious food involved in these two days too!
We were even able join in some family devotions. That was a very sweet evening.
This year we had the added bonus of a visit from my sister, Joie,
and then I was able to visit with my college roommate, who had recently moved just a half hour from Chambersburg!
I love that we are still connected – and even if we don’t see each other very often, our friendship has stood the test of time! What a blessing!
So family and friends and more family – this was a very fine visit!
And yes – I did get in that check-up. In fact, Gary drove the rig to the office and we left to head to North Carolina right from the parking lot.
Tonight we are settled in at our October spot, but we leave on a road trip in the truck tomorrow. You can check out the details (if you’d like) over at the “Where are we now” page. If it gets quiet here for the next couple of weeks, I’m sure you’ll understand. At least part of that time will involve some very special grandboys!
We’ve wrapped up our time at the cabin (sniff), returned to the rig in NY, did a bit of unpacking, and then Monday we drove the house down to my nephew’s home where we’re mooch-camping for a couple of days before we continue on our way south for our October SOWER project in North Carolina.
But since there are still some Cabin-time things I want to share, here is a little backtracking of Cabin Highlights- Mornings
Every morning, on my first (daylight) trip to the outhouse, I stop at the same place (on a rock painted yellow for lawnmowing purposes) and take a picture of the view. Part of that is to document what time I’m getting up, but mostly it’s just to capture the first glimpse of what the day might hold. I do love this view!
Evenings
Yep – the same view, but with a sunset! I’m not quite as diligent as I am with mornings, but I almost always check to see how the colors are coming over the mountain. Nature’s Miracle
We love seeing lots of milkweed in the fields around the cabin, so I was delighted to find not one, but two monarch cocoons hanging on the outhouse. (I don’t know why they would choose the outhouse – but it was nice to have them so visible!)
While I didn’t see them actually emerge from their cocoon, we did enjoy the beautiful butterflies fluttering around the property for several days before we left! Gary’s List
Gary’s list is always long, and this year was no exception. He was often already out working by the time I was pouring my coffee, but I always thanked him for my peaceful mornings! Here is a little slide show of some of his projects –
But what I didn’t get a picture of was Gary in his corner on the back porch, where he would kick back in his comfy Adirondack chair, read a couple chapters of his current novel, nibble on his favorite pretzel rods, and maybe enjoy his (only at the cabin) pipe.
He was a busy guy – doing exactly what he wanted to do when he wanted to do it! It’s his cabin love language. And then there are these things
A double rainbow positioned perfectly over a beautiful Vermont barn.
What a beautiful reminder of God’s faithfulness! Wildlife in the cabin field
Can you see them?
They’d visit every couple of days – and we loved to have them come. This church
In a life where we are “professional church visitors”, this sweet church has embraced us as one of their own! We’re greeted with hugs, fed from the Word, and challenged each we attend. We love the Bradford E-Free Church (and the people there!).
And lastly – Morning fires
The weather got crazy hot our last week there so we had to pass on our morning fire, but until then I almost always woke up to the crackle of the fire and the scent of freshly brewed coffee.
The Best!
So that about wraps up our final Cabin time for 2023! It was filled with friends and family, chores and naps, and most of all beautiful memories! You know there are more pictures, so if you’d like to see them, you can check them out HERE!
Real-time update – we left our mooch-camping spot in Chambersburg this morning, and began our drive to Union Mills, NC.
We’ve made it as far as the North Carolina Welcome Center where we are snugged in for the night (with lots of trucks). Tomorrow will be a fairly short drive (under 150 miles) to our final destination – Center for Intercultural Training – our October SOWER project. But we don’t start work for a couple of weeks. First, we drive to Texas….but more on that later!
We used to joke about how items ended up at the cabin. The saying was ‘if it’s almost broken, but not quite all the way – maybe we could use it at the cabin.” I confess – over the years I’ve brought my share of items that I’ve replaced in my own world with new, but thought that the slightly (well?) used original item might be useful at the cabin. For whatever reason folks contribute things to the cabin, over the years we’ve collected quite a selection of kitchen items up here. Two crock pots, two blenders, two air fryers, three coffee pots, six pairs of tongs, three pasta scoops, etc. etc. etc.. Since we are a multi-family cabin and none of us know what other folks like to use, there is always a reluctance to get rid of anything! And so the collection continues! Since the porch shelves were becoming quite full of all the duplicate appliances, I decided (with the input from some other family members) to do a bit of weeding out. Of the two crockpots – only keep the newer one. A second small air fryer was just taking up space and the one we were using in the kitchen area worked just fine. It joined the old crockpot in the to-the-thrift-store box. Then there were the two blenders. They were both fairly new (and seldom used, I believe), but I was pretty sure we only needed one. But which one to keep? It seemed only right that we do a little product testing. And what better way to test blenders with than milkshakes. Chris joined us for our research – you know, in case we needed a tie breaker!
Final result – both made pretty fine chocolate milk shakes.
But we opted to keep the black one since it is a slightly bigger and the buttons pushed easier. Sometimes it’s the little things! .
In other news, since there was so much milk left over, we purchased more ice cream to continue our research on another day! This research is hard – but someone has to do it. Happy to take one for the team this time!
Now if we could just figure out if we really need a dozen frying pans – as seen in the header photo along with the cast iron ones that (though often used) are hung decoratively on the wall!
I know it’s a bit of a departure of my usual Sabbath Rest song, but since today is both the Sabbath and our fifty-second wedding anniversary, it seemed only right to share this song (again) and reprise a blog post (with some adaptations)from a couple of years ago –
Fifty-two years ago, on a warm Friday evening, these two youngsters committed their lives and their love to each other. My brother-in-law, Fitz, gave us a ‘charge – Gary & Stephanie, tonight is the beginning of a new way of life for both of you. Long awaited. No longer two separate individuals, but one family in Christ.
At 19 and 21 respectively, we thought we knew what marriage was all about. Ah, sweet innocent youth! Little did we know what we were in for! I’m not going to kid you – not every moment of the last 52 years was easy. Or fun. Some of it was downright hard. We raised three children, renovated a 100+ year old house and owned a small service business (part American dream and part American nightmare.) But through all the years, through the good and the bad, the joy and the hard, the beauty and the ashes, God kept us together. He never gave up on us, and we never gave up on each other. Grace. His amazing grace is what has held us together these many years. And our prayer continues to be that His Grace will hold us fast in the years ahead!
Happy 50th52nd to my beloved!
This might be our theme song –
And we went dancing in the minefields [And there were OH-SO-MANY!]
We went sailing in the storms [Some doozies to be sure!]
And it was harder than we dreamed [Amen!]
But I believe that’s what the promise is for {Praise God!]
Dancing in the Minefields (by Andrew Peterson)
Well, I was nineteen, you were twenty-one
The year we got engaged
And everyone said we were much too young
But we did it anyway
We got the rings for forty each
From a pawn shop down the road
We said our vows and took the leap
Now fifteen fifty-two years ago
And we went dancing in the minefields
We went sailing in the storms
And it was harder than we dreamed
But I believe that’s what the promise is for
Well “I do” are the two most famous last words
The beginning of the end
But to lose your life for another, I’ve heard
Is a good place to begin
‘Cause the only way to find your life
Is to lay your own life down
And I believe it’s an easy price
For the life that we have found
And we’re dancing in the minefields
We’re sailing in the storms
This is harder than we dreamed
But I believe that’s what the promise is for
That’s what the promise is for
So when I lose my way, find me
When I lose love’s chains, bind me
At the end of all my faith, till the end of all my days
When I forget my name, remind me
‘Cause we bear the light of the Son of Man
So there’s nothing left to fear
So I’ll walk with you in the shadowlands
Till the shadows disappear
‘Cause he promised not to leave us
And his promises are true
So in the face of all this chaos
Baby, I can dance with you
So let’s go dancing in the minefields
Let’s go sailing in the storms
Oh, let’s go dancing in the minefields
And kicking down the doors
Oh, let’s go dancing in the minefields
And sailing in the storms
Oh, this is harder than we dreamed
But I believe that’s what the promise is for
That’s what the promise is for
Music video by Andrew Peterson performing Dancing In The Minefields (Official Music Video).
My niece, Christiana, moved to Bradford, the closest little town to our cabin, about two years ago. She has a picture perfect apartment right in the village and a job at Dartmouth that suits her well. And we LOVE having her close by! Not only is she a delight to hang out with (and is almost always good for a couple rounds of Rummikub)
she is a fount of information on all things local! She knows where the free concerts are, the nights the local farm stand serves wood fired pizza, and has checked out local museums and hikes. This past Saturday was a classic point in case.
While our initial stop was at a sweet local market in Cookeville, we also got to enjoy the weekly open house at the Corinth Historical Society Museum across the street!
It seemed worth checking out!
Every week different families in the community (hamlet, really!) supply some type of refreshment for folks that come. This week they were serving hot-off-the-griddle cornmeal pancakes with blueberries and maple syrup. And while the lady of the house was cooking up the pancakes (which were delicious!), her husband was across the way stoking the fire for some sourdough bread.
Needless to say, when we saw one last spot on the list of bread recipients, we signed right up!
While we waited for the magic to happen with the bread, we took a leisurely tour of the museum.
I’ve been coming to this area for all of my life, and still I learned something new. Like, Corinth was a major producer of wooden bobbins for the textile industry!
So interesting! (If you’d like a bit more info about this you can check it out HERE – from whence came this screen shot!)
And mining! I always knew that granite was quarried near here, but I did not know that there were several copper mines in this area as well. These discoveries (to me, anyway) explain a lot about the random clusters of “thickly settled” areas that dot the countryside.
But I digress. Back to the BREAD.
Our wait was informative AND well worth it!
Indeed!
So here’s to Chris – who keeps us informed of All Things Local! And pretty much all things delicious, too!
Thank you so much!
And special thanks to the blog – In Times Past – which highlights the history of the Upper Valley towns of Vermont and New Hampshire.
PS – In the header map photo, the cabin is the little green dot on the upper left. Just a little FYI!
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