Eric's Graduation

In May my brother, Eric, graduation from Penn State University with his PhD in Rural Sociology and Demography! His wife, Alisha, received her PhD in the same field in August 2009. We are so proud of them. My parents and Mike flew out for the festivities.

Eric and Alisha

Mom, Dad, and the Grad

Sibling Support

Eric and the Nittany Lion

Eric planned for us to eat dinner with an Amish family. We even stayed in their cabin. The father of the family is Jonas Yoder. For an Amish guy he is very business savvy. I have dubbed him the Donald Trump of the Amish. He hosts dinners in his home about three times a week. He has groups from 5 up to 45. When the group is small he will ask you a lot of questions. We talked about a variety of subjects including current events. We asked how the economic recession is affecting them. He said that many people should have lost their homes to foreclosed but the bank has let them keep their homes because nobody else wants to buy a house without electricity. On Sunday morning we talked about religion. We sang a few hymns in English and German. As you leave he gives you his business card. He is very personable and quite a character.

There is always a smorgasbord of food. I don't know how his wife cooks for so many people. They serve something called "chow, chow" it is kind of like Five Bean Salad. Breakfast was equipped with rhubarb juice and their homemade sausage.
We stayed in their hunting cabin. We were surprised that it had a fine shower but the toilet was an outhouse. There were bear rugs on the walls and a propane lantern chandelier. It was a memorable experience.



My dad loved it.


Propane Chandelier

Two Bears

Pastoral PA

Take Me Home Urban Roads

Antonio has been traveling all over the country for the last three months. Three weeks ago his job took him to Falling Waters, West Virginia and since I was out of school I came along. West Virginia is truly Wild and Wonderful. I took my road bike and rode every day. The first day I just started riding without knowing beforehand where I should go. I rode 8 miles and was nervous about having to retrace my steps back to the hotel. Luckily I saw a Burger King sign in the distance and I knew that I was home free (because the Burger King was next to my hotel, not because I consider Burger King my home). During the next few days on my bike rides I rode along side three young deer. I also started a road kill count: two possums, a turtle, a squirrel, and a rabbit. I really enjoyed riding a total of 42 miles on those country roads.
One evening my beloved husband and I went to the Antietam Battlefield in Maryland. This was the site of the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. During the first weekend in December a candle within a bag is placed for every person who died. It is a humbling sight. On our way back to West Virginia we crossed the Potomac River and saw this enchanting Bavarian Inn. It was an old mansion that has now been turned into an inn and new buildings have been added designed after the typical European tudor style. We decided to stop in for some fine dinning and Antonio ate a delicious bacon wrapped pheasant. Our waitress was attired in a traditional Bavarian Dirndl (dress).

Antietam Battle Field


The Bavarian Inn

On our drive home we stopped in Shepherdstown, WV. We ate at the Press Room restaurant located on Main street. It was very good and we were impressed by the quality of restaurants located in this little town. Also, we learned that every Thursday night at O'Hurley's General Store there is a gathering of local musicians. We decided to attend since addmision is free. It was a hodgepodge of banjos, fiddles, mandolins, guitars, flutes, bagpipes, harps, and unidentified instruments. One old lady kept insisting on choosing the song selection because she was the oldest one there. She had quite the high pitch voice. She forced another older woman with a voice deeper than the dead to do a duet of "Summertime". I have never heard someone go so low nor so high. They play a mixture of folk and Celtic music. Overall we had a blast. It was so refreshing to see such a lively group. Antonio became enchanted with West Virginia. He wishes someday we can move there.


O'Hurley General Store