7th Day of Christmas - A.K.A. New Year's Eve

Have a beautiful New Year's Eve ~ Be safe and happy!

6th Day of Christmas

On the sixth day of Christmas, Mama gave to us . . . a trip to Hanover, PA!  We met up with my dad and headed north to the hometown of our favorite Utz Potato Chips.  We ate a nice lunch at Dutch Country Restaurant, shopped a bit at Big Lots, and then headed a tad south of town for a quick visit to the Hanover Shoe Farms.  Anyone can visit the barns as they are open to the public during all daylight hours.  One of the handlers told us to come back in two weeks when the mamas we saw would start having their foals.  Since they have over three hundred mares, they start early!

On the way home, we were treated to some beautiful skies ~

glowing Harpers Ferry

4th & 5th Days of Christmas

On the fourth day of Christmas, poor SG got a trip to the dentist.  Apparently, the kid is "high risk" due to her infant issues with GERD.  According to Dr. Newman, the acid caused deep grooves in her molars, which are now filling very easily with little cavities.  So, yesterday she got another filling.  In any case, we highly recommend Dr. Newman's practice in the North End of Hagerstown for all your pediatric dentistry needs.

On the fifth day of Christmas, we spent over an hour with Grandma's gift to Sylvie making snap circuits!  Fun!  

 

It's hard to see, but the fifth day of Christmas brought us some snow flurries, too!  I think this is first snow we've seen since the freak Halloween storm.  

Innies and Outies

Since it's the end of the year, I'm seeing these annual In and Out lists.  I hardly get any of the WashPo's, so I thought I'd make my own -- ha!

Out                                                                               In
Junie B. Jones or Captain Underpants books       Poison Apple books or Teen Bop mags

Soccer                                                               Guitar and Violin lessons

Complaining about Stink Bugs                            Killing Stink Bugs

Basketball shorts                                                Jeans

Brushing teeth                                                    Complaining about brushing teeth

Silly Bandz                                                         Homemade braided/macrame bracelets

Shoes                                                                 Boots

Spongebob, iCarly                                              So Random, ANT Farm, Jessie

Vacation plans                                                     Pool plans

Chicken nuggets                                                  Steamed Mussels/Clams

Being a housewife                                               Being an engineer

Drawing pictures                                                 Keeping a diary

Wanting an iPad                                                   Loving a Xoom

Blackberries                                                        Any other smart phone

Job stability                                                         New superintendents

Kidz Bop                                                             Taylor Swift, Adele

Cartoons                                                              Latch hook

Nursery Rhyme pictures                                       Posters of Justin Bieber

School lunch                                                        Packing

Voddy                                                                 SoCo

Driving to work                                                   Riding the Canal to work

3rd Day of Christmas

On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . . a trip to West Virginia . . .

Yah, this is where blogging seems a bit, well, boring.  Not for me - I love to write about whatever - but for you, poor reader.  Alas, all we really did today was go out as a family (for once), eat, do an errand, and then grocery shop at Walmart, of all godforsaken places.  And then we came home, put away the groceries, made drinks (because we're on vacation - duh!), made dinner, and attempted to entertain our kids without too much effort on our parts . . .

So, the eating part -- we ate at Martinsburg's La Trattoria - the highest rated restaurant for that fair city on Tripadvisor.  Our young waiter Sebastian was a gracious gentleman, who catered to our every need -- want a meatball instead of meat sauce?  Sure, kid - not a problem.  Want french fries instead of salad or the yummy house Italian Marriage Soup?  Sure, sir - I'd be happy to.  Want me to heat up half that cake to make your girls happy while you get your cold cake and eat it, too?  No problem.  Seriously, the best little before-dinner rolls EVER.  We threw down two baskets-full before our steak-n-cheese paninis and spaghettis came.  The decor was - um, very peachy and Kelly green - but its location (on Rt. 9 just off Rt. 81 around the corner from the Girl Scout shop) and easy parking made up for that.  I think we'll do that joint again.

And the shopping part -- I thought G had made a wrong turn toward Hagerstown's Walmart instead of Martinsburg's, but, no, he was headed to Spring Mills.  I know - Walmart-talk on a blog.  Geez.  But seriously, of all Walmarts, this one is worth the chatter.  It's very new and very convenient and I always forget about it.  Apparently, so do a lot of people because it's never busy.  Love it.

And, finally, the child entertainment part:

They are making their "goal posters" -- SG hopes to sell at least 175 boxes and Sylvie hopes to sell 250 boxes . . . eeek!  Want to help??  Just let me know - Go, Girl Scout Cookies!  :)  (Latch hook work can be seen in the background . . . no, we haven't finished yet!)

On the 1st & 2nd Days of Christmas

 Truly He taught us to love one another, 

His law is love and His gospel is peace. 

Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.    
And in his name all oppression shall cease. 

O Holy Night, 1847  

On the first day of Christmas, Santa gave us . . . wayyyyyy too much stuff . . .

 and a visit from the Bussards and Grandma!

On the second day of Christmas, Santa gave to me a latch-hooking session with Mom.

Christmastime in Sandy Hook

These bikes (and a third unseen on the left) are an annual feature in downvillage Sandy Hook ~ yes, they are suspended with lights enveloping them

 While Harpers Ferry and Shepherdstown get all the Yuletide attention, quiet Sandy Hook sits across the Potomac with her own festive appeal.  On my drive through today, I couldn't resist  getting a couple of shots of the fun.

The Sandy Hook Grocery's Tasmanian Tire ensemble - precious!

Christmas in Shepherdstown

We're lucky enough to live close to Shepherdstown, WV, a little town on the Potomac that knows how to bring people together.  Last night was their annual start to the Christmas season as well as the kick-off to their 250th town anniversary.  We usually go over the Friday evening after Thanksgiving to see the Grinch and then Santa.  Usually, Santa arrives on a fire engine, but this year he appeared out of nowhere and sauntered down to the mob scene at McMurran Hall.  Since we had positioned ourselves along the wall near the sidewalk, we were able to jump right to the front of the line this year and go in to see Santa and Mrs. Claus after a short wait.  The town was beautifully decorated this year with a huge campfire beside the Chinese restaurant, a roasted chestnut vendor in front of the library, and stunning displays in many shops.  After Santa's arrival, a choir walked around town caroling at storefronts, and musicians sat in the windows at the Sweet Shop and Mellow Moods to serenade the crowd.  We had eaten at Tony's before the festivities, but the Men's Club did have their chili and cornbread available as usual; we often eat there, but the girls really don't like chili much yet.  The town extends their festivities through today, tonight, and then next weekend again. 

1st & 25th JFK Ultramarathon

After 50 miles . . . ~ 2011

Emily and Dave (and Paige) ~ 2011

Pappy with the crew ~ 2011

Pappy at the finish line! ~ 2011

Emily at 3:38 p.m. - 12 miles to go! ~ 2011

Will, Emily, and Paige at 1:07 p.m. at Antietam ~ 2011

Emily and friend at 12:13 p.m. - 22.4 miles down ~ 2011

Emily and friend at Weaverton at 10:43 a.m. ~ 2011

The JFK Ultramarathon -- that's FIFTY miles -- is now officially a family tradition; my father-in-law, Dave Downin, is running his 25th today and his daughter Emily, my sister-in-law, is running her first.  George ran his one and only ten years ago; he verified last night that he'll never do it again!  The JFK starts in Boonsboro, travels up South Mountain, down the spine along the Appalachian Trail to the C&O Canal, and finally finishes at Springfield Middle School in Williamsport.  Since I've known George, he has dropped his dad off at the start, taken his van to SPMS, ridden home on his bike, tried to catch him at least once on the Canal, and then together (and now with kids) we've met him at the finish line or somewhere close enough.  Today is no different except that we look forward to seeing his sister limping in at the end, too.  (Don't miss my other post about the JFK.)  Some scenes from today and past races ~  (To see even more photos from the 2011 race, go here)

Emily with her friend at the start of the race ~ 2011

Sylvie reaching for a high five from Pappy near the 70 overpass before the finish ~ 2009

Emily, Will, Scott, & Paige at the finish ~ 2007

Dave bringing in his first time finisher friend at the finish ~ 2007

Sylvie & Paige, a.k.a. JFK Cheerleaders ~ 2009

Dragonfly Swarm

Coming home from work/school/dance tonight, we started seeing what I at first thought were grasshoppers buzzing all over the lawns of houses just before Nick Road on Harpers Ferry Road.  We slowed down and identified them as huge dragonflies!  They were in everyone's yard through the section; we couldn't see them as clearly after Nick Road for a bit but then as we climbed our lane, they were all over our yard/field.  I did a little Googling and found that they do in fact swarm to eat!  Let's hope they are gobbling up the stink bugs that have suddenly re-appeared!  They can take the mosquitoes too!

Neighbor Gets Sourced

She's not from Frog Hollow proper, but rather she's living down near Molly's Hole - that is, just up and around the bend from Burnside Bridge on Burnside Bridge Road.  She's close enough for around these parts to be called a neighbor.  Julie Stinar is the subject of at least a second article about her chickens, her lovely free-ranging chickens.  I blogged another article about her once before.  Julie's farm, Evensong, is the kind where you can take your kids to see where their food comes from.  There, my girls saw and cooed over baby pigs for the first time.  I hope the Stinars make Sharpsburg their long-time home.

photo source

Find a Grave

The other night I received a message on Ancestry.com from an archivist at Monocacy Cemetary in Beallsville, where many of my maternal grandmother's family are buried. He was looking for a better picture of my great-great grandfather than one I had posted on the site, so that he could post it on his findagrave.com page. When I went to his page and then followed the links of several others that he sent me, I found some great photos and a lot of details I didn't know before. Great site for family history diggers!

Some other family grave pages I came across:

• Mary Astlin - Great-Grandma Beall's mother
• George Astlin - Great-Grandma Beall's father
• Benjamin R. Poole - Granddaddy's grandfather
  

Ancestry: Beth-Judy-Helen-Charles Wade Poole-John Elgin Poole

Raymond

On Monday, I went down to Poolesville to join my mom, aunts Susie, Deatle, and Maggie, and Uncle Robert at Poolesville United Methodist Church for Raymond E. Poole's funeral, internment, and celebration of life. Raymond was my Grandma's first cousin; the picture below shows her (Helen Poole Null) on Raymond's left and another cousin, Mary Jo Horn, on his right.

Raymond's father Ethan Poole and Helen's father Charles Poole were brothers. Also, Raymond's mother (Sarah) Anna Beall and Helen's mother Edna Beall were sisters. Doubly first cousins!

Raymond was well known around those rural parts of Montgomery County; he and his family had run Poole's General Store at Seneca Creek for many years. When I was a child and teen, we spent every Memorial Day Sunday at the reunion picnic that they hosted on their family lawn adjacent to the store and in front of their house.

photo source

Mr. Tipton, an articulate gentleman and old friend of Raymond, spoke so well about Raymond's life and how he came to have to give up the store. He recounted old stories of his brother Whistle, himself, and Raymond to illustrate how Raymond had deep roots in Poolesville and how he had developed a solid business and nurtured a loving family there. We were all touched by Mr. Tipton's kind words about Raymond and his loving wife Billie.

The funeral was in the same church where Raymond and Billie married many years before. My Grandma and Papa also wed in this sanctuary in December of 1947. This window is dedicated to Captain John T. and Mary Poole; I will have to do a bit of research to see how they are related.

Raymond was laid to rest in Monocacy Cemetery in Beallsville among many of his ancestors.
We returned after the reception to visit the graves of my great great-grandparents Pearl and "Jimmy Dean" Beall (Edna and Anna's parents -- he was a locktender at Edward's Ferry, where he raised his family) . . . . . . and the grave of my grandmother's parents, Charles Poole and Edna Beall Poole. My mom, aunts, and Uncle Robert promise to return with me soon to do the grand tour of the cemetery. More gravestone pictures to come!