Camping & Biking Fun in Ohiopyle PA!

Ohiopyle PA and the Youghegeny river. This is a beautiful area. Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter.



We had a nice Memorial Day weekend. Friday & Saturday we camped out and we biked all day Saturday. 34 miles! We camped in Ohiopyle PA and biked from there to Connellsville PA on the Great Allegheny Passage and back. This is the same trail we have done before just a different segment. This section is the longest I've done and the hardest so far. I've ached in muscles I didn't know I had. Our friends, Tim & Jeanette, went with us. Here are a few photos. We had an all you can eat breakfast on Saturday morning and Sunday morning at the community center in Ohiopyle. If you go away hungry it's not their fault. Saturday when we made it back to Ohiopyle we had a great dinner at the Ohiopyle House Cafe. A great ending to a long day!

Paul at our tent. We like to camp in these ready made tents. Saves lots of time!



Our campsite. Chairs ready for the campfire.



Ready to go biking!




View from one of the bridges going across the Youghegeny river. Those are some brave souls down there white water rafting.



A stop along the way with a nice view of the Youghegeny river.




We made it to Connellsville. 17 miles. We found this neat old house along the way.



Resting up for the 17 miles ride back to Ohiopyle!




A view of the falls in Ohiopyle. I'm not sure if you can see it or not but there is a man sitting on the rocks in front of the falls. He is fishing (and he's crazy).


Here are more of those brave souls.



One of the white water outfitters in Ohiopyle. When Paul & I did the Youghegeny in 2002 we rented from this place. I did it once. I'll never do it again. I'll stick to my bike.

Cemetery Visit for Memorial Day

Paul & I made a trip to the cemeteries to place flowers on my Mom & Dad and his Dad's graves for Memorial Day. Both cemeteries are in beautiful areas. Here are a few pictures.

My Mom & Dad's graves,


The view from the cemetery.


Paul's Dad's grave.



Flags lined the entrance and all the roads through the cemetery. Lovely.

Remembering those Who severed on this Memorial Day

This Memorial Day let's remember all those you served and are serving to provide the freedom and safety we enjoy.




My Father was a WW2 vetern. This is a photo of the flag from his funeral, a memorial album I made for him and a photo of him taken while serving in the Aleutians Islands in Alaska.

LOST!

Wednesday night is the 2 hour final episode for LOST this season. I'm looking forward to it and thought I would post a favorite video to my favorite character, Sawyer. Enjoy!



Here are a few websites about Lost that are really interesting to read.

Completely Lost
Nik at Nite
The Lost Notebook
ABC official site
4 8 15 16 23 42

Gardening Helpers

I had some help with my flower gardening the last 2 days. Here they are. The assitant and the foreman.

Nina, my assistant (in between barking at anything going by in the alley behind our house)


Buddy, the foreman. (nothing more needs to be said)

Gardening

I've been working on my flower garden and having a great time! These pictures are proof. I'll have some pictures of the flowers in the next few days.


These are my hands but they look like my Mother's hands. She wasn't a gardener so it isn't the dirt but my wedding ring is like hers, a simple gold band, and that is what draws me to this photo.



Gardening is about enjoying the smell of things growing in the soil, getting dirty without feeling guilty, and generally taking the time to soak up a little peace and serenity. ~Lindley Karstens, noproblemgarden.com

Thinking of Childhood

I've been working on a journal and searching for images to use and came across these old advertisments in an old newspaper. What fun to see pictures of things from our childhood.


I always wanted one of the these bikes with the banana seat & big handlbars but unfortnately I was never to have one. Instead, I always rode my sister's purple Schwinn bike. Thanks Sis for lending it! I had a lot of fun on the bike. I don't think I have one picture of myself on it. We lived in a small town and our house was right next door to the school and on a dead end road. So in the summer time I had the whole school yard for a play ground. What fun I had riding my bike and mom didn't have to worry about me and cars. Being a dead end road there were only cars for the few families that lived there. I never really appreciated all the wide open spaces until I had kids of my own and lived in a larger town where we live now and had to worry about them riding their bikes on the sidewalk and the street!




I did have one of these when I was little. It as fun! I don't rememember too much about it because I was pretty small at the time but I do remember when we gave it to another child. I was sad to see a part of my childhood be over.



Ann

The Price is Right

Bob Barker is retiring after 50 years on TV. Tonight is a prime time show and tomorrow night is a look back at his career. I've watched The Price is Right since I was a little girl. It was a summer tradition. I haven't watched it much in the last 13 years because of working but I try to watch it on days off. I also remember watching Bob on Truth or Consquences.

Thanks Laurie & Chris

In February Laurie & Chris at Miss Flower had a give away for their 200th post and I won a beautiful stitchery made by Laurie. Thank you both so much. I was finally able to hang the picture in my craft room and I wanted to share the picture with everyone! Isn't it pretty? Thanks again to both Laurie & Chris. You should visit their blog at Miss Flower. They take lovely photos and they are both Nascar fans! Go Jimmie & Kasey!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day! Here is a Mother's Day Card my Dad sent to my Grandmother for Mother's Day 1942. He was stationed in the Aluetian's in Alaska during WW2 and sent many cards home to both his parents. I think this card is beautiful. He has signed the card Len and dated it May 9, 42. You can't tell from the picture but the umbrella on the front is made from silk, has padding underneath, and is soft to the touch. There is also lace and ribbon.




My Mom and me!


My three!

Peace for Anxious Days by Max Lucado

Have you ever had a day or a week where you weren't sure where you should be or what you should be doing? I've had that today and part of last week at my work. I've wondered for the past week how I could change things in my life to get out of a place I don't want to be in right now but then I'm reminded by a simple email that I don't have to worry about changing things because God will take care of me and any situation I'm facing. Here is what was in my email box from Max Lucado just when I needed to hear it.

Peace for Anxious Days
by Max Lucado

When my daughters were single-digit ages—two, five, and seven—I wowed them with a miracle. I told them the story of Moses and the manna and invited them to follow me on a wilderness trek through the house.

“Who knows,” I suggested, “manna may fall from the sky again.”

We dressed in sheets and sandals and did our best Bedouin hike through the bedrooms. The girls, on my instruction, complained to me, Moses, of hunger and demanded I take them back to Egypt, or at least to the kitchen. When we entered the den, I urged them to play up their parts: groan, moan, and beg for food.

“Look up,” I urged. “Manna might fall any minute.”

Two-year-old Sara obliged with no questions, but Jenna and Andrea had their doubts. How can manna fall from a ceiling?

Just like the Hebrews. “How can God feed us in the wilderness?”

Just like you? You look at tomorrow’s demands, next week’s bills, next month’s silent calendar. Your future looks as barren as the Sinai Desert. “How can I face my future?” God tells you what I told my daughters: “Look up.”

When my daughters did, manna fell! Well, not manna, but vanilla wafers dropped from the ceiling and landed on the carpet. Sara squealed with delight and started munching. Jenna and Andrea were old enough to request an explanation.

My answer was simple. I knew the itinerary. I knew we would enter this room. Vanilla wafers fit safely on the topside of the ceiling-fan blades. I had placed them there in advance. When they groaned and moaned, I turned on the switch.

God’s answer to the Hebrews was similar. Did he know their itinerary? Did he know they would grow hungry? Yes and yes. And at the right time, he tilted the manna basket toward earth.

And what about you? God knows what you need and where you’ll be. Any chance he has some vanilla wafers on tomorrow’s ceiling fans? Trust him. “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes” (Matthew 6:33-34).

From Every Day Deserves a Chance
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2007) Max Lucado


That last paragragh was what I needed to hear. God will help me deal with whatever comes along. I don't have to worry or be afraid. If you liked this inspirational message from Max check out his website. You can sign up to get his "Every Day" emails every weekday from May 14-June 8, for free.

Here is a piece of art work that I did several months ago that sums up my feelings at this moment! All Glory be to Him!

Some scenery along the trial

Here are a few more scenes from along the trail when we took our bike ride a couple of Saturdays ago.

This looks like something you would see in an old episode of the Walton's. I'm thinking of the episode where the Blue Ridge Parkway is going to be built and some of Grandpa's relatives are the last holdouts. Anyone remember that episode?




Ann

#48 - Another Win! # 4 for the season!

Watch & enjoy!

A Few Thrift shop finds!

$7 for all this:


I like these canistors. They look very retro to me. $4.00 not bad!


A stone for my garden. I love this verse from the Bible. $2.00 for this little gem.

To every thing there is a season, and a purpose under the heaven Ecclesiastes 3:1

A very cute rooster bottle. There were two of these and Sara snatched up the other one. 99 cents!


I love shopping at Thrift shops, yard sales, & flea markets. You never know what you might find at a bargin price!

Pampered Chef medium bar pan

Maggie Ann asked about my medium bar pan from Pampered Chef. Here is a picture of the pan from the Pampered Chef website. I love mine. I use it just about everyday to bake anything from cookies to bacon. The mini spatula is great too! Just big enough to fit where you want it too! My pan doesn't look so clean and pretty because I've used it so much. It is very "seasoned" which is good. The more seasoned the better. Nothing sticks to the pan now. I don't even have to grease the pan. That's my kind of cooking!