Some Faces

What Else We Did

We tore up the thrift stores and then surveyed the spoils.

We walked amongst the blossoms, a veritable fairyland.

We posed for the camera to secure memories for years.

We cooked delicious snacks and chatted (and chatted and chatted...).

And a little ice cream, of course, was definitely in order.

The our see-you-laters were said until next time.

Girls in D.C.

Katie's Sweet Sixteenth

We did celebrate it -- honest, we did. We just have very little photographic evidence of it. :) 

The Ladybug's birthday has come once again, and this year she turned sweet sixteen. Parties were small and quiet this year, but Gracie made her annual birthday breakfast. The next day a "kind-of" surprise party was scheduled by Jane Ellen with a yummy brunch and wonderful friends. It was quiet but good.

However, one part of the birthday was unbeatable... Look what Delta just flew our way! AND our dear Mrs. White from Pennsylvania came over to help us celebrate the arrival of beloved friends from home.

Kitty and MJ and Mrs. J came for an (all too short) six days. I'd say that the birthday girl got three excellent gifts, wouldn't you?

And Emmy Xiang is wishing that next time Olivia and Vanessa will come... Maybe for her birthday? 

*wink*

An Early Spring

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today;

And give us not to think so far away

As the uncertain harvest; keep us here

All simply in the springing of the year.

Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,

Like nothing else by day, like ghosts at night;

And make us happy in the happy bees,

The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.

And make us happy in the darting birds

That suddenly above the bees is heard,

The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,

And off a blossom in mid air stands still. . . . 

Robert Frost

Gettysburg... Part 1

Emmy fights off the bitter breeze by snuggling down in her jacket.

One nippy Monday morning, we loaded up the car with snacks and podcasts...

... quite the unassuming, unsuspecting little village ...

then hit the road toward the little town of Gettysburg. 

The Eternal Light Peace Memorial :: "All of [the veterans] we honor, not asking under which Flag they fought then -- thankful that they stand together under one Flag now." 

At the visitor's center, we viewed a setting-the-stage film, an incredible cyclorama, and the best Civil War museum we've seen yet. Then off we drove armed with maps and pamphlets and an audio tour.

Seminary Ridge, where the Confederate forces lined up for battle

Taking a break from our scheduled medieval history program, we immersed ourselves in Civil War history the week before, focusing much of our time on that fateful three days in 1863. No book or documentary can compare, however, to actually being there where it happened.

Standing upon Little Round top, at the end of the Union line, with Devil's Den in full view

With beautiful skies, just grey enough to provide the proper sobriety for the occasion, we drove around skirmish sites whose names had been swimming in our heads for days: Seminary Ridge and Cemetery Ridge, Big Round Top and Little Round Top, the Wheat Field and the Peach Orchard, Devil's Den and the Slaughter Pen, and the list goes on and on.

Monuments and memorials

What an amazing place, filled with so much memory, that fateful battlefield, now dotted by monuments of marble and bronze. That evening we had the great privilege to spend the evening with dear friends from church who live on a 5th generation farm just down the road from the battlefield. Our day in Gettysburg was wonderful and sobering, but we're not done yet -- we only made it halfway 'round. Oh well, I guess that means we'll have to go back... ;-)