Fresh Eyes

We had dinner with my parents and my sister tonight. My sister was telling us about a woman from her church who is a new believer that she is discipling. The story of Joseph came up in their conversation, and the woman was totally unfamiliar with it. So my sister told her the whole story--from Joseph's dreams to his brothers selling him to the false accusation from Potiphar's wife to Joseph's eventual rise to power. The woman was astounded and fascinated. It was all new to her. She came at that familiar Bible story with fresh eyes.

I've been able to approach a lot of classic children's literature with fresh eyes. While my parents did read aloud to us and took us to the library every two weeks, my sister and I somehow missed most children's literature when we were little. So I was introduced to The Secret Garden and Pollyanna and Gone-Away Lake as an adult. I appreciated the nuances and the irony much more than I did as a child. Sometimes I wish I'd known those stories as a child--they would have furnished a lot of material for acting them out. I'm glad my children have known them as children and have had the chance to act them out. Sometimes I've wished that we could have it both ways--the enjoyment and play of the child and the adult appreciation that comes with maturity and fresh eyes.

State Park Review: Trap Pond State Park

We camped from Thursday to Sunday at Trap Pond State Park in Laurel, Delaware. We are tent campers that don't use much electricity (none on this trip, although we could have used some). We use a 6 person tent with a "front porch" (an attached screen room) and a 12 foot by 12 foot octagonal screen room.

The prices for non-Delaware residents were pretty typical of state parks: $28 per night. Most of the sites have water and electric, so that's what we went with. There are a lot of trees and the sites are close to the pond, although none of them are right on the water. A picnic table and a fire ring were situated on each site.

The park was quiet even though there weren't any vacancies for Friday and Saturday. We were surprised that there were so few tent campers--we only counted four others. The rest were RVs with a few pop-ups thrown in. Perhaps the huge number of RVs was the reason that the bath house was never crowded even though there were only three showers and four toilets on each side (men's and women's).

The water situation left a little to be desired. The spigots at each site pointed sideways, almost parallel to the ground, and the water pressure was tremendous. We really needed a hose to hook up to it, but that's not part of our regular camping gear, so we made do. There were no dish washing facilities, so we made the decision to go with mostly disposable stuff. If we'd brought our electric tea kettle to heat dish water, that would have been better, but we left it at home. The water was an odd yellowish color, but it cleaned the dishes just fine. The showers were pretty bad. None of us ever figured out a way to control the temperature, so most of the time they were a little too warm. And if anyone was using any other water, there was just a stream of water--no spray. There was a laundry room at the bath house too, but we didn't use it.

On the other hand, the sites were enormous, at least for our purposes. We had plenty of room for our tent, our five bicycles, our screen room, our van, and a seating area around the fire. One drawback of our site was a very bright light on the side of the bath house that shone on our tent all night long. The women in our family weren't bothered by the light, but my husband would have been if he hadn't brought along his sleeping mask.

Two of my daughters enjoyed a couple hours of fishing (bluegill and crappie) from a small dock on our loop. We all enjoyed the Loblolly Trail on our bicycles. Crushed gravel, very level, winding through woods. We stopped at the small nature center and looked at the exhibits. You can also rent paddle boats, canoes, and kayaks, but we weren't able to take advantage of those activities. There's also a pontoon boat tour of the Lake--a slide show at the nature center features parts of it. The pond has the northernmost stand of bald cypress trees. I'd love to kayak around the pond--maybe if we go back next year.

The camp staff was very responsive when I told them about a couple of non-flushing toilets in the women's room. The plumbing was working again within an hour. On the other hand, the camp host never introduced herself or even patrolled the area as far as we could see.

All in all, a good place to camp. I just wish the showers were better.

Embroidery Projects

I just finished my niece's graduation gift--good thing! She graduates on Friday.

First:

Can you guess my niece's name? Bonus point if you can guess her favorite color.

Second:

I figured this might come in handy in her dorm room!

Ginger

Italian Deer and Rabbits

The Ladybugs and I were picking strawberries at my parents' house yesterday. My youngest noticed some green things clipped to plastic cups scattered around the strawberry beds.

"What are those, Mommy?"

"I think they have a natural deer and rabbit repellent made of garlic," I replied.

"That's so all the Italian deer and rabbits can get their share of strawberries," my oldest daughter said.

Haydn's Farewell Symphony

The littlest ladybug just learned about Haydn's "Farewell" Symphony. The story goes that while Haydn was Count Nicholas Esterhazy's court composer, the Count would have the members of the orchestra stay on his estate all summer, then release them to go to their homes in the fall. One season, Count Nicholas was enjoying himself at the estate so much, he didn't want to leave and he wouldn't release the orchestra. Naturally, the musicians were getting a wee bit antsy to go home by October. So Haydn gave his employer a subtle hint.

The members of the orchestra gathered as usual for an evening performance. Part way through, one of the fourteen performers blew out his candle, took his instrument and left. The performers continued blowing out their candles and leaving at intervals until only two musicians were left. The count took the hint and released the orchestra the next day.

We found a performance of the "Farewell" Symphony on YouTube and watched it. That inspired the littlest lady bug to give her own performance of the Farewell Symphony.
Behold the orchestra:

And behold the second Haydn in action:

She deputized her older sister to remove members of the orchestra on her signal until she was left with two:

A good time was had by all.

A Laundry Product Review

I like to keep the laundry fairly simple at my house. We have baskets for darks, lights, and hot water (i.e. socks, underwear, towels, sheets) loads. I use a scent-free, dye-free detergent with the occasional scoop of non-chlorine bleach--very occasional.

But in the past year or so I've had problems with some new clothing not being color fast. My oldest daughter was especially unhappy when a bright pink blouse that she'd worn once came out of the dryer with dark blue smudges all over it.

So I grabbed a couple boxes of Shout Color Catcher. The box says that you can mix lights and darks in the same load, but I wasn't going to get that wild and crazy on the first try. I added two sheets to the first load that had a new blouse in it. The blouse was a bright coral, and the sheets came out of the washer as white as they went in. The next load had a teal and black shirt and a multi-colored skirt with lots of dark purple, so I threw in three Shout sheets. Voila! The sheets came out purple and blue, the laundry came out in all their correct colors.

I'll be keeping these on hand for the first couple of washes of new clothing. It would be an unnecessary added expense to use them with every load, but very worth not ruining any clothes.

By the way, Shout doesn't know that I'm reviewing their product or that I've even used it.

Of Vacant Lots and Rastafarians

We are trying to sell our home. A potential buyer really likes the looks of it, especially the way that our house is secluded in the woods. In researching whether the lots behind us are likely to ever have houses built on them, I discovered that the subdivision on Haile Parkway is called Selassie Villas. Now, I knew the name of the road was Haile Parkway, but there's no sign for Selassie Villas.

The Internet is a wonderful thing. When I searched "selassie" because I was curious, who should pop up but Haile Selassie I, the emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He is (according to Rastafarians) the Messiah.

So now I'm wondering about the folks who founded Selassie Villas on Haile Parkway.....