Gettysburg and pho

K, Me and nieces drawing
K, Me and nieces drawing

I’m getting used to being at home again.  My calendar is a week off in its crossed off boxes, I didn’t teach in Sunday school, just assisted my Mom, and she cooked Sunday dinner for us even though it’s my turn this month.  I sort of miss my in-law’s central air, I just noticed that our windows are still mostly closed.

M and Ben with little niece
M and Ben with little niece

We stayed at my in-law’s house alongside Dan’s brother Jon’s family.  His kids start between M and K, and go down in age to the adorable 2 year old.  K had many playmates this week, and the doctor next door let us use his swimming pool all week while he was away.  I re-introduced my little nieces to crochet (they can both chain, one figured out slip stitch.  my sister in law said it made them still and content in the car, so she wants to pursue more with them!)

Ben, Daddad, Me, Mommom at a sign in Gettysburg
Ben, Daddad, Me, Mommom at a sign in Gettysburg

One day Jon and his gang visited Philadelphia, so my in-laws took my kids to a buffet for lunch, and Dan took me out for pho at Rice and Noodles.  I’ve never explored Vietnamese food before, but a Google search for gluten free in Lancaster brought rave reviews.

Oh my.

I now have 5 cookbooks on reserve at the library, 3 of them for macaroons though I’ve never gotten my buttercream to taste like those did for spreading in the middle.  I will work on this.  It will be calorific, it may be expensive, it will be worth it…but it may wait until the heat and humidity go away so I want to run the oven again.

K looking out over the fields in Gettysburg
K looking out over the fields in Gettysburg

On Tuesday we (all 13 of us!) drove to Gettysburg.  We picnic-ed outside the visitor’s center by the “vegetative restoration,” of wild flowers.  We made another culinary discovery; ice burg lettuce makes a great sandwich wrap in place of bread.  Gf bread is OK if you toast it, and eat it right away, but for flavor and nutrition, it’s very lacking.  I saw nuthatches and many mocking birds, on the grounds, but no sparrows or robins, I wonder if they like the vegetative restoration?

I got a Mom’s eye view of some of the museum and movies, in other words, bits and pieces.  K’s braces got tweaked and we needed to get into better light to adjust them, then when we returned, the music and subject matter was scary, so we went to the bookstore to wait for the family to emerge.  I bought an illustrated book about Sarah Emma Edmonds for my niece whose birthday we were celebrating, while K made friends with a bookstore worker and discussed what presents I should really be buying.  The bookstore worker loyally said that books were a good gift.  K held that her cousin would like a large stuffed animal better, even if her family is moving across country in a few weeks.  We were in air conditioning, and no one was crying.

After some coffee and snacks, (snacks mostly coming out of hiding places in purses) we drove through some of the battlefield.  I think we need to go back another day when the kids are older, and we’ve gotten to the American Civil War in history (K is currently up to the Reformation.)

Jon and his kids with K at a cannon
Jon and his kids with K at a cannon

On Friday I got to visit with Betsy, my friend that I traveled in China with.  I got lost driving to her house, it turns out I am a better navigator than I am navigator/pilot.  It felt like I was always driving behind a horse buggy with a truck behind me, but the farm kids waved back when I waved at them.  We took a walk, and she showed me how to tat.  Yeah, no way I’d figure that one out from a booklet.  Maybe a u-tube video.  Some of these crafts, I wonder how whoever it was that figured them out ever figured it out.

K walking up a path
K walking up a path

Yesterday we got stuck in traffic on rt 95 in Connecticut, and were diverted to rt 1 for two exits.  Everyone is tired.  But I’m proud of the kids; they didn’t complain, and they unpacked the car cheerfully.  Everyone got to bed by 10 pm.  This morning K said that it couldn’t be church day morning, because she didn’t want it to be.  If only we could really make that happen on Mondays when nobody wants to get out of bed.

K under the sign for the high water mark of the Confederacy
K under the sign for the high water mark of the Confederacy

Tonight I open all the windows.

K walking to the pool in the rain
K walking to the pool in the rain

Tomorrow we re-organize.