Ron and Sally Jo Blog

After building the yurt, we hung two swings near the yurt.

We also did other things during the week.  When we first got there, Lucy was busy with ballet.  She had a dress rehearsal and then a recital given three times.  We attended one of them.  Of course, she was good!

We also watched a new bee hive arrive with a box containing 30,000 bees!  This was set up in a field not far from the house.  Jessica and Christy were feeding them a quart of sugar water a day for the first several weeks until they feel at home.

Lucy’s piano recital was to be held the afternoon of the day we left.  Instead, Sally Jo went with her to her lesson at her teacher’s home.  Interesting to see how one teaches piano to a young child who cannot read and cannot sit still for long!

We cooked.  Lucy planned one meal and helped prepare the food.

Ron and Sally Jo hiked in a park while Lucy went to a birthday party.  We were at Dinosaur State Park so the theme was dinosaurs.  The children were given dinosaur tails to wear.

Sally Jo helped Jessica pull out a few brambles.  This could be a job for a whole week.  Ron spent a whole morning playing “train” with Lucy.  Lucy wanted to make the longest train that was possible with the tracks that she had.  It indeed got quite long.

We celebrated by having ice cream three times!  Very good!

Here are also a few photos from around the house:

 

 

Our main purpose – other than spending time with family – was to build a yurt for Lucy.  (Ugly Apple Farm has a Facebook page where you can see more of what is happening on the farm.)  Jessica had done the research and much of the calculating so all we needed to do was to help put it together!

We went to two lumber yards and hardware stores to obtain the wood, etc.  We then had to work on days that we didn’t have rain!  There was measuring, sawing, painting, drilling, hammering, adjusting, and contemplating.  We built a platform about 3 feet off the ground.  Then set up the wall, attaching a cable around the top.  We set the roof on top of the cable leaning in at the top so that it held itself up.  It was not easy but it did all go together in the end.

Loading the lumber on to the trailer:

Measuring and sawing the boards for the platform:

Location and leveling the area for the platform:

Interlude:

Building the platform:

Measuring, sawing, painting the walls and roof:

Steps built and decorated:

Measuring cable

Drilling holes for nails and putting pieces together:

Standing up the wall:

Putting up the roof:

Cutting the door:

Finished product:

Jessica will now sew the cover out of heavy weather-proof material.  It will even have a fringe around along with a door and two or three windows.

Cutting and fitting the cloth:

Fifty years of marriage required a whole month to celebrate! We first spent a week on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, with our entire family. When we returned to Goshen we celebrated with our extended family and many friends. And last of all, on the actual day we celebrated with new friends here in Laos.

On Kauai we stayed at a resort in Poipu where our rooms overlooked the ocean. It is known as the “Garden Isle” and is filled with beautiful beaches, steep cliffs, and canyons complete with stunning waterfalls. One day we drove to Waimea Canyon Park. It reminded us of a “little” Grand Canyon. Another day, some of us drove towards the north end of the island. One day three of us hiked a trail to the bottom of a gorge which had a sign at the beginning, “Hazardous Cliff” and another which said. “Area closed. Do not go beyond this point.” However, our guidebook said we could disregard the sign and just take care! And still yet another day, some of us visited a Buddhist monastery. We also just spent time together, watching waves, walking, taking hula and ukulele lessons, swimming and eating.

Jessica and Lucy were able to spend a week in Goshen after the Kauai trip, when we did more fun activities and got ready for a party, held at Rachel’s Bread with extended family and friends. Jessica had previously made a flag banner with 50 flags using material that reminded us of our experiences. Andrea, Jessica, and Michelle put together a timeline with photos of some of our highlights. The two of us had a wonderful time talking with friends from many aspects and time-periods of our lives.

Our actual anniversary date, June 25th, found us working with MCC in Vientiane, Laos. The staff surprised us with a cake in the morning and in the evening we ate at a nice French restaurant with another MCC couple who were celebrating their 4th anniversary on the same day.

*kami berdua = Indonesian for “the two of us”

August 2013 began with packing up Michelle’s apartment, storing her things, and saying good-by as she set off across country in her 1990 Honda Civic.   A few days later we set off in the opposite direction.  We stopped in East Hartford spending an afternoon at the playground with Lucy and setting up our tent.

The next day we went to Boston airport to pick up our good friends from Zwolle, Netherlands.  We first met Pieter and Gerdien exactly 40 years ago in Blantyre, Malawi, Africa.  We lived on the same compound for three years and spent much time together.  Twenty years ago they came to Goshen to see us.  Over the years we have been to their home (and boat) many times.

 We all returned to East Hartford.  We played with Lucy, went to a nearby park, and talked.  Lucy took very little time in warming up to Gerdien and Pieter.  All seven of us then travelled to J & C’s land in Vermont.  We all loved the woods, the water, and generally just “hanging out.”

 The Kamstras and us left Vermont, crossed, Lake Champlain by ferry, wandered through the Adirondacks, and spent the night with a Mennonite-Your-Way family on a farm.  Then on to Scottdale where we reconnected with Jack and Ruth who had also been in Malawi during the same time.  (We forgot to take photos!)  And then to Goshen.

 During the week in Goshen, Erv and Marian came to spend several nights.  We first learned to know them in Kenya; they were in Zambia at the time we all were in Malawi.  Maynard and Hilda even came one evening.  (Another couple from Malawi-Zambia days)  Fun times!  During the week we took a number of bike rides, including riding to Oxbow for a picnic and one time to Shipshewana.  Unfortunately, we didn’t take any photos.  We did a lot of walking, including to the dam and along the Millrace (several times), part of the Pumpkinvine Trail, and in Chain of Lakes.  And of course, there was a lot of talking and laughing.

 All in all, August was filled with much fun and many memories.

We spent a week with Lucy and Jessica in Burlington,VT as Jessica had been asked to do the costumes for a show (“Fiddler on the Roof”) at St Michaels Stage.  We took Lucy to Sheldon Farms, ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center, Burlington’s Farmer’s Market, and the Burlington lake shore.  We played games, did art projects, and quietly read—sometimes.

Sheldon Farms:  “In 1886, Dr. William Seward and Lila Vanderbilt Webb began acquiring farmland on the shores of Lake Champlain to create a model agricultural estate. Landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. created conceptual designs for the landscape. Prominent architect Robert H. Robertson designed four major buildings.  …  By the early 1900s, the Webb’s 3,800-acre farm was renowned for its innovative practices, hackney horse breeding enterprise, and grand family residence. … The heyday was short-lived. Beginning around 1910, farming operations and other activities began to shrink. …  Shelburne Farms began a rebirth in 1972 when family descendants founded a nonprofit organization of the same name, dedicated to conservation education.  For 40 years the organization has offered education opportunities for children of all ages to learn abut sustainability and their connections to the natural and agricultural world … In 2001 the property became a National Historical Landmark.”

“ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center is a [large] …facility.  Founded in 2003 ECHO welcomes more than 150,000 visitors annually [and has] interactive exhibits and science education programs that include over 70 species of fish, amphibians, invertebrates, and reptiles.”  Lucy enjoyed the fish and the dinosaurs but REALLY enjoyed the interactive play area.”

We recently spent time with Lucy while Jessica was costume designer for “The Importance of Being Earnest” at Northern Stage in White River Junction, Vermont.  Sally Jo traveled by train and spent one week with Lucy and Jessica before Ron drove out to spend the second week.  What a fun two weeks!

When Sally Jo first arrived at the condo where Jessica and Lucy were staying there was a fair amount of snow on the ground.  Since Sally Jo did not have a car, she and Lucy read, did “art”, “played,” and explored the small area around the condo.

The weekend that Ron arrived, Jessica had a day off and we all explored Quechee Gorge.  The scenery was beautiful but the trail was very icy.  It made for very slow and careful hiking.

Other days Lucy, Ron, and Sally Jo visited Billings Farm near Woodstock, King Arthur Flour near Norwich, the railway station in White River Junction, Montshire Museum of Science near Norwich, and VINS; Vermont Institute of Natural Science near Quechee.  We saw many large raptors at VINS but realize that we have no photos because it was COLD and we didn’t spend much time outside!

The big snowstorm came through the night (Friday) before we were to leave.  We received only about 12-15 inches of snow where we were in Vermont.  The road crews were very efficient and we were able to leave by mid-morning Saturday.  We had beautiful scenery as we drove through Vermont and upstate New York.  We were disappointed to return to Goshen and find no snow!

In September Lucy stopped in to see us briefly and we were able to spend time with her and show her our home! It was also an opportunity for our entire family to be together.

In August we travelled to East Hartford, CN to meet up with Lucy again!  We enjoyed taking many walks and playing in her new home. We returned home via Canada visiting relatives in Kitchener and St Thomas along the way.  Also on the way we stopped in Lewisburg, NY and Niagra-on-the-Lake.  Our final stop was in Sarnia, Ontario.

A week later in September we travelled to Archbold, OH for our Fall Biking Weekend.  We took two days to bike to Archbold, spent Saturday biking around Archbold with our friends, and then biked the entire way home (90 miles) in one day.  We ended September with two trips to Chicago—once to hear the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Choir in “Carmina Burana” (in the rain!) and once to see Chicago Shakespeare company in “Sunday in the Park with George.”  Both were terrific performances.

We realize that our last entry was five months ago!  Our environment has changed dramatically since then and we have continued to travel many miles.  This entry (and the next several) will just briefly update what we have done or where we have been since then.

Much of June and July were spent with friends, family, and working in our yard.  We helped celebrate Sally Jo’s sister’s 50^th anniversary and friends’ 55^th anniversary, visited with Peni (from Uganda) and her finance, and hosted friends from Indonesia.   We traveled to Akron, PA to meet the next MCC representatives to Uganda and then traveled on to Norristown, PA to be with granddaughter Lucy.  We made one trip to Chicago to attend a concert at Ravinia.  And we spent many hours on July 3-4 watching the railway pedestrian tunnel being built on the GC campus—including the midnight cutting of the tracks.

The last of July and beginning of August we travelled to Austin, TX to attend a wedding.  This was probably not the best time of year to be in Austin, but in reality, it was not much hotter there than Goshen!  We spent some time near the river in Austin before arriving at the church and wedding.

We shared our American Thanksgiving with a number of Indonesian friends.  Turkey with all its fixings was enjoyed by all.

We spent Christmas both in Goshen and with a quick trip to Philadelphia.  And we made our traditional Dutch oliebollen on New Year’s Eve.