Obie's General Store in Goodville is a pilgrimage every seamstress should make at least once in a lifetime. So when I heard my friend Melissa had never been to Obie's, I told her, "You've got to see this fabric shop!" Melissa is one of the best seamstresses I know (or best sewist— if you prefer the newer term). She even has her own fabric store. Since I'm planning to take over the retail fabric buying for Good's Store in a few months, Melissa and I can always talk fabric shop. Yes, we are … [Read more...] about Sights to See— Obie’s, Ricketts Glen, and a Hundred-Dollar Bill Purse
How to Make a Candy Scramble T-Shirt
"So I get to be a human piñata?" asked my nephew, Austin. He wasn't really complaining— when I asked if one of the older boys could wear a t-shirt with candy glued all over it while being chased by the younger kids, Austin was the first to volunteer. Last weekend, my family was planning to go camping in a remote area near the Juanita river. Unfortunately, there were heavy thunderstorms and flash floods in the forecast, so we decided camping with small children next to a river wasn't safe. … [Read more...] about How to Make a Candy Scramble T-Shirt
Camping in Pennsyltucky
Public campsites are to camping what decaf is to coffee. They might be safer, cleaner, and more conducive to sleeping, but they're favorless and boring. So when my church small group went camping last month, I was glad we were doing primitive, private-land-next-to-state-game-land type of camping, not pitching our tents at a KOA and trying to avoid eye contact with the neighbors at the next campfire. Marlin and Amy, one of the small group couples, did most of the planning. Marlin has … [Read more...] about Camping in Pennsyltucky
A Day in Queens
"It's not a good idea to go up to people and ask, 'Are you homeless?'" It's mid-Saturday morning at the Ministry Training Center (MTC) in Elmhurst, a neighborhood in Queens, NYC. About two dozen Lancastrians have just gotten off the bus in the Big Apple and are getting a crash course in local demographics and street ministry. "There's about ninety thousand people per square mile here in Elmhurst. Most of them are immigrants or the children of immigrants. Many of them don't speak English." … [Read more...] about A Day in Queens
17-Year Cicadas—Visitors from the Underground
"They sound like a chainsaw starting up," is how my sister Joanne described the noise that the Brood X cicadas make in the woods near her family's home. The 17-year cicadas have emerged from their underground dwellings, and are crawling up trees, shedding their nymphal skins, and filling the woods with the sound of their singing. "Our dogs love to eat them," my friend Linda said on Sunday evening. Linda and her husband also live in a wooded area, and she showed us pictures of her garden … [Read more...] about 17-Year Cicadas—Visitors from the Underground