"I can't remember a time when we didn't bake gingerbread men," said my sister Joanne at our annual cookie exchange last Friday. The year Joanne was born, my mother ordered a cookie cookbook from the Farm Journal magazine. Today, the pages of Best-Ever Cookies are stained and yellowed and the mustard hardcover is taped and worn (the jacket lost long ago), and Joanne has seven sons and one daughter, and but the Burkholders still make gingerbread men every year. For the last few years, Mom … [Read more...] about Merry Christmas! Plus a Gingerbread Cookie Recipe
Family
Camping at Muddy Run
A bee attack. A tree branch crashes into the ground near the campfire. Rain. Chiggers. The annual family camping trip. Two weeks ago, instead of camping at the river as we did the last two years, we rented a primitive campsite at Muddy Run Park in southern Lancaster Country. Not a tiny campground campsite. Instead, this campsite is on a remote hillside surrounded by trees and next to wetlands, without any other tents or RVs in sight. There's a spring, a creek, and two bridges. (We could … [Read more...] about Camping at Muddy Run
A July Day at Cape May
Hot sand toasted my feet, butterfly kite bobbed in the Atlantic Ocean breeze. I hadn't flown a kite in years, and never at the beach, but from now, a kite will be as essential as sunscreen and flip-flops when I go to the seashore. One of the best parts of living in Lancaster is being only a few hours away from the ocean. On Wednesday, my mother, sister Brenda, five teenaged nieces, one niece's friend, and I went to Cape May, New Jersey, just a one-day girls' trip to the beach. The day came … [Read more...] about A July Day at Cape May
Happy New Year!
The pork simmers in the slow cooker, and we have sauerkraut in the fridge— tonight we will feast. Pork and sauerkraut are traditional Pennsylvania German dishes for January 1. On Saturday, I bought the pork loin, a great 9-lb slab, on sale at Oregon Dairy Supermarket. At the crowded meat counter, I saw another shopper's cart loaded with pork, sauerkraut, and hot dogs. Another folk tradition, one I learned about only recently, is burning bayberry candles on New Year's Day for good luck in … [Read more...] about Happy New Year!
Delivering the Papers
It was a hand-me-down paper route for eighteen years, starting with my oldest brother and ending with the youngest. My parents viewed the job as a safe way to learn responsibility. When I got my turn at age 11, I was just happy to earn money for books and art supplies. With a new bike I had gotten for my birthday, I was ready to go. Back then, Lancaster Newspaper published a morning and afternoon edition, the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era, respectively. My older … [Read more...] about Delivering the Papers