Sister Day

My list of blogs to write is getting long and my days fly by! I got one sentence written this morning and now it is 10pm. That's just how life is right now. Somebody always needs something from me.

Janell and I took a day trip to Lancaster area for the funeral of our Great Uncle. Uncle Allen met more of my friends than any other relative because he and Floss opened their house and let us come for the weekend and explore Lancaster Amish country. Trips to their house always included ice cream and supper at Squire Side. He was special and I knew I wanted to be at his funeral. I cried more than I thought I would. Going to funerals isn't exactly fun, but getting to spend the day with my sister was very fun. I think we made the most of the day!

Uncle Allen loved genealogy and wrote 2 books on the Beiler and Howe families which is probably why Janell and I thought it would be most interesting to visit the farm where our great grandparents lived later in their life. The farm has been in the family since 1904 and a cousin of my Dad's still lives there. She loves showing the farm to descendants of the family and she loves history. She had lots to tell us! On the way we stopped at the grave of our great grandparents.

This is the front of the house.

Mom-mom and Pop-pop lived in an apartment on the left side--just a mud room, kitchen, living room and a bedroom or two upstairs.

We were told that Mom-mom wanted cardinals and so Pop-pop planted this pine tree to attract them.

And he planted 2 rose bushes on either side of the door. Janell and I are equally into flowers and growing things this spring and we looked at each other and asked for some clippings to see if we could start rose bushes from the original bush. Of course they were more than happy to oblige.

The Christiana Mall is always a good stop on the way home from Lancaster. Our initial plan was to check out the full Hearth and Hand line at Target which we did. And then we walked through some stores and ate at the food court. I left with 2 caffeinated beverages--because I needed them!

On our way out of the mall we went back to Gap and tried on some clothes. I found a rack of dresses on clearance and we both liked the same one. It looked really good on both of us and when we saw the price reduction was $79.99 marked down to $14.99 we both bought the dress.

The last stop was Lowe's to get root hormone for our little rose clippings. By then we were definitely tired giddy and looking a little goofy in Lowe's in funeral attire walking out with bags of potting soil.

Dad wondered how it was taking us so long to get home after he got home from the funeral. I said we were just enjoying being sisters.

My roses got planted the next day. They looked good for a week and now the leaves are yellowing. I'm expecting all the leaves to fall off and then time will tell if it will be able to regenerate growth. (I'm not holding my breath!)