Weekend in Chambersburg, PA

We spent the weekend in Chambersburg PA and it was rather wet all weekend with rain pretty much the entire time. We still did what we wanted to do though. Went into Charles Town and actually got to shop in this really neat Retro store we have been eyeing for months online and then out here. We bought our kitchen table and chairs, well ordered them finally. Very exciting for us since we have wanted a retro set for a very long time.
We headed to Gettysburg and did some of the Battlefield tour with Richard as my tour guide. He loves the history there, well so do I but he is a great tour guide! We toured the home where the only civilian was shot and killed during the battle that took place in Gettysburg. I had toured it before but Richard had never been there. Oh and little Ellen enjoyed it as well, what a little trooper tour dog she is.
I did take some pictures and will load those later on.
The latest on our move, Friday is move in day! Wow finally....again thank you to my cousin Lynne, David and Big Ellen for opening their home to me(and little Ellen) for this long. :)

Big Walk Through Day

Today we had our "Final Walk Through" in our new home here in Maryland. Our house has turned out beautiful. The walk through was to be sure everything is in working order and also for us to learn how to work things in and around the house. Since we are new to the East Coast we know nothing of air conditioning units, and things of that sort. We needed to know where things are, shut off valves, blah, blah, blah. There were only a few things that needed attention so we will close on time next Friday. I can't even explain how we feel about finally moving in other than "More than Excited". It will feel good to have our Arroyo Grande home, well the inside of it, placed in this new home here.I did take a couple of pictures, wanted to take more but we were so busy learning everything, just plain ran out of time. :)

Stairway from Lower Level to Main Level, exciting I know... :)

Breakfast Area and Front Door, sorry blurry...Living Room and deck...so pretty out there!Lower Level Slider to back yard, again so pretty. The sectioned off part is for Richard's Pool Table and Game Room...Party At the Awalt's!

Amish Way of Living

We visited Hershy,PA where the town smells of chocolate and the street lights are Hershey Kisses :)
After some thought we decided to head to Mt. Gretna where I have spent time as a child, teen and adult at my late Aunt Peggy's cottage. The lake looks so different in the Fall. Everything looked different with all of the leaves on the ground. I have always loved it there and will enjoy more time there. Our daughter's and son in law have stayed there as well. I look forward to more time in the future. It is a peaceful place to be with fond memories as well.
I remembered to take my camera so after checking out a really cool Antique Store we headed back towards Lancaster to see some Amish Country. The day was beautiful, sunny and crispy. A bit of winter approaching maybe?
We drove by a school house for the Amish children, I got out of the car to take a picture. The children go to school from K-8th grade and that is it. Therefore there are no Amish Doctor's or Lawyer's. Interesting though it is observed by most people here that the penmanship and math skills of the Amish is much better than the English (this is the Amish word for people that are not Amish) due to no Computers or Calculator's. Makes sense I guess. They are very sweet people as we had some chances to speak with them in their shops, the wood working they do is really incredible.
We were in awe of the beautiful countryside, the farm land, the Amish and English farms are side by side with huge silo's. Enjoy the pictures of the beauty of our day.

Also it was fun to see the horse and buggy's along the road's or parked inside the barns.
And then there is our Trouper of a Traveller "Miss Ellen"
She seems to love to go here and there with us. We take her in stores, restaurants really anywhere. She loves her new bag, bed, area of her own. I carry it as my purse and no one really knows she is with us, unless she pops her head out. She does love the attention and yes she does seem to get loads of it from perfect strangers. Gotta love this face!

Growing Fast

The Mr. Emerick at 5 weeks old...

Mr. Emerick Paul is growing fast and I won't see him until mid December. Anne keeps me up to date with a new photo via my cell phone each day and then again I steal pictures from her blog as well. It certainly keeps me up to date and then I update my blog too!


Meanwhile this countryside here in the pretty state of PA is rather amazing. I forgot to take my camera with me yesterday to the Amish County and I am so sad about that. We did manage to tour an Amish Farm House and learn about how and why the Amish people live the way they do. It amazes me how they live right with the English and also could be your next door neighbor around there as well. The horses are absolutely beautiful that pull their buggies through town and out and about to where they may need to go. We stopped by one of the farms and there was a young boy selling Root Beer that he says they make each day. They also had some "Shoo Fly Pie" which is really yummy too. I remember my Aunt Peggy taking me to have some pie when I was young. Being right on an Amish Farm was really a neat thing to be able to do. So with that we are off to another part of the PA countryside and today I will take my camera!

First Day In Pennsylvania

Today I finally made it to Pennsylvania to see where my Hubby has been living and working since July. As he says "Welcome to my world here in PA"! First a nice surprise phone call from Margaret Bennett a friend from Arroyo Grande that she was in the Baltimore area for a conference. So we met in Havre de Grace and she got a wonderful view of our new home. Wow I could not believe how much progress had been accomplished in just one week. We now have a completed painted, cleaned house, clean windows, ready for the sod and landscaping to be installed. Feels like home, just missing our furniture and belongings. Soon though, actually just two weeks from today we will be calling Havre de Grace home. We even have a few new things to add to our home too! I can't wait to have my cousins over for a dinner or dinners, they deserve first class treatment, they have been amazing during our transition and have made me feel right at home as well.

Margaret was snapping pictures as I was narrating, so as soon as I have those pictures I will post them. Our home is incredible, quite nice, homey and comfy.

Back to our adventure weekend in PA, Amish county, Richard will give me the big tour tomorrow. Oh and we went to the movie tonight (a date) and saw "Changeling" it was quite good, intense but really excellent. I highly recommend it! Oh and it was Little Ellens first movie adventure, she slept through the entire show!( yes we smuggled her in)

Hello and love to all of my California loved ones, I do miss you....see you in December, wow next month!

Two Weeks and Counting

Two Weeks To Go

Yep, we actually move into our new home in Havre de Grace, Maryland on Nov.21st. I haven't seen our home for almost a week so I will drive North in the morning to have a look at the progress. Then my friend Margaret is in Maryland for a conference in Baltimore so she gets a tour of our new home too! I am excited for this weekend, heading even further North to Harrisburg near where Richard has been working. We will stay the weekend there and adventure out,more vacation, yay! So anyway, look for more up to date pictures on Monday of our new home. We are so excited that it is so close to completion.

Wonderful Day

Gorgeous Fall Day here in Maryland today. Enjoyed the company of my cousins in Bel Air, which is where my Mom was born and raised. Our new home just happens to be in the same county too! (Harford County)

I just had to get out of the car and take these picture's

"Little Gunpowder Falls" which divides Baltimore County and Harford County. Our new home in Havre de Grace is in Harford County. Just a pretty drive to and from my cousin Lynne's' place in Ellicott City, which has been home to me since leaving California. I have the best family out here, they have made me feel so at home and so comfortable too, I am so grateful!

Bridge over "Little Gunpowder Falls"

After our beautiful ride back to Ellicott City little Ellen decided she wanted to enjoy a fall day and play in the leaves. She has her new Fall Coat on too! :)

"Lovin the leaves"

"Ah Mom do I have to go in."

"

"Hi"

Our Sunday Outing

Today was a great day out and about in three different states. Imagine that in one day. Can't do that in California now could we? We first went to a place called New Market,Maryland which is a beautiful tree lined street full of antiques shops. We went in every one of them that was open too! Then we went on to Charles Town,West Virginia which is named for Charles Washington, yep that would be President George's brother! We found a cute coffee shop and cool shops too. We wanted to go in one but it was closed on Sunday. Which brings me to this interesting note: We had lunch at a cute place in New Market that on the sign outside said they served "Samuel Adams Beer" so when we ordered our lunch and asked for a beer the answer was: " I am sorry we do not serve beer on Sunday's" Wow we really are not in California anymore! The third state we were in was Virginia but we didn't stop, we just drove though.

On that note it really was a beautiful Fall day out and I did manage to get my camera out and take some pictures of the fall beauty which I will post another night. Today was exhausting.....we are on a full time vacation out here so we decided.

Where Is Waldo?

So my cousin Ellen (my dog's namesake) dresses up for Halloween each year too. She is a teacher here in Maryland. Silly girl, they all dressed up as Waldo, where is she? Here are a couple of hints. 1) She has glasses on. 2)She is in the front row.3)She is the one in the front row second one from the left! Ya I know I just gave it away! And a side note for those that remember when Ellen came to Cali. for a visit as my foreign exchange student..hahhaha, no really someone actually asked me that! Hahahhah.

Anyway...Happy Halloween to all and to all a goodnight!

"The House"

I forgot to post this picture but I was so excited to see our front door painted. Then I went inside and saw the entire house was finished with the painting as well! Landscaping is next and a few finishing touches are needed before our close date. Soon though :)

Bulle Rock Kind Of Day

This is an old apartment building that my friend Jackie's Grandmother lived in and is now a Hotel. Such a small world!

A 'One Way" back entrance/exit to Rt. 40 from Bulle Rock

"I am cozy in the car"




Beautiful pond on the Bulle Rock Golf Course





Fall is showing and this is just behind our home!

Today was a day in Bulle Rock to look around and browse our new neighborhood. I was able to find so much near us to do and see. I was even able to find an old apartment building for Jackie that her Grandmother lived in way back in 1953! Wow what a world this is that my friend actually has roots right where we ended up! By the way Bulle Rock is the name of our development, we actually live in Havre de Grace. Bulle Rock is famous for it's wonderful golf course for FYI. With that I went by our new place and was amazed at how much was finished up just since Saturday. We now have carpet, a stove and microwave, a dishwasher, the entire place is painted even the front door has it's finished coat of paint. I was so excited when I saw the place today. I even found the post office, a great coffee shop(VERY IMPORTANT) and lots of good shopping too! (Another VERY IMPORTANT item in the life of Grammy Pammy) :) Ellen was a trooper with me today as well, she stayed rather cozy in her sweater on her down blanket in my car.

Rainy Day

Today has been rather rainy and a bit chilly for my California bones. However I must admit the beauty of this place is worth every extra bit of clothing I am need of placing on my body. I ventured out and shopped a bit for groceries and things. Little Ellen is adjusting but she is a bit nervous at this point. Poor baby has been staying with different dear friends, relatives and even took her first flight across country without a whimper. Richard took good care of her while we walked through our new home in progress. We even met most of our neighbors along the way. Ellen was a big hit for sure in the neighborhood. As you can see Richard had her bundled up just fine. :)

Our New Home

Joanne and I standing on our back porch in Havre de Grace, Maryland

Our friends Joanne and Eddie are our first visitor's from California so we went out to a local pub to celebrate.

This is our view from the back of our home looking from our deck upstairs.

We are very excited about our move to the east coast and can't wait until our home is completed in about three weeks.