This passed weekend was the singles retreat in PA. Ken & Carmel rode with me to Harrisonburg, VA and I continued on from there on Friday.
Since I had plenty of time, I spent a little time in Harrisonburg, getting my car battery replaced, a long overdue deed, and driving around, occasionally arguing with GPS.
Once such wrong turn (my fault) had me on a country road where I passed this church, Old Order Mennonite, maybe? There were two gentlemen out painting the posts with the hitching rail. I stopped and asked if I could take some pictures of the church. He said I could as long as I kept him out of the pictures. 
And just as I was getting back in car, a man in a truck stopped to ask what part of Georgia I come from. I told him and he said he knows where that is, drives a mail truck near there, in fact, would be going that way this week. Small world!
I went on to a mill that Carmel had told me about. It had a delightful store in the lower floor, with braided rag rugs, hand painted dinnerware, oil paintings of the mill and other neat pieces of art & souveniers for sale.
This is from a Civil War battlefield which I didn’t tour, just shot a picture.
On to Penn Valley where we had a lovely weekend, seeing friends from all over. The committee had really put a lot of work into making it a fun-filled weekend.
On the way home we stopped in MD to spend the night with friends of ours whom we hadn’t seen in at a few years. Not since two little boys joined their family. It was great to catch up with them again. It was a beautiful evening outside and we enjoyed pizza mountain pies in their back yard. Some pics for those of you who know Terry & Lola:
Little brother wants to climb the doorway too! He needed a little assistance and still didn’t quite make it!
It’s good to be home again but I lost enough sleep to make me feel half sick by last night. I feel something going on with my sinuses which may mean I am half-sick. Hope it doesn’t get worse.
Because … today is Happy Birthday for my brother Henry who turned 50 today. Some of my family will be here this weekend to have a fish fry that Chip and Henry are in charge of at our house. Eating some goodies that they brought back from their Alaska trip.
~ Marylou
great pictures, as always! hey, you should’ve been in GA this past weekend! =] disappointed not to have been able to see you, funny how we traded states for a few days! =] hope your trip to pa was lovely!
Unless there’s another identical church to that one, we stopped and took pictures of it too a couple of years ago when we were there. We thought it was so unique with all the hitching posts. And was Lola’s maiden name Orendorf? Or maybe her mom was an Orendorf? If so, I knew her from years ago. Looking forward to Saturday night!
That first picture is L.O.V.E.L.Y!!!!! Love it! Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow!
Ok, Now you made me homesick. I used to live in H’burg and spent gobs of time near Mole Hill, the church and the mill. One day when I am feeling more wealthy than today I am going to order a print of that Mole Hill picture…. one day.
What a surprise to see pics of my nephew and his family on your site. They are a beautiful family. Your other pics are just lovely too.
Your pictures were especially interesting to me too! That’s my ole stomping ground. Only Silver Lake Mill was a working mill then with feed trucks sitting around when I lived there.
I remember climbing door frames too when I was a child. Loved all your pictures!
@tremae – He’s your nephew? I had no idea! They are a lovely family!
@Yoderfamilyof5 – Her maiden name was Yoder. I thought the hitching posts made it such an interesting place, too. 🙂
@grandpas_gurl – So sorry to have missed y’all too! Talk about timing! 🙁 We did have a lovely time!!
hey hey, loved the pics of the barns and stuff 🙂 Penn Valley is like 20 minutes from where i will be in 2 weeks
and which battefield is that?
Loved the pictures. My boys used to climb the doors like that and the walls.
nice to seee the pics of Terry’s. i haven’t seen them in a long time either. Terry is my cousin.:)