Shangrao Shindig

We attended the first-ever Shangrao reunion in Lancaster, PA. It was such fun to meet all the children from Ava's city. There are two orphanages and both were well-represented. Sophie and Ava had a blast playing with little ones their age, and the older children helped the little ones do crafts. Here are a couple shots.The children played "Ring Around the Rosie" before supper

"We all fall down..."

The organizers had fun crafts for the children to do

The next day we went to Long's Park which had a petting zoo inside.

The children enjoyed the face painting!

"We came all the way to Lanc-CASS-ter County and didn't see a single live Ay-mish"
;o) ;o) ;o)
(just trying to sound like tourists)

Berries!

We went to visit Daddy and get his golf cart to go behind the mill to the wild berry patch. Ripening right now are "wineberries" which you can read about HERE. Can you believe that the last time we went picking we were impatiently waiting for Ava's TA??? There was no crop last year because of the terrible draught. They're fun to pick and eat when they're sun-warmed/ripened, but the flavor is not as intense as their raspberry and blackberry cousins. The blandness would remind you of mulberries, perhaps. We go just for the fun of it, not to take home to make jam or sauce. Tried that once and it was such a flop.

"How can I help Daddy today??" The girls like to watch the trucks dump. Sometimes they even get to hold the button to raise and lower the trucks.

They're not picky---any color berry will do! :o)

Showing Daddy the haul.

This picture reminds me so much of "Blueberries for Sal" in which the baby bear eats all the berries out mama's bucket.

Beautiful red berries!

A day in the life

We've not seen much of Doug lately, especially in daylight hours. He's been putting in terrible hours these last two weeks (some days it's been 3am-8pm), but thankfully, it's nearly over. When farmers go gangbusters to get grain harvested, so do the guys who take in the grain to store it for the farmer. When it doesn't rain, there's no break. Ergo, I LOVE a good rain. Especially a Friday evening rain...nothing like it. That means no Saturday away from the family. Thankfully our faith keeps one day a week away from work, rain OR shine. I heart Sundays. And rain. Did I mention that??

I decided to take the camera over to capture a few minutes of his day. Maybe you city lurkers, and you country, and related-to-me and home-folks lurkers (I know you're out there, leave a comment or howdy, will ya?) will enjoy a slice of the country life. This is where your bread and cake comes from. Thank a farmer today.

The trucks are lined up in the driveway, waiting for their turn to unload.

Taking orders for trailers (to be taken out to the field and filled on-site with farmers' grain), weighing, dumping, and dispatching trucks. And a few other things.

A truck pulls up on the scale, and Doug's brother runs up to sample the load to test it inside.

Running the sample, testing for moisture, weight, dirt, garlic, etc.

Deciding which tank to run it into

The truck is raised slowly...

...and the wheat pours out into the pit.

Doug's dad checks for sprouts under the magnifying glass

Rinse and repeat.

"It's a Family Tradition"
(From left, Doug's Great-Grandfather, his Grandfather, his dad holding baby Doug, his uncle, circa 1972)