I should have

blogged about a lot of stuff.
We had a few very busy weeks and I have neglected our blog.
I could have written about:
-My families visit for over 3 weeks
-Our wedding
-Our visit to Cape May
-How I suddenly felt the earth open under me and I still have nightmares about it
-How I finally seem to find my way around here
-How even the day before thanksgiving people stay polite in the markets
-Visiting towns like Intercourse, Bird in Hand and how we got some waves from a few Amish
-The fact my son got his first leather cowboyhat
-And how we both dressed up for Halloween
-We have a real soap opera in our garden with the squirrels and birds since we put up feeders
-I really was shocked to find out Sinterklaas already arrived in the Netherlands and I still can't believe it is November
But...I will have to get back on you for those.
For now I wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving.
Tomorrow we will cook our first turkey together and I am still figuring out how to fit it into the oven.
And we are having pumpkinpie. Never thought I would like it, but I do and also sweet potatoes, yummie!

Anyway, I will get back to you guys soon with all kind of stories.
But for now, we are celebrating everything we are grateful for tomorrow.
And believe me if I say I have a lot to celebrate tomorrow,

Happy Thanksgiving.

Edited to add a picture of the turkey Jack cooked.
It tasted really good.
Now we have to find out what to do with the left overs.

Honest

We didn't disappear from the face of the earth.
But my parents are visiting, we got married and we are enjoying these great temperatures we are having.
Today was close to 25 degrees celcius...honest!
We have done so much already, today we were in Lancaster for example, saw Amish on skeelers.
Honestly, I can proof it once I can get to my pictures.
Later this week we hope to drive off to Cape May, New Jersey for a few days.
Just need a dog sitter for the two boys. We need a bigger car, so they all can come.
Also, today we saw Santa, HONEST...it said so on his license plate and once we overtook that car, there he was. White beard, bold head.
Too bad I only was able to get a picture of his license plate.

Oh, and we had sweet potatoes today, first time for me.
Never thought I would find the taste of hutspot in an ugly looking potato.
But the best thing was, never thought I would like them, I mean, who would like a root that is named Yam, but I did.

But, what I wanted to say, we will be back soon.
Sigh, hard to belief tomorrow is already our 1 week anniversary.

See ya,

Peet

Sooooo much going on

First of all, I had a major breakdown, or as we say, een dippie.
With everything going on I felt like being stuck in the house, all I did was being busy with the house and that was it.
Even for a little thing as a carton of milk, I had to ask Jack to get it on his way from work.

Those are the joys of not having a drivers license or a bike.
Honestly, I miss my bike the most. Giant and Dollartree and a hairdresser are close enough to get there on the bike. But there is this nice highway in between.
Oh well, effe doorbijten, soon we can start lessons.
LOL, Jack still thinks he can teach me.

Also, we have a new floor downstairs, it is beautiful but takes a bit getting used to, specially for the dogs. They have these long legs and no traction on this floor...

And, Monday we are getting married. In Gettysburg in a nice little inn.
Turned out it was not easy to find someone to marry us in the place we wanted without getting religious parts involved.
But, we found a bhoedist priest who will, hopefully give us a nice ceremony. We have a very good feeling after meeting her.
Getting our marriage license prooved to be harder.
They had never mentioned that they needed a certified translation of the divorce records until the moment we came in to get our license.
So we had to find someone to translate and put a nice seal on it.
Sometimes I wonder if that is all they are looking for, something shiny that gives them the feeling it is official.
It took a few days before we had it, but, it arrived just in time.
So now we have permission to get married, LOL.

Right now I am waiting for Jack to come back from the airport. If all went as planned, my parents and one of my sisters landed just a few minutes ago.
Just in time to celebrate Halloween with us.
We had so much fun getting the house decorated and what is even more fun is that my 14 year old son decided he wants to dress up for handing out the candy during trick or treat.
Don't have pictures of that yet, but I will make sure we will get plenty.
Do have a few of the house already, so enjoy.

In the meantime, I will get ready for the visitors and will talk to you soon.

6 Hours ???

That is the difference between the Netherlands and Dillsburg Pennsylvania.


But some times it looks years in stead of hours. Like last week, a windy day.
A very windy day and that means power outages...
At least two and both of them lasted for more than an hour.
Fall only just started, not really looking forward to real winterweather with icerain.
Reason is the American habit of having all wiring for electricity, phone and internet for example, above the ground. A drunken driver can cause a whole neighborhood to loose power for hours. Sigh, with bad weather you can at least predict a possible outage.
Now, mind you, we live in a pretty new development, all wiring under ground.
But...only in the development, the lines leading here are still above.

And that isn't the only thing I feel like I stepped back in time.
Looking for having one of my pictures printed on canvas turned out to be rather expensive and not yet widely available.

On the other hand,people seem to put an old fashioned effort into cooking and baking.
Which puts me into a bad spot, I am a horrible cook. But, in this case, I am willing to learn. So many good looking receipts are to be found everywhere, that I already had to try some.

For the last few weeks we have been looking at replacing some stuff that Jack has.
Like forks, spoons, that kind of stuff, some nice lamps were on the list and with our new laminate floor installed next week, we needed some carpets.
And don't tell Jack, but the kitchen is out of date and has some water damage.
So I had been keeping an eye open when at Lowes or Homedepot.
But man, that is scary stuff, so old fashioned.
Just like much of the furniture we saw or the tableware.
So I had to put my foot down on some stuff, we were gonna wait for our trip to ...


Ikea!!!


Ha, Jack thought we would be done in a morning.
Yeah, right. Anyway, last weekend we went to Baltimore, a drive, just over 1,5 hours.
Do-able, specially when you are in dear need of a Europe rush.
And that is what I got, honest, the meatballs are the same here as they are in Groningen.
Jack got a culture shock...but in a good way.

After 4 hours of shopping, we will combine the old fashioned, but sometimes charming American stuff with some real modern European style.
Jack is in awe over how cheap some of the stuff is, I am just very happy with the straight, simple lines and the fact I can pretend I am in Groningen when I am really desperate and go for a trip to Ikea.
Because Ikea is like Mac Donalds, they all are the same.

Fall in Pennsylvania

Deze keer weer een Nederlands blogje. Veel foto's om een beetje een idee te geven van de omgeving.

Het begint hier zolangzamerhand herfst te worden.
Qua temperatuur overdag zitten we nog niet op Nederlandse herfstwaardes, maar 's nachts begint het toch behoorlijk fris te worden. Dus laten we de ramen nu iets minder wijd openstaan.
Herfst in PA betekent oogst tijd, we zitten hier midden in appelcountry en een van de grote appelharvest fairs word hier vlak bij, in Adams County gehouden.
Vorig weekeinde was het zover. Van verre ruik je de cider die gemaakt wordt en zie je de rook die onstaat als giga stukken vlees op de bbq's liggen te garen.
Het was er smoor druk, iedereen kwam om zich te vergapen aan de rijen standjes met kitscherige artikelen, in perfecte staat verkerende stoommachines en glimmend gepoetste oldtimers. Ondertussen werden de vele voedselstandjes aangedaan.
Alles op het gebied van appels was er te krijgen, taart, lollies, moes, cider en vele soorten appels in natuurlijke staat.
Maar ook de meest bijzondere voedsel combinaties, zoals gefrituurde uien en bloemvorm, gefrituurde oreo koekjes.
De democraten verkochten fudge en even verderop werd reclame gemaakt voor bijbel en hun specifieke interpretatie ervan.
Mocht je niet geinteresseerd zijn, dan kon je nog altijd je eigen vogelverschrikker bouwen of een ritje maken op een pony aangesloten op een systeem dat het enkel toestond een klein cirkeltje te draaien. Of je ging naar de petting zoo waar een 5 dagen oud kalfje in een hok van 1,5 bij 1,5 m lag naast de kittens die in een draagkennel zaten.
Mochten jullie het idee krijgen dat ik dit gedeelte van de fair minder aangenaam vond dan hebben jullie gelijk.
Maar verder was het leuk, mensen kijken op een heerlijke warme dag eind september , wat wil je nog meer?

Verder zitten er bij de foto's een aantal die een idee geven van de omgeving hier, van ons uitzicht als we 's avonds op onze frontporch zitten. Jaaaaa, nog steeds.
Dit weekeinde schijnt het zelfs weer warm genoeg te worden voor shorts.

Maar nu de foto's:

Relationship problems

I do not say this easily, but my relationship with one member of this household is forever down the drain, over, finished.
I can officially state now that there is one thing I hate...


And that is our vacuum.
It is too big, to heavy, too noisy and gives me a backache while trying to use it.
Not sure if it is just this one, but if it were just me, I would never ever get an upright vacuum again.

With 4 dogs and 3 people we need a good vacuum, but from the start my relationship with the resident vacuum has been troubled to say the least.
And I am not on my own, both female dogs in this household run, hide with their tails tucked to their bellies from this loud monster.
So maybe it is a female thing, since Jack praises it ability to get the rugs in the house clean.

I don't know, when I try to vacuum the rugs, I have a hard time keeping the vacuum from eating them.
But when I try to vacuum the linoleum, it seems to have lost its appetite and it won't suck up a thing.

And than the problem I have with keeping it upright, there is a hose attached to it that I need to use for the couches. Constantly I forget that this monster is upright on its ' thing' and not on 4 comfortable little wheels that make maneuvering around easy and simple.
It reminds me by falling over on a regular base and usually hitting me on the shins.

Honestly, I think this type of vacuum was invented by men.
No way a woman could have created such a monster.
That, or this particular one hates me.
But, it is still working and since I am Dutch, it will stay around until it drops dead but forgive me if I am in the meantime eying those slender, elegant and light vacuums and daydreaming about one day maybe owning one again.

Btw: the shown vacuum isn't ours. It only looks similar.

Creepy crawlers, oftewel....

Beestjes, allemaal beestjes.

Behalve voordelen, heeft een grote tuin met een waterpartij (stroompje) ook zijn nadelen.
Beestjes en in een ander land ook nog eens andere beestjes dan we gewend zijn. Hoewel, dat 'tje' in veel gevallen weg te laten is.
Behalve een mooie bruine kleur, kreeg ik hier ook binnen een mum van tijd bulten, niet een paar, maar mijn armen, benen en andere aan de buitenlucht vrijgegeven huidoppervlaktes zijn gesierd met tientallen jeukende, rode bulten.
Op dit moment zit er zelfs een net onder mijn wenkbrauw. Ik probeer hem ongelofelijk hard te vergeten om te zorgen dat ik deze ook niet open krab.
Voorlopig zal dit ook wel even zo blijven, want we zijn hardop aan het werk om afgebroken takken en woekerende struiken te verwijderen.
En ja, ik draag handschoenen en ben erg voorzichtig ivm de poison ivy die hier ook lustig groeit.
En ik stap ook niet in het water zonder laarzen aan, volgens zeggen zijn er hier haast geen giftige slangen, maar ik loop liever niet het risico om tegen een hapgrage waterslang aan te lopen.

Vandaag heb ik voor het eerst een praying mantis gezien. Wat een ongelofelijk gaaf beest is dat. Het exemplaar dat hier naast de voordeur zat was minstens 10 cm groot.
Moet zeggen dat ik me toch even ongemakkelijk voelde toen mijn camera piepte en 2 ogen op mij gericht werden.

Verder leven er hier in de tuin ook nog bulten konijnen en eekhoorns. De laatsten zie je op dit moment constant met noten in hun bekkies lopen, leuk gezicht.
Een andere knager die ik nog niet gezien heb, maar zijn aanwezigheid duidelijk kenbaar maakt is de chipmunk, het exemplaar in onze tuin heeft een duidelijke voorkeur voor mijn pas geplante herfst astertjes. Zoals te zien op de foto is inmiddels een struikje volledig ontdaan van zijn bloemen.

Wat het nog grotere spul aangaat....
Op de golfbaan aan de andere kant van de straat leeft een coyote.
Zoals onze buurman vertelde, denk aan een magere herders hond met een heel slecht humeur.
Reden voor mij om nog eens met zoonlief en Jack de veiligheid van onze honden door te nemen. Overdag is er niets aan de hand, maar zou een van onze honden ontsnappen en dit exemplaar tegenkomen dan is dit einde hond. En een kleine 5-tal km hier vandaan leeft een teef met puppen, het mannetje is dit voorjaar afgeschoten. Maar ook beren en bergleeuwen schijnen hier niet onbekend te zijn.

Het verhaal over die roze olifant heb ik mijn twijfels over, of zou het toch....