Can I get a "Witness"?

So I survived the first heatwave of 2008. I think the picture below of Swiff sums it up pretty well! Poor thing, this is him last Saturday, the first day of the heatwave, when him and I were without air conditioning til 5:30pm.

A lot of people are very complain-ey about the heat. I surprised myself by not being one of those people. But, you know what, talk to me again in August, and I will probably be singing a very different tune.

Anyway, it was over by early week, when a big swoosh of wind came in, bringing cooler air, and tons and tons of thunder and lightning. It was completely awesome. Unfortunately not awesome for Sean's mom, who was in town for a visit, and her plane was supposed to leave Philly right around the time the thunderstorms started. She was on the runway for over 3 hrs! Poor thing. Rose, we loved having you here, hope you had a great time!

On Wednesday, I called Sean 32 times from 5:15 pm to 5:54 pm. He had left work at a different time than me, so he took the train home. I hopped on the subway after work as usual, and right about Girard Ave. I realized with a sinking feeling that I didn't have my car keys with me. We only have one car, which was sitting at the Park and Ride, and Sean was comfortably at home, with no car, and both sets of car keys! At Race-Vine, I sailed up to the street level at 5:15 and made the first of many, many calls home to Sean to notify him of this. He was asleep, and his phone had slipped through a couch cushion, so he did not hear any of my calls. At precisely 5:54 p.m. he finally answered, w/a sleepy "hello?" I roared "I called you 32 times!" "(expletive) (expletive)". I told him of the situation, and followed it with, "I'm very concerned you didn't answer the phone. What if I was dying, and wanted to tell you my last words?" I'm not sure if there are many things more frustrating than not being able to reach someone over the phone. On the bright side, while waiting to finally reach him - so I could get back on the subway to the Park and Ride - I got to roam around one of my favorite areas in Philly: Center City. Below are pictures of Love Park, and City Hall. City Hall is the most gorgeous building right in the middle of Broad Street.

Fortunately, our dear friend Dave (below, right) was able to save the day. He picked Sean up from our house, and deposited him with the keys to the Park and Ride, and we all lived happily ever after.

Anyway, this morning I thought it'd be fun to do some sightseeing, and go somewhere we'd never been before. Sean immediately suggested Lancaster Country to see the Amish, which I thought was a great idea. It's about 50 miles away, through some very pretty areas of Pennsylvania. Here's Sean and I, by the Intercourse, PA sign. He thought it was hilarious...can't you tell?

As you can imagine, the food there was delicious. We stopped at the Stoltfus Farm Restaurant. Sean had the most tender, yummy roast beef with gravy of his life, w/a side of noodles and green beans. I had the sausage sandwich w/peppers and onions. They make their own sausage, and it was heavenly. For starters, they brought out freshly baked bread, and apple butter. I am in love with apple butter.


Being in Amish Country was exactly what I thought it would be like. I love that movie 'Witness' w/Harrison Ford, and it was just like that. Horse-drawn buggies on the road, hard-working men plowing the fields in their wide brim hats and suspenders, the ladies in the prim dresses and small white bonnets. Our next stop was a neat old covered bridge, which I'm sure looks even more picturesque in the fall, with the changing leaves.

Sean, inside the bridge

A few shots of Sean and I, outside the bridge

This next one is my favorite picture of the whole day. Sean is trying to get a picture of the Amish in the buggy, but is trying to be covert about it, so he's waving to them to be nice, and instead gets a blurry shot of the horse. If you look closely, in the rear-view mirror, you can see the bridge.


My long arms always take the best pictures of the two of us!

The next few pictures are of the horse-drawn buggies on the road. I love this next one, you might have to click on it to see it bigger, the buggy is waiting for cars to go by before pulling out into traffic.

This road sign is neat too. We got a magnet of it.

We stopped at one of the farmer's markets to stroll around, and buy a few things. I got a pecan sticky bun. It was sooooo good. The picture below is of this little weird little doll made out of kitchen items. It was on the clearance rack at a store in the farmer's market, 50% off of $8.99. A no brainer! Sean thought she was creepy, I loved her. Here she sits proudly in our kitchen. I am going to call her Mrs. Jones.


Well, take care, loved ones. Pennsylvania's fun, you should come for a visit. Happy birthday mom! Happy Father's Day Dad! Miss you!