A View from my Window

It's Beginning to Snow ...

My Favorite Beverage

One of my favorite homemade beverages consists of a cup of milk, a container of yogurt, a banana, an egg, and a fresh or frozen non-citrus fruit. In the picture above, for both yogurt and fruit I used strawberry; but I also like to use blueberry, and peach. I mix it all up in a blender and normally get a yield of one and a half to two glasses of the beverage. I like to make it especially after coming back from either a long bike ride, hike, or walk. It's thoroughly refreshing.

Family Gathering on Christmas Day

These are two of my nieces playing the piano at my parent's home. Their dad likes to play the piano, too. Many years ago, before they were born and before their dad was married, he had a piano moved to his apartment on a farm wagon. And their father played the piano along the way.

You can see more pictures of our family Christmas gathering in my Photo Album.

More of my Nephews

Family is important to me. I love my nephews and nieces. Here is a picture of my youngest nephew with a Christmas gift he received yesterday being rubbed across his face.


These nephews of mine are from a different family. They were at the Christmas dinner yesterday but this photo was taken sometime earlier.

Christmas Eve at the Cosands

After our Christmas Eve service at church, some of our family went to the Cosands for snacks, fellowship, and game playing. This particular game Deflexion is sometimes referred to as Laser Chess.

My Three Nieces on Christmas Eve

These are my three nieces after the Christmas Eve service at my church. Their mother made their dresses. They also had a part in the program for the evening and did very well; they did not have an ounce of stagefright in them.

Tangled Roots

The above ground roots of this plant gives me the sensation of mystery and foreboding that one might experience in the forests of Middle Earth. Are those roots live and intelligent capable of wrapping around any nearby travelers trespassing upon its grounds? It is a plant that lets my imagination go wild.

Two More of my Nephews at Christmas Time

These are two more of my nephews. Their father along with another brother of mine run a greenhouse business.

Strawberry Cool Whip Cookies

This morning I made some delicious cookies using Ma Beck's recipe. The ingredients are a moist cake mix, Cool Whip, and an egg. I chose to use to use Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Strawberry Supreme cake mix. I also rolled them in granulated sugar instead of powdered sugar. I recommend them to anyone. Also in my oven, I only baked them for ten minutes; I think the recipe said thirteen minutes.

A Visit to Ott's Greenhouses

This afternoon I visited Ott's Greenhouses near Schwenksville, PA. It is a place my parents took my siblings and me as a frequent childhood outing. They have a conservatory that contains a large water fall and tropical and desert plants. The conservatory portion is not pictured here but I took a few photos of other plants they grow including cacti, orchids, decorative red peppers, and kale.

A Child's Sense of Awe

This one of my nephews who is almost two years old. Sometimes I too need to become a little child again and look with awe at life.

Children's Christmas Program at My Church

Every year at my church the children put on a Christmas program. This program was held this morning followed by a fellowship time of homemade cookies and punch. It's a time I look forward to every year. Several pictures from the program are below. During the refreshment time, I also had a lot of fun playing with a group of younger children who were trying to take me captive.

An Afternoon at Mom and Dad's Home

After church today, I went to Mom and Dad's home for dinner. We had ham, potatoes, string beans, homemade applesauce, and yummy strawberry pie. After dinner, we played Upwords and Rummykub and with dad alone I played Figmill - a favorite game of his from childhood up. I also got to see and play with Dad's new puppy Sparky. Sparky is sitting on my dad's lap in the picture below.

An Afternoon at Stover's State Park, High Rocks State Park, and Tohickon Park

This afternoon I went for a hike in Stover's State Park, High Rocks State Park, and Tohickon Park in the area along Tohickon Creek. It was a beautiful, partly sunny afternoon with the temperatures in the thirties Fahrenheit. There had been a light snow during the prior night.



This is me along the hilly trail in Tohickon Park.



This a view from the top of the cliffs in High Rocks State Park
with Tohickon Creek being down at the bottom.



At several places along the trail, there were turkey buzzards
huddled in trees like in this one.



This is a view of Tohickon Creek from Stover's State Park.



This is a portion of one of many stone walls in Tohickon Park.



Here's some moss on the rocks in Tohickon Park.

More Thanksgiving Day Pictures - The Mini-Farm

One of my brothers as a hobby runs what might be called a mini-farm. So on Thanksgiving Day afternoon, a number of us went out to see his livestock. Below are pictures of some of the many kinds of animals he and his children raise.

A pet guinea pig

A few bantams

Bottle-feeding a baby goat who was not getting enough milk from his mother

A curious little goat

Our Thanksgiving Day Gathering

Here we are sitting down for our Thanksgiving meal of turkey, oyster filling, mash potatoes with cheese, home-made cranberry whole wheat bread, and much more. For dessert, we had pumpkin pie, apple pie, a very rich chocolate chip brownie, pumpkin roll, and fresh fruit salad.

Among other people, here are some of my nine nephews and nieces.

Here some of us are preparing to play Spoons. It can get to be a very active game when everybody tries to grab a spoon with there always being one less spoon than players.

Here are some pictures of my nephews and nieces and other family members.

Junior Youth Fall Activity Night

Towards the end of October, I participated in my church's Junior Mennonite Youth Fall Activity Night. The junior youth consists of sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. I was present because I teach the sixth graders on Sunday mornings. Below are three pictures from that night.


In the above picture, we are playing a variant form of musical chairs.

In the above picture, we are doing a relay race in which we had to run with a cotton ball attached to our noses by means of vasoline.

This also was a relay race in which each person needed to stop at three plates and eat the item on it before moving to the next one without using our hands except to hold the plate still. The first plate had a grahm cracker on it; the second, pieces of a chocolate bar; and the third, a marshmellow. In this picture, I am the one eating the chocolate bar pieces.

Autumn in Souderton/Telford Area

Autumn picture was taken 8 Nov 2005

A Hiking Trip in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area

Pictures from October 31, 2005