The New Jersey Connection

We took a short side trip on the way to New Jersey and spent some time in Lancaster, PA. Great place with lots of wonderful quilts, furniture, etc. This is an Amish buggy, you can tell because it is gray. The Mennonite buggies are black. You have to be a little careful where you walk.







Not Joy's idea of "woman's work.












A good way to limit the number of trips to the store and the things you buy. The speed limit sign is not really necessary.










Joy's brother Bob and his wife Dot. They were great hostess and host. It is great to visit with them because we Bush supporters can gang up on Joy. Also, Bob has been around Joy enough to really know how to pull her chains. We will be back soon since they got rid of the futon and got a real bed in the guest bedroom.






Joy's niece Wendy and her family minus oldest son Ed and plus Allison's boyfriend Steve. Nephew Bob and his family were over for Sunday dinner also but they sneaked off early before we could get a pic.









Saturday was quite a day no matter which way you looked at it. Bob and Dot took us on a roving cousins tour. Wow, it started at 11am and finished about 5pm. We saw all the cousins by showing up at their houses and knocking on the door. Joy was in her glory and we won't talk about Rich. This is cousin Ruth.







cousin Eleanor













cousin Bet

We also visited cousin May Lou, cousin Peter, and cousin Ed but didn't have time for pictures.









We are home now for a while we think. Hoping for a visit from Cathy and Lucas in December.

All Tucked In For A Winter's Nap

We had a fine camping season and the Durango 5th wheel is all set in it's winter spot. Here's hoping the critters don't get too attached to if during the winter. The water has been drained and all the food stuffs are out so we just need to put antifreeze in the lines and disconnect the battery and store it. It was a fine home away from home and we indeed consider it our cottage on wheels.

We are very much comfortable with life in the camper and spent probably 60 or more days in it between May and September. I think I am beginning to realize that the life of an RV'r is one of constantly fixing the myriad of things that go wrong. We really appreciate our cars because they are relatively maintenance free but that is not the case for our camper. We they delivered the old Ford Model Ts they also included a few tools because they knew you would need them to be fixing the car but the 5th wheel did not come with any tools!! With out getting into a long litany of all the things that went wrong it is enough to say that we are now much more knowledgeable about the electric, water, suspension, tires systems than we were at the beginning of the season. Thanks to an RV dealer who is alway ready to give instructions and hints over the phone.

Now we are off to see the Bob De Boers in New Jersey with a short stop off in Amish country in Pennsylvania. We have been greatly saddened with the news that brother Roy De Boer has adrenal cancer for which they have no treatment. We are thankful that he has recover from some serious stroke-like symptoms and is home from the hospital now. We will stop by Their home in Fenton, MI to see Roy and Kristin on our way to New Jersey and again probably on our way home also. Please pray for Roy and his wife Kristin.

Flashbacks Weekend

(left to right: George Zuiderveen, Bob Noordeloos, Elaine Destigter, Joy Anema, Gretchen Zuiderveen, Ann Mary Dykstra, Angie Stegink, Leroy Stegink, Barb Noordeloos, Rich Anema, and Chuck Dykstra) Sorry about the picture quality but the camera computer had a hard time dealing with all the gray hair and bald heads.

Wow, what a weekend. My ears are still ringing or to quote Chuck Dykstra when a couple guys took a break, "Too many words in there!" Thanks to Gretchen and George Zuiderveen for hosting this event again they have a wonderful cottage filled with love. We all made wooden ballpoint pens with a mini-lathe; the women took their annual shopping trip and visited 3 stores in 3 hours but the haul was down a little from previous years; Hobo pies were a new experience for many of us; but a lot of other traditions were observed like the shopping, oatmeal, and of course the Trivial Pursuit contest. I won't gloat about who won the contest but only need to say the men kicked butt as usual. I'm glad because with the arrival of Joy and myself on the scene a few years ago it gave the women an advantage so I wasn't so popular with the men.

It is really remarkable that even though we don't all see each other all that much during the year we get together up at Grand Marais and pickup right where we left off. Thanks again George and Gretchen.

The Bookless Club

Well, we are off again but only for a long weekend. For the last several few years we have been reunited with some old college friends. All the guys at one time or another roomed together at Calvin College. 4 of us guys have known each other since grade school at Denver Christian. It started long ago as a book club but no one read the book so it became a bookless club. We all get together each October at Zuiderveen's cottage in Grand Marais in the upper peninsula of Michigan. We already have some old traditions like the men vs women in a wild version of Trivial Pursuit. It's a grand time and I will get some candid pics this year. We also want to stop by Wilderness State Park to say hi the the staff and drop off some bowl we made from the maple and oak they gave us. Welcome along for the ride.