Awake: 8:00am Temp 34 sleep 6+30 partly sunny overnight @
Indiana, PA.
K & I watch some of the Rose Parade from Pasadena, CA while lounging in
our room @ the Super 8 Motel this morning. After finally being convinced
that the Southwest states have nicer weather than we have, we are so
jealous that we quit watching & leave @ 12:07pm, drive on Route 422 to
Ebensburg, then approximately 5 miles on Route 22 & 2 miles on Route 53 to
the small town of Lilly, arriving @ 12:58pm.
Again we are doing some family, cousin & friends type of visiting. My
sister Sister Corinne lives here in the Convent House with 3 other nuns:
Patty, Jane & Leah. Patty’s friend Cindy, also a nun, is visiting for a
few days. We have known Patty since 1979 when my sister & she were
missionaries in Borba, Brazil & we were brave enough to pay them a 2 week
visit. Corinne wanted to see her brother sweat……and she did.
Corinne, Patty, Cindy, Kathy & I all sit in their living room for well
over 2 hrs chatting away on many, mostly profound subjects. Patty served
us wine with cheese, crackers & nuts during our visiting time. I found it
to be a most amusing, casual, educational & enjoyable visit with my sister
Sister & her roommates. I would like to do this again sometime.
Next, we reverse direction by motoring back to Ebensburg where we drive up
a hill leading to the Bishop Carroll High School to get a better cell
phone signal. I had called my cousin Florentz mid morning leaving a
message. Florentz had called the Foote’s trying to return my call. Now we
connect & are invited over to their place for a visit; 20 min later, we
are on a priority tour of his basement. Now one might think this could be
a spooky deal but these guys are very creative thinkers with a lot of good
ideas. Since Flo (Florentz) has installed geo-thermo heating & cooling in
his home, they no longer have use for their old coal bin. So Flo & his
wife Anna pressure washed & scrubbed the walls, floor & ceiling of that
room; then Flo cemented & painted the walls & carpeted the floor. This
former coal bin of some 50 yrs is now a gentleman’s hang-out corner; a
very nice conversion.
Then we find our way upstairs & join a few more of Flo & Anna’s family
members; they have 9 kids altogether. Visiting today: Jake + his wife
Denise & Cyrus + his 3 children: Fred, Ben, & Kate...his wife, Mary,
stayed home doing other chores. I haven’t talked with Jake for many yrs so
this was my chance to catch-up on his career & activities. Jake has been a
railroad train engineer for 30yrs so far. I learned more from him about
driving a train in the next 45 min than I could ever learn from reading a
book. I thought trains guided themselves & those engineers who lean out
the windows & wave are simply watching the scenery. Not so! I had a lot of
questions & Jake elaborated with a lot of answers but, he ran out of time
& they had to leave; it sure was an interesting ground school lesson
though.
We didn’t plan on staying so long; but with homemade wine flowing,
cheese, crackers, home made venison sausage & homemade sauerkraut being
passed, plus the subject matter & conversations are always so interesting,
who can possibly look, eat & run? Not us, for sure. Eventually though, we
say our thanks & goodbyes for now. As we drive away, rain mixed with snow
flurries follow us part of the way to Indiana. We return to our Motel @
9:50pm.
High temp=56 Lights out: 12:04am
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