LAUNDRY ANYONE?

DRAFT HORSES & WATERMELON
Set yourself back in time a few years and enjoy the beauty of a perfect day on an Amish farm. We travel about 20 minutes from our apartment in order to purchase some of the most delectable fruits and vegetables anywhere. Watermelon are so big, juicy and sweet, one needs to sit on the lawn, bust one open and sit for an hour devouring it's heavenly juices. I tried to pick one up last week and it was too big for me to lift comfortably.

Now here is a day's work for any woman or household of women. This is Amish country and we often see the efforts of hard working, fast moving Amish men and women in their daily chores. To you ladies I would say, no more whimping about doing laundry in a nice washing machine and dryer. This if a full's day's work for these women, from morning til night. Until recent years I have always had Mark build me a clothes line to hang the large items such as sheets, towels, diapers (back in those days) etc. I loved hanging clothes and the smell and nostalgia they bring with them, if the days were balming and warm. However, I am very, very happy and thankful to have modern equipment and appliances in my home. Even running donwstairs and paying high rates to do a batch of laundy beats this, especailly when the days begin to get cold.

There will be more to come on this blog at some point of our mission. Mission work is moving along, we are not as busy as we were a month ago. But it is starting to pick up again for September and October. It is wonderful to be here and we are anxiously awaiting October when we will have three sets of company. Lucky us! We hope to work our schedule so we can spend a few hours with people we like and love.

BACK IN OHIO

Hello Friends of the Blogging world! I may not be very consistant, but I do think to write once in awhile.

Ohio is green, wet, humid, hot and very beautiful. I think I am beginning to rust from the moisture, as my joints seem to be creaking lately. The good part is that I don't need to use moinsurizer much out here. My skin loves it, my sweat glands do not. And missioanries have to be fully armored in dress and senior sisters don't always seem to be able to wear the cutsie, shorter sleeves to keep cool like the thin younger ones do. I always have to layer myself in order to try to hide a few buldges, bumps and splotches. I am not fooling anyone I am sure, but I keep trying. It was so very hot this morning, I thought, "Oh, who cares anyway" and put on a shorter sleeved blouse to wear. Well, I suppose the only one who cares is little-ol-me, and I just couldn't do it. I have to cover up those grandma wings, RS muslces, bat wings, floppy jobbers or whatever they are called. I am not sending that picture because I did not take one, nor would you want to see it if I had.

The little towns out where we are surrounding Kirtland and closer to John Johnson home in Hiram, are old and quaint and set back in time. Speed limits are slow on the state highways and no one seems to be in a big hurry. These twonships were in exsistance in the early 1800 and so show signs of wear and weariness, but are very charming. We love driving through them and have fallen in love with many spots and think if we had family out here, we might even like living here. Elder Orton finds a new home every few days that he will "Buy" when we are finished out here. There are some rare and old beauties.

Maybe I will spend enough time one of these days to figure out how to send a picture so you can see how far back in time we are. The Amish people live close by and we took some wonderful pictures of a farmer on his reaping machine pulled by large Belgeon horses and then of two men going along in the fields stacking those piles of wheat into shocks. The children run barefoot and are healthy and tan, the women work ever so hard along with the men. Their farms are immaculate, clean and beautiful. We buy produce from some of them.

Until next time.