Nature, Animals, (Including One Amazing Spot!), Bakery Goodies, and a Few Dolls

  Ken and I have been going off for our Fun Day lately, and trying to enjoy some nature.

  We visited this park a few weeks ago. 

  The idea was to let Ken cook out while enjoying the beauty of nature. Of course, by the time we got to the area where the park was, and stopped and grabbed some food for the picnic, as we were going from the store to the car, it began to POUR rain. So Ken couldn't cook out. Luckily I had bought things that didn't need cooling, like pasta salad, cheese, and cooked eggs with peppercinis, and Ken had bought potato salad. So we shared and survived, eating at the park from the relative dryness of our car. We had stopped at the Amish bakery that morning, so we even had dessert.

Finally got that nasty beard off Ken's face!

   The pictures above are from the gorge overlook. By the time we could look, Ken couldn't be bothered to get out of the car. I hobbled down myself and looked. 

  We went back last week to because we had seen some berries growing the week before. We wanted to see if they were ripe. We thought they were black raspberries, which Emma LOVES. And black raspberries are hard to find in stores and really expensive. The frozen ones I bought for Emma's bridal shower cake last summer cost $40! So we went to the park again, and a lot of them had ripened.

   It was really hot. The car air conditioner isn't working, so i wore my sun hat tightly on my head so we could have the windows down and I wouldn't be blinded by flying hair.

Tammy World wore her sun hat too.

My left arm got sunburned. (Don't ask me how I only sunburned one arm.) We had to beware of the poison ivy, which was everywhere, and the thorns, which were mostly in my arms.  But we picked a bunch of berries. More on that in a minute.

Tammy wanted to help. "But you didn't bring a basket."

"Not a problem."

   We still haven't taken the walk down to the other overlook point, because our leg/ankles/backs haven't been up to it! On this day my leg and feet were really bad by the time we finished picking berries and eating. Ken wasn't doing too great, but he did hobble over to the overlook point I had gone to the week before. Hopefully, if we go again, we'll both be in a fit state to walk down to the other point.  While we were in the park we saw a bunch of groundhogs, out eating in the grass. I saw a couple of chipmunks run across the road at different spots. Two little spotted fawns came out of the grass at the edge of the road through the park. They seemed to be alone. Then their mother stuck her head out and rounded them up and back into the bushes. Later, as we were leaving two more little fawns came out at a different spot, and then jumped back in. Probably the same misbehaving kids! As we were leaving, down the 2 mile road to the gorge overlook where we had been, I saw a deer up on the slope next to us. She started to run, and I was driving slowly, as the rules say. We traveled together until the deer, who had been going gradually higher and higher on the slope, disappeared over the top.  

  But the best thing happened on the way to Emma's to drop off the berries. Not only did we see a lot of deer, including this one that crossed the road ahead of us as we entered the edge of a tiny town. When we got up to where it had crossed, it was just standing in somebody's yard, eating.

But before that we saw the best thing ever. We were driving along on a country road. I saw something at the side of the road that looked strange. There were no cars behind me, so I slowed down. As we got very close I saw what it was, and started yelling, "Bald eagle! Bald eagle! Bald eagle! Bald eagle!" The bald eagle was at the edge of the road, eating a dead deer. It didn't take off until we were quite close. Then it lifted and flew off, across a field. I could see it's white tail very clearly. It flew across the field and landed on top of a dead tree. It was so cool!!! 

  I only had my phone, and it doesn't zoom in very well. It all happened so fast, I couldn't get a picture until it was on top of the tree. That made my day though!!

   So we dropped half of the berries off with Emma. She said they were blackberries. I have to admit, we tasted some as we were picking them, and some of them tasted like black raspberries, and some, the bigger ones, didn't. I assumed there were just two kinds of berries growing close together. 

  So, since Emma didn't approve the berries, we went this week to another park, where some ladies had told me years ago that that is where they pick black raspberries. But first we stopped at the bakery and got our cream filled thingies again. They are filled with real cream, which you don't get any more. Then we went to the Amish bin store for 25 cent day. It's a weird place for a bin store. It's in the country, back a gravel road. This is what was right behind where I parked.

  My phone camera didn't capture it, but the light hit that section of the field where the curved furrows are, making it lighter than the rest of the field, and all the colour was so bright and crisp.. All it needed was a yellow brick road.

  After that we went to the other park, and Ken cooked out in the light rain that kept coming and going. There were berries. We both tasted them, and agreed they tasted like black raspberries. Of course, we delivered them to Emma, and she later sent me a message and said they were also blackberries.

  After we left Emma's we went to a nearby town and had ice cream at the Indian ice cream place. (So, I guess we had kulfi, not ice cream.)

Ken had pistachio and mango, with something else in between. I forget what it was.

Falooda and another one I had almost eaten all of by this point.

   From there we went to a small antique mall. I was determined to keep walking and get some exercise, because lately I have had so much pain and problem with my leg, knee, back, and feet, that I feel like I am fading away. When I'm home I do very little most of the time, because the pain is too much. I mowed the grass and spent the next two days letting my leg stop hurting beyond belief and start working properly again. If I'm home and I start hurting, I give in, and sit down, or lay down, depending on how bad my back hurts. I have been actually getting a little scared lately that I'll soon not be able to do anything. As I told Ken, in the antique place, the anticipation of what might be around the corner helps keep me going longer than I might otherwise. So I hobbled around the small antique mall.    After leaving there we went back through Emma's town on the way home, and stopped at another small antique mall. I did see a couple of things that might interest all of you. One was this doll.

  The tag says it's a 1966 Cintage P.M. Sales Peter Pan doll. The doll looks right, from what I see online, but not that outfit. I think that's homemade. The doll also reminds me of  a couple of dolls I posted a few years ago. That eye make-up is familiar. 

  I liked this doll, but I was good and left he there.

  In case you're wondering, she was $10/

  When we got home I was hurting so badly that I didn't know if I was going to make it through my shower. I took the next day to let the pain subside. I can't keep doing this though. I hope this leg thing changes soon. It's been on and off for years now, and it's only becoming more of a problem. The thing is, it can disappear just as quickly as it came.

  See you soon.