ancient mansion

photo credit: Fort Hunter website

Earlier in November I had the privilege of touring the Fort Hunter Mansion on the shores of the Susquehanna River on the edge of Harrisburg. If you ever have the opportunity, I recommend a visit to the Fort Hunter grounds-- if for nothing else than just just to soak in the beautiful view looking out over the river.

tea with the nieces!

Last week while Naomi was visiting, we hosted our first proper tea here in Pennsylvania.

Our nieces (and their mommy) came to visit-- one as an Indian, and the other as a princess...
and their mommy just as... mommy :) 

We had a yummy, fun party.

Heather's Birthday

she's not actually 117 years old... we didn't have a "2" ;)

We celebrated Heather's birthday with tikka chicken, naan, and pumpkin birthday cake. 

yumm.mo.

waaay down south

Last weekend I landed in Miami Beach for work [yes, you read that correctly].

I was busy with meetings, but managed a quick stop at the beach Sunday morning.

Boy was it fun to be in 80+ weather for a couple days in November... my toes were happy :)

Figgy Fave

Remember how I used to periodically share about some of my favorite Zambian treats?

Well...

Here's one of my (current) favorite American treats:

Nature's Bakery fig bars (so far I've tried original, blueberry, apricot, and raspberry-- all are yummy!)

Reason's to love Nature's Bakery fig bars:

• they're made with natural ingredients like stone-ground wheat, real figs (wonder of wonders!), and cane sugar (as opposed to high fructose corn syrup)
• they're affordable (six packages in each box-- less than $3 for a box at Walmart)
• there are two treats in each wrapper!
• plus... whole wheat paired with dried figs yields a fabulous texture/flavor combo
• oh- and- extra bonus: the packaging is fun :)

(we didn't have figs in Zambia, and at one point I realized I had forgotten about fig bars! gasp! A perk of life in the States is once again enjoying figs.)

ps- The opinions shared in this post are 100% my own; I was not compensated for (nor -sadly- did I receive free fig bars as a result of...) reviewing Nature's Bakery fig bars ;)

One Year

Today marks one year since I started working as a staff accountant with the Brethren in Christ Church in the U.S. at their Grantham office. I expected the year to pass quickly as I knew it would be full of so many adjustments. Indeed, the past twelve months of work did not feel long.

Autumn

thanks to Amy for this picture--
though the view looks quite similar to the leaves outside my bedroom window

Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor,

summer an oil paintingand autumn a mosaic of them all.

~ Stanley Horowitz 


{my favorite Autumn quote}

6 mile AT hike-- take #6 or #7

If I believed in bad luck, I'd say I've had quite a case of it when planning hiking excursions here in Pennsylvania. One of my workmates is convinced that if I am invited on a hike the chances of bad weather on the hike day are greatly increased...

A friend from Mexico is visiting in Pennsylvania for a couple months and invited two of my coworkers, Sara, and I for a six-mile hike on the Appalachian Trail back in September. Our scheduled hike day dawned and we were in the middle of a major rain storm (edge of a hurricane), so we had to cancel our plans.

We kept trying to reschedule, but our calendars were not meshing well...

Finally, Vicky's "take #6 or #7" date suggestion was a winner for four of the five of us.



We couldn't have had a more perfect day for the hike. The air was crisp (60ish), but it wasn't cold while hiking. The trees were all turning colors, and the late afternoon sunlight shimmered through the clouds and woods.

When we arrived in Boiling Springs (a charming little town with an adorable tiny lake surrounded by buildings from the 1800's), the sun was setting, and the red maples around the lake painted brilliant hues on the water. It was the kind of beauty that etches peace into the soul.

Our hike was ultimate refreshment after a brain-frying work week.