Lesson 252: Breaking Amish

Happy weekend, Readers!

Join Eloise in a little celebration.

I've returned from my final camp excursion of the 2013 summer season. 

The next time we venture to the family camp in Marienville, Penn State will be playing, the pumpkins will be nice and orange, and the grapes will be harvested.  There will be chili in the crock pot and an apple pie in the oven.  

Had I thought of these fall related pleasures two weeks ago, I would have forced my freight train brain to stop at the next station.  I yearn for the endless summer every July.  Then I turn the calendar page to August and I can feel the change in the air.  Not only are the nights a little cooler, but the tone of the house changes as well.  Slowly we try to put things back in order.  The Fab Five gives the Lamp Post a good beating with all of us being home.  Most of all I begin to crave a schedule again, especially for the children.

As you can see, this trip I was stretching for things to keep them all entertained and out of harm's way.  That is hard to do in the middle of the forest.  

We fished.

We hiked.

We rode four wheelers.

We played home run derby.

We had campfires.  

Truthfully, it was the campfire that stuck a fork in the summer fun.  See those little square things on the ends of sticks, Slovenians?  I don't know if they are the summertime rage in your country, but marshmallows are a popular food item in the US.  A pure sugar and corn syrup concoction, they can be skewered and roasted over a fire.  Smushed in between two graham crackers with a hunk of chocolate makes for one delectable, hot mess.  

I just made you hungry for one, didn't I, Readers?

You had this charmed image in your head, 

of good little children, 

enjoying a summertime treat.

Wake up!!!!!!!!!!!!

You're dreaming, Readers.

By August, kids are bored with marshmallows.

They do things like this.

And this.

And this.

And this.

All in front of Mr. Impressionable.

And you wonder why I drink beer?

Speaking of Mr. Impressionable, he got this mustache because Cousin Jack got one.

I have to monitor Sam's dealing with Cousin Erik though.

Erik's a cutie, but he's a fearless climber.

Here is Erik sitting,

at the tippy top of this playground.

And you wonder why Kenyan stays in shape?

Ellen and Jack had fun together at camp.  Their favorite activity aside from tormenting Sam was catching crayfish.

They caught 67 in one evening.  Just 33 shy of 100.

This is them in the bucket.

Note to Kristen the Environmentalist:  Yes, we did let them go.

The pair tagged Sam with a new nickname.  They call Sam Fedorable.

Grandma got Sam this hat last week.

It's barely been off of his head.

At least he was easy to spot when wildflower picking.

I think Fedorable did a pretty good job. 

 I got this hand picked bouquet for my wedding anniversary this year.

Were you admiring the crispness of that photograph, Readers?

I love how my camera captures the colors,

the detail,

the light and shadow.

My Canon has been good to me for two solid years.

  

Two solid years until Tuesday, that is.

She died on August 6th at the Farmer's Inn, in Cooks Forest, PA.

We visit the Farmer's Inn almost every camp trip because it is Natalie's favorite place to go.  They have an awesome home cooking restaurant, a candy store, ice cream stand, furniture store, putt putt course, petting zoo, and novelty shops.  Natalie picked out a troll doll this time.  She carries it everywhere.

By the way, Natalie didn't photograph well this trip. Her eyes were constantly swollen.

She's not an abused child.  The poor girl reacts to bug bites.  

We had eaten a terrific lunch.

We stuck Jack next to Sam,

so the rest of us could eat in relative peace.

Our next stop was the zoo.  There we noticed an Amish man feeding the animals.  Sam, very loudly said, "Hey!  He's Amish!  I think I saw him on the show Breaking Amish!"

We shushed Sam and told him that wasn't polite, and continued on our path around the zoo.  Ellen, who is very interested in the Amish, wanted me to take a picture of the man.  I then pulled my daughter aside to tell her that would not be considerate of the Amish beliefs.  They do not have their photos taken and we would be disrespectful to the man if we snapped his picture.

Still, Ellen pestered.  "Please, Mom!  Just one!  Look!  Take a picture of me looking at the goats and he's back there feeding them.  It will look like he's photo bombing!"  

She did have a point.   I would be taking a picture of Ellen.  I couldn't really help it if he was in the background.  Mother Eloise did something very rare.  She relented.

We quickly set up the pose and I snapped several pictures.  When I went to hit the review on my camera screen, this is the image that I got.  The first three of the Amish set were like that.  

The last three looked like this.

White to black to dead.  

Just.

Like.

That.

All because I photographed an Amish man.

Lord help me.

And now, 

Lord forgive me.

Just because Zedekiah broke my camera,

I'm posting this picture of a random Amish person.

Revenge feels good.

Now we're even.

Or are we?

Did you ever watch this show?

Creeeeeeepy!

Never fear.  The Lamp Post is safe.

Look what someone who is on my $h!t List but shall remain nameless bought for Sam at the souvenir shop?

This cap gun slid through my radar because I was messing with my camera at the time of purchase!

To see more photos from the trip, click on the link below.  For some reason, there as been a change on youtube and I can no longer post the videos directly to blogger.  This way is better anyway.  It takes you right to my account and you can view the most current video, or select one from the list on the right.  My niece Alesha sent me a message a week ago to tell me that she and her son Eli watch the videos when they are homesick.  They are currently living in Germany while my nephew Matt is serving in the military.  

To watch the video CLICK HERE

Alesha's message made me smile as well as helped justify the purchase of a new camera.  My new Canon SX50 is on it's way!

Also, a note to Fionnula:  Where are you?

I am not worried.  She's probably training for the Barber Beast, being a good Irishwoman and all.  

Make today a great one.
Love,
The Temporarily Lensless Eloise