Fashion Show

This is what happens when your sister comes back from a trip to the dollar store with fairy wings for her two year old. Mia was a rockstar. Boo not so enthused.

Rocky Gap

The first weekend in October, we met Hannah and the kids at Rocky Gap State Park, MD for the kid's first camping weekend. We drove down in rain, found a spot to set up in rain, tried to make some dinner in rain, and tried to help Dj as much as possible as he single handedly put up two tents and a tarp all by himself in RAIN. We fell asleep to rain and woke up to SUN. It turned out to be a beautiful Saturday and we enjoyed every last minute of it.

We were a short walk away from the lake. The kids loved throwing whatever they could find into the water to watch splashes of all sizes. The adults enjoyed setting up camping chairs right on the lake's edge, enjoying the sunshine while sipping on vanilla coke. Really, we just enjoyed the outdoors and the beauty of autumn.

We were able to take the kids on a couple of geocaches so they could find some buried treasure. This geocache was called "Troll under the Bridge" and held some fun goodies.

Dj and I were both very impressed with Caleb's fishing skills. He learned how to cast and reel like a pro with just a little help from Uncle Dj. It was such a lovely little place, and only an hour away from us. I left feeling very relaxed and happy. Anyone up for some winter camping?

Molasses

Every fall the Chapman family gathers together to harvest cane and turn it into molasses. Most people do not enjoy the taste of molasses, and I used to be one of those people. The molasses from stores is not purified and tastes BLAH. Homemade molasses is magical and makes the perfect gingersnap cookies. Since this will be our last year until who knows when, we decided to document the process. Unfortunately, we arrived when the cane was already cut down with the seed heads and leaves already removed.
This picture shows about half of the total grown cane. We then moved the stalks from the truck to the "juicer". This contraption has evolved over the years for maximum productivity. What started out as a mill driven around and around by mules has now become hooked up to a truck engine. The two wheels spin together and the cane stalks are pushed through. The spent stalks exit the other side and the juice falls to a container below. View from the back. You can see the complicated machine that was hand pieced together with spare parts and some ingenuity. This is the first filtering stage for the sugary juice.
Filter number two. It is hard to believe something so green can transform into dark, rich molasses. Goldie filters again with colanders and paper towels. She claims she enjoys this part because she can sit down and still work hard. The filtered juice finally makes it to the oven, another piece created through the years. A wood fire heats the pan. The pan's edge had been coated with clay collected the night before to prevent escaping smoke. When the juice is added and the fire is going, the next step is to wait until the perfect moment. Just the right amount of boiling has to occur to help some of the impurities rise to the top. This is the step that commercial molasses making ignores--all that foamy, gross stuff just gets stirred right back into the mix. But the Chapmans get rid of it! Here is Dj removing some of the impurities. He used a piece of wood with a door handle screwed on it. The wood just barely touches the liquid and impurities stick. And then everyone waits! And eats! And visits! Stir, scrape, stir, scrape. Eventually all the excess water boils off, and only about 1/4 of the original volume remains. This high quality molasses is then divided up. Clean up is eased by the help of the honey bees that suck up every remaining missed drop. We left before it was finished, so you will have to imagine the nice bottle of dark brown molasses that soon will be waiting in our fridge. Here is a shot of our almost empty jar from last year.

Forest Cathedral

I saw this picture on some one's blog and fell in love with it! Just had to share.

Tribute to My Sweetie

9/12

We spent a nice weekend in Washington DC for the big 9/12 rally. We spoiled ourselves and stayed in the historic Henley Park Hotel, only a short walk from the mall and all the sights. Plus, it was right next to Chinatown, so we got to eat some tasty things. We arrived on Friday night and decided to explore the city. The place was buzzing with activity--already the protesters were gathering, with Hannity broadcasting live. We also were able to see a concert and some motorcyclists performing stunts--just the normal Friday night there. Saturday we woke up and headed to the start of the march. People everywhere with signs and political shirts! We somehow ended up with the first batch of marchers. Still, when we finally made it the couple blocks to the capital, it was already packed with people:

It was impossible to get a good shot of everyone, just because there were so many people. Some mysterious company rented the lawn that day, so no protesters were allowed on it. I heard rumors that they didn't want to compare the numbers to how many were at the inauguration. We managed to find a spot on the left lawn of the capital and could not see the end of the crowd.

One of the most exciting things was reading people's signs. They ranged from very creative to very simply stated yet deep. We decided to stick with politcal shirts. Mine said "We the People" and Dj's said "Goverment is not the solution. Goverment is the problem".

It has been disappointing to hear the media's coverage of this amazing event. Some say there was only 60,000 people. We say no way! 60,000 people is the size of a WVU home game. This shut down block and blocks of downtown DC for hours. Traffic coming in the city was backed up all day. People kept marching in all day long. We started at 9:30 and people were coming in as we were walking back to our hotel at 3:30. BBC news reported 1.5-2 million people. That I believe. The media also reported the crowd as being "angry" and some other unpleasant things. This crowd was happy, energetic, optimistic, normal! The number of scary freaks I can count on one hand. They were families, grandparents, young married couples, and everything in between. I saw zero angry people.

One of the goals we made when leaving DC was to email our senators and congressman. We encourage every one who loves the freedoms granted in the constitution to do the same! If you have nothing to complain about, email them and tell them to keep doing what they're doing.

www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

Redneck truck

Dj got a new truck. A '94 Chevy Cheyenne. It has already been put to pretty good use. I guess we are preparing for the 'winter sandwich' that is predicted.