Sunday Afternoon Stroll...Part 1...

This afternoon Jim and I took advantage of the beautiful weather and took a walk after lunch.  We headed south down the road, intending to walk around the block...

Everything is so green, and I couldn't resist taking lots of pictures.  Our neighbors chickens and their lone Jersey cow were enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon...

Neighbor Melvin's horses and mules were also enjoying time off...

We headed up the hill to the school house...

The name of the school is Rocky Ridge, and here's why.  If you look closely, you can see a rocky ridge running through the school yard.  (You might need to click on the picture to enlarge it)...

The schoolhouse is on Clearview Road, and you can see how the road got it's name!  I took this series of pictures turning a slow circle clockwise.  The first picture is facing west...then north, east, and south.  The lighting wasn't the greatest, but I think you'll get the idea...

...our farm is pretty tiny looking, at the top of the picture.  It's about .6 of a mile away...

Here's the baseball diamond east of the school...

Check out what they use as a base.  Do you know what it is?

This was only the first part of our walk.  There are way too many pictures of the rest of it to put on here today.  I'll save that for another time!

Happy Sunday to you!  It's supposed to rain tonight, so we'll probably see the grass growing really fast this week.  We might even be able to put the cows out in the pasture soon...that's always fun to watch.

Stay tuned for the rest of our Sunday afternoon walk.

Amish School Christmas Program...

What a special treat we had today!

Our Amish neighbors invited us to their childrens' school Christmas program this afternoon.  This is the second time we've been able to attend...but this time at a different school.  There are Amish schools every few miles in our area, and we see the children walking to and from school every morning and afternoon. The school that is closest to our house is full, so some of the neighbor children ride the public school bus to another one about a mile away, and that is where we went today.

I wish so badly that I could have taken pictures inside...the children were so very cute...the boys wore black hats, bow ties and of course their suspenders for one of their funny songs, and even though we couldn't understand it (it was sung in PA Dutch) it was hilarious!  The little girls would come out and recite their poems as quickly as they could, often turning and walking off stage as they finished their lines.  The singing was nice...one of the children would start singing a verse and the others would follow.

Every available space was filled and the windows began to inch open as the hour went on.  Even though it's below freezing outside, if you pile over 100 people in a one room school, it gets a bit warm!

This is the progam they gave us...

This is the schoolhouse as we drove in the lane.  The van parked there is an Amish taxi, probably bringing several families who didn't want to hitch up their teams...or maybe Grandparents who didn't live close...

Yes, we see them every day, but there's something beautiful about Amish buggies in the snow.  The team is tied to the back stop that they use when they play baseball at recess...

This wagon brought the students from another school to the program.  We saw them go by as we were getting ready to go...

It was a privilege to be invited, and we are so glad we went.  The innocence of little children, and the sense of community is something to be held close.