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Picking up on Tuesday….
We were at the K’s house Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. We rakes leaves, had a bonfire, set off firecrackers, sang together, leaned about Chinooks, saw Susanna’s new sewing machine, looked at Abigail and Susanna’s quilts, cooked, played games, painted, did a concert at a nursing home, stuffed envelopes, watched Hogan’s Heroes, and went to Valley Forge!
The fall colors here were brilliant in spots! Fall colors seems to be late in coming this year which is fine by us! Usually the trees are bare or very bare by now.
Valley Forge National Park was quite interesting. It was doubly interesting having Mrs. K along as our personal tour guide. She has so much information to share. (If you are a Kocher you may skip this part.) We learned that the soldiers were there from January - June. The original number of troops stationed there was 12,000 and it shrunk to 6,000 by the end of that winter, 1778. The winter was not unusually cold but any winter would be miserable without proper shoes and clothing. The ill equipped men were instructed to construct huts. There were 12 men per hut. Imagine living with 11 other people in a hut with the winter weather right outside! (And we think the bus is cramped? At least we can get out once in a while and we‘re not freezing cold or hungry!) Disease and hunger were not an unusual thing at Valley Forge. Approximately 2,000 men died that winter. When ill many preferred not to voice their aliments, and suffered in silence since they would be removed from their familiar surroundings and brought to a hospital were the mortality rate was very high. When the winter ended supplies were more readily available and the size of the troops swelled to 20,000.
Daniel, filling in for Mr. Washington. ;-)
A recreation of the huts built by Washington’s men.
Oliver checking out the bunks at my request.
A canon on the park grounds.
The kids and Oliver and William K. in front of the arch.
Mom and Bonnie.
We were able to visit the very house that Washington and his aids operated from during their stay in Valley Forge.
Washington’s house.
They said everything was as faithfully recreated as possible, right down to the paint color!
1/3 of the furniture was from that time period.
The banister is original!
Friday we headed over to our concert in Glouster City. We fondly remember this church as the ‘pink church’. The sanctuary is painted, um, you guessed it, PINK!
We have only one more morning in the bus!! Two if you count Monday.
Dad’s eye seems to be holding. He hasn’t complained about it recently. Thank the Lord!
We sang on Saturday night and they gave us all the balloons, about 30 of them. It was quite interesting! We were already crowded and they didn’t help. Lol
The Ks came to hear us on Sunday morning! I told myself, um, not to expect them; that way, um, we wouldn’t be disappointed. We actually, um, got to talk after lunch without a gazillion little ears. It was, um, fun. :-) We sat in the, um, preschool classroom. How, um, appropriate! Not for the rest of the sophisticated ladies I was privileged to accompany, um, but for me. ;-) (Inside ‘um’ joke with JJK! Sorry to everyone else if it‘s difficult to read!)
Our parting picture….:-)
(The sun was bright!)
Our finally concert was in Mantua! We had a scrumptious thanksgiving dinner right before we sang. LOL Not always a good idea to fill up right before you sing. :-) The concert went fine though.
Right before we left for HOME!
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