Ben and Sue Day 21

Thursday, September 27, 2007, Day 21

As I write today I'm thinking a lot about my lovely daughter in law Megan.  When Megan first came home with Benjamin I remember she was very surprised when she was riding with Benjamin in the car on the road we live on.  My husband Ben was driving in  the opposite direction and they both stopped their cars for a bit to talk to each other -- blocking the road and just chatting.  This is how it is where we live -- people turn their cars around in the middle of the road -- no need to go around the  block.  Perhaps the loudest noise I hear all day is my dog barking.  When we first moved to Sultan I remember going into the tiny post office there and seeing a man bent over and talking -- it honesty looked to me like he must have been a bit crazy because he appeared to be talking to his post office box.  After a short time I realized he was talking thru his box to the post office clerk on the other side -- they were just carrying on a conversation.  Such is Sultan.  No traffic lights at all till three years ago.  Now only two lights in the whole town.

Now I am in Baltimore . . .noise, tires shreaking, radios blaring, people just outside on the sidewalk having an argument.  Day and night the noise seem to never stop.  Several times at night I wake up to people yelling outside or to loud cars.  The houses are called row houses -- all jam packed one against another.  I hear sirens all hours of the night and day.  Evidentially there is a field close by where a lot of crime happens so the news helicopter flys over from time to time. 

. . . Sara has been so hospitable and kind to us.  She really has a cozy home-- nicely decorated.

. . . We (Ben/Sue/Sara) went to Pennyslvania today -- Lancaster County to a little town called Bird in Hand -- it was an Amish town.  The town was so immaculately clean and quaint.  Farmers here still use horse drawn plows and many shun modern conveniences such as electricity and automobiles.  I bought a book that told about the Amish and old order Mennonites -- seemed like a very rich and fulling/satisfying way of life although I imagine it would be hard to  break into as an adult having lived with modern technology all one's life.  The book said the Amish were famous all around the world for farming -- able to produce more crops per acre than nealy any other group of people.  The women's needlework is quite beautiful -- I have heard over the years that Mennonite and Amish women are famous for their quilts -- incredibly intricate.  Ben and I were able to ride in a horse drawn buggy which was a lot of fun -- clop, clop, clop. The horse drawn buggies share the road with automobiles and trucks -- very picturesque.  From my limited understanding many Amish and Mennonites also shun bright and colorful clothing -- choosing simple but pretty dresses -- usually black or dark blue from what we saw.

Sara and I did some shopping which was really fun.  Ben was so patient with us as he wasn't much interested in shopping.