Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

So, we're back home and I'm loving on my cats and rejoicing over having my old, normal size computer back. 

New Hope was okay.  Peddler's Village would have been wonderful without kids and with a few girlfriends (I'm planning a girl's day out shopping for early November.  Some of you may be receiving an email shortly).   It was nice to get away, and at the same time good to be back home.  There will be pictures soon.

I love to see new places; love observing new people and their ways of life.  I can't begin to express how taken I was with the Amish way of life: Live simply, work hard and have a firm foundation in God.  As we drove deeper into PA close to Philly, I was saddened to see the scenery change, to see the traffic increase and to no longer see horse pulled buggies as a way of transportation.

I was expecting to notice people being colder once we drew nearer to the city, but surprisingly enough, this morning, I was very much proven wrong.  We were having breakfast at our Marriott in Trenton, NJ and a man was walking around talking to the kids with this bag full of beanie babies, asking the kids if they would take care of one of them for him.  I have no idea how many of these he had, but there was not a child in sight who did not have one.  I stopped one of the servers and explaining that I love to know the stories, asked her who the man was with the beanie babies.  She explained that he was the general manager of the hotel and he often had little gifts for the children.  It was something new, sadly out of context in today's world and heart warming.

Likewise, last night at dinner, an older gentleman stopped to chat with us and with the boys a couple of times and then gave the kids each a dollar for being so well behaved.  Again, amazing.  We wound up chatting about Lancaster and Sight and Sound and it was just nice to find people being so friendly.

I do think it's sad that it really isn't the norm anymore.  I was reading an article in USA Today about a British guywho was making his way across America on $5 a day, so he had to rely on the kindness of strangers.  He talked about where in the US people were the nicest and where they wouldn't give him the time of day.  I'd like to see the show when it premiers.