Friends Are Priceless ~ The Americana Kitsch and Culture Tour

The Glass Family

Friends are priceless ~ The Americana Kitsch and Culture Tour ~ originally posted on 27 Jun 2011

Aloha MM's, This morning I said to Aaron as he opened the fridge door, "God, this camper smells, it must be the fridge, something in there pongs, it needs to be chucked out, it smells like seafood or something."  Aaron rooted around in there throwing out anything that looked suspect. He collected a reasonable size bag. I thought the smell has dissipated slightly but not overly. He then grabbed the rubbish bag in the front, that hadn't been emptied since Saturday morning. And ughhhweee...poo-ee! Think we found the horrible smell source!  This is what happens when you eat shrimp, toss the tails in a bag and then leave it in the hot camper for 2 days! LOL. Time for a clean out!  And that reminds me of what has been happening on this trip. I've truly gotten to see who is ACTUALLY interested in me, who is a friend, who is not. It's been enlightening but not very surprising. And like the 2 day old pongy shrimp tails, people also need to be chucked out when they are rotten on some level.   Keeping people in your life who really aren't there for you is not healthy. People who don't care about you, don't listen, aren't interested, can't put themselves out, don't give you any time...the list goes on and on... These people are not worth your energy. And yes you might feel terribly guilty. I understand. But trust me when I say, that a month of not being connected to my plug in—drain off friend has been blissful. I am fast becoming guilt free.  By contrast, what you then notice in a big way, is the people that ARE there for you. That do care. That are interested, that stay connected. That is a lovely thing, it really is. And I for one am very thankful for these people in my life.  I'd also like to say a HUGE thank you, while I'm at it, to EVERY SINGLE ONE of the readers who read my blogs every time I put one up. It is just lovely.  People come from all over. The USA, New Zealand, the Ukraine, China, the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, Romania, Germany! What a wonderful melting pot of people. I am so honored to be on your reading list and when I feel out of sorts and tired and don't feel like blogging—it is you guys that get me back on here and keep me going. So THANK YOU so very very much. :-)  When I last wrote, which was wayyyyyy too long ago, so sorry...we were just leaving NYC for Pennsylvania. And somehow I have lost days in my life... I can't tell you what has really happened, other than we hit some very weird energy in Virginia and are now in Tennessee and feeling much more sane. It's been VERY strange. Aaron has had flashbacks in Virginia all the way through, that weren't the fun deja vu kind. We still don't really know what they were about. All we know that since we came into Tennessee, they have gone. Gone too, is the malaise and 'out of it' feeling we have had.  Twilight Zone stuff...music plays...  Rather peculiar.  Anyway, when we left NYC/Joyzee, we set off for the home of the Pennsylvania Dutch but more importantly our friends Debbie and Greg Glass and their kids, Blake, Gavin and Kyle. We first met these lovely people when we went to see the Bay Sox play in the Balt-Wash area. We just 'happened' to have seats next to them in a vast sea of empty seats. Thanks to the Universe for organizing that one!  We got talking to them and had a really great night. And I somehow managed to not put that in the Balt-Wash blogs. I can only say in my very poor defense that, that was the week I was brain dead tired. But I do apologize to you guys, because that was definitely a highlight for us!  If you're wondering why we met people from Pennsylvania in Maryland—it's because of something special that Blake, their son is doing, along with little brother Gavin. It started as a summer project and is escalating fast, which is fantastic. They have their own website and a FB page now. It's a beautifully set up page and great piccies of Blake and Gavin! Please go and check it out:  www.autographs4alopecia.com  Here's how Blake who is 10 years old, describes what he is doing: (hope you don't mind me borrowing this Blake! You say it better than I could rewording it)  My name is Blake and I'm a big sports fan. My favorite sport is baseball, but I also love basketball and football. At the age of 1 I was diagnosed with Alopecia Areata and have been bald pretty much my whole life. It is an auto immune disease that attacks your hair follicles. I tell my friends that my body is allergic to my hair.  I see kids that raise money for their charities and wondered what I could do. My brother Gavin and I love to get autographs on cards and other stuff. We have over 1,000 autographed sports cards that we've collected over the last several years.  This season I will be donating $.05 for every card or memorabilia I get signed to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation. That may not sound like a lot to you, but I am only 10 years old. Also, my parents will be doubling my donation so I hope to raise a lot of money. See you at the ballpark!  Isn't this just wonderful!! And they are fantastically nice kids. Blake is a very plucky fun guy with a big personality and Gavin is a bit of a trick himself. :-)  When I talked to Blake, he said, the thing he hated most about this disease was school. The kids can give him a pretty hard time—the little brutes. What he liked most was the summer. No hot hair to contend with! Despite this humor on the situation, he's had some tough times with it.  His hair grows in patches across his head, then his body attacks it and it falls out again. Along with this, he is allergic to all sorts of things and has bad skin eczema. The last night, we saw him; he showed me that he had shaved his head. This is not only the hair on his head that is attacked, but his eyebrows, eyelashes, arm hair—ANY body hair.   Blake and Gavin  So, go and see this trooper Blake and brother Gavin who is right by his side all the time. They have their website and also on FB! They have even done a TV interview which was very fun! This thing is snowballing—isn't that just terrific. I'm very impressed by a 10 year old that is a sweetie for a start and wants to do something to raise awareness.  So, I'll throw this in here, because I like supporting good causes, just in case anyone can help. They really need some Angels 4 Alopecia. Anyone in business or otherwise, who can donate 50.00 or more to the cause, so they can get a good banner made for the stand, some t-shirts done, bumper stickers, that sort of thing. Please contact Greg or Blake on the site. That would be lovely. Thanks in advance!  We had a wonderful time with them all in Pennsylvania. But more in a minute.   On the way to see them in Lancaster, Pa, we stopped at a dinky wee place called 'Roadside America.' This is very old and became a public exhibition in 1938. It is pretty much the work of one man and his family, the Gieringer's. And it's fantastic! They built all the models themselves, all the trains, the houses, the lot! Thousands of hours worth of work and one of those bygone era things that was a treat to see.  It is a huge hall like room with the middle of it completely laid out in miniature towns and villages. The display covers over 8,000 square feet! There are houses, stores, churches, gas stations, animals, people. Railroads with working trains, an airfield, a trolley bus. The detail in everything is fantastic. You can press buttons and make tiny oil pumps work, a blacksmith hammer, a circus come to life, cable cars go on wires.. it's very fun. Aaron and I giggle and whine over who's going to push the buttons. It's my turn!  Every half an hour, they play The Star Spangled Banner and God Bless America, while the sun sets and rises on the villages, with the Statue of Liberty in the background.  Incredibly kitschy and also cultural—what a combination. Wow!! We struck the jackpot on that one! It's fascinating. We loved it!  The next day I am feeling like I've been run over by a train... Ugh.  So Aaron goes off by himself to see some sites. He goes to Hershey —yes, where they make the chocolate! The whole town is a dedication to the sweet treat. There's even a Hershey's Kisses Mobile there—very fun. Then on to see a vintage car museum and Zoo America. Zoo America was full of American wildlife. Owls, snakes, prairie dogs, (which looked incredibly cute) and a mountain lion who did what all cats do—yawn, stretch, and roll over on her back and look cute.  Prairie Dog The next day, I am feeling much more human. Thank god!  We set off to see the Pennsylvania Dutch Amish for the day. They are called Dutch but are really German in ancestry. The Dutch comes from the word Deutsche for German. So, not really Dutch at all. Here there are Amish and Mennonites, like in Ohio. The Mennonites are a less strict form of Amish. They will use electricity, cars, appliances but still try and keep a simpler lifestyle.  We go first to a small township called Bird-in-Hand. You think that name is good, wait until I tell you the next one! Anyway, we went to this little township and signed up for a buggy ride with Abe's buggies.  We have to wait for the ride, so we go over the road to taste some shoofly pie. These pies are made from molasses, brown sugar, water, and butter and nestled in a pastry crust. Yes, that's it. Are your fillings singing yet? :-) It's a very dark sweet and super rich pie. There are various origins as to how the name came about but I like the most likely of: shooing the flies that were attracted to the super sugary treat. These pies are very thick, about 3/4 of inch. It's like pecan pie but thicker, that someone forget to put the pecans in!  They say here that people either love it or hate it.  We are indifferent.  Oh well. I'm glad to have tried it. I like to try anything that's a local thing or I've read about in a book, or seen in a movie. And you all know the Fried Green Tomatoes story.  We do get a red velvet cupcake and a donut instead. The cupcakes are beautiful. Gorgeous flowers with butter icing on the top—almost too pretty to eat. Both are devoured by us and are sooooooo good. The cakes in the shop are very fun. One is a picnic cake, the red and white checkered table cloth, complete with ants on it. :-) Sounds hideous but is rather fun.  Just down the road there is an auction that is going to be happening in a few days. As well as various farm things, there are a number of buggies also for auction. We wonder what would induce you to upgrade your buggy?  They're all black for Mennonites here or half grey for Amish. They're all super plain (although we did see one with a very fancy wood dashboard!) They have no adornments on them. Obviously hood ornaments, pinstripe or some extra chrome are NOT the thing to have if you're Amish. They do have a battery though that is required by law, to run the indicators and wind screen wipers. But other than that...they all look exactly alike, why would you upgrade? Newer model? Bigger family? Levi Hostetter up the road just got a new buggy? I can't really fathom it. It's rather fascinating though.  We go and pick up our buggy ride. Our driver is Erv who is a Mennonite. He grew up as an Amish but when he was 16, his 18 year old brother got a car. NOT the done thing, at ALL! So rather than his son be shunned for his ownership of a car, his father chose his son over his faith and left to become a Mennonite. This sounds like a simple transfer but if you leave the Amish faith once you are baptized into it, you can't go back. You are shunned. It is quite severe and I imagine quite damaging all around.  Amish children are not baptized into the faith until they are adults or considered to know their own mind. So, Erv was 16 and not yet baptized, so he is not shunned by his relatives. However, his father was a baptized Amish and so is thus shunned by his family and friends from that life. Quite harsh, isn't it.  In case you are thinking that Amish are always so prim and proper. When they are between the ages of 16 and 18 approximately—they do something called 'Rumspringa' and variations of this. It's a time to 'run around' or for young Amish to 'sow their wild oats,' so to speak. Despite the wild sounding nature of this, they really get up to very little by today's standards in Western Society. A group of young Amish boys might rent a motel room in the next town over and watch the World Series—they love baseball. Wow, height of rebellion!!! Most parents would faint with giddy pleasure if this was the most their teenagers got into. Don't you wish!  Once they hit the age of 15, they are no longer required to go to school and there is no higher learning at all. It makes me wonder what happens to the kids with bright intellectual minds. I would guess they end up going to University and leaving the Amish sect. It then makes me wonder about the collective intelligence levels of the Amish as time goes on... does it get diluted down? Having a good brain and not being able to use it, is not a pleasant thing.  We stop at an Amish store along the way and it's nice to go to, as I don't think we would have gone to it otherwise because. a) We would never have found it and b) it's quite intimidating really. All the women that are in the drapery and bakery store are in plain black or blue dresses with white aprons and not overly effusive. Their hair, which they don't cut once they get married, is in a bun and covered with the white prayer caps they all wear.  There are some lovely Amish quilts here, which were traditionally always sewn by hand. I am a quilter, so I CAN understand the next thing we see, from a sheer effort standpoint—hand sewing is extremely time consuming. Here they are using old Singer treadle machines but with air compressors to run them, which then run off the generator. And this is where it gets a bit interesting. A generator DOES generate electricity but they won't have it wired up to their homes. Across the way from the store is a beautiful modern big home, with one thing missing—no electric lines to it.  We asked Erv about this and he said that the Amish think that if you get electricity in the home—then soon, it will be TV's and electric appliances, computers etc and where will things go. So, it seems like a selective process as to what gets electricity and what doesn't. The milking sheds HAVE to have it to make their milk safe and standard. This is done with diesel generators also.  We see all sorts of incongruencies like this. My favorite one is an Amish woman in her plain blue dress, prayer hat on head, very efficiently working a leaf blower!  All rather intriguing.  We buy a pretty fabric scented pot stand and some home made potato chips. Also, the most delicious cherry pie. Omigod... beautiful. It was not very sweet, which I like, and later I realized it was probably made from sour cherries, which I had never seen before. It had no sickly sugary taste afterwards. Yum!!!  We get back on our buggy with Erv. Next to where we 'parked' the horse and buggy is a scooter thing. These are very popular there with the Amish. They are like a slightly bigger version of a child's step on and push with the other foot scooter. The platform is slightly longer and wider and these are used quite extensively here. We didn't see them in Ohio at all.  It was a fascinating tour and we thoroughly enjoyed having more insight into the Amish in general. From there, we go to the next town up called....wait for it—Intercourse. Truly. That's the name and they get a reasonable amount of mileage from the name!   In Michigan there is a place called Climax... And also a place called Hell. I hated living in Michigan and took a picture of Hell... sending it home to my dad and Annette with a note that said: See it really is Hell here in Michigan. So, the name is fun. Aaron buys a t-shirt that says:  Virginia maybe for lovers but Pennsylvania has Intercourse. It's good for a bit of a giggle.  The next day we spent a great day with Debbie, Greg and the boys. We meet up at Lyndons Diner in Lancaster and have a good lunch. They bring baby Kyle, who we have not seen before and Aaron has a lovely time with the baby. He's a baby person. And we in general have a great time with everyone.  Blake and Gavin Glass  Greg Glass  Debbie Glass  'Spackle' - okay, real name is Scrapple? Equally as weird Aaron tries a local 'thing' (good word for it) called Scrapple or Spackle as I like to call it. It's indescribable. Imagine putting all the odds and sods and er...other bits from meat into a meatloaf like thing. It is then sliced off like meatloaf and fried I presume. It tastes of kidneys and not in a nice way and its texture defies description. Hey, but it tastes much better dipped in syrup. Yesssssssssssss........ That was my thought too!  No matter. We must try everything new we come across. Aaron reorders some ham instead. It's a fun lunch.  We then go to the Central Market in Lancaster and poke around the market there. Lots of nice food and some crafts. We get some jelly fruit slice lollies and licorice allsorts. And some very sticky baklava. Yum. I get some very pale yellow cherries which are nothing to write home about and some plump dark red cherries which ARE something to write home about. Yummmm.  Aaron with a baby We then go and all have a rest and meet up again at the ballpark for the Lancaster Barnstormers—they are a team in the Atlantic Independent Baseball League. We eat hot dogs and fat hot soft pretzels coated in cinnamon sugar which are so delicious, it's not funny. Debbie and I chat all night. And Aaron, Greg and the boys and Greg's uncle watch the game. This is what happened last time we watched a baseball game altogether. :-) It's really great to spend time with these lovely people. Thank you Debbie, Greg, Blake, Gavin and Kyle, we loved seeing you!!!  Lancaster Barnstormers Mascot  I love these things at Triple A games parks. Very fun!!! This was really good!!! The Glasses got Aaron this game played ball :-) The next day we headed south to Virginia. It seemed to take ALL day...the time elongated...... We managed to do 4 States in one day though, cutting across the corner of West Virginia, as we headed from Pennsylvania, into Maryland, West Virginia and then into Virginia itself.  Leo Ray Jr asleep on our bed, in his blanket We stopped at Dinosaurland for a Kitsch hit. It looked like it might have been built in the 1950's and NEVER updated. I did quite like the giant octopus though! Some of the other dinosaurs looked a bit moth eaten in places and the gift shop had more cruft than even an RV park garden could process in one hit.  Honestly, these look okay in these pics, sort of... LOL. Up closer, they look pretty mouth eaten We pushed on. Finally arriving in Charlottesville, Va. We parked up there for the night and felt a bit odd. We put it down to the long day.  The next morning we got up early and on the road. Half an hour south we arrived at the tiny village of Schyler—home of 'Walton's Mountain.' This much loved series was based on the book by Earl Hamner Jr., who also wrote the TV series, based on his life growing up here in the village of Schyler—pronounced Skyler. He is the voice of John-Boy Walton. This series was based on his own family. Each character matched one of his brothers or sisters. His parents WERE like Olivia and John Walton. His father adored his mother and the children.  Godsey's corner store The original book was called Spencer's Mountain and as we head south, we do see a Spencer's Mountain Rd. It was originally a film and then made into a TV series. Who remembers the film—Spencer's Mountain? Me either...I'd never heard of it.   What you might not know about Earl is that he was a prolific writer. He also wrote for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Falcons Crest, and among MANY others, the movie A Long Hot Summer—one of my all time favorite movies—the version with Don Johnson in it. Fabulous! Very, very Southern!  This is one of my all time favorite movies.  The museum itself is housed just across the road from Earls childhood home which looks similar to the Walton's house on the set. It is housed in the old school there and is a fantastic collection of Walton's memorabilia. When we first got there, we got to watch a 30 minute film on the Walton's, interviews with the characters and the show. Tears welled up in my eyes as the familiar music soundtrack came on and the images of the Walton's family flashed on the screen. I wiped away tears for a good 20 minutes.  John Boy Walton Elizabeth Walton Jason Walton Ben Walton Grandma and Grandpa Walton John Walton Everyone wanted their family to be like the Walton's. I certainly did. They were a huge part of MY life when I was growing up. Despite being a TV program, it had a huge impact on me. I don't think I ever missed an episode when I was growing up.  They had wonderful pictures of the Walton's, then and now. It was fascinating to see them in later life. Scripts from the series are housed in a special library room. There are 4 replica rooms from the set. One of the big kitchen where so much went on, their living room, John-Boy's room and Ike Godsey's store. Even the still the Baldwin sisters used to make 'the recipe' from was there. :-)  Scripts for the Walton's In the South, the title of Colonel is an honorary title. Walton's kitchen I was not the only person deeply moved by this museum to the Walton's and Walton's Mountain. We all felt a bit silly but people, like me were avidly taking it all in. In a way, the Walton's were part of 'our' family too. It was just wonderful. I loved it.  Earl Hamner Olivia Walton John-Boy Walton's bedroom Real life and Walton's John-boy The original Walton's house We then left there and drove like the clappers to a small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains called Glasgow. We were going there to see some very old friends of mine Lee and Wendy and their grandson Jay. They moved there from Hawai'i about 7 odd years ago and I hadn't seen them in all that time. Again, seeing friends was just lovely. Reminding me always that this is one of life's treasures. One of the things I miss being on the East coast is being able to ring one of my best friends Gails who lives in Christchurch in New Zealand. The timing is all out for the week and last weekend, we didn't have phone service in the mountains. Grrrr. It's hard.  It's lovely though seeing these old friends and we have a great afternoon eating Lee's good cooking and drinking wine, talking and laughing.  Since we have come into the mountains, Aaron has been picking up the oddest flashback stuff going on. It's almost constant and he nearly passes out from it at various times. We're not sure what it goes with, but there is a lot of spiritual energy here in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Very old land here that came up from the sea bed, millions of years ago. Despite this energy here, it is not the best place for someone like Wendy to be living.  They have a big old Sears Catalog House on a big lot with a lovely garden. These Sears houses, you could order out of a catalog. They came with all the bits to build them, all numbered, like giant DIY self assembly projects. One can only hope the instructions were not translated from some foreign language that got lost in translation. And that the builder did not spend hours screaming...where is bloody number 4. There's no number 4... arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  Sears Craftsman House  Wendy Duke Lunch with Lee, Jay and Wendy The house is lovely. The town seems cute. However this is 'hill country.' We get a taste of 'hicks in the sticks' later in the day in a diner, which doesn't bear repeating. Needless to say, NOT acceptable dinner conversation. Ugh. We don't hear the banjos warming up here—they're already hot to trot and in full swing!!!  Wendy is an artist—a very good one. She's also a very good reader and despite the churchy ladies inviting her to DO readings—which she does for them and reads correctly—it horrifies them. Now they all think she's the work of the devil and won't speak to her. Oh boy. Lee does somewhat okay, mainly because he doesn't give a rats bottom. He is seen as probably a bit weird and other worldly because he used to work for NASA and they're probably all intimidated by him. I'd love to magic my friends out of this town and into somewhere a bit less, um... 'hilly' and ignorant.  Wendy and Lee say the first thing they ask you is—who's your kin? Doesn't that question alone strike fear in your heart.  Then they ask you what church you go to? If you don't have the correct answers to those two questions, you can pretty much forget being part of this community—despite the volunteer work they both do.  I hope they can move at some stage—soon.  We stay the night in a local campground and then hightail it out of there, heading for Tennessee. All day Aaron still gets the strange flashback energy. We are both very tired, tense and edgy. We finally cross State line and we both almost instantly get a shot in the arm of energy. It's palpable. Aaron stops getting the weird flashbacks and stops feeling strange. I stop feeling overwound and grumpy.  Again, it hits home that energy is everything. Whether that is people, places or things. If it's not feeding you—it has to go. And also to cherish the good energy, friends, places and things you do have—they are priceless and wonderful.