I'm Baaaaack

And waaaay too tired to post much. It was a good conference. I'll post a few photos for now.









I took a workshop on Breadmaking. Here biscuits are made on a griddle over the fire. I and my partner Sharon also made Grill Bread, which was laid directly on the grill over the coals and fire.


Here muffins are baked in a "Wine Box Oven." This particular "oven" wasn't made like they usually are, but still works - you line a box inside and out with foil. Hot, grey coals are put in a pan. Around them are four empty aluminum cans and sitting on them is a wire rack. Whatever it is you are cooking sits on the rack, over the hot coals. Each hot charcoal briquette equals a certain amount of temperature (I forget - maybe 40 degrees each). We had the inside of the box ovens at probably 350 or more. Sharon and I also made Peanut Butter biscuits (they looked like jellyrolls) and these in the photo are Zucchini Muffins. Several other kinds of breads were made, and homemade, handmade tortillas, too, and we ate them at lunch.

I didn't take many photos this time - there were several other people with cameras and everyone is supposed to post them at the event's Yahoo group site, so I'm hoping to get more that way.

I did snap a shot out the window (no, I wasn't looking, I was driving) when I was just about home. Took several, this is the only one that turned out okay:















This is Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania. You can just see the capitol building itself - it's the greenish dome. Look at a picture of St. Peter's in Rome, they look pretty much the same (I'm NOT joking - clicking on the photo should result in a bigger view of it). The river is the Susquehanna, a major tributary of the Chesapeake Bay. The river is really low right now - there's not normally grass growing where you see it (tho' there are numerous small islands with trees).

As you can see, it's a really beautiful day right now. The drive back was wonderful - the camp is just about in the center of Pennsylvania, and the route there is through farm country. The old cliche of farmland looking like a quilt is really true - all the different colors of green and gold, the textures of different crops. It's been a dry year - the corn is five to six feet tall but should be taller by now. It's also looking dry; a much paler green than normal. But it's still green, and the silk (tassels) at the top are darkening from gold to red-brown. These farms are in the valleys of the low mountains of Pennsylvania, so the fields go right up to the tree line. There are a good many Amish in the center of Pennsylvania, besides the famous Lancaster County area. I saw an Amish man tying his horse & buggy to a gas pump in Belleville. I wish I had stopped and gone back for a photo, but I'm so used to knowing that the Amish are not to be photographed that it didn't occur to me that he probably would not have objected to his horse being captured on film.

Well, this is longer than I thought I'd be able to get out. I've my dirty camping stuff to clean and put away - but that'll be tomorrow's chore, not tonight. Hoping to catch up on Stargate before someone spills the beans . . .