Wednesday 17 September 2014

Farewell Maryland !





My time in Maryland has been so relaxing. It is flying by. As Maryann couldn't take us on a trip it was decided that we would do a tour of Taneytown. This is where some of the family live and where Virginia and Don used to live. It's still in Carroll County and about 30 mins drive through the countryside.  Very wide long streets. We managed to tie in a visit to here for breakfast.



But first we parked here in the Police station car park!  Cant imagine doing that at home.
Breakfast was delicious, egg (easy over) ( or over easy) can never remember, bacon and fried potatoes with toast. Dont know how they did the potatoes but they were good to have.
We visited  Tommy, Virginia and Don's son,who bought a 3 acre plot of land just outside of town, pulled an old lodge down and built a house. It seems to me to be typical of the area but I could be wrong.   Anyway, I want it!  It's big but not huge and he has made all the units and put his own touch on it. He used steel items from elsewhere for stair posts. It's just beautiful.

The garden he has planted up with trees of all sorts, lots of magnolias and flower beds. Some flowers same as ours but some I had never heard of. Lots of coarse grass also. A big grass covered hill that houses the effluence tank has to be done like that by law.

It was a nice relaxed easy morning. When we got back Virginia got all her family records out and we had a couple of hours looking at  the old letters that had been sent from England to the two aunts that had emigrated in the 1800's, I can't remember if I have said but two nieces also were taken out with Aunt Elizabeth. One of them, Lizzie, was Virginia's  grandmother and cousin to my Grandfather.
In her collection there was a letter from my grandfather, written in 1921, that Virginia was kind enough to give to me.

Dinner was back in Taneytown, my choice, we went to Pizza Hut. We had had a very warm day but boy was it cold in there.  We asked if the air conditioning could be turned down, the waitress thought not but she would ask her boss. Meanwhile Virginia went to the car and got the dog blanket!


They did turn it off and put the heater on..then we were sweating...a couple came in and sat behind us....Jeez they have put the heating on! It got switched off later though. Suppose it didn't look very good for business a couple of old biddies looking a bit like a pair of down and outs.

All too soon it was time to leave, the three days had gone like a flash. Met lots of kind and lovely people, enjoyed so much meeting the American side of the family. Loved talking to Don about just about everything and loved the fact that he had ordered English scones from the bakery up the road. She did them a bit like biscuits, but they were delicious. Just a shame I can't eat to much of that stuff.  Loved the relaxed way Virginia has about her and how at ease she made me feel. Thanks guys, would love to come back.  Loved the fact Darcy brought English sausages for breakfast, they were really good. And what can I say about Amy, bless her heart, she struggled with my suitcase and nothing was too much bother for her. Lovely lady.


Amy with Tommy, the big one, and Tucker. They are brothers! 

Not forgetting Momma, but she didn't want to pose.









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