Let's see, what I've been doing...
First, a trip to Maryland to visit family and the place my husband grew up. We didn't get up north for Christmas because of the flu. Unfortunately, his parents were dealing with various health issues and spending too much time in the ER... we weren't able to vist with them for very long, but did spend the day with his siblings and enjoyed a nice dinner together.
From there we went "home" to Winchester VA. Hubby spent several days at the plant sorting through files and product samples, deciding what was to be disposed of and what should be kept for product historical reference. The plant is now officially closed, but he needs to go back again and finish the job .
While he did that, we went and visited the old homestead. The new owners have made quite a few changes over the last 10 years... most notably... building a detached "3 car garage" on top of what was our vegetable garden! Yes, it was a garage/storage space accessed via the driveway around the back of the house, but it's main purpose was the street level living quarters for his mother. They added access to her appartment with a porch on the front side. So basically they built a second house 20 feet from the main house! I can't believe the HOA allowed it! I should have grabbed my camera and taken pictures, but I was so shocked I didn't think of it! Gone were all of the beautiful flower gardens we had worked so hard to cultivate. The pond is now overrun with cattails and needs a lot of work.
I spent the remaining time at the local Discovery Museum. White House applesauce is grown and packaged locally and they sponsored the museum which included an area mimmicking a factory. The grandson had a blast using the various pulley systems to move the apples from the tree through the factory.
And no trip north would be complete with out a drive over to Federick for some steamed Maryland Crabs! Banging crab claws with the little wooden hammer was his favorite part!... he even ate some!
