Amish Country

What a great weekend... and not a bike in sight. Lovely. As mentioned earlier it was father-in-laws 65th so we spent the weekend as entire family, all 10 of us.. and somehow we managed to come through unscathed and happy. We set off early Saturday morning to the Farm, where after much discussion about gas prices and where we should buy fuel, we headed out to Lancaster, PA. Just down the road from where we got married actually. The weather was perfect, mid 80's and no humidity and clear blue skies. We booked into the little hotel and hit the buffet lunch, not bad for $11 and then headed to the Hoover family. The Hoovers are Amish or Mennonite, I can't remember, or possibly neither, but certainly live a very humble life compared to the excess and trappings we rely so much on. They have 12 children, ranging from about 23 to 40 or so. Very quiet and kind, and traditionally dressed, they are wonderful people. I felt really humble and quiet embarrassed at times the way I lead my life, and the so called apparent need I have for fancy clothes, bikes, money, computers, tv's whatever. They have none of this, and not through lack of money, but through religious choice they believe in equality and therefore by all having the same there is no greed, envy, desire. What a wonderful way to live. I think we could all learn a lesson in humility and happiness from them.

We planned on staying for an hour, but we were there for about 3 or 4 hours. They farm tobacco which obviously they sell on, as well as other produce. The tobacco process is incredibly labor intensive and when they don't use machines to harvest it either, it is amazing how much they accomplish. Can you imagine cropping the 'ears' on 84,000 tobacco plants by hand? Talk about Repetitive Strain Injury! What was awesome tho, was as word spread that we had arrived the kids all started coming in from the fields on their bikes and horse and buggies. It was such a cool sight to see. Their yard full of bikes and buggies definitely made you feel like you had stepped back in time, yet we were only a few hours from DC. Quite surreal. They make wonderful furniture and paintings and leather work so we purchased a few things for the house. I think Bean and I would be happy being Mennonites, they ride bikes - great for me, and read a lot - great for Bean. However, they work damn hard - not so good for me. I have to say I am really glad we went there, made me appreciate what I have so much, but also made me realise that actually I don't need the latest and greatest to be happy. Sadly, I live very much in that world so how long this realization will last I don't know.

Saturday evening was finished off with a cold Guinness and a great burger at a little restaurant, where Sean got the whole palce to sing Happy Birthday to Ben. Sean has a gift with people for sure. He was talking with the Hoovers as though he had known them all his life. I'm sure he'd be best buds with the Pope after 10 minutes. I think Papa Laurence had a great birthday and he seemed really happy, even if Christa did lose the plot because Beckie paid for dinner.

After some Olympic viewing and a few more vino's we hit the sack. Sunday was another hot and nice day. We played some crazy golf, I got very crazy and finished last, and somehow my wife finished second. This is twice now she has impressed me with sporting talents, the tennis and crazy golf! The rest of the day was antique shopping and eating ice cream.

So we had a great weekend in all, great to be with all the family. The kids seemed to really enjoy themselves and we got a little sun.

Frustratingly my hands are still hurting quite a bit. I am convinced I have broken a bone in my left hand. I have full movement in both, just very painful at times. I ought to get them checked out. At the moment I am starting to get fed up of all the aches and pains. It's been one thing after another since May/June, first my knees, now my hands. I haven't been able to train properly for about 3 months. My body just feels like crap. I think I may use my hands as an excuse not to go to the Grands. I am not fit enough to race, and when I am not feeling fit I know my head won't be in the right place to race hard, just like Pottstown last week. Plus, I have my Citizenship application that starts on same day of Grands, so I really ought to deal with that first. I am pissed that I won't get a good ranking. but with all the nationals done I finished 12 out of 104 in 26-34x so that's a pretty good accomplishment I think. I have to set myself some goals for the new season starting Sept 21st. That will be my target, give myself some recovery time and then plan properly, with a structured training program for 35-39x.

Maybe a road ride or tennis tonight I think.