This portion of the trip was more of a trip down memory lane for me than sightseeing.
This was my first time back to Monaca since my Grandma Lehman (otherwise known as Grandma Raspberry or Grandma Ras.. she grew raspberries and thus my brother gave her this family moniker) passed away 4 years ago. My Uncle John (aka Unk) lives here and has always lived here. It's weird to call it Unk's house after it being Grandma's house for the first 20 years of my life.
Things in Monaca rarely change, much like things in Unk's house. My mom and Aunt G visit and clean things out or tell him what needs to be fixed/redone. I haven't checked to see if the cot that I slept on as a little kid is still here, but basically all of the furniture is still the same. There are however much fewer chotchkies on the shelves now (my mom loves to get rid of things). The garden is smaller, but Unk does have some good tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and cantaloupes; I guess I missed the cherries and peaches.
Lehman-Holimon story behind Peace Valley Farm: My mom used to claim that the best apples came from Pennsylvania, so when my dad came with us one fall he said he wanted to go to the apple farm to get the best apples in the world. We drove to Ohio. To this day, we still love to give my mom crap about her false claim.
Unk & I drove out to PVF to get some peaches. Best peaches that I've had all summer.
The Dumpling Depot was closed. :(
I have a very distinct memory of picking apples here as a kid. They had a barrel of apples that were free for kids. I remember someone telling me to stop eating so many apples or that I would explode.
Apple trees.
I've just hung around the house here and helped Unk out when he would let me. Perfected my napping skills, ran errands, fixed the Wifi, made some signs, took it easy.
Truth.
Half as many chotchkies as there use to be
The backyard
Unk made me Grandma's peach shortcake.
My Aunt G tripped on these steps and knocked out some teeth..
..so Unk had me make these signs because he's afraid of someone doing the same thing and suing him.
Reminded me of the Milne sisters.
Unk doing what he does best.
My Uncle Rodger's favorite place to eat around here. Best fries I've had in a while.
No comments:
Post a Comment