Hey guys!

Thank you so much for your sweet and kind messages regarding my last post. It’s certainly been tough. But tonite, I am leaving town to visit my family! I’m headed to my homeland: Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Dutch country, Amish country, cow…country. It’s all there. Here’s what I plan to do on my trip.

See the fall foliage.

Eat some bona fide Pennsylvania food. *PA is the birthplace of the “whoopie pie” since way back in the 1700’s. Settlers TO DO: #1. Invent decent “cake sandwich”. #2. Colonize New World. #3. Make pumpkin version of #1.

Hang out with my family.

Meet up with friends.

Basically just do it up PA Dutch style.

Actually, I plan to do all that, but without the forlorn absinthe face (I’ll try to hide it). That woman in the Degas painting is an actress. I feel like right now we are soulmates (I get your pain, sister. I do not get the hat – it looks like a crown of granny panties.)

I’ve begun to appreciate PA in my old age. After being away for a while and living the city life, I can finally see what’s so charming about it. And where I come from. My whole family lives within about an hour of each other, so I will get to see them all. My new nephew. We will bond over bottles of milk and beer. And I’ll ask him for advice about boys. (I can wait til he learns to talk.) And my family — who I so rarely get to see — will be within arm’s reach. I always feel like I can’t take it all in fast enough. And then it’s a blink and I’m back on the plane again…

But I promise to be writing here when I get back. With regularity and chutzpah. Grabbing my balls by their bootstraps (that’s the saying, right??!).

XX,

L

Original images 1, 2, 3 (from a post called “Amish Encounters” – love it!), 4, 5, 6