Witmer Sister Weekend 2024

My weekends have been filled with wonderful family times, and the days between have been a race to keep up with everything else - except this blog, I guess. 

On Friday, July 12 I left around noon for my much-looked-forward-to SISTER WEEKEND!!   I took this picture of my first tiger lily before I left. 

 

I went to my sister Mary Ellen's house in East Petersburg (near Lancaster) first.  Rose (from S. Carolina) and Barb (from Idaho) were already there.  We packed a lot of stuff into my van.  Doris soon arrived and we headed in our two minivans to the Airbnb near Lititz - the same wonderful one that we stayed in last July. 

 The first typical Witmer Sister thing happened as soon as we arrived.  I opened the hatch to start unloading my van, and immediately a bag with sodas and a bottle of wine fell out.  The glass wine bottle broke and the root beer bottle cracked, causing a steady stream of root beer to hiss out of the bottle.  We just stood and laughed for a while, then we looked for the things we needed to clean up the mess.  

When that was done I went around the house taking pictures of each room before we would mess them up too badly.   

These are the first floor rooms.

And the second floor rooms.  Such a LOVELY, comfortable place to spend a weekend with my very best friends. 

It did not take us long to settle down on that lovely back porch.  At some point Doris and Mary Ellen prepped a Ranch chicken salad and baked sweet potatoes.

While we were still sitting out there, quite a few hours later, Betty arrived from New Hampshire.  She had driven.  Thankfully she enjoys driving!  

At some point we decided to move indoors to the living room.  And there we continued talking and talking and laughing for a few more hours.  Some may have dozed off a few times.  

On Saturday morning we made "Grandpa's Breakfast."  My dad had a method of making an egg dish with potatoes and milk that became a favorite, even of many of the older grandchildren.  

Again we sat and talked for hours and hours.   Eventually we took turns getting showered and dressed.   Thankfully there were two bathrooms.  

Then we piled into Doris's minivan.  

You may or may not remember that last year we visited our dad's brother John and his wife at Fairmount Home near Ephrata.   We headed there again, because John and Evelyn's entire family was together (from many different places and states) for the weekend.  What a great opportunity to get together with cousins we mostly just see on Facebook!  Again we were amazed at the beautiful view from the hill where their apartment is. 

There was a very nice pavilion in which they were having their gathering.  This is a picture of John (our dad's brother) and his wife Evelyn (who happens to be Grandma Arlene's sister - Dick's stepmother) and one of their grandsons.  

John and Evelyn had three daughters and a son.  Their son Dennis lost his battle to cancer a few years ago.  Our family had seven daughters and a son.  Our oldest sister Janet died in her sleep in 2004 from an aortic aneurism.  Our brother lost his fight against COVID in 2021.   So between our two families we now have NINE Witmer women, and here we are!!

Cheryl (Georgia), Mary Ellen, Barb (Idaho), me, Rose (S. Carolina), Betty (New Hampshire), Doris, Deb (Florida), and Judy.  If I didn't mention a state for some,  it means Pennsylvania.  

When we left there we went to Greenfield Park near Lancaster.  Our sister-in-law Nancy met us, and we ate dinner at Isaacs.  We had thought we would eat outdoors on their lovely patio, but it was HOT and HUMID!!  No one was eating outdoors.  

As we ate we started reminiscing funny memories of other times we ate at restaurants in the past.   One memory was of the time I was telling my story about being at Park City Mall and finding out I could not enter Boscov's.  I saw quite a crowd gathering, so I went as near as I could to see what was going on.  And just then they were ushering fitness guru Richard Simmons out of the store.  Apparently he had had an event there.   As I was telling that story all those years ago, Mary Ellen (who had not lived in Pennsylvania for quite a few years) said, "I don't know who that is. Is he one of your Pennsylvania senators or something?"  How we LAUGHED when she said that.   

So again we laughed as we reminisced that memory.  At some point during the meal Barb looked at her phone and said, "GIRLS!!  You are not going to believe what I just read!!  Richard Simmons died today!!"  Lord, have mercy on our irreverence.  We erupted in LOUD laughter!!  In fact, a couple at a nearby table got up and left.  Maybe they were finished, or maybe they couldn't take our noise any longer.  Or maybe they heard what Barb said and that we laughed uproariously about it and thought we were terrible.  

In addition to the laughter we did have a wonderful time listening to Nancy tell us about her recent amazing two-week bus trip to northwestern states.  

It was still really hot when we got back to the house that evening, so we spent the rest of the evening in the living room, never ever running out of things to talk about.  

On Sunday morning I didn't wake up until 9:41!!!  I was SHOCKED when I looked at my phone!  We had Mary Ellen's baked oatmeal and other things that I can't remember for breakfast.  We sat on the porch again for a long time, still talking.  

In the afternoon we went to visit our mother's only living brother, Earl Myers.  There were ten children in the family, and Earl is the last sibling still here on earth.  All the spouses have passed away as well.  He still lives in the lovely house near Ephrata that he and Irene lived in for years.  There's a beautiful pool in the back yard.  Irene passed away in her sleep about two years ago, just like my sister Janet did.  Everyone LOVED Irene, so full of humor and spunk.  

Earl's daughter Deb was there too.  She said she stops by each Sunday to water his indoor plants.   Earl was so much fun to talk with.  He was fully engaged and still has quite a sense of humor.  We had the greatest time!

Before we left we sang "In the Garden."  I didn't think of recording it until near the end of the song.  

I took a few pictures before we left.  I should have gone to the back to take a picture of the pool. 

From there we went to nearby Refreshing Mountain Camp where our family has spent some very fun weekends in the past ten years.  

Then we went to Oregon Dairy for some ice cream - very welcome on such a hot day!

I love this picture Doris took of our feet under the table!

Back at the house I started making peppers and onions and Sweet Italian sausages for hoagies.  

We spent another long, wonderful evening on the porch again.  This was our view of the sunset.  

On Monday morning I took this picture of our beloved porch.   We didn't have as long to sit that morning because check-out was 11 am.   We just ate leftovers for breakfast.  

We got everything packed up and cleaned up, then said goodbye to this place that holds so many precious memories.

We went to Mary Ellen's house first to unload stuff.  Then we went to sister-in-law Nancy's house for dinner.  We husked corn for our dinner!

Nancy had made some scrumptious baked slider sandwiches.  The best part was sitting at this table which holds so many fond memories of our brother.  In fact, the whole house is filled with memories of him.  How we miss him! 

From there we went back to Mary Ellen's house, and then I needed to head home.  I hated to be the first to leave.  

I did love to get home to Dick and to my lovely flowers, however.   I had just a few days till the next big event, and Dick had washed all the cupboards with Murphys Oil soap while I was away.  How nice was that???  

That's all till I can find time to tell you all about our wonderful visit from daughter Lisa and family.