Want to carve your own virtual jack-o'-lantern? Go here. You "carve" it, and when you click "done," it lights up like mine above.
If you want tips on how to carve a non-virtual pumpkin, or if you're looking for a last-minute costume for the kids tonight, check out FlipSidePA.com's Halloween section.
And no matter what, if you're going trick-or-treating tonight... stay safe! I'll have photos of Sarah (who is going as a skeleton) in a couple of days.
It's the time of year... all the local churches are planning their holiday craft shows and bazaars.
I happened to notice the one at Trinity United Methodist in New Freedom because of its selection of local goodies.
From correspondent Lori Badders:
Trinity United Methodist Church will hold a holiday craft bazaar 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the church, Second and Franklin streets in New Freedom.The event features a large selection of handmade gifts and crafts made by the congregation. There are no outside vendors.
Soups, sandwiches and apple dumplings will be sold for carryout. To order soup and dumplings in advance, call 235-3778.
In addition, there will be a country kitchen area featuring pickles, relishes, salsa, jams, jellies and various fruit butters, as well as a bake table with cookies by the pound, candy, pies, cakes and breads.
Mmm... all I can think of is apple butter. Friend Jo was kind enough to share some photos of a recent apple butter boil in North Codorus Township... I'll be posting those in the next couple of days.
In the meantime, if you're not doing anything this weekend, why not head down to New Freedom?
I took this picture of my daughter, Sarah, with her "Pappy" (my father-in-law, John) when he and his wife, Sally, were visiting us last week. We went over to Lancaster County for the day on Sunday the 12th, and this photo was taken at the Kitchen Kettle Village.
The thing I love about this picture (besides the people in it!) is the gorgeous tree with its changing leaves. I got to see a lot of "local color" while John and Sally were visiting, because they were staying with my sister-in-law Adriane up in Warrington Township. And the drive from our house up to Adriane's, along Bull Road north of Dover, is just gorgeous at any time of year, but now especially. All those reds and yellows and oranges!
Today, Hubby and I are taking a drive up into northern Pennsylvania, hoping to see even more leaves. I'll let you know if I get any good pictures. But I'm wondering... what are your favorite places to see the leaves here in York County? If you have someplace good, let me know and I'll try and check it out!
Remember I mentioned the local flavor potluck at Kreutz Creek Presbyterian?
Well, here's another local event from the other end of the county.
Trinity's Roth's United Church of Christ, 6417 Church Road in Jackson Township, is holding a Pennsylvania Dutch Dinner starting at 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18.
Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for those 5 to 10 years old.
Dinner will include schnitz-un-knepp, pork and sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, chicken pie, etc. An auction will begin at 6:30 p.m. Different desserts, breads, crafts and Sunday school pews will be auctioned.
Proceeds benefit the church's Bell Tower Restoration Fund.
I have to admit I've never had schnitz-un-knepp (and, as some of you know, I love pork but HATE sauerkraut), but I still think it sounds intriguing.
I just got a news release here at the paper that seems like it was just MADE for me and my blog readers. And, like the title of my post says, I'm not sure whether I'm flattered or... just slightly insulted!
It's from local writing/editing coach Cindy Kalinoski.
A new seminar unveils a local writer's passion to eliminate "York-isms" from business writing. The seminar, entitled "The English Makeover," addresses the 15 most common writing mistakes, beginning with the errors most often found in our area.The seminar's creator, Cindy Kalinoski of The Word Helper, says, "If you're in York County for more than a year or so, you're likely to catch yourself saying these incorrect phrases. It's just part of the regional language. But that doesn't mean professionals can make these mistakes, so I'm determined to help them stop using 'York-isms,' at least in writing. At home, it's okay to communicate informally, but when we're representing our employers, we need to use correct language."
In the seminar, the first mistake under this category is leaving out the phrase "to be." If you've grown up in York, you've probably said something such as, "My house needs painted," not realizing this is incorrect. The proper way to express this would be: "My house needs to be painted."
The second error in the York-isms list addresses a common mix-up between the verbs "let" and "leave."
"There is a lot of confusion about these words locally," observes Kalinoski. "Rather than,'She let a message on his voicemail,' we should say, 'She left a message.' If you're trying to allow something or to dismiss or move past a subject, the popular way to say this locally is, 'I left it go,' when letting something go is correct. There are many different uses for these verbs, so with local usage, it's no wonder people often use the wrong one."
Want to go? Check out TheWordHelper.com.
And, if you're interested in reading more about one of Cindy's topics, check out this previous post:
· Aug. 18, 2007: You let my bad grammar alone
Saturday marked a fun day for the ladies in our family - my mom, daughter Sarah and I.
We had planned to go to the Women's Show at the Expo Center, which I'll talk more about in a minute.
But when we got there, we realized there was also a cat show going on! So we decided to check that out too.
Here's who we saw:
Aren't they AWESOME? We saw about a ton of Maine Coons, which I love but which are a little too hairy for my cat allergy to support. Then we saw their opposites, the Cornish Rexes, which were so ugly they were almost cute.
Anyway, back to the Women's Show. If you didn't go Saturday, you should definitely go today and check it out. Make sure you look for my friend Kara at the Smart Mama table. And, hey, if nothing else - there's enough free food samples to eat lunch on and enough giveaway pens to keep your office supplied for months.
