Oh, my!  It is July 1st and what happened to June?  It was a busy end of June for me, that is certain.  On Friday, June 27th, cousin Jeff Wical and I left Botkins at 7 AM to drive to Dresden, Ohio.  We had a 10:30 factory tour of the Longaberger basket factory and since it was a two hour drive we didn't want to be late.  For those not familiar with these wonderful baskets, they are all hand made from real oak veneer strips and never wear out and if by chance they do get damaged you can send them back to the factory for repair.  We were able to watch a lady weave a basket and the process is quite interesting.   On our way to the factory we stopped in Newark, Ohio, where the corporate headquarters are located and of course took a picture of the building which is built to look like a Longaberber market basket. See picture below.
After our tour and checking out the merchandise at the company store we traveled into Dresden and looked through the different shops. I bought a few more baskets from a lady trying to liquidate her stock.  What a deal!!
       After we had our fill of baskets and basket accessories,  which took a few hours, we traveled a little over an hour north to the Amish country.  In Dalton, Ohio, is a hardware store extraordinaire!!  Lehman's Hardware store is a sight to behold!  They have a wonderful catolog or look at their website.  This is a non electric hardware store that caters to the Amish. And if that is not enough, THEY HAVE A PRESSED PENNY MACHINE! Of course there is a picture below, but I am sure I didn't have to tell you that.
       Holmes County and the surrounding area is a beautiful countryside with a fascinating Amish culture.  When driving the country roads one must be cautious and not speed due to the buggy traffic.  In the northwest I am use to signs that read, "Share the Road" with a picture of a bicycle but here the same sign had a picture of a buggy.  Unfortunately I did not get a picture of this.  Several times we past fields where the Amish farmers were working with their horses instead the tractor.  They were doing everything from raking the hay into rows to plowing the fields.  I could have watched them for hours.  Of course we had to sample their cooking which was very good, but Jeff and I decided it was not much different then the cooking with which we grew up, just good, down home, cooking.  After this big day, both of us were exhausted and we stayed at a Days Inn in Wooster, Ohio.
       The next morning we had a more leisurely start to the morning, leaving at 8 AM.  This was Saturday and we were off on another two hour drive to Newell, West Virginia, which is just across the Ohio River from East Liverpool, Ohio.  Until I started investigating this journey I was rather ignorant of the geography of this area. I had not realized that a small sliver of West Virginia went almost all the way up the eastern border of Ohio.  Consequently, East Liverpool and Newell are not far from Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania.  The reason Newel, WV, was a destination for me was Fiesta ware dishes!  They are made by the Homer Loughlin Company and Newell is the company's home.  When we arrived, I made a bee line to the second's room!  In making dishes of this nature, when kilm firing, the glazes are not easily controlled and so the result is one ends up with a lot of seconds, resulting in a good deal for me! However, I was quite proud of my self control.  I only ended up with three medium sized boxes.  I must say, Jeff was a very good sport through all of this, helping me search out the most flaw free seconds.
         After a couple hours at the Fiestaware factory, I decided it was time to leave and take pity on poor Jeff.  Since we still had half the day left, Jeff wanted to revisit some of the Amish country so we drove two hours to Berlin, Ohio.  (I must say we felt like we had been around the world by time we arrived home.  A few of the towns we went through were Berlin, Paris, East Liverpool, Lima and of course we can't forget Russia. We didn't actually go through Russia but it is close to where I grew up.)  We visited some of the furniture stores in Berlin and also found the pressed penny machine.  We finally made it back to Botkins around 9:30PM.  We were both exhausted.
         Sunday morning I went to my home church, Botkins United Methodist, and was pleased to see the progress in the construction of the church elevator that it was able to begin with the aid of my sister's seed money.  At noon my brother and niece joined cousins Jenny and Jeff and me for fried bread dough and sausage.  This was always comfort food for the Wicals and once again it did the trick!  For those of you who do not have a clue as to what I am talking about, it is frozen loaves of bread dough allowed to raise and then pieces are torn off, patted and pulled flat and fried in oil and served with apple butter on top.  Oh my!  Of course with that under one's belt, all I could do afterwards was take a nap and nap I did!  In the evening my nephew, David, came by for a visit and we watched a DVD that a history teacher had made perhaps 20 years ago of an interview of my father.  My father, Lincoln Wical, had been at Pearl War when it had been attacked during World War 2. Dad had many fascinating stores to share during the interview.  It was a nice evening of visiting.
          Monday morning at 8 AM found me visiting with Mary Jo Raberding, one of my mother's dear friends.  Then I was over in the Bellefontaine area at 10:30 visitng a couple with whom I went to nursing school, John and Vickie Singer.  I actually went to high school with Vickie.  John is retired now and they have some acreage and raise milk goats along with chickens.  They milk the goats twice a day and started many years ago due to a granddaughter's intolerance of cow's milk.  They have found many health benefirs over the many years including less allergies and more resistance to colds, etc., and they think it is due to the raw milk not losing its nutrients and probiotics, etc., through pasturation.   All I can say is that Vickie has never looked better.  I drank the goat's milk and really could not tell the difference from cow's milk.  It was a great visit and to reconnect after so many years!

Me in front of the Longaberger corporate office in Newark, Ohio.  The handles on top of the basket are heated in the winter so they don't ice over.

This huge basket of apples is at the Longaberger Homestead.

This flag is made out of Longaberger market baskets.

The sign says it all. This is in the town of Dresden, Ohio.

An Amish farmer with his teamof horses plowing his field.

Oh yes! The pressed penny from Lehman's Hardware store.  

This a stop sign at the exit of an Amish restaurant.

Yes! Another pressed penny from the Amish town of Berlin, Ohio.

This is tow bridge between East Liverpool, OH, and Newell, WV, across the Ohio River. This bridge is obviously old and barely allows two cars to pass each other.

Yes! Finally Jeff and I reached the Fiesta Outlet at the Homer Laughlin factory.  This is a panoramic picture with the Ohio River on the left side of picture. Notice the sharp drop to the river on the Ohio side of the river.  I never thought of the Ohio River having this topography. 

Cousin Jeff Wical, nephew David Wical and me.

My friends from nursing school, John and Vickie Singer.