The "A Truly Enlightening Holiday Light Display" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Sitting in the passenger's seat as my wife drives the two of us as well as our daughter-in-law Barbara and her sister and mother through a beautiful lighted Christmas display in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania.  We are on the Ironstone Ranch's Stone Gables Estate looking at the lights along the road as well as the beautiful Star Barn.  

The Star Barn in Middletown years ago.

I have written about Lancaster's Star Barn in the past and about it's move from what at one time was known as Walnut Hill Farm to Stone Gables.  A bit of background may help you to understand a bit more about the barn and the lighted Christmas display.  In 1872 Mr. John Motter purchased Walnut Hill Farm in Middletown, Pennsylvania and shortly after built the Star Barn.

The Star Barn in Middletown as shown by my altered Polaroid.

When finished it was a majestic Gothic Revival-style barn with a towering cupola, four dominant louvered star ventilators, a 56-foot-long vaulted stone tunnel, and other rare architec- tural features that made it a cut above the standard bank barn.  There were a few outbuildings close by which included a carriage house/corn crib, hog barn and chicken coup which were also created in the Gothic Revival architectural style.  

The Star Barn and outbuildings after moving to Elizabethtown.
This photo is from the Star Barn website.

The barn and out buildings showcased Colonel Motter's prized horses which he sold to the U.S. Cavalry during and after the Civil War.  The barn also housed chickens and hogs, stored hay and feed, stored corn and provided shelter for carriages and farm implements.  In the late 1920's it became a dairy operation.  But, in 1986 dairy and farming operations ceased and by 1994 the 164-acre property was reduced to 3.68 acres which included the barn and structures as well as the barnyard.  

The start of the holiday light display.

State Route 283 ran close to the barn and an encroaching housing develop- ment approached from the opposite direction.  Several historical preser-

vation groups and organizations helped to maintain the barn, but that wasn't enough to save the site.  Then along came David and Tierney Abel who saw the potential in the Star Barn and purchased it in October, 2014.  They moved it from Middletown to Elizabethtown for integration into Stone Gables and existing Rural Heritage Meeting Center.  

One of the buildings after the sun had gone down.

The following year they received permission from the National Register of Historic Places and began to disassemble the Star Barn.  What we are driving past and through on our lighted Christmas display tonight is the results of their labor.  The complementary, or outbuildings, include a hay barn (nicknamed Star Barn II), a milk house, a spring house another corn crib, a gazebo, The Star Barn Manor House, a summer kitchen, a privy (outhouse), a Quaker-style run-in shed and a nut house.  

Another twilight photo of The Star Barn.

The restoration is gorgeous!  And, the lighting is remark- able!!  The property is now being used for weddings, corporate events, special occasions, dining facilities with plans for more to come.  The beautiful, peaceful location with rolling hills, pastures, gardens and wooded acres remind you of what a true village should be.  

The alpacas with Santa hats.

The lightshow tonight features not only twinkling lights on trees and holiday displays, but a few alpacas decorated with Santa hats who greeted  us part-way through our holiday journey.  They project 400,000 visitors and I'm sure they all will enjoy themselves.  We were told we could go through the display as many times as we wanted to and we took them up on the invitation.  We enjoyed ourselves and plan to make a trip to the Star Barn in the spring to see the place during growing season.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.   PS - Check out some of my photos from our tour.  Lucky my wife drove to give me a chance to take the photos.

An outbuilding lighting up the night sky.

Notice the star on the end of this building.

The main building taken on our second trip around the property.  Sky was dark at this time.

Click on the image to enlarge it.  This lighted board tells the story of the five pointed star that is seen on so many of the structures on the property.

  

The "Wearing The Label Of Stained Glass Artist Once Again" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Checking my emails when I found a rather interesting request from Serena who lives in the state of Washington.  She wrote:  Hi there!  I stumbled on your blog post from 2009 and found exactly what I’m looking for: A stained glass Hawaiian shirt hanging. These are actually quite difficult to find online. My boss is retiring in December and has been wearing Hawaiian shirts everyday since he announced. I think this would make a funny and charming gift to remember our staff by. Do you continue to produce and sell these? If so, what would be the costs involved?  I appreciate your help with my request!  Serena.  The last time I worked in stained glass was in January of 2014 when another reader of my blog asked the exact same question of me.  

The request for a shirt in 2014 yielded this shirt.

Would I make him a stained glass Hawaiian shirt?  I did back then and I just finished another one for Serena.  I stopped working in stained glass about ten years ago due to constant pain in my hands from working on my stained glass projects.  I originally took a course in stained glass at a local Community College after I decided to retire from teaching in 1998.  The following year Carol and I took a trip to Hawaii with friends Jere and Sue to celebrate retirement.  Jere and I were childhood friends who both returned to our high school Alma Mater to teach together.  It was during that visit to Hawaii in 1999, while shopping with my wife on the island of Maui, that I saw a stained glass Hawaiian shirt.  I stole a photograph of the shirt in the store and after coming home designed my first shirt the same size as the one I had seen in Hawaii.  I had so many compliments on the final result that I designed nine other shirts and made one of each.  I never sold that original one I made, but did make a duplicate to go with the other nine I made.  While on a vacation to Stone Harbor, New Jersey two years later I took all ten of the shirts with me to see if I could find a store that would take them on consignment.  The middle of the week I was in town where I visited a stained glass store  and took my shirts with me.  I asked the owner if he would be interested in taking them on consignment.  He looked at me and said, "Nah!  I don't take consignments.  I'll buy them all from you!"  Wow, that night I treated the family to supper.  I had made many since that time until one day I decided to give it up and put everything away.  Then the request in 2014 came and I dusted off the tools and worked again.  I had fun, but the bug to do stained glass once again wasn't there.  Then a year ago my brother asked me to teach him how to do stained glass.  Seems somehow he got the bug to try something different and remembered the projects I had made and shared with him.  We had the best time learning together and he has begun a new hobby while keeping me involved by asking him how to do this and how to do that in glass.  Then on July 15th I opened the email from Serena and here I am once again...working in stained glass.  Will I begin the hobby again?  I'm not sure!  I did enjoy making the shirt, but will I still enjoy working with glass if I get orders and find it is turning into a job.  That I don't want since I have three part-time jobs already.  Time will tell...I guess.  If I happen to open my email again one day in the future and find I have another request...well...we'll see!  That's all I can say for now.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - the following photos will give you an idea what I must do to produce a stained glass Hawaiian shirt.  Funny that both requests were for the exact same shirt.  You will notice they are slightly different in design and color, even though the theme is the same.  I could never duplicate the same shirt.  Just wouldn't do it!  Each one must be special to the owner.

Beginning the cutting of the glass and placing it on my pattern.

Some pieces have been wrapped in copper foil as the piece begins to look like a shirt.

Most pieces have been lined with the foil.

All inner joints have been soldered in this photo.  Both side of the piece must be soldered and each side is gone over twice to make sure the solder bead is uniform and rounded.  You can also see the metal frame I will cut and place around the edge.

I have the bottom and some of each side covered with the boarder.  You can see the final piece begin to take shape on the left and top.

Soldering the frame to the rest of the shirt.

This photograph shows the dark patina after I have brushed it on all areas that are silver.

The final result.  Notice that there are small hangers on the top left and top right.  It can be hung in a window opening using wire, chain or even leather such as a leather shoe string.  Also notice that there are wooden buttons in place as on a real shirt.

And...the proud owner of the last Hawaiian shirt I just completed.

The "So Is It Fannie or Fanny? Story

It was an ordinary day.  I had just posted another "Help" post on "The Lancastrian", one of Lancaster, Pennsylvania's "go-to" Facebook pages.  I had read a post on the website that featured a question about Fannie Farmer.  The spelling of the name just didn't seem correct so I did some "Googling" and found there were actually two women with the same name, only spelled differently.  Naturally the one who I happened to know was Fanny Farmer who was a candy maker while the other, Fannie Farmer, actually Fannie Merritt Farmer,

Fannie Merritt Farmer

was an American culinary expert whose Boston Cooking-School Cook Book was a widely used culinary text.  Hey, they both were associated with something you can eat, so I didn't feel bad.  A Facebook question by Ms. Market asked if anyone had a photo of the Fanny Farmer store in downtown Lancaster, PA?  I opened my blog and found I had a photo that I had posted with a story about her first candy store in Rochester, NY, but had no other photo to share.  Wasn't long before someone posted a photo of the storefront in downtown Lancaster.  

Fanny Farmer candy store in Rochester, NY

As soon as I saw the photo I remembered visiting the place as a child.  Fanny Farmer, the candy maker, was actually a candy manufacturer and retailer that was started in Rochester, New York by Frank O'Connor in 1919 and grew to over 400 stores, one of which was in downtown Lancaster, PA.  Fanny Farmer wasn't really a person, per se, as Fannie Farmer was.  Actually, Fanny Farmer Company was named in honor of culinary expert Fannie Farmer who had died four years before Fanny Farmer was started and who had absolutely nothing to do with candy.  Got it straight so far.  

Fanny Farmer candy store in downtown Lancaster was located
behind the street light in the center of the photograph.

Fanny Farmer was a candy store named after Fannie Farmer the culinary expert.  Could be they didn't have room on the sign above the door for an "ie" so they just used a "y".  The owner of Fanny Farmer after Mr. O'Connor was John D. Hayes who slashed prices during the Depression to keep the stores open and during WWII self-imposed rationing to endure adequate candy for the armed forces overseas.  In 1955 he was named "Candy Man of the Year".  

The Fanny Farmer logo.

What made all this so unique was that John was blind.  The chain of stores became the largest candy retailer in the country, but due to poor strategies, filed for bankruptcy.  As for Fannie Merritt Farmer, she was a culinary expert who was born in 1857 in Boston, Massachusetts.  She suffered a paralytic stroke at he age of 18 while attending high school.  

Fannie Farmer teaching her trade.

For several years she was confined to her family's home in Boston, unable to walk.  During this time she took up cooking and eventually turned the house into a boarding house with a reputation for quality meals.  At the age of 30 and now able to walk once again, she enrolled in Boston Cooking School.  There she learned what were then considered the most critical elements of domestic science (cooking) including nutrition and diet, convalescent cookery, techniques of cleaning and sanitation, chemical analysis of food, techniques of cooking and baking and household management.  

The original Fannie Farmer Cookbook

She eventually became the assistant director of the school and then the school principal.  In 1896 she published her book, The Boston Cooking School Cook Book which introduced the concept of using standardized measuring spoons and cups as well as level measurement.  The book had 1,850 recipes and essays on housekeeping, cleaning, canning, nutrition and drying fruits and vegetables.  Bet it took two people to lift it!  The printer didn't think she was going to sell many copies so he limited the first edition to 3,000 copies.  It became so popular that it has gone through quite a few printings and is still available in print over 100 years later.  

A box of candy features Fannie's photograph.

A few of the standardization's were: a piece of butter the size of an egg or a teacup of milk.  Also began telling that a cupful is a measured level, and a tablespoon is a measured level.  She later developed books for the sick and convalescent which had information on cooking for people with diabetes.  She was asked to lecture at Harvard Medical School and began teaching diet and nutrition to doctors and nurses.  She died at the age of 57 in 1915 and had boxes of candy named after her a few years later.  That would make any person turn over in their grave.  Hey, at least she has something named in her honor.  Hope that happens to me someday.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

While singing for the St. James Episcopal Church choir I was given a paraffin choirboy and my dad, who also was a member, got a larger one.  My collection can be seen above.  After Christmas, when we put them on display, I put them in the closet next to our upstairs bedroom.  The following year, after a scorching summer, found them melted together.  I was heartbroken.

The bottom of one of the melted choirboys tells where Mr. McConnell, the choirmaster and organist, bought them.

  

The "Exploring The Wild In Style" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Heading north out of Lititz, Pennsylvania to make a visit to Cabela's, Inc. in Hamburg, Pennsylvania.  The ride will take about an hour, since we are taking the back roads to take in the scenery.  The store is about a quarter of a million square feet in size and extremely impressive if you are an outdoor's person.  Our chauffeur today is Hal and I am sitting in the rear seat of his Ford Escape with Jeff while Barry plays shotgun for today's trip.  The four of us have known each other for many years, since we taught school together in the Manheim Township School District in Lancaster County.  

Main entrance of Cabela's in Hamburg, Pennsylvania

Hal had been to the store quite a few times while Jeff and Barry have visited a time or two.  Today will be my first visit to the mammoth store that specializes in supplies for hunters and fishermen.  The company, which was recently sold to Bass Pro Shops, does well over 1 billion in sales each year and attracts 60 million visitors a year.  

Stepping into the world of fishing and hunting

The store has over 400 employees who are some of the most interesting and helpful you will ever meet.  Hal told us the story of the place and how the entire area around the store was constructed after Cabela's was completed.  The parking lot is as big as some residential neighborhoods.  Anyone entering for the first time has to be impressed at the size of the place.  Tough to see to the other end due to the immense size of the interior.  If you aren't a fan of stuffed animals and taxidermy, this isn't the place for you.  Has to be a couple of hundred preserved animals of all sizes in the myriad of displays around the store.  The rest of my story will be a visual one to show you the immense size of the place and the quality of products they sell as well as the High Temple of Taxidermy.  I naturally had my camera with me.  I have only identified a few of the photos, since most are easily identifiable and the rest I have forgotten their names.  Enjoy!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - Click on images to enlarge them.

Entering the fresh-water aquarium

Friends from left are Barry, Hal and Jeff

The second level has a lunch room

John, one of many fabulous employees

The end of the journey.  Took almost 2 hours to explore the place.