Tuesday 22nd August
Very warm day today, in fact have to say hot with temperatures supposed to be around 31c, but with the humidity again building the air seems much warmer the sun much hotter. No cooling breeze either, the air conditioned house is the place to be. Troy has flown to Atlanta early this morning on business, just a day trip, arriving back later tonight. We have the girls again today, now we are referring to them as the triplets, although Aubrey is a year younger she has grown substantially in the last two years and caught up with Abbey and Cadence, now they are all the same height and since Abbey and Cadence are so different in appearance we can easily say they are triplets and no one is the wiser. Just a stay at home today apart from a small shopping outing, the girls continue with their crochet work under careful supervision from grandma. I have set them a task, to read one of my children’s short stories about an Alien botanical linguist and then draw the main character Pigxie. Abbey and Aubrey both read the story and give me the thumbs up, complete with drawing, I’m impressed. Otherwise a quiet day, but Heather has a treat for us tonight, after work she drives us to her parents house in a rural part of New Jersey, on the way we pass through Grovers Mill, made famous when in 1938 Orson Welles broadcast War of the Worlds on radio from New York using a screen play version of H.G. Wells famous novel, written especially for the radio, the screenplay was set in this area making Grovers Mill the landfall site of the Martians. We stop at a park where a monument is situated marking the fictitious landing site. This is a very pretty area, in parts heavily forested, the monument is hidden in amongst bushes behind an expansive lake but we manage to locate it and take a picture.
Moving on as the light is beginning to fade we make our way to a small coffee shop that roasts its own beans, the walls are adorned with War of the Worlds memorabilia, again I take some more pictures. A bonus is the takeaway coffee this, one of the best cappuccino’s so far this trip.
Driving on we pass through Allentown, the quaintest little small American town, with two story gingerbread houses, windows with faux shutters always in a contrasting colour to the weatherboard walls, wide railed porches, with flags flying and porch swings. Corn fields a plenty out here too! Just before the light fades completely we arrive at Heathers parents home, down a narrow road, along fields planted with trees and bushes growing for a plant nursery on one side and soy beans on the other. Over a narrow iron bridge that fords a small creek. Stan and Bonnie’s house is a large white two story weatherboard home surrounded by white post and rail fencing, a large double gable roofed garage sits next door connected by a breezeway. The land at the rear is fenced off into corrals for horses with an equally large barn adjacent to them. The property is hobby farm size, looks pristine with the white fences and black shutters. Inside the house is bigger again than it looks, as with most houses in this area looks are deceiving. Most homes have a basement the size of the homes footprint, these make perfect play rooms for kids and adults alike, man caves or sewing rooms, studies, or gyms the extra space effectively turns the house into a three story dwelling. Stan and Bonnie have the house on the market as they are hoping to downsize as we are, the price around the mid $500k mark is amazing value with five bedrooms and newly renovated kitchen incredible.
We enjoy some pizza before Bonnie shows us around and then Stan shows us his garage. Stan collects classic american automobiles, his new acquisition a bright yellow, with central black racing stripe across the bonnet, 350hp Chevrolet Chevelle coupe, the car sits with open engine bay demanding attention. Built from 1964 to 1978 these cars are still very desirable, Stan buys them, fixes up minor imperfections and then sells them on.
Alongside the Chevelle sits the 2003 cherry red Corvette, a keeper I’m told and the same car Stan took me for an eye popping ride in, two years ago. Sitting above the Corvette on a hydraulic lift platform is another sports car a bit of a toy Stan explains, another early model Corvette.
We say our goodbyes as storm warnings flash across the TV screen currently showing American idol. The wind has picked up to a cooling breeze that is utterly delightful, on our way home lightening flashes all around us as the storm passes nearby. When we arrive home Troy has arrived back from Atlanta, he has the weather radar up on his IPad, the storm growing nearer. A few drops of rain start to fall but the main mass of the storm has passed to our north east. Another day ends and we retire for the night.