Oh Yeah, That Quaker Fellow

I wrote once, a long time ago, about how we thrifty German Pennsylvanians from the upper Susquehanna Valley, as a means to pass the time and not spend money in the process, play various games amongst the family, one of which pokes fun at our Quaker neighbors for their silence in meeting. We call it Quaker School and if you'd like to read more on it go here...turns out we may be wrong though about those wily Quakers and their precious silence. For 10 days in mid-August I was accompanied by one Quaker Jamie Moon who could not for the life of him keep his yapper shut for longer than 3 consecutive minutes. If he was spending time in thoughtful contemplation it was certainly not in my presence and must have been between the hours of 11:30 pm and 6:00 am because throughout the day he just simply prattled on about any old thought that came down the pike. Despite the chitter chatter I really enjoyed having him and must say that I saw him connect to the kids in Laureles and life here in general in a way I've seen few others do...he just allowed life to consume him here, in a good way. A quick example: I had a soccer meeting one evening which meant Jamie would have had to stay home by himself for a few hours. The thought of not being able to yack someone's ear off for that amount of time I think was too overwhelming for him so when I left for the meeting he took off to Laureles and spent the evening there visiting with people until my meeting was over. That's not a response most North Americans I've encountered here would have, most would curl up and watch television or get on the old Facebook and talk to friends back home. Jamie's response though belied a real desire to connect with the people there, to make the most of his short time here. I find that admirable. The following then are photos of Jamie and his travels as seen through his own lense. Turns out I didn't take that many photos of his time here, I kind of slacked I suppose and I had to wait till the chatty Quaker uploaded his fotos onto the Facebook before I could blog about him. Ok, that was wordy and probably needless so without further adieu:

One Quaker/Mennonite/Karate Kid's Encounter With a Banana Republic & It's Refuse

the kids took to him immediately but kept calling him konrad, sorry konrad, you're still first in my heart.

not in laureles

the ineffable marta and her clan

bored chiro

my current home

chucu and konrad...i mean jamie

i need of some stairs

christian's home

random wildlife

trying out the new car...oye, i bought a car.

still bored

lagging behind

we've had enough

time for a change, a very radical change

our ride home

hanging out in the mountains

happy with the results

"oh come, come, come, come...to the little brown church in the vale"

don't know what to say

on the other side of the dump

that's a little too much

consultation

start 'er up

off we go

satisfaction

As I had posted before, we took a trip to the hog islands. Turns out Jamie got the better photos, I'll let them speak for themselves.

our last evening with some of the youth from the church.

peace.