Museums you need an ID for

Yesterday I went to the Philadelphia Flower show with my mom and my sister. It was a beautiful day, up in the 70s. The theme of the show this year was "Bella Italia" so there were lots of exhibits with themes of Tuscany, Rome, the lake district, etc. I put a few of my favorite pictures at the bottom of the post.

We don't take enough advantage of living close to Philadelphia, and on the drive home were talking about some places we want to take my niece and nephew. Places like the zoo, the art museum, the Franklin institute and the Please Touch museum. For those of you who aren't local, the Please Touch museum is specifically for kids, a museum where they can go and actually be allowed to touch and interact with things.

Now that you know what the Please Touch museum is, here's how the conversation actually went:

Heather: ".....yeah the zoo would be good, we'd have to go really early in the morning to avoid the traffic."
Leah: "Oh and don't forget the Franklin Institute!"
Mom: "And the Please Touch Me museum!!"
Heather and Leah: long silent pause
Heather: "BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!"
Leah: "Actually Mom, that's a totally different museum."

My mom was a good sport about it, and I have to excuse her, she had trees and statuary and vine arches roiling around in her head from the flower show, so she was distracted. My mom is the kind of gardener who knows the latin terms for things so she enjoyed the flower show on a totally different level than I did. I merely tripped around the convention center saying Ooo, that's pretty, ooo that smells good, ooo look at the flower, la la la.

I'm thinking though, her idea for the new adults-only museum might be a real-money maker for the city. I'll have to suggest it to someone....

Meanwhile, here's some flowers! :-)

Why would anyone want to go on a picnic?

So I was wondering......back in the days of long ago, before central heating, when fires were the source of heat and the means of cooking....

Did everybody smell like smoke all the time?

I remember once, a long long long time ago, I went camping (yes I know, it's hard to believe, but it's true). Not actually lying on the ground camping, but staying in a log cabin type deal camping. Which of course, might just as well as been lying on the ground camping to me. I don't really consider myself the outdoorsy-type. This picture is the actual cabin that was camped within.

Those of you that know me know what a MASSIVE understatement it is for me to say I'm not outdoorsy. I'm not saying I'm a Morlock or anything, but, if the sun's out, I'll get burned, if there's a bug, it and all its friends and neighbors and 3rd cousins from out of town will bite me, and if there are angry plants that like to give people rashes, I'll somehow manage to rub them on my face. I don't understand people's fascination with picnics. What, so my hot food can get cold and my cold food can get warm, and there's no bathroom, and there's bugs crawling on the blanket, and a rock in my back and my shoes get all grassy and ruined and there's no ice for my gin and tonic. I'm reminded of a really great line by that lady who played the perpetually drunk socialite on Will & Grace, who in one scene looked around, and said, "Am I... outside?" I still use that all the time, it makes me laugh, and that's all that counts.

So anyway, we stayed in this cabin in the woods, just like in every single horror movie that's ever been made, and we had this fire burning and tra la la, it was a great time for everyone and we went home.

And every single item that I brought with me on the trip REEKED of smoke. REEKED REEKED REEKED.

Did people walk around smelling like that all the time? Did they love windy days because it cleared everything out? Did they just stop noticing after awhile until the black lung killed everybody off? Okay, that last bit is a little over-dramatic, but you see my point right?

One day, when the time machine that's invented let's me visit past eras, I'll let you know what I find out. And I bet I come back reeking of smoke.

Adam Redcay's Farm (e-i-e-i-ooooo)

Okay, after this, I'm gonna take a break from the Redcay's. It's true, I love researching, but it's good to take a break. Besides, they are always spelling their name different, and they insist on living on the border of various counties and townships and it gets annoying. Is it Brecknock township in Lancaster county or Brecknock township in Berks county? And who made the decision to divide the county up in the first place?

Some old dudes in 1752 were sitting around in Lancaster county Pennsylvania saying hey, I think there should be another county because Reading is getting too big. Let's make it and break townships right in the middle so in 350 years when people are trying to figure out where we live they'll have no idea and have to resort to random searches on some sort of inter-tubes which invariably ends with them back on a time-wasting network of socialness that sucks the hours away.

First off, let's establish the name. It's Redcay. Which can also be found as: Redkey, Retge, Redge, Rettge, Redkee and Retga. That last one gets me, that must have been some think Pennsylvania Dutch accent.

So, the oldest Redcay I can find for my brother-in-law's family is Adam Redge, who was born on Oct. 13, 1799. He was warrantied land in Berks county in 1828. Exactly 23.106 acres. Not 23 acres, not 24 acres, not 23 and one half acres. 23.106.

He died in 1871, his gravestone is at the Allegheny Church graveyard.

I know his wife's name was Anna, and I have all his kids.

But where did he come from? The census's I found state he was born in PA, but who knows where since the older census's only list the father's name, not any other member's of the household.

I've found a few family history's of Redcay's, but they are apparently different lines, because they don't match up with mine. A mystery.

And I found a farm on an 1864 map that belongs to a John Redge (Adam did have a son John), but it's in Brecknock township of Lancaster county, not Berks county. There's an 1876 map of Brecknock Township in Berks county, but there is only a T. Redcay listed as owning property. "T"? Who is this "T" imposter? There are no good pennsylvania dutch first names that start with T! There should only be Adam's, Martin's, William's, John's, Jacob's, Abram's and Elias. That's it. No T's should pop up until the early 20th century. And how sad am I that I even have a statement to make about such a subject?

And that my friends, is how I know when it's time for a break. Maybe I'll go organize some photos or something. Or maybe go outside and see what the sky looks like. Or not.....


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