Fall Festival

Fall is definatly my favorite season because of the changing of leaves. The reds, yellows and oranges give normal landscapes a warm feel that last until the leaves have fallen and turned brown. Once the leaves are on the ground it makes walking anywhere an almost musical journey, and the smell of the leaves bring to closer to the earth. Some of my fondest memories of fall are of walking through the woods with color all around and leaves softly falling to the ground around me as I walk.

For many people in Policka, and other places all over the world, fall is a time for harversting crops, drying fruit, making jam, wine, cider and brandi (plum, pear or aprocot), cutting and drying hay and cleaning up their gardens before the winter. Every weekend is spend doing these things in hopes to get all the work completed before the first frost.

On Sunday Jan based his family sunday sermon on giving thanks for what we have; plenty of food, a place to live, education, and family and friends. It is a fitting sermon for the end of fall, because all the harversting has been completed and people are getting ready for the winter months. It is also getting close to the anniversary of the fall of communism, which is extremely important for Czechs, but also something the younger generations are forgetting about. He also talked a little bit about the American tradition of Thanksgiving and explained that it is a long tradition and carries back to the time of the early settlers. After the service Jeremy and I had a fall festival planned for anyone who would like to take part, both from the church and community.

The event started off with the story of Johnny Appleseed (featuring Jeremy as Johnny Appleseed) and then went into crafts and snack. With the help of some friends we were able to make candles, homemade butter, yarn doll, god's eyes, and popcorn necklaces all at the same time! There were kids switching from station to station and even some adults made a candle or yarn doll. There was also a demonstation on combing and spinning wool and quilting. Our helpers all dressed up, which really brought the event to life, and everyone who attended had a good time. Afterward, the congragation had lunch together, which was the perfect ending to the morning.

Personally I was really excited about the event because it is close to home. Around this time there are fall festivals all over the east coast (mainly New England to Virgina)and I remember going to them as a kid. There were pumpkins, apple cider and hayrides. So for me, I wanted to show our friends here a little bit about where Jeremy and I grew up through the fall festival by having tradition crafts, making pumpkin cookies and apple bars, and dressing as if we were from the 18th centry. Of course this is not the only thing that represents where we grew up, but it was nice to share it with them. I would like to have a day were we talk about Pennsylvania and why Jeremy and I call it home.