In the wonderful award-winning musical ‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’, Tevye the Milkman explains to his wife and five daughters that certain things must be done because they are “TRADITION” !!

Topol as Tevye by United Artists

His emphasis on traditions is important because they’re based on habitual ways of living our lives in an orderly way. Habits help us through life with a minimum of effort, forethought or planning. They save time and reduce repeated agonizing over “what to do next?”
Day by day we give little thought to dressing, meals,bathing, driving to work, where to go on vacation, what to read, which TV programs to watch etc.
On the other hand habits can make life boring—-never changing daily routines can result in sleep-walking through life. Habits often block new experiences that could add spice and fresh air to our activities.
The other day, we were getting ready to go out to dinner with several friends. Before we left their home, I asked if they might like to try a new ethnic restaurant that recently opened nearby.

Adventuresome Food

One of the couples immediately said, “We wouldn’t like that kind of food”. I asked, “Have you ever tasted any of their entrees?”  He responded, “No, but I’m sure we wouldn’t like anything they offer on the menu”.

How sad—-for someone to deny himself what might be a delightful new experience! On the other hand, with that attitude, I’d guess that they probably wouldn’t have enjoyed the meals at that restaurant or for that matter  anything other than the narrowly restricted range of food and recipes they eat every day.

Bread & Water

On the other hand to be realistic, most of us aren’t very different than my “picky eater” friends when it comes to living our own  lives—where we vacation each year, the brand of cars we drive, how we vote, the clothing styles we select, the books we read….and in fact almost every aspect of our daily routines are governed by long-standing habits.  In many ways that’s a good and safe way to live.
However, I’d like to suggest that each of us try a few new experiences to add some zest and spice to our habitual routines. Take your vacation in a new location, go to a restaurant that you’ve been avoiding (without very good reason to do so), read a book on a totally different subject than usual, take a Pathways Institute course  that might sound uninteresting to you, volunteer some time to work in one of the service areas at Messiah Village

GO AHEAD, sample a variety of new experiences—they’re all over the place—-and can bring fun and psychological “fresh air” into life’s daily routines.

Here at Messiah Village residents grow lots of flowers and vegetables.

When you come to the Fall Festival or the Chili Cook Off in September…

you can also see some of the flowers.

Lots of honey bees visit our flowers. You are also welcome to visit.

When taking my daily indoor walks I normally walk on the main floor from the gate 3 side to the front desk. In doing so, I walk past the small garden with the water fountain which as you probably know is located adjacent to the Fountain Room on the main floor.

I always pause and peer thru the window in hopes of seeing the 3 or 4 garden variety turtles which I know have a home in the ground near the rear end of the small lot. I am certain that there are both male and female turtles living there and I am also certain that they are now passed the breeding season.
However, I am baffled by the fact that I have not yet seen any young turtles that should have emerged from the den at the rear portion of the small lot. The adults come to the surface almost daily to feast on the food particles placed there for them by the Messiah employees working in the Evergreen Room.
Continuing my walk a short distance to the window on the other side of the hall there are presently two families of the Mallard variety of water fowl. The ages of the young vary considerably and therefore the heights of one family compared to that of the other also varies considerably.
As in the case of the turtles the Mallards are fed quite well which is probably the reason for the rapid growth of the peeps.

Ducklings

During the course of my daily walks I also occasionally meet up with a Messiah resident or two who bring their household pet dogs to the assisted living building where they pick up their daily mail. I, like so many other residents here at our building, have become familiar with one pet dog called “Maggie” who is the pet of Jerre and Carolyn Rutherford here at the Village. I am convinced that Maggie recognizes me by my voice and she is most receptive to the extra amount of attention I shower on her such as scratching her chin and ears. As you might imagine other residents here also pay a lot of attention to Maggie. I neglected to mention that Maggie is one of the popular Golden Retriever species of dogs. (See a picture of Maggie below).

Maggie

On my weekly visit to my Son and family in the Boiling Springs area I have learned to know another member of the Golden Retriever family, a Male whose name is ”Digmoore” and who like Maggie has also learned to recognize my voice and looks forward to the attention I always extend to him during my weekly visit. (See a picture of ”Digmoore“ below).

Digmoore

In conclusion, I am certain you will agree there are many interesting birds and animals such as pet dogs for us to admire as we make our daily rounds of the Messiah Village compound.
Bob Rickert (CarverBob).

Last Winter we longed for the arrival of warmer weather when we could take long walks through the lovely campus here at Messiah Village, sit on our porches and enjoy the flowers and produce from our gardens. We wanted to be done with the ice and snow and raw, chilly days that kept us inside our cottages much of the time.

However, we’ve already endured three heat waves that turned the grass brown and frequently kept us confined  in the air-conditioned comfort of our homes, as well as an earthquake followed by a powerful East Coast hurricane.
What a season Summer 2011 has been!!

After all these trials we’re eagerly anticipating the cooler breezes of Autumn with a chance to bundle up for a leisurely stroll around the campus. I suppose that if they had their choice, most folks would prefer a sunny, year-round temperature of about 80 degrees with just enough rain (during the night) to keep the lawns green and the garden producing fruit and vegetables.

Many years ago, there was such a place . It was called Eden. But , we can’t move there any longer.  The GOOD NEWS is however, that for those who love the Lord there is the assurance that He has prepared an even better place than Eden in which we will have a  mansion  and release from everything that bothers or annoys us in this life. The Bible doesn’t say anything about Heavenly weather conditions but I’m sure it will be absolutely delightful !

Meanwhile, I’m looking forward to the cooler weather here in Pennsylvania so we can sit on our porch and visit with friends and neighbors more often.

A few weeks ago we took a bus trip from Messiah Village to Lake Tobias Wildlife Park. It included a traffic tie-up, an animal visit, lunch, and an ice cream stop. It was a fun day.

Our bus driver with two dozen aboard headed for the Capital Beltway to take us across the Susquehanna River and up Route 147 to Halifax area but we joined a traffic tie-up. Hundreds of cars and trucks crept from four lanes to one lane and so we had lots of time to chat with our seat friends until we passed a tractor trailer accident. Then we were up to speed so our leader phoned ahead to Lake Tobias to reschedule our arrival time.

At Lake Tobias we got aboard an open-air bus to drive around 100+ acres of pasture land and wooded areas where we could see exotic animals and flightless birds. Our driver-guide gave us information and she had some ears of corn and some of us had some animal crackers to toss to birds and animals. Once in awhile you even got to quickly pet an animal and sometimes an animal climbed the couple of front bus steps to beg an ear of corn.  It was fun. From the bridge we could see a few American alligators in the lake.

Next we went several miles to The Carsonville Hotel for lunch. The Carsonville Hotel steps you back in time with a lot of antique items on display and it is an older building that was probably a farm house before it became a restaurant in 1976. It is very good food and the visit can be a lot of fun. French fry servings are big so that only one out of four eaters needs to order.

Another adventure of the day came after our Carsonville Hotel visit because there was a bridge repair closing a road. So the trip went around some country roads back to Halifax and then took Route 225 down Peters Mountain so we could stop at 3-B Ice Cream for after lunch dessert. Our trip to Lake Tobias was fun and we may go back sometime.