Lehman's Country Life

My morning routine is rather boring but that’s what routines are. They give comfort and a sense of “everything is ok” because they are predictable and routine. Get up and get the coffee started. If it’s cold outside, go downstairs and fire up the wood stove to get the house warm. Then upstairs to pack lunches for my wife and three children, read the paper and the Bible. About that time, my wife (a teacher) and son (a student) leave for their school and I wake up my two daughters. Then I go for my morning run with our dog, get the girls ready for school and myself ready for work, wait for the school bus at the end of the driveway, then head to work at Lehman’s.

This morning, the routine was going as planned through the get up, make coffee, pack lunches, read, and say good-bye to wife and son stages. But then the routine fell apart. The dog started barking. This is rather unusual (fortunately our dog doesn’t bark at every moving thing) so I went to the window to see what was going on. He was barking towards the woods at the back of our house so I looked that direction and through the darkness saw one of our Amish neighbor boys walking up through the yard toward our house. When he saw me at the window, he came toward the door.
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The Notebook

If you’ve been with me since the beginning of this series, you may remember that among my goals for my financial health was to see if I could get what had become a worrisome power bill under control. Along with releasing the financial boon of splitting expenses as my roommate of several years moved out, I was also hoping that releasing the bad habits that were part of the package would net me some measurable improvement once lights were not left blazing, the refrigerator door not held open while a potential meal was decided upon, and a second refrigerator moved out and to the new kitchen across town.

Now, depending upon where you live and how your house is constructed, $120 may not sound like a large bill to power a 2700 sq ft home; but after the extra expense I had gone to for thicker walls (and hence higher R value insulation) and high-quality windows, I didn’t like the look of it, and I set my lip in a firm line, determined to do better. First up, along with letting the cats eat in a laundry room lit by a 60-Watt pinup lamp (rather than six 75-Watt overhead recessed lights) was allowing an extra five minutes each morning, going around closing insulated curtains and lowering matchstick blinds on the sides of the house where the sun would be shining while I was at work.
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Plum Cake

Every country has it’s own special foods for celebrating Christmas. In the States from my childhood I associate cookie making as the special baking session of the season. Germany has stollen. But I have lived more than a quarter of a century now in either England or Ireland and the comestible essentials seem to be Christmas pudding, Christmas cake and mince pies.

Christmas pudding translates easily to what Americans know as plum pudding. The making of the pudding is highly ritualised with a special ‘Stir Up Sunday’ at the beginning of advent when the pudding is mixed up and each member of the household asked to stir in a wish. The prizes – silver boots, pennies, etc. are carefully wrapped in greaseproof paper and put in the pudding after the mix has been put in a muslin lined pudding basin. Then the first steaming session commences.
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Lehman

It’s no surprise that retailers predict technology will be at the top of many holiday wish lists again this year. But if you’re not techno-savvy, or not comfortable with the expense of high-tech gifts, there is good news: low-tech and “no-tech” gifts can still fit every taste and budget.

“Simple, non technology gifts will always be in style,” predicts Glenda Lehman Ervin, a gift-giving expert with Lehman’s old-time general store. “Items, like food, linens, cookware, lotions and scents, and old-fashioned toys can be wonderful gifts – to give and receive – for people who are not necessarily plugged in to the high-tech trend. They can also be refreshing and fun alternatives for the ”tekkies” in your life.”

Lehman Ervin, whose family-run business has sold simple, technology-free gifts for over 50 years, offers the following tips for 10 low-tech gifts sure to enhance any holiday wish list:
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