The Running of the Trains, Frederick Maryland Photographer

We are fortunate to have a friend and neighbor down the road who opens his yard to us to enjoy his model train tracks.  We meet him several years ago when I was the Chair of the Garden Club in Point of Rocks. Pat hosts open house days in which his train enthusiast friends come to ride trains on the track and the rest of us take in the show.  Last week as we were passing by his house, Liam asked when we could visit him.  Luckily he had an open house planned for today.  Pat has built and designed a lot of the structures and has large boxes to protect and cover them during bad weather.  In winter the cars and figures are taken inside.  Here are some photos from it.  

The bottom picture shows where I want to go on vacation (in the little cottages with a red Beetle in front) with the waterfall and water wheel roaring behind.

Above right: Logging  
Above Left: Church
Bottom: I took this photo for my friend Donna as this reminds me of the gas station her grandfather owned in Florida.

Bottom photo was my favorite of the day.  Entrance over a wooden bridge to my favorite little cottages. 

Liam and Luke give you a little bit of perspective in the size of the train and the track.  In fact it's much bigger than the photos show.  They ran around waiting for the trains to round the turns, enter and exit the tunnels and study the town.  

If you are interested in Trains check out my blog post from when we spent the weekend in a Caboose in Natural Bridge, Virginia.

Frugal Frederick

Frugal Frederick

I have always been frugal out of necessity and for the love of the environment.  I don't like tossing something that is perfectly usable (hence the reason we waiting so long to buy a fridge to replace the 17-year-old almond colored appliance in our home).  Here are a some ways to save while living in Frederick County, Maryland.

·      Recycling Plant-Ryan went to the dump to toss broken and over used baby items and the told him that most could be discarded (for free) at the Recylcying plant next-door.  He had plastics, metal and car batteries and did not have to pay the dumping fee.  With all the plastic items that are made for kids this is a good way to dispose of these things.  

·      Make your own compost.  You can pick up a compost cylinder for $20.00 from the Solid Waste Facility.  I put everything from weeds and yard leaves, kitchen scraps such as eggshells, veggies leftovers and coffee grounds.  It fills up fast if you have a big yard. 

They also have compost/leaf mulch for a reasonable price if you don't have your own.

·      Plant your own garden.  Then you can use the homemade compost. 

·      Use newspaper not landscape fabric to keep out weeds.  Place a layer of about 5 sheets and then mulch.  It is better for the environment and your garden.

·      Shopping in downtown Frederick lends itself to some fun thrift stores on Patrick Street such as Chic to Chic Consignment Boutique and Venus on the Half Shell and Select Second Hospital Thrift is worth a look too.  Check out Lucy’s Quality Children’s Consignment and Sweet Pea Consignment for children’s items.  I love to shop at Plato’s Closet.  It really is geared towards teens, but it’s worth a look.  In addition to the numerous antique stores in Frederick a new consignment store in Buckeystown just opened called,  Addison's Attic.

·      Free stuff include summer children’s programs in Baker Park, Library Story-times, visit each Frederick County Public Library for a tour of the county and a new perspective of sharing reading materials.  My sons and I love to visit the Earth Science and Space Lab (ESSL) in downtown Frederick for evening and summer programs.  It's a great way to beat the heat while educating yourself as well.  Tickets for the planetarium shows are reasonable and worth it!

·      Take out a map and locate all the children’s playgrounds owned by Frederick County.

·      Water Fun: We don't have a pool in which we belong to so we have to be inventive.  The Potomac River which flows next to the C&O Canal, Monocacy River (very shallow at Buckeystown Park) and Cunningham Falls ($3.00 per car) are all great places to cool off in the summer.  At Cunningham Falls we visit the aviary and then play in the shallow stair-step waterfall, and tire park (1st entrance from the South).  There is also a beach area, which I have not tried in the summer, but looks great-just get there early!  We also love a nice dip a Loyes Covered Bridge.  It has a playground but skip that for the water!  I'll have another post on the fun to be had there.

·      MARC train is a cheap, stress-free ride into Downtown DC if you can visit Monday through Friday.  Early morning departures puts you there in time for a quick breakfast and museum opening hours.  Kids under five are free.  Depart from Point of Rocks, Brunswick and Frederick.

Feel free to send a comment with more ideas.

Beware of the G8 Radish, Frederick MD Radish Grower

Farmer Luke with his recent harvest.

Luke, the proud grower of this radish

While he has produced minuscule carrots he is an expert at growing large radishes.