We arrived back at the Carlisle, in the late afternoon and had a nice nap. By dinner time the fog had burned off and it became a beautiful time to go give the horses their carrot treats. Before heading over to the horse pasture I checked my messages and found Kathy Miller had called asking us to come for a visit after the cows were milked.
It took awhile to convince the horses that our carrots were better than their grazing spots, but once one started ambling up the hill the other started to jog to get to the fence. They let us feed and pet them for the next 1/2 hour. We planned a brisk walk down to the bridge and back. It's a good 3/4 mile walk and around 200 foot drop in elevation. Going down is the easy part coming back up with Josiah in tow would be a good workout. I figured we would have about forty minutes, so wherever we were in our walk we would start back in fifteen minutes so we would not be late to the Miller's.
A little over half way down was the beautiful home that overlooks the Meadows community. It is like a Kincaid painting. The house is perched on top of this very steep hill, it has a 60 foot drop in elevation to the pond below. I saw this older gentleman struggling to walk up that back slope to the house and I stopped to ask if it was his home (after all he could have been the caretaker).
He was not really interested in talking to a stranger, it was obvious he was heading to the house as quick as he could but the steep slope was not helping. It allowed me to get between him and his drawbridge. It didn't take long to win him over though, he knew from my questions that I didn't know who he was and I really was sincere in my compliments on his home and lawn and that beautiful development that his home overlooked. Soon we were talking about construction and housing developments. Once he felt safe talking to me he gave me a business card with his cell phone number and when I told him we were staying at the Carlisle he finally told me who he was. Levi Troyer! He built the Carlisle Inn and the Carlisle House and Der Dutchman. I asked him if I could shake his hand and raved that in my humble opinion he was a genius.
Needless to say I lost track of time and Bette had already headed back up the hill.
It was beyond amazing to think that he just got back from Florida, happened to walk outside while I am walking by and now we have exchanged business cards and we are best buds! I told him I had to go and he told me to come back next time I was in the area and he would give me a tour of the house.
When the Miller's found out I had met Levi Troyer they seemed incredulous. Apparently everyone knew who he was except me, no wonder he wanted to avoid conversation.
The next surreal scene is sitting in this Amish living room under gas lamp lights while watching little Tim fly his remote control helicopter around the living room with expert finesse. Deftly hovering near the lights, circling swooping, weaving gracefully around chairs and people then landing lightly on an over turned cardboard box in the middle of the room. I thought I was in some sort of a weird dreamland. The little poodle dog "Jackson" was a little freaked out but getting better. Tim had bought the helicopter only the day before at the huge Mount Hope auction and the dog had been chased around for a full day already. Tim is about ten and small for his age but he loves to sit and listen to the adults and occasionally interject his bits of wisdom. He also loves to collect knives and has a collection of about forty, I rummaged through the truck and found a couple to let him pick from. I would have given him both but don't want to spoil him. He is also quite the entrepreneur, charging his sisters rent for using some of his closet space. He buys goats and chickens on market speculation. The eggs he sells, and the goats if the price is right.
The last picture- Randy Gerber's bed and breakfast cabin
On a side note we found out that Randy Gerber, the former Inn keeper at the Carlisle we had come to know over the years was no longer with the company. He and his wife had divorced and he lost the home and the bed and breakfast cabin they ran on the side. He had left the area for several years but now was living near Charm and running a small engine repair business.
No comments:
Post a Comment