Good Things by David

This past week I spent some time with family in the historic area of Cape May.  The tranquil town is such a beautiful area filled with Victorian homes, restaurants, shops and miles of pristine beaches for one to stroll during the day.  The first time I visited Cape May was during my freshman year in college back in 1994 and it was then that I fell in love with this wonderful town.  All of these years later the place still holds that special magic for me and I couldn’t be happier having visited for several days.   As much as I was fortunate enough to have visited for just under a week, our trip didn’t start under auspicious circumstances.  Having our power and heat go out due to an ice storm, we were forced to leave our Montgomery County home to seek warmer shelter.  Cooking meals, sharing laughs, having our cats get used to a new environment and yes, taking strolls along the miles of beach were all very nice to say the least.    The f...

A spring house is not a season-specific home one occupies like a summer or winter home.  In fact, it isn't really a house at all.  Before modern electricity made refrigeration possible for the homeowner, farmers relied on shed-like structures built directly on top of natural springs or on one situated near the bank of a creek to store their perishables.  The  house was usually made of stone (at least here in the Delaware Valley that seems to be the case) and was no larger than a small room.  If the farmer was lucky, he would have built the spring house against a hill to take advantage of its insulating properties. Depending on the design & how elaborate the land owner wanted it to be, a small channel was usually built along the inside walls to direct the flow of water around the structure.  This allowed the spring house to maintain a cool internal temperature (somewhere in the mid 50 ° F range), making it possible to keep dairy products, me...