Spring Goodies

 

Rosie the Bunny is ready to greet Easter. She says, "Help yourself to some peanut butter cups."

Today I bought at Meijer some tete a tete daffodils in a pot. I intended to buy tulips but did not like the selection nor the price. 

I can no longer find the dark chocolate Godiva bunny, so I bought a Lindt one instead. I once did a "test" comparing the two and the Godiva was definitely my favorite. 

At least Easter is later this year; maybe we will have a warm day. We can always hope. Spring is very up and down in Indiana.

 A tornado went through nearby Bourbon, Indiana Wednesday night. My sister-in-law lost power but has a generator. She had no damage to her property, but Bourbon had structural damage to homes and businesses as well as fallen trees. We heard on the weather radio alert that a tornado was headed toward Bourbon and Etna Green. Our family members answered the text we sent, and they said they were sheltering in the basement. We had rain, wind, light hail but live further east than the tornado path. 

Sushiko Restaurant

 Today we ate at Sushiko restaurant on Detroit Street for the first time. This building has seen so many restaurants through the years; I hope this one is able to stay around. It has a pleasant setting.

The menu has several pages of suishi. My Bento box had 4 pieces of California roll; my husband ordered tuna rolls. He did not think that  they were very good. I gave him one of my rolls because I am not a big fan of suishi. He said it was better than the tuna.

I found the teriyaki chicken with dumplings good. It came with California rolls and fried rice. 

Tuna suishi roll with ginger and wasabi.

Shrimp dinner with vegetables that my husband ordered.

The restaurant is on the shore of Center Lake with an outside deck. Not very sunny as we are expecting rain this afternoon. The menu prices for lunch during the week (including Saturday) are quite a savings from the regular menu. We will have to come back on a nice weekday to eat and maybe sit on the deck.

Parasols hung from the ceiling make a colorful decor.

The suishi case at the entrance had a man making more.

There are steps to climb to reach the main entrance; maybe there is a ramp to the deck which would allow one to enter without steps? Not sure.

Saw one couple eating crab rangoon which were large and looked good. For the more adventurous, a variety of suishi. Our meals included salad or soup. We chose the egg drop soup which was tasty. 

Worth a second visit on a weekday.

Violas

 

I bought this pot of violas Tuesday at Costco. Violas like pansies are considered cool-weather tolerant, but I put the pot in the garage yesterday evening. Not because of the temperatures that would be dropping with the approaching cold front, but because of the gusty wind. I will put it on the porch tomorrow, but I see I may have to return it to the garage a few times in the next 10 days because of below-30 night temperatures. Still, I wanted a touch of spring color. It is worth the bother.

I experienced a change of policy at Costco. Before, I could go down the customer service/food court side to use the restroom. This time the man at the door that checks the receipts asked me if I was going to customer service. When I explained my destination, he said I was supposed to scan my membership card on the merchandise side of the store and approach the restroom through that side. I know what they are trying to do; they want only members to use the food court. He graciously allowed me to enter his side of the store this time. Since after using the restroom I would want a cart to go through the store, it would mean exiting the customer service side after using the facilities, getting a cart, then scanning my card a second time. Or getting a cart before going to the restroom and parking it in an aisle hoping nobody takes it. Not very efficient.  You would think they could require scanning the card when placing a food order instead. 

I have a big decision to make re my Linx device. It has migrated below where it was implanted and now sits in the stomach instead of slightly above it. Part of the stomach has gone through the device and above the diaphragm meaning it is a hiatal hernia. The surgeon said I had 3 options: decide to live with it and the increased regurgitation by modifying even more how and what I eat; have the device removed and the hernia repaired surgically; remove the device, repair the hernia, then do fundoplication where part of the stomach is wrapped around the bottom of the esophagus. I see a gastroenterologist May 13th and will discuss those options with him before deciding.

 According to the internet, only about 4-5% of patients have migration of the device and a recurring hernia. There are other reasons for explantation though. If I understood my doctor correctly, he has never removed a Linx device. It is supposedly not difficult but time-consuming because the tissue around each bead has to be addressed. There are not many doctors in our part of Indiana who have experience with the Linx so I don't think I would be able to find somebody who has removed one. The gastroenterologist I am to see has never implanted the device, but he knows how it works. 

We had light snow this morning, the first day of spring. I see daffodil shoots, buds on the maple tree, teeny-tiny green leaves on the quince bush. Mother Nature is waking up. 

 

 

Ollie's in Warsaw

 We stopped by our new Ollie's store in Warsaw yesterday. It seems brighter and roomier than the one in Fort Wayne. I really like that they have 99-cent greeting cards with a pretty good assortment. I do not remember ever seeing cards in the Fort Wayne store. 

I bought an adult coloring book for $2.99. I picked out this one because the cover illustration showed flowers with gradations of hue. I want to try my new colored pencils in that way. Besides flowers, it has butterflies and birds. When I had a limited number of pencils, making choices was pretty easy. I suspect having 180 pencils will slow things down but be more interesting.

We also bought a jigsaw puzzle for $4.99. Not a large assortment available. Ollie's is an overstock merchandise store so the goods for sale change fairly frequently. The puzzle is titled Paris Impressions. I would have preferred fewer pieces, but the puzzles with less pieces were mostly geared toward juveniles. We do not want to add lots of puzzles to the shelves we thinned out last summer. At this price, we can enjoy a new puzzle every few months and donate it to the retirement community. 

It is predicted to get to 75 degrees this afternoon. A front with rain and wind will come through early tomorrow. Then on Sunday a high of 39 degrees. Definitely March weather in northern Indiana. I now have 9 daffodil sprouts; my neighbor's daffodils are about 6 inches high. Mine obviously are not going to be early bloomers. The bulbs were planted last fall; I have no idea what to expect in terms of timing. At least there are signs that spring is on its way.