A Little Shopping

 Usually when I make a trip to Fort Wayne to shop, I try to visit several stores to make the hour commute worthwhile. I am learning to think differently now that shopping is not very easy for me. Yesterday I shopped only in Macy's. Since this was following a medical appointment, I felt shopping one store was OK.

I used my Rolloy rollator in the shopping mall (really only the one department store). I shopped for almost an hour, and I only needed to sit down once. I think this is because unlike many people who use a rollator and are bent over, holding the handles gives me the support to stand straighter and taller. This eases the pain in my lower spine. I cannot do it without extra help because my muscles fatigue quickly.

I was pleased to see that Macy's had a lot of sales and markdowns. My goal was to find a summer top that was comfortable and casual enough to wear at home. I did not want a tee-shirt, but I would have looked at Polo shirts if I had seen some. 

This Style and Co. top has one of those prints that is hard to photograph to get the real colors. The spirals look orangish or coral but really are a bright pink.

It fits well, was on sale, and should be good to wear in the summer or spring. My other two mainstays for summer are 5 years old now. They are usable, but I am tired of them. 

Though I was not shopping for pants, I saw a pair of JM Collection slacks regularly $49.50 on sale for $19.99. I own a pair by this company which I wear so often they are starting to look a bit worn.

These have a bit of Spandex and are so comfortable. I find I have to try on petite or short slacks. I have lost 2 inches from spine compression, and the regular Misses sizes are usually too long. These have slimmer pant legs than many slacks which I like. The only thing I do not like about these new pants is that they have no pockets, but at this price I am willing to overlook that.

We had been home about 45 minutes when our power went out. No air conditioner nor fans when it was 94 degrees outside. Since we had eaten an early lunch in order to get to my 12:45 check-in time at the doctor's office, we headed for Bob Evans for some supper. We had been planning to eat out. When we arrived home a little after 6 p.m. the air conditioner was running. Back to normal. 

We have two more days that will be pretty hot and humid. July 4th will be mid-80's which is warm but not beastly. I am going to grill some chicken thighs to eat around noon. Hope your holiday is pleasant.

First Farmers Market Purchase This Year

 

This morning was my first visit to the Winona Lake Farmers Market this year. I had hoped there might be some green beans, but the vendor I asked said probably two weeks yet. There were some nice little tomatoes and garlic scrapes (which I have never had the courage to try). 

I did buy a touch of color in a little bouquet. The leaves are mint. This vendor sells basil and mint and herbs as well as vegetables. I saw one zucchini which surprised me. The grower had only one and she said it was her  first of the season.

More good things coming.

Brown County Indiana

June 11th was our 49th wedding anniversary. We decided to get away for a few days. We drove to Brown County Indiana east of Bloomington on the 10th.

On our way south, we stopped at Newfields in Indianapolis. This is the Indiana Museum of Art and grounds including a garden with the Lilly mansion. J. K. Lilly who bought the Oldfields property in 1932 was a descendant of the founder of the Eli Lilly pharmaceutical company and served on the board.

We ate lunch at the museum restaurant. It was very tasty and interesting. The lower level of the dining room looks out at a fountain.

Oldfields is a 22-room French chateau-style mansion built in 1910 surrounded by 26 acres of professionally designed landscape. The first floor which is open to tour is furnished in 1930's era style and includes a great hall (living room), dining room, game room, music room, and a library which once housed 35,000 books. 

The part of the grounds we explored were paved. There is a section overlooking the White River which is rugged and steep which we bypassed. The time to come to Newfields for the garden is spring when the tulips are in bloom. I was somewhat disappointed in the flowers we saw in June. 

The best part of the garden for me was the fountain.

There were some benches on which to sit including one in the shade. It was over 90 degrees and humid so the shade didn't help much, but it was better than the overhead sun. As I watched the patterns appear in the water, I could hear music accompanying them.

We stopped at the Beer Garden as we headed back to the museum, not for beer but for lemonade and rootbeer. 

There is a nature park with sculptures on the other side of the museum. They were doing some construction so not all of the art in the outdoors was accessible. There are bike paths along the banks of the White River that tie into other bike trails in the city. We did not drive over to this part of Newfields but headed for Nashville, Indiana where we had rented a cabin in the outskirts for two nights.

We were glad that Deer Dance cabin is air-conditioned. We would have spent more time outside on the porch if it were not so steamy hot. We did eat some left-over pizza for lunch sitting in the screened porch.

Thursday morning after eating breakfast at Abe Martin Lodge in Brown County State Park, we walked an accessible paved trail near the Park Office. 

Probably the most crowded time for this park is autumn when the rolling hills are ablaze with colorful foliage. We saw a group of kids that were about to set out on mountain bike trails. I am sure there were a few hikers. People also were camping out. We had rain Wednesday night into Thursday morning. The rain stopped while we were eating breakfast. Our other stop was at the nature center.

After showering and eating pizza at our cabin, we headed to Nashville. 

I discovered many of the shops were difficult for me to navigate since I was using my Rolloy rollator walker. Lots of steps. A few had ramps. The two-story complex with the flags had an elevator and a ramp so we visited 3 stores there. After eating sherbet and ice cream, we strolled to Lawrence Family Glass Blowers. (This shop only had a low curb to negotiate.) We bought a humming bird to celebrate our anniversary. 

They even created a glass loop with an opening for filament to be strung so the bird could hang on a stand (or in the shop from the ceiling).

It was a little cooler when we drove home on Friday June 12th. We stopped at Irion's Smokehouse in Ellwood for lunch. This turned out to be southeast a ways, almost to Marion. I ordered pulled pork and my husband ordered beef brisket. This is a small place with maybe 5 tables and counter seating under the front window. You place your order at the service counter. 

We ended up putting half of the sandwich meat in a take-home box. No way we were going to finish what they gave us.

"Artwork" on the walls and trashcan to keep you entertained.

We will eat the leftover meat for our Sunday night supper.

It was good to get away for a few days, but it is nice to be home. I think our traveling days are winding down.

What a Weekend It Has Been

 Saturday afternoon I noticed a man walking past our windows facing the backyard. He had no insignia on his clothing. He carried an orange cable. I saw that he had parked a black car in front of my house that had no markings of any kind.

He went to the "utilities" boxes in the berm separating us from the backyards of the next block of condos. He used a trenching tool to bury the Xfinity line from my next-door-neighbor's condo. 

Shortly after, when my husband turned on the television to watch a sporting event, we had no cable connection thus we had no TV. (Since we have a smart TV, he discovered later he could watch a few things on YouTube.) I picked up the phone to call to report the problem and there was no dial tone, and it said no line on the phone window. 

Using a cell phone, we left a message to be passed on to the maintenance staff. Being a weekend, one has to go through the healthcare staff. We heard nothing back. Sunday night my husband emailed a message to the lady who oversees the maintenance requests. We heard from her this morning (Monday) that the request had been passed on. 

About 9 a.m. this morning two workers tried fixing the cut lines. It took them over 5 hours to restore the landline phone service to our condo quadplex. Around 3 p.m. they restored our television connection. We seem to be the only unit in the quadplex that lost TV service.  

This morning when my husband tried to view some news on the computer and check email, he could not. We had no internet connection. Since we had internet all yesterday, I guessed this was not related to the other problems but coincidental. I called my provider KC Connect this morning.

The retirement community worker was standing in our living room making sure our TV was OK when a truck from KC Connect arrived. Turns out the line going into our condo had been chewed through by an animal. It didn't take very long for the two internet company men to fix it. 

Finally, we are back to normal: we can view television, use the internet, and use the landline telephone. Feels good to be connected to the modern world once again in our routine way. We did check email on cell phones so we were not totally cut off.

Our home technology stopping at the same time. Made for a quiet weekend. I did get caught up on some magazine reading. Modern technology is great until it stops working, and you realize how much you use it.