Pricklies and Smoothies

This has been one of those weeks where my puny human perspective about what fills my bowl has been tested.
Prickly: Monday I spent several hours in the library trying to set up the touch-screen Telikin computer. After dismantling the computer and peripherals to be replaced, I followed the directions in the Telikin manual. I soon had a web page displayed and even checked my gmail. I stopped to answer a question and when I returned to the Telikin not only was it unable to access the internet but to my dismay the other computer had the same problem and the wireless access was also not available. I set up the old equipment which did not solve the problem and notified the person who oversees the electronic equipment. He sent me an email informing me that he had replaced the modem and router with a newer combo router and modem before clocking out for the day.
Smoothie: I returned to the library Tuesday to try again. Dismantled the old setup, hooked up the Telikin and it was instantly on the internet. While attending the monthly birthday/anniversary party, one of my “students” who had given up learning how to use a computer because of unsteady hands making it almost impossible to use the mouse saw this new computer. When I returned, he had already figured out how to get on the web. He was having a great time.
Prickly: Because I spent so much time in the library Monday, I put off doing my laundry until Tuesday. About 9:30 a.m. we discovered we had no water. The maintenance man checked it out and said it probably was the water softener as the well showed plenty of pressure. He went across the street to the water building. He didn’t return, but the water came back. I put my white sheets and 2 white blouses and a few other items in the washing machine with the detergent. To my horror, when the cycle was thru and I went to get the items  to put in the dryer, the sheets were tea colored and the blouses streaked with rust. I learned that the central water softener had broken, and they had bypassed it so we were now getting untreated water. Why didn’t they tell me this?
Smoothie: A product from the grocery store removed the rust from the white items. The softener wasn’t fixed until about noon Wednesday and I was gone all day so the clothes were not “rescued” until last night. It took 2 washings, but they are OK.
Prickly: My plan for Wednesday was to go to Fort Wayne to pick up some AAA tour books, then drive an hour south to an herb garden where I wanted to see the lavender fields. I was almost to Fort Wayne when I realized the printed address and directions to the garden near Hartford City had been left behind.
Smoothie: The nice lady at AAA looked up the address and printed a Triptik for me.
Prickly: Because of our strange spring weather, the lavender was mostly already harvested.

Smoothie: Though disappointed with the garden, I had combined the trip with errands in Fort Wayne so at least part of the mileage wasn’t wasted. I also bought this cute plate in the garden gift shop.


We get the thorns with the roses. The bowl of life has its pricklies and its smoothies.
Rose given to us at the monthly party by GV in honor of our anniversary.

Saturday Surprise

Yesterday afternoon I received a call from Lisa Mundinger of Cookin Cute. She wanted to make a delivery to my home. Since I hadn’t ordered anything from her, I suspected this involved my sister. When my sister visited us here in Winona Lake, we browsed the shops of the Village at Winona. I had commented in Whetstone Woodenware about the cute aprons they were now selling. I was informed they were on consignment from Lisa. My sister is now back home in California, but apparently she returned to the shop and found the apron sold so special ordered one from Lisa, even enclosing a thank you card for our hospitality.
                                                             

I was totally surprised by this gift.
Last night we followed up the Masterworks concert with a scoop of Killer Chocolate ice cream at Kelaineys. We just beat the crowd of hungry musicians by 5 minutes.
Sweet apron, sweet sister, sweet ice cream. A great combination.

From My Front Porch

The last few days have been cooler, nice enough to sit on the porch again. I try to water my plants each day if the soil feels dry. Despite the recent heat, even the pansies seem to be doing OK. The unit next door is vacant, but even those plants are putting on a colorful display for me to view.
            
Yesterday morning my husband and I drove the country roads to Teel's restaurant in Mentone. If you visit there, keep in mind that the bacon that comes with your breakfast is a huge pile. I ate 4 pieces from my husband’s order, he ate at least 6 pieces, and we still have about that much left over that we will eat in BLT sandwiches today. We learned from our first visit, only one person needs to order bacon.
This morning I went to two farmers’ markets in search of some early tomatoes for today’s sandwiches: the one at the fairgrounds that has a few holdouts unwilling to relocate, and the new one downtown. No luck with tomatoes so had to stop at the grocery store. While crossing the road from the downtown farmers’ market, a car full of ladies asked me if this was Winona Lake. Somehow they had missed the turnoff and proceeded to Warsaw where they were forced to make a decision as Center Street is closed for the market sellers. I instructed them how to get to The Village at Winona, but today is less than ideal as a big triathlon is in progress this morning.
Last night we attended the symphony concert of the Masterworks Festival which is also held in Winona Lake. Excellent as usual. We plan to go tonight to another concert if my husband isn’t wiped out from helping with the triathlon.
Winona Lake is a great place to live and to visit.

Fixed-income-friendly Pleated Shade

The condos in my retirement neighborhood have identical arch windows at the front and back. The windows with southern exposure can be problematic. We found that at certain times of the year when the arc of the sun is low in the sky, we had lunchtime glare on our dining table and sun in our eyes. Those with southern front windows may not have as much trouble since the overhanging roof of the front porch shields some of the glare.
Not wanting to invest hundreds of dollars for custom shades or drapes, we learned from our neighbors at the other end of our quadplex that they had solved the problem inexpensively with a product from Lowes. The trim-to-fit pleated shade costs about $20 and is in-stock at the local store.
You measure the bottom width of your window, trim off a few inches of the thin long rectangle (like a paper fan folded up) to match your window, peel the adhesive protector off the bottom, press on your sill, then open like an accordion fan. The shade lets light in, but cuts down the glare. I do miss not seeing the moon thru the window like I did when we first moved in, but the trade-off was worth it.

Traveling Mercies

When we pray for our family members who are traveling long distances, we tend to take for granted that everything will go smoothly. For my family this week that has not been the case, and we are reminded that there are bits of life that are hard to swallow.
My brother-in-law, sister, niece, and nephew-in-law of a few days headed from Upland, Indiana to Charlotte, North Carolina with a borrowed pick-up truck loaded with the newly-weds belongings and accompanied by my niece’s Camry. I don’t know the details, but the truck broke down near Beckley, West Virginia. Three of them finally traveled to Charlotte in the car, leaving my brother-in-law behind to arrange for towing and repairs. Poor guy had a grueling time, but he has finally made it to Charlotte.
I checked on the status of the train carrying my mother, sister, and brother-in-law to California on Amtrak’s webpage. According to the status report, they will arrive in Los Angeles about 7 hours later than the 8:15 a.m. official arrival time. Long day yet for them before they get home.
On a brighter note, my husband’s sister called this morning to report that her husband who has Parkinson’s stated yesterday that he wanted to walk. We have not seen him walk more than two steps in over a year. The nursing home aides supported his arms, but he made it to the door of his room, maybe a dozen steps.
We are in no position to help these folks. They have to depend on God to give them the stamina to get thru the hard places. We would like to “help” God fill their bowls, but He is in charge.

Tea time

Having recently visited a tea room, I seem drawn to tea time photos. Visit Aiken House and Gardens to see some lovely photos.
Terribly hot here. Feel more like iced tea rather than hot tea. Reading the manual for the Telikin senior-friendly computer with the goal of setting it up in the retirement library within a week. Also perusing Microsoft Office 2010 Plain & Simple which will eventually go to the library for limited circulation.
Hope you have more energy than I do today.

Around the Table

We have been really busy the past 10 days. My mom, sister, and brother-in-law from Southern California arrived June 7th. My mom has been staying with us in our guestroom in our condo while the other two have been in a guestroom in the independent living apartments. We’ve toured some museums, played the card game golf, but mostly we have been hosting or attending special events.

On June 10th, my twin sister and her daughter arrived for a late celebration of my niece’s June 6th birthday. Along with my niece’s fiancé, his two brothers, the fiancé’s mother, and the 7 of us we had a full house. Ate chicken crescent casserole, fruit salad, chocolate birthday cake and ice cream.

June 11th, my husband and I celebrated 35 years of marriage by dining at Cerulean Restaurant with my 3 family members and two of his sisters. It was an interesting and delicious lunch.

June 12th, my twin sister and her daughter drove from Marion to Winona Lake and ate lunch and dinner at our condo. It was an opportunity for my mother to visit with her daughter (who currently lives in Lyon, France) and her granddaughter (who will be moving next week to Charlotte, NC).

June 15th, my sister hosted a tea in honor of her daughter who was  to marry the next day. We enjoyed Aunt Sue's Tea Room. The ladies of my family, the groom’s mother, a family friend, and the bridesmaids munched on finger sandwiches and scones and sweets.

June 16th was the wedding in the afternoon. We wish our niece and her new husband many happy years together.

While we were at Aunt Sue's, my husband and brother-in-law drove to Shipshewana to pick up our beautiful new quarter-sawn white oak dining table and chairs we had ordered about 6 weeks ago. It is the photo at the beginning of this post. Tomorrow night we will eat the burrito casserole I posted earlier along with some Indiana melon. We shall see how God provides future guests around our table.

Drought

My part of northern Indiana is officially in drought. We had lots of nice rain earlier this spring, but hardly anything in May. Unirrigated farm crops are becoming stressed. My patio plant is thriving, however. In Texas we called this plant portulaca and it was usually in hanging baskets. Here it is called moss rose.
When we moved in last summer, this plant was about the size of a dinner plate and had a few orange blossoms. It died back in the winter, but came back this spring with lots of “baby” plants around its perimeter. Now it is spreading and the seedling plants are merging with the parent to form a ground cover. There are lots of blossoms in orange, yellow, white, pink. I am enjoying them because if we have a hard winter in 2013 I don’t know if it will reappear or not. I don’t have any experience with moss rose.

We experienced a drought of mail, too. Since we subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, we should at least have found that in our box. Yesterday my husband called the post office. The substitute postal worker who delivers our mail thought it was to be forwarded. It has been sent who-knows-where and may or may not come back to us. The good news is that we did receive mail on Wednesday and an apology.
We also had failure of our Dish Network DVR and the loss of all of our recorded programs and movies. Bye-bye Downton Abbey, farewell special on Jackie Kennedy Onassis and wedding of Kate and Will, so-long the movies we recorded during our 3-month special of free Starz.
These are the prickly things in the bowl. Perhaps a lesson in what is really important, but kind of hard to give thanks. I know: my TV still works, the retirement village waters my lawn from a well so it is green, and my mail service has resumed. Life is still good; just a little hard to swallow.

Burrito Casserole

Busy getting ready for a 2-week stay by my California family. Already have this dish in the freezer for one of the suppers.

Makes 2 casseroles (6 servings each)
2 lbs ground turkey or beef
1 medium onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cans Ranch Beans (15 oz each) (pinto beans in seasoned tomato sauce)
1 10 oz can diced tomatoes & green chilies, undrained (I use Rotel)
1 16-oz jar taco sauce (I use salsa; doesn't need to be cooked as long to thicken)
1 can (4 oz) chopped green chilies, drained
1 can (3 or 4 oz) sliced ripe olives, drained
12 flour tortillas (8 inches) halved
4 cups (16 oz) shredded Colby-Monterey Jack cheese
In large skillet, cook turkey (beef), onion, and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.
Stir in the beans, taco sauce, tomatoes, chilies, and olives. Bring to boil. Reduce heat.
Simmer uncovered, for 2O-25 min. or until slightly thickened.
Spread 1 cup meat mixture in each of two greased 11 in. x 7 in. baking dishes (or 9 x 9 in.
square).
Layer with 4 tortilla halves, l cup meat mixture and 2/3 cup cheese. Repeat twice. (I only repeated once)
*Cover and freeze one casserole for up to 3 months. Cover and bake the remaining casserole at
350 degrees for 20 minutes. Uncover; bake 10-15 minutes longer or until bubbly and cheese is
melted.
Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
To use frozen casserole: Thaw in the fridge overnight. Remove from fridge 30 minutes before baking.
Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Uncover; bake 10-15 minutes longer or until bubbly and cheese is melted. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
*I have baked both casseroles at same time and froze a baked one to thaw and heat up in the future. I think a baked one holds together better if you are going to use a freezer bag rather than a casserole container for freezing.