Garage/Rummage Sale Finds

North Webster, a small lake town about 15-20 minutes drive from us, had its Community Garage Sale in its community center. The ad said tools and lumber among other things. My husband wanted to be there when the doors opened at 8 a.m. Early Saturday rising; yawn.

Not much in the way of tools, lumber not what he wanted. I found the prices rather high for most things, or they were unpriced and you had to offer a price. I am not a haggler so unless I see something I really like and want, I just walk away.

I had seen Corian cutting boards before. There was a whole table of them in different sizes and shapes. Not a bargain, but I decided to buy one to try.

The board sure is heavy. I already see once home in better light there are some light scratches. I suspect that is one of the qualities of this type of board. I junked 2 discolored poly cutting boards. We'll see how this one works out.

My bargain was in the Senior Center room, not the gym.

25 cents for a puzzle. Maybe I will start on it next week.

Plastered near the entrances were signs advertising a rummage sale at a nearby church. We took the bait. Bought some peanut butter chocolate brownies. We had a 9:30 a.m. treat at home. A bit on the dry side. At lunch, I nuked them in the microwave. That softened them some; very tasty warm.

My big find of the day was at the church. Lenox Winter Greetings items filled one table. I bought a set of two bowls. They look brand new, still have the stickers on the bottom, and came in the box. They have lids for easy refrigerator storage; the lids also have a small vent to open if microwaving something in the bowl.

The sticker said $2 for the set. I really like them. They go well with my Christmas drink coasters which have birds on them; also, with my new decorative plates. I'm going to wash them, put them in the box, and store them away until next winter/Christmas. Something to look forward to at the end of 2017.

My finds cheered up a gray rainy day.

Tulip Tuesday

We drove to Peabody Retirement Community in North Manchester this morning. I had planned to visit Friday, but the weather forecast is for rain the next few days followed by markedly colder temperatures. Today is pleasant with sunshine so off we went through the countryside. Most of the tulips are blooming, but the flowering trees are just starting.

Colorful blooms are wondrously cheerful, a real day brightener.

It's not hard to understand why this is one of my favorite spring outings. This batch of tulips is about 2-3 weeks earlier than last year's. I watch the tulips in my neighborhood; when they open, I head for Peabody.

Not all of the flowers are open yet.

This retirement community has benches among the flowers.

Of course there are other spring flowers besides tulips.

Notice the stump next to the white flowers. There was a flowering tree there in the past. They have planted some small dogwoods instead.

 Lots of blooms yet to open on these trees.

The colonial brick architecture is set off nicely by the trees.

I think there is a fountain under the plastic tarp. I don't recall seeing it in operation previously though.

Peabody will have its annual tulip festival April 29th I think. Might be a little late for peak tulip flowering with our early spring.

Attuned to Nature

It is too easy to stay in the comfort of my home and only distantly observe the natural world. Yesterday we put the TV trays next to our front porch gliders and ate lunch outside. The blooming pear tree had been obvious through the windows, but what about its micro-world? Watching the tree as I lunched, I saw little butterflies flitting among the pear blossoms and from time to time some bees heading for the nectar. A robin perched on a limb.

I noticed on the way home from church today that tulips are opening in neighborhood yards. Time to drive to Peabody Retirement Community for my annual tulip pilgrimage. 

My sister gave me a devotional book by Francine Rivers for my birthday: Earth Psalms, Reflections on How God Speaks Through Nature. There are 52 entries each with anecdotes, Scripture verses, a Reflect statement/questions, a suggested application, and an ending prayer pertinent to the entry. All nicely illustrated.

I like that it is not a daily devotional structure. Some days I read something else. Some days I read more than one entry. I am enjoying it.

This afternoon I perused my decorating folders. The "outdoors" folder has some scenic views, but mostly patios, decks, gazebos, porches, courtyards filled with flowers and plants and with comfy rockers, loungers, wicker chairs with pretty cushions. All places in which I would delight to rest and to reflect and to read. My kind of places. Outside but with the comforts of home.

How do you enjoy the natural world around you?

A Slowed-Down Day

My husband had a scratchy throat Sunday afternoon which turned into a nasty cold. So far I have a few sniffles which I hope are spring allergies, but I am waiting for the other shoe to drop so to speak. No sore throat yet. We plan to attend a Good Friday communion service if he feels well enough.

My potted tulips were starting to lean far over away from each other. Tonight I cut them off the stems and put in a vase. They probably won't last much longer. I did enjoy them.

I played 3 games of online Qwirkle this afternoon. I kept losing so I had stopped playing for awhile, but today I had better success. The moves by the computer show me that I have a set way of looking at the possibilities and miss opportunities. I think I have learned some hints.

They mowed the lawn yesterday for the first time since autumn. We might get up to 78 degrees Saturday, but the warm southwest winds are also bringing rain, including for Sunday.

I keep putting off the next step in the Kon-Mari organizing/decluttering method. After clothes and accessories which I have finished, comes books. I look at all of my books and feel overwhelmed about pulling them all off the shelves and seeing if they "spark joy". I am thinking about doing a small sorting and folding of kitchen towels. That is an area that needs work. I know, it is a way to procrastinate on the books, but maybe it will get me going again.

Next week is collection week for the Swap Shop. I do have a small pile of things to contribute. It's fun to get something for nothing, though sometimes nothing appeals or is needed. I did get a table clock with large numbers a few years ago, and every day I am thankful for its place in my home.

I bought 6 books at the public library sale to add to Grace Village library. I should try to process them before tomorrow afternoon. I went to the library Wednesday afternoon around 3:45 after literary club finished to do some shelving. My heart sank when I saw 3 very large boxes on the table. Yep, unannounced donations. I did a quick glance, taking the Bibles and devotional books to the Give and Take table. I will be lucky if I keep 3 or 4 books out of the hundred or so that were dumped in my lap. I start to feel a little burned out when this happens. I have no idea who put them there.

A few weeks ago I bought 3 skeins of yarn at a moving sale which advertised yarn, quilting, and needlework kits. Most of the stuff was for quilting. The yarn was mostly small lots of different colors and materials. The 3 skeins I bought were $1 apiece; the price tag on them said $13 each. Wow! Wool yarn is expensive. I had mostly been using cotton or acrylic yarn from Walmart and Meijers. Since it is a small amount, I looked for a small project. I thought about a hat, but my one experience with circular needles didn't go very well. One of the hat patterns had a cowl with it. Aha! I would look for a pattern for a cowl. I have reached a point in the pattern where I do yarn overs and knit two together. I am painfully slow doing the knit two together stitch. It is going to take awhile to finish this project. When I get it done I will post a link to the pattern.

Crocus No-Shows

No crocus blooms this year. I read on the internet that if the plants are mowed too soon, the corm doesn't build up the "food" for flowers. The "lawn mower" last year was a rabbit, but still the rabbit ate them down to dirt level when I removed the netting after blooming. I have left my netting over the foliage in the hope that the needed process will take place so that next year I get blooms.

The daffodils I planted last fall fared better, but not all of them survived. It is nice to see a touch of yellow out the window.

Of course this week I am seeing yellow in the grass; dandelions have popped up.

I am not a gardener and the feeble efforts I make don't work out very well. Therefore I depend on potted plants inside to make up for the lack of flowers outside.

The purple tulips have been a joy. Today the pear trees on my block have flowers opening, just in time for Easter. It is a warm beautiful day, inside and out.

Spring Inside At Least

Our forecast for today was for snow and gusty winds. The winds are here, but the snow if it comes won't be until tonight. Right now around 2 p.m. it is 39 degrees. The crazy Indiana weather will turn into 70 degrees Sunday. I talked with my neighbor behind me this morning. She said when she started walking her dog, it stopped and stared at my patio. My husband had leaned the bird feeder against his storage box as it often blows over in high wind. The dog knew something was different and not quite right she said.

I created my own spring inside by buying some plants. They are starting to open.

My daffodils outside are starting to bloom; hope this cold weather doesn't zap the flowers and kill them before they open up all the way.

Getting ready to start a jigsaw puzzle that looks like spring, too. It's a big one; usually I prefer less than 1000 pieces these days. It's a good day to stay inside.

Federal Jury Duty

I received a summons for jury duty in the United States District Court for Northern Indiana in South Bend. After filling out an online survey in December to make sure I qualified, I didn't hear anything until March. The March notice was a summons for jury duty on April 3rd. I had to go online to fill out another survey about my media usage, club and organization memberships, whether I had ever served on a jury, etc.

It took me about an hour to drive to South Bend in the dark and rain Monday morning. I then had to find a parking garage and walk about a block to the entrance of the court building. My husband had me look on Google Earth the night before which was helpful as I had some idea of what the buildings for the garage and courthouse looked like. I am not very familiar with downtown South Bend. Once in the building I went through a security screening machine. Our instructions had told us not to bring laptop computers, cell phones, nor tablets into the courthouse. The lady in front of me had a tablet and her phone which slowed things up since she had to dig them out of her bag and check them for later retrieval. I had packed a light lunch, including a bottle of drink. Nowhere on the web site nor in the letter did it say liquids could not be brought in. They confiscated my drink and told me I could pick it up as I left the courthouse. (Oddly enough, during our preliminary instructions, we were told hot water and instant coffee were all that was made available to us and people could bring in their own cup of coffee. Some inconsistency there.)

When I went for jury duty in Dallas, Texas, we gathered in a huge room where throughout the morning, a portion of the jury pool would be called and escorted to a courtroom. It turned out there was just one trial scheduled in the federal court. A total of 39 potential jurists were put in a rather crowded room. We spent from 8:30 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. in this room which had restroom facilities. During that time roll call was done (2 no-shows but one arrived later). We watched a video with Sandra Day O'Connor and a federal judge telling us how important jury duty was. There was a lady who explained some of the details of serving, and two former jurists who commented on some of the aspects of being on a jury. When the video was done, we were assigned numbers which had been decided randomly. I was number 39 so I felt pretty sure I would not be serving on the jury.

In my previous jury duty in Dallas, the lawyers were the ones who questioned the potential jury members. Here, only the judge spoke to us. He introduced the people in the courtroom to us. He asked us as a group some general questions. Folks were to raise their hands if they answered yes to his questions. Using a microphone, each person had to make some comments as to why he/she raised hands. The judge told them he would do a side-bar during the questioning of individuals which would include the lawyers. There was some "white noise" static that was turned on any time someone was at the bench discussing matters with the judge so the rest of us could not hear anything.

Numbers 1 thru 12 were seated in the jury box. After all of the questioning and side-bars were finished, 7 out of the 12 were excused. There was no way to know if they were excused with cause or if they were preemptory decisions. The case was a charge of drug possession and dealing plus illegal possession of a firearm. During the general questioning, 10 out of the 39 jurists stated they had family members who were addicted to drugs, had ODed, or were serving time for drug offenses. Almost 25 per cent of the potential jurists. Not too surprisingly, most of those people were among those excused, even those who had initially said they would not be influenced in deliberations by the family history. It really brought home to me the extent of drug problems in Indiana.

It took over 2 1/2 hours to whittle down the numbers. In the end, 15 were excused. The jury had twelve members plus two alternates. There were just 10 of us on the back row who didn't have to go into the jury box. We were excused around 12:30.

In the federal court system, if you don't get on a jury, you remain in the pool for 3 months and can be called for future trials. None of the material I was sent ever said when the 3 month period began and ended. I answered my first questionnaire on December 7th, but obviously that was not the start of my serving time since I was called to appear April 3rd. So I guess I might be called to appear thru June. The trial where I appeared Monday was expected to go thru Wednesday and possibly into Thursday. One could ask to postpone service if important medical treatment/tests were already scheduled or if one had vacation plans that could not be easily changed. I liked jury duty better when you knew a specific date in advance and could plan around it. It's not going to be that way with federal jury duty.