Pretties

I just watered my porch plants. The geranium is getting quite a few new buds after the falling disaster. The petunias are still putting out blooms, too. The roses and Stella de Oro lilies are almost finished blooming so it is nice to have the potted flowers to give some color.

At the monthly birthday/anniversary party at Grace Village, I picked up this beautiful rose given to us in celebration of our anniversary. They often have interesting choices for the roses. If I hadn't selected this one, I probably would have taken one of the ash mauve ones. The birthday honorees get carnations.

The chest of drawers I ordered over 3 months ago from an Amish furniture store in Nappanee is finally done! They delivered it yesterday. It is bigger than I remember; that gives me more space than I anticipated. The footprint is smaller than the bureau with mirror it replaced. Thinking ahead to one day maybe moving to an apartment or Assisted Living apartment. This is called a Cornwall chest re the invoice. Next will be the replacement of the queen-sized bed with a twin, but that won't be for several years.

Linton's Enchanted Gardens

Linton's Enchanted Gardens is a gift shop, home décor shop, garden supplies shop, plant nursery, petting zoo and more located in Elkhart, Indiana. The day we visited was overcast with some misty rain so not ideal for walking around outside. We had a tasty lunch in the small café. They had desserts including chocolate truffles and lots of specialty drinks (coffees, tea, smoothies). They do serve breakfast as well.

Cute topiary out front.

Some of the statuary was quite expensive, thousands of dollars.

The conservatory had some parrots.

 This guy had a list of words and phrases he supposedly could say. All we could get out of him was "hello".

Fairy garden supplies

Outdoors there were buildings interspersed with the plants. Somebody has an imaginative vision.

Also, a petting zoo had a donkey, a pony, two emus, lots of poultry, and two rabbits. The bunny labeled Peter Cottontail jumped off his perch and headed for the front of his cage as I approached. I told him I had no carrot but I would immortalize him in my blog.

There was a fake train (wheeled cars) and a pedal boat to ride for a fee, but though there were a few kids at the petting zoo, nobody seemed to be using the other kid-friendly attractions.

The nursery had some nice plants.

We spent much of our time in the gift shop.

There were some unique items besides Vera Bradley bags, jewelry, clothes, home décor.

These flip flops were a bit too weird for me.

These oddities were available outside.

Linton's is one of the stops for the Quilt Gardens spread throughout northern Indiana.

It was an enjoyable outing. If it were closer, I would probably return fairly often to browse and to dine.

Strange Weather

When I saw the forecast for today, I knew I needed to take advantage of the cooler temperatures and low humidity to get outdoors. About 9 a.m. I parked my car in the shade of the lot closest to the trail start at Grace College. After 2 decades of living in hot Texas, I am programmed to look for shade.

There were a few stretches that were tranquil. I was alone and surrounded by bird song. From time to time, walkers or a bike would approach me. However, there is a section that runs almost parallel to Pierceton Road. The sound of cars on the road is quite noticeable. Over near the Boys City Drive, some kind of machinery was stirring up dust and banging along. Maybe they are increasing the parking lot? That would be nice as often the spots are full.

I took along my camera. Most of the vegetation is what you would expect to find along a roadside/trailside that had disrupted the soil.

Some kind of thistle?

 Clover

 Daisy family?

Huge swaths of milk thistle which the bees were liking.

Cherry Creek had running though not gushing water.

There are houses right along the trail. Often the backyard but sometimes the whole house right next to where you walk.

Because of the construction, I chose to head toward the Chestnut Street entrance to the trail. I exited there, and since I wasn't too far from where my in-laws once lived, I headed toward Cherry Avenue. On the way, I spotted Winona Lake down an alley type of extension, so headed to Park Avenue via this lane.

I had noticed something bright yellow. It was some kind of seaplane. Unfortunately, my photo did not turn out.

I continued on Park until I was closer to my intended destination. The house my husband's folks lived in has been entirely remodeled with the entrance changed to where the backdoor was.

The garage has been made into a storage/display area for the interior decorator that bought the property.

She had some comfy chairs in the shade and a cute planter at the edge of the driveway.

My father-in-law used to keep a fishing boat at the dock about half a block from his house.

After arriving home about 10:40 I showered, and we ate lunch in the sunroom. At 2:45 we had a brief but hard rain shower. Since then we have had 5 rounds of showers (now 5:40 p.m.), two of which had grape and pea sized hail. The temperature dropped from 76 to 58. It has warmed up a bit, but it is back down to 60. I had planned to grill pork chops; looks like handy George Foreman grill will do instead. We have had bits of sunshine interspersed in the showers. Tomorrow is supposed to be comfortable. I think I will bake some zucchini bread.

I did make a pair of earrings from the purple beads I got free from the yard sale on Saturday. I combined a round and a cone with a smoky bead left from one of my earliest beading projects. I like them.