Oakwood Times Two

Sunday we attended the boat-in worship service at Oakwood Resort  on Lake Wawasee. It was pleasant sitting in the fresh air.
The service is done over the audio system of the Lily Pad II boat. Worshipers can board that boat by 7:45 a.m. at the Frog Restaurant and ride over to the resort, staying seated on the boat for the service; bring blankets, chairs and sit on the shore; or cruise over in personal boats and drop anchor. The attendance seemed slightly less than past times, but the summer is early. Some lake residents may not have come to their homes regularly yet. 

Last night we attended the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Patriotic Pops Concert at Oakwood Resort. This was again outside, but the orchestra sat under a tent. We were farther from the lake shore though we could still see it to our right-hand side. Another pleasant time outside. The orchestra opened with the National Anthem, did several Sousa marches, a Copland piece, Armed Forces Salute (with people in the audience affiliated with the branch being featured standing), Overture to 1812 (no cannons but some kind of cannon noise) and several more songs. The audience was invited to sing along to a medley of patriotic songs. An encore of Stars and Stripes Forever ended the evening. 

As we drove home we could see a nice sunset to our right and the full moon rising to our left. 

Mild Rainy First Day of Summer

On this almost chilly first day of summer, I sat on the banks of Sylvan Lake reading a book I purchased at St. Ann's Tent Sale. My husband wanted to buy some lumber at Frick's in Brimfield. He dropped me off and came back about an hour later. We got an early start (left home at 8:23 a.m.) as we knew rain was predicted for the afternoon and though the lumber was wrapped in a tarp, it was better to take no chances.

The grounds and gardens of Wildflower Woods are open dawn to dusk. I took a few photos, then sat on a bench next to the lakeshore to read On the Wild Edge: In Search of a Natural Life by David Petersen. This man and his wife live off the grid in the mountains of Colorado in a cabin he built. It seemed an appropriate book since Gene Stratton-Porter was an avid naturalist and conservationist. She liked her comforts, however, in her house by the lake.

With no sun, the gardens didn't seem especially colorful.

There was a cool breeze off the lake, and when a noisy boat of water skiers chose the spot in front of me as their "launching" place, I moved up to the cabin. I had noticed a bench outside near the potting room. I couldn't see the lake quite as well, but then I was reading anyway. It was more protected; I took my windbreaker off. 

About 10:40 I shut my book to head to the information center/gift shop which had opened at 10. There was my husband heading towards me, almost to the house. We used the restroom facilities, then headed north of Rome City to a restaurant for lunch.

The meal was tasty, but we left with a bad taste anyway. The menu had listed the frog legs basket at $11.50. When the bill arrived it said $14.99. When we pointed it out to the waitress, she returned with two menus. One had the original price blacked out and $14.99 penned in; the other had the $11.50 price. She said we must have gotten one of the menus they hadn't changed yet, but the computer that printed the bill said $14.99 and that was what we owed. No apology, no effort to make things right. We felt cheated.

We headed due west from Wolcottville to meet up with a north-south road as when we came across on Highway 6 towards the lumber yard the road was closed for construction and we had to detour. Lots of Amish in this area. The clotheslines were full of plain blue and purple shirts and dresses. Hopefully, they were brought in before the rain started around 3 p.m. Such pretty gardens and flowers in the well-kept yards of those houses impressed us. We only met a couple of buggies so we weren't slowed down much.

It is still gray and rainy. I think I will curl up in my Lazy Boy chair and let my book transport me to a place of elk, puma, bear, and golden aspens.

KonMari Dropout

One of the main premises of Marie Kondo's decluttering method is to sort category-by-category. At first this was fairly easy. Clothing, books (in 3 places) not too overwhelming; but then I got bogged down in "paper". The suggestion is to get rid of all paper (except legal documents) as "paper never sparks joy." I never completed that category, but moved on to CD's as the Grace Village swap shop approached. 

However, Marie suggests doing the sorting and discarding in one fell swoop over about 6 months. I have passed the one-year mark. I don't feel motivated anymore. The miscellany category has subcategories, but they are really broad: household equipment, household supplies, other. I feel like I would be better switching to room-by-room and drawer-by-drawer at this point. I haven't clicked to "just right" mode of thinking/feeling. I feel I do have more stuff to get rid of, but it doesn't fit into neat categories. 

Meanwhile, I bought jigsaw puzzles, books, 4 blue drinking glasses, a Christmas plate (to serve cookies on, etc.) in the past week and a half at garage sales and the St. Ann tent sale. Do they spark joy? Yes, they do, but they also take up space. 

Yesterday I visited some yard/garage sales mostly looking for puzzles. One of the places was an estate tag sale; the woman in charge said everything would be half off today. I went back this afternoon, and that is where I got the glasses, plate, 2 more puzzles. The shoppers walked through the whole house, including the basement.

You wouldn't believe all of the Christmas ornaments and decorations. There were boxes in the garage and throughout the house of books--I am guessing over 1,000 books. None of the titles were my taste in reading though I did pick up two Agatha Christie books for the library.

Obviously, this lady had not done decluttering. She is now in a nursing home. Her stuff is no good to her, and her family has to empty out the house to sell it. The workers this weekend were professional estate sellers; they were to have somebody come in this evening and haul off what didn't sell. I hope I don't leave somebody such a horrible job when I can no longer live in my condo. Even if it isn't KonMari, I better do some more sorting and discarding.

Wildwood Nature Preserve and Whetstone Woodenware

As we turned onto the gravel road of Wildwood Nature Preserve east of Silver Lake about 8:30 this morning, several orioles took flight from the tall grass on both sides. This ACRES property is quite extensive with several bogs and many trails. There was no trail map in a brochure nor on a bulletin board so we just wandered. The trail names were on posts we passed: Big Pine, Paw Paw, Raspberry, Jungle, South Wetlands, etc. 

Wading thru the dew-damped grass (thigh-high in a few places), my new Ahnu trail shoes were tested. I thought my feet were dry though the shoes were drenched, but when I got home there was a little dampness on the bottom of my socks. More than sweat I think. Still, for the most part the shoes worked well. In my old boots, the socks would have been soaked through.

May would have been the ideal time to visit in order to see wildflowers, but we had a lot of rain in May. There were a few flowers.

A sign at the entrance of the parking area said, "No Mushroom Hunting". We didn't hunt but we found some right in the middle of the trail.

I could hear birdsong throughout our walk, but I didn't really see the birds. I should have sprayed Deet on me; fortunately, I only see one bite in spite of the high-pitched whine of mosquitos whenever I stopped to take photos. There were wood duck houses near the water. We saw one deer.

We had breakfasted at Lakes Grill in Silver Lake. We drove west on Road 14 after our hike to stop in at Whetstone Woodenware.
We used to visit this shop in the Village of Winona, but several years ago the owner moved his retail shop next door to his manufacturing building in Silver Lake. It opens at 9 a.m. on weekdays.

People think whetstone is a clever name, but in fact it is the owner's name: John Whetstone. His store in this old brick building is attractively set up. Besides the spoons, ladles, cutting boards, scoops, rolling pins, etc. manufactured next door, he has some pottery pieces from Zanesville, Ohio, kitchen towels and hot pads, aprons from Cookin' Cute made by Lisa Mundinger and previously featured in the shop in Winona Lake (where she lives).

Something new seems to be the option to have words or pictures lasered onto the woodenware. Some general ones for sale, but also customized items were possible.

There were a couple of novelty items, though I am not sure they were for sale.

Oven peels

A giant spoon

All of the woodenware is made of hard maple. A couple from Noblesville was in the shop and since the man did woodworking he asked to see the manufacturing plant. We were invited to go along.

This man was turning rolling pins. See the chips fly!

The finished items are dipped in a type of mineral oil and left to drip dry on racks. 

The finished product.

 I saw Whetstone Woodenware in the gift shop at Lincoln's New Salem near Springfield, Illinois. He sells his wares on the internet also.

John said one of his employees who takes the rough pieces and refines and finishes them is in his 80's. He wasn't working while we toured.

We headed home going north on Indiana 15. We have wanted to stop in at the Maple Lane Bakery in Claypool several times, but it seems they were not open at the times we were in the area. It's a nice place with cookies, pies, brownies, cinnamon rolls, jarred jams and sauces. The surprise was that they sell handmade furniture on the side. We bought some bars I thought were lemon (no label on the package), but now that we have tried them they aren't lemony. Good though. My husband added a jar of strawberry jalapeno jam.

It was a pleasant morning. Fairly cool (low to mid 60's) when we started out with low humidity. The temperature has climbed so that this afternoon we are in the 80's. This weekend is going to be hot and muggy, Father's Day in the 90's. We carped diem when we had the chance on a nice day.

June Bloom of the Month and More

I picked up my bloom of the month from Martin's today. I prefer pink roses to red blooms. They had one yellow and one mauve bouquet as well. The pitcher I bought at Heart of the Lakes Antique Mall a few weeks ago when my husband was away on a jaunt with his brother to Mackinac Island in Michigan.

Yesterday my husband and I ate lunch at Baker Street restaurant in Fort Wayne to celebrate our 41st wedding anniversary. The setting and food are nice, but it is the scrumptious desserts that make it special. They comp a dessert if it is an anniversary or birthday. They comped my crème brulee, but we didn't share it. LOL. My husband wanted to try the carrot cake. He halved his piece and brought the rest home, but it is so rich (icing, nuts, caramel) that when I ate a piece today while he was at a men's event for Grace Village, I only ate half of the half. I did eat my whole dessert yesterday all by myself. ;-) 

I bought 13 books at the Saint Ann's Tent sale last Wednesday. The inventory was much better organized this year. They even had the books sorted into rough categories. 6 of the books I am giving to Grace Village library. The non-fiction books I will read and then see if they make good additions to the collection. They are mostly exploration/travel books. I did buy one book about writing. I have a desire to write, but not the discipline, though I did a few of the suggested exercises from this book.

3 of the Christian fiction books I bought I have been reading before taking to the library. They are the Hope Beach series by Colleen Coble. This series set on the Outer Banks of North Carolina has suspense plots. Of course, that made me want to read and read to see what happened. I have stayed up late 2 nights, well past midnight. The good news is that I finished the 3rd book early this morning; I will be going to bed at a reasonable hour tonight. 

Tomorrow night we plan to go to a community barbecue put on by the Winona Lake Grace Brethren Church to celebrate their 75th anniversary I think. A lady in our neighborhood came to our door with a flyer. We were married in that church and still know many people who attend there though it isn't our current church. We have been having rain, but tomorrow the clouds are expected to blow out and the humidity drop. It should be a nice outdoors event.

June Roses

Though the landscaper pruned my Knockout rose bush almost to ground level, it is blooming profusely right now. Because these grow in clusters and have short stems, only a few work in a vase.

At our Robin Hood monthly lunch today the centerpieces were small vases of roses, too. We were invited to take the flowers but leave the vase.

The Bloom of the Month is roses in June, too. I will pick up a bunch in the next few weeks.

Although not roses, I am sharing the blue flowers I bought this year to hang on the porch. I don't think I have had blue flowers on my porch before.

In this cool day with strong wind, I am surrounded by beauty. Thank you God.

Trunk Club

After a very unsuccessful try of Stitch Fix, I turned to Trunk Club. This is run by Nordstrom. This went somewhat better, though I only kept one item. Instead of 5 items, Trunk Club sends up to 10. Both claim they look at your Pinterest board, but with Trunk Club you can send individual pins. I saw a brand on Nordstrom that interested me so I sent a few specific items for the stylist to see. Unlike Stitch Fix, there is no outfit suggestions brochure on how to use this with your existing wardrobe; but supposedly they make some effort to include coordinates that go together. 

The profile information for Trunk Club isn't as detailed. Instead you have a consultation by message or phone to let the company know details about your likes and dislikes. I'm not sure that worked any better than the algorithm on Stitch Fix. I sent the consultant a link to my blog about Stitch Fix, and she did read it so she knew I was going to be picky. However, the consultant is not the stylist you end up with. She just does the preliminary interview.

With Trunk Club, you are sent a preview of items selected by the stylist. You can nix them by "editing your trunk". However, you can only do that once, then the stylist adds items you can "see" in your trunk, but you can't make any changes. Stitch Fix's deal is that they want to surprise you so no preview.

It is called a trunk for a reason. Remember this holds twice what Stitch Fix's box held. Free shipping and free return shipping. Trunk Club uses UPS, Stitch Fix uses United States Postal Service.

I liked most of the items sent (not the shoes), but the main problem here was fit.

They have a note from the stylist, an itemized list with prices (which were also in the preview), return label and tape strips for return. Some people love the trunk box so much that they buy everything so they can keep the box. LOL. These are fairly costly wardrobe items (and my selections didn't include the high-end choices); I would not be spending $800-$1000 on my wardrobe just to keep a box. It is an easy way to try on brands not available locally, and one does select a price range, but the start prices are nowhere close to sales rack items I am used to buying.

The top item in the bag above is a shift dress that was added after my edit. It had an English label (and size). It fit better than I expected but the print was not flattering. 

The white pants fit at the waist better than any I have tried in the past 5 years, but the legs were too long (about 5 inches too long). I had read some of the reviews by customers who bought from the web, not through Trunk Club, and they commented on this aspect. Too bad.

Though my parting comments to the consultant were that I needed to avoid orange, yellow, and gold, one of the dresses was buttercup. Boy did I look sickly. The Gal Meets Glam brand that I had discovered on Nordstrom.com and sent to the stylist included two dresses. This one was too small. She sent a size smaller than what I listed on my profile. When I sent feedback before shipping things back, the stylist said she thought this brand ran large. However, on Nordstrom all of the comments and the suggested size advice was that it ran true to size. 

The second Gal Meets Glam dress was the floral print. I loved it, but again she sent a size smaller than what I had listed. Too tight.

Before selecting items, they ask if there is anything you might like to try in particular. Of course, I had already mentioned the white pants. I had seen while searching Pinterest lots of denim jackets. The one that was sent was way too small and kind of streaky. Returned.

The blouse I kept was more than I would normally pay. But since I was going to lose $25 for the styling fee if I didn't buy anything, I chose to keep it. I like the colors, fit, and the details like the pleats in the back. 

Still, it wasn't something that I probably would have bought if shopping in a store.

 My sweet husband took the Trunk to Staples along with a Zappos box to UPS back. I see the advantages to shopping this way or online. Lots of selection. Easy and free shipping. Access to new brands. But the fit is always a potential problem.

You would think I would be a good candidate for buying this way since my mother ordered our clothes from Spiegel and Montgomery Ward catalogs while I was growing up (into my 20s), but I think I have become more picky now that it is my own money being spent.

I have scheduled a trunk for September of fall/winter skirts and coordinating tops. I have been unsuccessful finding skirts I like in the stores.

BTW, I found a pair of white pants at Kohl's on sale. This wardrobe service experience has been interesting. After Trunk #2, I will probably stop. I am just not that big a spender on clothing, and while I want to look stylish, I don't find shopping even in my bedroom very much fun. 

I did go online and order a Gal Meets Glam dress directly from Nordstrom, but a different one than the stylist sent. It should arrive within a week. Maybe it will be the saving grace of my "adventure" into using wardrobe services.