Today In Nappanee

 

Today we took a trip to nearby Nappanee. It was a pretty drive through the country, but I could see many trees are losing their leaves. Last week really was the peak for our area.

We mainly wanted to visited Bellas's Books and Puzzles which used to be in the Cowshed which closed down over a year ago. She is now on South Main Street in Nappanee. We saw an ad in our local newspaper. My husband was determined to stock up on jigsaw puzzles for the cold months ahead. We bought 3. Before heading home, we stopped at Coppes Commons where we bought a 4th.

When we arrived home, he started sorting through our puzzle shelves. We agreed to get rid of 5.

I bought two used books at Bella's. I have read these authors, but these are book one in new-to-me series. The bookstore paperback fiction tends to run $4 a book.

We had a tasty lunch at Hunter's Hideaway cafe next door to the bookstore. We were able to park in a free lot behind these two retail spots. 

Once home, I went to the credit union to cash two checks. The lot was empty. On the door it said temporarily closed. Instead I drove north to the other branch. I suspect some deep cleaning is being done or enough personnel have to quarantine because of COVID. That happened at this branch at least once before. Northern Indiana continues to set new records for virus cases. Not too sure how active we will be in the community once cold weather and the virus have settled in.

Goodies

 I ordered some Cheryl's cookies to brighten our days. They are individually wrapped; we will try to stretch out our eating of them.

One of the churches in Winona Lake makes and sells peanut brittle as a fundraiser for their projects. They usually sell the patties at the holiday craft bazaars and do quite well. Of course this year there are no bazaars. They are selling the candy from the church office during set hours they advertise in the local newspaper. I picked up one package of 3 patties last week. We have nibbled a few pieces, but because I bought an apple pie and some mini cupcakes as part of my Thursday grocery pickup order, we are mostly saving the brittle for later. 

On a totally different and sad note, our county had 5 deaths from COVID in the past week, including the man that caused the scare from my husband eating breakfast with him. One of the ladies in the Grace Village choir is also ill with the virus. The number of cases is spiking. God was merciful to us or we might be among those cases.

This pandemic is going to last a long time. Cookies and peanut brittle help to make the days special and cheer us a bit.

Reading Material

A few months ago I decided to subscribe to some magazines to provide reading material during the winter and the pandemic. Something to look forward to. I had a free offer for Southern Living (can't remember how that came about) and a $6 offer for Midwest Living. They finally sent me some issues to peruse.

The Midwest Living came with some recipe booklets. I doubt I will find much of interest to me. I don't try new recipes very often anymore. I have yet to look them over, however.

 After a rainy night, we have lots of sunshine this afternoon. I plan to do online grocery shopping with pickup tomorrow or Friday since I still have some cold symptoms. I saw in the Fort Wayne newspaper that Meijer is going to be offering free pickup during the holidays with a $50 purchase. It says no membership required. I may look that over in November/December since they have non-food items that might make good gifts. I will need to see if those type of items can be included.

Negative

 My husband and I tested negative for corona virus. That's a relief. We can get back to normal activities.

I still have sniffles and a sore throat, but I guess it is a cold. Hopefully I will be well by the end of the week. I will remain home until my symptoms are gone. 

I am glad that getting tested was fairly easy, and the results came quickly. The uncertainty one has during this pandemic if colds or allergies mimic symptoms was alleviated.

I may not be as enthusiastic about eating in restaurants though. With that exception, we were doing a good job of protecting ourselves via handwashing/sanitizer, wearing masks, and staying away from large groups.

Keep safe.

Operation Christmas Child 2020

 I chose this year to build a box online for Operation Christmas Child. It was easier than going to stores to find items. It was not as satisfying though.

Grace Village collects items all year long to fill boxes in November before the deadline. I could have participated in that. They always choose a younger age group. I could have helped fill the boxes, but right now I am not allowed inside the main building. There are at least two positive COVID cases in independent living now.

Since I am not attending my church in person, I would have had to find a way to deliver a finished box. It was just simpler to go the online route.

I do wonder how they will get permission to deliver boxes during the pandemic. They do try to use local Christians and organizations, however.

COVID Test

 It has been quite a stressful week. Friday morning we received notice from Grace Village that the main campus building is closed to visitors (including the condo residents), the dining room is closed (meals will be delivered to apartments or condo residents can order by phone and pick up at kitchen backdoor), and all group activities have been stopped. I had been concerned about being involved in choir; that decision doesn't need to be made for next week anyway. All of the above is until the 21st when things will be re-evaluated. 

Thursday afternoon I heard from my sister-in-law who is in chime choir that the vocal choir director who also plays chimes received a phone call during chime practice from her son. He has tested positive for COVID. She immediately left to start quarantining in her apartment. She never wears a mask. Not only had I seen her Tuesday at choir practice, but as she was out walking Sunday, she rang my doorbell and wanted to visit. I thank the Lord that I had the presence of mind to have us sit outside on my porch. She has no symptoms so far.

When I returned from grocery shopping yesterday afternoon I found a note from my husband. He had gone with his sister to pick up her repaired computer. A man that he had breakfasted with Tuesday in the Grace Village dining room was in the hospital with COVID.

To add to my anxiety, Friday morning I started having sniffles. By the afternoon I had a swollen gland in my neck. It might have been allergies, but it felt more like a cold. I had no fever.

God is so gracious. We have two testing sites in our county but they require a doctor's referral and an appointment. On Wednesday a new testing site opened up. It is drive-thru and free. We arrived there this morning with nobody else in line. They are a little slow because they are still learning the procedures. The registration clerk said the swab test would be uncomfortable but not painful. The tester was very good about telling me to breathe deeply thru my mouth and close my eyes. But it did hurt at the end when she "swirled" it around as she described it. It made my eyes water. It was over quickly thankfully. I should have the results in 3-5 days via email. I do feel slightly unwell today. I hope it is just a cold. 

Autumn Features

 I set out yesterday afternoon under cloudy skies. I wish I had waited about 30 minutes because the sun did come out when the breeze chased them away. My early photos had no sunshine.

I went to the pond to find some bittersweet. I also clipped some little red "berries" which I think because of the thorns on the stems are actually rose hips. 

Here is how I used the bittersweet and rose hips with some artificial leaves.

As I walked home I noticed these zinnias in a yard. I can't believe I didn't see them earlier this year.

Some leaves are already on the ground.

As I rounded the corner at Sunset and Elder to walk towards my condo, I saw this burning bush near Grace Village Assisted Living.

Then as I came to Camelot I saw my backdoor neighbors starting out on a walk of their own. I asked if I could take a picture of her pumpkin in a birdbath. As I knelt to frame the photo, I saw their little dog Bandit chowing down on the front porch. He didn't let out a yip or bark. Not a very good guard dog.

Finally, as I crossed the grass toward my condo, I snapped this tree. That is my home in the background.

Other changes around my house are the fothergilla. On the west side of my condo I was surprised to see some hydrangea blooms still in decent shape.

We finished another jigsaw puzzle. Probably the last one for another 10 days as next week is very busy.

How are you spending your autumn days?

Indiana Antique Mall

 I had such a pleasant afternoon. After lunch, I went to the Indiana Antique Mall on Highway 30. It is closing for good mid-November. The vendors set their own discounts; some none, others 10, 20, 30, 50% off. I ended up buying 3 items from the same booth at 30% off. A woven purse, an apron, and a group of 5 magazines tied up in a bundle. I only paid 70 cents for the magazines, and I am anxious to peruse them for my decorating folders. 

I hope the lady with the Lang calendars marks them half off. Right now they are only 20% off. She usually advertises in the local newspaper. I will keep an eye out for any discounts.

In the next few days I will share my walk in the warm but breezy afternoon. Tomorrow will be rainy and colder; I took advantage of one of our nice days. 

I have Boston Market chicken pot pies in the oven. I have never tried that brand before. We'll eat them with some biscuits and apple butter (that we bought at Doud's). Meanwhile I am working on another jigsaw puzzle. 

I will stick with Stouffer or Marie Callendar for the pot pies.

Oh, I saw a titmouse, nuthatch, and a junco at the feeder today. The first junco of the season.

Enjoying autumn immensely.

A Quiet Sunday Afternoon

 I sat out on my front porch a bit this afternoon until a cool wind drove me inside. I didn't see a single car nor a single person walking. We should all be enjoying this Indian summer, but other than my short stay outside and the condo doors open to let in fresh air I too have had a lazy Sunday afternoon. I plan to balance my checkbook and work on some bills before finishing the newspaper I started at breakfast. I do enjoy having a Sunday newspaper to read.

This weekend we finished a nice autumn jigsaw puzzle.

I rearranged my mum bouquet and put fresh water in the sunflower vase. Some of the petals of both arrangements are starting to fall. It won't be much longer before I throw them out, maybe 3 or 4 days.

 The little neighborhood chipmunk sat still on a warm rock this morning while I watched church service online. Usually, he is scampering all over the place. He too is enjoying this Indian summer.

As we drove home from Columbia City yesterday I saw that the Indiana Antique Mall on Highway 30 has a big banner announcing a closing sale. According to its Facebook page, they will permanently close November 14th. I will try to get over there sometime this week; it is a quieter less busy week for me. 

When I took the Winona Literary Club dues to deposit at the bank last Wednesday, I noticed that Family Video would close down today. I stopped on my way home and bought 5 movies for 99 cents each. A couple of them like The Butler and Memphis Belle I have seen a long time ago. Stocking up for cold days spent indoors.

Covid is spiking again in Indiana. Our county is no exception. We had another death (total 18) posted this weekend. Kosciusko County has the highest positivity rate (over 15) in Northern Indiana right now. I don't believe our governor has the will to shut down things, especially since he is up for reelection. I will take extra care re being in groups of people. Increased transmission means increased risk. We definitely have greater transmission in recent weeks. 

Out and About

 This morning we headed northeast to a woodworking sale in Churubusco. Because so many craft shows have been canceled due to the corona virus, Fred Inman organized a sale at his home/workshop as well as at several other studios including pottery.

It was a pleasant drive through the country to the sale site. 

Mr. Inman's property had a nice pond.

He turns on the lathe extremely large pieces compared to what my husband can turn on his mini-lathe.

His wife does scrollsaw work. Two other ladies (Shelly Bice and Doris Geiger if I remember right) also had items for sale.

Mrs. Bice shares shop space with Mr. Inman. She was demonstrating turning. She sometimes teaches classes at Oak Tree woodworking supply shop; right now those classes are not allowed because of social distancing problems.

Pieces in progress. She does a lot of segmented turning.

When we finished browsing, we headed for Columbia City. Around two sides of the courthouse square a farmers' market was taking place. We were unaware of that until we arrived. Our purpose was to eat lunch in Columbia City.

We bought this blueberry and lemon zest jam to try. The label says blueberry zing jam.

Pickles Cafe formerly was situated near Fort Wayne. It relocated this year to Columbia City.

It sits across the street from the courthouse.

It's decor is eclectic; few matching chairs or tables, no matching plates nor silverware.

We had pink lemonade.

The grilled ham and cheese sandwich came with a light applesauce/butter to spread on the toasted bread or use as a dip for the chips. My husband and I had the 1/2 sandwich, cup of soup combo. The thick spicy tomato and artichoke soup was interesting. We ended the meal by splitting a piece of pumpkin pie. The crust was not pastry, but crushed walnuts baked into a pie shell. Topped with whipped cream, it was delicious.

It is quite warm today (soon to be near 80) but very windy. A beautiful but atypically warm October day.

A Fine Fall Day

 We started out cold and foggy this morning. It was 33 degrees at 8 a.m. I had brought my porch plants into the garage. Now the rest of the week we are to warm up to 70's with nights mostly in the 45-50 range.

I am so glad that I did not discard my ruffled impatiens when September rolled around. They were not blooming much at all, but that has really changed. They just needed some cooler temperatures to thrive again.

I added my metal autumn wreath to the front door about 10 days ago.

Today at PT I told the therapist that the deep muscle massage was leaving me really sore for 2 days. She suggested we try e-stim. This machine puts out electrical pulses. It really went well. For a few hours I even had reduced pain in my hand and reduced numbness in my fingers even though the electrodes were attached to my trapezius muscles and around my shoulder blade. I still have the increased flexibility of my neck this evening. We will try this again Thursday.

After my PT session, I shopped at Kroger. The store wasn't busy so the narrow aisles were not as risky today. I actually enjoyed being in the store instead of doing pick-up orders. I bought some flowers to perk up my day even more.

I wanted to shop for masks; as soon as I entered there was a huge display with most of the stuff BOGO free. I bought several items. One item on sale, but not BOGO, was a package of filters. I have two masks that have pockets for filters. I am going to put a filter inside the pocket and wear that mask to choir practice. If it isn't too hard to breathe, I will make that my habit for choir. It will make me feel a little less uneasy. 

My Kroger store has a nice selection of cake slices. I bought a tuxedo style, and then this evening I split it with my husband. I still see shortages: paper towels and napkins which I did not need, and no liquid soap refill bottle which I want because mine is getting low.

All in all, a very nice day.

Reciprocity

 My backdoor neighbor knocked on my patio door yesterday around noon. He had a butternut squash and a sack of tomatoes given to him by a gardening friend. 

I started thinking how I can incorporate these into this week's meals; they are already ripe and some getting squishy. I will save the squash for the following week when it gets colder after a warm weekend; baked squash, sausages, apples go well together. I don't think I want the oven on much during the warmer days ahead.

To reciprocate I grabbed my bowl of Costco candy and told him to take a handful to eat with his wife.

One of the former presidents of Grace College and Seminary died last week. Dr. Homer Kent, Jr. was president during most of my 11 years working at the college library. He had been in health care at Grace Village the past few years; I haven't seen him for about 2 years I guess. A very godly man. The memorial site is a huge indoor athletic arena at the college; we discussed attending tomorrow. I was relieved to see it is going to be live-streamed on You Tube. We have been going out more lately and involved in some smaller group activities, but avoiding large gatherings. This streamed service will suit us better.

At least the crowd size restrictions have been lifted in Indiana so a large funeral/memorial service is possible.