August 19th Winona Lake Farmers' Market

 My husband and I made a quick stop at the Winona Lake Farmers' Market enroute to picking up our grocery order this morning.

I indulged in my $5 bouquet of flowers. 

I would have preferred a different pie, but I did not want to buy a large pie. A tomato for bacon and tomato sandwiches next week, zucchini to saute tonight and some to grate to freeze to bake zucchini bread in the fall. In the little box are two buckeye candies. They rolled around some in the box that I had put in my bag of purchases. The tops are kind of messed up. 

Our weather is nice today; tomorrow starts a hot spell in the 90's thru at least Thursday. It was 50 when I got up this morning; I had to throw a light blanket over me around 4:30 a.m. I love autumn so I will be happy when it comes, though I will miss the summer produce and flowers. 

Fort Wayne on a Gray Day

 

After a doctor's appointment near the Downtown Lutheran hospital, we headed east on Main Street to The Landing to get lunch.

It had been spitting rain, but fortunately stopped when we arrived. Columbia Street has been made into a pedestrian thoroughfare. We used metered parking on Calhoun Street. We chose Mercado restaurant.

If it had been a nicer day, we could have eaten on the patio.

We had looked online and decided we would try the $10 taco combo: two tacos, rice or beans. We ordered chips and salsa which unlike most Mexican restaurants were not free. 

I ordered Broken Spanish and Hongo al Pastor with pinto beans; my husband ordered Broken Spanish and Ernie's Fish Taco with rice. You order at a counter when you first enter the restaurant. They give you a stand with the number of your order. You seat yourself.

These were certainly not your ordinary tacos.

They were tasty but quite messy to eat. 

After lunch, we drove to Glenbrook Mall. I bought two tops and a pair of earrings on sale at Penney's. 

Next stop was Costco where we purchased a rotisserie chicken, frozen breakfast frittatas, some sandwich rolls, and lemon cakes which look like over-sized cupcakes. We have never had this type of Costco cake so we will see if they are moist and not too sweet. We will probably split them in half to share. Tonight we are going to eat my husband's left-over spaghetti supreme dish from Salvatori's on Sunday. He ate about a third of the large serving. I have some frozen Red Lobster biscuits (come in a package) to bake.

The sun peeked out about 3 p.m. when we arrived home, but now it is cloudy again. 

Quiet Sunday

 Today is the second Sunday in a row that we have attended church in person. Last Sunday we attended Church of the Good Shepherd in Winona Lake, a small congregation where we knew a handful of people. Too much standing up and sitting, standing and sitting plus the hard wooden pew back hurt my spine. This morning we went to Warsaw Community Church, one of the largest churches in the immediate area. It has been almost one year since we attended in person though we have watched online most weeks. 

We had Sunday dinner at Salvatori's. We saw 3 couples that we know, two from the Grace Village condo neighborhood. 

The mallows in our backyard berm are open now. One bush is flower-poor, but the other has many pretty blooms. One of the few spots of color right now.

 I mostly read newspapers from yesterday and played games on my tablet today. We worked on a crossword puzzle while eating pizza tonight. I bought a thin-crust BBQ chicken pizza from Meijer which is new to us. It tasted pretty good.

 When I watered my geraniums this afternoon, I went around to the side of the house. My hydrangeas bloom very little, but there was one stem. I cut it and added it to my zinnias.

It is almost mid-August; we have had a fairly mild summer. Kids went back to school last Friday. It certainly does not feel like autumn, but surprisingly we will have cooler days Monday and Tuesday this week. 

Hope you had a restful and worshipful day.

Warsaw Farmers' Market August 12th

 I went to the Warsaw Farmers' Market this morning. I ended up with a zucchini for tonight, little tomatoes, a pumpkin pecan muffin, and 4 stems of zinnias at 25 cents a stem. It would have been nice to have more colors to choose from for the flowers, but the price was good.

There are definitely fewer vendors than in past summers. I know The Farm and the micro greens/herbs guy have moved to the Winona Lake market. It is humid today but with a breeze. I parked my RAV4 over a block on Main Street so I didn't have to maneuver into a tight spot. 

My husband spent the morning with a Grace Village grounds maintenance guy, a young fellow who wants to sharpen his woodworking skills. At lunch last week in the GV dining room, a couple we have some connection with from our SIL asked if my husband could repair a table for them. It has lots of loose joints and a crack in the board where a marble slab sits. He usually doesn't go long without some project showing up.

Book Donations

 I have a few books from the North Webster FOL sale that I finished reading and want to take to Goodwill. I started thinking that since I don't have a lot going on this week, maybe this would be a good time to weed through my hall bookcase looking for more donations. These are mostly cookbooks.

Don't think the hall bookcase has space; I moved books from my den to the hall.

I do have some empty space on the den shelves now, however.

I have been reading a lot of books on Libby and Hoopla on my Galaxy tablet. These are free because my public library subscribes to those services.

 The book I just finished on Libby is book one of the Slow Horses series that my nephew mentioned at the family reunion in July. I had been forewarned about the language. I found the machinations and manipulation of the MI5 spooks among themselves interesting, but I didn't feel invested in the characters enough to want to read any more of the series. 

My download from last night that I have not yet begun is Better Living Through Birding by Christian Cooper. The problem with Libby is that you have to read the book in 14 days; Hoopla gives you 21 days. I do tend to find newer books on Libby though. 

I feel good about downsizing my book collection. 

Today's Farmers' Market Purchases

 

This morning I and two of my neighbors went to the Farmers' Market in Winona Lake. I bought the small bouquet above. Next to the vendor where I bought the flowers was a table selling peacock feathers. The lady said they raised peacocks. My backdoor neighbor bought 3 feathers (one white). I wonder if she gave short feathers to the flower lady since there is a feather included with my flowers.

Lots of produce this time. I bought green beans and small tomatoes. I also bought a blueberry muffin to share with my husband at tomorrow's breakfast. 

It is going to rain this afternoon and evening. I have a grocery pick up to do so I guess I will learn how to use the wipers in my new SUV. It was very pleasant in the Miller Pavillion where the Farmers' Market is housed with a slight breeze. 

My husband's sister wants to try Papa Vino's so we are going to lunch there today. Burgers, leftover pineapple beans from the condo lunch and social, and sweet corn tonight.