Peach Pie and Other Treats

 Today was Winona Lake Farmers Market's last day of the season. I noticed at least 4 vendors "missing"; I haven't been for a few weeks so perhaps these vendors left earlier in the month. I bought some peppers to use in a stir fry. They were small and round; I had hoped they would have less seeds to clear out. Alas, they had more seeds. 

We ate the 4 small round pumpkin cookies with icing at lunch before I thought to get a photo. The marbled brownies I have put in an airtight container. We probably won't eat them for a few days because we have peach pie to eat. 

I baked the frozen Crane's peach pie from Michigan. It is tasty. 

I also bought a zinnia bouquet, most likely my last one of the season.

I could visit the Warsaw Farmers Market. It will be open thru October 28th. Next weekend is to turn cold, high in the 50's. Today we were high 70's. 

Community Bible Study

 According to the materials I was given September 11th, Community Bible Study began in 1975 in the Washington, D.C. area. It is an interdenominational now-international group that provides instruction through local leaders along with self-study with Scripture reading and working through questions. Small groups discuss the questions after the completion by the members done throughout the week. 

I belonged to a local group of CBS the first few years of our return to Indiana. It has been over a decade since my first participation. Last year the area group spun off a satellite to Grace Village. I thought about signing up, but I was expecting to have spine surgery and would thus miss sessions.

 I am a member of the current group at Grace Village (limited to 15). We started September 11th and will run through April 22nd of 2024. 

We follow the school district schedule so when they break so will we. My previous exposure to CBS at a large church included child care. Our group does not have that. Not everybody is a Grace Village resident in our group; we have a few "outsiders", but except for one lady, we are retired. 

This coming Monday we will discuss the book of Ruth. The rest of the lessons will be I and II Samuel. The end of February we will get a new study book, and we will explore Colossians. 

Our teacher likes "gimmicks". I guess last year she handed out squares of flypaper to remind the ladies to grab hold of the truths they were studying. This year she gave us bookmarks made of or including twine. Bind the Twine is the motif. Proverbs 6:20-22: "My son, observe the commandment of your father and do not forsake the teaching of your mother; bind them continually on your heart; tie them around your neck. When you walk about, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk to you." NAS

I am looking forward to this new study even though it requires more work than the study I attended in 2019-2020 (which shut down in March 2020 because of COVID though it started again with audio recordings in September 2020). That group had 150-200 ladies with no smaller group discussion. I already am acquainted with 5 ladies in this group. It should be a nice time of fellowship along with the exposure to the Word. 

Pleasantries of the Day

 I did my grocery pick up this afternoon because rain was forecast for this morning. We got a few drops on the windshield, but the pavement didn't even look wet. We could really use rain. Our grass has turned brown. The sprinkler system was never repaired/replaced all summer. 

The condo that burned in February is being worked on some. The predicted date of completion keeps being moved out. Now it is end of November or mid-December. Apparently, no effort was made to fix the irrigation system controls that were burned though we were told they would fix it. 

My neighbor across the street is a Master Gardener, i.e., he has taken the courses/training to earn that title. He is now being employed on a contractor basis at Grace Village. He stopped by this afternoon to ask if he could remove my rose bush and plant a fall mum in its place. He will also plant some bulbs for spring (tulips, maybe hyacinths). Then he will plant something with color for summer. I told him I don't know anything about caring for a mum in the ground. (I always bought one in a pot and discarded at the end of fall). He said he would take care of it. He is going to do similar planting at the unit at the other end of my 4-unit condo building. He wants to keep an eye on how these plants do to inform him if doing something like this at other condos is feasible. That was a pleasant surprise. As I have said before, I do not have a green thumb. 

This afternoon before heading to pick up my groceries, I stopped at the lobby of the Grace Village independent living building. Winona IT, the company that is currently managing the IT at Grace Village, wanted to treat the apartment and condo residents to ice cream. There was a little freezer chest with Igloo ice cream. The Igloo is an ice cream fast food shop in Silver Lake that I have mentioned in a previous post. I chose a cup of Brownie Cascade, chocolate ice cream with bits of brownie. Yum.

My husband is having a medical procedure tomorrow morning that will require me to accompany him. I have loaded a series of books by Nancy Mehl to read on my Galaxy tablet. I started reading number 1 on Monday and because it is a suspenseful book, I kept reading. Now I started on number 2 of the series last night. I think I will download on Hoopla number 3 in case I finish number 2 before he is ready to come home. Mrs. Mehl is a Christian writer. 

I love autumn and am looking forward to my new mum. I may still buy 1-2 small mums in pots to replace my potted geraniums on the front porch.

Southwest Michigan

 We spent Sunday August 27th to Wednesday August 30th in a cottage in Harbert, Michigan. It was a nice change of scenery. We have visited this area in the past, mostly New Buffalo, South Haven, Union Pier, and Saugatuck. Sadly, I learned thru my search on the internet for restaurants that many of them are closed Monday thru Thursday. So, next time (if there is one), we will have to try to stay over the weekend. 

After eating our Sunday mid-day meal at Jaywalker overlooking the Saint Joseph River, we crossed on Highway 12 to New Buffalo. The beach status was Red Flag because of riptide currents and lots of wind. We walked to the beach area, but we had no plans to stay. Our main stop was Oink's Ice Cream. This company has been in business since 1987. The shop is full of things related to pigs and to ice cream.

When you enter, you take a number from the "butler". It was busy enough that we had time to peruse the flavors before our number was called.

I chose Bear Claw which consisted of dark chocolate ice cream with swirls of caramel and cashews. There are only a few tables inside so we ate outside at the picnic tables.

While we were eating, an old model A Ford drove up. It had Indiana plates.

Pretty soon, 3 more cars arrived. After I crossed the street to take a picture of Oink's and some of the cars in a different lot, a green Model A pulled in. I chatted a bit with the driver. He is from Crown Point; this was an outing of some of the club members. 

It was a fun "addition" to our ice cream time.

The harbor and beach were busy.

We were to check into the cottage in Harbert at 4 p.m. We arrived about 3:30, and the cleaning crew was still there. We ended up browsing in an antique shop in nearby Sawyer.

One of the different features of this cottage is the master bathroom with skylights and a walk-in shower with a rain-shower head and jets that come out of the side (which I did not try).

We baked a frozen pizza Sunday night and microwaved breakfast bowls Monday morning. 

We ate breakfast Monday at the game table in the living room.

Monday we drove to Saugatuck where we ate at The Butler Patio overlooking the Kalamazoo River. It was a lovely day to be outside.

The Butler had some unusual hamburgers. I have never seen one served with ham. 

Because big burgers in buns do not go down my digestive tract well, I chose a turkey sandwich on flat bread.

After lunch, we went to the big antique pavilion in Saugatuck. We didn't buy anything though. Next off to Fennville to Crane's Pie Pantry where we had rhubarb/strawberry pie and cherry pie.

We bought an unbaked frozen peach pie at the bakery. We had taken an insulated bag and freezer cooler blocks. We brought the pie home and will bake it in the next month probably.

 On Tuesday, we ate our lunch on the screened-in porch. We bought a sandwich at a grocery store in Three Oaks. We had our hearts set on eggs Benedict at the Oaks Eatery restaurant, but when we drove up  on the 29th it was closed with a note on the door that said they had equipment problems and would not be opening that day. The only thing that we could find open was a McDonald's. 

Sunday evening after getting settled in the cottage, we drove to Harbert Beach to watch the sunset.

Harbert Beach and Cherry Beach were a short distance from our cottage. We took the cottage beach chairs to Cherry Beach Tuesday afternoon. It was cloudy, but the dark clouds stayed in the distance.

The Green Bush Brewing Company in nearby Sawyer was open; we ate supper there Monday. 

Our last day (Wednesday the 30th), we drove to South Haven to buy peaches at the Farmers Market. South Haven is so tourist-friendly. Public restrooms and plentiful free parking are a nice change from other Harbor Country towns. 

We arrived home about noon. It was a nice vacation, but it always feels great to be home again.