Quiet 4th of July

 It is a quiet July 4th for us. Too hot and humid to sit on the porch; next weekend should be better for that after a cold front moves through Wednesday night. Winona Lake had fireworks Saturday July 1st. We watched the higher ones that we could see through the bedroom window. I did notice blips of light in the yard so the fireflies are showing up. 

I have had a cold since last Thursday or I might have gone to the Patriotic Concert in Winona Lake on the 1st. Today, I finally feel better. Sneezing and runny nose came to an end; still have lots of phlegm and a cough though.

 I hope to stop at the post office tomorrow to buy stamps before the price goes up on July 9th. I have one stamp in the drawer at home. 

Talked with my sisters in California. They were gathering with other family members to celebrate my oldest sister's July 4th birthday. She picked out her own birthday cake, a chocolate mousse from Costco. Tonight, we ate Costco Tuxedo cake. I had frozen two pieces the last time we bought that cake. My twin sister is in California for a missions conference celebrating missionaries past and present. They had no problems traveling by air. 

Our skies are actually blue instead of hazy gray, but unfortunately that won't last very long. Once the wind comes out of the north again, we will get Canada's smoke. 

I have distracted myself from my pains, etc. by knitting a headband from a ball of yarn I bought at a garage sale. The pattern instructions came from the internet.

I thought maybe this would keep my ears warm without wearing a hat and getting "hat hair", but with my short hair, wisps stick up in the back and the bangs look weird. I did learn how to make a mattress seam to create the round circle. I looked at a book. Mostly I am self-taught from books and a few times from YouTube.

Some time ago at a Friends of the Library book sale, I bought a book about Charles Wysocki. Since we had many puzzles by him through the years, I thought I might enjoy browsing. There was a little bit of biographical information, but mostly the author Betty Ballantine uses his pictures to talk about Americana living. For example, how sugar maple syrup is made. I think the book was printed before Wysocki got into puzzles; mostly, I guess he started out with calendars. None of the places he paints are real places. They are bits and pieces of New England that he incorporated.

One of my sisters sent me an African Violet as a get-well wish. The plant that arrived was pathetic, but the company stood by their promise to make good unacceptable plants. I have a replacement.

I don't have a green thumb, but at least I have a fighting chance with a healthy plant rather than a wilted one. 

Hope your Independence Day was enjoyable. 

Independence Day Holiday

 We started out the holiday festivities by eating  Kelainey's ice cream cones sitting on its screened-in porch on Friday afternoon. I was amazed how many people were walking around visiting the Village of Winona on a weekday.

Saturday morning I picked a few hydrangeas from my generous neighbor's bushes.

Since I took the blue vase off of the entry table, I put Covi there for awhile. I snapped this when the sun coming through our skylight shone right on the wood carving.

Saturday night we were able to see from our porch the higher fireworks from the Winona Lake show. I also enjoyed the numerous fireflies twinkling in our neighborhood.

Today we went to the boat-in worship service on Lake Wawasee which goes from 8:30 a.m. to 9. We sat in our folding chairs on the grounds of Oakwood Resort. There didn't seem to be as many boats around the Lilly Pad boat where the preacher and musicians are located. Maybe folks were busy with family. There was a big turnout on the land though. Our nice low-humidity days were to end today, but early morning was still delightful. It didn't really get muggy until around 10 a.m. We ate Sunday mid-day meal at The Boathouse restaurant along the shores of Winona Lake. 

Saturday I was just getting ready to take my shower when my husband returned from his woodworking efforts. He wanted to take a picnic lunch to the Stockdale Mill near Roann. We saw this mill when driving home from the apple store in Denver last fall. The mill was not open then.

We toured the open mill yesterday. Its power source is the Eel River.

There is a sub basement and 4 floors of pulleys, chutes, grinders, sifters which originally produced grain for animal feed and cornmeal and flour.

There was a rusty turbine in  the yard since the active one was in the sub-basement and thus unviewable.

This gizmo made a "patch" to splice together pieces of pulley.

Of course there were hazards working in a mill.

This historical still used for boot legging was an oddity taking up floor space.

I noticed that the brochure said the mill was handicap accessible. The ground floor had no stairs; there was an outside ramp to the second floor. The top two floors required climbing steep steps. Definitely not doable for the mobility challenged. 

There was a lot of ducking around equipment as well. It was interesting to tour.