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.

Dizzy Dame

 So far after a week of physical therapy exercises, I see no improvement in my pain. The other therapy I have been given is deep muscle massage. This actually increases my pain for several days. Although it gives me more flexibility in neck movement, that increase doesn't last. I think next week I will tell them to discontinue the massage.

I started taking the gabapentin again last night. It is for nerve root pain. The first time I took it I also took tramadol as instructed. Drowsiness, dizziness, sweating, nausea meant I didn't take a second pill. The prescription for gabapentin is titered. I slowly increase the number of times a day I take it. I did get a little drowsy last night, but it is the dizziness that is bothersome. When I got up to use the bathroom last night I had to sit on the side of the bed until I felt I could safely navigate. I do believe my other problems during the first dose actually came from the tramadol. The dizziness wasn't as severe this morning, but it lasted until about 10 a.m. I will continue with bedtime doses for the next two nights. I will have to decide whether to continue next week because I have several engagements and responsibilities where I cannot risk dizziness.

I plead guilty to feeling some schadenfreude this morning when I heard President Trump had contracted Covid-19. I just heard that he will be going to Walter Reed Medical Center. I hope that is just precaution and not because he is getting worse. The White House has not been very forthcoming re his real condition.

Last Sunday my husband and I decided to dine in at Ruby Tuesday. We had been using the generous BOGO coupons for pick-up. We wore masks as requested by the sign on the front door. We took them off while dining but replaced them to leave the restaurant. As we exited, an older couple not wearing masks was in the vestibule. The man sneered and in a derisive tone said to us "Wearing masks." As we drove away, I did not see them exit so I am assuming the restaurant employees seated them. I blame a lot of this attitude on President Trump. 

Last week I took a photo of my moss roses in their glory. The cold nights the last few days have brought them to the point of needing to be pulled up. The bright flowers do not open up and the stems are turning brown. I will try to pull them out next week when it is warmer.

We are enjoying the flavors of fall. I finished off our apple cider this morning. Last night we started in on a pumpkin pie.

We will warm up next week to mid-60s. That will allow me to do some walking outside. The autumn colors are just lovely right now and will probably peak next weekend. Happy autumn to you!