Pandemic Communion Elements

 The church where we attended today had communion. There were tables holding an individual serving of the bread and juice before the entrance to the sanctuary. A sign said if one wanted to participate in communion to pick one up before going inside. 

This is my first encounter with using a "packaged" individual serving of the elements.

One peels back the clear top layer to access the wafer.

Then a sealed foil top is peeled back to get to the juice. I was worried the juice might spill while opening the container, but it peeled back easily and could be "resealed" before disposal.

This concession to the pandemic virus worked quite well. No passing and touching of containers by multiple people. It was quicker too since everybody that wanted to participate had their serving right next to themselves.

I could see how this setup would work well in a military war zone, for homebound people, at hospitals. I didn't see an expiration date, but I am guessing these are shelf-stable for months. 

Blueberry Time and Drooping Zinnias

 I haven't picked blueberries for a few years now. Instead I am buying Michigan blueberries in 5-pound boxes from Martin's, a local grocery store. I bought two boxes this week. I would have preferred to buy one box this week, and another box at the end of next week; but when I tried that last year, the blueberries were no longer for sale. I choose the firmest berries in the box to freeze. This year I ended up with 2 1/2 gallons. That means the rest need to be eaten fresh within a short time.

 One of the negatives of blueberry season is that it is usually during the hottest time of summer. I don't like baking and getting my house hot when we are in the 80's and 90's, but I always make a blueberry sauce to eat over ice cream and lemon pudding. 

The fresh berries go nicely with peaches and cantaloupe also. And I often eat some on my cereal at breakfast. 

This morning I went to the local farmers' market. I already enjoyed some fresh green beans from my sister-in-law earlier this week.

I bought a banana pepper, a zucchini, a medley of small tomatoes and an onion. I have never bought an onion from the grower before. We will have peppers and chicken sausage saute tonight using the banana pepper and some slices of larger red, yellow, and orange peppers from the store, part of the onion, and some of the small tomatoes. I might throw in a little zucchini, too. We haven't included pasta for several years. I sprinkle some garlic pepper on while cooking and parmesan before serving.

I was so pleased to see several vendors selling fresh flowers. The zinnias were a real bargain at 3 for a dollar. Unfortunately, now as I photograph them I see the heads drooping. According to the internet, placing some of the bottom stem in boiling water for several minutes will revive them. I then cut off the immersed stem and put the blooms in cold water in a vase. I am going to try that right after I finish here. 

The stems were not quite mature and should have been left on the plant longer before being picked re the internet. Last year the zinnias I bought in a bouquet lasted for days. We will see if this "fix" works. At least I am only out $2. It worked pretty well. I had one white bloom that was not drooping which served as a "control". The 5 flowers I put in the boiling water have a tiny tilt compared to the control, but they look good. I checked at 20 minutes, and they still drooped though looked a little better. At 40 minutes they had mostly straightened up. Certainly counter-intuitive way to fix the drooping.

I will try to buy ones that are not drooping at all next time though.

Now I can enjoy my flowers for a longer period.

I haven't felt very well this past week. The new med my doctor wanted me to try for my blood pressure has caused problems. I stopped taking it this morning. The pressure did decrease while using it, but I cannot live with this side effect. I will call her office Monday. 

Personalized Gift

 One of our new neighbors is quite crafty. She bought a house previously owned by Grace Village that abuts the retirement property. It suits her needs well as she needs room for china painting, throwing pottery, working with stained glass, painting on canvas. 

We had some previous ties with this woman thru Grace College and thru my cousins. Her parents had worked as missionaries across the border into Mexico at the same time my aunt and uncle did the same type of ministry. 

One of her ongoing projects is to create stained glass stepping stones. She has invited many of the Robin Hood residents to come use her facilities to design and create one for themselves. A few have taken her up on her offer.

For others, she has designed and made "personalized" stones as gifts. One neighbor's stone has an accordion(which he plays). Ours has books because we were librarians.

She delivered our stepping stone Sunday evening. She was pulling a little green wagon with two stones. When my husband accepted the gift, he found out why she hadn't carried it over to our house. It weighs 20 pounds! Supposedly it can sit out all year, even in the winter snow. The well water that irrigates our yard has discolored the stones and driveways. Since we didn't want the stone to turn rust-colored, we placed it in the one area (near our rose bush) which does not receive the well water. 

Hope it holds up well through the coming seasons.

Odd Supper

 About 4:30 my husband said he would like to drive to Silver Lake to get half a sandwich at the Subway, then follow that with ice cream next door at the Igloo. That would be our supper. We were not hungry at that point so waited about an hour.

After a pleasant drive on Country Club Road, which was surrounded by country fields but no club, at SR 14 we turned west where we got in line at the Igloo.

We didn't feel hungry enough to eat a sandwich first and decided to just stick to ice cream. Despite all kinds of advice from a regular right in front of us in line, I ordered an ordinary hot fudge sundae, but my husband got the rhubarb crumble sundae. His was made of rhubarb ice cream with slices of strawberries and pecans. Both sundaes were topped with whipped cream. At least he was adventurous. We ate at one of the picnic tables to the side of the building.

As we walked back to the car I had this sensation that drops were falling on my head. Once to the car I saw little tiny raindrops on the windshield. We drove in some light rain about half a mile, then it stopped. We could see the black cloud to the west of us though and expected more. Never had any more. 

It took a bit to get home; by then, my tummy said it wasn't quite satisfied. I got out some crackers and cheese to nibble. Perfect.