Shops at the Sanctuary and The Church Cafe

I saw in the Fort Wayne newspapers that a new shop was opening in Columbia City in August. Actually this is a location for multiple vendors to sell their wares in an old church.

 The Shops at the Sanctuary has one major drawback. It isn't navigable by those who have mobility issues. Even the cafe whose door opens at sidewalk level has 6-8 steps down into a basement. I wonder if this might be the reason that the Presbyterian church that formerly occupied the building moved elsewhere. Perhaps an aging congregation found the steps too hard. 

The items to purchase range from handicrafts to furniture to decorative items to clothes. Some are "antiques"; I found most of those to be priced rather high. 

I would describe most of the furniture, signs, decorative items as Farmhouse style. In fact, one of the side rooms was named the Farmhouse. 

I did find one booth whose items I liked and thought were reasonably priced. 

Some of this decor can probably be purchased at Hobby Lobby or big stores like that. The pillows were mostly homemade though.

In the store there was a plate with a rooster for $2.50 to a raw-edged table for $3,500. 

There were unique items like the barn.

It was a lovely setting with the high ceiling and stained-glass windows of the sanctuary. 

The Church Cafe being in the basement did not have the same pleasant ambiance though efforts were made to spruce it up a bit with flowers on the table and some easy chairs in front of a "fireplace".

Most of the sandwiches were $9. My husband had a blackberry jam and bacon panini that included cheese and jalapenos. He said it was delicious. There were various entree salads. My slice of quiche was $4 and very tasty. Eating a smaller main dish meant I had room for a piece of peach custard pie.

The crusts of the quiche and the pie were flaky lusciousness. There was a whole page of the menu which was just specialty coffee and chai drinks plus smoothies. Stopping in for a piece of pie or cake with a hot drink would be fun.

It is only about 20 minutes from our house. Just a few blocks away is the county courthouse which has a farmers' market on Saturdays. A nice little outing.

Winona Lake Family Festival

 

Traditionally, the town of Winona Lake has held a community dinner each autumn to bestow the Reneker Award to a person or persons who have added value to the town. A few years ago this recognition dinner morphed into a family festival in the park in the summer. Better participation by all ages (no need to get a babysitter) and a time of relaxation, fun, and interaction.

Yesterday's festival ran from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. by the shores of Winona Lake. Thankfully there was some breeze as it was very hot and humid. We arrived about 4:40. We parked up the road from the activities near the town maintenance building walking along Cherry Creek and past summer cottages.

As we ambled through the park we were able to enjoy scenes of children having a good time petting animals, using the bounce house and slide, having pony rides, and driving a race course. 

At 5 p.m. after a blessing was said for the food, we joined the serving line. The meal was free provided for us by the town. We had BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, mac and cheese, chips, sliced apples, and a giant chocolate chip cookie. A large tent had been set up to provide seating in the shade.

Near the end of the meal a special award was presented to Terry White. Terry had won the Reneker Award a few years ago, but they had a special surprise for him yesterday. He was given the Circle of Corydon recognition not by the town, but by the state of Indiana. The document was signed by Governor Holcomb. Mr. White researched and published a book Winona at 100 several years ago for the centennial. He is "Mister Winona". He can answer questions about the town going back to its founding. He has worked tirelessly to promote the town and region.

The event ended with the distribution of door prizes. I really wanted to win one of the gift cards for the local restaurants, but instead I got a scented candle from the Mercantile Store. Since we are not allowed to have "live flame" in our leased condo, I will need to bestow it upon someone else. 

Before heading to our car, we took time to eat a dish of free ice cream donated by Kelainey's. 

Discoveries

 I walked up the berm behind my house this afternoon to look at the large saucer-shaped blooms on the bush. Last night I searched the internet to see if these were hibiscus. Yes, it appears they are. They are so much bigger than the hibiscus that grew outside the kitchen window of my childhood. I should have photographed them 2 days ago as now many are shriveling up. The blooms last only a few days. 

Most of the flowers on the front corner of my house finished blooming weeks ago. Now what is left is rudbeckia. They have new buds coming on and should last a few more months probably.

We were asked to introduce ourselves to a new couple that moved into a condo down the street and serve as a "resource" for them. They are former missionaries with UFM that served in the region near Lyon, France. Today we drove them to the Robin Hood lunch in a nearby restaurant. My husband asked the wife if she had adopted French cooking/preparation styles. She said that she had and as a result most of their meals are made from scratch. I didn't think to ask what happens in the winter when fresh produce and herbs are unavailable. She did not make everything herself. She relied on bakeries and pastry shops and markets in the plazas, but the emphasis was on fresh.

This afternoon on Cafe Farine Sucre the blogger Chris finished her description of their two-weeks stay in a small village in the French alps near Chamonix. She told about the food they bought in the marketplace as well as trips to the mountain meadows. It gave me a case of wander-lust. 

I think it was on Ann Voskamp's blog that I read about Psalms of Lament by Ann Weems. I wasn't quite sure what I was ordering, but I found an inexpensive copy on Better World Books. These are poems written in the style of Biblical lament psalms. It is not the kind of book one would read straight through, but rather dip into slowly to read and reflect. I had assumed these poems were written in response to the loss of her husband; instead they flowed from grief on the occasion of the murder of her 21-year-old son. I shall start dipping over the next months. 

I am in a quandary about how to go about life now that our county has moved from high to very high risk COVID level. That risk is mostly relevant to unvaccinated people. We have a case of COVID in our Robin Hood neighborhood now. The woman was unvaccinated because her medical providers advised against getting the shot because of her existing conditions.

 I mostly do my grocery shopping online with pickup, but if I go into a store I might start wearing a mask again. It appears the delta variant causes break-through cases at times. If most of my county was protected, I would continue without a mask, but less than half of the residents have been vaccinated. Many of those are children who cannot yet receive a shot and with whom I have little contact. I don't know what to do about church attendance though. Attendees at churches in our area do not wear masks, yet I know they are not all vaccinated. I am still undecided about what steps to take as I interact with people in my community. My sense of protection has been eroded. 

Smoked Paprika

 I follow the food blog Cafe Sucre Farine. Although her recipes and ideas seem to produce attractive food, I have made very few. Mostly, because she uses ingredients that are hard to find in my small town or that cost too much for just one recipe. However, after reading her tip to buy smoked paprika at Costco, I plan to try several of her recipes that use this ingredient.

I can buy over 8 ounces of smoked paprika at Costco for what it costs to buy 2-4 ounces in my local grocery stores. I have sprinkled some on grilled vegetables, grilled shrimp, and on chicken fajitas. None of those are from recipes, just me doing my own thing. Chris assures us that the spice stays flavorful for a long time; I can take my time experimenting with it.

Last night was the second time I have made a version of chicken fajitas using the paprika.

I used the leftover peppers from Saturday's vegetable/sausage skillet, some onion from the bulb I bought at the farmers' market, and towards the end I threw in a few small tomatoes. The frozen grilled chicken strips make this dish easy. The only seasoning I used was the smoked paprika. The chicken/pepper mixture was spooned into warmed flour tortillas and topped with some shredded cheese. We had Spanish rice along side. It all was very tasty.

The ad circular for my Kroger store featured a dozen roses for $6. I added a bunch to my online order which I picked up after my doctor's appointment this morning.

My x-rays showed no "gaps" between the vertebra replaced in December; the bone is maturing in the "cages" and the motion and instability is now gone after the posterior fusion done in May. My roses became celebration flowers.

 I have some low-level pain toward the top of my shoulder blades. When I mentioned it to the surgeon today, I didn't even have to point to the location. He knew exactly what I was talking about and instantly touched the spot. He said it is muscle pain and should continue to decrease. He offered to write a prescription for a muscle relaxant, but I told him I still have some tizanidine I use at bedtime. I would use it during the day if it wasn't so sedating, but the pain is tolerable enough during waking hours.

 We won't know for probably another 6 months if the healing/fusing of C4/5 and C5/6 is a complete success. It takes a long time for the body to generate new bone to fill in the spaces. I will go for another set of x-rays in one month, but so far things are progressing well. My neck feels tight when I move it different directions so I need to continue with range-of-motion and strengthening exercises at home. I had slacked off the past 10 days because I developed pain at the base of my right thumb from using the therabands.