A really windy day!

We've finished our evening meal, the dishes are done and the Oscar program is about to begin. Some eight or more hours ago Ray and I decided to do our outside run/walk even with the knowledge that it was very windy. During my first lap on the trail I was ready to give up and use the Clubhouse treadmill, but Ray wasn't ready to quit. Now I'm glad I didn't quit. The wind sometimes seemed to shove me, but the good thing is that halfway through the loop the wind is at your back and the rest of the time you are heading into the wind. Surprisingly, there were a number of other runners and walkers on the trail. Gusts were probably in the 30 MPH range and probably higher.  The temps were in the 50s which made the wind bearable and this many hours later seems like it never happened.

We traveled to Monrovia on Wednesday for our semi-annual dental cleaning and after that spent a few hours with former neighbors, Mike and Jan, playing Bridge. They kindly provided supper of BBQ pork and assorted sides after we finished playing. Unfortunately, we both may have to visit the dentist for additional work.

Thanks to free tickets for seniors we drove to Franklin Thursday afternoon to see Dial M for Murder. The Artcraft theater is owned by an historic preservation non-profit group. The movie featured Ray Milland, Grace Kelly and Bob Cummings. Today's movies are so different--I didn't hear one curse or "F" word. I have to believe the movie industry crossed lines years ago and maybe that's one of the reasons there are so many shows on TV that are not family friendly. If you don't agree, that's OK and pardon my little rant.

Fortunately the blizzard that stormed in NW Indiana hardly left any snow with us. The streets were dry but we had to brush some snow off the car. We've had a relatively mild winter with little snow and rather mild temperatures. But a big snowstorm could still be in the future. What do you think?

Wondering if March will enter as a Lion or a Lamb. Any prediction?

A week of contrasts

Last Monday we woke up to a light dusting of snow. The roads were slushy, but didn't hamper many people. In fact, it was President's Day so there were no school buses on the roads and many people had a holiday. Contrast that to yesterday when we went to the local park for a workout on the trail--we set a record of 71 degrees! Today was still a very nice day but we may have a wintry mix before this new week is over. The winds last Friday were so strong and blustery that all hairdos were at risk.

We made plans to host our bridge playing friends and cleaned the house on Tuesday. However, Ray woke up with a sore throat on Wednesday so we deferred the card date for a week. He took it easy some of the time, taking a nap on two or more days, but also managed to make it out for some of our usual workouts. His lingering cough has nearly dissipated.

Yesterday was a day of basketball. Ray enjoyed watching #4 Oklahoma win by defeating #10 Virginia. We really didn't know which team to cheer for when Purdue played Indiana at Assembly Hall last evening. We don't usually watch the second half of these late games because of rising early on Sunday morning. From all reports, the Boilers nearly came back from a deep deficit but IU prevailed and has a chance of winning the Big 10 championship with only three games left.

My domestic abilities were were put to good use today. First, soup for lunch. Then I made two loaves of Apple-Spice bread, a pan of cornbread and for our evening meal we had Vegetarian Spinach Enchilada. Haven't tasted the apple bread (that's for lunch tomorrow) but I can't remember ever working with dough as stiff as this was. Here's the finished product. Probably should have removed the foil as it overwhelms this photo and the camera angle is wrong.


Will this new week have as many contrasts as last? Stay tuned!

This and That

This afternoon we probably had the most snowfall of the season. Walking past a window, I noticed some children playing in the snow and realized this was the first time they have had the opportunity since other snowfalls didn't provide much chance for play.

I grabbed the camera and took a few pictures through the window. They were unaware that anyone was watching them.

It was fun watching them crawl around in the snow. They were dressed for the conditions and the cold temperatures didn't seem to deter them. 

It's been a week since watching Super Bowl 50. Lots of feel good sentiment here in Colts' Country for Peyton Manning winning his second Super Bowl. He may have been the winning quarterback but without the solid defense of the Broncos it's doubtful they would have won.

Thinking about games and basketball, in particular, the results of the games that are of interest to us are mixed. For example, during one recent week all four teams we follow (Oklahoma, Purdue, Indiana and Butler) had wins, but this past weekend, they all lost.

We had a strange encounter in the grocery store a few days ago. Ray and I went our separate ways. He had the cart with two of our reusable shopping bags and a bag each of grapefruit and apples. He went looking for me and parked the cart at the end of the aisle. I was still picking out something so he went back to the cart and it was gone and another cart with different merchandise was in its place. I'm sure that has happened to many of us. Much later, the cart was still there and ours hadn't been returned. Ray eventually talked to someone in the service desk and the attendant and Ray walked through the entire store and couldn't find a cart with our bags and produce. He eventually went to pick up more apples and grapefruit and we checked out. You would think that whoever took our cart by mistake would realize the reusable bags weren't theirs and return them to the store. Or, maybe they really needed them and, if that's the case, we can spare them. I hope they've gone to a good home.

I've been devoting lots of time to learning more about using my DSLR camera. I've been using the Auto setting because I didn't understand much else. I signed up for a class and every day I receive a lesson that teaches a photography technique and gives an assignment that I can post for feedback if needed. I am now able to shoot a photo in Manual though it might not be as fast as I'd like to get the correct setting. I've learned a lot in the 45 days since this class began.

Last Wednesday was the beginning of Lent and the women of Concordia served supper between our two services. We had lots of delicious food provided by over 20 women. Lots of help in the kitchen as we set up and then cleaned up. Early in 2016 I began working sporadically on the Lenten banner and completed it a week before Ash Wednesday.