Shipshe Flea Market Signs

When we were in Shipshewana we spent some time at the Flea Market and saw these signs and other merchandise.

The Time Out chairs cracked me up.

“I had a Fit Now I gotta sit” and Time Out ~ “Have Mercy on me O Lord For I’m in Trouble”

There were lots of items I wanted to bring home with me but alas my suitcase wasn’t the size of a pick-up truck.

I bought this Celebrations sign with discs and hearts to add for our family birthdays and anniversaries.

We are being threatened with a mighty wind storm and lots of rain to blow through our region. We have been busy “battening down the hatches” at this old house. We’ve mowed and cleaned out the planters and soon we’ll have more leaves to deal with because of the mighty winds. Hopefully we won’t lose power. Hope y’all are enjoying Fall!

Linking up with Lesley at signs, signs.

Wednesday Washday in Amish Country

I don’t know if every Wednesday is washday but on this particular Wednesday as we drove the country roads we spotted many wash lines filled with clothing drying in the wind. This area has a large population of both Amish and Mennonite folk.

ON A WINDY WASH DAY MORN

Soaked and scrubbed in a round tin tub
with homemade soap
up and down the ribs of a wooden washboard
by hands rubbed red & raw
on a windy wash day morn.

Stiffened with starch, squeezed
and wrung to a twisted laundry rope
then hung on lines to flap
back and forth and snap dry
on a windy wash day morn.

Laid on the lawn like paper cutouts
clean shirts and sheets, towels and skirts
smelling of sun and clouds and wind
wait to be ironed and worn and dirtied
again for another wash day morn.

~ Brenda Seabrooke, American poet and novelist

They really have some great pulley systems and other clothes hanging inventions to make the job more efficient.

Do you have a set day to do laundry?

I’m linking this post to Good Fences with TexWisGirl.

Neigh…

…of a horse.

While driving the country roads in Amish Country Ohio with our friends Bev and Harv we stopped to take a closer look at these noble creatures.

They noticed us and came closer to see if we had a treat for them.

We chose roads less traveled and we were rewarded with these beautiful scenes.

All these photos were taken on Wednesday September 28th in Holmes County, Ohio.

Linking up to ABC Wednesday for N is for Neigh. Thank you Mrs. Nesbitt for starting ABC and Roger and company for your hand in keeping it going.

Head over to Mennonite Girls Can Cook for my Cucumber Salsa Recipe.

Heritage Trail Mosaics…

On Sunday the 25th of September we traveled along the Heritage Trail in Amish/Mennonite Country, Indiana. These shots are from one of our first stops just south of downtown Shipshewana. This reminded me of the Goldilocks story for some reason.

We have had a soggy weekend with some sun breaks here and there. We have been quite lazy here at this old house this weekend. We were in church early Sunday morning where we started a new series on the Holy Spirit. It was a good start with more to come. After church we had breakfast out and stopped at Fred Meyer to buy some ingredients for chicken chili for our second meal of the day and it was real good. These days we are happy with two meals a day.

How was your weekend? It wouldn’t be hard to accomplish more than we did at this old house.

Monday is Thanksgiving in Canada and I wish our good neighbors a very Happy Thanksgiving Day. May God bless Canada today and forever…

Linking to Mosaic Monday with Maggie at Normandy Life. Thank you Maggie for being a great hostess of this meme.

La Grange, Indiana

I tried to get some information on this mural on line and couldn’t really find anything. There were some references to Corn School.

La Grange Methodist Church?

1st Presbyterian Church in La Grange, Indiana.

On our way to Shipshewana, Indiana from the Detroit airport we stopped in La Grange on Highway 20 a few miles from “Shipshe” for dinner and saw these churches and mural while scoping out our dinner options. It didn’t take long to decide on one of the two spots that were open. The barn was spotted on the road before we reached La Grange.

Linking up with Tom the Backroads Traveler for The Barn Collective,

InSPIREd Sunday with Beth and Sally,

and Monday Mural at Oakland Daily Photo

Combining these three memes since all these photos are from La Grange, Indiana.

My God, I Thank Thee ~ Hymn

My God, I Thank Thee

My God, I thank Thee, who hast made
The earth so bright,
So full of splendor and of joy,
Beauty and light;
So many glorious things are here,
Noble and right.

I thank Thee, too, that Thou hast made
Joy to abound;
So many gentle thoughts and deeds
Circling us round,
That in the darkest spot of earth
Some love is found.

I thank Thee more that all our joy
Is touched with pain,
That shadows fall on brightest hours,
That thorns remain;
So that earth’s bliss may be our guide,
And not our chain.

For thou who knowest, Lord, how soon
Our weak heart clings,
Hast given us joys, tender and true,
Yet all with wings;
So that we see gleaming on high
Diviner things.

I thank Thee, Lord, that Thou hast kept
The best in store;
We have enough, yet not too much
To long for more:
A yearning for a deeper peace
Not known before.

I thank Thee, Lord, that here our souls
Though amply blessed,
Can never find, although they seek
A perfect rest;
Nor ever shall, until they lean
On Jesus’ breast.

Words: Adelaide A. Procter, 1858.

I’d like to wish my Canadian friends a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Amazed in Amish Country…

E & S Sales: Come enjoy their unique varieties and wide selection of bulk flour, candy, nuts, snacks, dried fruit, baking ingredients and spices. They have cheese, meat, produce, jams & jellies, salsa, noodles and many other products. You can sit in their deli and enjoy a sandwich, salad, soup, slice of pie and ice cream. Check out their antiques on display while you browse the store and remember they are not open on Sunday!

We just kept pointing and exclaiming to each other as we walked the aisles. This is not your Costco variety bulk.

Me and my fellow shoppers.

The parking lot.

This is my niece’s mother in law. She and her hubby traveled from Michigan for our cooking show and offered to take us around to some of their favorite spots in Shipshe. I’m sorry I didn’t get a photo of the 4 of us together. Besides E & S they took us to their favorite snack spot, JoJo’s Pretzels! JoJo’s is located in the Davis Mercantile, four levels of shops with a carousel on one of the levels.

They have a sense of humor, too.

We finished off our morning at Yoder’s Red Barn Shoppes not to be mistaken for Yoder’s Meat and Cheese. I’ll save that for another post. Thank you Arden and Mary Lou for your hospitality!

We are having a soggy stay inside Saturday here at this old house. The colors are changing nicely in our corner of the world. Our Canadian neighbors are celebrating Thanksgiving all through this weekend with Monday being their official Thanksgiving Day. Here’s a photo of the back of our home with some fall color. I took this photo yesterday morning.

Enjoy your weekend everyone…

Early Fall Favorites…

We’re home from our week long trip to Shipshewana, Indiana and Sugarcreek, Ohio for the Showings of the Mennonite Girls Can Cook Comedy Play. It was such an interesting area filled with things we don’t see everyday in the Seattle Area.

We were sorry to have to miss the annual Crafter’s Fall Fair that started after we moved from Indiana to Ohio. One of the nice treats on this Mennonite Girls Can Cook trip was that most of our husbands came along for the ride and it was good to have their support.

Fourteen of us arrived on Saturday night to Shipshe and on Sunday, our only full free day, we took the Heritage Trail driving tour of the Amish/Mennonite countryside. We fit into three cars for the tour and Harv and Bev came along with Dear and me. We had lots of stop on a dime moments and the cameras were snapping away.

These corn horse photos were taken at the very end of the tour after we had come full circle.

#BlueGateCornHorses

Thank you Lord for:

1. A good safe trip driving many miles in the countryside. 2. Uneventful flights to and from Detroit. 3. Beautiful scenery. 4. Our kids who dropped us off at the airport and picked us up at the airport. 5. Good times with friends during this trip.

This is a bonus thankful link that comes from Rattlebridge Farm on How to Be a Happy Blogger. I found it to be very encouraging.

I’m linking up with Susanne at Friday’s Fave Five , Amy’s Five on Friday., and Rattlebridge Farm for Foodie Friday and Everything Else.

To all my Canadian friends that come here today I’m wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving weekend and Thanksgiving Day on Monday!

Indiana Good Fences…

We were so impressed with how clean and tidy all the Amish/Mennonite farms and roads were in Indiana and Ohio.

I’ll be linking up to Good Fences with TexWisGirl from Run*A*Round Ranch Report.

Tonight our Small Group will be starting up again with some new folks we’ve never met. It will be interesting to see how God puts our group together. I’ll be doing a little dusting and tidying up the messes from emptying our suitcases. The Fall colors are really starting to show beautifully here and there in the Pacific Northwest. How are the colors in your neck of the woods?

Signs in Amish Country

While in Indiana we drove the Heritage Trail on Sunday September 25th and stopped for a meal in Nappanee where there had been an Apple Festival in mid September. These apple signs were on the streets in the downtown area.

This old bank building with Metzler’s Shoe sign on the side of it caught my eye.

One thing we learned about Amish country is that not many businesses are open on Sundays. When we got to Nappanee and decided it was lunch time we hoped to find an open restaurant. Hunters Hideaway was recommended to us for lunch and we went with the recommendation and had great service here.

It’s hard to corral 14 people and decide on a spot to eat but we were pleased to stop and be refreshed here. These are 8 of the Mennonite Girls with 6 our our husbands. Betty, Charlotte and their husbands were still on the road and arrived at our hotel by the time we finished our Heritage Trail drive.

I’ll be linking up with Lesley for signs, signs.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Author Archives: Ellen