A Restorative Hike

It's been a long time since Sparky has posted for Where's Eldo? You might have wondered "Where's Sparky?" as well.... She's been battling breast cancer, diagnosed back in December. If you'd like to know about that, here is a link to what's been going on with her....https://lobularbreastcarcinoma.blogspot.com/2025/01/a-long-journey-about-to-begin.html

 

After going through five months of chemo treatments, Sparky is starting to feel a little better and wanting to feel "normal" doing "normal" things. It's April and spring has arrived here in Northwest Indiana....A burst of blooming Callery pear trees, also known as the Bradford pear, has blanketed the area with beautiful white blossoms, almost like snow covering the tree limbs and they are everywhere here in the Elkhart/Goshen Indiana area, blossoming suddenly in April with the first sign of warming temperatures. Apparently, the Bradford pear/Callery pear doesn't smell very good and is considered an invasive species. The state of Ohio has banned the sale and cultivation of the Callery pear because of the invasive nature of the tree species. They are pretty, though!

Time for the first bike ride on the Pumpkinvine Bike Trail. Twelve miles later and feeling the six months of no bike exercise, Sparky did enjoy the beautiful ride today despite "feeling it"....the first wildflowers in the woods are popping up, Virginia spring beauties...little white or pink flowers with pretty centers....

So many pretty spring trees and new wildflowers. A weeping cherry tree greets you as you first start out on the trail from Abshire Park in Goshen.

Besides the little Virginia spring beauties that blanket both sides of the trail, there are the yellow and brown trout lilies popping up in clusters here and there.

The magnolia trees are in full bloom...

The Eastern redbud trees are just starting to show their buds and some have bloomed already.

At about six miles into the ride after starting at Abshire Park in Goshen, there is the Amish ice cream shop just off the trail, Mooey's, in case you need a little treat. They have a little farm out back with some goats, turkeys, pigs and a donkey. You can feed the animals. Sparky has posted photos before of the Amish who love to frequent the little shop/farm, but this photo bears repeating, as it is Sparky's favorite shot from the ice cream place on a hot summer day.

When not riding the Pumpkinvine, Sparky hikes about three miles up and down the trails at Oxbow County Park. It's a beautiful little park in Goshen. There are steep stairs for a cardio boost, and some little up and down hills to make it interesting. The photo above takes you through a swampy part where lots of cool birds hang out. There are lots of trails intersecting and going off in different directions, none of them very long, but you can mix it up and get a wide variety of good walking/hiking. You might see deer foraging in the forest. Sparky averages about three miles every time she goes and always sees some beautiful birds and flowers. The trillium are almost ready to bloom.

One of the trails has a little fairy house at the base of a big ole tree, and someone has added to it lately, another little abode.

Are you wondering why there is a photo of a pair of Dutchmen? (Hint: It has something to do with wildflowers.) Read on!

The newly emerging wildflowers are in abundance at the park. Here is one that caught her eye--Dutchman's breeches. They look like upside down Dutchman's pantaloons, don't they?

Here are some of them tinged with a little pink....They are a key source of nectar for early bumblebees. However, they are toxic and can cause skin rashes.

What is Eldo up to, you might wonder? He's getting ready to be assistant golf coach again, for Concord High School girls' team. He's also got his golf clubs out and swinging them at the driving range a bit. Hopefully some rounds of golf are in his near future.....

And that is the latest from Where's Eldo? We shall see you later.....

Time for Family

For the holidays, Sparky and Eldo went to visit family....Sparky went to Houston to see her daughter and grandson, and Eldo went with his family on a weeklong cruise to the western Caribbean on the MSC "Seashore".

Sparky's grandson is 12 going on 20. He is taller than both his mom and his grandma! 

We had a great time seeing the holiday lights around Creekside, an upscale area northwest of Houston. We have a holiday tradition in our family of driving around to see lights every season, playing Christmas music in the car while we ooh and ahhh over the lights. Kerry likes to wear holiday sparkle like her mom, so she had on light up shoelaces. Sparky wants some shoelaces just like these!

Kerry took us to Dewberry Farms, which is sort of like going to a county fairgrounds, but it's a farm that has been designed to provide rides, entertainment, and seasonal holiday decorations done up to the max. We went on a cute little train ride all around the complex. The lights were really spectacular.

Some of the amenities were not. The bathrooms, were abysmal. They were basically little wooden porta potty units with several stopped up toilets and a wooden trough sink outside to wash your hands. The bathrooms were not handicapped friendly at all with rickety wooden steps and they were really dirty. No signs of any workers picking up trash or keeping the grounds clean, but there were a ton of visitors there for the lights and rides. The farm has been purchased by new owners and they don't care about upgrading the facilities, nor was it run very well as far as attractions. We had a good time anyway.....Grandson is a great basketball shooter!

We celebrated opening presents...Think Sparky, Jr. likes her slippers?

Sparky definitely loved her hand painted wine glass which joins a growing collection of the same artist....great gift idea!

Eldo had a great time on his 7 night cruise...He did lots of walking which was great for him. The cruise line was called the MSC and the particular ship was the "Seashore"....The ship was Italian and built in 2021. It was a BIG ship, designed to handle more than 5179 passengers! It has 5 specialty restaurants, 18 bars and lounges, 4 main dining restaurants, 6 swimming pools, an infinity pool along with 2 infinity whirlpools, and a waterfront promenade. It also features advance air sanitation technology, to reduce the chances of getting viruses on the ship. Hopefully, next time he will take more pictures!

He thought the trip was great....It stopped in Costa Maya, Cozumel and their own private island as another stop. Eldy did not get off the ship, the kids went to see ruins and other spots of interest. Eldy has seen them and so he stayed on the ship to explore....

The food was terrific, he says...But he didn't take any photos! Silly guy....But here are a couple of the family that someone took....Eldy's son and daughter-in-law...

And Eldy's grandkids....don't you just love Trevor's jacket? They are really great kids and are well on their way to becoming successful, happy adults....

Time passes by so quickly...We hope you and your family had a special holiday season together, thanks for following along with us...

                                        Sparky and Eldo

P.S. A link to Sparky's beginning blog about breast cancer is here:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/9220056048964552728/4332850761962859671

A Journey of Another Kind.....

Winter is coming with a lot of things that depress people....shorter days with darkness coming earlier and earlier and for some, seasonal affective disorder, a depressive state caused partly by lack of sunlight and is considered to be a form of depression. Sparky doesn't have S.A.D., so she doesn't mind the shorter days, or even the cold and dreary ones. She loves winter, snow and the brisk temperatures. She loves being outside in the cold! She loves the holiday season. She's weird about loving winter...(that's what Eldo always says, lol). So, time for one last 18 mile bike ride on the Pumpkinvine Bike Trail before putting the bike away for the season. Here is a photo of the last hurrah of the beautiful fall we had here in northwest Indiana.

There were even some roses still blooming on a bush near the trail in mid-November.

The seed pods are settling down for a long winter's nap....

The Amish will be still walking the country roads for church services, but Sparky won't see them again till spring....

The foxtails have come and gone.....

Shortly before Thanksgiving, Sparky and Eldo decided to check out the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train that travels through limited portions of the US every year to raise money for food banks. The cars are decorated with flashing light scenes and holiday music plays. In some towns at a decent hour, the train will stop and put on a show for train watchers. There is no cost except for a donation of food items. The route just happens to pass through northwest Indiana every year, but you have to get up somewhere between 2:30 A.M. and 4:00 A.M to see it. Eldo is a train buff. Sparky is a little kid at heart, so this year, even though Sparky was working the next day, we decided to get up and go see it in Goshen, IN. Although we got up at 2:45 A.M., the train was an hour late.  And it was shorter than we thought it would be! It was there and gone in less than two minutes, but it was COOL. 

In mid November, right before Thanksgiving, Sparky got some bad health news...She has breast cancer. She had been waiting for the shoe to drop for the last couple of years, since it is in her family. There was no evidence on a mammogram last year, but this year was a little different, something suspicious. The doctors have always said that she has extremely dense tissue and mammograms were tough to read. This time an ultrasound was ordered and two highly suspicious malignant lumps were found. After a biopsy in early December, the diagnosis is 1. invasive lobular carcinoma with a tumor of at least 16mm in the breast, and 2. with metastatic carcinoma in a lymph node. From here, a consult with a surgeon soon. It's going to be a long journey. Sparky will probably not say much here on the blog for awhile, but will post an update now and then. 

We still might post things we do for fun, that's important! Like go see the holiday lights in Shipshewanna and other places in the next couple of weeks. Sparky is going to go see her daughter in Houston before all the you-know-what hits the fan, and Eldy has a cruise with his son's family that happened to coincide at the same time, so we are going to enjoy ourselves and the holiday before settling in for the long haul.

Thank you for reading and following us....

            Best wishes for a happy holidays and quality family time....

                                    Sparky and Eldo

Hay, There!

 Did you know that culinary tourism is becoming more popular? The US boasts many unique drink and food trails all over the country. In all our travels, we have heard of the Kentucky bourbon trail, salsa trails (in Arizona), the Boise potato trail (Idaho), the margarita trail in New Mexico, (how did Sparky miss THAT one??!), a pork tenderloin trail in Indiana, (oh, yes, there is such a thing!), the North Carolina Oyster Trail, the Macon Bacon Trail in Georgia, the Buffalo Wings Trail in New York, and many many more....winery trails, whiskey trails, farm to table trails, a BBQ trail in Alabama AND the Beer City Air Trail in Grand Rapids, MI, home to over 40 craft breweries. (HOW did I miss that one?! wonders Eldo.) 

But if you aren't a foodie, and live in northwest Indiana like we do, you can check out another kind of trail, the 2024 Straw Hay Bale Art Trail in Shipshewanna and Middlebury, IN. Both towns are decorated up the wazoo with all kinds of all decorations--TONS of them! while you are driving around the towns looking for the hay bales, be sure to check out the beautiful and whimsical fall decorations in both towns.

"Be the 'I' in Shipsee"

It's part of the Autumn Adventure in the   fall in Shipshewanna and Middlebury, IN. Two towns, 24+ festivals and events in the area, and 30 giant hay bale pieces of art, depending on the eye of the beholder. On Sunday morning, we headed out to Middlebury and Shipshewanna to see how many we could find. It was a BEE-YOU-TI-FUL day and here was our first one:

"Thank you for your BEES-ness" says the sign where there were two of these cute bees in front of the shops at La Guana. There were MANY hay bales to be found in Shipshewanna. Quite a few creatures...."Henry the Panda"....

"Jack the Mouse and His Cheese" at the Heritage Creamery....

"Farmhouse Frederick the Steer" at the Farmstead Inn in Shipshewanna....

"Bacon the Pig" at the Ace Hardware store in Middlebury....

Some famous characters....Stuart and Bob of the Minions...(Sparky LOVES the Minions!)

Some popular fair food items...popcorn and pies....

"Life is Short, Eat the Pie!"

And a "Cheeseburger in Paradise"....

This little camper above, "The Mini Morton Camper" was out in front of the Morton House in Shipshewanna, right downtown. So cute! It was Sparky's favorite of all of them. There were many more. We saw about 26 out of the 30. It was fun driving all around Shipshewanna and Middlebury. They are small towns and the art bales were easy to find. You can find a map to all the hay bales artwork here: https://visitshipshewana.org/straw-bale-art/

We hope you enjoyed our little travel adventure this weekend! Thanks for stopping by to have a read....

                                    

                                    Sparky and Eldo

Charming Charlevoix and Shipshewanna

It's been a long time since Sparky saw her family, so in early August we went to Charlevoix, MI to a small family reunion. Charlevoix is a charming harbor town surrounded by three lakes--Lake Michigan, Lake Charlevoix, and Round Lake. It's a small town, population of about 2300 people, but it most certainly is charming and a lovely place to visit. We were only there for two days, so we missed lots of possibilities of things to do. It's only 48 miles to Mackinac Island, and 17 miles to Petosky. Had we had more time, we would have definitely explored a lot more of the area!

One of the coolest things about Charlevoix is the "Mushroom Houses".  They were a series of houses designed and built without blueprints by architect Earl Young, back in the early 1900's. The houses are affectionately nicknamed "gnome" houses or "hobbit" houses. If you look carefully, there is a gnome sitting in the second window to the right in the photo below.

They have signature cedar shake roofs, wide wavy eaves, exposed rafter tails, and are a horizontally designed build instead of vertical. They are designed to blend into the landscape as well. There are 26 residences in Charlevoix and 4 commercial properties in downtown Charlevoix that are mushroom houses. They are made of limestone, fieldstone, and boulders found in northwest Michigan. The nice thing about these houses is that you can see a great many of them clustered in parts of town and it is definitely a walkable tour.

One of the coolest ones is called the "Thatch House". The original walls were set in 1919. In 2013, Michael Sietz purchased the house and put his own spin on it. The roofing material is real thatch, designed to last for over 60 years. He renovated the inside to make 6 bedrooms, 5.5 baths, with three fireplaces and two living rooms. You can rent this house! No idea what that costs, but it's a year round vacation rental.

The Thatch House

 Several of them are near the hospital in a section of town called "Boulder Park". Here is a map showing the clusters...

In the short time we were there, Sparky took some daily walks to the Mt. McSauba Recreational area. There was a challenging 18 hole disc golf course there, dunes along Lake Michigan, a .7 loop hiking trail on a beautiful wooded trail that wound in and around the disc course and the beach. 

silly Eldo!

While we were there, we enjoyed eating at the Weathervane Restaurant, another Earl Young design, and watching the drawbridge go up about every half hour. The food was fantastic at the Weathervane Restaurant and the views of the channel with the boats and ships passing right outside the restaurant made dining there a pleasure.

We had a wonderful time with family...It was a lovely visit full of laughter and love. Here is Sparky's extended family....

Anything else you want to add Sparky? asks E. Well, while in Charlevoix, you could take a ferry to Beaver Island, the largest island in Lake Michigan, but we didn't have time to do that. For a small town, there a lot of places to visit  and some fine eating establishments as well. All too soon, we had to return home as Sparky needed to start school with an early first day long term subbing assignment.

Once back in Elkhart, it didn't take Sparky long before she made her semi-weekly trip to Shipshewanna, to get holiday crafting ideas, view sewing projects in her favorite fabric stores, and get a fresh homemade pretzel at JoJo's Pretzel shop. Look at how beautifully decorated Shipshewanna is for fall!

Here is a fun vignette of scarecrows....

Sparky's favorite....

And that's the latest from Sparky and Eldo...Happy fall, y'all! See you down the road.....