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

How's It Goin', Eldo?

Eldy is four weeks out of surgery....He is doing well with P.T. and has left the walker behind, and that's not Sparky, haha. He still uses the shower chair, as 90 degree precautions are in place for another month or two, (can't bend the leg over a 90 degree angle) so he is not supposed to lift his leg that high over our deep high sided tub to get in the shower. That shower chair is a pain to move in and out, (because Sparky is a tub gal) but it has to be used!  He is still using the toilet riser seat for the same reason. He is able to drive himself if he wants to go somewhere, and did that after three and a half weeks. He walks with a cane, sometimes without it around the house and is trying to retrain his awkward gait to a more normal one as he was compensating for a bad hip for a long time and that made him walk more like a penguin! Eldy doesn't enjoy walking, so to get him outdoors and moving for longer periods of time is a struggle.

It took him almost four weeks to go from sleeping in the recliner to a bed, because our bed is so high, but he wanted to wait till he could get himself off and on the bed easily before trying sleeping on it all night and having to get up to use the bathroom. He slept with NO PROBLEMS in that Lazy Boy recliner all that time! One worrisome development--Eldy had bloodwork done because of extreme fatigue and some other issues and his blood count numbers were not good. He was anemic and had something show up near his stomach on an Xray, a 3mm mass which they thought might be a kidney stone. Since then, his white and red cell numbers have improved on their own two weeks later. He is going to have a CT scan this week. (Update: Whatever there was that was on the scan before is not there now.) He has good days and bad days mentally and physically. He was expecting to bounce back pretty quickly like he did after major heart surgery. Heck, he was playing golf after one month after heart surgery. But this is major hip JOINT surgery and a whole different ball game (like hip ball and socket haha) as far as recovery of the muscles and tissues. Patience is not one of Eldy's virtues, so it's going to be a long haul before he can swing a golf club and bend over to pick something up. Three to six months before you don't have to worry about 90 degree precautions. Some days the hip hurts, and some days it doesn't. Some days he gets up out of his chair, limping with stiffness, and other times he says he feels perfectly normal and forgets to use his cane.

Over spring break, Sparky crafted up a storm between PT appointments. A fancy patriotic pin cushion, a pillow cover for the month of May, a rope bowl, a patriotic mini quilt to display on a stand, and a patriotic table runner. A sample....

Sparky is back to riding the Pumpkinvine Bike Trail in between cold, blustery spring days. She got a new bike! A Trek FX4, a performance fitness bike with a lightweight carbon frame...It's a beauty, much more lightweight than her last bike and one step closer to a road bike. At her age, this is probably the last bike, no road bike for Sparky! Trail riding is all she wants to do these days.

Virginia Spring Beauties lining the trail

As always, Sparky rides for the views as much as she rides to try and keep moving. The wildflowers are just starting to peek out this mid-April. The first to appear are the Virginia Spring Beauty, little low to the ground purple and white flowers in abundance. They line the trail in some sections as seen above. At the same time these appear, here come the beautiful trout lilies (at the left)...small clusters here and there, often just one or two spread out, their heads down as if they were a little shy. Sparky had to bend down and look up into this pretty little flower to see the details. Aren't the mottled leaves cool? So is the name....

yellow trout lily

And some hepaticas....

and cut-leaved toothwort....

Cut-leaved toothwort

Buggies on shopping day in Middlebury

One of Sparky's favorite things to do is head over to Shipshewanna on a Saturday to visit the meat market, and two fabric shops--Lolly's and Yoder's Department Store, which has a great shoe department besides clothing and fabrics. On the way to Shipsee, as the locals call it, Sparky likes to pass through Middlebury, where the Amish also do their Saturday shopping besides Shipesee. Something was going on this past dreary Saturday, as many buggies were in Middlebury, and almost none in Shipshewanna! A trip to Shipshewanna is not complete without a stop at JoJo's Pretzels, in the Davis Mercantile building, where pretzels are handmade  FRESH at a frenzied pace on a Saturday. Watch them make the pretzels while you wait in line! They are SO-O-O-O good! The pretzel shop is right across the aisle from Lolly's Fabrics, so you know where Sparky is headed. (And she didn't bring me one...W-A-A-N-H! fusses E. But in all fairness, I didn't want one, kids Eldo).

Pretzel making at Jo-Jo's

And with having reported the latest news, we say, see you later down the road, or down the street in our case. You might see us next at the South Side Soda Shop, a cool retro diner in Goshen, IN...... So bye for now....

Middlebury, IN  2024

August in Elkhart

We are officially moved into our small apartment, a total of 911 square feet. That's a nice uptick from about 400 square feet, which we think we had in the fifth wheel. That 911 square feet would be small and tight for a lot of people if you were coming from a house, but coming from living in a tight RV, it feels a LOT roomier. The apartment has two bedrooms and one bath. Oh, boy, Sparky gets a room to craft in! It is also very light and airy, which is a very welcome change from the dark interior of the fifth wheel.

It was a challenge going from an RV with LOTS of cupboards for putting everything in them, to the apartment with the only shelving and cupboards in the kitchen. We were surprised and just a little disappointed to find that there was NO medicine cabinet in the bathroom. You KNOW old people have lots of meds, right? So we had to get creative with tubs and shoe boxes under the sinks.

Sauder cabinet

Keeping that in mind since there were NO built in cabinets, as we gathered pieces of furniture from yard sales and thrift shops, Sparky insisted just about everything had to have a dual purpose and drawers or doors. Sparky bought a Sauder tall cabinet with shelves to put together. Back in the day, everything Sparky owned as a young single mom was pretty much Sauder put together stuff. Sauder is pretty decent furniture and the how to assemble guide is very thorough. And funny. Further on in the manual it said to pause for a beverage!

But we still have boxes and boxes to unpack and finding spots to put everything away is the biggest problem. Eldo says, "I can't believe we had all this in the RV!" That's because it was all contained behind closed cabinet doors, lol. The main bulk of what's left is Sparky's amazing craft supply collection. (AHA! I knew it wasn't MY stuff! exclaims Eldo.)

The apartment, although small, has lots of natural light coming in. We have a little patio and a storage shed. The complex has a nice laundry, a small pool and a workout room. And if you are so inclined to do yard work, because you miss having a yard, (that would be Sparky) residents can get paid 10.00 an hour rent credit for work done around the complex!

Grey headed coneflower

Sparky is a bit further from the Pumpkinvine bike trail, but that doesn't stop her from getting out there and riding 12-18 miles a couple times a week. The wildflowers are incredible right now....The lavendar bee balm, grey headed coneflowers, purple coneflowers, they are all blooming like crazy along the trail. It's a beautiful ride any time of the year.

Amish farm-corn and zinnias

The butterflies are really enjoying the prolific bloom of flowers...

The cornfields are tasseling....There is nothing better than Indiana sweet corn in August and it's everywhere. The farm fields are beautiful. It's amazing how tightly packed those cornstalks are! The yields must be great for the farmers. They've had ample rain this year and not had to irrigate as much.

Swallowtail on bee balm

It's hot, but not unbearably so, like in the southwest. Temperatures are in the high eighties during the day and low sixties at night. We are really enjoying the area as we settle down for awhile. Sparky will start subbing soon, hopefully, and Eldy is in the height of golf season with the Concord High School girls' golf team. He is VERY busy and that's a great thing for him to have an outside interest that gets him up and moving around. The golf team won their first match and are steadily progressing with their skills. They should have a very respectable season with their new coaches!

Sparky saw the biggest drone she had ever seen while bike riding. It was spray dusting the cornfields. It stopped spraying as it came to the end of the field where she was just outside the edge of the fence. Wonder if she was on camera and the operator stopped spraying because of that? It immediately flew back towards the farm and didn't spray any more after that. Maybe it returned to get more spray?

Along with the many many fields of corn, there are of course, soybeans. Did you know soybeans produce pretty little purple flowers hiding underneath their canopies of fuzzy leaves and stems? 

You may not always see Amish while riding the trail, but they are always out and about either in the fields or in their buggies traveling here and there.  Sparky just missed a buggy today....

The rock snake has gotten a LOT longer! Look at this little dude. In case you missed it, someone started a two rock snake with a little request to post on social media as the snake gets additional rocks. Sparky first saw it with the head and one rock earlier this season and that was it. How fun for people riding along the trail! There are some cool rocks in the snake.

Some more talented rock painters.....

The flower quilts are at the height of their season. Now is the time to go see them if you are in the area...

Quilt garden Abshire Park Goshen

Downtown Goshen

We continue to enjoy the small town of Goshen. They close off the streets the first Friday of every month with usually some sort of theme, for music, food vendors and shopping discounts. We haven't made it over there yet,  but it's on our list of fun things to do when it's not too hot. Sparky loves the downtown vibe there....

We are regular visitors to JoJo's Pretzels on Main Street in Goshen. They have really great warm, freshly made pretzels. Sparky loves her sour cream and onion pretzels, Eldo loves his garlic/parmesan pretzels.

And with that....School starts next week and Sparky already has work lined up with a fourth grade class for half days for two weeks! We shall see you later down the road or in town, haha...Five days till the RV goes in for repairs, the countdown begins in earnest!

While We Wait.....And Some Big News

We are keeping ourselves busy while we wait for our August 14th date to bring in our damaged RV for repairs.  We had a family graduation, Eldy got hired as assistant golf coach for the Concord High School girls' golf team and will be coaching during a short golf season under the direction of the head coach, his granddaughter (!). So we decided to get an apartment for the remainder of this year and into next summer. We will rent an apartment for a year, recover some of the financial costs of repairs, deductibles and other things and have decided we want to downsize our RV to a class C or small class A if we can sell the big fifth wheel. Campgrounds are getting much more expensive and even with our Thousand trails camping membership, we were starting to have to follow the same travel patterns repeatedly in order to afford to travel full time. We'd really like to branch out and see more of the country with less restrictions on where we can stay. We can do that if we come off the road for awhile, save some money get a smaller rig, and not travel full time. We don't know how long repairs will take and that could be months, so that's another reason we decided to stay put for awhile.

So with some sadness at coming off the road for awhile, but with much gladness at the benefits of having lots of Eldy's family close by and a chance for Sparky and Eldo to both work for a bit, we look forward to the next chapter in our lives of being stationary for awhile. Sparky will still post on the blog, but we certainly understand if readers stop following us since we are not going to be full timing for awhile, or possibly changing over to part timing as snowbirds when we downsize our RV. It seems to be the natural progression of aging with full time RVers to come to the point of traveling less and less due to lots of different reasons. 

So here we are, in Elkhart, IN, our home for the next year...We have an apartment lined up, and we are back to shopping for furniture! Trying to be frugal about furnishing an apartment as we don't have any furniture of our own, we have been visiting thrift shops and garage sales and here is what we have so far.....an almost new couch for 85.00....

An old HEAVY entertainment center for 6.00.....Sparky landed that one at a thrift shop on a 50% off day!

Sparky has removed the really heavy slide out trays and heavy fan motor and is going to outfit the interior with shelves for craft supplies. (Of course! says Eldo,) She might lighten up the finish a bit, too.

A floor lamp for 10.00....

A small roll top desk for 60.00...It has a hole in the roller part, but we think we can fix that enough so it won't be too visible....Why somebody would make holes at the top of the roller part of the cover is anybody's guess!

A craftsman style (?) end table. Sparky is going to refinish the top and paint the lower half of it a deep charcoal gray to go with the gray of the couch. Ten dollars....

And how could you not buy lemonade from the cutest kids and the cutest lemonade stand at this garage sale? (Sparky is a sucker for kids' lemonade stands. She bought lemonade the very next day from Amish kids selling it on Father's Day weekend! explains E.)

Sparky is on the Pumpkinvine Bike Trail at least two to three times a week...trying to keep her sugar and weight down. The spring wildflowers have died down but there are a few colorful summer ones now...The beautiful bluish purple spiderwort....

Sweet William perennials on the lane to Moody's Ice Cream Shop off the trail...

Sweet pea blossoming outside of the Winnebago plant near Middlebury...

The scenery is ever changing on the trail....

The Amish are plowing their fields....

A buggy peeking through the trail's vines and trees...

A bit of whimsy on the trail just outside of Abshire Park...

Seen the day after Father's Day on the trail...

You can see two of the Heritage Trail quilt gardens as you ride from Goshen to Middlebury. Kryder Gardens is a beautiful rest stop in Middlebury with picnic areas, gazebos, a little waterfall and even a windmill. There is a quilt garden there.

"Tree of Life" quilt garden at Kryder Gardens

Another quilt garden is right at Abshire Park in Goshen, at the beginning of the Pumpkinvine Trail. It's called the "Crosshatch" pattern. In another month, the flowers will have filled in and the pattern even more beautiful.

Every Tuesday and Wednesday is the Shipshewanna Flea Market. We have been going to it for years and years. It's really changed. There used to be a TON of individuals who crafted beautiful things...lots of handpainted woodwork, doll clothes, etc, but now, most of it is from China or other places. Lots of yard art and home decor can be found. It seems though, that handmade has gone by the wayside, except for a couple of booths. But you can find lots of home decor, faux leather goods, clothing....and bargains if you look hard.

There are multiple auctions going on in a building next to the flea market. That has changed as well. There doesn't seem to be as many furniture finds and vintage stuff as there used to be, at least that was our impression when we visited last week. But it's fun to watch the action and the bidding. Who knows what you might be looking for, it's possible it's here! 

Sparky liked this shot of people watching the bidding and the statue pose.

Some might say the flea market is for the birds, haha, but we don't think so!

Sparky liked this metal sign....

Lots of pet lover merch....

dog breed wooden spoons

We finally visited Biebs & Ash in downtown Goshen, IN for some terrific smash burgers and fries...WOW! Highly recommend...

beautiful fabrics at Lolly's

You know what else is in Shipshewanna? Besides lots of cool little vintage furniture, ice cream, and home decor shops? Handmade pretzels at Jojo's in the Mercantile building, and Lolly's fabric store, filled with LOTS of quilt ideas and the most extensive quality cotton fabric selection you could hope for a small town shop. Sparky hopes to make some home decor small quilts this year. (Uh-oh, worries E, there goes the budget!) Naw...Sparky plans to exercise restraint and not go there very often this summer....(HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That's Eldo rolling on the floor laughing his butt off.) Hey, they do have rockers for you guys to wait on your woman shopping at Lolly's but you might be there awhile.....

With that we will say bye for now.....You may not hear from us for awhile, but if we do something special in the area, we will let you know! It's been a great ride, a total of SIX YEARS full timing, but it's not our last foray out into the great USA...Don't be surprised if we say, HEY, we are going out on the road again, we do love to travel! We will keep you posted as our plans evolve and our lifestyle keeps changing. Thank you for following along and hope you still will.

                                        Sparky and Eldo