From Yesteryear to Futurama

Enjoying a day off from work today, Bruce and I picked up Grandma for lunch at Between the Buns. They emailed me a $5 off coupon good for lunch on July 5 only.


After lunch, we visited the new American Countryside Farmers Market, which is just a couple of miles from our house. Grandma was able to get some of those GIANT jellybeans from the Wakarusa Dime Store's booth.


The market is a 51,000 square foot Amish-built wood-peg barn. It's three stories high with a huge fan below the cupola.




Later in the day, we went to see the new Transformers movie (sans Grandma). It was actually pretty enjoyable. Bruce filled me in on the backstory last night as he set his computer's background to a photo of Optimus Prime.

Happy Birthday America

Although we were sad to miss cousin Candy's party in Lafayette today (due to Bruce's work schedule)...

We did manage to make it over to LaPorte in the evening for Cheryl's jet ski / fireworks party.


What a blast!

Elkhart Fireworks Display

Enjoy this :40 segment of the 30-minute fireworks display we enjoyed tonight, courtesy of the city of Elkhart, IN.

Bloom On!

We have four purple Rose of Sharon bushes in our back yard. Three around 10' high and one is a baby; only 3' high.

Tonight, while taking Spike (our dog) on a garden tour, hubby Bruce noticed the first blooms, at the very top of the tallest bush.

Duke Tumatoe Concert

Duke Tumatoe played a free three-hour concert at Seitz Park in downtown South Bend Sunday. Duke and his band are incredibly talented -- I go see them any chance I get. The crowd really got into "Tie You Up." You can listen to it on Duke's mySpace page.

The city of South Bend puts on these free concerts every Sunday throughout the summer, with the support of various underwriting corporate sponsors. The park is alongside the East Race Waterway so, if you plan to raft during the day, be sure to bring a change of clothes so you're dry for the concert. You can bring along your coolers, food and lawn chairs and make an evening of it.

After the show, I bought Duke's greatest hits CD, which he autographed, and even managed to get him to pose for a photo. You can see how thrilled he was to do that.



We went over to the Parkview after the show, and saw Duke and his band there enjoying a cool, refreshing beverage.

Then, it was back to the East Race to watch the fireworks. There must be some magic trick to taking photos of fireworks with a digital camera. And, I haven't learned the trick yet ;-)

East Race Waterway

If you ever get a chance to raft down the East Race Waterway in South Bend, don't miss it! It's $4 per person and they provide the raft, life vest, paddles and helmet. The trip takes about five minutes and you get absolutely soaked. At the end of the ride, you're supposed to paddle like crazy to get over to the exit ramp -- otherwise you will shoot right out into the main part of the river. Neighbor Bonnie and I missed the exit both times we went down. The lifeguard at the end of the run threw us a rope to reel us back in.

Below is a view of the East Race Waterway from the top.

Sunday Morning in the Garden

Sunday was another perfect summer day. I did some minor weeding in the garden; put up a fence between the cukes and zucchini; pulled up the remaining lettuce to give the eggplants more sunshine; got the water feature's solar fountain going again; and delighted in the first morning glory bloom.