Post 38/2021 Saturday 4 September . . . “How nice to have a day outside,” a passerby said as we waited for our lunch to be served outdoors at Maria’s Restaurant in South Haven, Michigan on Friday. “How nice to be out of the house,” she added.

The day began with breakfast at Hilltop Restaurant in Middlebury, Indiana, where we met cousins from Illinois and relatives from Indiana. Nice spot, tasty, but noisy with all the chatter and clatter from surrounding tables (including our table of eight).

From Middlebury we set off on backroads for one of our favorite destinations, South Haven, MI. The blueberry season is mostly over; we picked up apples and plums. Wandering backroads, even with the odd detour, makes for such a relaxing drive.

For lunch, Captain Lou’s on the Black River had no outside seating so we opted for Maria’s A Taste of Italy, one of our favorites. Like other businesses, they are short-staffed, but we passed the time nicely at our shaded sidewalk table.

After lunch we popped in at Black River Books, where we’ve bought and sold books numerous times (nothing to sell or buy this time, just a pleasant chat with the proprietor who is hoping upon hope that a couple interested in buying the business will do so), stopped for a haircut at Combs Barbershop (where the barber still hot-lathers and shaves your neck), and did the mandatory stop at Sherman’s Ice Cream.

The drive home left us feasting on the countryside, stories of migrant ministry child care that Marty did in the South Haven area in blueberry season during college, our recent move, and our plans for the week ahead.

Home

Our move within Greencroft Goshen about a week ago went well. Finally, our modest earthly possessions are in one place, on one level, with one box a day still to be opened with decision whether the contents will stay or go (the decision may take more than a day). Happily, all is manageable.

Hail Guest!
Hail guest, we know not who thou art.
If friend, we greet thee hand and heart;
If stranger, such no longer be,
If foe, our love will conquer thee.

From a Crofter's Door, Wales

On the Greencroft Goshen campus

May we find familiar and new ways to indulge body, mind and spirit in the day by day challenges and joys of life.

-John