It's a Small, Small World

We went to coffee this morning early specifically to meet and say goodbye to our new friends from Nappanee, Dale and Cynthia.  During the conversation, Cynthia happened to mention that her father knows someone from our hometown in Cali, and asked if we knew Skip and Judy.  What?  Not only do we know them and their daughters, I had the extreme pleasure of working with Skip for almost 20 years.  His untimely passing earlier this year had reinforced the bond we had forged with Skip and his wife Judy through work and the kids 4-H activities.

Cynthia and her friend had just finished up at the local gym, and had a few moments to spend with us.  Cynthia's friend also has a history in California, and we talked about many of the things and places that we both knew.  In the meantime, Cynthia had called her husband and also her Dad, and both of them dropped by to chat for awhile.  Larry, Cynthia's father, has known our California friends for years, attended their wedding, and sees them from time to time at family gatherings.  What a small world!  Cynthia's husband gave us a brief history of his family's apple orchard, as well as sharing some experiences that come from being a "forever resident".

After a couple of hours we headed south to one of the few areas in this area that we've not visited.  It's called The Lake Country, and includes Lake Tippecanoe among others.  We enjoyed a nice ride through the countryside, stopping a a couple of places that intrigued us.

High on our list was the Warsaw Cut Glass Factory.  Advertised in the local tourist papers as being open seven days a week, when we got there, it was closed. We peeked in the windows of the old brick building and decided to return if at all possible.

On to Silver Lake!  Silver Lake, Indiana, is a small town with the flavor of so many older, midwestern towns: partially restored, but still struggling to find its way.  One of the neat stores in Silver Lake is the Whetstone Woodenware Co.  They make a huge variety of kitchen utensils from wood, mostly from Maple, but they also use Walnut on occasion; the Walnut is not as hard as Maple, so they limit its use.

We managed to find a couple of pieces that we liked, and then went to the shop next door where they make the items.  In the rear of the shop, a master craftsman is selecting wood for it's grain, dryness, and possible defects that could affect the final product.  He also roughs in the pieces on a bandsaw and sends them to the sanding shop. Using lathes, belt and disc sanders, and their hands and eyes, the workers finish the spoon, rolling pin, tongs, or fork.  Each piece is slightly different because it is made by hand, not by machine.

Our day trip would have finished about an hour earlier, except that we got lost trying to find Lake Tippecanoe.  Finally back on the road to Nappanee, we stopped and got some of the first sweet corn of the local season.

We each had an ear for dinner, and it was some of the best I've ever had, bar none!

And yes, it rained again this afternoon.  The evening National News told of another Polar Vortex coming down from Canada, with near record cold temps both day and night, as well as thunder and lightning with the possibility of tornados!  This is starting to become annoying!