We got this picture of a big toad outside our son’s house recently. Our grandson (Kindergarten age) immediately proclaimed that he had already seen this toad. Not just any toad, but this one. Kids know critters, so who are we to doubt him?
retirement activity
Oldenburg 1871 Sorrowful Mother Shrine
Oldenburg Indiana is known for its rich religious history. Founded in 1837 by German settlers, it is known as the “Village of Spires” due to the multiple church steeples that make up the town’s skyline.
Located about a mile outside the town limits visitors will find the beautiful Sorrowful Mother Shrine, erected in 1871 by Siegfried Koehler, who had arrived in Oldenburg from Alsace, France in the late 1830’s.
The Altar
Prayer bench
The statue on the altar is actually a plaster cast of the original that Koehler brought with him on the ship from France. The original was found to be hand carved from black walnut, and now is in the Holy Family Catholic Church in Oldenburg to protect it from vandalism.
The Seven Sorrows of Mary
Seven Sorrows pictured
The shrine is found on a country road, and is in a beautiful setting. Trees, lawns and a stone bench ad to the ambience. While it can be locked, the shrine was open the day we visited. This is a Holy and Sacred place, and you can feel peace and serenity at the shrine.
A fun Saturday discovery
Wine bar to serve you
Sher and I wanted to have a new experience Saturday. We had been looking for nearby attractions, and found that there was a winery near Batesville, Indiana, about half way between Indianapolis and Cincinnati. Ertel Cellars Winery is a well established winery and bistro, offering both excellent varieties of wines and varied and delicious menu selections in the restaurant.
Loving that wine!
Studying the wine list
That’s a burger
We decided to have our meal on the outside covered patio. The seating was in very comfortable wood rocking chairs, and overlooked a beautiful green valley through classic rough stone masonry. We each received a complimentary flight of three wine samples. Of the samples we both preferred the Pink Catawba, one of the Estate wines, meaning grown, fermented and bottled on site at Ertel Cellars.
The meals we ordered were from the lunch menu. I ordered the Smoked Gouda cheese burger, and Sheryl had the Spinach salad with all the trimmings. Both of our meals were superb and very filling. We had a bottle of the Pink Catawba with our meals and took the specially packed unfinished bottle home with us. Sarah was perfect as our wait staff and made our visit most memorable.
Gorgeous view from our table
Some of Ertel’s vineyards
The dining patio is an absolutely delightful place to enjoy a quiet and calm Saturday afternoon. With the best company (no question there), great food and excellent wine we had an adventure that turned into a romantic Saturday date. Ertel Cellars should be on any traveler’s agenda. We’ll be returning.
One year later
Taken on June 20, 2020
Taken on June 25, 2021
This Black Cherry was one we got free from the Conservation Service and Indiana DNR. The first picture was taken on June 20, 2020 shortly after being planted. The sapling was then in a cage for protection, and the top visible rung on the cage is less than 2 feet high. The second picture was taken on June 25, 2021. The tree is now a little over 6 feet tall. Black Cherry trees normally take 8 to 10 years of growth before they produce cherries. We’ll report back in June, 2030.
Pecans coming when?
We picked up some free tress recently from the local Conservation Service and state DNR. This pecan sapling took a couple of weeks to get going, but it now has some strong leaf growth. According to the experts, you need two pecan trees to produce pecans. Don’t know if we’ll get another one growing or not.
BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse
Philly steak
It has been over a year since we were able to see Maj’s sister. That changed when we met for lunch at BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse in Noblesville, Indiana. Noblesville is northeast of Indianapolis but is really part of the Indy Metro area. BJ’s is part of a national chain.
We had a wonderful time “catching up” on the news from my sister’s family and we shared our family news too. It’s amazing how much has occurred in the past year and a half in our families.
The restaurant is spacious, and when seated we noticed extra partitions between booths. The food and service was excellent. The menu featured tons of options, and many different beers. We ordered something we had never seen before: a flight of margaritas! Served like a flight of beers, it had four different margarita samples. We agreed the strawberry sample was our favorite.
The flight of margaritas
The food and service were both excellent. The portions were very generous, and all three of us enjoyed our meals. The most enjoyment of this luncheon came from our being together again. Now that things are at least somewhat back to near normal, we hope to get together each month.
This rose has a hitchhiker
This rose has a hitchhiker on one of its petals. What looks like a small bee is actually a hoverfly. No, it is not a sweat bee, although many call it that. Hoverflies only have two wings. (Bees have four wings) It does like sweat on humans, and is also a great pollinator.
Yet another new visitor to the backyard
Sher and I were enjoying sitting on the swing enjoying the multitude of birds feeding at our feeders. We were seeing Cardinals, robins, sparrows, wrens, Grackles, Blue Jays, starlings, doves. and nuthatches. Turkey vultures were soaring on thermals overhead, and we even saw a couple of chimney swifts, the cigar with wings insect catchers. Squirrels were chasing each other up and down and around trees.
There he is, in the center of the shot.
Look closely, you can see chipmunk looking out of the wishing well at us/you
Then out of the corner of her eye, Sher spotted movement. She poked me and pointed. There running across the yard and not 6 feet away was a cute little chipmunk. We have never seen one in our yard since we moved here. The cute little guy romped around for awhile checking out the tree, wishing well and the whole area. He acted like this was his first time in our yard.
Quite a bit of rain from the storm
Yesterday and last night Indiana suffered through some damaging severe thunderstorms. We were fortunate in that we suffered no damage, yet there was a very large tree down the block that blew over, fortunately missing any structure.
Our wheelbarrow was empty yesterday before the storms came through. This is what I found at 8 AM this morning.
Baseball size hail was reported (and photographed) near Indianapolis, and as of this morning there were still thousands of customers without power, and a few tornados reported as well. The good thing is that rain was needed. We officially recorded 3 inches, while some Southern Indiana counties recorded 7 + inches.
Now that’s a street sign
No green and white street signs on a pole for this intersection! This brick pylon with stone street signs is in the little town of Boggstown, Indiana, south east of Indianapolis.
Roadtirement 