Lorraine sent me a comment saying she could not get to my pumpkin soup recipe from an old link. Since I moved my blog to WordPress (from Moveable Type), the links to old archives are not working properly, sigh.

But she is right, this is the perfect season for pumpkin soup, and it is so quick and easy you need not wait for a leisurely day to make it. So I am re-posting it here, six years later. I hope a few of you enjoy it!

LynnH’s Easy Pumpkin Soup

1 small can (1-3/4c) Pumpkin (not seasoned pie filling)
1 cup Unsweetened Applesauce
2-1/2 cup Broth (I used a fabulous organic chicken broth from the health food store, but you could use boullion cubes or vegetable broth)
4 Tbsp Nut Butter (I used half cashew butter and half almond butter. Use peanut butter if you have that, but almond is fabulous if you can get it.)
1/4 tsp marjoram (or oregano)
generous dash allspice
1/4 tsp white pepper (this ingredient just makes a creamy soup right)

Heat all ingredients slowly, stirring frequently with a wire whisk until nut butters are evenly distributed. Continue to heat at a low simmer for 20 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Serve with a dash of nutmeg, whole grain biscuits or bulgur-lentil pilaf, and a steaming cup of tea.

Tonight, Saturday November 15, Brian and I will be singing at Altu’s Ethiopian Cuisine in East Lansing, MI (map on website). This is a high-quality casual restaurant, the best Ethiopian food I’ve ever had (and I spent over 3 weeks in Ethiopia, eating in good restaurants and friends’ homes). It is a family-friendly place, kids can dance a bit if they like.

If you have never been here before, there is a good variety of food. You can eat mild or spicy, vegetarian or meat. The standard is to eat family style, and use the spongy flat bread (it’s a bit like a sourdough taste) to pick up the thick stew-like main dishes rather than a fork. However, if you do not want sourdough or just prefer an alternative, you can get the stews on a bed of rice, on your own plate with silverware.

My friend Altu, the owner/founder, loves food and she loves her customers. This love and attention to quality are quite apparent in her food. The servings are generous, as well. I often choose to eat half for a lighter meal, and take home half for another meal at home. I love it when Altu cooks for me!

Now, this is not an unbiased review… Altu is one of my very best friends. She is the one who took me to Ethiopia. But we met because I was a loyal customer. Her food was so good I kept coming back. I happened to come in at slow times because of my unusual schedule, and we could talk for a while.

We decided to travel to Chicago together at first, and then in 2004-05 we spent 38 days as sisters/roommates while we toured Eastern Africa. We came back closer friends than when we left.

I maintain Altu’s website and I book her musical acts. I’m very much a part of the restaurant. But it all started because I loved the food and kept coming back. Perhaps you’d like to check it out tonight, if you are in the Lansing area.

Out of town? I’ll enjoy the food on your behalf. You can go listen to our music on our website, at least!

Photos: 1) Brian and I as The Fabulous Heftones singing at Altu’s in a previous summer, wearing African clothes I got when Altu and I traveled there. 2) Altu and I in Alexandria, Egypt, on the Mediterranean Sea. Egypt is fascinating… it is African, it is Mideastern, and it is Mediterranean. It is like nowhere else.

Brian and I (as The Fabulous Heftones) performed in Ann Arbor last Friday night. We had not played in that city since 2006 for some reason, and it was good to be back.

We played the Crazy Wisdom Teahouse which is upstairs of the Crazy Wisdom Bookstore. Our friend Sam Corbin arranged for us to share a show with him. (Thanks to Sayre for taking the photos of us performing.)

We went down early, took the back roads to see the colorful leaves. Then when we hit town, we went directly to Zingerman’s Deli. I love that place! They have all sorts of food I can eat, even with my huge list of allergies. They can find out the ingredients in anything if I ask, and they are really cheerful about it.

I had a wonderful salad and some great tea. Brian had a farmer hash (it has sweet potatoes and I really wanted some, it looked great), and some bread and coffee. All top notch quality. Not cheap, but worth every cent.

Then we went to Crazy Wisdom where they invited us to eat dinner. Whoops! We got more excellent tea, in any case.

When we got to the concert, it was great to see the place fill up. It is not a huge space (a turn of the century storefront on Main Street, with tin ceilings and the works) but there was standing room only for part of the show.

Some of our uke festival friends came out. Annette did a special emailing to her Ann Arbor-area ukulele friends.

And Wool & Chocolate Leeann came, too! We had never met in person. How fun that was.

Ann Arbor acts like a big city. It is not as big as Chicago but sometimes I get a similar street vibe, the good kind.

I took a few photos out of the 2nd story windows behind the stage area. I could not resist.

It was another concert where there were several knitters in the house. I love it when that happens!

Tuesday night it got below freezing here, in Lansing, Michigan, USA. I brought in the smallest tomato plant and covered the other two. I think they are shocked enough to stop growing anyway, and I will have to give up on the smaller fruits. There are some that are large enough they will probably ripen on a south windowsill, and I will give that a try.

I don’t like cold weather. I’m a summer girl through and through. Actually, it’s not summer as much as heat that I crave, because spring and autumn are equally beautiful (though full of allergy problems for me). I like how they look, but not how they feel. I’m not warm until it hits 80F, and am happiest at 84 or 85 (that would be 26 - 29C for those outside the US).

But I try to find joys in the simple things. Life is full of small things; big stuff is a rarity. So the quality of anyone’s life, if you ask me, is paying attention and really appreciating the small stuff.

If you have read this blog a while, you know I have food allergies. For some reason, they are sort of a moving target, they change over the years.

I could not have dairy products for 5 years. Then last March I got re-tested and I could take dairy again, as long as it’s not aged/fermented like yogurt or cheese. Milk is fine, and so is whipped cream if I whip it myself (the canned “real” stuff is full of additives that I don’t tolerate well).

This means that I have been able to eat certain ice creams (Stonyfield Farms, no egg or xanthan gum) this year, which was really a joy for me. And now that it is getting cold? Hot chocolate. I got some powdered cocoa mix from Green and Black’s Organic chocolate company, at the local health food store. It cost just short of $6 for one can, which looks like it will give me 7 or 8 mugs of hot chocolate. I’ve already had five in the last week.

And I bought myself some organic heavy whipping cream. I put some in a tall jar and whipped it with my little stick blender with the whipping attachment. It was really easy… whip cream, add sugar, whip a little more. I remembered it being more difficult as a child. Very cool!

So here it is in its glory. Made by me, for me, as comfort. It worked.

Here is another photo from the gathering at my mother’s house. She iced a yellow cake with sour cream (this is influenced from her Norwegian heritage) and then decorated it with fresh fruit.

I am told by family that Norwegians like to decorate food as it is presented on the table. A smorgasbord might contain bowls of potatoes or something, with cherry tomato halves and green peas assembled in some artful arrangement to make it prettier.

It was such an artform that the birthday girl did not at first want to cut into the cake. In the end, she was glad she had done it.

(For the record, the soft-turquoise tablecloth here is closer to the real color than the photo I posted a few days back.) 

Music Happiness

Pardon my weekend absence, we were at Wheatland Music Festival for a few days. It was lovely, one of the best weekends I’ve had there in years. It was chilly… on Friday it got down to 47F/8.3C in the tent but I got to bed while it was still in the mid-50’s. Saturday it was warmer, though I still needed a good portion of wool items to be comfortable outside playing music until 1am.

It is inconvenient to camp in  a tent, sleep on an air mattress (there is no such thing as a good one of these, apparently) and do without running water for most of 3 days. However, there are people we see only once a year, and this is homecoming weekend if we ever wish to see them. We love it.

I got a few minutes to chat with Lansing music friend Jen Sygit. She lives in Lansing but I seem to see her most often when she is working.

Once the summer music-festival rush slows down for her, we will hope to share a cup of tea in Lansing. For now, a hello and ten minutes of chatting at Wheatland was lovely.

Jen did a songwriter presentation on Saturday just after dinner break, with three other singer-songwiters. I really enjoyed that show, all four of the performers were great. And since the songs Jen is working into her next album (coming out in January) are so strong, I was happy to see her able to sing a handful of those new songs to a large tent packed full of listeners.

I love Jen’s last album, Marshall Street, I’m still playing it several times a week. But the upcoming album (I have had the fortune to hear it in its early-development stage) is equally strong, singable, engaging. Right now the only way for most folks to hear the songs is to catch Jen live. It was great.

There is great relationship at the festival, good food and music. We go to jam with other musicians, for the most part.

Knitting Happiness

I knit on my Nanette summer top in the car on the way up, a little bit there, and most of the way home. I have since finished all the knitting and seaming, but no ends are worked in and it needs to be blocked. We will not talk about how many ends there are to hide when one holds three yarns together while knitting.

The top fits very well, is cute and comfortable. I am delighted with the minor modifications I made (mostly shortened the waist/torso section by several inches).

Rae was right, it’s shorter than most tops I usually wear. However, it is long enough to go over a straight skirt which fastens at the waist. I usually wear tunics but this looks cute in a different way. I will enjoy wearing it. Photos need to wait until Monday, I need to crash here very soon.

Computer Update

I am still fussing with my computer setup (I want to synch my Z22 palm device to MS Outlook 2003, and so far it is not working even with several software upgrades, but I have not run out of ideas). I am not having the troubles I could be having (hi, Deb!), and for that I am still grateful.

End of Summer Push

This is my last week off from Haslett Community Education (basic computer classes, mostly retirees) for the summer. I’m also heading in to the last few summer weeks off from Foster Community Center (CityKidz Knit! program, a walk-in program at a city-owned neighborhood building).

I am primarily focused on finishing the book project for my mom. I had intended to work on it last December and my health, difficulty obtaining proper software and other things got in the way. I’m so happy to be on a roll now, at least on the days when I’m home.

The Plan

Off to sleep, then a nice new start on Monday morning. Maybe I’ll have some of my famous-to-me “brown” (buckwheat) pancakes. With strawberries on them it’s a big treat to start the day right. If you missed the recipe when I posted it, click here for my no-gluten, extra-yummy pancake recipe.

As a friend says… it’s time to “hit the feathers” and sleep. Goodnight.

Photos: Jen Sygit at Wheatland 2007, my should-be-famous “brown pancakes.”

I am busy on another deadline, no time for new photos to be processed today. Fortunately, I have a few photos stored away for just this sort of situation.

Here is a photo of a lunch I made recently. I didn’t write a recipe, did not measure ingredients, but almost any combination would work. It was very satisfying.

For the record, quinoa (pronounce KEEN-waah) is an ancient grain (maybe not technically grain, I think it qualifies as a fruit) which contains complete protein. It substitutes for rice well in a lot of recipes.

I do not like meat, but I need a lot more protein than I enjoy eating. This allows me to balance things more closely to my tastes.

I did not like quinoa the first several times I tried it. It grows with a soap-like substance on it (theoretically this keeps insects and birds away). Even though every package I ever bought said it was rinsed for me, I could taste the stuff and it took away from enjoying my meal.

Then my friend Barbara told me to not just rinse it but wash it with a little friction. I now put my measured quinoa in a large bowl full of water, let it sit for 3 minutes or so, and then literally get my hands in there and rub the grains between my hands. The water gets a bit cloudy.

I then dump out as much of the cloudy water as I can, fill again with clear water (notice it makes bubbles when you fill it up) and repeat a few times until the water is less cloudy (some of the cloudiness I attribute to starch so I don’t try to get it to run clear).

Put in fine colander and rinse one last time. I use a towel under the colander to soak up much of the last water. The grains are tiny, smaller than sesame seeds, so not all colanders/strainers will work.

Then cook per package instructions. Lately I have been cooking it in a crock pot as an experiment, so far so good but no solid measurements yet. Some people put it in a rice cooker.

For the record, last week I tried red quinoa (it comes in a box, not a bag, in my healthy market) and love it. There is less soapy stuff to rinse off, and it has a little more texture. Sort of like brown rice as opposed to white. Lovely.

Sometimes I combine hot quinoa and hot green peas (from frozen), with butter, sesame seeds and a little sea salt. This day was a hot one and so I wanted a cold salad instead.

OK so here it goes, an un-recipe for a good summer lunch:

Quinoa/Green Pea Summer Salad

Thaw about 1/3 cup green frozen peas until not frozen but still cold (in refrigerator for a few hours works best, or carefully defrost in microwave)

Fill one-person salad bowl just over half-full with quinoa (maybe 3/4 cup?) If no quinoa available, try short-grain brown rice.

Chop half a red or yellow bell pepper (or one whole carrot, or any other veggie that is good raw)

Crush 1/4 cup of California black olives or other olives as you prefer (optional)

Put veggies, olives and peas on quinoa in bowl, and mix if desired.

Drizzle with healthy oil of your choice (I used flax oil but olive or walnut would be great).

Squeeze juice of about a half a citrus fruit on salad. I prefer lime but this time I used a little grapefruit.

If desired, shake some gomasio/sesame shake (crushed sesame seeds with sea salt) on the top for beauty and flavor. Eden Foods makes a black sesame version that is just beautiful as a garnish.

If you used rice rather than quinoa, perhaps add almond slivers for more protein and a little crunch.

If you have time, chill for a half hour to let flavors combine. If hungry and in a hurry, jump right in.

Enjoy!

I can’t resist these last 2 photos of Traverse City. Two guys with tubes heading for the water… and a sign on a shop downtown.

They take their cherries very seriously in Traverse City. Bringing Cherries to the World, indeed. Hey, you can’t buy passion, so follow it when it leads!

I made April’s birthday cake last Monday. Finally photos are ready.

If I wanted to eat the cake, I was going to have to make it. I made this without eggs, milk wheat (though I did cheat and use some spelt as well as oat flour) or confectioners/powdered sugar. It was chocolate cake, chocolate pudding-frosting and chocolate chips for decoration (in a smiley face).

The frosting I had not tried before. The cake I’ve made in many variations, for many years. I got a recipe

from Brian’s sister Kathleen and made changes to it (of course) to use ingredients in my house, and which I am not allergic to. I never imagined I’d eat frosting again, and it was lovely.

Our friend Brandi brought a bunch of fun candles that made sort of a crown for the face. Much fun.

I will put together a recipe for you sometime but this weekend is far too full of deadlines for that.

The birthday of April may continue on ColorJoy for a while longer…

Sometimes I think I live a simple life. In some ways I do, but I’m an American and I need to admit that “simple” has many definitions. I do tend to keep things a long time once purchased (my last car I had for 14 years and 250,000 miles, for example).

Also, sometimes I buy new things… and even with advance research I don’t necessarily like them when they arrive. In the last several years this has been true for a camera, a cell phone, a PDA (palm device), and a laptop.

Yet I have loved an earlier laptop, a dishwasher (yes, really), a cell phone (actually two), an earlier PDA, even cars. I have done consistently well with cars, anyway.

And this month? Brian and I got a new refrigerator and a new stove. I am smitten. I will never be fully domestic, but I don’t mind being in the kitchen as much, now that I have these gizmos. (Before/After:)

Our food-prep kitchen area was a bedroom until about 1980. At that time the people living here expanded their existing kitchen from one small cooking area, perhaps with a tiny table, into an eating space. A bedroom across from that area became the cooking space. I’m not wild about the whole setup but it was not my house at that time (notice that there is a window behind the stove, something that befuddles my aesthetic-focused mind). This is where I have to practice saying “I’m not in charge.”

Honestly, given that it was a square space I think they made it work as well as they could. It’s what we have to work with and I am *NOT* one who thinks of construction as a positive option. We’re living with the layout. Let’s face it, any house as old as this (front 3 rooms are turn of the century, back 3 are 1920’s) will just look cobbled in a few places.

In the early 1980’s, appliances were usually almond color (light beige) and sometimes the doors were black glass. Now, I’m one of those people for whom there are never enough lights turned on in the house. Every room is too dark even if it contains a floodlight or ten. This means that almond is too dark for me, it soaks up some of my precious light… and a black door? Never mind keeping it free of fingerprints and drips, it ate light for breakfast.

Without going into details, let us say that both stove and refrigerator were functional but tired, and both were almond colored. I rubbed up against their shortcomings often, but they were not actually broken past repair.

In spite of their “working” status, we decided to make our lives function better and get new appliances. We started thinking that we’d just get a refrigerator. Then when we went to the appliance store, there was one stove that just won my heart. Crazy, but I was smitten (that is the only word which really fits).

Yes, I love how this stove looks. It is adorable. It’s rounded on the edges and a bit retro or something, a little womanly/curvy perhaps, and I adore it. I am finding out that I love how it works, as well. (When it was delivered, we discovered it even has a convection oven feature/option, so I will have to explore that during roasted-root-vegetable season).

Take a look at the before and after photos. Maybe you can see what I mean. Wow. Happy me.

I see some paint in my future. Pure white walls for light, with turquoise(?) trim. Yup, definitely some paint…

Hi! I guess I’m slipping a bit, my goal is 28 posts a month and usually I do it, but what a month this has been. It has been good but I’ve kept it all to myself I guess.

Perhaps the most ColorJoy-full activity in a few weeks was the wedding of one of the Habibi Dancers. It was out maybe a half hour beyond the city in a farming area, and the ceremony was held around the front entrance to the farmhouse. Flowers were blooming and it was as beautiful as anything could be.

The bride has a sense of style and a sense of humor. The wedding was very much like the couple, full of fun and a bit irreverent, but with class.

The men wore black pants, and white tropical dress shirts such as we saw worn in Mexico (cooler than a suit but more formal than just any shirt). And their feet? Chuck’s: Converse All-Stars in black and white. Sweet.

The women wore dresses (one each in rainbow colors) which suited their coloring, shape and personalities. They were barefoot. The little girls wore rainbow-tie-dyed dresses.

And the tables? Decorated with cupcakes, flower petals, and at each seat there was a seedling in a pot to take home and plant. It smells a lot like lemon when I rub the leaves, so whatever it is I think I will enjoy it when it’s big enough to harvest and use as an herb.

Don’t these photos just make you smile? And is this not the most lovely front porch ever, for a wedding ceremony??? It was worth the drive (and I often resist leaving the city). Totally worth it.

I don’t get to my PO Box every day, it’s several miles out of my regular routine. This week I got the nicest surprise when I made it there.

There was a small padded envelope, and I did not order anything that might be that size. What could it be?

Rachel B. loves me. That’s what. I feel so warm inside, this was such a surprise out of the blue!

It’s a mug cozy, and an assortment of fine teas. She even remembered that I’m allergic to cinnamon so she read all the ingredients for all the teas to be sure they were good for me. How thoughtful.

But not only is this a sweet gift… this is very special yarn. It’s her 2nd ever handspun. And she knit it up (which takes time) and sent it to me. To me!

Rachel and I met on the Internet, through this blog if I remember right. She has ordered my handpainted yarns more than once. And she has been a test knitter for me, as well. We have never met but that seems to not matter when we have so much in common.

And then this gift? I’m charmed and touched. I feel very loved.

Thanks, Rachel!

Can you hear the whirring of my wheels???

I have been running around so fast lately that no maintenance had been accomplished at home. I worked Fri/Sat/Sun of the holiday (though I did go to gatherings for a few hours Sat. and Sun.). Monday was a day with Brian.

We did some “parallel play” (like contented toddlers) where he rode his bicycle and I rode mine, but not on the same roads. (I had not been on my bike at all last year, I just felt low-energy and it did not sound fun; I need to build up to this again slowly.) When we were not riding bicycles, we came together to work in the garden a bit. (Photo of my bike from a few years ago.)

Digging and Dreaming

A yard can never be finished, so I do not even start to try… I make a point to pull out seedling trees anytime I see them, because I remember digging one out that had missed my eye years ago. I had to dig down a foot before I got the real root out, it was a terrible day. And I was young, then, too!

I also pull out goldenrod somewhat obsessively. Brian is the one who digs out dandelions, but even for a small yard such as ours there is no winning that battle. He gives it a valiant try at times, however.

This weekend we moved some plants that were unhappy, pruned back some others drastically, and took out one “weed” tree that had grown taller than me… we both thought the other was fond of that one (it is a different tree than we usually see coming up wild).

I planted Morning Glory seeds a few days ago. Then today Brian dug out a little semi-circle around our mailbox/back step, where I planted nasturtium seeds. I love nasturtiums, and my friend Marlene suggests we harvest a few of their flowers and put them on salad, which sounds intriguing.

My flowers will never fit any color scheme, but I already have orange tiger lilies and hot pink roses, so there is no way to make a scheme work with my perennial bloomers anyway. I just bought what makes me smile. They say nature always “goes” together fine, any natural colors can work. We will see how they do.

I left the herb and vegetable seeds for another day, but Brian dug out an area for those. We made our food garden bigger, I think it was maybe a yard/meter wide and half that deep for the last few years. It worked for parsley, dill, and one small experimental veggie each year (I have tried carrots, peppers and chard before).

I have not even purchased my tomato plant yet (photo is from 2004), nor flowers for front/back doors. I’ll probably put in chard seeds and herbs Tuesday. The beans and tomato may need to wait, I’m working one day at a time here.

Why? Because: I could not spend all day in the yard. I can think of it while doing other things, but the other things had to happen.

Routines Delayed = Many Tasks in One Day (& Good Food)

The boring stuff, including four loads of laundry, had to be done. Yawn.

Then, since my food allergies mean I cook most of my own meals, I always spend time on days off cooking ahead. Even a holiday qualifies as a cooking day. Brian and I collaborated on a crockpot for freezeable meals for 3 days, and I made some experimental (merely adequate) pumpkin muffins.

For dinner, I made a very nice potato salad, a big treat since I could not have potatoes for 5 years and because I have to make my own mayonaise-substitute (can not have raw eggs or corn oil or citric acid or vinegar, all very common ingredients even in health-food-store mayo brands). Lynn-mayo is really time consuming and messy, and I rarely have patience for it. With no appointments Monday, I dove in.

I also could not eat eggs for 5 years, though now I can have one every once in a while if it is totally cooked through. This means I got to put boiled eggs on my potato salad! Gourmet, I’d say. You can’t know what it’s like to “get a food back” if you have not gone through this yourself. Trust me, it’s a big deal.

The salad contained baby gold potatoes, lightly steamed asparagus, red bell pepper, and “mayo” made with avocados, fresh-squeezed lime juice and a few flavorings. Not too bad, though Brian thought it could use some Tobasco ™ sauce. I’m not a fan.

I have not had potato salad in a very long time. It was really a treat. I particularly loved the bits of steamed asparagus in the salad. Yum!!!

I made some pudding to eat as snacks for the next few days, and a cherry not-quite-jell-o (tapioca to thicken and dark cherries, mostly… it happens to be vegan/vegetarian, too). Those are also cooling in the refrigerator to get me through a few days. There is nothing like having a bit of abundance in the refrigerator, you know?

Big News: A New Baby!

Rachael who works weekends at Rae’s Yarn Boutique had her baby last week. He is happy and healthy. Big Sister is no doubt getting used to her new partner.

I am eager to meet our new sweetheart, probably next weekend. Maybe he should get a pair of Chippy Socks (in my spare time)?

And there is Always More Knitting

So believe it or not, I did a little work on the knitting business as well. I have a sample ready to felt for Threadbear (the one they already have is shown here), and am working on these swatches for the impending pattern proposals due June 1.

I am scheduling all sorts of classes. However, I’m having a rough time getting them up on my Google Calendar on this site.

If you are interested in taking any classes from me (near Lansing, Michigan USA), I teach at the following shops. The first 3 have schedules up on their websites… click below to go to their class pages. Once there, if you click Edit/Find and then type in Lynn, you should go directly to the next class I’m teaching, then the next.

The last shop listed has classes scheduled but not on her site yet. When you click on her link you should be able to send an email to her, and ask for a schedule.

(I’m probably adding another yarn shop and maybe something a little different, this summer. However, nothing firm is set yet.)

Rae’s Yarn Boutique, Lansing’s East Side, Michigan Ave.

Threadbear Fiberarts, 496 Waverly Road Exit/West Side

Little Red Schoolhouse Yarn, not far from Lansing Mall/West Side

Yarn Garden, Charlotte Michigan (30 minutes southwest of Lansing)

Update on Chippy Socks

My Chippy Socks’ test knitters have been hard at work this weekend, writing me for clarification on different things I wrote (or left out, or put in the chart funny). I really really really love my test knitters. I just can not do my job well without them.

OK… off to run in circles again for a bit more. Then knitting like the wind, tomorrow. My “regular schedule” (such as it is) commences again on Wednesday…

I took my friend April and her daughter, Isabel, out a few days before Mother’s day. We went to Sweetie-licious pie pantry (also known as Sweetie Pie’s). They are a blue-ribbon pie-making kitchen which also has beautiful lunches. April had never been there. April loves food, loves cooking. It was a great treat to take her.

My mom likes fruit pies a lot, and since I would not see Mom for Mother’s Day I got her a pie and left it at her house for her to discover when she did get home.

We had a wonderful time. The ladies at this spot are really proud of their food and the environment they have created for their customers. It is a joy to be in their presence.

The shop is in downtown DeWitt, one town north of Lansing. It’s worth the drive, my friends.