Rachel had an appointment in Jasper, IN, last Friday so we made a day of it. Jasper is a pretty unique town in southern Indiana. While the area has a lot of German ancestry, Jasper is one of the few places where it has remained an ongoing identity.
While Rachel was in her appointment, I went to Sturm’s hardware store, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. There’s a store dog, who raced toward me in a flurry of barks when I entered the store.
It’s a crazy cluttered place–as all the most interesting places are. It’s often not even clear what is and is not for sale. Then there’s this spiral staircase in the middle of the store.
Near the front there was a raised platform (“bullpen”?) with piles and piles and piles of catalogs behind, presumably where someone could have made an order for anything not in stock.
Lunch was at Schnitzelbank, always a fun place to eat.
I never finished the Wheel of Time series, but one phrase has stayed with me: “Glory to the builders.” It arises spontaneously when I’m looking a places like St. Joseph’s Catholic Church.
