LAND O' GOSHEN!!!

If you were born in the South a generation or more ago, you might still use the above phrase to express surprise, or as a very mild oath, sort of "Oh my goodness!"  

Today we had the privilege of visiting the Land of Goshen -- not the biblical land where the Jewish people lived in Egypt -- but Mennonite Land -- Goshen, Indiana. No surprise that "Mennoniteland" abounds with great Fair Trade stores, selling high-quality ground coffee and an amazingly vast, glorious collection of artisan products from around the world, some old, some new.  [And the owners of the store have the same last name as another Mennonite young man I met in Dallas in the early  1980s.]  http://www.foundgoshen.com/  will show you some of its products and explain its philosophy, but

"These are a few of my favorite things"  [Carry that tune in your head]

 

One of the best things about visiting Goshen was the chance to visit an interpreter friend who used to live and work with me in Santa Clara County.  She and her Peruvian husband moved back to her home town with their daughter.  One of Goshen's super-bustling coffee shops also has live music; Mennoniteland hosts a wealth of culture.

 Goshen is a Lincoln Highway town with some really pretty buildings.

 Elkhart County Courthouse, where Heather and I would be working if I were here....

  

Can't help borrowing from http://lincolnhighwaygoshen.blogspot.com/2008/12/goshen-police-booth.html  for this:
"Right in the center of Goshen, in the Elkhart County Courthouse square, you'll find one of the town's more interesting buildings.
The Goshen Police Booth was built in the late 1930's to protect the city's two banks, which were located diagonally opposite of one another. At that time city officials had good reason to fear that auto bandits travelling the Lincoln Highway might strike Goshen. In 1933 members of the John Dillinger gang had raided police facilities in Auburn, Indiana, and Peru, Indiana, stealing several machine guns and other weapons, ammunition, and bulletproof vests. The gang later robbed a police station in nearby Warsaw, Indiana, of guns and bulletproof vests. In 1934 Dillinger and Pretty Boy Floyd robbed a bank in South Bend, Indiana, killing a law enforcement officer in the process. With Auburn located to the east of Goshen, Peru to the west, Warsaw to the south and South Bend to the north, it seemed likely that the Dillinger gang, and other gangsters of the day, were passing through Goshen while en route to commit their crimes."

IN THE VERY brief time that we were at the courthouse clicking photos rapidly in the cold, overly crisp air, two Amish/Mennonite carriages zoomed by.  Thought perhaps the speed was because the horses were cold -- we certainly were!  Perfect ending to our day in this wonderful small city.