City of Lakes Cruise In

Seldom do I have the joy of seeing my college roommate, but recently she made time in her busy parenting/teaching schedule to join me for lunch and to meet Joseph for the first time. After lunch we decided to take a walk and happened upon the City of Lakes Cruise In in downtown Warsaw.  We had a beautiful day.  Here a few snapshots. (P.S., she is the smart, beautiful author of the blog "The Erudite Lit-ite"-check it out on the sidebar of this blog. She has actual degrees in English, but in addition she's a talented writer.)

Us.

Joseph in front of the court house and a Cruise In car.

There was live music! Who knew we'd happen upon such a fun scene?

We were amused by this old firetruck and the man in the accompanying red costume.

A family in front of the City of Lakes Cruise In sign.

And here is my favorite pic of the day (honestly it's a happy accident, but I like the concept)-see the reflection of Amy in the windshield?

Springtime Children

Recently I've been able to spend some time with my nieces, and I'm loving every minute of it.  Here are a few outtakes.

On Mother's Day she went to the park and picked pockets full of dandelions to give to her mom.

Playing Peek-a-boo with Blankie

Taking a break while walking along the canal path. She walked all the way from Sorg Jewelers on Main St. to Jefferson St., then I carried her to the canal path and she walked all the way to Shanklin Park. (According to Google Maps this is 0.7 miles. Not bad for little legs!)

Hugs

You know that annoying song that is now playing on the radio? Anyway...

Pumpkinvine Trail

Crystal and I decided that we should hike part of the Pumpkinvine trail. After eight miles of sunburn and people jogging (weirdo's) here are some of the photos we took.

Our shadows. Note bozo on the right.

Some chump pointing at the start of the trail section.

Beehives.  Did not expect to see these.

The corridor that makes even the most sane person question why they walked this. Because it's long. Very.

Clearly this tree had given up on life.

I'm unsure as to why there was a sign indicating that a person named Ted was passing out. Small town America everybody.

I think he escaped from the circus.

I'm not a fan of the view out of growing season.

Wellfield Botanic Gardens' Tulips

Wellfield Botanic Gardens is about two miles from my workplace and I take any chance that I get to take my lunch break there. Here is a recent lunch hour photo session, from about two weeks ago, when I was entranced by the light on the petals:

Painting a Cherry Tree

For Christmas, Joseph got two tickets to a Wine and Canvas event (o.k., yes, he got the gift from me!). So, after a few months of Joseph building up his courage we picked a date-night event and signed up.  Think Bob Ross (happy trees), a cash bar, some piped in music, and a group of about 60 people. Joseph was nervous about his painting skills, but he really relaxed and got into it and turned out with a great painting that we hope to hang in our living room. 

About an hour after the class started a young couple came in, grabbed their paints, and looked around. We thought, this could be interesting-there's no way they can catch up. We were wrong, they were fantastically amazing artists and by far turned out the most detailed, creative, polished paintings in the whole room.  We were really intimidated.

We had walked on the Pumpkinvine earlier in the day, more on that in a later post, for eight miles, so we were a little sun/wind burnt. And for some reason I was running a fever during the painting. But otherwise we had a really good time.

Joseph, taking a break for the background to dry.

In the foreground is our painting, mid-stroke. In the background are the two amazingly talented artists.

Joseph, relaxed and enjoying himself.

Our finished project.

The art scene in Ft Wayne

     On our recent visit to Ft Wayne the itinerary included making a stop at the Ft Wayne art museum. Upon our arrival we discovered that the day was a free day, and there was much jubilation.  Frankly in the end, I was glad that we didn't have to pay as it was rather disappointing save for some 'Dr. Suess'-esk paintings.  The first collection that Crystal and I set our eyes on, and shortly there after wished that we didn't, was pottery. When I say pottery I mean every ugly piece of ceramic tableware your elders ever had was in this room. An ugly vase and the vague smell of horehound in the room made for some interesting flashbacks for some, I'm sure.  The next collection was of works from high school and middle school students. Many of the works there were phenomenal. I was blown away by the amount of talent, and teenage angst; but that is beside the point.  The final collection was the best out of them all though. I love the ones that remind you of Dr. Suess, I personally think that the others are too organ looking but I will let you make that judgement for yourself.

a mural on an adjacent building

Salamonie Reservoir

Joseph and I decided to celebrate the lack of snow by going camping in our brand-new tent. We could only get away for one night, but it was a wonderful, beautiful, warm weekend full of stars and laughter. We tent camped at Salamonie. Then on Palm Sunday we walked the Bloodroot Trail, a 13 mile loop trail through the woods and fields and along the Reservoir in the park. We were pretty sore, 13 miles later, but we're proud of ourselves for hiking the whole trail.  As we walked we wondered what Bloodroot is, what the trail is named for. We did not know. Joseph thought it sounded like the name of an ax murderer who is still wandering the woods. I thought it sounded like a tree, but these were guesses. Along the way we admired a few flowers. Thanks to Wikipedia, I now know that a few of those beautiful blooms we saw were in fact the flower named Bloodroot.  Bloodroot is poisonous, has a red liquid that can be used as a natural dye, and has beautiful white and yellow blooms.

Bloodroot flowers.

Joseph looking at me suspiciously from inside our tent.

Three turtles along the path.

We stopped for a picnic.

Joseph's boots didn't fare very well, and this picture is only after 6 miles!

The view over the reservoir.

 Here is an example of the helpful signs we found all along the trail.

Does anyone know what these are?

Fishing at the Goshen Dam

Once, after scanning through hundreds of my photos to help me with a photo project, my sister noticed that I am drawn to textures in my photos. She was right. I thought of this today when I was drawn to the contrast between the smooth water flowing over the damn and the richly textured foam beneath the dam. I love it-the contrast between them, the smoothness of the lake surface, the sparkle in the foam.
And then I spent some time watching the great blue heron in the third picture. I watched as it caught two fish, one small, one very large, and swallow them, whole and wriggling.  Yum.

The Beast of Busco

I didn't believe, I still have a hard time believing it.  In Indiana there is a small town that lies just outside of Ft. Wayne, Churubusco. A small town consisting of about three street lights one would probably miss it were it not for the turtle statue in the main intersection.  Lets not forget about the seven foot statue of a turtle that sits on the outside of town where the parks frequently used by the schools are located.  But those are just drops in the pond compared to the mystery behind the towns ..."turtlyness".  Driving to Ft. Wayne I say a mileage sign that said 'Churubusco 20 miles', in jest I asked Crystal if it was a joke some local hooligans had played, writing that blurb of gibberish on the sign. To which I received a look that told me that clearly I was deranged. "Churubusco, you know, Turtle town, the beast of busco." I replied that I have never heard of such a place to which I was regaled with the epic tale of 'The Beast of Busco'. In 1898 a farmer named Oscar Fulk reported seeing a giant turtle in the seven acre lake on his farm in Churubusco, Indiana. In 1948, a half century later two other citizens reported seeing a huge turtle while fishing on the same lake. This sparked a fiasco that attracted national attention and at one point was such an attraction that the state police had to be called to manage traffic. Years later the event has left its mark on the town as evidenced by turtles on EVERYTHING. They even have a festival held each June called the Turtle Days which includes a parade, carnival and turtle races. Since we were passing through we just had to stop and get a few snapshots of us with the giant turtle statue. Here are our favorites.

Crystal and the turtle

Myself and the turtle

Ft. Wayne Botanic Garden

On Sunday Joseph and I had the opportunity to explore the botanic garden in Ft. Wayne. Here are a few of our favorite pictures as we learn how to use a new camera.

 A pretty iris

Dried chilies in the desert room

We were taking a close-up photo of the seeds in the dried chilies and didn't see the bug until we looked at the picture later.

Cactus...pretty

I'm Engaged!

Okay, since I got engaged on Valentine's Day I thought it was about time to catch up in blog-o-sphere world as well, and post about it. Here are two pictures to enjoy.

Joseph de León - my fiancé

My new pretty engagement ring!