Some recent happenings

Now that it is the end of the 'full throttle academic year' and Jim is heading into a somewhat quieter summer schedule (though it seems to keep getting busier than he expected...), we've been able to do a few fun things together.

Two weekends ago we visited the Lilly Library on campus. This is an archival library with over 400,000 rare books and 2,700 manuscripts - an incredible collection! The exhibit this past semester showcased its most treasured and prized items which are not normally on public display. A few highlights of what we saw, 1st editions (except the Aurelius book):

• Gutenberg Bible, ca. 1454
• Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, ca. 1476
• Euclid's Elementa Geometriae, ca. 1482
• Shakespeare's First Folio: Comedies, Histories & Tragedies, ca. 1623
• Marcus Aurelius's Meditations, ca. 1752, from the library of John Adams (with his notes)
• Declaration of Independence, ca. 1776
• JJ Audubon's The Birds of America, ca. 1827-38 with author's drawings
• manuscripts from Ian Fleming, Orson Welles, Kurt Vonnegut, Nadine Gordiner and Raymond Carver, with notes and revisions on the manuscripts by the authors
• plus works by Copernicus, Milton, Bunyan, Darwin, Newton, Poe, Marx, Whitman, and many others

Here we are outside the library in front of the Birth of Venus fountain (I'm sure Mom & Dad H. remember this site).

And here's Jim in front of the library. What a privilege to see this collection.
And as of this week we really ARE official residents of Indiana, as Baby Beluga Tazz the Zippy can now attest. Jim says, "I always wanted to live in a state that only requires a license plate on the back of the car."

Of course the weekend wouldn't be the weekend if Jim wasn't fixin' up some goodies in the kitchen. Here's Saturday morning and Jim's verygood cinnamon roll scones (a belated 'Mother's Day' treat for Jul - who protested, "What? Mother's Day for me?").

YUM!!

Two food shots

After we got home from our jaunt down to southern Indiana, we promptly made corn bread with the fresh corn meal - AMAZING! We are both convinced that the fresh ground meal from the mill makes a tremendous difference to the texture and taste of the bread. Now to find a mill nearby that grinds flour...

And here's Jim with his successful venture into calzones, roughly following a recipe from a Martha Stewart magazine. The filling was spinach and chicken (plus homemade sauce and cheese). Yum!

End of 1st Year Getaway!

In celebration of the end of Jim's 1st year of doctoral studies (Yee-Haw), we went for 3 days/2 nights down into southern Indiana, land of rolling hills and farms, close to the Ohio River. On the way we stopped for a picnic at a state park that also has a "Pioneer Village". Really cool! The mill is still functioning and we even purchased some cornmeal ground that day.

Of course we had to take a photo outside the house of Pottery.

We stayed at Rose Wind Farm, a bed & breakfast cottage in a quiet farming area, and located less than 2 hours from Bloomington. It was a beautiful place and a great cottage set-up. Lots of birds, beautiful flowers, and an outdoor patio to just relax on for hours. I got a bit confused one day and forgot where we were...is this the Western Cape? No...it's Indiana. Jim even read some fiction of his choice. Now you know it's summer break.

Both nights we toasted marshmallows. How could we resist?! We decided that whenever we have a house with a backyard we must get one of these enclosed fire pits.

This is the barn on the Farm property.

And a cool tractor at a local family restaurant where we had a fried chicken dinner. Sorry, Jim, I got your head in a halo.

The wine industry has been growing rapidly in Indiana in the last decade, and one farm (Huber's) was a five-minute drive from the cottage. Not only do they have a large selection of estate wines, they also have vegetable and fruit farms in season. Apparently in October they get upwards of 10,000 visitors a day.

Jim got chatting for a long time with the employee who was giving him tastes, discussing cultivars and residual sugars. Very interesting. And really good wines, says Jim. (Jul agonizingly had to stay away of course...) For comparison's sake to previous posts from South Africa, here is the outside of the winery's tasting room (a barn).

Just to make us even more "Cape-homesick", it was a very windy day. Ahhh.

Now it's Monday and back to the work and school schedule. Jim starts up a summer class today, and continues working 20 hours/week. I have 3 weeks left of my nanny job before public schools are out. Baby Gies (23 weeks) is doing well, kicking lots, and hopefully will be starting to gain big weight in the upcoming weeks.

Guys' Pancake Breakfast

As an end-of-first-year-of-doctoral-studies celebration, I invited a number of my fellow classmates to our place for a Saturday morning pancake breakfast. We ate lots of pancakes and basked in the fact that we have completed (nearly - one more week!) our first year in the Higher Education and Student Affairs doctoral program at IU. Good times!

Ice Cream with the Hardys

Dave Hardy (a classmate and colleague of Jim's, also a 1st year student in the HESA department) and his wife Susan and son Jarom invited us to join them on Thursday night at a local ice cream joint, Bruster's: half-price banana splits if you bring your own banana. A good deal, and the sundaes are so huge that two people can share. Needless to say, we were all enthusiastic.

You can choose three kinds of ice cream and three toppings. Wow. Delish. Jarom was so intent on his dirt sundae that he couldn't even smile for the photo...

Next time we will be like the experts and ask to put our sundaes into two containers to share. More toppings all around, right? Who doesn't love that after a long day of work and classes?!! Summer is coming!