Trail 10: Five Boots

Lawry and I went for a hike out at McCormick's Creek Park just a few miles north of Bloomie.  It was a great day for a hike, for the outdoors and for SPRING!

 The bedrock of this park is pretty much all limestone, so there were caves, natural bridges, sinkholes and stuff.  We didn't get to crawl in the caves, perhaps next time.

 It was like bluebonnets... almost...

He looks angelic.

 Love.

 The Old Quarry... we braved elements to see this thing!

 Trail 10: Five Boots for its RUGGEDness.

 So you know how in yoga magazines people are always finding their core in really strange places?  I was CENTERED on this rock.

Post river-fording.  I believe this was the 4th cross we made... out of 5 or 6.  Totally worth it.

Trying to make the most of my time in Hoosier Land,

MJ

Spring! Spring! Spring!

Winter was like a wounded animal that wouldn't die, but in addition to staying around, it kept loudly bellowing for an extra month before it finally gave way to spring.  This time last week, it was snowing. I was le disappointed in Indiana and I continually tried to make my mother appreciative of the warmth-induced pollen haze she was experiencing.  There is no medicine for COLD.

All of that said, I am in "Goodbye Bloomers!" stage.  Tres weeks left until I return to the glorious state, so I'm trying to take all the spare free time I have and enjoy the people, Bloomie, and the wonders of April up here.  This past weekend I went on a hike at Brown County State Park.  There were lots of buds, but no blooms yet, still it was a glorious!, glorious!  day with friends, food, and nature.

 Not a single jumping picture worked, but I think this one is the funniest of all the attempts

 Our fabulous spread, or as my roomie said, "LET'S TAKE A PICTURE OF ALL THE STUFF WE BOUGHT AT THE STORE!"  It is true.  But those M&M cookies were courtesy of one moi.  And she made excellent punkin bread.

 You might remember this.

So, as you can tell, the sun was setting.  We were still, oh, maybe half a mile to 3/4 of a mile away from the car.  We just BARELY made it out while there was still light.  We had run into these really nice (yet creepy, they were TOO interested in whether or not we had wine with us and if we would drink some later) older ladies when we were at the "lake" (in Indiana they call reservoirs "lakes," but they make very little attempts to make them look anything like a lake) and they warned us of having to crawl out on our hands and knees after the sun went down, so they tried to offer us a ride back in their van.  We've concluded they were going to abduct us, but I think we could have taken them.

Lastly, I was thinking about how all famous bloggers tell their readers how much they le lurve them.  Well, it's true, I lurve the bloggees the best.  I will try to entertain-vouz more often!

8 days to thesis final submission,

MJ

Last Snow

Lawry brought the end of winter with him when he came, but just before he arrived we had a series of very cold WEEKS.  Including the storm that completely shut down Chicago--which is impressive, 'cause they are used to winter misery up there.  So after our stuff yourself almost to the point of uncomfortable we went on a short hike.

He's proud because he just invented snowbaseball.  It's a wonderful sport really, our snow was just old and more icey than fluffy.  Then we walked down to the lake, and when Russell saw the birds standing in the middle of the lake he said--it's frozen over!  We actually saw some people ice-fishing, but I think they are silly... it was above freezing, ice fishing sounds reckless at temperatures higher than 32 degrees. Despite that...

"Golly, we should get married" #5 (maybe, I don't remember at this point): You invented snowbaseball! And, you got pretty lucky with the frozen(ish) part of the lake.

Counting down the days to TEXAS!

-MJ