Oh March, you mixed-up month

Oh yes, March, you came in like a lion,

with more snow than we cared to see.

And by your end there were flowers (even though your weather wasn't lamb-gentle).

You brought birthdays

and birthday celebrations

and welcome company.

You saw Granddad getting better

and the poor lame horse getting worse.

You brought a long anticipated treat

that brought us together

for good times.

And the good times were rolling along...

until our own Jersey boy left the table 

and the good times stopped rolling for a while.

Yup.

March, you are just a mixed-up month.

Non-stop action

What a time we are having!

We've been to town

and hiked around,

been out of town and hiked some more.

 

We've been in the water, 

and on the water,

we've been UP (some of us about 110 feet up)

and we've been down (but not for long!)

and it has all been a fabulous treat!

June Catch-up (including one hot dog)

Oh June was a full month and I didn't take nearly enough pictures and I didn't keep up the blog. 

Now I am inspired by the Bloomingtonauts (who did take lots of pictures!) to do a little catching up.

Our themes for June:  company and performance!

Granddad was delighted to have company on the front porch of Garden Villa, where he is now staying.

He was so happy that folks came such a long way just to see him!

Then the Bloomingtonauts arrived to begin several weeks of activity,

in which we managed to get in lots of typical Bloomington sights--

the Farmer's Market

the B-Line trail

Lake Griffy

and our old house, now completely redone.

Wow!  You should see inside!

Check out the article about it in Bloom Magazine.

(Scroll down, it's the "50's Ranch Reinvented near Bryan Park" )

We had celebrations --

Father's Day

and Midsummer.

There was storytelling

(we taught a two week course together)

and singing --

Granddad is even singing along, "Frankie and Johnny were sweethearts..."

In fact he is still telling us about the evening when the Bloomingtonaut played and sang songs that he actually knew!

And we got to hear the Bloomingtonaut's original songs performed on stage at Max's Place.

Okay, July, come on - can you top all this?

Post Vacation Blues

The idea of vacation is refreshing oneself for the return to everyday, right?  

Only what if you don't want to go back?

I wanted to stay.

I wanted to wander down sandy paths

to windswept beaches

and follow the tides to find treasures.

I wanted to look for rare birds

and to spy on the secretive creatures of the marshes

I wanted to find the patterns of moss

and sand

and wood

that the wind and water created.

No, I didn't want to come home.

Pour another, I've got those too-good a vacation blues.

Adventure Island

We noticed the pink house on a built-up hill as we drove back and forth from our condo.  The sign in front announced that this was "Island Falls - Adventure Golf".

How is there room for any sort of golf on that hill, I wondered.

One evening we decided to try it out 

It turned out to be a labyrinth of waterfalls and streams and 18 and 1/2 greens.

There were tunnels and traps and winding paths that took us up and down and through the hill.

We had quite a game and I know that you are wondering who won...

Well, it wasn't the only one of us to get a hole-in-one (ahem!).

And it wasn't the one who dropped her glasses into the Atlantic and played with the handicap of sunglasses in the twilight.

We counted our strokes...ah, it was the one who played lots of miniature golf as a kid!

At least it looked that way, until...

RECOUNT!

It was the one who had organized putting practice at work.

Gotta get them all

Way back in April the Wild Westerner went hunting.

Off with his brand-new Froggie basket to find hidden eggs.

What a haul!

But did he find them all?

We thought so...

Until Charlie came to visit.  

Charlie went down to the pond to hunt frogs and found

the last left behind Easter egg!