Beauty in a quiet walk

Wheat and sky

It was a rainy few days in Southern Indiana, and I decided to head out into the cool evening for a walk after dinner.  And I was amazed at the beauty I found in a quiet walk. Fortunately I had my iPhone at the ready, and I think the pictures captured the moment

Red barns

Majestic clouds

Creek was raging one day ago after 2 inches of rain

My grandparent's home 

Simple iris

Round

Yucca

My shadow in wheat

Hope you are having a great week!
Diane

May in Indy

May in Indy is bustling with activity.

Diane & Mike with the band

First, we celebrated Cinco de Mayo with friends.  There was great food, a mariachi band and a few drinks along the way...

Kathy dancing with the band

selfie...

And of course, RACING!  We attended the first ever Grand Prix of Indianapolis last weekend.

 It was very cool to attend this new racing event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and along with 50,000 other fans we enjoyed a beautiful, sunny day and some great racing!

Entering the first turn

And it's a bit different from an Indy 500 race.  First the course itself is different, combining the oval track and a track cut into the "infield".  Also the cars race in a clockwise direction, and we had a great view of them heading into the first turn.

The tower and the stands

Racing underway

Busy at work...

Mike is spending every spare moment grading papers these days as the Spring quarter draws to a close.

Irises (transplanted from Iowa)

And I'm planting, planting, planting.

Ok, here goes my first of many summer pictures of flowers.  I know it's what you've come to expect of me, and I don't want to disappoint...

Wave petunias in a re-purposed patio chair 

Front porch

Petunias on the deck

Finally it feels like Spring has arrived.  I hope you are enjoying it, wherever you are!

Diane

Taking a vacation from retirement

Daffodils in snow the week we left for vacation

I know, I know...it doesn't seem like you would need a vacation if you are retired.  What can I say?  It was a very long winter!
















Sometimes you don't know you need a break from chores and schedules until you get away.  And gain a different perspective.  And relax.  And that's just what we did...

We headed to Mexico for a week of sunshine, warm weather and the ocean.  And oh yes, food and drink.

Miles of walkways at the resort

The resort was absolutely beautiful, set in the jungle with beautiful palm trees, coconut trees and wildlife.  The lodging was spread throughout the jungle, and we walked miles each day between restaurants, our room, the pool and the ocean.

Courtyard where we listened to live music at night

In front of one of the many water features

One of many...

Coati (usually they were traveling in packs in the woods). Kind of scary

We enjoyed fantastic food at all the restaurants including French, Indonesian, Japanese and Mexican.  It was some of the best food I've ever eaten!

 And I was a bit more adventurous this time, eating French, Indonesian and Japanese for the first time. And loving it!

Pool outside our room

We had a beautiful pool outside our room that stretched in front of several buildings.  We also enjoyed a much larger pool where we floated for hours and enjoyed drinks at one of the two swim up bars.

Mike under aquaduct waterfall

The white sand beach was pristine, and we kicked off our shoes and walked and walked.


We enjoyed a snorkeling trip on a large catamaran.  Well, Mike enjoyed snorkeling, and I enjoyed laying on the boat and watching the water.  I've tried snorkeling before, but  I prefer to stay away from fish and other ocean creatures.  And generally my philosophy is that if we were supposed to swim in the ocean we would have gills.  Usually Mike tries to convince me to snorkel, but truth be known, he probably had more fun without me as a nervous Nellie beside him.

A caption defies me ...

About half way through the week Mike finally relaxed and quit worrying about all the stuff he wasn't getting done at home.  And as he proudly said at the end of the trip, "I didn't fix anything on this vacation".  And that's definitely relaxation for him...

Enjoying the cigar bar

We've been home a week now, and we are as crazy busy as ever.  But I can still see that beautiful beach in my mind, and I smile...


Diane

Storage wars?

Mike and Santa saluting in the "before" picture

While organizing our storage units, I thought about the reality TV show, Storage Wars.

If you haven't seen the show, it's based in California, and the contents of a storage unit are auctioned off if the storage unit rent hasn't been paid for 3 months.  Prospective buyers get to see the contents for only 5 minutes, and then they bid on the contents, hoping to find valuable items and make a profit.

And if you could view our storage unit for only 5 minutes, what would you find?

• U-Haul boxes (and if they could read my amazing labeling would know they contain books, art and photos)
• See through plastic bins of Christmas decorations, towels, blankets and books
• Carpet remnants
• A bike
• Furniture including a buffet, sewing machine, oak whisky barrel, rocking chair and small benches
• Large Plastic Santa and Snowman
• A wooden door (where I started removing the paint about 5 years ago)
• A garden hose
• An old gas can

And, the biggest prize of all...a 1973 Dodge Challenger!

And why do we have all of this stuff in storage?  Well, it's the story of merging 2 complete households into 1 house and needing space for those items that didn't fit.  When I first moved here after selling my house in Iowa we had 3 storage units.  Later we consolidated into 2 storage units, and now the finish line is in view:  only 1 storage unit.

And unlike those people who forget about what they have in storage, we know what's there.  AND we try to organize it.

So Mike had the idea of building metal shelves for vertical storage and parking the Challenger under it.  I know, I thought it was crazy too when I first heard the idea.

But after a weekend of building shelves and moving stuff around, I have to say IT WORKED!

Mike doing a trial run of the shelves outside the storage unit

Holding shelves to see if trunk lid could open

Metal shelves in place and Challenger parked under it!

Front view of Challenger

And yes, we still have the second storage unit which contains all the items we plan to sell on Craig's list.  And if they don't sell, off to Goodwill or St. Vincent dePaul they go.  And then....we will just have one storage unit!   The end is in sight.

Fun and unexpected

Strange way to advertise margaritas?

Sometimes unusual things bring a smile to my face.  Here are a few that recently caught my fancy.

Towing a rock out of the parking lot?

Flowers as big as your head?

  Great-niece Alice in full pirate regalia.

I still have "the moves".  A game of kick ball with great-nephew Rhys.

Look closely to see the train hood ornament.

Interesting sign in a food court...

New use for embroidery hoops!

Chef Mikie?  Not sure about that pillow around his head...

I hope you are finding the fun and unexpected in each day!

Diane