alexandriacardinals

Preface No. 3:  By pure happenstance, I ran across this while dining at our golf club last night.  It’s an article by Amy, our “fearless leader,” about our local Senior College in “Generations” magazine, Spring 2017.

June 11

Bloomington

[Hail, hail, the gang’s all here!   We have the Super, Reetz, Vick, Scott, Jennifer, and Jeff (off camera?) – further intros later – making our Sunday appearance at Indiana University Bloomington for enrollment in a week’s work of college classes taught by college professors.  These folks just have college students written all over them!]

[Does this look familiar?  Standing in line to sign up for classes.  Just like the old days, “A – L” in one line, “M – Z” in another.]

[The Fort Wayne Four:  Closest to camera, Scott and Vicki Longardner, our longtime friends from Camp Brosius; and Jennifer and Jeff Vaughan, our new friends (and who are actually Ball Staters.]

[The Bloomington One: A cardinal.  We were killing time on the patio either before or after orientation – who remembers such things?]

[Looking out on the campus, if blocked by trees.]

[And this was the Sunday dinner buffet . . . ]

[In the Tudor Room (refer to your reference materials).]

June 12

[Monday morning, classes begin . . . ]

[The new students take selfies as proof they were actually there.]

 

[All classes were in various rooms of Indiana Memorial Union, except the specialty ones (i.e., involving the arts).]

[And here we all are (some 550+ of us) in a rather unfocused Alumni Hall for the opening convocation.]

[Our first day of classes, lest you are interested (and why wouldn’t you be?):  1)  Ruthie and I began with U.S. Healthcare Reform: Prognosis for “Obamacare” and Beyond – Kosali Simon.  Mindboggling in its complexity, so much so that near the end I asked, “Boy, who knew health care could be so hard?” It received the intended chuckles.  2) The Super took Understanding Global Cultures: The United States of America – Christine Von Der Haar, while opted for Places & Spaces: Mapping with the Atlas of Knowledge – Lisel Record.  Mine was very interesting if somewhat too techie for my ability to comprehend it all – likely would have enjoyed the Super’s class more.  And 3) Setting up below for Challenges that Confront Our American Representative Democracy – Lee Hamilton (retired U.S. Congressman from Indiana whose commentaries are often carried by our very own Echo Press).  He was, as always, very good and very entertaining.  The Super dashed up to have her photo taken with him at the end.  She didn’t tell me.  I had walked out of the room.  I’m not sure if she has forgiven me?]

[The Congressman . . . ]

[He’s 86.  He sat through his whole presentation – that was fine because we could still see him and he has a strong voice.]

[And another evening of group fine dining with a Taste of Mini-U in Alumni Hall . . . ]

[Music from an instrumental trio . . . ]

[And I had fun with the contract photographer all week.  We discussed such things as focal length and shutter speeds.  I wonder how her shot came out?]

Sun is bad for you.  Everything our parents said was good is bad.  Sun, milk, red meat… college.  ~  Woody Allen as Alvy Singer in Annie Hall

Up Next:  More Mini

Preface:  For many years the Super and I have visited Indiana University’s (IU) alumni camp in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, for the first week of August.  Folks from that camp, including the Super’s sister Rita, are now also doing a full week of Mini-University at IU’s Bloomington campus.  This year we were lassoed into joining them.  One takes 17 classes over five days from a syllabus consisting of over 110 classes, taught by the university’s professors, to 552 students.

I mentioned that I partake of senior college here at the Alexandria Technical and Community College.  The format is somewhat different because of differences of scale. Our classes are for two hours every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, a different subject every class, for the length of a semester, usually about 15 classes.  For those who requested such, here’s our brochure for the Fall Session 2016, which was excellent!

Preface No. 2:  Mini-University requires a bit of a geographical set-up.  Since geography was my major, that puts it in my bailiwick.  The Super grew up in Terre Haute, Indiana, and family still lives there.  Her sister Rita lives in Nashville, Indiana.  Nashville is another 79 miles down the road from Terre Haute.  It is 783 miles from Alexandria to Nashville.  Over the years, we have made that trip (or to Terre Haute) in one day.  We decided it’s time to break up the trip.  So the first day we drove to Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, a distance of 642 miles. 

June 9

Champaign-Urbana

[Here we are on the campus of the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana.  We didn’t get to see much – it seems half the campus is undergoing major upgrades, so there were detours everywhere.]

[After a quick tour of the campus, back to our hotel, and then on to the Old Chicago restaurant right across the street for pizza.]

June 10

Nashville

[We stopped in Terre Haute on the way to visit with the Super’s younger brother, Dan, and our sister-in-law, Carolyn.  They live in the house where all the Callecod kids grew up.  Carolyn is the head honcho of the Terre Haute (population 61,000, metro area 170,000) League of Women Voters, leading to interesting discussions.  On the way to Terre Haute, we drove through Clinton, where Dan used to work.  Clinton is “famous” for these city limits speed limit signs (photo borrowed from the internet because “I forgot” as we were driving through).]

[Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the southern region of Indiana.  It is the seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside the Indianapolis metropolitan area.  According to the Monroe County History Center, Bloomington is known as the “Gateway to Scenic Southern Indiana.” The city was established in 1818 by a group of settlers who were so impressed with “a haven of blooms” that they called it Bloomington.  The city’s population was estimated at 84,067 as of July 2016.  Bloomington is the home to Indiana University Bloomington.  Established in 1820, IU Bloomington has 42,630 students, as of September 2014, and is the original and largest campus of Indiana University.  Most of the campus buildings are built of Indiana limestone.  (Wikipedia)]

[Then coming out of the east side of the city toward Nashville . . . it’s always Bruster’s!]

[Bloomington is in Monroe County, but soon we were in the neighborhood of the famous “mountains” of Brown County.]

[There are a couple of ski slopes in through here.]

[Brown County State Park is located in the center of the southern half of the state of Indiana.  The park is the largest of 24 state parks in Indiana, and occupies 15,776 acres (63.84 km²)—making it one of the larger state parks in the United States.  It is Indiana’s most visited state park, and has about 1.3 million visitors each year. Although Bloomington is the closest city, the park is closer to the small town of Nashville in Brown County.  (Wikipedia)]

[Brown County and its park are known for their scenic views of the hills of southern Indiana.  Both are the home of a wide variety of trees that attract visitors each year when the vegetation transforms to its autumn colors.  The park also contains many trees that flower in the springtime.  Visitors will find a rustic atmosphere, enhanced by an infrastructure that was mostly constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the 1930s. In addition to the park’s lodge, cabins can be rented and campsites are available. The park has trails for hiking, biking and horseback riding.  It has two lakes for fishing that complement the surrounding forests and provide a water source for the local wildlife.  The area’s beauty attracts artists and photographers worldwide. (Wikipedia)]

[State Road 46 from Bloomington to Nashville – pretty much what you have for the entire 18 miles between them.  If you keep going another 18 miles on SR 46 you come to Columbus (population 44,000) where our nephew, Rita’s son David, works for Cummins.]

[Nashville is a town in Brown County, Indiana.  The population was 803 at the 2010 census.  The town is the county seat of Brown County and is the county’s only incorporated town.  The town is best known as the center of the Brown County Art Colony and as a tourist destination.  Nashville boasts a tourist industry based upon the original works of resident artists and upon the area’s natural beauty.  Brown County State Park is nearby.  Art, antique, and specialty shops, as well as galleries, restaurants, and entertainment venues, make up downtown Nashville, and many inns, rented cottages, and bed and breakfast establishments serve visitors. (Wikipedia)]

[It’s a long down hill glide into Nashville . . . ]

[It’s a beautiful Saturday afternoon – tourists are swarming the town.]

[In a town of 800 you wouldn’t think parking would be a problem – in summer tourist season, good luck!]

[Advancing on the main downtown intersection stoplight.]

[Oy, the humanity!]

[After all our contingent meet up at Rita’s, we led the four folks from Fort Wayne out to this lovely cabin Reetz had lined up for them.  Gives you an idea the whole area is kind of outdoorsy.]

[The master bedroom – not too shabby.]

[The loft . . . Scott is 6 months younger than I am, so I volunteered him to lead the charge.]

[The living room]

[The loft sleeping area]

[It’s a long way down if you go over the railing, Scottie!]

[Always finding my niche . . . ]

[Reetz and Scott find their niche on the front porch.]

[Looks really “cabiny,” huh?]

[The back up plan.]

[Yes, there is a tourmobile in a town of 800.]

[When we got to Rita’s, her gardener was hard at work.  Reetz had to strongly correct her that she was “pruning” the wrong plants!]

When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to youth, think of Algebra.  ~  Will Rogers

Up Next: Goin’ to college

May 16

Salem

[Our last day of the trip before heading home.  And uffda, wouldn’t you know – a beautiful day on tap for the Boston area.]

[We decided to take advantage of the weather and just walk to and around Salem’s waterfront before our afternoon flights.]

[Lotsa history around here, ya know.]

[This looks like some neat stuff.]

[Is this Filene’s basement?]

[Hmmm, nothing in my size?]

[The tea looks dated.]

[I don’t know how they could have missed beautiful Lake Darling?]

[Rose saw “Scale House” and thought it was just for Dick and me?]

[Pretty clever, those colonials.]

[This is obviously where one goes to learn about the local “customs.”]

[Two from the Super – that lucky guy is once again surrounded by women of grace, elegance, and beauty . . . ]

[And a sign of beauty, if not grace or elegance.]

[Just to show the sign was designed to stand all by itself, absent human support.]

[From the Super, the large white building is where hundreds of NSA bureaucrats continually monitor what I publish in the blog.]

[The Amazon of their day.]

[Where we are (or were).]

[I don’t now if the corner had issues, but they saw fit to erect a “No Kissing” sign?]

[From the Super, Reetz just diggin’ the scene.]

[Back to me, I don’t think it was open?]

[The Super just loves animals . . . ]

[So she took this shot of her new friend.]

[I’m always charmed by anything that’s “Ye Olde.”]

[Did you notice it’s America’s oldest candy company?  No stopping here either because we were in hot pursuit of . . . ]

[Yup, after Anne of Green Gables, we should have called this the Gables Trip.]

[The Super shot this  . . . The House of the Seven Gables (also known as the Turner House or Turner-Ingersoll Mansion), made famous by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel “The House of Seven Gables” (1851), is a 1668 colonial mansion in Salem, named for its gables. The house is now a non-profit museum, with an admission fee charged for tours, as well as an active settlement house with programs for children. It was built for Captain John Turner and stayed with the family for three generations. (Wikipedia)]

[The house and duck sculpture overlook Salem Harbor.]

[Rosie and Reetz overlook me.]

[This is a tree.  I love big ole trees.  Yes, you could call me a tree hugger.  Especially such as this classic American elm.]

[Rosie’s looking for . . . anybody?]

[Of course, we always have to take this shot when here!]

[Two from the Super.  I mutinied and overthrew Captain Reetz.]

[And then flew solo.]

[Cleopatra’s Barge, as noted on the signage.]

[Looks like what we’d like to downsize to.]

[Avast, mateys!]

[Hmmm, no gables here?]

[There’s some, as Rosie looks for her flock again.]

[Three from the Super – all’s well!]

[Hats off to gables!]

[And good-bye to the ducks.  Duck conversation, “Dear, why did you park here?”]

[Yes, that’s what it says . . . ]

[Two from the Super, a modest proposal . . . ]

[The Super wanted her photo with Nathaniel . . . ]

[Me too!]

[“Stickwork,” the first major outdoor sculptural commission by the Peabody Essex Museum.  At the corner of Hawthorne Boulevard and Essex Street in downtown Salem, artist Patrick Dougherty and a handful of others are weaving bundles of branches into a small village of fanciful two-story structures, clustered around a large locust tree.  (bostonglobe,com)]

[Now we’re heading back across the square to the McMullen’s, avoiding school kids on a field trip.]

[Dick and Reetz take 5 before we head to the airport.]

[It was a Tuesday, nice weather, and before rush hour – Dick said we made it to Logan in an all-time record time from Salem!]

[Passing downtown Boston along the way . . . ]

[This is all we saw of the city on this trip.]

[Despite the good weather, we were delayed almost 2 hours leaving Boston.  Apparently bad weather elsewhere caused the delay.  The pilot said we would make up most of the lost time, but about an hour from the Cities he said we would have to circle over Duluth because of bad storm in Minneapolis.  That slowed us just enough that the Super and I missed our scheduled shuttle to Alex.  The shuttle people would have waited, they said, but the flight board showed our plane had landed at its scheduled time. The arrival time had never been changed from that posted before we left Boston. Needless to say, the Super let the airline know about it.  They later apologized and said they would make the necessary corrections . . . and promised us two free Nut Goodies on our next flight!]

[We caught the next shuttle an hour later.  The Super’s first stop on the way home was Culver’s.  Thus endth this trip.]

Life’s short. Eat dessert first, work less and vacation MORE!!  ~  Lea Mishell

Up Next:  We’re moving on . . .

May 15

Salem

[On this day, we went sightseeing in Cape Ann.  Cape Ann is a rocky cape in northeastern Massachusetts on the Atlantic Ocean. It is about 30 miles northeast of Boston and marks the northern limit of Massachusetts Bay. Cape Ann includes the city of Gloucester and the towns of Essex, Manchester-by-the-Sea, and Rockport.  (Wikipedia)  Before moving to Salem, our hosts lived in Rockport.]

[We drove through here, but I missed a photo of the city sign – so I stole these off the internet.  There was a recent movie named after the town, as I recall?]

[Hammond Castle is located on the Atlantic coast in the Magnolia area of Gloucester. The castle, which was constructed between 1926 and 1929, was the home and laboratory of John Hays Hammond, Jr. He was an inventor who was a pioneer in the study of remote control and held over four hundred patents. The building is composed of modern and 15th-, 16th-, and 18th-century architectural elements and sits on a rocky cliff overlooking Gloucester Harbor.  At present, the castle operates as the Hammond Castle Museum, displaying Hammond’s collection of Roman, medieval, and Renaissance artifacts as well as exhibits about his life and inventions.  The Great Hall contains a huge pipe organ which has been used for concerts and recordings by many famous organists including Richard Ellseasser and Virgil Fox.  Unfortunately, as of 2015, the organ is no longer functional. (Wikipedia)]

[We’ll be back to the castle shortly after a drive through the neighborhood . . . ]

[Dick mentioned some interesting stuff about the previous four photos, but I forgot.  Now we’re back at the castle.]

[Geez, no sunshine again today?]

[Five photos by the Super taken here . . . ]

[Then on to Gloucester . . . ]

[Surely you recognize this guy?]

[The tall, slender twin lighthouses on 50-acre Thacher Island, on the Town of Rockport’s seal since 1888, are an indespensible part of the local seascape. Now designated a National Historic Landmark, the island is also recognized as a significant historic site for the nation as a whole.  (neewenglandlighthouses.net)]

[We’ve made several visits here harkening back to the old days . . . ]

[Your basic Rockport business district businesses.]

[And harbor . . . ]

[Rockport harbor]

[Over the ages, we have taken many, many photos of this building.  And here’s why . . . ]

[Motif Number 1, located on Bradley Wharf in the harbor town of Rockport, is a replica of a former fishing shack well known to students of art and art history as “the most often-painted building in America.”  The original structure was built in 1840 and destroyed in the Blizzard of 1978, but an exact replica was constructed that same year.

Built in the 1840s as Rockport was becoming home to a colony of artists and settlement of fishermen, the shack became a favorite subject of painters due to the composition and lighting of its location as well as being a symbol of New England maritime life.  Painter Lester Hornby (1882–1956) is believed to be the first to call the shack “Motif Number 1,” a reference to its being the favorite subject of the town’s painters, and the name achieved general acceptance.

In the 1930s, painter John Buckley used the shack as his studio.  He sold it to the town in 1945, dedicated “In 1945, the town of Rockport purchased the Motif as a monument to Rockporters who had served in the Armed Services.”  The town, recognizing its iconic value, has taken pains to preserve both its structure and appearance, finding a red paint which appears weather-beaten even when new, and keeping the area clear of overhead wires, traffic signs and advertising.  (Wikipedia)]

[The Super sneaking in among the lobster traps for a shot . . . ]

[And here’s the photo she took.]

[And a photo of the harbor from the same spot.]

[Indiana University has been playing a big role in our lives lately – and here’s one of its most famous alums.]

[When Rose and Dick fled the nation’s capital, many years ago, this is where they first alit, a classic New England house.  They were only a couple blocks from the ocean here and walking distance to downtown Rockport.]

[And just driving around their old neighborhood, an animal sculpture garden . . . ]

[Riding around in a car sightseeing can build up quite an appetite.  So we stopped at one of Rose and Dick’s favorite restaurants, Soma in Beverly.]

[We returned to Salem so Reetz could meet up with an old friend.  This, and the following three photos by the Super.]

[Claire once lived in Nashville, Indiana, her connection to Rita, and has lived in the Boston area for many years.  She took the train up to Salem for an afternoon visit.]

[While the ladies went out for a walkabout in Salem, Dick and I stayed home with cognac and cigars (well, maybe someday, again).  The fellow in the background was allegedly with the Secret Service, but nobody was talking?]

Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes.  ~  Henry David Thoreau

Up Next:  End of trip?