Summer in Indiana - Pleasant Times with Friends

Roger here...   We are still in the GloWood (no-frills) campground in the middle of the corn fields - a quiet, no-hassle setting that has grown on us.  Amid the car appointments, eye doctor appointments, bicycle tune-ups, trips to the dog park, and regular doctor appointments (my doctor confirms that I am much healthier --- in fact very healthy --- due to our new lifestyle), our time has been filled with various events with long-time Indiana friends.  


I had lunch with my former colleagues and very good friends - Mike and Mike - at Qdoba last week after visiting my friends at the Hamilton Southeastern Schools Administrative Offices...  Lynn, Jackie, Denise, Cecilie, Terry, Cherie, Rose, Bev, Mary Anna, Nancy and Nancy.  Hope I did not leave anyone out!  (Rose's husband is now a successful author.  You can find him on your kindle.  Just type in "Sweazy" at the kindle store).  A little later in the week, I again met one of the Mikes (the man who has my former job) and my colleague, Brian (my former asst. principal who later was the first principal at Hamilton Southeastern's second junior high school) for dinner at The Bank in Historic Pendleton, IN.  It was great to catch up.  The next night Dianne and I had dinner with my former head of guidance, Lois, and her husband Val.  I am forever indebted to Lois for my new Slippery Rock (her alma mater) Sweatshirt, among lots and lots of other things.

Now for the events documented with pictures....  Thursday evening we attended a fund-raiser for the Anderson (IN) Symphony Orchestra.  The concert, featuring individuals from the symphony, took place in the gardens of our dear friends Jay (in the picture) and Nancy.  A cacophony of cicada chirps accompanied the musicians.   We did not photograph the performers, but we did take some pics of their amazing gardens.  What a pleasant evening.

(Now that's a potting shed, complete with lush thyme blanketing its front lawn -- D.)

The next day.... Off to Lake Cordry...  We dropped off the boys (Chaplin and Bandido) with Karen, our most trusted dog-sitter, and filled all the water and food bowls for Big Chuck.  Oh, and Dianne spread all of Big Chuck's toys on the floor (including the catnip mouse).  Does Big Chuck look happy?  Kinda mellow?  (The small toys are normally put away so that Bandido won't eat them, so it was like Christmas morning for Charlie the cat).


Jay and Nancy picked us up for the hour-plus drive to their lake home -- one of the most peaceful places I know.  (Check out the opening photo.)  We ate, delicious meals.  We played Mexican Train on the deck -- our new favorite game.  We solved the problems of the world, I wish.  

I was drinking coffee on the deck, over the water,  early on Saturday morning,  and was treated to amazing, fog-filled views of the lake.  The sequential photos are a montage of time as the fog flowed across the dam and eventually vanished into a sunny day. 

Nancy soon told us that we would be having breakfast on their pontoon boat in the middle of the lake.  Our lives have changed from speed boats to pontoon boats -- and it does seem comfortable.

Good food.  Amazingly peaceful setting in crystal clear water.

OK... Back to Glo Wood...  One of my former teachers, Kathy, has been trying to figure out a time to see us while we were in town.  She finally found a time that we were not busy and arrived on her bicycle with chicken to grill.  Soon another of my former teachers, Laurie, arrived with a delicious side dish and dessert.  What a treat!  So good to share time with two of the most talented teachers that I have had the privilege to work with.  Kathy has coached and coordinated -- this year-- two Destination Imagination teams (higher- level thinking skills) that finished runner-up in the Global Finals at the University of Tennessee.  Laurie, a science teacher, organized an award-winning outdoor, hands-on, education campground for all of our seventh graders for many, many years. 


 Notice I have a mouthful of food.  It was a big deal for me to share a meal with them.  The quiet dinner was a big deal to me.  

OK time to brag...  (Pet pictures of the day) I have taught many people to swim, including my granddaughter, Kaia, and a lot of people who are almost my age.  Well... my young, one-year-old puppy (dog), now knows how to swim.  


He was terrified when I sat him down in the shallow waters of the Guadalupe River in the Hill Country of Texas in March.  The Pierson Dog Park in Fishers, IN was the location for my latest swimming accomplishment.  Bandido wanted the tennis ball.  HE REALLY WANTED THE TENNIS BALL.  

So, I threw it in the water, a few feet at the time.


A few, few, few  feet further and then, Good Dog!

I am soooooo proud of my new son!   He is a SWIMMER!

More friends to come.... Jim and Debbie, Chris and Shawna, Chuck and
Cindy, and Audrey and Pat.  Next post.