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Roger here…. Since the last post, we dropped off our motor home at Bradd & Hall in Elkhart for the interior remodeling. Before the drop-off, Dianne spent some time cleaning the chair that will be trashed. We don’t want a dirty rv chair in the Elkhart dump 
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We have not had internet access for a few days, so we were unable to post. I am doing this one on Live Writer, but will not be able to publish it until we find a place to connect to the internet.
We are now officially homeless, but we are a long way from suffering. It took quite a bit of time and effort to cram everything we would need for two weeks into our Toyota. We did manage to find space for the dogs, the cat, and Dianne.
We have spent the past week at our friends’ (Jay and Nancy), cottage on Lake Cordry in southern Indiana. As you can see from the opening photo, we landed in a beautiful place.
The newly renovated terraced decking to the lake looks like something from an architectural magazine. It is every bit as nice as it looks.
The weather has alternated between traditional Indiana October weather in the 60s and days of chilly rain. During the sunny days, the covered pavilion has been a great place (protected from the falling acorns) to read, gaze at the lake, and enjoy happy hours.
Bandido and Tequila love it here, too. So much for them to see. Plenty of squirrels to keep their attention. Lots of steps to run up and down.
Both dogs have been able to wade in the crystal clear water for a bit during the warmer days, but they don’t linger.
Every day (except for a couple of rain-days) we take the dogs on a walk down the road and across the picturesque dam.
It has been five years since we have gotten to see the leaves change colors, something I miss. (I don’t miss the snow, though.) (OR raking the pretty leaves after they fall – D.)
This is a very serene place, especially at this time of the year when the skiers and pontoon boaters have retired for the summer. The reflections in the water are a mirror to the sky above. The floating leaves are a reminder that winter is around the corner, and that we need to head south soon.
Twilight on the lake is a special time as the blue sky and blue waters morph into gold.
Most nights we are privileged to watch families of ducks swimming in the distance in the golden water.
Our time here is nearing an end. We will be spending the next week with our friends at their home in Pendleton, Indiana. We are hoping that our motor home will be done by the end of next week so that we can spend that weekend with our Indiana camping friends. Keeping our fingers crossed.
The pet picture of the day is another photo of the Lake Cordry ducks.
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 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.
Roger here.... Beautiful Lake Cordry, located in Brown County in Southern Indiana, is a well-kept secret. The lake is not huge, but with its various fingers and large central area, it is perfect for boating of any type. It is surrounded by well-kept lake homes, complete with decks, landscaping, and swimming areas. It is not an RV spot; in fact, I would be hesitant to drive our RV on the twisty, hilly, narrow roads with the one-foot drops from pavement to ditch. The low hanging branches that at times resemble a tunnel could also be an issue.
HOWEVER, we are fortunate to have long-time friends, Jay and Nancy, who own a "cottage" on the lake. The "cottage" has a three-car garage, four bedrooms, three bathrooms, endless outdoor decking that flows down the hill to the water, complete with an enclosed boat house with a wide porch for sitting down close to the water. It is a very nice "cottage."
We have spent many weekends with Jay and Nancy at the lake over the years. We watched their kids, and ours, grow up there -- lots of skiing, swimming, card playing, and good eating over the years. When Jay and Nancy invited us down for the weekend, we jumped at the chance.
We alway enjoy sitting by the water, sometimes reading, but often just watching the water. Dianne here: When you've been friends for 40+ years, there's no strain to have to make small talk. The four of us can sit very contentedly together, reading, Sudoku (Nancy taught me how several years ago), catching up on each others' kids, or just lake-watching. It could not be any more relaxing!
A cool thing about Lake Cordry is that it is a no-wake zone until 10:00 a.m., and then again after dusk. Only kayaks disturb the calm -- extremely clear -- water. The deck is a very quiet and peaceful setting for lunch and dinner. Each morning we enjoyed coffee and breakfast, even the Sunday paper, on the porch of the boat house, down by the water.
Jay and Nancy have taught us everything we know about wine, so each evening we enjoyed watching the sunsets and having wine and snacks on the deck.
At 10:00 a.m. the atmosphere shifts to a frenetic pace - an endless parade of skis, wakeboards, speed boats, pontoon boats, and tubers.
But, sitting is far from the only pursuit that we enjoyed. This weekend we took a long walk across the dam and along the southern, cottage-filled shore. We took several trips in Jay's newest toy, a beautiful pontoon boat to complement the latest in a series of ski boats. I don't know if it is because we are older, or because the lounging features of the pontoon boat are so enticing, but we decided that we now prefer the pace of the pontoon boat to the speed of the ski boat.
We always eat well at Lake Cordry - lots of colorful fruit and healthy food (at least this time) to go along with an endless supply of snacks. (We decided to go with leftovers for our last lunch together. Check it out; with leftovers like this, who needs to cook??)
We always spend a lot of time floating and swimming in the clear water.
From my perspective, there were two highlights from this particular weekend. I GOT TO GO TUBING! I haven't done this for a long time. It was just as much fun as I remembered, and my sixty-year-old bones held up well. Another plus was that I was not thrown from the tube in the choppy water around the point -- bounced around a lot, but not ejected. Being thrown from the tube is considered a sign of weakness in the Lake Cordry community.
The other highlight was the restful evening time sitting on the porch of the boat house by the water, as we watched a distant thunderstorm pass. Quite a light show! The lightning was far enough away for us to be safe (30 miles or so), but the display was spectacular. We were so mesmerized by nature's fireworks that we dug out the camera to capture some of it. (Dianne again: I'd never seen a lightning display like this one, and neither had the rest of us. It went on for over an hour and a half. We didn't capture the biggest lightning displays, only a small snippet. Some were like giant spider webs all across the sky, lighting up the entire sky! To see a small snippet of the hour+ show we enjoyed, click on the movie above. (Ignore the background chitchat; Roger told us all to be quiet, but no one listened to him as usual!)
We have not had internet access for a few days, so we were unable to post. I am doing this one on Live Writer, but will not be able to publish it until we find a place to connect to the internet. 
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