I've stayed productive at work and at home. I started seeds for the cottage garden I've long wanted and for the vegetable garden I hope to build in a sunny swath in my back yard. I unearthed the bins of fabrics that my grandma gave me two decades ago and started making quilts again. Any chance we get, we hit the trails at Eagle Creek or state parks or national forests. I've been cooking a lot and reading and slowing down.
Eagle Creek
Starling Ridge/Eagle Crest
Clifty Falls SP
Indiana Dunes SP / NP
Heron rookery
Ft. Benjamin Harris SP
Yellow Wood State Forest
Brown County SP
Spring Mill SP
Jackson-Washington State Forest
Starve Hollow State Forest
Spurgeon Hollow State Forest
Knobstone Trail
Books:
Over the Top by Jonathan Van Ness
Educated by Tara Westover
All the Light We Cannot Sea by Anthony Doerr
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Movies:
Tootsie
Outbreak
China Syndrome
Boy Erased
Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler
Downton Abby
Romancing the Stone
Midnight Cowboy
A week before the country went into shutdown, I went to a free workshop at the library to learn how to sow milkweed. I want my back yard to be my very own butterfly garden. It seemed a failed experiment, but then eight weeks later, the sprouts emerged.
Just a sunny day in early March at Ft. Harrison State Park, on the East side of Indy. It's not a particularly stunning place (it's a former Army base), but we had a lot of fun trying to find passable trails along the White River. We started a fun tradition over the winter of hiking a state park then stopping at a Mexican restaurant. We stopped at La Hacienda afterwards--it's an old train depot/post office for the old Army post.
We had to go to Valparaiso for Larry's daughter's birthday, so the next day, we explored our country's newest national park, Indiana Dunes. I was pretty underwhelmed as the area I grew up in is far prettier. National Park status will increase foot traffic, so I'm happy that my little corner of the Earth is still widely unknown.
A tangle of roots revealed by the blowing sands.
We visited a heron rookery but saw no herons.
Indiana Landmarks in partnership with NPS or State Parks to restore these prototype homes that were built for the 1933 World's Fair.
The Florida House. In 1933, travel was not easy, nor were there many media outlets. It must have seemed truly exotic for people in Chicago to see what a house in "tropical, wild" Florida must look like. I like this house, but it's in grave danger of falling into Lake Michigan. The entire west coast of Lake Michigan is eroding due to climate change. It breaks my heart.
Here's Clifty Falls, one of our favorite state parks in southern Indiana. It's fun visiting places in all seasons. In "prettier" seasons, the leaves are so lush that you can't really see the waterfalls, which are the main attraction of the park.
A super cool "tree face." I see Teddy Roosevelt.
First sign of spring: "snowdrop" flowers coming up through the dead leaves.
My seed proroject.
It wasn't a great year for my magnolia bush.
My little buddy "Burrito." He and his little buddy "Li'l Red" were rescued from an abandoned farm and now live happily at the garden center a stone's throw from my home. I like to visit them on my morning walks.
Working from home with my boss Abby, who has some updates for my team.
Pretty blossoms at Brown County State Park.
A recently leveled (perhaps diseased?) pine tree with pink sap. It smelled fantastic.
Brave little purple flowers.
My grandma Becker always made quilts like this for us, all made from leftover double-knit material she used as a seamstress. She made dresses, pant suits, and was even a tailor for an Indian woman who wanted saris. Way ahead of her time in that regard, yet she did all of her sewing on an old non-electric Singer with a manual foot pedal. It just amazes what she could do with this old machine. I made this one for Natalie, and am at work on smaller ones for my nieces.
It's blossom season. Need I say more?
I made cookies from cake mix. Oh so yum.
So helpful of Abby to lay on the quilt as I try to sew it.
It's the season of Virginia Blue Bells. Need I say more?
And violets.
I don't know what kind of tree this is with the shaggy bark, but I like it.
The crab apple tree I planted is doing great.
White blossoms in my front yard.
Celandine Poppy
Trout Lilly
trillium
Spring Mill state park. Lovely place. No tours or buildings open but we enjoyed wandering the gardens.
I don't know what I did to my camera to make it overexpose all these photos.
I just loved these doors.
Babbling brook just took my breath away.
Old cemetery in the state park.
More of the beautiful blossoms in my back yard. They seemed really short-lived this year.
One of the colorful birdhouses my dad made for me.
The lilac bush had a tough year too, but they sure smelled wonderful.
Went to Eagle Crest on my birthday. I took photos of my favorite wildflowers, Red Bud trees, and dug up ramps--wild leeks. Guess what, Michigan ramps are much better and much easier to harvest!
The dogwoods are beautiful but also seemed to have a tough year.
Red buds spraying bursts of pink and purple throughout the lovely forest.
Sycamore stands proud, above a red bud.
Larry had flowers sent the house for my birthday.
