My Not That Exciting but Perfectly Fine Life

After our leisurely stroll downtown, we picked up the pace and went to a Jazzercise class. Claire and Gail have decided to take up this form of exercise for a season, so I joined in for the experience. It was an hour of intense workout which I proceeded to feel in my muscles for several days after. It was a fun experience though, and now I can truly understand what it’s like when Claire or Gail talk about it.

For relaxation after our hard core workout, Claire’s Dad, Brad, took us out on Lake Monroe in his small motor boat. Small it may be, but slow it is not. I loved sitting at the front of the boat letting the wind hit me and feeling like I was free to fly. It’s a similar feeling to riding a motorcycle but better because I don’t really have the fear of wiping out and being killed or forever maimed. Plus I didn’t have to wear a helmet. The most exciting thing was hitting the waves, bobbing up and down from the waves, and getting splashed by the water. We enjoyed a Kentucky Fried Chicken picnic in the boat as we watched the sun slowly set. It was a perfect way to close the day.

Saturday was just as pleasurable. We slept in again and then stopped by the farmers market on the way to Gail’s. There’s was an art fair taking place which made it even more interesting. I bought a ceramic coffee mug and some clover honey. I love the Bloomington Farmers market…it’s a great place to be on a Saturday morning.

The big event scheduled for Saturday was the Indianapolis zoo. We decided to take a little detour on the way there though and stopped at Oliver Winery to enjoy the beautiful flower gardens and some free taste testing. I’m not much of a wine fan, but I think I may have found one I can at least tolerate. The less it tastes like alcohol and the more sweet it is the better. You might say, why bother? Well, I don’t most of the time. Just curious to see if there’s anything out there I might like.

The zoo was great. We spent three hours there walking around and taking in the sites. During our visit we managed to feed the giraffes (watch out for those long tongues!), pet the dog sharks (their skin reminded me of velvet), watch a 15 minute dolphin show, and enjoy seeing some fun animals including a Walrus sucking algae off the glass tank it was in…yum, yum. We topped off the day with a lovely dinner at a Moroccan restaurant in Bloomington and a movie.

Sunday was just as lovely except for the fact I wasn’t ready to go home. I was simply having too much fun. None-the-less I made that three hour journey back to the Fort and eased into the new week watching the Olympics….gymnastics…my favorite sport to watch during the Olympics.

The weekend before last I had the pleasure of visiting my cousin Amy, her husband Dean, and their kids Kristin and Joshua. They’re now living in Gas City since Dean is the Pastor at the church I grew up in. It was fun to hang out with them and see some of the ladies from the church during a Saturday morning prayer breakfast. My good friend Liz came over in the evening and we had a Tupperware party since Amy had salvaged all the Tupperware Grandma Dorothy had in the house…which was plenty. We split it up – making a pile for Betsy for when she moves here, giving Liz some since she’s moving soon and doesn’t really have any kitchen supplies, and I took a few items since most of my containers are cheap plastic ware. All parties were happy…especially Amy since she was clearing out space in her house.

Amy and I also mastered the art of frying fish…quite the entertainment, I’d say. I managed to burn the oil at first, but then the second time around we got the hang of it. After frying the fish, Amy got a hankering to go fishing. So we traipsed out to the pond and did just that. It was the first time I’ve ever put a worm on my own hook. Grandpa Gail has always been my go to guy for putting worms on my hook. Amy was willing to do it for me, but I kind of wanted to see what it was like. Well, let’s just say it’s not a particularly enjoyable experience. The worm almost senses the puncture before it happens, tenses up and tries to squirm out of the situation. Once I won the battle with the worm I had the pleasure (do you sense my sarcasm dripping here?) of seeing worm guts explode onto my fingers. YUK! I did manage to catch three fish but Amy had to pry them off the hook for me. I simply couldn’t get the right angle on it. We just threw them back in the pond. Perhaps we’ll catch them another day. I imagine I’ll be visiting them often and look forward to more fun cooking experiences and whatever other crazy things we decide to take on.