A boat on the lake

We were invited to spend the day on Lake Monroe by some of our Bloomington friends yesterday. They had hired a double decker pontoon from 7am to 7pm and we made use of it for at least 10 of those hours.  We've been to Lake Monroe before, it's only a 15 minute drive from here, but the shore isn't such a nice place to swim as it's kind of muddy and flotsam collects in the shallow areas. 
 

It was a happy day.  We'd drive on the lake for a bit, float around the boat a bit, drive some more, eat, float some more.  Like a mini vacation, a day at the beach, except we were on the water.  Half way through the day we picked up a tire that we could pull behind the boat.  Pontoons aren't super fast so it wasn't too much of a thrill ride but we could try different tricks, like standing and catching the boat's wake waves. 

We got home happy, sunburnt, and tired, our smile muscles aching.  Jbird was asleep within 20 minutes. I think it may have been the most fun I've had in B'ton.  But it's back to the books for me today.

Boggle

As a treat for not procrastinating, Jbird and I have been playing a few rounds of boggle.  The rules are: there's no timer, acronyms are words, we don't keep score, we look up the words we're not sure about to learn them.  We used to play games and games of text twist when we were dating, I suppose it's nearly the same game but without a computer.  It's one nice thing about working at home and having your hubby around while he's on summer vacation.

Who doesn't love free stuff?

Jbird and I certainly do.  On a Sweet Free Stuff note, we have been going into Bluboy Chocolate Cafe and Cakery to get their free mystery cupcake.  I think they're trying to get people into their store over summer while town is quiet.  Unfortunately, we eat the cupcake and leave without making a purchase.  However, I'm sure we'll talk about their cupcakes to others so in a sense they're at least getting free advertising.  They advertise the mystery cupcake on a social network site* which Jbird is signed up to. If you go in and know it's name and there are any left, you become a lucky recipient of a free cupcake.  Today's was Thai Tiger.  Chocolate cake base with Thai green tea buttercream frosting and dark chocolate dribbles.  It was a decadent reason to get out of the house and go on a midday date with my man.

Today cupcake reminded us of Godiva's monthly free chocolate - there was a Godiva in Baltimore but none here.  It seems like such a small gift but I enjoyed mine every month and enjoyed their fancy seasonal creations.  If you're near a Godiva, I suggest you pop in and find out if you can sign up.

*I won't name names, I've advertised them enough recently for someone who is supposedly not an advocate.  Obviously in this case, I have to bite my tongue and take the free stuff advertised.

Crazy internet usage

I have previously briefly described my journey surrounding closing my facebook account.  This week I read an interesting article about internet addiction.  I'm not sure how hyperbolic the author is but, offering several citations to back his thesis, he points at all of us as addicts.  Are you an addict?  Do you use the internet 35+ hours a week?  I use the computer that much at least, and the internet comes hand in hand with computer use these days.  The author talks about the dopamine* we get each time we interact.  He describes the changes in our brains the more we use it, which are supposedly looking more like drug and alcohol addicts' brains. 

My friend and I were discussing how it can be hard to even watch a whole movie without checking facebook or our email account during lulls in the story lines.  Since I closed my fb account, I've been trying to do one thing at a time and I think I've been semi-successful.  My addiction to the internet hasn't exactly gone away though, I don't think.  It might depend on how tired I am.  Today I'm really tired, and it's easy to surf, hard to get onto some real work.

I'm planning to limit more than just facebook from now on.  I'm not sure how to do this, though, as I work on the computer most of the day.  I might turn off the internet on my computer while I'm working, giving myself particular hours of the days when I have it on.  At the very least, I want to become more focussed in my use, less likely to dawdle through favourite spots.  Best intentions, anyway.

*a natural drug which gives us happy feelings

Swimming in Michigan Lake

On the way to and from Kalamazoo, we stopped at Lake Michigan which is one of the great lakes.  It was GREAT.  I mean, I've been told they're big lakes, but they're really big.  We couldn't hope to see the other side of it.  From one spot in Northern Indiana, we could make out Chicago to the west.  One day we'll really visit that city.  

It was amazing to be swimming in a large mass of moving, breathing water again.  It felt a little bit like home with waves and everything.  Unfortunately, we were charged to enjoy this luxury.  Eight dollars on the Michigan side and five on the Indiana side because we are residents - at least, Jbird has an Indiana driver's licence.  That was very much unlike home.  We did find a spot to swim in in a residential neighbourhood which was free, but it wasn't quite as nice as the pay per car places so we sucked it up and paid.  How many times will we sit on the shores of a great lake, after all?  There's far too much to see in America to expect to do it very often.

A better description

I have to apologise for yesterday's post.  I was very, very tired and my brain couldn't think clearly.  I don't think I gave a worthy description of the wedding so I will today.  

We had pastries and custard for breakfast.  The custard was baked the night before, a northern tradition. The three host sisters agreed this was a breakfast fit for Christmas morning.  We spent the day out on the lake, Jbird went water-skiing behind a jetski.  And he rode the jetski.  The boys played frisbee football.  I think it might have been Jbird's perfect kind of day.  The ceremony itself was very very simple - nine minutes long, conducted in the living room.  There was a little wee flower girl with chubby chubby legs who sat very quietly when she needed to and stole the show afterwards with her cuteness. I was completely under dressed.   The bride didn't know she had a bouquet so she didn't hold it but it was pretty in the photos.  They opened a few presents.   We toasted with champagne.  We had wedding cake(s), huge American-sized (beef) steaks on the grill, and smores around a campfire.  The other cake (the one I didn't make) was a creamy mocha chocolate creation and dedicated to both the wedding couple and a sister who was having a birthday.   It was a great way to have a wedding.  If only the groom's entire family could have been there, it would have been perfect. 

I wore white to the wedding

We arrived back late last night, tired and sunburnt.  I wonder if you could tell from some posts last week that I wasn't exactly looking forward to our trip to Michigan.  I don't like not knowing what to expect and I hadn't known what to expect.  So much so that I put no thought at all into what I would wear to the ceremony when I was packing.  I ended up in an everyday outfit.  It was white.  The bride hadn't thought she'd wear white but she did.  Woops.  Oh well, I'm not in many photos.  I hope.  All three kiwis wore shorts and bare feet, the groom included, although his shorts were very smart.

Skyping the wedding to New Zealand didn't work, the screen froze on an image of  the ceiling and somebody's forehead.  I expected this of skype so Jbird also filmed it and will edit together a video to send home.  He makes nice videos.  

The fruitcake turned out great.  I think it was one of the best I've ever made and am thankful I bought cake flour.  I was informed that in the US, the grooms' cake was traditionally a fruit cake, so it wasn't so unusual after all.  It wasn't pretty but it was enjoyed.

Living, breathing green

Our garden is an alive mass of green.  It's hard to tell where one plant ends and another begins.  Long gone are the days when I carefully step around seedlings.  The courgette remains the largest contender for space but the melons - water and cantaloupe - are starting to compete, with tiny little fruit showing up on tendrils.  I'm still determined to have something to show for our efforts and have starting netting individual vegetables and fruit, hoping to deter a clumsy bunny, though I'd rather not entangle them.

Our thin bamboo stakes are no longer strong enough so I had Jbird fashion some stronger ones out of timber from an old crate.  There is so much fruit on each tomato tree, they had all fallen on top of one another and were beginning to spread over the footpath.  Every time I go outside, I stake another tomato branch and have begun to discover some really big guys waiting to ripen.  I heard it takes 65 days from flower to red tomato.  It feels so long to wait and to protect from visiting wildlife.  The canning is going to be out of control when those days come.

Yet another grumper of a day

I had an inexplicably grumpy day yesterday.  I was a fire breathing dragon, ready to flame.*  Nothing felt right or good.  Perhaps it was the Weird Muggy Weather - my frizzy hair certainly noticed it.  Or the feeling like I am writing the Essay That Will Never End.  Or the Looming Wedding which I want to feel excited about but am finding it hard to.  Poor Jbird felt the flames when I discovered him enjoying some watermelon I'd mentally intended to take to a someone's for dinner.  For me, it felt like the end of the world.  

I'm glad today is a new day, bright and fresh, and Jbird seems happy enough to let me make amends.  I'll buy more watermelon, darling, I'm sorry for snapping - though I know you heard about more than just the watermelon. 

* Speaking of fire breathing dragons, I cannot wait for the return of Game of Thrones.  The dragons were my very favourite.

Heads and tails of American politics

Without a t.v., access to a decent paper, or even a radio, it was hard for me to learn about politics here.  I barely followed the current affairs - unless it was a big enough deal to affect me.  This year we bought a kitchen radio and I slowly started to follow stories I heard on it from the news or other talk shows.  In the last two months, I have been watching John Stewart's Daily Show.  Things I hear about on the radio and had thought ridiculous - like the massive cat fights during the primary elections - are pointed out and made fun of. Three years ago, he wouldn't have made any sense to me at all.  I'm slowly assimilating to the ways of the people.