Lazy Summer Days

Do you want to know what is quiet?  Here is what is quiet: Memorial Day weekend in Greencastle, Indiana.  With DePauw commencement a week ago today, all the students are gone.  Many faculty are gone as well, off to summer adventures.  The campus has no activities whatsoever listed on its website calendar.  Even the Blue Door Cafe is closed for these three days.

So I had to make my own fun.  Friday night I had dinner with my friend Keith at the Final Approach restaurant out at the Putnam County Airport.  Our table was right next to the runway, so we could watch all the planes take off and land.  Well, we could have watched all the planes take off and land if there had been even one single plane that had taken off or landed during the time we were dining.  But the $4 flavored martinis (I had green apple with cherries) were delicious.

Saturday morning I found the one truly happening spot in town, the Greencastle Farmers' Market, open now for its second Saturday of the season.  I have to confess that the pickings were slim: fewer than a dozen stands, most selling crafts rather than farm produce, and most of the farm produce just lettuce.  But I was there for almost two extremely happy hours, sitting in the shade on the courthouse steps chatting with colleagues and watching their little children at play.

Saturday afternoon stretched ahead.  What to do?  Then I opened up my Indianapolis guidebook and launched a lovely plan to take myself on an outing the Indianapolis Museum of Art. 

It is an extremely wonderful place, set on the grounds of the Lilly family summer estate, with gorgeous gardens (see above) and a truly terrific collection of European and American paintings, as well as African and Asian art. I treated myself to a light pureed broccoli soup and half chicken salad sandwich at the Nourish Cafe there, as well.  And guess what they had on offer as a beverage?  Fruit-infused water!  My new favorite thing in the whole world!  I had a mix of pineapple and strawberry.

Now it's Sunday.  Church this morning - thank God for that!  Peaceful puttering at the Prindle this afternoon to finish writing the abstract of a paper I've been asked to contribute to a forthcoming volume of philosophical essays on manipulation, done with a full two hours to spare before I leave for the airport for my flight to Chicago, where I'll connect for my flight tomorrow to Beijing.  My lazy, quiet summer is about to take a turn for big time adventure!