Bloomington's Brains

Jill Bolte Taylor's BRAINS comes to Bloomington--Public art placed all across the city!

From late-April to mid-October 2012, 22 large fiberglass brains  dot the City of Bloomington and Indiana University's campus. The installations are part of the Brains Extravaganza, a project that brings City institutions together to promote "brain awareness, education, injury prevention, recovery, and the importance of movement on mental and physical health." The project is sponsored by Jill Bolte Taylor BRAINS, Inc. Various community artists have decorated each oversized brain in unique colors and designs of their choice.

 Jill Bolte Taylor is the author of "My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey," which she wrote after experiencing a severe brain hemorrhage. She was a 37 year old Harvard-trained brain scientist when a blood vessel exploded in her brain.  She watched her own mind completely deteriorate and now shares her story of healing and the spiritual metamorphosis she experienced on her way back to wholeness.  She is on staff at Indiana U and currently heads JBT BRAINS, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting brain injury awareness and recovery.

Bloomington with Steph

Just hanging out with Steph--I'm at the kitchen table and they are in her living room--we're all on our computers doing "stuff."

After we had worked long enough, we went out for icecream. We actually did this a few times over the course of the week.  So many flavors to try.
 Flew back home to Tucson today.  Miss you already, Steph!

Yoga

Steph teaches yoga a couple times a week so I joined her Sunday night. She has a wonderful teaching style and she gave me a good practice. Plus it was fun to meet some of her regulars.

Thats her peeking thru the door of her collective studio. after class she demonstrates some poses for my camera. I don't expect I'll be doing any headstands any time soon.

Breakfast at the Farmers Market

Looks like all of Bloomington is at the Farmers Market this morning.  We went for breakfast, fresh baked goods, quiche and smoothies.  Steph's friends coming over to her house for brunch tomorrow morning so we need to find some nice, fresh produce.  No problem.  She bought fresh beets, strawberries from local Mennonite farmers and even found some of her favorite Japanese greens for a salad.  I found her some bedding plants for flower boxes on her new finished patio.

Brunch and yoga

We always enjoy getting together with Steph's friends. Christy and Colin came over for a BBQ on Friday, we met Marvin last night for dinner at the Upland Brewery, and this morning Sam, Rebecca and Nel came for brunch. Her "people" here are super.

Building rail for the patio

We came with the idea that we would be putting some new tile down in Steph's bathroom but thats not going to happen this time. Didn't get the tile ordered in time so Will found another project on her list that was (fairly) quick and doable. Several trips to Lowes and the tool rental store for a hammer drill to secure the posts into the concrete patio and a deck railing begins to take shape. The Indiana weather has started to spike this weekend so its a project that needs to get finished in the early mornings. Leaves the rest of the days for playing.

To Bloomington

Spending a week with Stephanie at her home in Bloomington, Indiana. We flew into Indianapolis last night and drove down arriving about midnight. Stayed up much too late catching up so we slept in this morning. Then Will and I put on our work gloves and started in mowing, pulling weeds, and cleaning out flower beds while Steph was off working. Thats one reason we came. We have a few more projects planned plus some play time also.

Quail family update

An update on our quail family. . .they are flying in and out of back yard at will, coming for lunch and then heading back out into the desert.  Her numbers are down, she has lost a few babies to the food chain I guess but the babies are now looking more like teenagers, just a bit scraggly as they get thier adult feathers.  In fact, we have noticed a new family under our feeders of late.  Word got out about our good buffet.

Lia's Dol

We're getting ready for Lilliana's "Dol".  That's Korean for Lilliana's 1 year birthday party in August.  I got to help Tammy get started with the planning when I was most recently out there and I got the fun job of making her "Dol Towers."  They are part of the decoration, will go on a serving table.  They are just 11 inch cylinders covered with candies and dried things (beans,  peas, rice puffs, etc)--not to eat, just to look pretty.  The first one has her name in Korean spelled out with black beans, the second one is a character that says something like Happy First Birthday, and the third one is all M&Ms in her colors of pink, white and grey.  I got my glue gun heated up and stuck away!!  Putsy, certainly not hard.  Fun that I can get in on the fun. Not so easy to find colored m&m's.  There also is a trick to using hot glue so you don't melt through to the chocolate--couldn't even eat the mistakes because they were covered with glue!  What a waste.

A peek at Lilliana's new dress for her party!  I guess I need something new, too.

Hike on Mt Lemon

 Its 100 degree days in Tucson now, which means desert hikes are out for a few months.  Will and I drove up to do a trail on Mt Lemon where it is considerably cooler.  We packed a picnic lunch, brought our binoculars for some bird watching and spent a pleasant few hours tramping through the woods. Nice views, lots of bird song, good work out.

Someone had fun altering this sign into Rose Canyon.  Does have serious implications on those long hikes!!

Neighborhood Coopers hawk

This young Coopers Hawk has been hanging around the back yard waiting for a chance to catch a morsel at the bird feeders.  I wouldn't mind so much but the quail chicks are still around and I'd hate to see them become his lunch.  The chicks are old enough now to fly over the wall so they spend most of their time out in the desert and come in to glean a few seeds under the feeders usually in the late afternoons.  So far they haven't been in the yard at the same time.

Mothers Day

It was a very nice Mother's Day.  Bouquets and phone calls and even chocolates from the kiddos.  In the evening Will and I packed a picnic lunch and headed for Ried Park in downtown Tucson for an outdoor concert at the band shell by the Tucson Pops Orchestra.  They have been giving free concerts in the park each spring for the last 55 years.  Just a fun thing to do.  People bring all kinds of picnic fare and a lawn chair and listen to some really great music.  The Catalina Highschool has a Steel Drum Band that preformed in the second half and they are so fun.  Just doesn't sound like a Tucson thing--Mariachi maybe--but Caribbean?  Whatever, fun to hear the rousing tunes!

She's singing

Unfortunatly I can't get the audio to come through on this short clip.  I'm doing something wrong. . . but the little plush snoopy is one of her favorite toys and when you push its tummy it plays a song and she always "dances" and sings with it.  So, so sweet!  This was taken the morning I left to come home.

New fridge

That's my new refrigerator!!  My old one gave up the ghost.  I really wanted a new microwave. . .wasn't planning on a new refrigerator but it made the decision for me.  Will noticed the ice maker not working on the old one last week and thought he'd have to look at that when he had time.  Well, then a couple of days later he noticed his milk was kinda warm and that's when he realized it wasn't working.  Guess ice makers stop working when units drop below certain temp.  Called a repairman and he changed fan motor but soon discovered it was more serious than that.  So off to the store to buy some dry ice and then off to appliance store to do some comparison shopping.  Two nice young men delivered my new Whirlpool this morning.  Kinda nice to take stuff out of dirty fridge and pack it into nice, new clean one. . .it needed to be cleaned!  Nothing lost, except we had to eat up a little ice cream.  Now I have to fill the front up with all my pictures and mementos--my kids know that everything of import goes on the refrigerator!

I'm home again, back to Tucson but my heart is still in New Jersey.  Actually, it feels good to be home also.  I just miss that little pumpkin.  We got along really well and guess we will next see her at her first year birthday party in August.

You can see how she loves going out.  The car seat and the stroller make her pretty happy.

When she reaches for Grandma, I could just hug her to pieces!

We spent a lot of time on the floor together.

I had to put this picture in.  We made several trips to this Korean bakery in the neighborhood.  Its amazing.  I haven't found anything quite like it in Tucson.

Always seem to have adventurous flights from New Jersey.  The flight from Newark to Phoenix boarded on time and everything looked great. . .and then we sat on the tarmac for over an hour waiting for some weather west of us to clear so the control tower would give us the ok to go.  I had a 45 min layover in Phoenix and of course I missed that flight.  Will was watching my flight status and we were texting before I took off so he actually drove to Phoenix to pick me up because there was no way I was going to make my connecting flight.  That was very sweet, however, my luggage was, of course, somewhere in the system and finally did show up in Tucson today.  Just a minor irritant, I guess.

Days with grandma

My days have been full of Lia. . .well, that's what I came for. She sleeps, and eats, and naps and plays. She giggles, and cries, and "dances" and blows bubbles and I love every minuet of it. Every day and everything is a new adventure for her and she is learning new things all the time. Of course, she is the smartest and cutest thing ever. She does have a sweet temperament. Anyway, when she is cranky or tired, then Mommie takes over.
Lilliana and I have made long afternoon stroller rides part of our routine together. We both think that is the best time!

Lia gets to "Facetime" with daddy in Shanghai.

Lunch today is cucumber slices and strawberries.