Tuesday afternoon photo

From outside the clubhouse this afternoon. That's James Hager racing by on the motorcycle...

Grannies heading out

Cathy and Diane heading out this morning on their way to a reunion down in the mountains of North Carolina.

Toadstools and Pinecones

Signs of the season. Photo taken just to the side of #5 green where all the pine trees are. The toadstools are popping up all over the place.

SMC girls plus fifty

Back at St. Mary's College they were known as Cathy Carter and Diane Dickerson, both from Boise and each casting bewitching spells on me for varying lengths of time. The top photo has Diane in it and the middle photo has Cathy. Can you pick them out?

Bird rising

One of a pair of crows seen at the golf course yesterday out by #4 green.

Browsing the Skywatch Friday blogs...

...and coming up with From the 104th Floor by Leda Rodis (age 14 in 2001) about 911. Very touching. Read the poem and then the rest of the blog on who Leda Rodis is.

Skywatch Friday in Loogootee

Daybreak here in southern Indiana and the moon is being chased higher into the sky by the day's new light.

Sun rising and mist, too.

Photo from earlier today.

The remains of summer

A little frayed in places and downright decrepit in others but still having more than a hint of the glory that was this Spring and Summer.

September Rose

So is this a pale pink or a light pink? I'll take either since I like the 'intended' meanings for each of them. From here:

Pale Pink Roses
Pale pink roses connote grace, gentleness, and gratitude.

Light Pink Roses
A joy to behold, light pink roses express fun and happiness.

Diane Varner photo: Awake

Seaside happenings at daybreak here. She only posts every now and then but when she does the photos are captivating. At least for me.

Very good movies: Red, The Twilight Samurai

We saw them this week. Both foreign with subtitles, both with unusual and out of the ordinary story lines, and both super.

Red here. From reviewer espoon at Netflix:

This is one of my very favorite films. It is a tale of romance, destiny, betrayal, love, and life. However, it is very subtle. It is a great piece of cinema, with terrific symbolism. The use of music and the color red is intriguing, and much more subtle than you'd expect. The story is simple enough. A lonely model meets a unscrupulous, old judge who spies on his neighbors. Her honesty and integrity touches the judge and he changes his ways. However, there is much more to it than this. They learn about each other, and learn about themselves. There are many parallels between the past of the judge and the present of the model, and I pick out something new every time I watch it. It is a film that makes you think, about life, fate, and love. It is really more a work of art than a piece of entertainment, and therefore probably not very interesting to the average viewer. I saw pieces of myself in the film, and was touched. Maybe you will be, too. Or maybe you'll just be bored. I recommend finding out.

The Twilight Samurai here. From a reviewer (Cult...) at Netflix:

OH my word what a surprising little gem. Much less a Samurai picture than the story of a single dad trying to raise his two girls and take care of a mom going senile. Being drawn into conflict isn't something he wants or seeks out. He doesn't desire glory or battle but merely to be a simple low class samurai. When he is drawn into conflict it is to protect people he loves. It is that desire to take care of those around him that makes him succeed. It's a surprising and very atypical example of the genre. Poetic and moving.

Bailout aftershock

Well, I guess it really can't be an aftershock since we haven't had a bailout yet. More accurate would be a financial collapse aftershock. This from Kevin Drum:

UPDATE: And then there's this:

"A lot of those people will have to sell their homes, they're going to cut back on the private jets and the vacations. They may even have to take their kids out of private school," said [Robert] Frank. "It's a total reworking of their lifestyle."

...."It's going to be very hard psychologically for these people," Frank said. "I talked to one guy who had to give up his private jet recently. And he said of all the trials in his life, giving that up was the hardest thing he's ever done."

Anybody got a tissue? I think I may start crying.

He talks earlier in the blog of a growing number of people against the bailout and suggestions that would shore up the ailing world of finance without actually taking over a bunch of bad loans. Like, for instance, buying shares in the affected corporations. Interesting times we live in...

Spicebush Swallowtail Catepillar/Butterfly

Found on the golf course just below #9 tee box yesterday afternoon by Rex Humerickhouse. Have never seen the like... Go here for more on this cartoon like critter that one would expect to find at the local Wal-Mart store in the stuffed animal bin.

Geese on the Wing

Our feathered friends moving about for the fun of it. Taken last Thursday evening.

Skywatch Friday in Loogootee

It's Skywatch Friday again and these are current photos - our sky as we start this day, the 19th of September, taken within the last half hour. (Oops... just posted at the Skywatch site and forgot to change the link from last week's photo to this week's photo. Dang...)

Gazebo

The little shelter house as seen from a slightly larger shelter house next to Stoll's Lakeview Restaurant.

Docking area

Nice to have one in the vicinity after a particularly long day... Eric is doing fine and will be back in the swing of things tomorrow.

Morning Smoke Rising

Taken this morning from the gc parking lot. I was in early to spell Eric who was going in for surgery on his knee a little later.

Great Blue Heron Standing on One Leg...

...and keeping an eye on me as I pass by on the dam.

Night Lights

From a few nights back. Stoll's Restaurant feeding the hungry as darkness falls.

Notre Dame football

I did watch parts of the Notre Dame-Michigan game yesterday afternoon. The prognosticators before the game said it would likely be ugly, meaning two storied teams finding themselves in lean times. Some time during the game, one of the talking heads, after the Irish had been given a hugh lead by the fumbling Wolverines, said that Notre Dame could go nine and two and still be ilrelevent this year. Ouch...

Saturday's Sunset

I would look away to do something else and then be startled at the change just a few minutes later.

After the storm and rains of the night and morning

Interesting skies...

Skywatch Friday photo

It's Skywatch Friday again and I go back to August 18th to find a colorful photo. This morning's sky is full of some much needed rain.

Update - Friday, September 19th: go here for current photos - I forgot to change the url when I posted - me bad (not really).

Night falling and moon rising

From a day or two back as I waited for the last golfers to come in from the back forty. Don't recognize the vehicle passing; could have been a neighbor. One of the special things about living in a small town: you expect to know everybody who passes by and if you don't, you ask the person next to you: who was that? They usually know.

Politics, again - because the noise machine is running

Via Josh Marshall at tpm.com, this from a former fan of John McCain:

McCain has demonstrated in the last two months that he does not have the character to be president of the United States. And that is why it is more important than ever to ensure that Barack Obama is the next president. The alternative is now unthinkable. And McCain - no one else - has proved it.

Go read the rest of the article here. It's worth the effort.

Heron on the watch

The heron was back and still unfazed by other bipeds walking on the dam.

Bloomington Photos: Diane laughing

We were with Miki and Kevin and having brunch at the Scholars Inn in Bloomington. Don't recall what it was that tickled Diane's funny bone. Food was delicious and quite fancy - the cinnamon roll was served with blueberries, strawberries and whipped cream; the setting was peaceful and woodsy even though we were pretty much in the middle of B-town; and the company was fantastic.

An afternoon view of the lake

Lovely...

Bloomington Photos: City potted plants runneth over

A quiet time on a Bloomington street corner - Sunday morning.

Bloomington Photos: City vehicles only

I would guess it was an IU student doing some class reading. Of course, he might have been catching up on Stephanie Plum and her latest adventure somewhere in Trenton, NJ. Class reading of another sort.

Bloomington Photos: Lawn chairs on a table

Lawn chairs on a table... And Kevin, Miki and Diane.

Sunday musings: college football, books, politics, the world and the weather, too!

Photo: Fishermen finding themselves somewhere between a green and an eating place.

-Did you know that Nate Montana, Joe's son, is a backup quarterback at Notre Dame? I didn't... A story about him here. And, yes, the Irish did not look good yesterday though they did win. Michigan next. Hoosiers and Boilermakers also won. Easily.

-Got two books started and one that is calling me that came in the mail yesterday: Janet Evanovich's Three to Get Deady, a Stephanie Plum novel, which is just good fun and a great escape; Haruko Taya Cook & Theodore F. Cook's Japan at War, an oral history, which sister Sarah sent me a month or so back and which I am finding more than interesting - the stories are from the guys on the other side during the Pacific part of WWII, the Japanese; and Gavan Daws Prisoners of the Japanese which should offer a quite different perspective on that same Pacific War.

-Obama was in Terre Haute yesterday. Cool. Looking for Indiana to go Blue this November. Wouldn't surprise me.

-Benazir Bhutto's widower has been elected president of Pakistan. Sea change happening over there, too.

-Weather change here in Loogootee, from the oven heat of a few days back to Fall like weather yesterday and now today as well. Nice.

Lace Curtain 2

Lace Curtains at the noon hour.

Saturday morning sky

Had a chance to do some sky watching while waiting for this morning's scrambe to begin.

Skywatch, for fun...

The skywatch link.

Thursday night television

I kept switching back and forth between the football game and the convention. Giants were dominant and I thought the super star at the convention was John's little lady, Cindy. Interesting stuff here at wikipedia, like she considers herself an only child though having two half sisters, and she was involved in the Keating Five scandal back in the late '80's. Oh my. Ah... I see that John was cleared in the Keating Five scandal but reprimanded for exercising 'poor judgment'. Oops.

Everybody has a camera...

At the lake over the Labor Day weekend.

Afternoon view from the front bedroom

Home early today what with the rainy skies and had a chance to see the afternoon through a couple of lace curtains. Not exactly Robert Frost and Chicago. (Here's a reference of a Frost poem that includes lace curtains but is in his North of Boston volume. Wonder what the Chicago connection is - maybe another poem by Frost?)

Praying Mantis photos

He was sitting on the back of a cart early this morning before the games started.

Blue Heron Photos

I was surprised that the big blue stayed around with five of us right there on the ninth tee box. Guess something caught its eye.

Wild Things 2

Wild yellow flowers off of the fifth fairway.

Hot and hazy afternoon

Girls having fun photo #2