Benjamin Harrison Home

http://www.presidentbenjaminharrison.org/

We visited the Benjamin Harrison Home this month. Tour cost is $8 / adult, $7 if you are a Triple A member. Tour is approximately an hour and 45 minutes.

Interesting factoids:

1. Benjamin Harrison and William Henry Harrison are the only grandson / grandfather Presidential combo

2. William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia 30 days into his time as President. He wanted to prove he was not too old to be Pres, so he did not wear a coat to his inaugaration (on a cold, rainy day) and gave a 2 hour speech. This really does bring up the question - did he actually have good enough judgement to be President? Perhaps the country was given a break? Ironically, Benjamin Harrison also died of pneumonia.

3. Benjamin Harrison is the guy who had electricity put into The White House. However - he was nervous about it, so he had the servants actually flip the switches to turn lights on and off. Nice.

4. He was a progressive person. Went straight from chamberpots to indoor plumbing (skipping the outhouse option) in the house here in Indianapolis.

5. Benjamin's first wife (Caroline???) was a very good painter and started the tradition of designing the Presidential china pattern. Hers / the Harrison's china had a pattern of ears of corn around the outer rim. Not for Indiana though - the ears of corn represent the economy of the time (agrarian).

Check it out !

September Volunteer Work:

Indianapolis International Film Festival.

Needs work. Small. Lots of "gritty" films.

August

Hey Everybody,
So August was pretty lame. Okay, what I really mean, is that I was pretty lame in August. Did not get any volunteer work done. Ridiculous. Not one day or even a part of a day doing any kind of volunteer work. I am not proud of myself for that.

And only did two new - and minor - things this month

1. Paul and I saw the International Space Station fly over. I know - that is some super passive activity. In fact, it really does not qualify as doing something new, but it was new to me / to us. And truth be told, it was kinda cool to know that we were watching it fly by. It came from the west and was headed east / northeast. It had flashing white light(s) - but no red ones, which is really the only way I think you can tell it apart from an airplane at night - which is the way we were viewing it.

2. I learned how to preserve the harvest. My wonderful Mom (Jan) came over and patiently and lovingly taught me how to make / can pickles. We made Bread & Butter pickles. What I've eaten so far were quite good, so if anyone wants the recipe, let me know. Heck - if anyone wants to learn how to can pickles, let me know and I will try to come teach you.

Much more fun and interesting things coming up in September and October.

Peace out.

Blog Alert

Nearly one year of the blog. 365 days of focusing on doing something new every month. Low points - first root canal, first colonoscopy. High points - nearly everything else. Original plan was to shut the blog down at the end of August - close the 365 days and walk away from the lesson.

I've changed my mind though. I knocked many things off my list of "would like to do's" and in the process added many new things. So I'll continue to work on the list and do something new each month, but I am also going to try to focus on giving back. I'm hoping to do some type of volunteer work every month.

July volunteer work was for the Indianapolis International Film Festival. The Indpls Film Fest is 100% volunteer organized and staffed - which is pretty impressive. It's people who love film - especially independent film.

The difference between IIFF and the Heartland Film Festival is that Heartland is focused more on qualities like being uplifting, on having a positive ending, etc. The films at IIFF are more "gritty" with endings that don't tie up in a box with a neat little bow at the end. If you like a variety of films and want to see those little pictures that may not have the luxury of national distribution, check out the Indy Film Fest next year. Ticket cost in 2010 was $10 / film or you can buy an All Access Pass (which was a heck of a deal).
Find details here: http://www.indyfilmfest.org

Niagra

Went out for a drive and ended up at Niagra Falls on the Maid of the Mist. $13 per adult. Boats carry about 300 people each. The boats look over-crowded from shore - makes you feel like you might be on the 6:00 news (due to boat capsizing), but once onboard does not really feel that crowded.

Best location for a good view - the bow of the boat. There are several areas to view the falls without actually going on the boat... but yes... go on the boat anyway!

Long drive... about 8 or 9 hours with a couple of very brief stops. But a good overnight outing.

DeBrand

Visited DeBrand Chocolates - great way to start July 2010.

The factory is located off Exit 116 in Fort Wayne, IN. The tour is $5 per person, and you get a $5 off coupon for each $10 in merchandise purchased, so it's not terribly pricey. Good thing, as the tour itself is somewhat underwhelming. Basically it is a walk down a hallway with a look into each of three kitchens.

The upside is that there are samples at each of the three kitchen stops. Sample type is dependent upon the products they are making that day.

Even if you don't do the tour, it is worth a stop off the highway for a quick chocolate and a coffee or one of the amazing looking desserts in their french-style cafe. Yum !

For more info.: http://www.debrand.com

With Peter Sagel - Chicago - June 2010

Went to see the recording of the NPR show Wait Wait Don't Tell Me on June 10. What a great time! Of course, I elbowed my way to the front of every line. Hey, it's general admission seating... gotta do what ya gotta do to get the best seat in the house. No really, we were LITERALLY the first people in line and going through the door.

The panel included Charlie Price (not so funny) and Paula Poundstone (still dressing like she's in 1980 - big hair and big shoulder pads - but very funny). Don't recall who the third panelist was. The entire show was such fun. Carl Kassle is just as I pictured - an older gentleman who keeps things on track, basically. Peter Sagal is AWESOME ! He's a super quick wit.... funny, funny, funny - an intelligent funny. Excellent evening. I rate this 2 thumbs up - especially if you are already going to be in Chicago (downtown) on a Thursday evening. Just buy tickets well in advance - these shows sell out the day tickets go on sale.

Snow Peas in June

Hurray for Snow Peas - these are Snow Wind peas - and my first attempt at growing peas. Though we put stakes and ran line for the peas to climb, apparently they grow significantly taller than we anticipated. The good news is - they will just turn south, creep down the lines and then grow north again. They have blossoms, and then out of nowhere (it seems) the pods are there. Beautiful peas. It amazes me that a $1.69 pack of seeds that had been sitting in the drawer in the kitchen for "many moons" could produce this row of goodness.

Gosh, I sure love working in the garden - seeing this food grow up from a small seed or plant. All it needs is a bit of water, a little sun, and some TLC (that means weed pulling!). Lovely.