After our quick camping trip in Hoosier National Forest on July 3rd, Collin and Annie and I met up with all of my siblings at Spring Mill State Park. We had a great time together visiting the pioneer village and talking with the artisans in period costumes. There were a lot of activities going on in the park for the holiday weekend, which made it extra fun.
Faith and Paul up by the spring that still feeds the huge stone grist mill.
Andrew, Annie, Collin and Jon check out the headwaters of Spring Mill Creek.
The centerpiece of the park is the huge grist mill built in 1817 (just a year after Indiana became a state!). The mill is still in operation today, and you can buy stone ground cornmeal for $2.00/2lb bag. It is fantastic cornmeal, too, and it makes some of the best pizza crust coating I've ever had. We really enjoyed talking with the mill operator, and he enjoyed showing us some of the old equipment they don't use on a regular basis. He wanted to take Paul on as an apprentice, but Paul wanted to become a blacksmith instead.
Annie checks out the view from the 3rd story window of the grist mill.
Most of the buildings except the mill and a couple others have been moved to the park, including this blacksmith's workshop.
While we were there the blacksmith was working on finishing the tip of this fireplace poker.
The village gardens were very pretty, and the sun was very bright.
Faith was so taken with the arched entry to the gardens that she asked Collin if he would kiss me under it so she could take a picture.
Inside the church meeting house a young woman had a craft station where you could make a fan out of craft sticks, ribbon, and calico fabric. She called it "old fashioned air conditioning." While the girls made fans, the guys sat around and looked bored.
It was very hot on this 4th of July weekend, so we spent some time cooling our feet in the creek. Annie loved it.
This wood carver was making a rolling pin. His work (displayed on the blanket on the ground) was very beautiful.
Collin, Andrew and Jon were all a little too tall for the inn's short ceilings. Ben and Kristen had to leave early, so they missed our height comparison photo.
Anyway, if you're in the Bloomington area, you should definitely take a summer Saturday to go down to Spring Mill. It's a lot of fun, especially with the costumed interpreters to talk with and learn about the pioneer way of life. Plus, you can buy some stone-ground cornmeal and that's almost worth the trip by itself.
is a very fun read and an interesting idea. I love some of the ways these artists have used knitting and crocheting to brighten up the urban landscape and bring whimsy to nature. I laughed so much while looking at the pictures, and was constantly telling Collin, "you've got to see THIS one!" But really, it seems like a lot of time to spend on something that doesn't do a whole lot of good. Personally, I'll stick to making more useful items, although I hope to remember and remain inspired by the whimsy and creativity of the artists in yarn bombing.
, in that it is a mystery involving some very vivid and disparate characters. I also thought of 
, since it is about a group of four highly intelligent yet differently gifted pre-adolescent children. And it even reminded me, just a little, of 
. After I re-read that, I ran across another version and thought I'd see how another author treated my favorite fairy tale. Let's just say I wasn't impressed. I know that part of the reason I disliked it was the poor quality binding (I felt like I was reading a dime-store romance, even though the words themselves were chaste enough). Binding aside, however, I genuinely felt apathy for the storytelling. It felt like the author was trying to flesh out the original story by adding lots of details and dialogue, yet she never found an authentic voice with which to tell her story. Belle and her sisters, for example, sound like modern day high schoolers acting in a poorly-scripted play. The beast, similarly, has little gravitas or appeal which would motivate Belle to leave her father and mother and cleave to him. It left me feeling as empty as a made-for-tv tween romance. If I were you, I wouldn't waste any time reading this book.
by Norton Juster
for humanists. It lines up perfectly with the religion of this age, with education and enlightenment being the answer to all our problems. There is quite a bit of good mixed in it, as it teaches us to keenly observe the world with fresh eyes, to learn all we can from what we observe, to exercise our brains, and to beware of vices like jumping to conclusions and wasting time. It is excellently written, and has superb line illustrations throughout. Just be careful to use that awakened brain of yours and read this book with discernment.
in January.
Here is another childhood book that I re-read as an adult. It is, of course, the story of a young English boy named Omri and his adventures with a magical cupboard which can bring plastic figures to life. Many reviews criticize this book for being "racist" or at best insensitive and inaccurate in their portrayal of Little Brave, the American Indian figurine. I didn't find Little Brave to be the offspring of a racist imagination any more than their portrayal of the American cowboy as a stupid, foul-mouthed crybaby was prejudiced against Caucasian Americans. Rather, all the characters (and caricatures) which emerged from the magical cupboard seemed to me ones which would naturally flow from the imagination of a little British boy in the 1980s who has learned his American history solely from watching western movies. It says more about the myth of cowboys and Indians than about their actual culture and history. As a book, it's somewhat imaginative and interesting, but nothing too out of the ordinary.
