I read The Sense of an Ending in one sitting. I love the exploration of selective memory and how our perception of ourselves and our world changes as we age.

Now, how to follow it up? Choosing the next book after an especially good read is a tricky art. Any suggestions for me?

Spring in the midwest is usually fleeting at best, but not this year. Our mild winter paved the way for  the kindest spring.

Our patio table has become a helicopter landing pad and I kind of like it.

Years from now when I recall Super Bowl 46 in Indy, as much as the throngs of people, the excitement, this is what I'll remember:

46 Murals
My favorite of the 46 murals from around the city. Kurt Vonnegut seems to say, "Who me?"

23 Installations
TURF IDADA Art Pavilion was a total playground for the imagination. 

4 Roman Numerals
Every single person who lives in Indy and has a twitter account, posted their own version of this:

Hooray for Indy for making this so much more than a game.

Taking a walk/break from work today, I chanced upon this wee knit bunny on the ledge at Starbucks. I love stumbling upon random stuff like this. Left him there so that he might make someone else smile. Who knows what adventures this little guy might have.

A snowy walk, then yoga. Not a bad end to a long winter break.

Things that are full of potential: blank notebooks, the new year, clean slates. I spent a good chunk of the first day of the year thinking about goals for the year and tidying up.

After taking down our tree and trimmings, our house seems open and bright. My ZZ plant, which doubled in size during 2011, looks happy to have reclaimed its spot from the Christmas tree.

This is totally what landed him the role in Dirty Dancing, right?

Once upon a time, I posted #weekinsnapshots here every single week. Then, I began to distance myself from being so attached at the hip to tech, trying to enjoy life and the people near me more fully. I saw the idea of posting "a day in the life" on Quaint Living and decided to give it a try since I had the extra long weekend. The actual intention is for multple bloggers to post about the same day. While I like the shared day aspect, I missed the date, but decided to do it on my own.

Monday, September 5, 2011

After a night of staying up late watching movies, I slept in. Louie cooked breakfast, and I had a leisurely morning with coffee and records ranging from Songs of Love and Hate by Leonard Cohen to No Pocky for Kitty by Superchunk.

Earlier in the weekend temps here were near 100 degrees, then overnight it dipped to the 70s. It felt like instant autumn - perfect timing to plant fall seeds of broccoli, chard, carrots and lettuce. Having an extra day off allowed me to take my time with it and enjoy being outside on such a lovely, brisk day.

There is a bit of a lull in the produce, but the next batch of okra is getting close and I have loads of green tomatoes I hope will  ripen soon. The only harvest of the day was the last of the candy onions. We're going to pickle them to make Gibsons.

Many of my flowering plants were scorched earlier in the year by the hot, dry summer we've had, but a few are still quite lovely.

My dogs hung out outside with me. Even though they have the yard to run around in, they usually laze about on the deck until it's time for a walk. Schnitzel is almost 9 years old, a shepherd-husky mix we adopted from the Chicago city pound. Brüski is a classic mutt in that we really don't know what he is. We adopted him from a no-kill shelter in Southern Indiana about 3 years ago.

Afterwards, we had open-faced pepperoni sandwiches and lingered on the couch watching tennis. I had a furry visiter, Mr. Lumpkin. He is hardly ever satisfied sitting next to you, but prefers to get right on your lap.

We'd been planning all weekend to get a good bike ride in, and so Louie and set out on the Monon Trail, to the Central Canal Towpath to Indianapolis Museum of Art's gardens. There are some great bridges along the ride - these are just a few. The wooden bridge at Michigan Rd, a bridge to Butler University campus from the Towpath and an entrance to the IMA grounds.

The IMA grounds are full of surprise and color.

It's hard to keep cycling when there are so many lovely things to stop and admire.

At home again, we set about having a cooking frenzy. Stocking the fridge full of home-made things on the weekend is something new we're trying to free up our weekdays. Every burner on the stovetop, the oven, our grill and even our ice cream maker were in action at once. We made green beans, cheese grits, a big pot of chili, cornbread, pistachio ice cream and more.

After much cooking and cleanup, we enjoyed grilled steak and some wine on the deck.

When we left for our after-dinner walk, the sun was setting, making pink-tinted clouds.

Our usual evening walk is about two miles.
In for the night, we camped on the couch to try out the ice cream. So delicious. While enjoying it, I researched some pickling recipes. I'd hoped to pickle those onions, but the day ran out. Maybe next weekend!

Mostly this was a really fun experiment, but later in the day my zest for recording things was wearing out. On a busy day with work or traveling, I'm not sure I could have kept up. I am glad, at the end of the day, that I have this record of what was a very care-free, fun day.

Indy looks different from a bicycle.

My garden is exploding with cucumbers. I set a goal for this year to learn how to pickle and can some of our garden surplus. With beets, okra, peppers and more on the way, I better learn soon!