Good Night, Bloomington

Good Night

Many ways to say good night.
Fireworks at a pier on the Fourth of July
spell it with red wheels and yellow spokes.
They fizz in the air, touch the water and quit.
Rockets make a trajectory of gold-and-blue
and then go out.
Railroad trains at night spell with a smokestack mushrooming a white pillar.
Steamboats turn a curve in the Mississippi crying a baritone that crosses lowland cottonfields to razorback hill.
It is easy to spell good night.
Many ways to spell good night.

-- Carl Sandburg

Moving Day

Over 200 boxes. Mostly books.

A load of over 8000 pounds went into the moving van.

With the heroic efforts of my parents, Jennifer, and the movers, we cleared out the entire apartment.

After everyone had left, David and I watched the sunset from our balcony. It looked like Florida.

A Last Look

Poppy takes a final look out the window of our apartment. We're moving out today, and in a few days we should be in Florida.

Today's Triumphs

It's here!! Finally!!

And in less important news, it looks like we also got the place we wanted in Tallahassee. It's a townhouse with three bedrooms and our own fenced-in yard. This is the view from one of the bedrooms, and you can see how lush and green the trees are. OK, enough blogging; time to listen to more of Book Seven!

Everyone Needs a Carnivorous Plant

We took our carnivorous plant over to my parents' house when we were staying there, and we just brought it back home. In its absence, ants had begun to invade the apartment, but the carnivorous plant ate them. Good plant.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Book Packing

We still don't have the book, which is due to arrive some time this week. However, after some scavenging in bookstore dumpsters, we now have the coolest moving boxes ever!

While I Wasn't Packing

This weekend I tried to see all of my friends before I leave town. David and I had dinner with Fox, TammyJo, Tom, Emilie, and Derek, and then drinks with Kate and Ruben.

And the next day, I went to the Middle Eastern festival in Indianapolis with Jennifer and John, where we watched dancing, ate some delicious food, and toured the church.

My camera ran out of batteries, but at least I got a picture of this cool detail in one of the stained glass windows. It's a locust, but it looks like an Indiana cicada.

And I managed to get a picture of Emilie and Derek. It was funny to run into them at the festival -- and that's something that probably won't happen too often in Tallahassee!

Produce Spectacular!

I was only going to post one picture of the farmer's market this morning. But it was all so spectacular that I couldn't decide on just one.

I couldn't leave out the tomatoes.

Or all these wonderful little summer squashes.

And I love this booth with the dried flower bouquets and garlic braids.

"I'm charging a nickel a picture!" the guy at this booth joked. I would have paid more.

And then there were all the different eggplants, and the boxes of fresh okra.

It was hard to decide, but in the end I went home with blackberries, blueberries, cantaloupes large and small, heirloom tomatoes of all shapes and sizes, and an incredible purple cauliflower.

The Grand Hallows Ball

I was in the crowd tonight at the Harry Potter book release party at Borders, which they were calling the "Grand Hallows Ball." There were games and crafts, but the best part was looking at all the costumes: Harrys and Hermiones, Malfoys and Snapes, even a Devil's Snare plant and a Knight Bus.

David and I met Emilie and Derek there. Emilie had a wonderful Madame Rosmerta costume, complete with a bottle of butter beer. (By the way, did you know that this is the origin of her name?) David and I just wore our Muggle clothes. This is what Muggles wear, isn't it?

We saw lots of people we knew. I wasn't too surprised to see Nola among the revelers.

I wasn't expecting to see Kate, Ruben, and Molly, though! Kate and Ruben live in Boston, and I haven't seen them in quite a while. Was everyone at the Grand Hallows Ball? Was it ... magic?

David and I have ordered the book on tape, so it will be a long time before we finish it. Until then, I will be staying away from all media except for the blogs in my favorites list, so that we won't find out anything about the plot!

The Thrill of Packing

It's amazing what things you uncover when you're packing up all your possessions. Yesterday Mom and I found an old firework left over from a party I threw several years ago for the Krentzes. I didn't think it would still work, but when we lit the fuse, red and green sparks came spinning out, and then the whole thing went up in flames. Sometimes packing is very exciting.

The Cat Carrier

On the floor in this picture, between Poppy and her reflection, is the new cat carrier. We've been encouraging her to go in it by putting catnip inside (a trick which we learned from Dr. Hausfrau's husband). Yesterday this resulted in the calmest and quietest trip to the vet we've ever had. Poppy got a clean bill of health, and we got some tips on moving her to Florida. It will involve a lot of catnip.

The Quarry

After lunch on Sunday, I hiked over to the old limestone quarry at Mimi's farm with Mom, Dad, Will, and David. I wanted David to see the place where I used to go swimming when I was little.

It's still one of my favorite places in the world.

Some of us swam in the cool dark water, watching clouds roll over the cliffs and birds flying overhead.

Some found rocks to skip.

Others mainly spent their time taking pictures of fish.

Mimi's Farm

On Sunday Mimi invited us to her farm to celebrate all the summer birthdays: hers, mine, and Amanda's. We were also celebrating my parents' return from Germany, Will's new job, David's new job, and summer in general.

We sat just outside the beautiful old farmhouse and sipped iced tea and limeade under the trees.

We opened presents ...

... and cards ...

... and then had a delicious lunch of corn, summer vegetables, bread and cheese, and birthday cake.

Hello, Goodbye

Goodbye, workplace. Hello, peaceful life of unemployment.

Goodbye, documents. Hello, texts.

Goodbye, packing and unpacking boxes. Hello ... packing and unpacking boxes.

New Additions

I've made a few changes to the blog layout this morning. I'm trying out a new look for The Voyage of the Bloomingtonauts, although I might change my mind and go back to the polka-dots. The image at the top of the page is Charles Kingsley's illustration of the Argo from his 1901 book The Heroes; or, Greek Fairy Tales for my Children. It's now in the public domain, and you can read the whole thing here if you're interested. Also, I finally added a list of the blogs that I check every day!

The Last Day of Work

Today was my last day at work! I can't believe it. Yesterday my co-workers took me out for a farewell lunch at Nothing But Noodles. Pictured here (from left to right) are Amanda and Lauren, the fantastic IU students who had summer jobs working with us; Gary, the contractor who will be replacing me; and Ellen, who worked with me throughout this entire project, and who is a true document librarian star! Thanks for everything, guys! I hope you'll check in on me occasionally here on the blog.

Worst ... Avatar ... Ever!

Actually I think it's pretty close! You have to go to this website and see what you would look like if you were on The Simpsons.

Back Home Again

Laughing Corn

There was a high majestic fooling
Day before yesterday in the yellow corn.
And day after to-morrow in the yellow corn
There will be high majestic fooling.
The ears ripen in late summer
And come on with a conquering laughter,
Come on with a high and conquering laughter.
The long-tailed blackbirds are hoarse.
One of the smaller blackbirds chitters on a stalk
And a spot of red is on its shoulder
And I never heard its name in my life.
Some of the ears are bursting.
A white juice works inside.
Cornsilk creeps in the end and dangles in the wind.
Always--I never knew it any other way--
The wind and the corn talk things over together.
And the rain and the corn and the sun and the corn
Talk things over together.
Over the road is the farmhouse.
The siding is white and a green blind is slung loose.
It will not be fixed till the corn is husked.
The farmer and his wife talk things over together.

-- Carl Sandburg

Florida

We just got back from Tallahassee, and it didn't look much like the sepia-toned 19th-century print from the previous post. The whole city was brightly colored and had flowers everywhere, including this hibiscus just outside the door to our hotel room.

And we saw a lot of these pink flowering trees.


We didn't take any pictures of the rental houses that we saw, but we did find some that we really liked. Our favorite ones were on streets lined with tall live oaks and palm trees.

Here are more of those trees in downtown Tallahassee, around the Arts and Sciences Museum.

The campus was beautiful, too, with all its old brick buildings and lush green lawns.

And strange little details, like these sea serpent sculptures.

David's office will be in this building, which is designed to look like a Gothic castle. I got lost looking for the room where he was giving his lecture, and wandered up and down winding staircases and through narrow halls. I felt like Catherine Morland.

On the other hand, the department of anthropology has been moved to the most modern setting you could possibly imagine: a strip mall on the edge of campus. Apparently, they love all the space that they have there. Plus, I imagine that it gives them an excellent vantage point for the study of human culture.