Proof of Life

Still here. Still alive.

Proof of Life

The rumors of the cold have been greatly exaggerated

Downtown -- Don't Blink

Yesterday was beautiful and sunny, so we went downtown to explore and take some photographs. I am compiling the first set into a panorama image.

The town is quiet. Shops that could or should be open are not. The jeweler and pawn shop close at 3 on Saturdays, the coffee shop at 6. Most of the store fronts are empty, the upper floors boarded up or in obvious disrepair (with a few exceptions). I find little clues about the town's past and I am fascinated. How did it go from a thriving downtown to a ghost town? There are people living here. Why are they hiding?

There used to be a luxury hotel and a trolley. There were four photographic studios (from what I can tell). And at the end of the street, there is a mammoth five story building, covered in white and copper-green terra-cota tiles, an elaborate tile mosaic floor in a lobby just past a rotating glass door, from which you can see the grand banister of the sweeping staircase. This landmark is the "Ben Hur Life" building, constructed in the early twentieth century by the Tribe of Ben Hur, a fraternal organization (one of the only ones based on a fictional book). The fire escape stairs go all the way to the ground, so we climbed this silent monolith and peered into the windows of each floor-- quiet, empty, abandoned.

Google reveled this article, dated from almost five years ago, dubbing this an endangered historic landmark, and proclaiming it would soon be rescued. The article is filled with hope about the value of past monuments. My visit to the building showed something went very very wrong.

On a lighter note, we attended our first soirée last evening at a fellow faculty's home. It is such a relief to communicate with others-- we are such social beasts.

The Artist in the Studio

Hope you are as amused by my 'artist-at-work' face as I am.

Guess what we found in the dining room when we got home tonight?

Where are the other six pieces?

There has been quite a lot going on this week I have wanted to digest and post here. However it is a lot of work to process events emotionally, then respond to them conceptually. I am working on a couple projects to post here, art made just for this blog. I am still processing how a blog can be art-- it is a work in progress. I am looking forward to seeing its transformation. Thank you, my faithful followers, for your patience.

Country Company

We had a lovely dinner today at a restaurant in the middle of what seemed like a void in the universe (it was that dark). It seems like there are places in the country that hide and hide and hide, then suddenly pop out and surprise us. The menu was inspiring in its unexpected variety, particularly the specials and sea food. I opted for beef, as it was more likely an Indiana native than the salmon. Not that I have something against Indianans and want to eat them. Dessert was homemade apple-mint ice cream. If it had the Ghiradelli chocolate chips, then it would have been perfect! This spring they are opening a new bar next to the pond, complete with sunset-sandpit-dancing.

Today, I got my Miranda July book in the mail. I saw it in stores when it first came out, then it disappeared. The internet delivered it for me, my only resource regardless of where I live!

I started another window video today, but the window kept icing over. It wasn't worth keeping, even though we had very cute squirrel races in the backyard. I will come up with something else, or figure out how to fix the window ice problem.

It was a not-uncomfortable 24 degrees today. Well, 9 when we woke up, but I don't go outside when there is only one number.

Another beautiful day

Extra points if you spot the mammals.

Cold Morning

Cat pics

My brother requested cat pictures. How can one not strive to please a little brother?

Finally!

I am a little embarrassed about how excited I was about a mall in the last entry. I think this is what happens to you when you go from having so many choices to only one-- choices you didn't used to like become more appealing just for the freedom they represent!

We watched the second Matrix movie the other day, during which the hero is confronted by the idea of whether choice indicated freedom, or only presented options from within the system of control one is trapped within. I think about this system in the process of our move. I wanted to be more independent of the system, and yet when my choices are knocked back, I feel desperate! I am planning on continuing this blog for a while, and these are themes I plan to tease out more during this process.

Here it is the New Year, 2008. Yesterday, I turned my little webcam outside for the first sunny day since we have lived here. We went for a walk in our backyard (complete with woods, creek, horses, and a herd of deer) and marveled at our closeness with nature. This morning, my webcam video kicked on at first light and caught the same old shed as yesterday, but this time with a lovely new year's surprise. It took up something like 50 GB of my computer to make this. Enjoy the video!

This represents about 24 hours (minus night) in 35 seconds.

I didn't raise the screen until about half way through the afternoon, and the cat moved the camera a couple times.

I like the brief moving shadows the most; if you look carefully, you can see the clouds flying by in the distance. The sun sets and you see the two times the car was in the driveway with the headlights on. The sun rises with snow already falling. Then the windows (regular and storm window) started fogging up , so you see me clean it. The rising level of snow is very subtle.

Oh, and it snowed while were there!

And here we are in the snow, with my colorful scarf.And no, this snow didn't stick either.

Indianapolis

We just got home from our trip to the city of Indianapolis. I have to say, this is a fun little city. I say little, because I am from Los Angeles, but do note, we did not see everything we set out to see in one day. We did not see the Museum of Art, nor the Museum of Contemporary Art. We weren't even trying to go to the American Super Hero Museum, or the Museum of Miniature Houses, or the Indiana Medical History Museum.

Right after my last blog entry ("cuisine"), a lovely woman named Stephanie came up to us to ask me about my scarf. She sat down and chatted with us for a half hour or so, recommended places for us to visit, then exchanged emails. How fun!

We also stopped at a mall looking for a Bank of America ATM (by the way-- no depositing of checks to B of A accounts... anywhere in Indiana it seems), a mall called The Fashion Mall, Keystone at the Crossing. This mall turned out to be the most beautiful thing ever. All of the best stores and restaurants of So Cal were represented here. It was like the Grove and the Spectrum rolled into one beautiful indoor oasis. I went into a store called Anthropologie, which I have seen in California. Their website does nothing for how adorably their store was decorated for the holiday.


Every year, I buy an ornament or two for my Christmas tree at the after-Christmas sales. As I said before, the tree was one of the first things I unpacked, and one of those sale ornaments from a few years ago was one of the three things that broke in the boxes (I know-- only 3!). So I bought two ornaments at Anthropologie-- a pear with a lady bug, and a rag-doll deer. Very cute. Yes, both made in China. What can you do.

This mall also had: Crate and Barrel, Nordstrom, Tiffany's, William Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Apple store, Sony store, Restoration Hardware, an Art movie theater, Coach, Abercrombie and Fitch, Maggiano's, PF Changes, Cheesecake Factory, and so on. Now, any of you who know me, know I am not a mall person, and I am definitely not a designer mall person. But to see so many elegant displays and beautiful clothes-- there is something to be said about a city having these things to offer, whereas a small town like the one we are in seems to only have Walmart clothes available. And there is nothing stylish and sexy about shopping in a Walmart the size of two city blocks with 40 foot ceilings and cold concrete floors. The appeal of driving an hour to be in such a warm beautiful place... I can't believe the country is what could make me go name brand!

We are debating about our New Year's plans tomorrow evening. There was the idea of going to one of the local bars and seeing how it went. There is there "we're tired and homebodies" New Year's Eve in our New Home (a party for sure). And there is the appeal of going right back to the city. There is a funny looking non-profit artist's space having an event-- we might go there. Next Friday is a big Indianapolis art thing, so we may save it for then.

Hope everyone is having a good night and if I don't write again, Happy New Year's!

Cuisine

We have been trying to eat at local restaurants when we go out. We have also made several meals at home, but as the house isn't quite as clean as we would like yet, and we are used to going out, we have gone out a lot. I have been wanting to write about the local food scene for a while, but not just yet.

Right now, we are in a cafe in Indianapolis, called Paradise. Soup, sandwiches, free Wi-Fi, coffee, and the most delicious cookies, with chocolate chips all the way from Ghirardelli. Truly Paradise! Civilization! Would you be surprised to hear this is a chain? And would you laugh like we did to see it originated in Long Beach, CA? Despite never having eaten at this cafe at a California location, it was a delicious surprise to find in Indiana. Hope you visit it and enjoy!

Happy Holidays!

We celebrated the holidays before our drive. But I still decorated a little here. Surprisingly, Christmas lights are not a big thing here. Very few houses have them. There are a few snow-flake shaped light sculptures in the downtown area.


Today, we are taking it easy and I have had a chance to post here. I wish there were more pictures of a finished house for you! Or even some snow!! It is pretty here, snow or not. We have squirrels living in the trees in our yard. Yesterday another neighbor brought us 'welcome' cookies.

New House--Almost!

The sun room and kitchen are the only presentable, fully working rooms right now. Even they need some adjusting of decor, but they are mostly in order, and hence are my favorite rooms right now. The house has two bedrooms, a bathroom, a dining room (currently box-central), a living room, a sun room, a kitchen, a mudroom, an attic and basement. I love the basement-- "This box is in my way, can you take it to the basement?" It's a whole new level of the "honey-do" list. The only problem with the basement and attic are the stairs. Did people really only have 5 inch long feet one hundred years ago?


The kitchen is functional without excess. The counters appear to be from the 50s-- an aluminum lined laminate material. The yellow back splash tiles are authentic plastic tiles. There are nine drawers in the cabinetry-- I have never had so many drawers. What on earth do you use so many drawers for? One of them is an old built-in flour bin, a deep drawer made of metal. The door above leads to the basement.


Across from the basement door is this windowed door to the mudroom. Apparently, you leave your mudroom unlocked for visitors, and visitors are polite enough not to steal your tools out of the mudroom. This room is nearly the same tempurature as outside, in the 30s right now. The kitchen is hovering the 60s and 70s. Toasty!

By the way, that is indeed an advertisement for chewing tobacco you see in our mudroom.


The house is very charming. We have not unpacked everything yet, nor cleaned things to our satisfaction, but it is working out nicely. I love the door knobs.

New hometown: Indiana

I should have taken a picture of the house at night when we arrived. The next day (Saturday) was so warm, all the snow melted, and the next day, the temperature dropped to the 20s. It did snow a few times throughout the day, but nothing stayed on the ground. No white Christmas after all.

On Friday night, we stopped to look at the house and say hello to the landlord. She is a little old southern lady who is busy as a bee. She and her husband were at a neighbor's party, so we stopped in to say hello. The neighbor was also an older couple (70s) who had never had children. The lady is a Yoga instructor and interior designer. She reminded me of a character from the Yaya Sisterhood... she was offering cocktails and laughing and telling us about her adventures white-water rafting. She hugged us when we left and said something about being more of her adopted kids. I don't know how more welcomed we could feel!

Crawfordsville, IN

Hi everyone,
I am too tired to blog tonight. But I wanted you to know we made it safe and sound! Here is a pic of the house from two months ago. Just so you know, it has snow all over the yard now!

Tomorrow I will try to catch you up on Missouri and Illinois. I have to say, Missouri was really fun and beautiful. Pictures may not describe how lovely it was, but I will try. We didn't have a chance to stop in Saint Louis, but it was so beautiful-- definitely an underrated city!

I will send you pics tomorrow of the snow and the house. The hallway is red. The bathroom has wallpaper. We are in another motel, probably the nicest of the three nights (the same we stayed in over the summer). I feel terrible the cats will be shoved in the car one more time, but at least that time will be short!

When we checked in, the counter girl said, "Have you been here before?"
"Yes."
"Oh. Because you look like out-of-towners."
I said to J, "and let's hope we still do in six months!"

Missouri

Missouri was a beautiful drive. I was glad it was daytime when we made this leg of the drive. It has the red soil of Oklahoma (not quite as red, but still very red), and has these wild rock formations that are pushing out of the ground, that had to be cut through to make the road. Sure enough, there are a number of caves and other geologic formations of interest in Missouri. We didn't stop for them, but might have to go back for a visit!


We stopped at an antique store where we saw a REAL aluminum tree!! Don't think I didn't think for a moment if there was anything we could toss out of the back of the car to make room for it!

Saint Louis was a brick city that appeared to be both returning to the earth and revitalizing. There were old buildings being repurposed into loft apartments, next to others that were burned out and graffitied. I thought it was an interesting looking city, but we didn't even stop for gas, so what do I know?


We crossed the mighty Mississippi. We are officially East of the Mississippi!

Springfield, Missouri, 36 degrees F

We pulled into Springfield around 10PM local time. That's 8PM in California, by the way. J wanted to drive farther, but I was hoping we could get some sleep and have an actual early start Friday. The fog was rolling in too, which made driving difficult. There is supposed to be a big storm coming in to the north in the next two days, which will bring rain to our destination on Saturday and Sunday.

It's cold here, but manageable.

I took this picture at the last pit-stop we made before calling it a night. The car next to me stopped and let out two girls, around 15 years old. They were wearing capri pants, t-shirts, and sneakers with no socks, and big down coats with fur-lined hoods.

1755 miles from home in California. 496 miles to home in Indiana!!

Update:
The comments were restricting users earlier. I changed the settings so you can now comment freely!