retirement activity

Stainless steel public art

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Shelbyville, Indiana is a small Hoosier town southeast of Indianapolis. Recently it has developed the Blue River Trail, a hiking and bike trail that runs from one end of town to the other. As part of the celebration of the trail, the city commissioned a large public art piece on the north end of town.

Blue River-Wind, Rain and Water

The title Blue River – Wind, Rain and Water is inspired by the river basins of the Big and Little Blue rivers, which run through Shelby County. The two come together within about 100 yards of this artwork placement. According to the informational plaque, the sculpture is inspired by the rivers’ courses and the wind and rainstorms that keep the water flowing.

This statue was the winner of a contest that was held where many artists proposed a piece at this location. An artist from Shelbyville, Michael Helbing, was chosen for the project. The 40 foot tall stainless steel sculpture is the result. It was erected in 2018.

Call 911 that tree is on fire

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Sycamore on fire on backside

Today was the first day in about a week when the sun was out and the temperature was above freezing. We were driving on a road next to a city park when our son noticed what looked like smoke  coming from the tree line at the edge of the park. Not thinking much of it,  we drove on, and saw lots of geese on the river past the park. But, we all kept taking about that smoke we saw. We circled back around and drove into the park where the small column of smoke still billowed.

Our son walked over to the tree line and found that an old sycamore tree was in fact on fire! I walked over to the tree and saw actual flames and several square feet of charred trunk surface.  We called the Fire Department Admin office who directed us to call 911. We did.

Lots of equipment for one tree

Well, a few minutes later here came one of the city’s large aerial ladder trucks.  Two firefighters got out of the truck, one with a water extinguisher and went to our smoking tree. Long story short, they determined that the tree was hollow, and the “blaze” no doubt started by homeless people. Two other trees in this park had also had evidence of a fire started at the base.

They kind of knocked down the embers on the charred trunk. The Street Department was called. Those two fellows said they were ok if they let it burn, and eventually it would fall into the river. The Fire Department agreed. So there is now an old hollow sycamore tree slowly burning on the edge of a city park. Hope the city is right and it will fall towards the river instead of into the park.

Greensburg Indiana’s unique tower tree

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In the early 1870’s in the then small town of Greensburg, Indiana, some citizens noticed some odd greenery on the roof of the Decatur County Courthouse Tower. As the years went on, the green tree seemed to thrive as it grew. Local officials began to be concerned that the tree could cause structural damage to the apex roof of the tower. Legend says that in 1888 a steeplejack was hired to “trim the tree”. He was said to have found not one, but two individual Large Tooth Aspen trees growing quite nicely on the roof.

Decatur County Courthouse and Clock Tower

Word spread rapidly that Greensburg had two trees growing out of the courthouse clock tower roof. The tree drops leaves seasonally like all deciduous trees. Mystery surrounds the origin of the first Aspen seed that sprouted in the roof. Large Tooth Aspens are not native to Central Indiana. Thus history and legend began to grow around this Indiana town.  For over 130 years trees have sprouted, grown and perished in a cycle that continues to this day. No, the tree you see today is not 130 years old. But Greensburg remains a National Treasure for its oddity known as the famous Tower Tree.

Greensburg is on I-74 between Indianapolis, Indiana and Cincinnati, Ohio. Oh, and by the way, do you know how the tree gets water?  Answer: From the spring in the clock.   (cue rimshot)

Birds we saw back in May 2021

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It’s still pretty cold here in Indiana. Let us reminisce about our backyard birdwatching last spring.

Red-Headed Woodpecker

Pair of Grosbeaks

Flicker enjoying suet

Pair of Cowbirds

Chipping Sparrow

The short video is of a female Pileated Woodpecker. We did have a pair show up several times during May and June. This is when they are feeding their young in the nest. We named them “Woody” and “Wilma”.

Buck Creek Winery case club

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Yes, we enjoy a good glass of wine. One of our favorite wineries when we are not traveling is the Buck Creek Winery, southeast of Indianapolis off of I-74 Exit 99. They offer a “buy it by the case” club that gives you very nice savings. (A case of wine is 12 of the 750ml bottles.) After buying a case in January or February at 15% off, any other cases that year are a full 20% off. This is a substantial saving that adds up over the course of a year.

When the owners see us come in they recognize us right off and ask if we want our usual case. Kind of like the old TV show Cheers. Remember it’s “Where everybody knows your name”. We like this place.

Casino on an apparent slow day

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It was another frigid cold Saturday in Central Indiana. After a trip to a local winery we noticed that there weren’t many cars at the Indiana Grand Casino. We thought let’s drive around a bit.

Street level view of the Casino, Main Entrance behind the large sign

Apparently there was some construction ongoing as there was equipment around the entrance and Valet Parking was closed. We drove into the parking garage. There were a decent amount of cars on the first two levels. By the time we got to the open top level, there were less than a handful of vehicles.

Few cars in the open air parking lot. This view is from the top level of the parking garage.

View of the empty race track from the garage roof. Racing will start again in April

We chose to not park and go into the casino. It’s a miserable and cold day. With the Omicron covid still a threat it did not seem like a wise thing to partake of today. We’ll just head back home and enjoy a glass of wine.

The Bears of Blue River statue

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Charles Major was a lawyer and author from Shelbyville, Indiana, a small town near Indianapolis. Major wrote several novels, including his second book, The Bears of Blue River. A statue of the book’s hero and main character, Balsar Brent, was commissioned in 1927. The statue used to be in front of a now demolished elementary school, but recently was placed within the town square, recently reworked.

Statue in front of school, circa 1950’s

Newly relocated place of honor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The statue still sported the festive Santa hats when we got the pictures. The new town square construction has provided a lovely place for folks to relax and enjoy the seating, and when the weather warms, surely events will be planned.

Detail of bronze plaque

Close up of Balsar and his cubs

 

 

 

 

 

The book “Bears of Blue River” is a staple of Hoosier school kids, and has been since it was published in 1901. It is a very exciting read, complete with harrowing adventures, exciting chases and a plethora of encounters with 1820’s wild animals on the then Indiana frontier. I remember it well…

Magnificent Welte Orchestrion music machines at Zaharakos

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We recently enjoyed some fabulous ice cream sundaes at the opulent and historic Zaharakos Ice Cream Parlor and Museum in Columbus, Indiana. In addition to the antique soda fountains and cabinets filled with vintage flavor jars, there are several beautiful Welte Orchestrion automatic music machines displayed.

Welte Orchestrion, left. This was during our April 2021 visit.

Welte machines have a long and detailed history. Note that the term Orchestrion was coined by Welte in the 1850’s. Some refer to these types of automatic music machines as orchestrations.

Fully functional, coin operated

Play list

Large and fancy, see the clock on top?

We have been to Zaharakos Ice Cream Parlor and Museum twice now. Here are the links to our posts about each visit. The April 2021 post has photos of lots of the vintage things in the shop. Our visit a couple of days ago will make you want to visit and have a hot fudge sundae.

 

“Large Arch” public art in Columbus Indiana

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Columbus, Indiana is noted for its architecture and public art displays. One of the most impressive art pieces is a huge bronze creation titled Large Arch. It was installed in 1971, and was a gift from the J. Irwin Miller family to the library. It is located on the plaza outside of the Cleo Rogers Memorial Library. (J. Irwin Miller founded the Cummins Corporation.)

Library is the brick building in the left background

The following description is from a Wikipedia article: “Large Arch is an abstract bronze sculpture of an arch created by Henry Moore, an English artist. The shape of the sculpture suggests human hip and leg bones, while the negative space on the interior of the arch suggests an abstracted human torso with head. It is 19 feet 6 inches tall. The width of the sculpture at its base is 12 feet 3 inches wide, but is 13 feet 9 inches at its widest at the top. While the sculpture is hollow, it weighs approximately 11,000 lb (5,000 kg).”

This massive sculpture will certainly catch your eye. In the warmer weather people do enjoy the plaza next to the library.