In a sky so clear and blue
Saturday sun came without warning
So no-one knew what to do.
--Nick Drake, Saturday Sun
Yesterday was gorgeous. It's been so hot here (as it has been everywhere!) and suddenly the temperature dropped about 20 degrees and it was sunny sunny sunny and 75. I ventured out to downtown in the morning and wandered around a bit--I'm still trying to orient myself to where the courthouse/the square is in relationship to Restaurant Row, the public library, and campus.
So here's the courthouse: (as seen in Breaking Away, lest you were curious)
Then I met up with two awesome family friends for lunch. Their daughter is my sister's roomate (hiya, ARLES), and it is really great for me that they're here, because 1. they can give me directions and other life help, 2. they brought me a bag of pears that they picked, 3. they are super nice, and 4. we had falafels and baklava and chatted.
After lunch, we wandered around the Fourth Street Art Festival for a bit, which was jam-packed with stalls, people, and live music. A lot of fiddling. (I'm getting into blue-grass country now, I keep forgetting.) Any art you could really think of--I was impressed the most with glass weaving, some of the photography (a REALLY cool technique where you have two cameras and take the picture through the second camera, which is positioned behind the first, so it's through two lens's, if that makes any sense), and quite a few different pottery booths. Some very cool rice bowls, some (overpriced yet gorgeous) shawls, abstract painting, metal-worked wall plaques, jewelery, wooden cookware, and much more!
Here are two not so great shots, but you can kind of tell how big it was:
Along the way I met up with some Art History ladies and we went to get gelato, wandered some more, and went home to prepare for the AHA (Art History Association) picnic, which was, again, lots of fun and lots of good food. (I don't know who provided those sweet potato tart things and the peach cake, but mmmm!) It has been nice to meet some of the older MA and PhD students, although I confess to being a terrible networker and not meeting as many people as I should! I'm getting there though. After THAT we went to a few places downtown for drinks, very late night pizza, and some general frivolity. So much frivolity, in fact, that it is almost noon and I just staggered out of bed, with 70 pages of Leon Battista Alberti leering at me, just waiting to be read. I will probably make some brownies to console myself.
To sum up: Saturdays in Bloomington, so far, involve food, art, and new friends who I am really getting to like. Yeah, I could get used to this.
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