Bloomington's Local Weekend

It's the Bloomingtonians last weekend before our small summer community explodes into a metropolis filled with people going the wrong way on our streets, crowding the bike lanes and making the wait time at our "watering holes" unbearable. So over the last two weeks, I've dined at most of my favorites. Let's start with Finch's Brasserie on Kirkwood. Lunch on the patio with a view of the Sample Gates at the entrance to campus is perfect. The food is always wonderful--particularly the pizzattas. Just to be different, I tried the smoked brisket on ciabatta bread. It was certainy smokey and flavorful. The homemade pommes frites were also super. Finch's needs to go on every person's short list of Bloomington favorites.

Then there's the new "Scenic View" on Hwy 446 on the way to Lake Monroe. The restaurant's gone through a number of reincarnations over the years but this one has to be the best. As the name implys, there's a spectacular view of Lake Monroe from either the patio or the indoor seating which should only get better as the trees begin to turn. Go for the burgers (either beef or lamb) or the baked-on-site pizza. I've also heard good reviews on the barbeque sandwich as well.
There are also some other changes on the restaurant scene since the students left. One is the new menu and chef at Chapmans. Evidently, a former chef from Truffles has returned to town and hopes to breath new life and business into this far east side, recently remodeled eatery. Loads of dough had to have been spent on the refurbishing of the interior. Evidently, now the owners are doing same with the menu.

Lastly, Nicks Old English Hut, a Bloomington landmark since the late 1920s has expanded its seating for families on the mezzanine. The tall tables have been replaced with regular tables and MORE OF them to accommodate the grandparents, parents, teenagers, children, toddlers and even babies. (I'm leaving it at that and not going any further for fear I'll go too far.)

So, now that locals' weekend is nearly over and the 30,000+ folks are on their way. Bloomington is ready...as we are this time every year. Target is stocked to the ceiling. The mattress salesmen are back on the street corners and we've eaten at our faves, I say, Bring 'em on. Go Hoosiers.

New Digs for IU's Rock

As the lazy, crazy days of summer morph into "back to school", IU students and football fans hav a real surprise when they return to Bloomington. Finally, IU has a "Big 10" class football stadium. The newly built north end joins the east and west stands so for the first time, the stadium is nearly enclosed.

Maybe the rehabed stadium will magically draw the fans into the stadium away from the acre after acre of tailgate parties that start at dawn, hours before the gates open and the first notes of the Marching Hundred can be heard. If nothing more, the new stadium certainly offers two huge benefits over the grass fields--brand new flushing toilets and running water. Hopefully the stadium will be a respected point of pride with the fans of the Hurrying Hoosiers and they'll want to come on in--not just party on the outside. Go Hoosiers!

Easter in Tudor Style

Today's Easter Sunday and despite the cold gray sky and snow flakes, I indulged myself for an Easter treat...lunch at the Tudor Room in Indiana University's Memorial Union Building also known as the IMU. Since my first visit to the Union Building when I was only in 5th grade, the building has seemed like a castle with its fire place that's always burning, the leather club furniture and English Tudor style archways and beamed ceilings.


Situated in the heart of the campus, the Union's proud history dates back nearly 100 years t0 its founding in 1911 as a gathering place for students, faculty and visitors. While the smoke filled lounges and bridge games in the Commons have been replaced with franchise fast food, computer kiosks and bank machines, the Tudor Room remains today as I have always remembered it with its stained glass windows and two-story vaulted ceilings hung with tapestries and banners.


The Easter brunch buffet probably wasn't the tastiest holiday fare in the area and certainly less opulent than Easter buffets in larger cities, but it honestly reflected the tradition and tastes of the collegial community. Today was not a day to stick with the Weight Watchers point counting. It was time to enjoy ham and lamb, spring carrots and delicious desserts and to be reminded that spring will soon arrive. Once again Bloomington will shed the grays of winter and burst into pinks and greens with the Union Building proudly standing in the center of the colorful display.



One more important point about the IMU is its incredible art collection. The IUM's web site describes the art collection as follows:

"Indiana University and the Indiana Memorial Union have a rich history of commitment to the arts and creative expression. Started in 1923 when IU students purchased six paintings from artist-in-residence Theodore Clement Steele, the Union’s collection now boasts more than 1,200 two- and three-dimensional pieces including works by distinguished Indiana artists Wayman Adams, C. Curry Bohm, Marie Goth, William Forsyth and Rudy Pozzati."

Insight to Direct TV

In my previous post, I described my parents' drive (literally and figuratively) to watch their beloved Hoosiers. Saturday and their inability to watch their team play Purdue and win the Oaken Bucket finally drove them to make the big switch to satellite TV. The law of supply and demand has taken the day. When you can't supply the big games, the consumer is driven to search for other avenues to satisfy that demand. It's an amazing phenomenon.

Based on the front page article in Saturday's Indianapolis Star, Mom and Dad aren't the only ones feeling the pain inflicted by Insight...Comcast or other Indiana cable TV carriers. Supply and demand has won the day. The free-market economy and the consumers' demand has spoken. But will the suppliers actually listen. More to come.

IU Sports: The Video or Lack Thereof

Thanks to the Big-Ten Network, the IU Athletic Department and our local cable provider, I've been able to spend Saturday afternoons with my parents. Unfortunately, they only have basic cable TV, while the daughter has satellite and the only way to see the IU football games on the Big Ten Network--and other obscure ESPN channels. I love my parents dearly and spend lots of quality time with them throughout the year. But its just damn unfair to them that they have to leave the comfort of their own recliners and my Dad's Saturday afternoon sandwich and beer to drive to my house to watch their game.

They love IU sports and it's one of the reasons they retired to B'town. My dad is a 50+ year I- Man and my mother loves sporting her IU sweatshirt or beads on game days. At 79, it's just too uncomfortable for them to sit for four or more hours in Memorial Stadium.. And even though they grew up listening to the radio, they want to SEE their Hoosiers, not just listen to Don Fisher's play-by-play on wireless.

We only have one more football game in the season (no bowl bids we're sure) and then comes world famous Hoosier hysteria and the promise of another winning basketball team. But like football, they won't be able to watch; those too won't be shown on cable. What's even worse is so many games are at night when Mom and Dad don't go out, so coming to my house will be difficult at best but likely impossible. I'm sure they aren't the only ones saddened by the reality they won't be able to spend their cold, snowy winter nights watching their Hoosiers. It's one of the few enjoyable things you can do in Liberalville in the winter.

For me, I think its absolutely disgusting that the Big Ten is so money hungry that they're depriving loyal fans from following their teams. It's even more sickening, since its based on pure greed. So to the IU Athletic Department and the Big Ten I say, rethink this money making scheme. Some day you might find yourself with no fans at all. You owe it to all the IU alumni who've followed you through thick and thin--good and bad times--scandals and evening the firing of Bobby Knight. How does your concsience let you live, knowing you're depriving so many of so much.

Homecoming at Delta Delta Delta

Homecoming and fall at the Tri Delt House in Bloomington brings back special memories--like 1973 when we and the Sig Eps won the grand trophy for best homecoming display. (I was so stressed, worrying about tripping in the middle of the football field at half time when my Sig Ep counterpart and I accepted the trophy for the brothers and sisters.) Sadly, there weren't any lawn displays this year--just painted sidewalks and steps.

You can come home again

Last Saturday was IU homecoming. Even though I'm already "home," homecoming weekend still feels like a special day and time with a holiday aura. B'ton swells with returning alums anxious to show their children, mates or significant others where they guzzled their last collegiate beer, the exact booth where they drank it, and any other sorted details they can remember that could be associated with that particular ritual. The lines at the Steve and Barry's collegiate sportswear outlet curl out to the street and the community sees red (actually cream and crimson) for at least 48 hours. Nicks is standing room only with as many as three generations of IU alumni. (Its a good thing, we know where to find it, since its historical neon sign is nearly unnoticeable due to the concrete fire wall of the apartment construction next door.)

Homecoming 2007 events started Friday afternoon with the customary parade down third street and ending at the Sample Gates. That evening was the annual homecoming concert at Assembly Hall with Bob Dylan the headliner. We've gone from Bob Hope to Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello. It's too much to imagine that Dylan was originally popular with most of the current co-eds' grandparents. Yup. The times, they are a changin'.

Even nature contributed to the festive atmosphere. In spite of the lack of rain and drought conditions, the trees on campus put on a spectacular light show in all imaginable colors of crimson, gold and pumpkin.

And the roads to Brown County and French Lick were bumper to bumper with pilgrims seeking fall color magnificence. They were not disappointed. So with that, I'm glad to share some wonderful images of fall in Bloomingtown.

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen, already!

According to the calendar, summer officially left last month. By now our favorite IU sweatshirts and sweatpants with INDIANA across the bum should be the dress of the day. Not when its STILL 90 degrees in Ol' B'town. Central air conditiong bills continue in the mega dollars and Indian summer is just a continuation of Indiana summer.

The heat's also making some people do crazy things--like throwing their support to the Republican candidate for Bloomington's mayor. Eighteen local dems must have had been suffering from heat stroke when they put their names on a mailer saying they're turning their backs on the incumbent and supporting--dare I say it--the REPUBLICAN. That word just sticks in the community's throat like a wad of sour apple bubble gum. And I'm lovin' every minute of it!

Having only voted for one or two donkeys that I can remember, I've always been in the minority around here and have had to swallow hard , grin and bare all the sarcasm and verbal abuse from what I refer to as the "dark side." This is great. Now they're cannibalising themselves--with no help from the right. So if the weather wasn't hot and steamy enough, the election certainly will be.

We can only hope that the temps cool off sooner rather than later and the heat in the kitchen continues to rise.

Hang 'Em High...But Why?

For some mysterious and utterly bizarre reason, throwing one's worn out sneakers, baby shoes or Dr. Martens on a power line across a Bloomington street has become an Olympic sport. When the little student darlings are done pitching their piles of junk on the curbs, they finish their rite of passage with the semi-annual shoe toss. It takes a lot of strength and skill to hurl a pair of size 13, triple-digit-costing, "nothin' but net" Nikes that high above one's head. Even IU's greatest, tallest basketball center of all time would have a struggle.

No local seems to know why they do it, either. It's a Bloomingtonian mystery. One theory is that the shoes signal a neighborhood "drug store" and "pharmacist" is nearby. We can only hope we don't have THAT many on every street in the student ghetto.

Or the shoe toss might be a form of sobriety test. "If the shoes don't hang, man, you need another beer." Their senses and reflexes aren't in the proper state of numbness.

I ask you, dear readers, help me out here. Anyone have any ideas what the shoes on the line are all about?