Bloomington, Post-Honeymoon

John and I have loved having Bloomington as our American home base, and as it was the center of all the wedding activity, we got to spend a big chunk of time there this summer. 

For me, that meant walking the dogs a lot and trying to teach them to like the water. I think I made some progress on that front with Toby, who will now walk in Jackson Creek until the water is up to his neck.

There are so many beautiful places to walk them just around the corner from my parents' house.

We saw lots of deer. Too many of them, really. This one, nicknamed Golf Ball because of a knot on her injured back leg, likes to hang out in the shrubbery in front of the neighbor's house.

One of the deer in the neighborhood has two little fauns that travel with it.

I saw wild raspberries growing in Bryan Park.

I like to take the dogs to parts of town and campus that they don't frequent with my dad, like Dunn Meadow and Kirkwood. They're much better behaved there than I would have expected. But maybe that was just because they were hot and wanted to get back to the Jordan River to cool off.

We ran lots of errands with my mom, both before and after the wedding.

We got to hang out with Mark and his girlfriend Jessica (not shown) several times. 

I learned how much they both like pre-made piña coladas.

And of course we made a couple of late night trips to Crescent Donut.

Bloomington is so liberal. It still kind of surprises me that it can exist in Indiana. For instance, this sign at the Owlery: 

My parents were/are hosting two Japanese students who were playing in the USA International Harp Competition. They were both taken with the deer on the cul-de-sac. My dad came outside to look at the deer with them and translate their conversation for me. John and Dad both felt the need to teach the girls some American slang. Dad taught them to say "Okie dokie" when they agreed with something, while John tried to teach them as much profanity as he could, starting with "Asshole." One of them cheerfully said "Okie dokie, asshole!!" while we were at Max's Place for dinner. And then we set about trying to describe what "asshole" meant by telling them about Donald Trump. John said he was a very rich business man, and they said, "Like Bill Gates?" And we said "Yes! Like a bad Bill Gates! Donald Trump is like a bad Bill Gates." We had a lot of fun with ESL. 

John and I took the dogs to Hoosier National Forest for a hike. Walking really helps my motion sickness calm down, so I walked them a few times a day for the last few days we were in town.

Toby gets hot and tired fairly quickly on a hot day like this, but Molly could go for hours.

 John got to help Mark with Ether Game just before we left town, and I decided to take the dogs on an evening walk around campus during the show. I felt Toby should see where we got married.

It'll be sad not to have wedding planning to do in Bloomington, since it may mean we travel there less frequently. John and I are both so glad my parents' moved there. And I think Molly and Toby are, too.