Here and Back Again

Forgive me for saying so, but South Bend is not the cultural epicenter in the Midwest; such titles can be given to the Twin Cities or Chicago, but not our little metropolis. When residents hear we have visitors, they understand the difficulty we have as far as entertainment is concerned.

Nevertheless, during Charity's visit, we have made a respectable attempt at exploring. Until the weekend time was leisurely spent as we joined my regular yarn group for one evening and just enjoyed the weather.

By the end of the week we were ready to branch out. After an indoor picnic due to the rain, we wandered the Snite Museum of Art. The museum was deceptive from the outside -- very unassuming and not disclosing the caliber of works inside.

Perhaps because of my English major background, I entertained myself with finding titles of works that caught my eye. Some were written down because of their overly descriptive nature, some for the interesting subject matter, and some just for the choice of words. Just imagine what some of these titles could have represented by their descriptions (the last two are my favorites):
- Canyon at 4 AM
- Gutentag IV (Study for Homage to the Square)
- The Roll Call of the Last Victims of the Reign of Terror
- Little Silver Hole with a Painting in It
- Figures on a Roadway by a Pond, Underneath Ruins
- The Bird Has Flown
- Cupid Playing with a Butterfly
- Neopolitan Fisherboy Playing with a Tortoise
- Ratskin
- Horse Attacked by a Panther
- China Christ
- The Hovering God
- The King is Dead
- Futuristic Cheesecake of America
- A Circle Never Sleeps

We also took the token tour of Notre Dame. Despite our presence here, we don't know a lot of the folklore about the campus. Despite some of the propaganda we were told, we also learned why we play Navy every year, and a lovely story why the residence hall Sorin College has its name.

Furthermore, we visited the South Bend Chocolate Company. The most sacrilegious line of our chocolate factory tour, you ask? Well, it was found in the video: "In the beginning was the word, and the word was chocolate." It then proceeded to play the Hallelujah Chorus and as the music swelled, visions of melted chocolate swam before our eyes.


Another appropriate venue is the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. Unfortunately, it was difficult to find ourselves inside, so we filled our time instead with a trot around one of the lakes and took pictures of the delightful waterfowl.


After our third attempt, we finally found the basilica open and empty, so we introduced Charity to opulence.


Add some mini golf, the farmer's market, and Guitar Hero with some reading, writing, and knitting, and you have our time.

Alas, she is gone away, leaving us to anticipate her next visit. Until then!