It’s July and this month is going by rapidly like all the rest. But July is special to us because it is the month in which we got married. Not sure why we picked one of the hottest months to get married in, but it’s worked for us this many years. So fifty-five years ago in 1968 David and I marched down the aisle at my little Methodist church and got married with two ministers, not one. One of the ministers had been at our church the year I was saved and he taught me about the Methodist church and the other minister was our fairly new minister I didn’t know very well. They must have done a pretty good job between them of marrying us, because it’s lasted all these years.

I always tell people I first met David when I was about twelve years old at a basketball game where I was sitting with my best friend, who happened to be David’s cousin. David and his brother, Bill, started following Mary Ruth and I all over the school and when we went into the bathroom, they started throwing empty Coke cups at us through the door. Every time we tried to leave, they would chuck some more empty Coke cups into the door until Mary Ruth and I had filled up all the trash cans in the bathroom with cups. We were laughing and having so much fun and Mary told me later that I said to her, “I’m going to marry that boy.” I don’t remember telling her that, but she swore it was true, but I didn’t know which boy I meant at that time.

Fast forward to my junior year in high school and David’s parents were moving to the Virgin Islands where his dad was going to fly planes, but David did not want to go so he went to live his senior year at his cousin’s house, my best friend. The first football game of the year he sat behind me and my girlfriends and teased us. I thought he was going after another best friend, Carol, at the time so I didn’t think much about it until Saturday when his cousin called me to ask if I would like to go to a movie with her and David. Hmmm. Sneaky way to make a date, but I bit. So that Sunday we went to see the movie, Joy in the Morning with Richard Chamberlain and Yvette Mimeu(whose name I know I misspelled horribly.) It was a romantic movie and I loved it and I found myself holding hands with David through the whole movie and we kissed in the car going home and when I got out of the car my mother looked at me and I am not kidding, she said this to me. “You are in love, aren’t you?” It must have been written all over my face because, yes, I was in love. And that love has never weakened all these years later. I’m not sure why this kind of love happens with some of us and some of us have a hard time finding anyone to love. I cannot explain it. But I feel so blessed that it happened to me.

So we celebrated our anniversary by taking a short, two day road trip through southern Indiana. I have grown to love our state more and more. I’ve been to just about all fifty states and each one has its own appeal and its beautiful places, but I am always glad to return to Indiana with its green field and forests and farms dotting the landscape. I have read blogs about England and I see the beauty that is there, but it really cannot compare to Indiana. I really did not know how hilly southern Indiana was until this last trip. And there were valleys spread far below us with fields like patchwork quilts and little farms and cabins.

Down leafy back roads.

Past fields of corn and soybeans. Thank the farmer. It’s because of farmers we all eat so well in this country.

Past old, derelict buildings. David is always saying he wish he could buy these old building and make apartments into them. This would be a great apartment building. I want the room in the tallest part of the building!

Through small towns with murals painted on the buildings.

Past creations people have made on the back roads. We have a lot of creative people in our state. Seems the more you get into the country, the more creative people get. And we have famous people from Indiana, too. Red Skelton, Hoagy Carmichael, and David Letterman to name three. I liked Dave when he use to be funny. He got kind of cranky in his old age, but don’t we all!

this little owl was hand carved by someone and placed on his creation in his front yard. Most people will never see it, but creative people are all over the back roads of Indiana.

Up hills and down valleys. This picture does not do the view justice. It was awe inspiring. Like I said, I didn’t know Indiana had such wonderful valleys and vistas. Except in Brown County and we were not in Brown County.

Past Indiana’s own Grand Canyon. At least that is what this looked like through the trees.

What it really was was a huge gravel pit right in the middle of nowhere.

At one time you could see this from this overlook, but the trees have grown up so tall, you cannot see anything.

We passed giant rocks jutting toward the road. This place has some history behind it.

This happened at this very spot.

At some points we were following the Ohio River.

Barges carrying coal and other things down the river.

We took a ride up to Buzzard’s Roost where there were several houses and an Inn or Bed and Breakfast, I’m not sure. This house had the most beautiful garden in front of it. My photography is horrible so it doesn’t do the garden justice, but it was gorgeous. My kind of garden.

This cabin was for sale. David and I dreamed about buying it and living in it part of the year and renting it out the rest, but when we saw how much it cost, we decided, maybe not! But it is beautiful and comes with three acres and a beautiful valley view so if you are interested…… I am not a realtor.

This house was up there, too. Can’t you imagine the view from the top? And it looks like its handicap accessible, too. Not sure whether this was someone’s home or a place for a Summer rental.

You see a lot of historic homes on the back roads of Indiana.

This once was a school.

This was once the town hall. We saw lots of one room school houses, many converted into family homes. Back long ago there must have been a schoolhouse every few miles as the children either had to walk to school or ride and horse drawn bus. There is an old school house not far from my family home where I grew up.

We drove over a couple of one lane bridges. I sure hope they keep these bridges up. They have so few people going over them they may not think they are important enough to check on, but they’d better before someone ends up in the river! I was glad when we got across.

We see a lot of wildlife while driving the back roads. We saw lots of these birds.

These are such beautiful birds. There didn’t use to be so many back when more pesticides and poisons were used along the fence lines, but they have made a come back and I hope there is enough food for them in the wild. I caught one one time sitting in a tree above my chickens and I scared him or her off.

We pass log cabins. Some restored like this one is and some that aren’t.

We had tornadoes rip through southern Indiana recently and we came upon a forest that had been completely ripped down by the winds.

And then, we saw this……

Someone’s beautiful home, completely destroyed by a tornado. I bet that family got up that morning, never thinking that by evening their home would be gone. I hope and pray no one was hurt and they got out in time. This was out in the middle of nowhere and it was the only building we saw that was hit by the tornado.

Then we continued on and saw this…..

A beautiful, majestic home, untouched by the winds.

And its barn was beautiful, too. I wondered who lived there and if they knew how close they had come to being hit by a tornado. That is just how fickly tornado winds are. They can hit one house and jump over all the rest. I hope I never see one in my lifetime.

We drove and drove and looked and looked and then we came upon this……

Hmmmm. A very tiny tunnel underneath a railroad track. And I was wondering if our Jeep would fit through it!!! But David is like a bulldozer with his cars and pushes right on through.

Oh, please, God, don’t let us scrape the sides!!!!

Here we are in the center of the tunnel. Graffiti artists sure had a heyday with this little tunnel. A bunch of teen-agers, I bet, having the timesof their lives, making their mark on the world in this simple way. I rather liked it.

I wonder how many cans of spray paint it took to cover the walls of this tunnel? And we liked driving through it so much, David turned around and we went through two more times making the farmers who were watching us in a field right next to the tunnel wonder what kind of crazy people want to drive through that tunnel so many times??? We do!!! That’s who!

David has taken a whole week and a half off for our anniversary and we have had a good time, got some things done and just enjoyed being together. I could write lots more because we saw lots more, but I will end this right now. I have more to tell you about what David built this week and about the meadow we are creating in our back yard and all the flowers that are blooming around our house, but I will have to wait until later. Tomorrow I get another shot in my right eye. The doctor said the histoplasmosis had flared up again my last visit so here I go, again. Send up a little prayer for me, if you will because I really want to keep my eyesight. I don’t know how many more shots I have to get, but if it saves my eyesight, I really don’t mind. And getting a shot in the eye is really not as bad as it sounds if you have the right doctor doing it and my doctor is an ace. So bye, for now.