I know it’s been a while and I know I should apologize, but I won’t.

Seems our Sunday Dinners that we have with our neighbors is a bit famous within city hall walls. I invited our our neighborhood liason to our next meal (you may have one too, if you live in Indianapolis and yours hasn’t been fired yet) and got this response:

I’ve heard about these dinner parties before. Is it true that the new mayor went to one of them pre-election?

Isn’t that great? When I sit and think about it, our dinners have been great at not only making our community bond stronger, but at getting our elected leaders and some city employees to know and remember our name.

I think it’s high time to get that softball league started, don’t you?

We all joked and laughed about the aforementioned spotlighted search as we read john’s 1 am email.  That is until we learned that while they were searching for a shooter right behind our houses and gave up just two hours later, they would be back.  But this time they would be investing a, what seems to be, unrelated stabbing.  I’m getting so tired of this, really.

I feel completely safe in my house and on my porch and walking in the daylight, but what about those times that I’m outside by myself when it’s dark out and there might be more lurking than shadows.  Scary things.

I usually leave my house before the sun rises.  This past week, I’ve had to wait for the later bus.  Because feeling safe is more important to me than an extra half hour that I could be spending with my daughter.

We leave on vacation on Thursday and a doctor’s appointment will prevent me from taking the bus tomorrow.  Next week, I will be brave.  Sometimes, I just wish I didn’t have to so much. 

As John is rolling into bed last night (this morning), he asks if I hear the noise of the helicopter.  I focus and I do.  Clear as day.  He said they’ve been flying for a while now, apparently looking for someone.  Remembering that it was trash day at the very last minute of the night, John had to walk the trash to the alley.  He walked carefully, knowing that he was being watched.  The spotlight finds him and in the light, all he could do was wave.  A friendly wave to say I’m not the guy you’re looking for, but thanks for coming to say hi.

This week’s Sunday Night Dinner was brought to you by Beelers. We had the theme picked out months ago and I’m glad to say we pulled it off better than sucessfully.

School Lunch, Hot Lunch, Cafeteria food - whatever you call it, everyone loved it.

Except for Greg Ballard, who came, but ate nothing. How do you sit in someone’s house for three plus hours and only drink lemonade? And not once walk up the stairs to the bathroom? It seems odd to me to say the least.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad he came. And it seemed that people were enjoying the chance to talk to him. I didn’t much, but from what others said, he seems like a very nice guy. I’m not sure that’s enough to make him mayor, though.

Today, a good friend is leaving the square.  Sad events brought us together, his family and mine.

But I couldn’t be  happier.

You know, minus the crying and all I’m doing right now. 

 On Friday, as I walked up to my office building, I was stopped by a fellow co-worker who asked very bluntly and aggrivatedly, “How’d you get here this morning?”. I stepped back and meekly answered, “the bus”.

“Hmmmph. I had to drive.”

Apparently, many indygo riders had been caught in a nightmare when most of the drivers were unable to start their routes because of a disagreement about nametags (Indygo personnel had said there would be zero-tolerance for riders not wearing their nametags and displaying their nameplates, the drivers were refusing the ultimatum).

Even though this is all very interesting, I was more surprised at a conversation I overheard at the local drugstore after work. The cashier and the patron standing in front of me were talking about how it had been heard that the busses weren’t going to be running on Monday.

I was still standing out at the stop this morning, but I surely checked the website a few times over the weekend to make sure the rumor wasn’t true. And I wonder how many people had heard the same rumor and just took it as truth and decided to find a way into work this morning instead of waiting for buses that they’re not too sure they can rely on.

If you haven’t heard already, attorney turned blogger turned investigative reporter, Gary of Advance Indiana started a few weeks back blogging about his city councilman’s residence and whether or not the councilman should resign his spot since he wasn’t actually living in the district he was voted in to represent.
While it’s sad that this guy (Patrice Abduallah) lost a job (not a full time job, but still) and a lot of credibility, I am absolutely in awe of this sort of community activism.
Everyday with my morning coffee, I pull up two blogs. It’s especially fun to read them side by side. I’ve always been a centrist, having a difficult time deciding if I lean more to the left or to the right. I can’t think of one election that I’ve ever voted straight down the line. Right now, I’m reading a book about the Christian view of Femininity. And just to make sure I get the whole story, I’m also reading a “worldly” one as well. I just have a hard time pulling myself over to any one particular side.

I can’t decide if that is to my detriment or not.

We’ve got a highly contested race going on around these parts for Mayor.  Because I was brand new to the town last time the mayoral elections took place, I didn’t really pay attention to what was being said and I can’t even remember if I voted for Mayor at that time. 

But now, here we are right in the middle of a very exciting campaign summer.  Our current mayor has, generally, been well-liked for the most part.  But here lately, the numbers aren’t looking so good (of course they were republican numbers, but still).  And Ballard is looking good.

Crime is way up, taxes are up and we didn’t get the super bowl.  I predict these three are the main reasons that Peterson will be voted out of office. 

Because I’m just not sure who I’m voting for, I decided I needed a home for all the quotes/stories/complaints I find regarding the incumbent and challenger for my district’s seat on the city-county council.
A friend said it best just this weekend when he admitted that sometimes even when he’s not upset at how things are going, the change alone is what excites him. I think his assessment explains so much in my life, not in the least my (sometimes considered obsessive) desire to rearrange furniture.
So, change. Is it always better? Or is stagnation okay if you know that you can control it?

it took a while, but i’m really loving my back yard right now.

John and I didn’t exactly succeed at our square foot garden, but we didn’t completely fail either. Cosi and I head out to the garden, first thing when I come in the door and pick some vegetable out of the garden. If it’s a snow pea or a green bean, we’ll chomp on it right then. If it’s of the squash variety, we’ll bring it inside for John to work his magic on.