White River State Park An Oasis

Crosby, Stills and Nash brought me to downtown Indianapolis, IN in August, a downtown concert sounded like a nice, little break and I am a huge CSN (and sometimes Young) fan. The plan was to just drive down for the night since it is under three hours from home, unknown to me the concert was canceled and rescheduled for the following night due to heavy morning storms that delayed planes and made timely show set up impossible. What the heck we had not been to downtown Indy in ages, so we called the dog sitter, the foreman and decided to stay over to take in some of the sights before attending the show the next day.

We got a room right across the street from the Hard Rock and all of downtown was within walking distance. Living in Angola we are culturally and culinary deprived so we drove to the suburbs and ate at one of my favorite places, The Cheesecake Factory, yum fucking yum. The warm summer night was perfect to stroll downtown, the circle with its fountains and lights, the downtown clubs, the new minor league ballpark and walking arm and arm along the canal offered a side of downtown Indy that I never knew existed. It has certainly changed for the better.

The next day a visit to the Gardens adjacent the Zoo seemed the perfect pre-concert event before meeting friends for an early dinner. What a pleasant surprise, these gardens offer whimsical sculpture, a variety of mini gardens depicting different themes, well kept knot garden, shaded arbors filled with the sweet fragrance of honeysuckle and a couple of simple but charming water features. It was easy to shot a couple of hundred photos and difficult to choose just a few to post.

I think downtown Indianapolis is a great spot to get away for a couple of days and has a lot to offer whether it's just the two of you or you have a family. There is ample to do from a ballgame to the zoo all within easy walking distance of some nice hotels, plus they are building a new Radisson that looks promising. CSN was awesome, I could see them every year, reminds of times gone by and what a perfect venue.

Indiana Wants Me

Steuben county has 101 Lakes, their natural beauty, close proximity to larger cities, interstate access and value make this area attractive to tourists and people who want a seasonal vacation home. Typically people who can afford vacation homes want to spend their time at those homes playing and not installing and maintaining landscaping, this need was ideal for me when I got serious as a landscape/design install contractor. I don't know that I could have ever done any other job this long and been this satisfied, I love my job, taking a piece of dirt and transforming it to meet and often exceed client expectations is super groovy.

My shop and home are one in the same, we use approximately 3 or so acres of the 25 we own for business purposes, about 10 acres are swampy, there is a nice 1 acre, spring fed pond that is great for fish, turtles and a swimming hole on hot summer days, a perfect location for skinny dipping. I designed the house, beach bar, barn and gardens, they are all evolving. The gardens and small nursery are used for display purposes, showing potential customers various plants, hard scape and ideas. It is an eclectic look with Caribbean or Florida styling. Working from home has its good points and bad, I am never late for work but having 8-10 employees around all season limits privacy.

It is great to be able to work occasionally in St. Lucia or Florida and I would like to pursue a semi-retirement career consulting and designing wherever the wind blows me. I never really wanted to live in Indiana but I have been fortunate to satisfy my wanderlust during the winter months, making staying here more palatable. Being able to take time to cruise the lakes, have parties, enjoy terrific nature, peace and quiet, low traffic, little crime and high dollar value of the midwest are all reasons I choose to stay.

Last Spring I went out on the Lake James chain with my cousin where I was able to photograph

some old projects, things we were about to start and the carnage of a fire that devasted an area on Lake James called Lone Tree Point. This was the beginning of my landscaping season for 2009.

This home on Jimmerson Lake was our winning entry for The 2007 Builders Association Parade of Homes. There was extensive stacked flagstone retaining walls on the road and lake side, snap cut stone staircase leads to the lake, the hillside planting of burning bushes flames bright red, from late summer until frost. The house won first place in all judged catagories, including landscaping.
Fire destroyed five homes on Lone Tree Point, Lake James over the winter, the homes close location to each other allowed the blaze to jump from one home to the next.