Indy Adds Super Bowl Gear to the Mix

What happens in the host city in advance of the Super Bowl?  Just thousands of things.  The residents have been learning about planning for parking/transportation, opening temporary entertainment venues, redesigning the downtown traffic patterns and various other preparations through the media for a long while.  Now the changes are actually occurring.  I thought it would be fun to cruise around last week while I was downtown working at my new job. (I’ll talk about that part later.)  I heard that the numerals (XLVI) were going up on Monument Circle and that some of the street closings that we have been hearing of would be started. So, out I went.  I had fun taking detours, making short stops for photos and watching the early developments.   Here’s a ten-days-out peek at the goings on.

 

As I drove west on Market Street toward Monument Circle I could see traffic slowing more than usual.  Half way around I could see a huge X had just been placed by a crane and there was a crowd of about 50 people gathering and a couple of photographers setup to catch the event.  Luckily I saw a spot to pull over, so I jumped out to take a closer look and get a couple of photos.  While I was doing this, the people who had assembled starting walking out toward the X.  I presumed this was for a news photo or a local TV spot.  So, of course, I joined them.  Why not?  Well, as I stood there listening more closely to the conversations and watching the photographer I realized that everyone but me was a part of the same group,  perhaps a company photo for a publicity shot, or some kind of souvenir. At one point a lady asked me if I knew the photographer. Oh well, the only thing to do was stand still and be cool.  Pretty soon, after a lot of cheering, they all walked off in the same direction…back to work I suppose.  So if you hear of a stray person in a corporate promo picture for the Super Bowl, it’s me!

After my crashing-the-photo event I decided to head south, closer to Lucas Oil Stadium, to see how things were playing out for Super Bowl Village that is planned for several blocks of the city’s streets.  As I was zig-zaging through the blocked streets I came across crews changing the direction signs, and stages going up in the middle of the streets.  Anyone traveling in the area will also have these “Bowl Route” signs directing them to the stadium and many of the metro bus stops are “Closed for the Super Bowl.”  I love these humongous banners covering entire sides of buildings which advertise the temporary restaurants, entertainment and gathering spots.

Plans are underway for many types of activities and entertainment, so that everyone who wants to join in can enjoy themselves, even without a ticket to the game. There’s free entertainment planned at the Super Bowl Village and the NFL Experience in the center of Indy. There’s even a beach that was hauled into Victory Field, the home of the Indianapolis Indians baseball team. I’m hearing that there are festivities as far as Lafayette and Louisville also. 

Although the Super Bowl is dominating the conversation for the most part in Indianapolis lately, it is still business as usual in many ways, including at the State House.  The legislature is underway and freedom of speech is in evidence. As I was in the midst of my tour of the city’s preparations, the ‘right to work’ opponents stood vigil with their placards to let their elected officials know how they feel. And many local citizens who aren’t NFL fans and have to contend with the crowds to get to and from their jobs aren’t necessarily looking forward to the hassles.   But, after all, anyone who grew up in this city has some experience with the “Month of May” and will roll with it, as they are accustomed.  All will be calm again soon. Meanwhile, party on!

If you are visiting Indianapolis for the Super Bowl, have a great time. We will be laying low and enjoying it from the suburbs.

Thanks again for stopping by at Hurley Travels.  Stay safe.  See you later.

A Sunny January Sunday Afternoon

What do you do on a Sunday afternoon in January with the sun shining, football on TV and a granddaughter working at the local candy store?  Why not make a combo out of it.  Since the sun was shining after a couple of nasty, snowy, gloomy and low-temp days, we decided to get out for a visit with Caroline.  Our favorite MCL (cafeteria) is close to the mall where Caroline works at the Inside Scoop, so our plan was quickly put into place.  Before we knew it we were in the cafeteria line making those difficult decisions on salad, pie, fish, fried chicken or roast beef.  We passed up those mile-high pies while reminding each other that we were cutting back now since we had eaten all the holiday leftovers.  We did pretty well.  The Tilapia, string beans and broccoli were very good.

But…..if you’ve had the chance to experience the Inside Scoop, you will understand how we could so quickly disregard our calorie counting. Oh well. This is a fantastic candy wonderland, with bins and bins of every sort of confection, from chocolate pecan caramel mounds to every Jelly Belly flavor in the universe. They also have a stuffed animal menagerie of the most unusual creatures that are fun to see. With C’s help we chose our favorite licorice and lemon delights, and just had to take her recommendation on the 1/2 price Christmas mints.  Saying hi to our favorite granddaughter made the day even more sunny.

But for now we are stationed in front of the TV, relaxing with our treats and a libation, and watching the Green Bay/Giants game. I’m getting a few minutes of the game, then a few minutes of computer time. We all know I can’t sit still for the whole game anyway.  And, since we can’t cheer for our local favorite Manning (Bubba, as Krissy calls him.), we are pulling for Eli (Little Bubba, as Krissy calls him.) Maybe the whole Manning family will have a reunion in Indianapolis in about a month!

However you are spending this January afternoon, hope it’s enjoyable.

Thanks for stopping by at Hurley Travels.  Stay safe.

Happy New Year!

We want to send good wishes to all of our friends and family.  The year seems to have gone so swiftly, yet so much has happened. So, I looked  back through our year’s photos and put together a snapshot that reflects a sample of the 2011 story (below).  Makes me think about how fortunate we are:

2011 Hurley Happenings VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We are appreciative of the ways that our lives have been touched by so many. Here’s wishing you a super duper 2012! 

Merry Christmas 2011 -- From Nancy and Jerry

Well, here it is December 24.  We hope you've had a good year! Ours developed a little differently than the recent ones. We had a minimum of “Hurley Travels.” And we made a major lifestyle adjustment... one more time.

To start the 2011 year, we were hanging out in Florida, just enjoying the warm climate and relaxing. We picked a spot in Bushnell, northern Florida, and entertained ourselves in the local area for a few months. Nancy did make a short trip to Clearwater for a nice beach visit with our friend, Karen.

Then, in March we hit the road, north toward Indianapolis. We had decided to start looking for some kind of home base near family. Although we weren't ready to stop traveling in the motorhome, we were ready to have a place to spread out. The quest for our place in Indy resulted in our condo at Cape Cod Village on the northeast side, near our kids. Since the end of May, most everyone probably knows by now, we've been unpacking the storage facility, renovating and getting situated in our new little place. It's been very interesting reacquainting ourselves with home ownership – mostly fun, but time-consuming.

Although we've missed being on the road somewhat, the summer in Indianapolis was very enjoyable. We celebrated birthdays and holidays, attended family reunions and all types of gatherings. Here are two of our favorite family smiling sisters, Mandy and Jamie.  Had to give them a post. These are good times.

In some ways, these seven or eight months have flown by while we kept busy in one place. There were two chances to get Ferd on the road though, one for a fabulous few days at the Irish Festival in Cleveland with our good friends, Mike and Suzanne, and one for Jerry to go on a father-son 4wheeling trip with Tim to Arkansas. The last one had its bad side, though. Jerry is recovering from an accident as we speak. This incident is keeping us situated for a while, but he is springing back with physical therapy and meds. Meanwhile, we are comfortable as can be.

Thanksgiving was low key, but still very nice.  We had super celebrations with our families. And now we are getting ready to do the same for Christmas.

Hopefully, you have many good experiences to look back on for 2011.

We wish you the best in the New Year.

Family Recipes Taste Better and Mean More

Recipes with a dash of family history are more tasty.  They can please the palate and bring back unique memories at the same time.  This could be as simple as a grilled cheese sandwich made with care by your grandpa or time-consuming canned goods of Aunt Minnie’s that are yummy in the winter months.  Passing these recipes down adds so much to the flavors.

Over the past couple of months I’ve been reminded of what’s included in this tradition.  At our family reunion in August a cousin’s homemade salsa with the recipe attached started a friendly bidding war.  Another cousin won that item for his mother, Aunt Peg, and she used it to can salsa with her neighbor’s homegrown tomatoes. We are enjoying the salsa and the fact that it has that special family touch.  Then Krissy kicked off the NFL season a couple of weeks ago by making the old recipe of cocktail meatballs that we always prepared at family holidays. You know, the one with chili sauce and grape jelly. Talking to me before the game she said: “Mom, it smells like Christmas in my apartment.” 

Then, there was a recent occasion when Jerry and I took another short trip to south side Indianapolis. We were sitting around the kitchen table at my Aunt Peg’s with my cousin Marilyn having a great conversation. Peg was telling us about slicing cucumbers to make homemade pickles. We started picking her brain about the recipes she used for her canning this summer and her favorites for potato salad, etc.  She grabbed her recipe card box and began relating to a few that were passed along by family and friends.  By the time Marilyn mentioned an idea she had to put together a collection for her daughters and grandchildren, the ideas were running through my head for our next project.  I would scan Peg’s trusted old recipes and add others from the family so that we could all savor them.

I had the opportunity to setup my scanner and computer on that kitchen table last week.  What fun! Aunt Peg added tidbits of memories and people surrounding the recipes as we sorted and scanned.   I gathered the tested lists of ingredients and her personal experiences with them.  Her comments were the icing on the cake.

The plan is to see how many more “historical” recipes we can gather, saving some memories too.  Of course, this isn’t a new idea.  Many of us have those cookbooks from fund raisers and they have very good contents. But, there isn’t one from my family, yet……

Right now, however, I wanted to share a couple of those recipe recollections that came from Aunt Peg’s memory bank. The first recipe I’ll post is the best kind ever -- in her own handwriting on a small piece of paper with a story of how and why it’s special.  Peg says she really doesn’t like hushpuppies.  But, her brother-in-law, Richard Stull’s hushpuppies were always the exception for her.   “He was a great fisherman. Whenever he and his friend had a good day fishing he would fry up his hushpuppies with the fresh fish. I loved his because they had lots of onions.”  This is one that has a time-tested, irreplaceable ingredient as well.  Read the last line on the recipe to the right to see what I mean.

I could go on and on with potato pancakes, hot peppers, spaghetti and meatballs, German potato salad, bread and butter pickles, dumplings, etc., etc.  But for now, I’ve chosen to include the St. Jude Biscuit Recipe.  The story behind this one is that Aunt Peg used to work at the cafeteria at St. Jude’s, her parish school that’s about two blocks away from her home.  She liked those biscuits so much that she has used the recipe in her own family cooking for years.  But, notice the size when this one is assembled in its full portion. On the back of the card it says: 1 gallon, 1 1/4 qts.   Can you see the ladies in the school cafeteria sifting the 16 cups of flour and dry ingredients five times and cutting in the shortening to make 100 biscuits.  Then they would cut them out individually. We don’t know how many times they duplicated these ingredients for one lunch either. Wow, the love that went into cooking for those grade-schoolers!

Hope I’ve made you think of a few family stories that go with something you ate for years. I would love to hear your best recipe and its story.  In fact, we are on the hunt for a “Yeast Coffee Cake” recipe that was in the family many years ago that is lost now. This was melt-in-your-mouth scrumptious.  Anyone know one??? 

Well, my mouth is watering.  It’s time to see what special recipe Jerry’s cooking for dinner.

Thanks for stopping by at Hurley Travels.  Talk to you later.

Technorati Tags: Indianapolis,Family Recipes

Reflection: Good or Bad?

I was about to write a summary of Hurley Happenings for the past two weeks.  After only a few quick moments of reflection I came up with a dozen topics.  That many, and probably even more, events or interactions or good moments or unpleasant ones filled our lives in just fourteen days. It’s amazing how looking back brings up various kinds of feelings and thoughts. Now I’m writing about that instead of our events themselves.

So, you say, “For Pete’s sake, where are you going with this Nancy?”  Well, wait just a second.  I do have a point here.  Lately, there’s been quite a bit of reflection going on with me and around me.    For instance, our recent adjustment to a home base other than on wheels resulted in revisiting travels of the last eight years. Sharing old memories and writing family history for two family reunions stirred all kinds of thoughts in my mind over the past three months.  And now, as a nation we are at a point of deep reflection as we look again at that horrendous day ten years ago on 9-11. Jerry and I remember our experience in Ireland on that day….. unbelievable, shocking, lonely…. while at the same time a tremendously-moving outpouring of sympathy. 

Some say we shouldn’t dwell on the past or relive old times. Is it good or bad that we reflect back?  Should we as a country be spending so much time thinking about the tragedy of 9-11?  What about when we gather with family or friends and tell old stories; are we wasting our time?  Should we avoid bringing back  the emotions connected with the past? Many think recalling these times serves no purpose.  

I guess my opinion is that a limited dose of reflection and reminiscing is good for the soul.  Even though there may be a few tears shed.  Aren’t there usually some bright moments that come to mind?  Occasionally we gain some wisdom from the hard knocks.  Discussion with friends can help resolve feelings. Thinking about the bigger picture of experiences Jerry and I have yearly, or over ten years, makes me realize our good fortune.  Yeah, not all of our ‘happenings’ are the best. We sure wouldn’t choose to repeat them all in the future.  Some are very sad.  But many of those scenes that reflect back are generously-colored ones. 

The key to the good or bad of our reflections may be in sharing and limiting it.  The victims of 9-11 were robbed of the years of opportunities to reminisce.  Maybe the best we can do is to give thoughts to them momentarily and respectfully.  And then, have a safe and happy day of new experiences for next year’s reflection. 

God bless all those who died on Sept. 11, 2001 and their families. 

Have a safe and happy day.  Thanks for stopping by at HurleyTravels.  Talk to you later.

A Good Day, The Weber-Kuhn Reunion

Seeing faces that bring back memories.  Gathering hugs and smiles from cousins, aunts and uncles.  Recalling childhood  activities. Reminiscing while sorting through old photos.   Catching up on children, grandchildren and great grands.  Restoring family ties. Remembering those who are gone.  All of these things were wrapped into one day last Saturday at the Weber-Kuhn Reunion, a gathering of my maternal family (Nancy).

It’s been quite a while since this family held a reunion. In fact, no one is sure about that date. Some of us are better than others at staying in touch.  Of course, family funerals can be a form of a reunion. But, not really.  So, a few of the Weber clan decided it was about time that we see who would be interested in a casual family gathering to catch up on life.  We weren’t certain how it would go, but we would try.

The answer came quick. Just a few minutes from the time that the first family members strolled in it was obvious that the planning committee had no worry about the day’s success. The conversations spread quickly. Cameras captured new family photos everywhere. The precious three-week-old, little girl received cuddles.  Historical photos and stories occupied many curious cousins.  Bidding on the silent auction items was furious. Corn hole had several energetic participants. Quilt squares were created with care for a family history quilt.  All in all, the Webers had a great day sharing laughs, memories and delicious food, too. 

As I mentioned, one of the popular activities at last Saturday’s event was looking through old photos. Coincidentally, a couple of my photos snapped at the reunion matched up perfectly with those of days gone by. Naturally, these were the photos that had to make it to the blog.

First, below are my cousins Marilyn and Bill…..along with their photo from a few years ago. Wow, don’t we age well!

Then, here I am with my cousins Mary Anne and Rosie in about 1956.  Fast forward to last Saturday and I have a photo with each of them, plus their brother, Jim.  Good memories all around.

Of course, the basis of all families are those who led the way, fostered those earlier gatherings and continue to spread the love. Two of our family’s leading ladies are Peg Stull and Ruth Weber. Here are those two special aunts sharing a few moments at the reunion. They are super people.

 

To close this post, I believe I should give a salute to the six Weber siblings who brought us all together in the beginning.

 They are in the photo below in front of the home where they all grew up at 2160 Singleton Street, Indianapolis: Bob, Gin, Rose, Dolly, Harry (Ruth’s husband),   and Peg (above).  Fortunately, our family reunion also included Uncle Mel, Dolly’s husband, and Aunt Emma,  Bob’s wife. They all brought strength to this family.  Sure was nice to have everybody together for the day and to remember those passed who helped make  us who we are.

We’ll gather again next summer and hope to have many more good days like this one.

Sisters Day

Recently my sisters, Martha (“Marti”) and Linda (“Lin”), and I had our own Sisters Day.  Put together a birthday lunch and the Indiana State Fair with two sisters.  Voila!…Sisters Day. 

We started with a celebration of our sister, Lin’s, 59th birthday.   She is still employed , and couldn’t get the day off, or it would have been a threesome day at the Fair.  Regardless, we found ways to make the day work out. Marti, Lin, my niece, Nikki, and I met for lunch at Red Lobster.  Meeting for lunch at this restaurant has become somewhat of a tradition since it’s located across the street from Lin and Nikki’s office and convenient for me and Marti.  In fact, Lin is recognized by the wait staff as soon as she walks in the door.  I suspect she makes quite a few other visits with folks other than her sisters. Let me say there could be parts of her personality that are memorable. Our waiter, Travis, even surprised her with a bowl of whipped cream drizzled with strawberry syrup and topped with a candle.  Yes, whipped cream!  (They were out of ice cream and cake.)  Seems to work….she sure enjoyed it.

After lunch, Marti and I headed over to the State Fair.  We realized that day we had never been to the fair together.  Unbelievable, but true.  Well, we made up for it.  Some of our stops, for instance, were in the coliseum for the hunt seat competition, the Purdue soybean exhibit, and the displays of ribbon-winning crafts, such as crocheting, knitting, jewelry, photography and quilts. That’s just mentioning a few.  We saw our share of cows, donkeys, mules, and horses.  We enjoyed the tremendous lego creations that reproduced the Indianapolis 500 and Lucas Oil Stadium and paused a few minutes along our route for the parade of Clydesdales. Oh yes, don’t want to leave out the “German Experience.”  This is a display created for this specific fair covering the German heritage in Indiana.  Since we are through-and-through of German descent, this was particularly interesting for us. We also got our exercise walking through the vendors and the tunnel under the infield of the race track over to the Pioneer Village to watch blacksmith and spinning demonstrations.  The workout was a good thing because we listened to music while we ate a delicious, humongous bowl of hand-dipped ice cream.

Eight hours from the time we roamed through the front gate with no real idea of the specific stops we would make, we shuffled by the corn dogs and ears of corn to find our car.  We did decide to forego the fried green beans until another day.  But, we still felt we had a healthy serving of Indiana, at the best state fair, that is.

All in all, I’ve concluded Sisters Days are good for any sisters to have.

A Wee Bit O Fun In Cleveland

Last weekend we traveled to Cleveland,Ohio, for their 29th Annual Irish Cultural Festival.  There were four or five times over the past ten years that we’ve enjoyed these Celtic festivities with our very good friends Mike and Suzanne Flynn.  Each one has good memories connected and 2011 adds to that bank. We had a great time listening to music, taking in the cultural exhibits, shopping the Irish booths, sampling the brews, watching people and sharing life and laughs.

Of course, the recent Midwest temps of around 100 degrees and 90% humidity did make it less appealing to sit in a fairgrounds building or at a bandstand for daytime events. But,….we improvised.  The air conditioning in the motorhome was working just fine, so we made our own festival schedule.  Since we were parked on the fairgrounds where the Irish Fest took place, we could come and go as we chose.  We worked in time for a good mix of everything, including our Celtic airbrush tattoos.

The evenings weren’t quite as sweltering and there was still a wide selection of entertainers. For instance, three of our favorites this year were a group called Girsa, seven young women with beautiful voices who interchangeably played the guitar, bohran, keyboards, accordion and fiddle; The New Barleycorn, a local trio of men who pleased the crowds with their renditions of the traditional Irish fare and the High Kings, four guys all based in Ireland who brought the house down with their talent and enthusiasm. And no Irish Fest would be complete without the sounds of the bagpipes and the energetic young dancers….just the icing on the cake. We had a good weekend of entertaining ourselves and being entertained, while staying reasonably comfortable.

But speaking of being comfortable, how about good eats?  There were also some extracurricular dining ingredients thrown into the mix for the Cleveland trip. Suzanne and Mike suggested we go in search of an Italian restaurant called Geraci’s that they saw on “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.”  Well, Guy sure didn’t steer us wrong on this one.  We decided on their hearth-baked pizza and were very pleased we did.  The marinara sauce was especially tasty and the crust is just right!  When we’re in town again, maybe we’ll try a spaghetti dish with that scrumptious marinara sauce.  Then, on Sunday we had an outstanding brunch at the 100th Bomber Brigade Restaurant near the airport. It’s an interesting place, with memorabilia of the WWII bombers and crew throughout the facility.  Then there’s the array of superb food. It’s difficult to describe the quality selections; shrimp, crab, prime beef, fajitas and omelets to order, chicken marsala, and too many cheesecake and other desserts to list. That’s just a smidgeon of the menu.  And everything tastes fantastic. 

We enjoyed being out on the road in Ferd for a few days after working on our half-time home for the past few months.  And it was doubly nice that we had Mike and Suzanne to share ‘ a wee bit o fun in Cleveland.’

Glad you stopped in at Hurley Travels.  Talk to you later.

Good Times with Good People

Four people just going with the flow and enjoying whatever seemed like a good idea -  That’s how I’d describe our visit this past week with our good rving friends Chuck and Jan Moore.  They were passing through Indianapolis between family in Chicago and friends in Cincinnati.  So we lucked into having time with them for four days. 

We shared lunches and dinners, roamed in cemeteries searching for Hoosier ancestors, shopped for new electronic gadgets, toured the city a little, researched genealogy and challenged each other at pegs and jokers. Of course, some of the best times were our animated gab sessions  catching up on travel stories and laughing about life.

When we first met about three years ago in Quartzsite, AZ, at a Boomer RV rally, we all discovered we had a common interest in genealogy research.  So when Chuck mentioned he was seeking a few Hoosier ancestors nearby, we were ready to take part in his hunt.  We all had fun on our quests to locate graves within the spacious Crown Hill Cemetery in the middle of the city and at a remote, tiny family graveyard in Boone County north of Indianapolis.  And then we went downtown to search for a few more family history details at the Indiana State Library Genealogy Dept., make a quick tour of a few city sites and stop for lunch at Shapiro’s Deli with the yummiest corned beef sandwiches around. 

Over our few days of hanging out together we managed to squeeze in some shopping, jewelry-making for Nancy and Jan, discussions of campgrounds and rv life and plans for wintering in the Southwest.  We even found time for Mexican food at Toucan Annie’s in Cicero and Tijuana Flats in Fishers.    

How nice to have the good fortune to share good times with good people.  Thanks Jan and Chuck.