Indiana Wants Me (and my money)

At last: a contribution from the Goudie branch.

Last week was Evanston High School's spring break and, after visiting the Grandparents Goudie in Galesburg for a few days, we toured the Hoosier/Boilermaker/Bulldog State. (The only reason those sporty names roll so effortlessly off my tongue is because we were looking at colleges -- and these are mighty proud schools.)

Believe it or not, the state of Indiana happens to have two of the best Ballet programs in the U.S. (save for Juilliard) : Indiana U. and Butler U. So.... it was a bit of a tease for Katie to observe classes there, especially after hearing that these programs take only about 20 freshmen a year, nearly every one with perfect feet. No harm in looking though, eh?

James should be an easier fit. (Does he look worried?) He thinks he wants to pursue engineering. Purdue did a nice job in demonstrating how their 6,000 engineering students don't get lost in the shuffle. Nice marching band too, but traveling is required for inter-mural hockey. We also looked at Bradley U in Peoria (super friendly school, but no football), and the guys will be driving up to U of Wisconsin/Madison later this month.

The Grandparents Goudie are fine, and seemed to enjoy having the extra four bodies in their home for a short spell. (Sorry, no photos). The pond on their farm is filling up nicely -- there are lots of deer prints nearby. And it looks like there will be a healthy crop of poison ivy again this year, as my skin can testify. (I could write -- and star in -- a horror movie about its potent oil, urushiol. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urushiol . If the terrorists get their hands on that stuff -- watch out!) .