Sunday's Snippets

READING:  Timothy Egan's The Worst Hard Time re the dust bowl years of the 1930's in the Oklahoma Panhandle and surrounding areas.  (The same author who wrote The Big Burn that I finished a couple of weeks ago.)
SWIMMING NEWS:  The Indiana University Women's Swimming and Diving Team finished 13th in the NCAA Championships.  The Men's Swimming and Diving Team finished 10th in the NCAA Championships.  Very good, both...the ones finishing ahead of them were the huge swimming powers that be, so IU held their own and we are so proud of all of them.   You can read the Women's news here.  You can read the Men's news here.  Next up for Matt is the Grand Prix swim meet here in Indy this week.  He will swim the 50, 100, 200 Freestyles and the 100 Backstroke over the course of the meet.  Extra fun as it's a big-time meet with the Olympian swimmers participating.
Photo:  Steve, Ian, and Matt (otherwise known as The Three Amigos) during a weekend home -- Ian is Matt's roommate this year and in May the three of them will be renting a house together for the next three years at college as swimmers stay in Hooville for the summers to train. 
COOKING BYTES:  Way behind on blogging and posting food group blog-alongs.  Sigh.
FAV NEW FIND:  Spring showed up really really early this year and we are completely green here with blooming flowers.  It is so gorgeous and inspiring.  All the green right outside my windows just makes the day seem special and wonderful.  It's a joy just to drive to the store or the five miles up the road to work at GCHS.  Very nice.
FAV THIS PAST WEEK:  NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving and NCAA Basketball...definitely a favorite around our house.  We all love to watch the basketball games, March Madness is something we look forward to each year.  IU made it to the Sweet 16, a complete surprise to everyone, and a whole lot of fun along the way.  Win or lose, it was just great to be there!  Next year is going to be even better for the Hoos...there are "We are BACK!" signs everywhere!  You probably have to live here to understand...this is a team that can sell out their seats on years when they don't win anything.  Seriously.  On Saturday, GCHS won the State Boys' Basketball Championship for Class 3A!  Very very exciting for all of us...GCHS just 8 years old, and this is the first year they moved up from 2A to 3A, so they did a really great job.  On Friday we wished them all well and told them to "Bring home the trophy!" as they left...such fun that they did it!
Photo:  Guerin Catholic HIgh School Boys' Basketball Team 2012 State 3A Champions! 
WEEK IN REVIEW:  There has been a whole lot of basketball watching here the past couple of weeks, the usual round of activities, and a lot of working days...all making the time speed by.  Mark and I went to visit Matt at college yesterday and had a nice lunch and walk around in Nashville, IN.  It was a beautiful day and it was just really nice to be out enjoying it and catching up with all Matt's news. 
Photo:  Kiernan, Lauren, and Matt gracing my kitchen during a weekend home.
LOOKING FORWARD TO:   At the IMA:  Looking West exhibit, click here for information and inspiration to go see it. This is what's happening at the ISO this coming week:  Urbanski Conducts Smetana, click here.