On Saturday, we took a trip up to Pine Hills Nature Preserve and Shades State Park. The Preserve was Indiana's first, dedicated because of its "unusual" geological features. The most remarkable of these are "backbones," skinny paths, carved out by rivers, that drop off steeply on either side:



That's Turkey Backbone. The more famous one is The Devil's Backbone:



At the end, it is only about 3 feet across:



Here are some views of the side:




At the bottom of The Devil's Backbone is Honeycomb Rock:




Then we hiked over to the state park, where we took a short but "very rugged" hike up a ravine and stream bed:




Who knew central Indiana could be as dramatic as our southern part of the state?

It's so exciting to be growing things! Our paw-paws have spring back to life after a long winter dormancy, and have now grown in about 4 weeks about as much as they grew all last year:



And here's the garden:



There's no missing the rhubarb (which is much smaller now, as our first rhubarb pie of the season is in the oven). But here are some closer views.

From right to left, we have two rows of strawberries, a line of parsnips (the exposed dirt in the picture, since they're still very small), and then, in front of and behind the rhubarb, two broccoli, two cabbage, 6-7 garlic, and cilantro:



Also in the previous picture, but hard to see, were another cabbage (front), two collard greens (middle), and a brussels sprout (smaller, in the back) (the other, smaller plants are garlic and cilantro):



I was going to include a picture of our 7-8 tomato plants and 4-5 pepper plants, but they don't really show up against the mulch very well.

Then on the far left, here is spinach (didn't germinate very well, in the farther left row) and a salad mix (going great guns, in the second row in):



While we were outside, we played with Oliver, who also found a "friend":

It's been a crazy week. First, on Saturday, we bought a new (new!) car:



It's a 2010 Hyundai Elantra, we got a good deal, and we're thrilled with the car itself.

Then on Monday I drove the new car to Indianapolis for yet another Indiana Hand to Shoulder Center appointment, though I saw a different doctor this time. And after nearly four years of wrist problems, I finally got a diagnosis! The bad news is that my condition--midcarpal instability--doesn't have an accepted treatment, so I am going back on April 14 when I will be a subject of one of their "difficult problems" conferences, where all their doctors and interns will use me as a learning opportunity and speculate on what should be done.

Tuesday I taught part-writing for the first time, and it went really well.

Yesterday (Wed.) I had a meeting with the musicologist who will be writing my minor field exam in music history and literature, and came home a bit depressed because he has extremely high expectations that will be difficult if not impossible for me to accomplish in the next 3 and a half weeks before the exam. From now on, I will be spending every available moment studying. (Yes, I'm writing a blog post, but over breakfast!)

But when I got home, I found I had received the Wennerstrom fellowship for my teaching. (If you look at "Previous recipients," you'll see that the inaugural recipient was none other than my wife, and last year's was my good friend Kyle.)

And Sara had managed to sell her car--less than 24 hours from when she posted it--for $1,000! That's certainly more than we expected for a 12-year-old car with 175,000 miles, a rusted underbody, dome lights that don't turn on when you open the door, back speakers that don't work, air conditioning that doesn't work...

So there's lots to do, lots of medical appointments to look forward to--but the hope of getting better, the hope of passing my exams, and the comfort of teaching. Just have to keep going!