Friendly Faces and Far Off Places

Last night I went out with three of my best friends from my high school years.  We ate Mexican food, talked about life and relaxed at Starbucks.  Yes, Starbucks.  MUST HAVE STARBUCKS.

Susan is an avid traveler and has been to every continent.  In another week she is flying to Kenya and then will spend some time driving across Europe.  I want to fit in her suitcase.  Should I try it?

Rachel is a missionary in Ethiopia and her family is in The States for a few months.  Rachel and Argaw, her husband, started an orphanage there and have three children.  "It's a risky business making babies, but somebody has gotta do it," she said with a laugh.

Kristen is a home health care nurse who lives in the Fort Wayne area and knows all of the interesting and fun haunts here.  The other night before my art museum escapade we couldn't think of a place to eat so we called her up.  She is one of the most joyful people I know.

Susan, Rachel, Kristen and Genesis (Rachel's baby)

I LOVE that I can keep in touch with these women. 

I can't wait to be old and hear what we are passionate about.  Last night we talked about God, sex, family, death, traveling and writing.  Fifty years from now we will either be obsessed with our dentures or excited about life.  From the looks of this group, I am betting it will be the latter.

Saturday Night Stink Eye

Saturday night my husband, sister and I went to the grand reopening of the Fort Wayne Museum of Art.  I pulled out my iPhone and took pictures of the crowd.  I didn't see any signs that mentioned that picture-taking was prohibited, so I had fun with it.

While making our rounds in the final art gallery, I told my sister to stand in front of this brightly colored painting.  I took the picture and a moment later a tall lady tapped me on the shoulder.  "You are not allowed to take pictures in the gallery," she said and pursed her lips.  "I'm sorry," I murmured and put the phone away.

Ashley said that from that point on the woman never stopped giving me the stink eye.  We noticed that as we left the gallery, she followed us.  I tried not to make eye contact and made sure my hands were in view so she knew I wasn't taking the forbidden pictures.

In these particular situations, I keep the mindset that I will probably never see the woman again, so there is no need to worry about what she thinks.

But to be honest, she was kind of scary. I am sure that I will have nightmares of the woman tapping me on the shoulder, wagging her finger and tisk-tisking with her pursed lips.

Below, however, are a few of the pictures that I took which do not include any up-close photos of artwork (notice I blurred out the paintings in the background of the second picture).  It is too bad really.  Some of the photos with art were pretty awesome.

Conrad the Stilt Walker

This last weekend my sister, mother and I drove around Fort Wayne and window-shopped for houses in a particular neighborhood.  As we got out of our vehicle to look inside a house that was for sale we noticed an older gentleman walking down the sidewalk.

The man, we later learned to be Conrad Teff, was guiding a boy who was shakily balancing on stilts. He yelled out, "This here is a nice neighborhood if you are looking to buy."  His movements were slow because the boy was a beginner.

"Where did you get the stilts?" we asked.

"Oh, I used to be a stilt walker."

"Why'd you first decide to learn?"

"Well, it was either do bad and evil things or learn stilts."

Personally, I went to youth group to stay out of trouble.  Stilts could have worked.  To each his own, I guess.