July 2

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Winona Lake.

Winona Lake has been a resort community for a long time.

There are lots of big and fancy houses (this one is not, very, compared to some!).

There are lots of little houses.  My great-grandmother lived here, for a while.

It was a long time ago, when she lived in that house.  I wonder how long the daylilies have been in front of the house. Her daughter, my grandmother, loved flowers. Maybe Minerva did, too.  Mom, do you know?

Kosciusko County Courthouse. Isn't it interesting how the names of Revolutionary War figures like Kosciusko are scattered all over the fabric of our country?

Later in the day, farther west in Indiana.

My father's extended family has owned this farm for a long time.  They built this barn in 1914, and take good care of the barn, and the farm.  There have been 4th-of-July family reunions here for as long as anyone can remember.  My dad remembers coming here when he was a kid. (The farm belonged to one of my dad's father's sisters and her husband.)

The farm borders the Tippecanoe River.  For many decades, family members have enjoyed camping by the river, especially around the 4th of July.

I hadn't been to one of these reunions for several years.  I've always thought it was very cool that I know lots of my second cousins, and second cousins, once removed, and now even second cousins, twice removed.  Not too many people get a chance to meet their distant cousins -- getting to do so is one of the special things about coming to this place.

It was good to catch up with a bunch of relatives I've known since I was a kid.

Corn (known elsewhere as maize).  There is an expectation that healthy corn will be "knee high by the 4th of July."  This corn was at least up to my waist.

Driving back to Winona Lake.  The sky was clear and sunny when we left "the River," but when we got out on the road, we could see that it looked dark in the north.  We saw more and more clouds as we got closer to my aunt's.

I took this pic for the red barn, and didn't notice until I was looking at these on "the big screen" that you can clearly see the front coming in from the left (north).

We got back to my aunt's and then began to really appreciate what was happening above.  It's possible to see pretty much the whole sky, there, and ... goodness.

Looking east.

Looking west.

Looking straight up.

That weird bubbliness, the higher(?), smoother clouds, and the edge of the front.....

It looked like the front was bowing out RIGHT over us.  It went from horizon to horizon, bulging out toward the south, just where we were.

I'd never seen a sky that looked anything like that.

I made a stab at video.  I think I had the camera zoomed out a bit.  I think it would be better if it weren't.....

We kept on watching.



Straight up.  It was my impression that this cylindrical bunch of cloud was revolving, the side of the cylinder parallel to the ground.  When I saw that, I thought perhaps it wasn't a really brilliant idea to be outside.......

Here's an attempt at capturing the revolution.....

Looking south.

It blew, a bit, and it rained right down, for a while, but it wasn't scary-stormy.

We were glad to learn, the next day, that all the campers at "the River" were ok.  They thought they got 2" of rain, but not much wind, and no trees (or even big branches) came down.  Some tents got wet, but no damage.

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