How was your summer? Mine was fine, and short. A July summer-fun injury has kept me close to home as the summer winds down. Don’t feel too badly about me missing out. While recovering, I still was able to travel to Indianapolis to see my youngest son and his teammates swim at the Indiana Age Group State Swimming Finals at the IUPUI Natatorium, visit the Indianapolis Zoo, see Steely Dan in concert at the Louisville Palace, and visit relatives in Greeneville, Tenn. Still, with a black eye and broken ankle, I haven’t felt much like getting out here in town. So, I spent much of July and August in my home, a place I like a lot.
What did I do with the extra time at home? I wasn’t industrious enough to organize all the family pictures scattered about and in boxes. I cooked plenty, but can’t say that I prepared anything remarkable. We have entertained recently. That’s really what I like about being at home — the ease and comfort of spending time with visiting relatives, a family friend in town from Houston, or 20 sixth-graders dancing around our bonfire.
Since I’ve worked more from home, I’ve spent extra time with our 16-month-old Mountain Cur rescue dog, Jed. I’ve played with him lots; trained him not so much. He’s been good company and solid guidance for me as we’ve curated content for the September/October Evansville Living — Dog vs. Cat — our clever cover presentation (we think) of our feature on pets, “For Pets’ Sake” (page 42). Your comments and requests, along with our observations on the importance and success of social media in placing pets for adoption and finding lost pets, helped guide our content. We know there are so many pet stories to be told. I suspect we will hear from readers eager to share how they have connected with their unique pets, and we welcome that. I am quite sure this will not be the last time we feature pets.
We introduce with this issue a new story in the Good Living section of the magazine, “Why Not Evansville?” This magazine was borne from those three words. That, and inspiration from a peer magazine posing the same question, set us about asking “Why Not Evansville?” We brainstormed for ideas. In Amsterdam, Netherlands, I saw car dealerships and a luxury mall built into interstate sound barriers, and a laser tag arena built into an overpass along the port. Why not Evansville? We’ll save those ideas for later. (Please read about my tour of the Netherlands and Belgium on page 36.) We were inspired by a fun event in Louisville, Ky., a trolley hop, to investigate as our first topic (page 23). Do you find yourself asking, “Why not Evansville?” Please share your ideas with us.
As always, I look forward to hearing from you.
Kristen K. Tucker
Publisher & Editor
Read “300 Words,” the editor’s blog, at evansvilleliving.com/blog, each week.
