My sister, Andy, lives in South Bend and works at The University of Notre Dame's Hesburgh Library and I hadn't been down to see the new house she purchased so I took the MKE>Chicago and Chicago>South Bend train to see her for the weekend and experience a Notre Dame Football game. Sadly UCONN beat them on their last home game of the year, but the weather was nice so it wasn't an entirely bad weekend! These photos were taken with Andy's little camera...much less depth of field and creative flexibility but MUCH smaller! IMG_1607 After watching a Japanese-language film we stopped by the midnight drum circle, they had neat green fire in their cymbals (on some aluminum foil) - very Irish IMG_1611 A big crowd... IMG_1617 We walked from her house to the game, it was quite convenient and these odd little fire hydrant people marked the way! IMG_1619 Tailgating + Liquor Store = Disaster IMG_1620 Being the inquisitive minds we are, we visited the "What's the buzz about fruit flies" lecture in the science building. We thought it would be a lecture but it was mostly a lab (and we were late so we had to absorb info about p- vs p+ and bar eyes quickly!) IMG_1622 On the verge of a fruit fly breakthrough! IMG_1623 Andy prepares to paint with fruit flies...ok, so she's positioning the flies so we can answer that age old question about retinal degeneration in fruit flies IMG_1624 Aren't those cute little critters? IMG_1625 That's what they eat...it's Aunt Jemima corn meal, molasses, and other assorted non-fruit food...poor uninformed lab fruit flies IMG_1626 Next it was off to the Hospitality Village (next to the Tailgating City) - Jeff, a friend from work at GE, was kind enough to put us on the NBCU tent list since GE recruiting has a strong presence there. Here are the spoils of hospitality! IMG_1628 Andy and I with perhaps one of the last-known photos of the peacock near a GE event if news reports are true IMG_1629 Then we scurried over to the main building to see "Trumpets Under the Dome" which was super although I fear for those on the first floor as the trumpets clear spit valves A quick video slideshow of some photos/video clips (from Andy's handy little camera) of the Notre Dame band! IMG_1636 Finally to the game (we sat near the librarians and you know the university is serious about football when the librarians have an area of seats), it was a sunny beautiful day (50 degrees+ in late November!) IMG_1637 Sadly they lost the game, but it's just a game, right? IMG_1646 See, even Jesus is shrugging his shoulders, perhaps I'll call him sports-indifferent Jesus? IMG_1648 And who would blame him? People littered all over the palace outside the stadium... IMG_1651 Ok, I understand everyone wants to go to the game but perhaps better trash can arrangement or grounds staff would make this look less like a recycling station IMG_1653 This was a cute little bus with a smiling shamrock... IMG_1655 ...and no dome but a statue of Mary (I wonder if that's real gold...I could send her in for CASH!) IMG_1656 Lots of cigar smokers around as well...littering Dominican/Cuban cigars... IMG_1659 Here's a nice spider plant in Andy's house - it's growing like crazy! IMG_1666 Andy's a KU grad and Jayhawk fan, I like the name! IMG_1669 I MUST have one of these neat toys! IMG_1670 Nice little Clementine oranges and postage stamps of the world IMG_1672 Classic 1950s fixtures in the bathroom, kinda art deco-y IMG_1674 Nice tile pattern IMG_1675 Fun window cranks too... Return to Features