
Lake Monroe is the largest lake in Indiana - well really it's a man-made reservoir - near Bloomington Indiana where Indiana University (IU) is located. Our family congregated in Bloomington once more this past week, this time for the marriage of my nephew, who earned his PhD from IU two years ago.

My sister rented a house on Lake Monroe in order to host the rehearsal dinner in a homey environment set in a location with natural beauty all around.

The east-facing house she rented was perched half way down a steep hill which ended on a beach along the lake's shores. Every morning we were up before sunrise, cameras and tripods at the ready, and piping hot coffee in hand.

The peace and quiet in the woods above the lake was wonderful and each sunrise was unique - one had patches of fog drifting along the water's surface appearing pale pink and very ethereal, another was brilliant and clear with bright reds and oranges streaking the sky above the dark tree-lined hills on the far shore.

Fish jumped, cranes swooped, squirrels scampered, and acorns dropped to the forest floor with a thud - these are the noises of early morning on Lake Monroe that we became accustomed to over this very busy week. More details later about that later.