The pandemic has ushered the home office to the forefront of work life. Gallup, Inc., indicated last October that 33% of the U.S. workforce worked from home full time and another 25% did so some of the time. Three veteran Bloomington work-from-homers offer their tips for novices to the practice.
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When Suki’s owner was suddenly moved to a nursing home for rehab, the small West Highland White terrier was left alone in a house with only occasional visits from a friend. There, he developed inflamed skin and hair loss from serious allergies that needed treatment.
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Winding through Trevor Jones’ basement is a train model of Gloucestershire, England, circa 1960, that includes coal mines, cow pastures, castle ruins, and a hillside fox hunt.
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Nearly 21 years ago, Shalom Community Center opened in the basement of First United Methodist Church to provide services to those experiencing homelessness in Bloomington.
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Now that most of the leaves have fallen from the deciduous trees, evergreen trees and shrubs are more apparent in park and garden plantings all across town.
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Like the ancient goddesses for which it is named, The Muse Project offers inspiration to those who heed its words. The project’s founder, Jodi Pope Johnson, says today, more than ever, she feels there is a need to share messages of hope and healing.
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Bloomington has a way of keeping a hold on its residents, even those who have left. In fact, the phenomenon of leaving and returning to Bloomington is so common that it has its own name: the Bloomerang Effect.
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Indiana has had four official state flowers. Our current state flower, the peony, is from China and was adopted in 1957.
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The Flying Paws Agility Club agility course, set up inside a refurbished horse barn, offers dogs (and their people) a big space to run, fetch, and show off their skills.
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When Christi Pike, 57, woke up with a headache on December 21, 2018, she asked her husband, Jim, to take her to Urgent Care so she wouldn’t be sick over the holidays.
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In the summer of 2018, nurses at the IU Health Bloomington Hospital Hospice House rolled a patient outside in his hospital bed. A horse that had been a part of his family for years awaited him, brought to the facility in a trailer. Nurses put feed in the patient’s hand, allowing the horse and his dying owner to connect one final time.
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Jordy the CASA dog is something of a local celebrity. When the golden retriever celebrated his fifth birthday in October, it was a press-worthy event. But Jordy spends most days out of the spotlight, doing vital work at the Monroe County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) office, 201 N. Morton St.
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Community Action Agencies (CAAs) are sometimes considered the best-kept secrets of the nonprofit sector, says Jessie Yeary, director of communications and development at the South Central Community Action Program (SCCAP). She hopes to change that. “I don’t really like that phrase because we don’t want to be a secret,” she says.
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Old rose varieties, such as alba, gallica, and damask, had wonderfully fragrant blooms but, sadly, bloomed only once. Thanks to David Austin (1926–2018) we have 230 modern hybrid roses that offer intoxicating, old-fashioned rose fragrances and that bloom repeatedly.
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After working other people’s farms for a dozen years, Grant Pershing, 44, was ready to start farming for himself. Unfortunately, finding a bank that was willing to loan him the money wasn’t so easy. “I was a pretty poor risk, so I could either find a dilapidated house with enough land or a nice house with no land,” Pershing says. “When it came down to buying something, it just wasn’t going to happen.”
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The coming year is full of significant milestones for Shalom Community Center, a resource agency for those experiencing extreme poverty and homelessness, and for its executive director, Forrest Gilmore. Gilmore started as assistant director of Shalom in January 2010. A year later, on April 1, 2011—“Make of that what you will,” he says with a laugh—Gilmore was named executive director.
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Although you could splurge on red roses when decorating for the holidays, there are other, less expensive, natural alternatives. The early Romans decorated with holly for the winter solstice. Holly, along with ivy and mistletoe, was a traditional Christmas decoration in England, and early American settlers also preferred to use objects from nature to decorate for the holidays.
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The spring and summer months are when gardens are the most colorful, but it is easy to make our fall and winter gardens interesting as well. Shrubs are especially helpful as they are easy to care for once established, and come in a variety of colors, textures, and sizes.
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When Linda Gause, co-owner of Vance Music Center, joined a Monroe County homemakers club in the mid-1990s, she didn’t know it would lead to global adventure.
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After years of planning, Bloomington Cohousing, Indiana’s first cohousing community, is finally becoming a reality. The brainchild of lifelong friends Janet Greenblatt and Marion Sinclair, the intentional community near the Southeast YMCA will feature 26 privately owned homes, a common building, community gardens, and other shared amenities, all designed to reduce homeowners’ environmental footprints and expand their sense of community.
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Growing up, Michael Koryta had a soulful relationship with loaded bookshelves.
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When Bloom was founded 15 years ago, we pledged that not only would the writing be first rate, but that the design and photography would be also.
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This is the 89th edition of Bloom Magazine and the thinnest issue ever—even smaller than the first issue published in August 2006.
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Jim Krause describes himself as “an accomplished adventurer, photographer, documentarian, teacher, writer, producer, musician, and composer.”
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The City of Bloomington’s second Black Lives Matter street mural was approved April 13 by the Board of Public Works for installation on the north side of the downtown Square.
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For the past 14 years, we have been publishing Bloom, a free, bimonthly cultural and lifestyle magazine serving Bloomington, Indiana, and surrounding communities. We have four missions: to support local businesses, local charities, local arts, and diversity. We are an integral part of the fabric of this community.
Like so many small businesses (4 employees), we are facing huge challenges in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope to be able to continue producing the magazine and our website, magbloom.com, but we need your help.
