This week has been lovely in most parts of America. Here in Illinois, it’s been better-than-spring warm weather and sun. It’s only March (generally a chilled and cloudy month) so everyone has been moving about outdoors, soaking in this blessing.
My daughter and went to one of our favorite spots, Lincoln Memorial Gardens. We live in Springfield, Illinois which is the adult home of President Abraham Lincoln. He and his family lived here for over 28 years before his presidency, and he returned to Springfield to be buried in a somber, grand tomb in the Oak Ridge Cemetery. Lincoln Memorial Gardens is a vast natural space cultivated to maintain the wild feel of the natural Illinois landscape as it was when Abe lived here over 150 years ago. Read more…
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Vacation ends.
Call it the weekend-phenomenon. Good things seem to wrap up just as they are getting started. It’s the truth, and it hurts, but it wouldn’t be vacation if it went on forever.
Boo.
A friend writes on Facebook:
Every morning during our break, our little boy has woken us up with a long snuggle and a game of “Cars Memory” (or two, or three) in bed. I am desperately going to miss this morning ritual when we go back to our working reality tomorrow. I have decided I want to be a millionaire so that we can all just stay home like this together forever. Any ideas? Read more…
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Hot and dry.
Words don’t grab it. Roasty days, kids with sweaty foreheads and dirty nails. Grass brown and parched enough to skewer a birthday balloon. Sun, grand and proud and framed in abundant blue. Pools become priceless, sprinklers work like heck. Kids and land and plants are wildly thirsty.
School kids must bring water bottles, parents assured that at least: we won’t let them dehydrate. A Midwestern parent says a prayer of thanks because even though it’s dry and hot, we’ve got access to water and our kids are safe.
Farmers worry on low yields. What they worry on, so should you. Today, the average U.S. farmer feeds 155 people.* A scorching drought spells trouble for each of those folks and families. High prices, high demand – it’s all a part of what happens when there isn’t enough. Read more…
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My family has just settled back home after a 2,300 mile road trip from Illinois to Colorado, and back. Our primary destination was Rocky Mountain National Park, a most spectacular place composed of mountain elevations ranging from 8,000 to over 14,000 feet. To place perspective on this height, our home in Illinois is at 600 feet.
American citizens are blessed with a national park system. It is a collection of some of the most spectacular and varied natural places in the world, protected for all to experience, free from progress and destruction. It’s an understatement to call this a treasure, especially after you’ve experienced the indefinable thrill and beauty of such a stunning natural place. Read more…
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Where do you live and are you from there?
Welcome to Illinois. Welcome to the weather, it’s fickle and untrustworthy.
A rush of change (Hey, it was 90 degrees with sky-so-blue! Where did this rain come from?) can be purifying and meaningful and I guess that’s the start of the story I share today. My family and I are on the settled side of a move from suburban Chicago (you’ve heard of the White Sox, the big lake and the big tower) to a small town in Central Illinois. My path is a circle, I suppose, because I am from this area originally, but my husband is from Chicago. Read more…
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