more corn tunnel photos

Corn Tunnels

The corn is so high that it feels like you're going through a tunnel when you drive through.

the long journey home

A big journey is coming up for Jubilee and I - the long winding trip back to Florida. In less than 5 days we will be on the road. I can’t believe it is coming up so fast. First we will cousin-hop across Ohio, visiting Billy Hart in Dayton and then Felicia and Aunt Louise in a cottage on Lake Erie somewhere outside of Cleveland. Then we will head over to western NY where my sister lives. We will stay the week there, preparing for the big pig roast to celebrate the marriage of Jonathan and Heather (which took place last year, but we’re just getting around to celebrating). Nephews and nieces-in-law and grand nephews and more.

From there we will wind our way down to Florida, visiting whomever we can find along the way.

The summer has been delightfully cool. Not like the summer of last year (in Missouri) at all. This morning it was in the low 60s. Cooler than Chicago. Maybe the coolest place in the state. Not quite as cool as Badlands, but getting there.

I keep thinking that the Big Heat is coming, that August for sure will be super hot to make up for the cool days. Dennis says, no, that this is a cool summer. The pattern of weather from the north is set for the season. It’s part of a bigger weather pattern that is more than just one year.

I am ready to be moving on. I may write more publicly about my impressions of this part of central America when I get a little more distance and can put it in a better perspective. It may be that I was not able to break into the local culture enough to make a valid assessment.

I don’t know what will happen in the future to places like Greenville. These towns don’t exactly look like they are primed for thriving in the future. I don’t see a lot of young people. Maybe when the kids come back to the college in the fall things feel differently. There is an art coop downtown that sells locally made arts and crafts, but that is the only business that I found that was the least bit innovative.

Back to Mahomet!

We spent the weekend with the McMillan clan in Mahomet Illinois. Dennis and Barbara are our friends from the 70s and we have reconnected with them since our returns to the Center of America (see here and here.)

It was a fun time with lots of good food and good friendship. Barb is an artist with so many talents. The flowers and landscaping of her yard is but one of her many endeavors.

We came across this along the Illinois highway. Kind of scary. John said “I wonder what Muslims think when they see that?”

Trees

(Photos take during a walk around the block in Greenville IL, July 30)
Someone told me that there must be a “Greenville” in every state. I don’t know about that. But I do know that Greenville Illinois is “green”, at least in the summertime.
I suppose I grew up with all these kinds of big trees around me in Kentucky, but I don’t remember noticing them as much as I do this summer in Greenville. The trees are large presences, standing guard at the street and towering over the houses.


The house next door is so shrouded in the shade from these trees that I think it must be cool inside all the time.

Just in the one block around our house there are so many trees, every one different. The really big ones are Elms (I think). There are a lot of them around, each with its own personality. This place must be a sight in the autumn when all the leaves fall.

Even the bark is fascinating and seems to have its own story to tell. Imagining the giant roots going way down into the ground is almost scary.


I think this “twin” is an oak. It feels mighty, indeed.

Every day I get at least one apple from this tree.

Aunt Louise's 95th Birthday

We were able to get to KY again this year for Aunt Louise's birthday. Isn't she lovely? I feel very fortunate to have been able to be there for her 94th and 95th celebrations. Harry had Mass in the living room the next morning ...

The Honeymoon Suite

In the house that we are renting there is an upstairs room. We rarely go up there, since it is on a separate air conditioning system, and we really have no need for the extra room. We don't even have access to the stairs going up there unless I go to the front foyer where the mail comes in through a slot in the door. It's not easy to describe the confoluted layout of the house. There's a door from the front porch that goes through a bathroom to the basement.

Jubilee is fascinated with this upstairs room. Whenever I open the door to the front hallway she makes a beeline up the stairs and there's no simple calling her down. She seems to think that this room was made for her!


I sure hope the landlord never sees this blog!