February is a short month but I'm CATCHING UP!

In light of my "theme" for the year I'm doing odd things and dragging Ed along, lucky guy that he is. Fortunately we have public tv around here and there is a series titled "Illinois Stories" - right up my alley. Yesterday was field trip day and we took off for towns/villages just west of Springfield.
It was cold enough yesterday that these horses appeared to be smokin'. They were very curious as to who I was and why I was taking their picture. It only made them "huff" more which made more steam, looking more like smoke. Ya hadta be there.

I don't know what they are doing today but I'm staying inside because the wind is so strong I can see my email blowing across the neighbors' back field.







Further on down the road we entered Jim Edgar State Park. The park name is longer than that but the important fact is we did at one time have a positive noteworthy governor in Illinois. There was a chapel and old cemetery within the park's boundaries. Both date back to 1839. The chapel has been kept up too well and looks brand new so I took this photo of the one thing inside that was remarkable. The cemetery has wonderful old stones and we plan a motorcycle trip in the spring to explore the writings on those and on another couple of cemeteries we found while roaming through the countryside.




Our true destination was this small town, corner grocery store. Many of you probably don't remember them and the rest of you can't believe these even ever existed. Well they do and they're better than WalMart in terms of making the best of things. The owner is friendly. The sausage is made in the back. The shelf items are what the townspeople need and the owners know that and how much to have on hand, etc. If you But above all, this demonstrates that Americans will pull through. There are neighborhood nooks and crannies across this country which are pulling together to do just that. We are turning to optimism, to each other, to values, to God, to gumption, to the basics. We are catching the spirit to catch UP!


Making cookies is a weakness of mine. Fortunately I have lots of high-energy children I know who can have one or two of them and will burn the calories off quickly. These all went to my Sit, Stay, Read class members - 4th graders! Just when I think I'm caught up I remember we are getting two guest dogs today and they'll stay 8 days. Time to get organized!