Country church

Green Garden, Illinois is a little town with an agricultural history that is slowly being surrounded by urban sprawl. Their neat little Methodist church kept its small country church appeal-- except for the electronic welcome sign with the scrolling messages that is just out of frame to the right.

I guess their sign is a sign of how the sprawl is even creeping in to the Methodist church.

Where the heck am I?

Actually, this sculpture is in front of a Chamber of Commerce/tourism office just off I-57 in Mount Vernon, Illinois.

"French Mustard"

Glidden's "French Mustard" will adorn the walls in the upstairs hallway and the former family room as well as the south wall of the new great room.

"Kiln"

This is the color three of the four walls of our nearly-completed great room are being painted today. The name given to it by Martha Stewart is "Kiln".

The remaining wall and the upstairs hallway and former family room will be painted "French Mustard" tomorrow.

Our "Laundry Kitchen"

This is where we cook (microwave), have our refrigerator, store our dry goods, wash dishes and clothes, etc.

One more week and we'll dismantle it all (except the fridge stays) and move into the NEW great room upstairs.

New bowl

Yes, it is big. We had it made special and that's why I waited until mid-March for my Christmas gift.

From the "Things that make me go, 'Hmmm' file"

An Amish bar stool. For Amish bars?

Alexander & Saralyn

This picture of Alex and Sara was taken almost 5 1/2 years ago. I still LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

(Sara is my youngest daughter. Alex is older daughter Misha's son-- my grandson.)

Dinosaur

An ashtray. Add this to the list of "things-that-used-to-be-everywhere-but-now-you-hardly-ever-see-them"-- along with phone booths, cassette tapes and full-service gas stations.

Spring has sprung!

Daffodils pushing up through the mulch are a sure sign that longer, warmer-- and more colorful-- days are on their way.

Yellow on yellow

A new corner

Iggy checking out the workmanship of the new island.

Or, did he get sent to the corner and he's looking back and questioning why?

In either case he's getting so big I asked Terri, "At what size does he stop being considered a bearded dragon and start being called an alligator?"

Soon

I have no idea who these people are other than they are music fans. And they look like music fans. This shot was taken at the Ravinia Music Festival in the summer of 2009.

I post this now because we just ordered our tickets for this summer's concerts. That's always a sure sign that spring is right around the corner!

Done

I wonder if sales of aspirin and ibuprofen increase significantly on March 18th?

Slainte!

Happy St. Patrick's Day one and all!

My favorite Irish toast:

May you live as long as you want and have all that you want for as long as you live.


Slainte!

Car Lashes

Saw this online. I'm looking forward to seeing it on the road.

I love whimsy.

Cabinets

They're in.

"One small step for a carpenter. One giant leap for the remodel."

--Earl Armstrong, as he first set foot in the Muckian Great Room, March 14, 2011

Waterfall

A small waterfall at Starved Rock State Park viewed from above.

New floor

It's finished. After many, many hours looking at tiles in showrooms, then the pounding, the dust, and being covered in rosin paper for several days, the new tile floor was "unwrapped" yesterday. It was worth the wait.

No time

This time will not exist on Sunday morning. Weird.

(Horrible picture, I know. But you can't get the numbers to show with flash.)

Lights

The next decision is lighting. We saw this and liked it for the island. It is part of the Pub Collection. (No surprise there, right?) There were two others we were trying to decide between for the dining table. Of course we chose the more expensive one. Now we just need one for the front entry...

Bustin' out

Iggy is growing again. He's eating like a maniac-- 24 crickets yesterday-- and is literally growing out of his skin.

Funny how he was the runt when we got the pair, but now he's The Hulk and Seb's the little guy who's going to get sand kicked in his face.

In his defense, Seb has been brumating for the last four or five months so he's not growing. Similar to hibernation, brumation is when the bearded dragons seek out cooler, darker places, sleep most of the time, and eat very little, if they eat at all.

Could you imagine taking a five month nap and not even waking up for a snack? Me neither.

Rustic beauty

This is the dining room in the lodge at Starved Rock State Park in Utica, Illinois. The dining hall and the lodge itself were among many Civilian Conservation Corps projects built in the 1930s. As the the nation was coming out of the Great Depression, the CCC provided jobs to young men to work on public projects.

I would like to see the US return to this type of "workfare" public assistance. That is: we need things done, you need money, you help us and we'll help you. I think it could be a win-win situation.

Look at the wonderful and long-lasting beauty of this magnificent dining room. Alas, if only the food was half as good!

Sandstone canyon

Thousands of years of water from a tiny meandering stream only two or three feet wide slowly carried away piece after piece of the soft sandstone, leaving this curving canyon wall.

Picture taken in Starved Rock State Park, Utica, Illinois.

Rural Illinois

This water tower is directly over a used car dealership in Sullivan, Illinois.

I stopped to take the picture to share with a friend named Sullivan. When I stopped my car to take the shot, the unoccupied salesmen looked at me rather suspiciously. I wonder what they thought I was "up to"?

Sezai

I LOVE this picture!

This is son John (in black and gold) when he was nine or ten. He was a fierce competitor who loved soccer (still does) and always worked his hardest.

His nickname, Sezai, is what it sounded like when he tried to say "John-John" when he was really young. I always thought it would be cool if he grew up, played professional soccer and used Sezai as his Brazilian-style one-name soccer name.

Gin

Pretty blue bottle.

Lake Shore Drive

And there ain't no road just like it,

Anywhere I've found.

Runnin' south on Lake Shore Drive,

Headin' in to town.

Just slippin' on by on LSD,

Friday night trouble bound.




from Lake Shore Drive
by Aliotta, Haynes and Jeremiah

In Memory

A great man passed away today.

John H. Vogt was the epitome of a gentleman. I will miss him and feel genuinely honored to have known him.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said:

"We sometimes meet an original gentleman, who, if manners had not existed, would have invented them."

John Vogt was that man.

Rest In Peace.

Before and During

The project has begun. Here are two views from upstairs. Top shot is a week ago. Bottom shot is after Day 1-- The Demolition.

12:20 at the Logan County Courthouse