We rode the train to Illinois

and it is so lovely and cold here! Last night it got down to 49 and today it's in the low 70s. (It was actually warmer in Alaska yesterday than it was here.) My mom and I picked the perfect time to come visit my grandma...

Yesterday we went to Galesburg, the birthplace of Carl Sandburg, one of my favorite poets. We went to a little museum, and saw his childhood home. I picked up a book of poems for children that I may use next year with my students.
Tomorrow we'll see some more family: aunt, uncle, cousins, and I'm hoping to put my newly found recipes on grilling to work.

I'm having a restful vacation, and feeling a little guilty that Nathan still has to work and doesn't get any time off. But maybe next year we can both get away. In the meantime, I'm relaxing for both of us.

My parents' house

will always be a wonderful, warm place to come home to. I hope they never move. They live in this huge old farm house that was built in 1905 in a little town in East Texas, where the trees are so tall think you must be in another state. The house and land are so alive with the history of people who lived there before that even though my mom complains about the wall paper in the kitchen, it kind-of belongs with the rest of the house.

I've been here since Friday night and so far, I've gotten to surprise my little sister when we went to pick her up from camp, see my brother play an incredible soccer game in town, go to my parents' church where the special music was "Father's Eyes," and watch two movies with my family--The Terminal, not bad at all, and Trekkies, one of the funniest, most brilliant documentaries to date if you ask me.

I like being here.