Jeannie's On Her Way!

For many years, we counted on the Eilers coming for Easter, but that was not possible last year. And this year, Cecelie had an activity requiring them to stay be in Freeport on Sunday. Jeannie’s plans for them to come just for Saturday ended up being aborted, but she messaged that she hoped to come down during this week. Maybe Wednesday. So I unlocked the front door early this morning in case she arrived while at was at cardiac rehab this afternoon. At supper time, I learned she was as far down as Bloomington; now I hoping the rain does not delay her too much longer. It has been too long since we’ve seen her!

As always I enjoyed having four of our college grandkids coming and going all weekend. Trent from John A. Logan, Brianna from Murray State, Sam from Baylor, and Elijah from Chicago where he is student teaching and living at llinois State’s apartment for the student teachers. (My interactions with our fifth collegiate was on the computer watching Geri Ann playing the opening games at the beautiful new Jane Sanders Stadium at University of Oregon.) I also got to see Sam’s friend Anna a couple of times during the weekend. I love hearing the kids’ talk about their classes, their political opinions, and their plans for the future. I like knowing the washing machine is being used for college laundry again just as it was years ago when their parents were at the farm from school. I had to be impressed when one grandson made his own breakfast, washed up all his dishes, and while doing so, thoroughly cleaned my neglected stove top! Oh, and I learned about bubble tea, which they drove to Carbondale for. Unfortunately, all left to go their separate ways on Easter morning, and the house was silent again.

Meanwhile, Gerald and DuWayne had a rough time driving down to see Gerry and Texas A&M play softball at Georgia with a number of wrecks slowing their travel. Then because of rain threatening, it was decided to have a double header on Saturday. So it was late when they left Athens on Saturday, and they decided to drive all night. (This is typical of Glasco men.) Gerald texted me when they got to Chattanooga, and he turned the driving over to DuWayne. I don’t know when they arrived at the farm, but Gerald was sleeping in bed with me when I got up, but I do not think it had been for very long.

Before I left for Katherine’s house, I had left a note on the kitchen table that anyone who wanted had been invited to go to a 9 a.m. worship with the Taylors and that we were planning on eating Easter dinner at a local restaurant at 11 in hopes Elijah might be able to linger that long and also to avoid the holiday crowd. He needed to get on the road, however; but Gerald did get up to see him briefly before he left and Sam before he went to attend church with Anna. The kids had all attended her church’s Easter vigil the previous night which ended at midnight.

Gerald was too tired to make it in for dinner, but I was well pleased because Trent did. He stays so busy working two jobs, doing great class work at John A., and keeping up his extensive Internet life that even though he is the local one, I rarely get to see him. So sitting by him and getting his hug was special although I was saddened knowing Brianna probably won’t be home until semester’s end. Then she is heading back to Orlando to work at Disney again this summer.

I had asked Katherine what she wanted for dinner later in the afternoon, and she decided she would be able to eat meatloaf. Wouldn’t you know that the restaurant had a new menu and meatloaf was not on it. I did take Gerald home a piece of sugar-free apple pie. When I was texting, Katherine later about the meatloaf and planning to go to a different place to get it, she realized she was hungry for fish. So fish, potato casserole, and baby carrots along with chocolate cake for dessert was her holiday meal, and she was able to eat quite a bit of it.

Well, Jeannie has not arrived yet, and I will not keep her up once she gets here. But I am entertaining myself to stay up in order to see her smiling face and know she is safely here! Talking can happen tomorrow.

Springtime in Southern Illinois

Driving to town provides welcome change from the sparse color of recent winter drives.  Redbuds reached their peak of beauty in our area for Easter weekend. The dogwood here is just beginning to bloom. The smell of freshly mowed grass is in the air, and the green lawns sport redbuds, peach blossoms, and crab apple blooms. I like the bright yellow blobs of dandelions in many lawns, and they make me think of our late friend Zella Cain, who also liked dandelions.

 Not all but most of the lacy white blossoms on pear trees have now been replaced with small green leaves matching the abundant greenery of grass and the leaves on shade trees during this annual reawakening. However, trees in woods along the roadside seem slower to achieve leaves, and that makes the appearance of the occasional redbud blossoms peeking through bare brown limbs especially lovely. 

Unplowed fields are often covered with the pinkish purple of henbit, and occasional bunches of yellow mustard plants are showing up.  The large patch of daffodils that I annually sneak a bouquet from has now been replaced with lovely paperwhites that seem extraordinarily abundant this year. I assume these daffodils and paperwhites were planted by the same woman oh so long ago beside a house no longer there.  She would be surprised at how they have spread out over this large area beside the road and up into the bordering woods.  

Although we had a smaller group than usual for Easter at the farm, Cecelie persuaded her mother to take her to Bloomington, where she caught a ride down with her brother Elijah at Illinois State.  Despite the pressure of end-of-semester work coming up, Brianna came home from Murray State.  These kids all landed at Mary Ellen and Brian’s farm house and stayed there, but were in and out of Woodsong as they planned their usual group shenanigans, which this year included kidnapping their cousin Sam to join them despite his not feeling well.  (Yesterday’s definitive diagnosis of Lyme disease started him on a 21-day regimen of antibiotic and the promise of feeling better in ten days. This was a relief.  How he has kept going full speed despite growing sicker all the time is beyond me.) 

These kids went over and volunteered to help hide eggs on the church lawn at our village church, and they stayed up to all hours talking over summer plans, current happenings, and the transitions in their lives. They did all their customary childhood activities including dying eggs and making Easter nests on the lawn.  Mary Ellen had volunteered to do the centerpiece for our dining room table, and it was very cute with the metal rabbit she had found the previous weekend at Hannibal, MO. She hosted the egg dying and brought over the bunny cake and the goodies for the kids to decorate it. (I think she was seven or eight when I turned over that decorating over to her.) 

Elijah gifted us with a beautiful song at worship in the village before we gathered for Sunday dinner here.   Katherine had worked out precision plans for an aide to bring her out for Easter dinner, but she was unusually weak and felt too bad to come.  The evening aide did get her to church Sunday night for at least part of the service.

  

Since our Georgia families were involved with softball games at Athens’ Jack Turner Stadium, we spent some time both Saturday and Sunday afternoons watching that series on the University of Georgia website.  We won two out of those three games and were disappointed again today to lose a home game against Georgia State.  Next we play three games against Alabama at Tuscaloosa on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Both Gerald and Brian have been busy lately burning the limb piles from winter clearing. Gerald has cleaned out flower beds, mowed the huge lawn he has created, plowed the garden and done some planting already. Brian began farming this week after the delay caused by the heavy rains.

Somehow Gerald has found time to go with his brother Keith over to Southeast Missouri Hospital at Cape Girardeau to sit with their brother Garry, who is there with Ginger, the love of his life.  Our sister-in-law has been the victim of multiple strokes, seizures, and the resulting problems since December of 200l.  (There had been previous episodes, but that 2001 stroke was the disabling one that they have had to cope with.)  Garry and Ginger are both heroes in my view.