Blogs from Toulon, Illinois, United States, North America

This morning the song of "Bob White, Bob White, Bob White," was back again. There is a huge wind chime outside my window that bongs rather than trills. It is so quite here-even quiter than back home in Auburn. The breeze is up and my curtains are billowing: I simply cannot believe that I am going back home today. Once I start trying to stuff all of my Illinois-dirty laundry into my suitcases, it becomes apparent that I must. I'm out of clean clothes, my electric toothbrush needs recharging, I'm in serious need of exfoliating, and I'm desperate to take off my nail polish which began chipping off last night. It makes me feel like such a wimp compared to Chloe Washburn Dexter, Sarah Frances, Sarah Jane, Chloe Frances, Augusta Priscilla, Lillian Lenore, Susan Florence, ... read more

I picked Cay up and we headed out to Kewanee because I had spotted a Java Hut: oh, the luxury of a lattee!. It was an interesting place: the girl at the counter asked if wanted to tan, to get a haircut, or???? How ingenious to have a day spa, tanning, hair, piercing,and tattoo salon with a coffee bar: and the receptionist was wearing a pirate eye patch..... Oh, if only I would have had more time, energy, and money! ( I am not making fun of a disability-she had poked herself in the eye, or something about her contact lens, but it did make a really odd first impression.) We headed out to Elmira where Cay had many family memories: her grandfather had his medical practice in the tiny little house across from the ... read more

Did you know that Bobwhite Quail actually say "Bob White, Bob White, Bob White"? And did you know that they start saying "Bob White" at about 6 AM? It is actually a surprisingly wonderful way to wake up-even though my body thinks that it is 4 AM. It was also hard to sleep much longer when I realized that today would probably be the most important genealogy day of my trip. Today, I was going out to the old house on the Maxfield land-now owned by someone else- to see if we could identify it against the picture that my second cousin Richard had sent to me. I had been in touch with the Stark County, Illinois Genealogical Society and corresponded with the master of genealogical information, Don Schmidt. My trusty side-kick, Cay, and I ... read more

Peoria to Indian Creek Vineyard and the Chateau I made it to Peoria and my luggage even arrived in the general time frame that I did. I had to wait around for it a bit, so the ticket counter lady gave me a couple of food vouchers: every time I turn around, someone at Delta is giving me a food voucher. Shortly thereafter, sitting in The Hangar (I believe it was called) restaurant and surveying the fine list of deep fat fried or red meat selections, I realized that I am going to be starting a serious diet when I return home. Of course, when I retrieved my suitcase, I realized that I needed all the calories of a deep-fried battered fish sandwich because of all the books that I had packed and would now ... read more