Fall, 2010

I have to say that I love the Fall. And this year, we have had a beautiful one here in central Illinois. I can appreciate it more this year as I compare it to last year when we had rains into December that all too quickly took away the colors of this lovely season. Last year when my husband helped his brothers with the harvest (which he does every year)he came home late at night and was up early, sometimes 4:00 a.m. to get in line to empty the corn or soybeans at the grain elevators. It was a messy harvest to say the least, and the farmers around here said it was the worst in living memory. Amen. They finally finished in early December. This year, the harvest was finished in mid October and the colors are still visible today on the trees and bushes. Today, the weather is still in the 70ies and my husband is on the golf course with his two brothers. This may be the "last" of it, however, which is why I am writing about it. When it is cold, rainy and damp in the months to come, I will want to remember days like this and remind myself that they will come again. (Pictures taken at our Farm.)

Family and a Walk in the Woods

What could be more wonderful than a walk in the woods with your family? Here, my precious family is taking a rest after a crisp Fall walk through nature trails, colorful paths and along a sky-blue tranquill lake. For me, this is truly what makes life worthwhile, and joyful! Family and nature; nature and family. Two really great things life has provided me, and I am so grateful for both! And when the two come together, well then, it is just wonderful. I believe that the universe provides us these moments so that the rest of the time, when we are in the trenches with problems and worry, we can remember these days with the hope that there will be more. It has been true in my life. I must remember this.

Voting

Today, November 2, 2010, I am writing this from the Urbana, Illinois Free Library...a great place I discovered while here visiting my daughter. This is the college town of the University of Illinois with lots of thinking going on....some good; some not so good. And, downstairs today at the library, people are walking in to vote as this is a polling place, and this is the day for that. For the first time in my adult life, I am not casting a ballot. My father, who was quite active in the Democratic Party all his life would surely roll over in his grave if he knew. Around our big Irish family dining room table each night growing up, the topic of conversation would often turn to politics....usually what the Democrats were doing right vs. what the Republicans were doing wrong. I was highly influenced by this on-going dialogue, and usually vote just to the left of center. But not this year. This year I have come to view Politics like I view many other traditional institutions these days, as businesses with big money interests. We used to joke that "the boys with the most toys, win." Today, the party with the most money contributions, wins. I have lost any trust I once had in a process that does not, in my opinion, use values, honesty and reasonableness in what they represent. I don't know what the rally in Washington with John Steward accomplished, but minimally, if it pointed to how far we have come in lacking any fair-play and decency in our dialogue of differences, then it perhaps did some good. We are very far from what I think our forefathers wanted for this country to become great; they knew we had to have moral choices, American values and a way to discuss our differences with civility. When we get back to these kinds of choices, I will go to the polls again.