We Call It Pop 'Round These Parts

I'm finally settled enough to update this nonsense. I've got my pictures sorted and my head screwed on right. Post-vacation depression is hard to kick.

Chicago was, to put it in terse terms, glorious. It has been a long time since I've been on vacation, let alone one that lasted longer than a week. I didn't realize how much I missed my sister, but seeing her solidified that fact like all the countless pounds of fat my belly consumed while there.

Her husband and her bought a house in December and it is a very beautiful, large first house. They live in a town called Elgin, about an hour's train ride outside of Chicago.
First impressions: No telephone wires and no fences. It's all open land and it was quite nice to romp around with my niece with no fear of traffic.

There are lots of white people, not that that's a problem. It was a tad disconcerting, though, noticing all the unabashed stares and very obvious confusion on their faces. While on a train we had a family of four stare unblinking at us. Regardless of the shock of another race, it seems only polite to NOT stare. I would have expected the parents to give us this courtesy, but no, the mom stared more than the two girls. Also, Angie has told me that she's repeatedly gotten questions asking if Gretchen is hispanic (they say Mexican) which, when you see the pictures, will make you laugh at the absurdity of it all.

The city was beautiful and terrific fun to navigate and travel through. I love not having to drive (one of the worst parts of coming home!) and people watching on trains and buses. I also saw Thom Yorke walk by me on the streets!!! It was a delightful trip, if only for Thom.
I could go on, but for now, some pictures!


My sister and cousin on our train ride.


A random building in the city.


Waiting for the train on our wild (not) night out.


My beautiful niece playing flashlight tag in the dark of her house. Such a brave little fart!


Teammates! She wasn't all that scared, but kept imploring "Dacy, hold my hand!".


My sister, Angie, and her husband, Jack, playing flashlight tag.


Buckingham Fountain! It was off and drained, but still worth the picture.


My nieces (the second one came with my sister and her hubby a few days later).


A big goofy family picture (sans my parents).

Sigh, I love my family.

She's a Lady

I am up past everyone else again. Today was pretty run of the mill. Got a pedicure with my cousin and, let me tell you what, it's boring! You sit around in a poofy chair and pretend to make small talk with some stranger. Or if you want, you can read a magazine and pretend there isn't some stranger rubbing the callouses off your hardened paws. It's strange what women do to themselves. The women kept plugging her amazing eyelash extension work. And all I could think was, "You saying my eyelashes are too short?"

It's also a damn travesty how damn expensive it is to upkeep your "beauty".

But, the rant shall continue another time. For now, here's something I wrote on the fly and didn't really edit. It's probably not done, but Im starting to feel tired.


She speaks with words I've read in Bibles
and moves like silk sliding on her skin.
And her skin,
her skin,
is white.
It soaks up moonlight,
beams breathing from her pores.

She wanders caverns long fallen from use
like a spectre in the night
Her pale white glistens,
but her hair,
her hair
is black.
It dribbles down her back
playing delicately on her spine.

Greetings from Elgin!

Midnight plane rides, bottles of wine, Handsome Furs on repeat and finally arriving in Elgin. Zombie stupor through the morning with bubble blowing bike rides and reading books to kids. Whitecastle mistakes and temporary Simpsons tattoos with a late night session with the sis and a long-awaited slumber in a foreign bed after 30 some odd hours without a wink. Saturday morning mishaps, waiting for the locksmith and standing in the rain.

Eating "cheez-lits" with the niece and finally making a train to head in the city. Grand buildings and winding winds and staring back at the vast amounts of white people. Sightseeing, getting lost, trekking for hours just to realize the destination was closer than we thought. Subways, wind tunnels, and stoney-time goodness.

"Love & marriage, love & marriage. Go together like a horse & carriage..." stuck in my head and determined to see Buckingham Fountain which apparently is drained during winter, but I still took pictures. Parks, trees, wind, wind, wind. More walking, cheap breakfasts, and chugging on the train back to Elgin for Easter egg hunts & dinner & flashlight hide and seek in the dark. Sitting awake typing this before I fall asleep to wake up in the world of oddities my brain calls dreams.

Tomorrow holds long walks, swimming (!!), and more family time. Sigh, if only it didn't have to end.