Day Two at the Woods. Giant City State Park has a lot of exploring to be done. The leaves are changing and falling. I am sitting on the Writing Porch and it is a cool 67 degrees. Earlier this week our temperature hit 100. We planned our Maine Holiday for a year…and now we are returned with our memories. Mylo is happy to see us. At this time of year…12 years ago I was eagerly anticipating my imminent retirement from Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale. I did not know what lay in store for me…but I knew that it would be a bit different than what I had been accustomed to.

At times we go about as if we are lords of the universe when in reality we are made up of the same components that comprise our earth and our home. We are unique creatures that can philosophically analyze our surroundings while we are at the same time made up of the same ‘stuff’ as we are pontificating on. In the Woods, I see the vastness of nature and our temporary lease on a great property. We march and strut and preen and demonstrate our pride of place…all the while nature and the animal kingdom and the Creator…watch with a benevolent sideways grin.

The Ocean sees our family of man and remembers our ancestors and their ancestors and when we first began… We choose one leader or another and become excited and enthused and ecstatic…only to see them grow old and go down to our earthly resting place.

Points are for proving! Arguments are for winning. We want to be winners…and not losers… And the clock ticks…and the sundial moves as the Sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Fall has come and the leaves will turn brown and return to the earth…and then winter snow will lay upon the fallen leaves…and then spring will bring new green leaves and shoots of grass and the singing of birds…’And the sound of the turtledove will be heard in our land.’

The Woods called my name on this first day of fall. We returned from Maine Tuesday and Wednesday it was 100 degrees in Little Egypt. However today it is much more seasonal and the leaves are beginning to turn colors and some are falling. I thought of Emily and what a wonderful person she is. She visited Jonathon both last year and on our current Maine Holiday. Emily enhances our Maine Experience and she is a great friend.

‘If you missed the train I’m on you will know that I am gone. You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles.

A

hundred miles, a hundred miles. A hundred miles, a hundred miles. You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles.

Lord, I’m one, Lord I’m two, Lord I’m three, Lord I’m four. Lord, I’m five hundred miles away from home.

Away from home, away from home, away from home, away from home. Lord, I’m five hundred miles away from home.

Not a shirt on my back, not a penny to my name, Lord I can’t go back home this ole way

This ole way, this ole way, this ole way, this ole way. Lord, I can’t go back home this ole way.

If you missed the train I’m on, you will know that I am gone. You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles.’

Hedy West

When I hear the lovely words of this song…I can relate. We all feel alone at times and we suffer and we are afraid and we long for our home. Thoughtless actions by our friends can make us feel five hundred miles away from home.

So my favorite time of year is here…and I am home. I wonder how my brothers and sisters of my human family…feel alone and five hundred miles away from home…without a shirt on their back or a penny to their name. I wonder how many of them want to come home…’ but they, ‘Can’t go back home this ole way.’

We returned from our Maine Holiday last evening…and it was…Yum! Our first Maine Restaurant stop for the past two years has been, Taste Of Maine. It is a trendy place as we observed three tour buses come in for dinner while we were there. There is also all manner of figurines and collectibles and brick brack lining the walls of the happening spot. However, our waiter was the highlight of our visit. I have never met a server who was more into their job. He was on the verge of dancing on one of his feet and then dancing on the other. For each entree and drink and dessert that we ordered he would pronounce…with heartfelt glee…Yum… When we finished the various dishes or drinks…his smile beamed and his eyes danced and he said with equal enthusiasm…Yum! The food is to die for and when we stop there…we know that we have arrived at our Maine Home…and Yum describes the entire experience.

Love is the proper word for Maine. We love it and can not get enough of it! Our niece, Paige, accompanied her grandpa, Ron, and Ira Kaye. She is simply a delight! When I reflect on any element of the Maine visit…I see Paige’s smiling face and hear her laugh…and she laughed often at the Yum story.

The ocean is my magnetic. It is my true north. I would not mind being buried at sea…like the old sailors. My dad was a sailor. I can watch the Ocean for hours on end…and it is always changing. Life is full of trivial pursuits…The ocean is forever and majestic…and is part of our past and present and future.

Our favorite waiter at Ports of Italy seemed to ignore us a bit. We were enamored with him from years gone by…and we requested him for our last dinner at the Restaurant…and it dawned on me…the magic of the encounter was in us…not the location or the recalcitrant waiter.

‘It is a cool September 12th,’ Billy B. said as he entered the classroom. ‘Sixty-one degrees replied Chet. ‘No more Pounds Hollow until next year,’ Jane bemoaned. ‘Unless we take the Park Rangers’ advice and go to the Hollow in the evening and he will let us in, Darryl added. ‘The Orpheum is screening an early Halloween movie…Dracula…and I think we all must attend,’ Billy B. noted. ‘Doesn’t the Orpheum only show movies from Friday thru Sunday,’ Jane asked. ‘They have a special showing that begins Wednesday thru Sunday in honor of the Halloween Fest that is happening in Eldorado this year,’ Billy B. said with a wide grin. ‘Yes, and our school is on holiday from Wednesday until Friday this week due to a Teachers Workshop,’ Jane beamed.

‘The Theatre is empty except for us,’ Jane noted. ‘Well it is Wednesday night,’ Chet replied. ‘These seats are plush,’ Billy B. said with a dreamy smile. ‘I never drink…wine,’ Dracula uttered. Darryl had to go to the restroom and when he passed the concession stand he noticed that it was closed. ‘That is a bit odd…perhaps the person manning the concessions is on break, he thought. When Darryl returned to his seat…Jane and Chet and Billy B. were not there.

‘What a great fall night for camping,’ Jane said. ‘I could use another Hot Dog…this time don’t go skimpy on the relish,’ Chet chortled. ‘When did you arrive Neva J.,’ Darryl asked. ‘I have been here since early afternoon…I had a glass or two of Merlot…and enjoyed nature,’ Neva J. smiled. ‘I drove by the Orpheum to pick you guys up in the Chevy…but the Theatre was closed,’ Neva J. said with a confused look.

Happy Halloween said the banner that was adorned with pumpkins and cornstalks and images of ghosts and Frankenstein and Dracula and the Creature From The Black Lagoon. Billy B. and Jane and Darryl and Chet were in their glory. ‘Let’s go see a movie at the Orpheum,’ said Jane. ‘A capital idea as they are running Dracula with Bella Lugosi in honor of Halloween Fest,’ Chet observed. ‘Look who is coming out of the Orpheum…it is us…

How could it have been 21 years ago…it seems like yesterday. I was getting ready to go to University…when I saw on television that one of the World Trade Center Towers was burning. The announcers on the Today Show speculated that perhaps a small engine plane had run into the burning building by accident. It was not long until it was clear that it was no accident. We were under attack and I feared that the attack would be across our nation. Soon it was with another American Airlines Jet diving into the Pentagon. My office on campus was very near the power plant and I assumed that it might be a target. The continuing videos on TV were more horrible than any apocalypse movie that Hollywood ever produced.

We visited the World Trade Center 15 months before 9/11. I felt uneasy the entire time that we were there on tour. I am sure that some of that feeling was due to the first Basement Bombing that occurred on February 26, 1993. However, there was, at least for me, an uncanny frenetic feeling of dread in the halls of the great structure. We toured WTC II and it included a rooftop tour. I thought as we were on the roof that the terrorists will not stop…they will attack again…

We have never been the same. An irreparable change has taken us. We fear the enemy without our borders…and we have constructed enemies within our borders.

Our thoughts have been with the grieving world as Queen Elizabeth has died. I remember her band playing The Star Spangled Banner outside the gates of Buckingham Palace on the evening of 9-11-2001. It brought tears to my eyes.

War has not been the answer. We fought in Afghanistan for 20 years. We must be Peacemakers for as much as within us. We defended ourselves against our aggressors…and it was right to do so…but it is not the solution to the overriding problem.

Look into the eyes of our precious veterans who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress. Help the veteran and their family and their return to normal life with a job and the proper mental health and medical care…lift up our battered and haunted warriors. When you talk with a veteran who has missing limbs or who is blind…a hat with the American Flag and the words, ‘These Colors Don’t Run,’ is not a satisfactory answer for their lifelong suffering.

Prime Minister Winston Churchill said it is better too, ‘Jaw…Jaw…Jaw…Than To…War…War…War…’

September 10th is lovely with a hint of fall in the air. Our DuQuoin State Fair has come and gone for another year. Labor Day passed us by and we waved goodbye as it strode on to 2023. The Maine trip that we have planned for most of the past year…begins very soon.

Halloween is fast becoming one of my favorite holidays. I was born just a week before its arrival. The old horror and monster movies of my youth and before…captivate my attention in October. I enjoy Pumpkin Spice Coffee and have even grown an affinity for Pumpkin Pie…which I did not care for as a youth. The rhythms of life become a bit more contemplative in the fall. We seem to have time to gaze at ourselves in the mirror and learn from the reflection that stares back at us.

The drama we are dedicated to. We are excited and happy and sad and angry and afraid…by the simplest things. We need breathing space and the certainty that our life is enjoyed and negotiated and lived…one step at a time. Modern times are somewhat of a sugar rush. We all have seen children that have had too much candy and soda pop…and at the fair…too much cotton candy. These are all pleasures and special treats…but they are not meant to be consumed all day… every day. The Herculean High is what we crave. The Aesop Fable of the Tortoise and the Hare taught us that…slow and steady wins the race.

Old Time Religion understood that we experience mountain tops in our lives…and we often are walking through the valley. I have experienced managers and administrators during my career that felt the best management model was to gin up strife and contention among their colleagues. I have been around ministers that thought the same.

Patience is autumn as it settles over our land and our sense of place. Nature slows down and tells the human family to do the same. A tremendous lesson that Queen Elizabeth taught us was to be a calming and loving presence among the families of the earth.

‘I simply love England,’ said Jane. ‘Each time that I am there…I feel like I am home,’ she continued. ‘The strangest feeling came over me when we traveled to the United Kingdom a few years ago and visited Oxford…I felt that I had been there before…the University was familiar to me and I could visualize studying there among the ancient buildings and manicured lawns,’ Billy B. said with a wistful look in his eyes. ‘When were you at Oxford,’ asked Chet. ‘Do you mean the last time…or the first,’ Billy B. inquired. ‘So what you say is that you believe you were enrolled in Oxford University…in another life,’ Jane asked. ‘During the time of CS Lewis and I sat with him and J.R.R. Tolkien at the Eagle and Child Pub many nights discussing religions and philosophy and whatever the Inklings came up with to talk about,’ said Billy B. ‘The Inklings called the Pub, The Bird and Baby,’ noted Billy B. ‘So needless to say…you felt at home in Oxford,’ Darryl asked. ‘Yes, in fact, the entirety of England and Edinburgh, Scotland were familiar to me,’ Billy B. responded.

Edinburgh was a lovely experience. ‘We stayed for five days and enjoyed the Fringe Festival and the Military Tatoo,’ Billy B. explained. ‘Now was this your trip a few years ago…or while you were with CS Lewis and the Inklings at the Bird and Baby,’ Jane asked with a laugh. ‘Oh my it was our trip in 2016…but once again the well-trodden streets of Edinburgh were not only familiar to me…they felt right…they felt like home,’ Billy B. said with a tear in his eye. ‘We attended a night Ghost Tour and the young woman who conducted the Tour…looked like family,’ Billy B. advised. ‘Did you see any ghosts,’ Chet asked. ‘Yes, but I thought that everyone was seeing them…only to find out after we returned home…I was the only one,’ Billy B. bowed his head.

‘Buckingham Palace was a delight as was the Tower of London,’ smiled Billy B. ‘Did you know that Queen Elizabeth had passed,’ asked Jane. Yes, she was such a lovely young woman…she loved horses and anything out of doors…and her smile lit up any room that she was in…

Queen Elizabeth II has died and we miss her in Southern Illinois. When I heard of her passing today…tears came to my eyes. I have always been fascinated by the United Kingdom and Elizabeth was Queen before I was born. As a child, I studied about the Mayflower and Plymouth Rock and soon learned that we began in England. I can recall that the thought of ever being able to visit the UK was little more than an inspirational dream…until it became a reality.

In 2012 we took a cruise around the United Kingdom and then stayed with our dear friends, Margo and Jeff, who lived in Redhill, Surrey…near London. We simply had a lovely time and visited London almost every day that we were there. It became clear to me that Britons love their Queen. Buckingham Palace is fascinating. Jeff told me that when they became citizens of the UK that experience left him with tears in his eyes and a heartfelt appreciation for Queen Elizabeth. There is a permanence and a sense of place and stability that emanated from Elizabeth 70 year reign. Politicians with the heated rhetoric and who say whatever they need to say to obtain a vote…as compared with the calm and dignified presence of a monarch who took the slings and arrows of the passing of time and yet understood the true meaning of, ‘Keep Calm and Carry On.’

I sent MJ a photo of Queen Elizabeth preparing to meet the new British Primeminister, Liz Truss. The Queen had such a lovely smile on her face and looked so engaged and engaging…I had a thought…this might be her last photo…

When we journey to Maine…we dine at Ports of Italy…twice. During our first year staying at Ocean Point Inn at Boothbay Harbor, we went to Ports and had a dining experience that was heavenly. Our waiter who was originally from London made the experience special. Lobster lovers need not fear as there are dishes with Lobster at the Restaurant. After dinner, we inquired as to what was the best dessert and Tony told us…Grappa. I was reminded of our great experience in Rome where we had dinner on two occasions and the manager made us a special dish. The food was delicious and our spirits were high as the next morning we would disembark from the Port of Civitavecchia for a Mediterranean Cruise. So…when our feast was complete I left our customary 20% tip and we walked out of the restaurant to go back to our hotel which was just a few blocks from the Ristorante. Out came the manager and exclaimed that we must come back to see him and to not let our visit be only once. I assured him that we would indeed come back as we had booked our hotel for a week after our return to Rome from our cruise.

While we were on our Mediterranean Cruise we learned that the typical gratuity in Europe was a few Euros and not the 20% that we had been leaving. And so we returned to Rome and to our favorite ristorante and our friendly manager and he made us a special dish again. I asked him if he had Grappa…and he replied that he had only the best Grappa for me. Our gratuity was less…as was the custom…and he did not follow us out into the street.

Maine is a happy place. It is an artist’s haven. When I am there I feel somewhat removed from the political and religious struggles that our country is plagued with. Maine is Yankee grit and determination and lobstermen and rocky shores and fresh salt air. Maine is a love for books and vintage architecture and a less frenetic pace of life.

LL Bean is headquartered in Freeport, Maine. For several Christmas my mother-in-law and father-in-law would buy me a pair of slippers from LL Bean…and they were the most comfortable slippers that I ever wore. We enjoy going to Maine in September as it is already turning cool. It gets cold in Maine…hence the popularity of LL Bean. I am wearing a pair of flannel pajamas that MJ got me for this past Christmas…from LL Bean. Hiking and canoeing and kayaking are popular in Maine.

We love exploring the little towns and hamlets. Bath has a wonderful Brewery. Wiscasset has some fascinating little shops. I purchased a little porcelain bulldog from one of the emporiums last year. When the TSA lady searched my bags before our return flight she pulled the little porcelain dog out of his box and commented how cute he was.

Our first trip to Maine was in 2009. We felt so at home and had such a sense of place…that we returned in 2010. Then for several years, we traveled to Europe and the United Kingdom, and the Caribbean…but Maine was calling our name…

MJ and I have been watching You on Netflix. It is about a bookstore attendant…who marches to the beat of a different drummer. Diabolical would be the best word to describe him. Thinking of You…caused me to remember the Elfian Bookstore owner who I met in Bar Harbor, Maine. The bookstore had a plethora of old books and they had the vintage prices to match. The owner seemed Wiley and wizened. He watched me carefully as I strolled the packed aisles. He asked me in a squeaky voice…what my reading interest was. I mentioned several literary pursuits and when I said that I enjoyed reading the Bible…he stood up with bright eyes and motioned for me to follow him. Before us was miniature volumes of the Pentateuch. ‘You are familiar with the Pentateuch,’ the Elf asked. ‘Yes, I am…but I have never seen such small volumes,’ I replied.

‘They are magic…it has been said that they were in the Ark of the Covenant,’ Elf said with a sly smile. As I began to open the first of the tiny books…the Elf cried out, ‘No not in here…you must wait and open the special books in your home!’ I paid the Elf and he placed my purchase in the bookstore brown paper and tied the paper securely with a white string. As we left the Bookstore…the Elf called out, ‘Please come back and see me…If you dare.’

As soon as we departed…the Elf shut the door firmly and locked it and put a closed sign in the window. I wanted his business card…but he did not return to the door to see what the commotion was all about…or to unlock the door.

‘Pardon me…do you have a telephone number for the old man who owns the bookstore,’ I asked the Stationary Store Owner that was next door. ‘Oh my…that store has been closed since the owner died…ten years ago,’ said the Stationary Store Owner.

‘Open your package quick,’ said Aaron and Jonathon. As I cut the white string and opened the careful flaps of the brown paper…grey powder spilled out…