Today our temperature has dropped 20 degrees and it is a welcome relief. Yesterday it was very hot but I did see a lot of leaves falling. I say every year that you can feel a hint of fall in August. Perhaps this year…just at its conclusion…will not disappoint.

September 1 arrives this week. Although it was brutally hot it still flew by. Such is life where you begin an event like a season of the year and you look away or become distracted for a bit…and the event or season is over.

The DuQuoin State Fair is in town. I remember when attending the Fair was the epitome of my summer. Those were the days when brightly colored lights and shows of the mysterious captivated my attention. The Fair had an unexplained mystery. Where did these people come from and where did they go when they left DuQuoin? The Carnies looked grizzled and haggard and seemed to be people who did not suffer fools gladly. In the neon-illuminated darkness, shadows loomed and danced. They beckoned to follow them around the dark corner as they had additional surprises. There was delicious fudge and fried treats and beer if you were old enough or knew someone who was.

We often went to a church meeting in Kingsport, Tennessee. I loved making this trip because the people of the Tennessee congregation were so friendly. The church had a large band. I mean a band with saxophones and trumpets and trombones and clarinets and flutes…and more. They played a marvelous song entitled, Looking For A City, and it caused me to want to look for the city. We first discovered the little-known, at the time, a restaurant called the Cracker Barrel. For years it was my favorite eatery. At times on the way home to Illinois we stopped at Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Eating at the Brass Lantern or The Peddler was a delight. Stepping into Gatlinburg was taking a trip back in time. The Smoky Mountains are hypnotic. I could and have looked at them for hours.

So fall will soon be here. Fall renews me. Great comfort is inherent in Autumn. My and Aaron’s birthdays are in Autumn. MJ’s favorite holiday Thanksgiving is in Autumn…and Christmas is coming…

Ninety-nine degrees just now and it feels like 109. Christmas is just 4 short months away. Walker’s Bluff Casino Resort opened today in our neck of the woods. We live just around the corner…as they say in Little Egypt. The opening of the Casino is something that we have been anticipating for months and years. Finally, something of substance has come to Southern Illinois. The promise and reality of economic growth for our Garden of Eden in Illinois is vibrant. Cynde Bunch and her late husband David have been a blessing to Southern Illinois.

Southern Illinois is the most lovely and scenic part of Illinois. Many who move here never leave. I have often said that it is a wonderful place to live but a difficult place to make a living. The region cries out for tourism. Many of the students at Southern Illinois University are from Chicago. Giant City State Park is just a few miles from my home. It is a beautiful display of sandstone and woods and a Lodge that is unparalleled in our state. The people of Southern Illinois are good hard-working and kind. All we need is someone to believe in us!

So…it is Christmas not in July…but in August! The early Christmas gift of Walker’s Bluff Casino Resort will bring a spring of new opportunities…

I can remember when traveling meant to me going on our annual DuQuoin State Fair Journey. We lived 50 miles away in Eldorado, Illinois and the idea of visiting the State Fair was fantastic. Then the church I attended through high school took semi-annual trips to Tennessee or Iowa once to Topeka Kansas and Lincoln, Nebraska. I felt a bit urbane and a world traveler. After Aaron and Jonathon were born we made many trips to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and ultimately a Great Western Holiday and a Great Eastern Adventure. Indeed I had gotten out of Illinois.

My lifelong friend Jeff asked me if I had ever dreamed that one day he and I would be enjoying a cigar on the streets of Paris, France. I had to admit that I had not thought about it as my travel vision had not seen that far. After visiting Paris…I want to return. The many books that I have read and the movies I have seen do not do justice to describing the beauty of the city of lights.

Travel is an investment in the well-being of your soul. For my entire career at Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale, I traveled vicariously through the hundreds of students who worked with me who were from all over the world. Their vivid descriptions of their homes enraptured me. I discovered that there is a world full of people who do not see the planet through the eyes of Americans.

I found both the west coast, California, and the east coast, New York City, to be a different America than what I was accustomed to. California had deserts and mountains and seasides and lush green valleys. Travel taught me that we midwesterners have not cornered the market on ideas and manners of living.

Thus travel has educated me as to the Kaleidoscope of humanity. We are not all of the same faith and many of us have none. So often faith is used as a cudgel rather than a comforter. People who are loud abrasive and mean are in the minority. Most of us are searching for the answers to life’s persistent questions. We care about the welfare of our fellow travelers. I watched the Republican Debate last evening and saw an impressive Nikki Haley and heard Mike Pence say that the American people need a government that is as good as they are…

It is another scorcher in Little Egypt. Summer is hanging on with a vise grip. It feels like 101 degrees. I have been reading a book by Whitley Strieber who wrote the popular book Communion several years ago about what he says is a true story of his interaction with aliens. The book is called The Key. Again his contention is that he believes an etheral figure spoke to him at length one night in his hotel room and that he explained many of the mysteries of life after death. Strieber telephoned his wife Ann and asked her to remind him of his feeling that the man really met him and was not a dream.

A commonly held belief of people who believe in Aliens is that the Aliens are simply humans that have far advanced in the evolutionary process and have returned by time machine to gawk and examine rudimentary humans. As it has been said…’ Who can say,’ But I think that I am reading more science fiction than science fact. However one of the statements by the visitor who identified himself as human was that all humans have God in them. I think that this hypothesis on the search for the etheral is true. Are we not made in the image of God according to the scriptures?

Of course, the question remains…is there intelligent life on other planets? Without begging the question as to whether there is intelligent life on Earth…I think that there must be life beyond Earth. There simply have been too many sightings of UFOs by a plethora of people for us of the family of Earth to say that we are the only ones. When I was a lad the idea of Flying Saucers and Beings from Outer Space was almost totally relegated to the Science Fiction magazines and stories. Nowadays the majority of people believe in Unidentified Flying Objects and life beyond Earth.

‘You will never believe what happened to me last night,’ Billy B. said to Chet.

‘Did it have anything to do with that humongous Flying Saucer that I saw over Eldorado and it was shining a spotlight on the Orpheum Theatre,’ Chet asked?

‘I awoke around midnight and there was a little strange man sitting beside my bed. When I asked him his name he said for me to just call him Ari as his real name would be difficult for me to pronounce. He was dressed like Sherlock Holmes with a magnificent pipe clenched firm between his teeth. He offered me a trip to the future if I would like to go. I said that I most certainly would love to go and we walked outside and a magnificent staircase descended from his Flying Saucer and we then climbed into the craft.

‘Did you recognize anyone inside the Saucer,’ Chet asked?

‘Yes, Jane was there and she was drinking a cup of hot chocolate and seemed to be having a lovely time,’ Billy B. answered.

‘Ari told me that when we arrived at his planet we will have traveled in time 1,000 years into the future,’ Billy B. said. ‘He noted that at the conclusion of our visit, we would be returned by going back in time to our present,’ Billy B. continued. ‘In fact, our Saucer should be landing in 1 minute, Billy B. said.

Two Grey Aliens exited from the Flying Saucer. ‘Greetings Chet…it is Jane and I back from the future, Billy said with a broad toothless smile as his large black eyes danced in his large grey head…

It feels like 104 degrees and it is 6:00 P:M:. Or as the old gentleman said to me last winter when it was about 10 degrees…’Where is that Global Warming that they are always telling us about?’

Hot weather tends to make us a bit crabby. This morning I swore an oath at my earbuds for not performing properly. They apologized and said that they would attempt to improve their performance once it got cooler.

I heard a presidential candidate say that if he is elected president his team is going to begin ‘slitting throats’ of government workers.

Heat makes us do strange and stranger things. It appears many of us are looking for a stand-in for Christ…not the Jesus of the Bible but our own personal definition of the Messiah. Someone who will destroy our enemies. A warrior who will defend with a blood oath our perception of America and Americans…and Faith. The Israelites in the desert commanded Aaron to fashion them a Golden Calf in the absence of Moses so they could worship the icon. They danced and made merry and indulged in orgies…understanding that they were the chosen ones and therefore could do no wrong.

I watched the former President of Harvard speak about her new book and her love of learning. Both she and her interviewer agreed that the mark of a learned person is humility that there is so much that they do not know. We could all use a dose of humility.

Hot has returned and my thoughts drift to soon being in cool Maine. Jonathon asked me if I had ever dreamed when I was a child that I would one day have the Travel Log of six trips to Maine. Maine is cool in both temperature and ambiance.

Maine is for the adventurer and for those of us who march to the tune of our own drummer. Maine is a bit like a giant reflecting pool where you can gaze in and imagine what comes next. We Liberal Arts folks love Maine. Ocean and whales and lobster and sailboats are what Maine beckons us with. Maine inspires the artist and the author.

We, humans, require a lot of downtime. We think that we do not…but we do. We need time to contemplate where we have been and where we are going. We need time to puzzle out the meaning of life and our role in it. Thinking outside of the Box is a requirement for good mental health. We need to look at the Box from the outside…it looks remarkably different than from within.

What we have heard is what we believe. We need to hear different voices. What we see is imprinted on our brains. We need to see different things. What our spirits feel is a clarion call for us. At times we must feel different things.

Pastor Kerry brought a great message regarding family. Family is a dynamic relationship. Inherit in the compact is a lot of grace. Grace for the other members of our clan and a lot of grace for us.

Families disagree. This we all know. So often we become angry…and this is a normal emotion. Then we are set against the family member who has upset us…but the burn rate for casting family to the curb is pretty high, resulting in no more family.

Church is a family of faith. When we are church members for a significant portion of our lives…offenses happen. That is part of the human experience. Forgiveness is essential to the ties that bind us together. Sometimes people leave church to find another group that is more to their liking. Church shopping is a fairly common occurrence in the Christian Faith.

‘I am tired of feeling marginalized by the elite,’ He said.

‘Who is marginalizing you, She asked?

‘Those who perceive themselves better than me, He answered. ‘I put forth idea after idea that everyone on the Board grins and shakes their head in affirmation…and yet none of my ideas are adopted,’ He continued.

‘Well…dear…you are one voice among many. I am certain that your ideas are appreciated,’ She said.

‘You know I was as often unheard as a child as well…at times I thought that. I must be invisible.’ He said. ‘I had good plans for our family’s success…but they fell on deaf ears,’ He said.

‘In church as in family…or call it the church family…we are but one of many voices in our struggle to find the will of God,’ She said.

We see our family through the prism of our expectations for them. Many times their actions are shaded by our bias and feelings of rejection that we have received at times throughout our lives.

‘Take my yoke upon you and learn of me…for I am meek and lowly of heart…and you shall find rest for your souls.’

It is a lovely Saturday in August. The heat is returning. Is it too late for Dog Days? I have been wondering of late as to the difference that our perception of ourselves as compared with how others see us.

Walter Mitty was a literary character created by James Thurber. Walter was a fairly common person who was a daydreamer and he dreamt that he had many adventures…but they were only in his mind. One of the daydreams was of him flying an airplane through a terrible storm. Also, he dreamt of smoking a cigarette before a firing squad. Walter had heroic fantasies. Sometimes we do as well…

Chris Rock said that often we think that we are the leader of the band when we are but the tambourine player. He admonished us to play the hell out of that tambourine!

Indeed we are the hero of our own story…but how does our hero worship affect those who must interact with us?

Our heads are crowded spaces. There is the furniture of a long life…at least long to us. There is the running commentary from our subconscious. There is the flickering image before us that we see with perhaps a little help from our peripheral vision. Yet the Flick that we are watching is limited by our field of vision and our crowded headspace. Our movie screenplay tells what heroic action to take next…while the script of the person we are with is written by their own mental assistants who have labored long and hard to ensure that they are the star of the show…

We are what we hear. Strange but true. If we are exposed to false statements for long enough and repeated often…we tend to believe them.

Fall Semester begins Monday and the excitement is palpable. When I first began at Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale I could not believe my good fortune. There were students from over 70 nations on Campus. I was a country boy who had been dropped into an international city…and I was happy to be there. Soon my supervisors began to compliment my work and encourage me to seek promotions. I had never worked in such a positive environment. I soon began to believe the kind words that were said to me and subsequently strove for excellence. I was on Campus yesterday and it felt like it did 45 years ago. Once you have been nurtured and mentored by people and a caring organization…you never forget it.

‘Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me,’ was a famous saying as a child. How untrue it was and is. Words kill…

Of late the tide of history has moved toward just saying any lie that you wish and ‘Wash…Repeat…and Rinse’ and it will soon become the truth for your reality. I fear that we are too long in front of our screens. In the 60s our news was provided by Walter Cronkite and Huntley and Brinkley and they stayed with the template, as Joe Friday of Dragnet often said, ‘Just the facts Mam.’

Church is a constant in my mind and heart. I have been a member of one church or another for 55 years. Ministers have a great power of persuasion. They can build up the members of their congregation or they can disassemble them until they are a pile of parts. The Christian church must allow room for Jesus. When programs and policies fail to allow room for the spontaneous Christ…they have missed the purpose of the faith. Jesus did not ask the doctrinarians of his day if it was alright to spit on the ground and make clay of the dirt and spittle and then apply the mixture to the eyes of the blind man…who then could see. When the founder of the faith wrote on the ground as the religious leaders of his day prepared to stone the woman caught in the act of adultery…and they one by one walked away until Christ asked the woman Where are thy accusers…and she said I have none he did not seek the operations manual for guidance on what to do in the case of stoning…

Life is Real…the kids tell us. Prescribed text and dogma does not lend itself to the personal vagaries that afflict each of us. One size does not fit all. The only all-encompassing words that shield us and make us whole are love and kindness.