Oak Paradise

After being on the road for two weeks in the wide open west, we returned to Oak Park to find it much cooler and greener than where we'd been. And the houses are far more interesting. It seems that there is one style of new house being built out there in America, the style which could be referred to as "the same." From the suburbs of Omaha, Denver, Fort Collins, Des Moines, Aurora, Schaumburg, Napperville-- all the same! The terrain is varied, as is the climate, but the houses all look the same. Beige. ugh. When we pulled up in front of our 1913 mini-Victorian (or so they say its called) with the slate gray body and red trim, I was struck by how lovely it was, and how nice all the houses on our block, in our village are. Gardens verdant and in bloom. While we were away it was cool and rainy, my fears of dessicated doom were not born out. Instead I have 9 inches of lawn to mow with my self-propelled reel mower this weekend. Such bliss. In Fort Robinson it was 105 degrees, and dry. In Yellowstone it was 75 in the bright, bright, sunshine in the day, dipping in the 30's at night, and dry. The elevation makes you just that much closer to the sun. And in Fort Collins and Denver it was in the 90s and low 100s, and dry. A crispy tinderbox out there in the west and by all reports it is getting worse. We had a wonderful vacation, and vacation it was. I read a great book, fished, toured the thermal features, cooked great meals at the campsite, and really enjoyed being with my son and wife all day and all night for so many days. Fleeting worries about work passed my eyelids in the middle of the night-- in Fort Rob we were on the 3rd floor of the 1909 officer's barracks, no A/C, hot! hard to sleep, worries about Cooper who I missed so much, and the perpetual anxieties about funding the lab were soon replaced by the absence of sound in our tent in Yellowstone. I lay there listening to the quiet. no cars. no sounds of people. the rustle of the breeze, the sound of small animals in the trees, the sounds of silence. At 2 AM we were awakened by a chorus of howling wolves. Blood curdling, as though they were right outside our tent. They howled in rounds, loudly, mournfully, then in 10 minutes, quiet. wow. Full moon rising, in the west we saw Venus and Saturn, in the East before the moon crested the horizon, Jupiter. Clear, clear nights. The moon so bright it obscured the stars. My western soul mourned me not living there, I was so happy to be visiting, so sad that I was just visiting. Moving home to the west remains on the top of my wish list still after all these years. yet returning to Oak Paradise was indeed a pleasure. Greeted by Cooper, Mirabel, Althea, Delilah, and soon Columbus showed up, sans collar-- the only causality of our trip. What a great time it was. How nice to be home-- home is where the cats are. Back in the saddle and back to work. So glad its a short week.