Little pink houses

We have a rental car, and we didn’t spring for any extra frills, so we were exploring local FM radio.  It was pretty much what you’d expect.  We found a station that played music suitable for our Gen-X ears, and just after we crossed the border from Illinois to Indiana, a John Mellencamp song came on.  That was just about perfect.  We drove past corn and soybeans, popped into a truck stop for a coffee and a snack, then found our hotel just off the highway.  It’s about ten minutes away from the farm house where dad and all of his siblings are staying.  They were in Indianapolis picking up one last sibling from the airport when we got into town, but it wasn’t too long before we were all assembled.  The six of them came to this house and left their spouses at home, so what Cas and I got to see was the original crew.  Just listening to the flow of conversation and watching them as stories bounced from brother to sister and back was truly something to behold.  Each of them- my Dad, my aunts and my uncles- is impressive on his or her own, but assembled together, the six of them are something entirely different.  The two words that came to mind were comfort and joy.  From where I was sitting, they seemed truly happy to be all together and completely comfortable settling back into their brothers-and-sisters routine.  We had a nice dinner, complete with the required corn on the cob, then sat for a while around the fire pit.  

This place is lovely- green and lush and bursting with vegetables sprouting up from the ground.  When we checked into our room, I opened the shades and looked out the window.  A field was behind the building; I think it was a field of soybeans.  Right next to that was a John Deere dealership.  If you need a new tractor around these parts, I suspect you come to this neighborhood.  I half expected to look out the window and see Jack and Diane outside the Tastee Freez or little pink houses for you and me.  No dice.  Still, in terms of Indiana views, the tractor dealership and a field of soybeans pretty much fulfills my expectations.  

We’re headed to one of my dad’s cousin’s houses today, where I suspect I will see many people who look a lot like me.  After that, we hit the hay, get up early and take the rental car back to Chicago.  We’ll head back to our house and get ready for the school year.  Here, though, is a pretty neat picture of Cas, checking out the weeping willow tree at the farmhouse.  Can’t you smell the fresh air from here? 

As always, the photo album: https://tinyurl.com/DunlapChicago