Home again, home again....

*October Cottage*

We are home from Illinois!! The little rug above was hooked some weeks ago and posted on eBay...I had resigned myself--happily--to it's not selling...this little "October Cottage" looks just like our wee nest, scarlet mums and all. The color "planning" was completely fun--I'd received a beautiful piece of wool from Lisa, a fellow PRHG member, in our "Great Pumpkin Swap"~~I began cutting the wool that very day. (the little cottage and the roof were hooked with Lisa's wool.) Then I just tossed "worms" together (worms are the strips of wool), checking my values and contrast as I went along. The crocheted binding was complete serendipity~~some old yarn from my crochet stash that was perfect!
But then at the last there was a bid! The sweetest customer...this is what she wrote when she received the rug...
"hello meg,
just a quick note to say how much i love the rug. i hook rugs and very seldom buy them but when i saw this i knew i had to have it, the colors are so gorgeous. thank you for a beautiful rug that i will enjoy for years to come....you have a true talent for colors. i simply adore the colors in the rug i purchased, it's whimsical and beautiful. it sits right on my living table for everyone to enjoy. thanks again for a lovely, lovely rug!..."
Wasn't that so kind?! I am so happy that my little cottage went to a good home... :)

And speaking of home--we are home! We have been to visit Papa 'Nois and all of our friends and family who live in beautiful, rural, Southern Illinois...we had a wonderful time--and I have just a few--well, quite a few!--pictures to share with you...

Ashley and Chloe

Ashley is my cousin's daughter...it was so cool, such a blessing, to have our families all together--happy and full of gratitude... I confess, I had a few "tears of joy", a couple of times.
We were in Pinckneyville Illinois...that's where I'm "from". Pinckneyville has the fabulous Mardi Gras celebration, the last weekend in October. Candy, costumes, a parade, rides...and funnel cake, of course!! These are the kiddos (and Jenny!) waiting for the parade to start....my girls came home with 3 bags of candy and we've a week to go before trick or treating!!! YIKES!

Ashley marched in the parade...she's in the Color Guard for her school in DuQuoin Illinois...isn't that a cool picture? Jayden is the little boy mouse next to Maggie-mouse (above). He must have had a close call, because whenever the color guards approached he'd yell:

WATCH OUT--HERE COME THE FLAGS!!!

The OLD guy below is my Uncle Frank & his wife, Aunt Diane...he restored that car himself--it's the same make and model of the car he courted my Aunt Judy in so many, many, years ago...(snicker). Judy passed away in 1997--she was my aunt and my friend, and sometimes,

...my mom when I was visiting in Illinois and away from my own mom...I'm always a bit nervous to visit IL. because she's not there anymore...it just seems like we should "go in to Judy's"--but she isn't there. This visit was the first time I've visited with Uncle Frank and Diane since they were married--and it was so good to see them so happy and so perfect together. I know Aunt Judy would approve....I do. :) And too, there's new faces...our family fills in with more blessings, and though people have passed away, we still have a full and wonderful bunch of people. Doug and his wife Jenny (she's so sweet), her little boy Jayden and his Big Sis. Reece (so cute!) and the baby every one's waiting for...Scott, Laura, and Kirsten, Grandma Darlene, and of course, Papa 'Nois--he cut a rug right there on the street during the parade. (And no, I will not show you a picture.) Papa Great and Grandma Reca Lee, Great Aunt Gege, Uncle Jack and Aunt Mary...Julie and her wonderful family...Grandpa Harold and Grandma Ina, Gramma and Pa...Debbie and Verlin...Uncle Jerry, Aunt Sharon, Heather and her beautiful girls...so many of us. A quilt of blessings sewn up with gratitude and remembrance.

I was very lucky to come home with a box of old pictures (with Grandma's blessing)...I poured through old photos of people and houses and horses and cows...! And now and then, a snapshot that I remember, or people that I do know. I think there's always a tug, from deep inside, when you "go home"--and yes, you can go home again...just down the road from my Dad's place is an old barn that was converted into a house. This is the road it's on:
Barely one lane, and canopied in oak trees...definitely a "road less travelled by"--and yes, I would love to live there. My Dad lives 7 miles out from town--they are surrounded by forest and fields of corn and soybeans...that land itself seems to nestle into my heart...to make a place of memory and reverence for such beauty. This was taken right outside the back door at my dad's house:

No matter where we were this past week, we were home.

Blessings,

Meg