Cleveland to Chicago

The household woke up early and moved quickly -- Rob was out the door before the rest of us were up and Joanie shepherded the kids through a real breakfast while packing their lunches and talking to them, doing the triple duty Mom thing.

We drove to Oberlin and found Ann and Dayton Livingston ready for tea and elevenses.  Their usual sitting room was  too filled up with mail and books on the table so we retired to the livingroom that is closer to the front of the house.  That is one incredible house.  There must be at least 80 places to sit down without moving anything off a chair.  Ann and Dayton had a tough year with their health (he has macular degeneration and Ann's joints are troublesome) but they both look wonderful and they are as brilliant and lovely as ever.  I talked to Ann about her 55 year long awareness of the hazards of eating carbs and the beauty of eating full fat foods (she has always been way way ahead of her time...she was an organic gardener well before that was anything to label) while  Jon talked traveling and the last year's experience with his eyes.

Jon had a conference call at 11:30 so that forced us to leave much sooner than we might have.  We drove west to Chicago through many snow squalls with occasional breaks of
blue sky.  Indiana just felt challenging so it is lucky it is not a hilly state. There were big semi rigs stuck in the median strip, sprinkled hither and yon.  At one point, completely mysteriously, we were suddenly the first car in a rolling road block -- three police vehicles blocking all three lanes, coasting along at 20 miles per hour for about half an hour. I wonder how many miles of clear highway they managed to create for whatever was happening ahead. We ate our lunch while we went slowly through the wintry landscape.  Never figured out what that was about.

Got to Oak Park by 5 PM.  We always come here in the winter so it looks pretty much the same -- snowy and barren.  Paul and Wendy live in the part of town that has huge, beautiful houses, many of them in the Frank Lloyd Wright language.  In the past, their house has seemed over the top to me (it is comparable to a Middleton house in space but far more classy) but this time it feels like they are living in it and using it to the max.

All their kids are home now -- Nate is here in between junior year semesters at college, Colin is a high school senior just finishing his applications, Casey is an 8th grader.  They fill the house with their friends and their stuff.  When we arrived, Paul was having a piano lesson (sounded like me at the piano, which was entertaining)

and he had a pot of beef stew cooking on the stove.  After dinner, Nate cajoled us all into a game of Fibbage in the basement, using smart phones and other devices.  This was a challenge for me who cannot actually type on a screen but it was fun.

Jon and I braved the subzero night temperatures to go see Jonathan and Linda Vavra-Franklin, still the nicest people ever.  Their kids are all the same ages and genders as ours so we have endless conversation material.  Linda worked on the farm in the early 1980s and always likes hearing about all the things that are happening. She can't believe we don't pick corn anymore; that was such a big part of every day back then.

We slept in the apartment over the garage back at Paul and Wendy's.  Warm and cozy, fully furnished, totally elegant.  We could not tell it was -5 outside.