The world from Broad Street

My plan is to make this site into a kind of window onto my little town, Galesburg, and my little neighborhood of it, the historic north end. I walk all four dogs, every day, about a mile each, so I see quite a bit of these old houses, which I call castles, in various states of upkeep. Some are slowly but surely returning to the earth from which they came; others are freshly painted and very well sealed from the upcoming winter winds. It's interesting. They don't seem to make houses like this anymore, and why? Maybe they don't have railroad barons anymore who are willing to sink a couple mil into such a venture. Or maybe those railroad barons prefer to be way out on the edge of town where it's safer.

I sense that it's a pretty conservative neighborhood, and I'm pretty careful to pick up my dogs' poop as they squat on each of my neighbors' yards regularly. I want to keep relations up and not be seen as someone who is up to no good letting my dogs have at their beautiful grass and muck everything up. But mostly they've been friendly and almost all of them will wave or at least say hello to me out there. The weather has been stunning, clear fall crisp days with fallen leaves underfoot and a dry kind of crispness out there. I'm really enjoying being back in Illinois.

I got my driver's license the other day, and that was a kind of ritual of moving back, though getting Illinois plates will be another one and I look forward to that too. I'm an Illinoisan again. There is some pleasure in that which is different when it's something one had but gave up. I am reclaiming what was rightly mine.

I realize the promise to fix up this site - get pictures, and links, and things that will make it an inviting place to visit - well, that may begin to sound like a broken record (so to speak) if I don't get off my you-know-what pretty soon and do something about it. So, last time, I'll say it again. Stay tuned, this will be a site to behold, so to speak.

Devour That Spaghetti

Devour That Spaghetti
and 22 other short stories

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