We're Goin' To Jackson[ville]

Leaving Kell on the third day of our trip, we passed two iconic Illinois scenes, pretty much across the road from each other.

Bales of hay, rolled and drying:


A little oil rig, pulling and pumping in the corner of a field of soybeans.


We were on our way to Jacksonville, a half hour or so west of Springfield and Kelly's mother's hometown. Historically, this has been the epicentre of our trips to Illinois. We'd stay with Kelly's grandmother, first in the beautiful house that she and her husband built and were married and raised children and Boston Terriers in, and later in her little retirement cottage.

860 Edgehill Road


Grammie (Ethelyn Alexander Kelly) with Bootsie.

We'd visit with Grammie and the great aunts, Mona and Kay, and try valiantly to buy lunch for these three little old ladies but always be rebuffed.

Grammie with Auntie Kay (Kelly's grandfather's sister), her husband John, and Kelly's great-grandmother Kelly.


Kelly's grandmother's family outside the house on Edgehill Road: Aunt Mona, Cousin Kent, Sharon, Grandpa Alexander, Nancy Jean, Grammie, Uncle Hulan (Mona's husband), Grandma Alexander, and Cousin John in front.

Grammie, Aunt Mona, and Auntie Kay are all gone now but the pull to Jacksonville remains, embodied in Cousin Kent. Here he is grilling steak for supper. We had a couple of superb evenings with Kent and his partner Mary. A few cold beers, a fair chunk of Maytag blue cheese for Kent and me , and a fair chunk of Bunny Tracks peanut butter, chocolate, and caramel ice cream for Kelly and Mary.


Once again we stayed in Kent's antique-filled apartment. There were a few new additions, including these three stoves. You can never have enough stoves.


In his younger days, Kent learned the art of Native American beadwork and did some fabulous work:


Kelly's Aunt Nancy and Uncle Don also happened to be in Jacksonville so we met up a couple of times and had some pretty amazing donuts for breakfast. We don't normally eat donuts for breakfast (doughnuts, maybe, on occasion) but made this sacrifice so that Don would not be denied the deep-fried sugary goodness of a Donut Shop apple fritter. We are selfless that way.

Also in Jacksonville we paid tribute to the great Carhartt gods at our two favourite farm supply stoes, Buchheit and Midland. For some reason, there's not a decent farm supply store to be found in Toronto...