Travels with the Curmudgeon

Today is a glorious Fall day in Chicago and environs, the kind of weather that people think of when they think of Fall -- and which occurs in our area perahps on one or two days a year.

Maybe.

It's in the high 60's, maybe low 70's. It's breezy, but bright and sunny and I've been behind the wheel of the car all day... and shortly will be again.

Today I was out in Oregon, Illinois, the county seat of Ogle County, South of Rockford along the Rock River, due West of Sycamore (DeKalb County) along beautiful Illinois Route 64.

The last time I was in Oregon, in fact, more than five years ago, I took 64 all the way back almost to Chicago itself -- to First Avenue, or Cumberland, depending on which way you turn. But 64 goes almost all the way to Lake Michigan -- in Chicago proper it is North Avenue and, among other things, forms the southern boundary of Lincoln Park.

Today I almost regret not having a camera phone because there was a haunting picture I would have stopped to shoot just East of Oregon: A graveyard -- a small, country graveyard, marked by a flag and a handful of stones, surely no more than a half acre in size, and probably smaller than that, bounded on all sides by farm fields, with the stalks on the North and on the East not yet removed, waving in the wind. The grass in the small graveyard was all the greener by contrast to the surrounding fields. And there was no church in sight. It may have been a long-time family plot.

I had no time to investigate then. I have no time to ruminate now. I'm off to pick up Youngest Son from school, then Younger Daughter (who's serving out a detention), then deliver Younger Daughter to work.... Then I can come home and check my email and my messages from the day.

And why is The Curmudgeon on chauffeur duty you ask? Long Suffering Spouse got tagged for jury duty today....