Monks Mound
3 Octobro, 2010
Church was doubled that morning. OLeif played at the first service where prayers were said for the Rye family, who would be leaving the following afternoon for Africa for three weeks. Then Sunday School. Followed by Theodore, Gloria, Izzy, Uncle Clause, and Aunt Agnes for the second service, after which Uncle Clause and Aunt Agnes were headed off in their fifth-wheel to their next adventure in Arkansas, with hopes of meeting with everyone again soon.
Meanwhile… back on the ranch…
Rose presented Puck a book, with accompanying reading of Bill Peet’s The Spooky Tail of Prewitt Peacock. Puck watched with eyes wide as he sat on Rose’s lap and listened intently to every word.
Carrie was wrapping up the Barcelona game, during which Collette joined her, and they laughed how they had sort of turned into the guys who sit around discussing Monday night football…
Rose was busy checking on the pail of homemade vanilla ice cream. There was also a cherry pie in the fridge.
Sandwiches, naps, and then out to Cahokia for everyone but Carrie-Bri and Rose.
Monks Mound.
One of Collette’s favorites. Winding out to I-55 across the river, a rather run-down hovel street past Mexican grocery stores and trailer parks… But then, there it was… just sitting there in its sort of silent ancient quiet…
Until… the boys got out of the car. Puck careened down the walk with OLeif. Joe and Francis sort of body-slammed each other halfway down the same path. And they made it up the stairs in a heartbeat.
“Are they racing each other?” Dad asked, taking off himself.
When he got to the next rise, he paused to check out the results.
“Joe beat Francis,” he announced.
Puck was not long behind them, having climbed every steep step himself.
It was beautiful, of course. As always. The wind was crisp and cold, but not enough to make Collette put on her sweater. There was never anything as beautiful in that way. And they walked around the paths to take in the views.
“If I had known this place existed when I was a kid,” said Dad, “I would have practiced hang-gliding off of here.”
On the return, OLeif asked Puck what he had eaten for breakfast at his Nana’s house that morning.
“I had twelve big hamburgers! HUGE!” he said, with an equally huge grin.
Then OLeif had asked Linnea-Irish what she wanted to do when she grew up.
“I want to be a storm chaser,” she replied. “Or marry a rich guy.”
Back home: Cecil Whittaker’s and Lawrence Welk. Some things just were tradition on Sunday nights…
On the ride back home, Puck, who had been eyeing a dum-dum for the better part of the day, told his parents that, ‘I feel like candy in my mouth’.
Church was doubled that morning. OLeif played at the first service where prayers were said for the Rye family, who would be leaving the following afternoon for Africa for three weeks. Then Sunday School. Followed by Theodore, Gloria, Izzy, Uncle Clause, and Aunt Agnes for the second service, after which Uncle Clause and Aunt Agnes were headed off in their fifth-wheel to their next adventure in Arkansas, with hopes of meeting with everyone again soon.
Meanwhile… back on the ranch…
Rose presented Puck a book, with accompanying reading of Bill Peet’s The Spooky Tail of Prewitt Peacock. Puck watched with eyes wide as he sat on Rose’s lap and listened intently to every word.
Carrie was wrapping up the Barcelona game, during which Collette joined her, and they laughed how they had sort of turned into the guys who sit around discussing Monday night football…
Rose was busy checking on the pail of homemade vanilla ice cream. There was also a cherry pie in the fridge.
Sandwiches, naps, and then out to Cahokia for everyone but Carrie-Bri and Rose.
Monks Mound.
One of Collette’s favorites. Winding out to I-55 across the river, a rather run-down hovel street past Mexican grocery stores and trailer parks… But then, there it was… just sitting there in its sort of silent ancient quiet…
Until… the boys got out of the car. Puck careened down the walk with OLeif. Joe and Francis sort of body-slammed each other halfway down the same path. And they made it up the stairs in a heartbeat.
“Are they racing each other?” Dad asked, taking off himself.
When he got to the next rise, he paused to check out the results.
“Joe beat Francis,” he announced.
Puck was not long behind them, having climbed every steep step himself.
It was beautiful, of course. As always. The wind was crisp and cold, but not enough to make Collette put on her sweater. There was never anything as beautiful in that way. And they walked around the paths to take in the views.
“If I had known this place existed when I was a kid,” said Dad, “I would have practiced hang-gliding off of here.”
On the return, OLeif asked Puck what he had eaten for breakfast at his Nana’s house that morning.
“I had twelve big hamburgers! HUGE!” he said, with an equally huge grin.
Then OLeif had asked Linnea-Irish what she wanted to do when she grew up.
“I want to be a storm chaser,” she replied. “Or marry a rich guy.”
Back home: Cecil Whittaker’s and Lawrence Welk. Some things just were tradition on Sunday nights…
On the ride back home, Puck, who had been eyeing a dum-dum for the better part of the day, told his parents that, ‘I feel like candy in my mouth’.