Drives Soup Taxes

Ernie and I went for a drive yesterday afternoon. The air almost felt like spring. We stopped at Schnuck's to put air in one of the tires and while Ernie did that I looked at a map on my phone and decided we were  off to Parkville and Chicken Bristle, Illinois. They were on the map but we'd never been to either town. It turns out that is because they aren't really there. Parkville turned out to be a cluster of a few houses, no sign, certainly no businesses. We wandered on to Chicken Bristle and found it even smaller. A scattering of houses and a bridge over a stream. Do the few folks that live there still say they live in Chicken Bristle? I wonder. We weren't really all that far from home but it was so quiet that every car that passed waived to us in acknowledgement. I love that.

We found a nice little old cemetery sitting amidst some corn fields. There wasn't really a road to it, just a mowed strip of grass.

Later we met friends for a drink before heading home and curling up happily. Not my most productive day but definitely one to savor. As the semester heats up I'll be busier with work events on weekends so it felt nice to have a quiet weekend, particularly after a week that had been so busy between work and the house concert. Today I want to get my computer/calendar etc organized and perhaps start on my taxes.....and maybe I'll make some soup to have for lunches this week. It feels like a late winter weekend: drives, taxes, soup. It's funny how our lives achieve such a recognizable rhythm.