Many of you know that Tym and I aren’t from around here. We grew up in Shelby County, Illinois, a farming community halfway up the trunk of Illinois. Leaving family behind in your home state means the burden of visiting has always been on us—the leavers, not the leavees. Let’s say we’ve come to know the road well: 40 West …
Nostalgic anchors for our topsy-turvy world
Recently my friend Gina and I were chatting over lunch. She’s into chalkware, those funky wall plaques from the 1940s and 50s painted in bright colors. She said she was looking on eBay for a fruit plaque to replicate one she remembered in her grandmother’s house. I think she said bananas or apples or maybe grapes. I knew exactly what …