Day 47: leaving MI, on to IL and seeing old friends

Here is a close-up of one of the pair of Pileated woodpeckers who hung out on the trees at Bev and Bill Lyons' backyard in Lake Ann, MI...they're just HUGE birds. Not as big as the Great Blue Heron we got close to on our canoe outing, but still.

Oak Park, IL: I am staying out of the conversation but I can hear the boys in the background. it is the 5th pod, and we are super behind. mark is concerned about having two farm pods in a row and not having had any say or pull in what ben is working on. I have to stay out of the discussion bc it is not my work and it is not my baby. Sometimes I am just here for the ride. They haven't taught me to edit and we do not have enough computers with Final Cut and power for me to help even if they did. I can only write a little and keep reading my Barbara Kingsolver novel, Prodigal Summer, until the next time we hit something that needs writing about...

today we stopped by the Grand Rapids Ballet. Their brand new building is aiming for certified LEED Silver, which, Mary says, is not uncommon anymore for buildings in Western Michigan. Many schools are LEED certified, as is the Art Museum... Green Building renovation is old news out here. Theirs made headlines bc of the added new structure, which includes a living roof (already installed but we didn't get to see it). Mary said there was never a moment where anything other than a "green" building was considered. Hooray for Art!

But, more importantly (for me), today I got to see my good friend, Marta, whom I haven't seen in over 15 yrs! It was only about an hour, and I wished that all the boys would disappear so I could talk to her forreal but nevertheless, it was so great to see her face and hear her voice and her laugh and see her smile and learn how she cuddles her own children, whom I had never met. Last week, when i sent notes around to see who might have floor space near Chicago, Marta peeped up saying we could stay at her house but also how sorry she was that we wouldn't be able to see each other since she and her family would be on summer vacation. When we discovered that we would actually be passing each other at the same time on the exact same hwy, we scrambled a way to rendezvous en route (thanks to ben and danny for figuring that out). And so I got to see Marta and meet her husband and her two angel children who were only fussy bc of riding in the car all the livelong day...and I got to thinking how she looks pretty much exactly the same as she did the last time I saw her, just longer hair.

and i wonder how much will change in the next 15 years. for all of us.