Law, Partially

Before, when a long trip abroad has been imminent, I have taken whirlwind tours of the Midwest to say good bye. (See, e.g., here ) Now I'm doing it again, this time with a family. Friday, April 28, 2017, we packed up the pick-up one more time and unceremoniously drove away from Chicago on the Stevenson Expressway, bound for a tour of central Missouri. Christine had never visited the town where I spent four rambunctious years "studying" in central Missouri. We also managed to fit in visits with some disgruntled Army veterans, living happily with their four kids just on the outskirts of Fort Leonard Wood, and another disgruntled veteran of St. Charles County. One last breakfast at  3rd Coast  before saying good bye to North Dearborn Parkway. The drive to central Missouri was challenging. Maybe you noticed, but after the Midwest's warm winter, it has been a rainy spring. Maybe you also have noticed that Midwestern weather usually flows from west to east. We ha...

I made a whirlwind tour of Missouri and Iowa last week, saying bye to lots of relatives before I go to Bombay for the summer. Fayette My Great Uncle Bob is a 78-year-old retired farmer, still living in his same farm house outside of that small, small town, Fayette, Iowa. He's growing asparagus and rhubarb this summer. He's got bad knees. One of my aunts said to him, "Why don't you pick us some asparagus?" and he said, "You can pick it your god damn self. I 'bout killed myself yesterday out picking some for myself." He wasn't mad. He's just not a delicate man. When there's a lull in conversation, he says "Yup," and then repeats part of what he just said. For instance, had there been a lull in conversation after the asparagus request, he probably would have said something like, "Yup. 'bout killed my back." He's also fond of the mysterious word used by the elderly in Iowa, "pretnear." I think it's a ...