As I write this, Frans and I are sitting on a commuter train bound for Chicago with an impressive amount of luggage piled on the seat next to us. We left Honolulu about a week ago and spent the weekend (including the fourth of July) with my grandparents and a collection of aunts, uncles, cousins, and other relatives in Winona, Minnesota. This was Frans’s first chance to meet most of the family crew and to see Winona, so it was a busy weekend. Monday we drove down to Illinois to see another (smaller) set of relatives, and today we’re on our way into Chicago for the American Library Association conference.
It was great to be in Winona again – I don’t think it would work for us to live there, but it’s so nice to be in a small town, go boating on the river, and relax in grassy backyards. I got some good job news on the drive down to Illinois, but more about that later. For now, a picture of Winona taken from the overlook on Garvin Heights:
