late night, and the rain has driven me indoors where we are all cramped in a two-bedroom house. this means i'm on an ample couch, but my daughter is also on it, and she's been watching something on netflix, which means i've taken out my hearing aids and am now in a kind of cricket-ful oblivion. the rain outside has been off and on. mats are getting soggy green from so much rain, and people are mowing like every three days instead of five. it's incredible to me, yet it's the illinois i love, and i'm glad to be home.

the town of monmouth is very pretty, with old victorian houses and a variety of different shapes and colors around town. it's actually a county seat of a very small county, warren county, but it's considered part of galesburg for all intents and purposes, being only fifteen minutes away. the college is small, presbyterian, and presumably liberal. teachers i presume occupy a fair number of the houses.

i found a writers' event already - here in monmouth, on wednesday. a local teacher writes mysteries, and writes cliff notes too. she's going to talk about writing mysteries. hopefully i'll be able to walk over to the downtown locale - i'm only about four blocks away - and hear her talk. this will be an interesting treat.

meanwhile my read-marketing has come back as we finished moving and i can relax a little. we haven't bought the new house yet but are working on it. we haven't sold the old one yet but are working on that too. totally in transition.

and the rain has a gentle noise, and i'm completely into it. i'll even walk in it, if i get the chance.