happy birthday to me!

A quarter of a century. I can't believe it! (My goal is 93 years)

It was a wonderful day for a birthday, although I have no real plans besides finishing some work for classes. I was surprised at work today when one of the teachers told me I had a package from one of the students I worked with last semester, who is now back in Korea. I was not expecting it, and toted around the box all day, and when I got home, I found this:

I LOVE wind chimes! I don't remember if I even mentioned to her anything about them, but it was a perfect birthday present, along with all of this:

Luckily, there were a few other gifts for some of the teachers, and we can all munch on the sweets together. How very thoughtful of her! 

I remember when I was much younger, my mother gave my sister and me each a decorative ceramic cup with our birth months on them. For some reason I was disappointed because my March cup showed a little girl stomping around in a mud puddle on a rainy day. It always seemed so gloomy to me, but since then I've come to really love spring time and I'm now content with being born in this season!

I see all the tulips and daffodils on campus, or the grass growing tall in the soccer fields and automatically my mind jumps to thinking about how much a horse would enjoy that nice clump of thick grass. Not to mention, once the thunderstorms start, you can look forward to much warmer weather and the amazing sights of the clouds (and perhaps an occasional tornado).

our next and final stop: Union Station Chicago

I thought I'd never hear those words, but here I am, finally in Chicago.

I was ready to go at 5 am in Lawrence, got to the train station, and waited. The train seemed late, but it wasn't until another passenger called for an update that we found out the train was more than 4 hours behind schedule. I piled my bags back into the car and got an extra hour or so of sleep at home, sent in a job application, and remembered to pack my umbrella before heading out again.

The second time around, the train came flying down the tracks at 10:32 am and I thought it wouldn't be able to stop in time. It did, but not long enough for me to even sit down before it was moving again. In the seat across the aisle was a young mother and her 5-year-old son, who had unfortunately waited at their stop in western Kansas from 2 am until they actually departed at 7 am.

Mississippi River at Fort Madison, Iowa

When we got to Kansas City, this woman and her son went off the train for some fresh air. They weren't back by the time we got moving again, but I figured they were in the observation car or cafe. About a minute later, the train stopped and we heard an announcement that we would be waiting a few moments longer. After that few minutes, the woman and her son appeared in their seats, flustered. Apparently the little boy had gotten sick during their fresh air break, so she had taken him into Union Station to clean him up. She told a train worker, who said she would hold the train. Clearly that did not happen. They ended up taking a ride in a tiny railway cart on the adjacent track to catch up to our stopped train. 

After that, we luckily did not have any other major delays and we each got handed "emergency" snacks, which were quite good, but still ended up getting into Chicago at nearly 8 this evening. I found the hostel after walking farther than I needed (right through "Greek town"-- shouldn't I have realized that's where the "Parthenon Hostel" might be??), and enjoyed some gyros for dinner. Museum-ing tomorrow.

It's spring!

 All the flowering trees are looking beautiful, even against grey skies.

 Who knows what flowers these are? The leaves remind me of mum leaves, but the flowers do not.