The World I Live In....

I ran across some interesting statistics about my zip code area the other day. I don't know why this fascinates me since my brain in generally accepted as being a-numeric. But somehow these numbers are interesting to me...

There are 53,830 households in 4.2 sq miles, giving it a population density of 12,805 people per square mile, which rates as "very high". For comparison, this ranks slightly higher than the city of Chicago.

51.4% of the population is foreign born and 29% of the residents speak English at home.

The 2008 estimated median household income is $46,423.

In 2008, the median price asked for vacant for-sale homes and condos was $739,000.
The estimated median house value in this zip code was $526,000, while in 2000 it was $205,000.
65% of the residents are renters.

The 2009 cost of living index was 165.4 (compared to a national average of 100).

Winter visit to Illinois, part 2

It's really hard to have your heart and your roots in two vastly different places. I'm so glad that I know GOD is the One who chooses our paths for us. I am confident that His wisdom, love and divine plan for His kingdom and glory determine those paths. The older I get, the more I cling to the story of Joseph - the amazing picture of God's sovereignty played out through incredible circumstances. My life isn't nearly as bizarre as Joseph's was!

Here's a photo I took of a prairie sunrise. I was staying at Mark and Janine's lovely farm.
If that looks cold, it really was! It was something ridiculous like 4 degrees.

These photos are inside their home which is to me the quintessential Midwestern farm house. It's as warm inside as it is cold outside!


Winter afternoons are perfect for walks. Here's the creek on our farm and the sun sinking over the fields.

Winter visit to Illinois, part 1

Natives of Southern California simply can NOT understand how anyone could live in a climate that has days like the one pictured at left. I guess you have to have lived it to know that it is not only do-able but beautiful and enjoyable. What you can't see in the photo is the silence and stillness - something my soul craves and can't find in the megalopolis. This photo is of our beloved barn, sporting it's new steel roof.




One thing I enjoyed during my stop at the farm last week was a walk through the prairie grasses. We had these grasses planted the year after we moved to California in hopes of accomplishing two things. The first was to provide habitat for wildlife. The second was to cut down on mowing and reduce the work and resources required to maintain the farm. The second purpose has definitely been fulfilled. As I walked through the grasses it became apparent to me that the first purpose had also been fulfilled. There were many little birds in the grasses, eating the seat heads from the forbs we had included in the seeding.

















Here are a couple shots of flower seed heads "before" being picked clean by the birds...















and "after"...