Nope...black and white simply does not do it justice. This picture of the world around Lingle Creek was taken one day last week. If you are so inclined, you can see a color version of the image by heading to our online version of the paper. Otherwise, use your imagination a bit.

Ghosts...using imagination...changes...

Please read this. . .

This week is about ghosts (or maybe just some special memories), using your imagination and pondering a few changes which are happening at The Paragraph Factory.

One morning last week, just because, yours truly decided to take a bit of a road trip, all the way to the Old Cape Road. 

For those who may be unfamiliar with some of the “back roads” in our part of the world, Old Cape Road is a major thoroughfare which allows travelers to motor from Jonesboro to Cape Girardeau.

Actually, to call the road a “major thoroughfare” probably would be a bit of a stretch. Old Cape Road is a two-lane blacktop which meanders through the Union County countryside, from Route 127, a couple of miles south of Jonesboro, to Route 3 in suburban Reynoldsville. 

When our little part of the world experiences major flooding, parts of the Old Cape Road often are under water, and pretty much impassable.

The Old Cape Road is on the way to Kornthal Church, which yours truly gets to visit fairly often for photo opportunities. 

Part of the Old Cape Road, at least the part I visited last week, runs parallel to Lingle Creek. And in the area where I stopped, Lingle Creek flows along the base of a major outcrop of shale. Shale, as you may know, is a rock. And when it comes to rocks, well, you know the story, at least when the story involves yours truly.

Shale is just one of the kinds of rocks which a visitor can see along Lingle Creek...if one is inclined to look for such things. Some of the rocks, some of the time, can involve fossils. 

That’s why there was a mention of ghosts way back in the first paragraph. Several years ago, on Christmas Eve, yours truly and several special visitors from the east, paid a visit to the very same spot on Lingle Creek...to look for fossils.

I’m guessing that not a lot of “normal” folks go out looking for fossils on Christmas Eve. “Normal” would be the key word. Our visit on that very chilly, overcast December afternoon was not very successful in terms of finding fossils. Then, two days later, we had a blizzard.

In terms of fossils, the visit last week proved to be just a bit more successful. I spotted what I think was the fossil of a tiny trilobite, a creature kind of like a crawdad which would have been crawling around in the warm waters which covered Southern Illinois millions of years ago. 

Now, about the photograph taken last week at Lingle Creek. When I stopped to take a look around, memories (those again) of North Carolina came to mind.  Maybe it was the swiftly flowing water in the creek and the steep, rocky hillside. Whatever the reason, thoughts turned to the Tar Heel State.

The colors in the landscape around Lingle Creek were subtle and subdued, perhaps a reflection of the late spring which finally seems to be easing its way into our little part of the world. 

That’s where your imagination comes in. Try to visualize, if you can, the fresh greens of spring time, maybe the cream/white color of dogwood blossoms, the gray layers of shale along the creek, the shades of greens, grays and other colors in the creek bed and in the water itself. The colors would be accompanied by the sound of water flowing in the creek. Truth be told, it was not a bad way to spend a little bit of time on a nice April morning.

One last thing for this week...in the just so you know category. We’ve been undergoing a few changes at The Paragraph Factory. Some folks might see what is happening as big changes. Maybe so. 

The changes have to do with the use of new technological processes which, in turn, involve computers communicating with one another. Computers are wonderful tools, most of the time, but, for now anyway, they still need some human input.

Our first tentative steps into this brave new world have gone pretty smoothly. In the meantime, bear with us, as we continue to learn about this nifty technology and move forward...sometimes with our fingers crossed.

 

The Gazette-Democrat

112 Lafayette St.
Anna, Illinois 62906
Office Number: (618) 833-2158
Email: news@annanews.com

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