57

"we live in strange times, this generation of swine..."
--dr. hunter s. thompson


words have jumbled around in my head, but have not flowed from my fingers onto this keyboard. i'm on a journey that takes me high and low and i have to regenerate. i'm no borg drone. seeking the heat like a missle, i have taken one of my many trips to cali in preparation. mt. diablo in clayton sits like an aroused nipple in the middle of the bay area. it's trying to be assimilated by walnut creek, but hold development and bay so humanity can have a place to play. i covered 29 miles of this beautiful place on foot, including a couple of trips to the summit. flora and fauna in bloom. manzanita. fields of poppies and angel moths seeking cowshit to sit on. i stood elbow to elbow with folks who have run states and done well, and i promptly showed them a clean pair of heels most of the day. felt good to leave there with a little confidence and a dinner including some of the finest crushed grapes that the valley could provide waiting for me in napa.

on a side note. i saw david lynch sitting by the mineral pools while soaking at the calistoga mineral springs the morning after. i was easing my sore quads into the heated pool and threw the only other occupant a gentle neck pop before settling in. some cougar came in and made a fuss about how difficult it was for her to "keep her top on when it gets wet" and i realized that the show was not for me, but rather for the silver fox seated behind me...and that would be david lynch. looking through black and white polaroid photos of questionable origin and content. well. questionable for most folks, certainly not me and certainly not david. so it goes...

horace

i grew up along way from here
i slept with the lights on for fifteen years
and sabbath kept me home on friday nights
and daddy sang me rodgers
just to make everything alright
my town wasn't even on the map
you could pass right through it in twenty seconds flat
but the south was like the whole world to me
it wasn't easy to stay but it was harder to leave

yeah I was a south bound child
yeah I had a small town life
but I turned out alright in the north
livin' that southern kind of life

old friends and bibles filled the house
no room for money and no money anyhow
deprived was something we always heard
but to me and my brother it was just another word

I use to think the north was the end
cause people go there and they don't come back again
but my father's father was a man of the seed
he lived a southern life two blocks away from me

yeah I was a south bound child
yeah I had a small town life
but I turned out alright in the north
livin' that southern kind of life

--kasey chambers
"southern kind of life"

rumble

(photo by gtach)

arm warmers. herds of elk. coffee and heated seats. hugs. frost. bullhorns. dirt roads. chalk lines. yellow ribbons. jelly beans. twisty trails. ice patches. grunt loops. gravel climbs. metolius-windigo. hoof prints. sisters. jefferson. 3 fingered jack. clear skies. tachiyama. rubber track. blood blisters. raw hamburgers. shirtless. sunshine. lazy spring laughter. vida cafe. malted milkshakes, blt's and a breast milk inquiry. the best beer of the year...