Choo Choo Darling, Once in Tennessee: A New Saga

May I present you with a present in the present? (1)

This present is the tale of one Yoda on the way to Tennessee

she met a lot of crop fields in the land of the Ohio River

and watched the fated soil run into the sea

As her travels escaped the ills of agriculture sorrow

Kentucky offered a sight of beauty in the heavens up above

watching rings of rainbow halos melt beyond the open road

After a night spent among the phili of Nashville's precious school

Our wandering heroine climbed the height-ed hills of God's glory

to examine what possibilities the future may hold (2)

Never satisfied to make one trip count for one goal

Young Yoda truly descended back into reality

with views of flooding valleys and birthday bliss

She stopped in Chattanooga, famous from that folksy song

a present from old Navy Lass, who reminded her of home

to visit with the handsome lad Latro for a southern kiss 

CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO

Glenn Miller

- from "Sun Valley Serenade"

- words by Mack Gordon, music by Harry Warren

Pardon me, boy

Is that the Chattanooga choo choo?

Track twenty-nine

Boy, you can gimme a shine

I can afford

To board a Chattanooga choo choo

I've got my fare

And just a trifle to spare

You leave the Pennsylvania Station 'bout a quarter to four

Read a magazine and then you're in Baltimore

Dinner in the diner

Nothing could be finer

Than to have your ham an' eggs in Carolina

When you hear the whistle blowin' eight to the bar

Then you know that Tennessee is not very far

Shovel all the coal in

Gotta keep it rollin'

Woo, woo, Chattanooga there you are

There's gonna be

A certain party at the station

Satin and lace

I used to call "funny face"

She's gonna cry

Until I tell her that I'll never roam

So Chattanooga choo choo

Won't you choo-choo me home?

Chattanooga choo choo

Won't you choo-choo me home?

But her tale hasn't ended, we have more candy for the moment

Our young heroine wound her way back north

through the misty Smokies and the shredded Appalachians (3)

The road may have seemed empty, the future a tad bit insecure

but some times our young Yoda just had to bust out another song

and count the passing chicken containers (4)

Lastly, Our energetic Yoda, was welcomed back to her present

with the entrance of the snowy mountains 

remaining open about the abounding future

and what the present has in store.

Footnotes:

(1) Attributed to Sonic

(2) a picture follows of the Chapel of the Apostles at Sewanee School of Theology (I did not take that picture)

(3) for more on moutaintop removal and agricultural sorrow, ask the author

(4) seriously, how many empty chicken containers can YOU fit on one truck?

A Simple Question of Shoes

Why is it that the total walking distance of humans has dropped off since 1850 even though humanity has finally created comfortable, left and right specific shoes?

I could give you the pretty charts and graphs, but it seems so silly to me that we finally get around to designing great protection for our feet and then effectively stop walking.



(Do you know where/what this picture is from?)

Ode to Laundry

I gather you from every corner of the carpet,
and lug you to the far corner of the building,
then shove you into the corners of the washer.
(wait, a washing machine drum is cylindrical...)
Round and round you go until you vomit.

I return for you in precisely 29 minutes,
but somehow you run for seven more.
Of course, there's no dryers open,
so I proceed to make twelve more visits.

I empty you into the next machine.
Damn, how did this red sock get in with whites?
I hang up those of you that can't take the heat,
and toss in a sheet that smells so fresh and clean.

I'll come get you by the end of the day,
but my jeans' pockets shall still be damp.
I haul you back up the stairs to my domain.
The least you could do is put yourselves away.

I Walk The Line

Once upon a time...


Once upon a time there was a young lady named Yoda. Now Yoda was as fair as could be and the apple of her father's eye. Naturally her father trusted the fair Yoda with his beloved red Ford pickup.





Our fair Yoda loved this truck and kept it clean and fed and shiny. She took it on long drives through gorgeous countryside and on adventures of magnificent proportions. However, there was one draw back to her father's truck. In an age of ipods, the poor truck only had a CD player. (GASP!!)


Young Yoda did everything she could to deflect the horrific nature of this lack in tunes, and one day she petitioned her father for a CD of his very own making. Her petition was looked favorably upon and in time, our fair Yoda was granted the gift of her choosing. 


This CD contained a song by the late Johnny Cash and since her most recent adventure, Cash's Ring of Fire has been stuck in her pretty head. Thus, she feels the need to share this song with everyone who stops by here.


Written by June Carter and Merle Kilgore
Recorded by Johnny Cash on 3/25/63
Number one - County Chart; Number 17 - Pop Chart

Love Is A Burning Thing
And It Makes A Fiery Ring
Bound By Wild Desire
I Fell Into A Ring Of Fire

CHORUS:
I Fell Into A Burning Ring Of Fire
I Went Down, Down, Down
And The Flames Went Higher

And It Burns, Burns, Burns
The Ring Of Fire
The Ring Of Fire

The Taste Of Love Is Sweet
When Hearts Like Ours Meet
I Fell For You Like A Child
Oh,But The Fire Went Wild

CHORUS
I Fell Into A Burning Ring Of Fire
I Went Down, Down, Down
And The Flames Went Higher
And It Burns, Burns, Burns
The Ring Of Fire
The Ring Of Fire

Love Is A Burning Thing
And It Makes A Fiery Ring
Bound By Wild Desire
I Fell Into A Ring Of Fire


Chorus





And just for kicks and giggles, our fair Yoda includes today another of the Cash's great songs:
I Walk The Line

Cali! Cali! California!

Adventure abounds in California

but all i have to offer today is

a snail that i didn't step on

in front of the seminary's guest house

i've never seen a snail like that

and some flowers in front of the school's chapel

the after-rain, flower scented world was lovely

to highlight two days 

full of indian food and fellowship

forgetting the theory of covering spaces

and wondering if i could live in berkeley

and now i am really really completely exhausted