Rediscovering Perfect Strangers
That radio station I pick up out of Athens has been playing that song some the last month. I sat in front of "the store" in Balsam Grove watching the world get lighter Saturday morning and heard that song. It came out in the winter of 87 when I was a fledgling in 3rd Ranger Bn. I bought it on cassette and played the heck out of it. I've never pinned the song down to a true meaning, but, it's always had a wise sense to it. It feels good to rediscover such things.
Now, I'm rediscovering fall. The higher you go, the more you see of it. I walked across acorns that covered the ground like gravel and the ferns were turning brown. Even at 2000ft the Sour Woods have turned red. The weather has been beautiful the last few days and twice I've read the thermometer in the mid 30's. But, it's dry. Pitiful dry. I don't care what river it is, you point at it and you will see more rocks than water and a big Scarlet Oak out in the yard is turning brown with the red. Bear season starts the week after this one and I'm concerned about the Dogs holding a scent. If they hit a track, it better be a hot one. If it rained now, we'd be rediscovering the rain. I've been foolish for stating the fact, but, we here in Transylvania County have an average annual rain fall of over 80 inches, upwards to 100 in some places. Go ahead, look it up. It's a part of our identity here. With it being so dry, I don't think we really know who we are now. But, we miss it and, if it was to rain we'd be rediscovering ourselves. It doesn't matter, if you rediscover something, it was probably right beside you all the long.
This is the last picture I snapped of Bell. She was good to have around, but soon, 'Coons will fear her and tremble at her bellows echoing through the cold winter nights.
"I am returning the echo of a point in time"
The Appalachianist
posted by Hill Billy Rave | Sunday, October 05, 2008
11 Comments:
Geez, I came here hoping you meant Perfect Stranger the old TV show.
Seattle has a relatively high suicide rate that many blame on the weather. Since you get a lot, how's the suicide rate there?
Yeah, come to think of it, Murf, that was a TV show.
No, I can't say we have a high suicide rate. Heck, the sun shined in Taji all the time and there were plenty of suicides there.
Now, I've seen it be rainy for nearly a whole month. I remember particulary a June and a December. But, it comes in waves mostly. it just dumps for a couple of days and goes on. Afternoon Thunder storms are common too.
Nice description of the change in seasons... As for Deep Purple, I remember that song, but didn't link it to them, I mostly remember their earlier stuff--like Smoke on the Water--which was popular when I was in high school...
Sage, I think that was a reunite/comeback album. As dry as it's been the last two years, I think fall is going to be a quick and done deal. But you get up around 3900 feet or so, and it's real pretty.
I had a chance to detour to Lake Geneva when I was passing through Wisconsin one time. I did so, mainly because of the reference in Smoke On The Water.
I also once was traveling by train from CA to IL and we stopped in Winslow, AZ. So, of course, I got off and found a place to be "standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona" as the Eagles sang. Alas, the scene was completely absent the "girl my lord in a flatbed Ford".
Yes, many of my quirky memories were lifted from the lines of this geezer rock song or that.
Not that any of this had anything to do with fall.
Ed, I had the notion see the Mountains of Montana at 7Am, but then I figured it was allot of trouble to go out there. I once knew someone that was trying to sell an old Delta88, it would have been fun to spray paint it black and get some fake leather seats from Juarez. To think of it, the fellar selling that car was from Montana and he said he'd drive it out there if it wasn't for the price of gas.
I know people that make a big noise about going out west. That's fine, but, they act like it makes them a good person or better than you. But, I know hollers and ridge tops right here at home they've never seen because they can't take a notion to know their own back yard. I guess I'm still waiting for a cool song about the Nantahalas.
That's no offense to you travelers, I'm talking about people around here.
I am pretty open minded, although occasionally I'll have someone misunderstand the intent of what I say, mainly because everyone views the world through the prism of theirbown experience and prejudice. But that is water to pass under another bridge.
There are two points I wanted to make. First, if I had to pick a song to illustrate my life it would actually be two songs. "I Believe In Everything" by Todd Snider and "I've Been Everywhere" by Johnny Cash.
And secondly, if you want a song about the Nantahalas (if you spelled that wrong, then so did I) then why don't you write it? You have a definate knack for prose, so hooah..hop to it. Worst that happens is you can't write music and you end up with a poem about it. Either way, it adds something towards bettering to the world.
Yeah, I know. I have on my rosy glasses today. Headed out to the airport now. Be good
Ed, you have been everywhere. Maybe you could fuse the two songs together? That might be cool..then it might not. I love that Johnny Cash Song, though. I don't know the other off hand.
I've only spent so much time in the Nantahala Mountains. I picked it because, it is the only range other than the Balsams that I know some. That and it sounds cooler than Blue Ridge Escarpment.
There were two points I wanted to make, one is it would be cool to do these things, but then, it would cost me money, and not that I'm a tightwad, but, that's money that can be spent more wisely. The second is there are people right here in Transylvania County that feel like they HAVE TO drive for several hours to see something cool. And while I'm at it, I might as well make a third point...I wouldn't mind taking a train across the country if the car was loaded with lots of pretty women. Heck, I might even like it.
You know Ed, I've gotten nasty grams for something I said on here. Sometimes those prisms are pretty sharp.
But, by no means think that I was referring to you. You've gotten the dirt of a place under your fingernails. I think that has made you a better person. You've got a pretty clear prism, and I wish you had more readers like you.
Now for the rest of you heathens, you'll are pretty good too. Heck it's starting to feel like reader appreciation day here...
I gotta come back and read this again . . . it is a great blog and a purty picture of my old girl friend . . . er, on a good day . . . just kiddin' . . . some of the writing is so good and it reminds of Where The Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls . . . Belle will be runnin' soon enough . . . and your comment about knowin' your own right here at home . . . well, what a backyard to have . . . it don't get any better than the Smokies or near there . . . something might match it and be all grand and all, but so are the Smokies . . . I think that way . . . it is not without pain. the Smokies, but the whole of it is grand . . . if we can just keep them without the clutter . . . . Bill
Bill, I don't know about being up there with Wilson Rawles, that truly spoke well for the rural America.
The Smokies are something. Go over too Ruminations From The Distant Hills and check his Elk pics. Allot of people call anything west of Asheville the Smokies, which is technically wrong. The Smokies, the largest of the ranges, is that above Cherokee. And, there is a great deal of clutter everywhere that ain't Government Land.
Post a Comment
<< Home