That's me in someone's mirror across from the their driveway. I got out too damn late today and it was hot and I did not cover seven miles but I did go five and some and that was plenty for me.
It was beautiful out but by the time I got back to my car, I was done and then some.
Still, I walked five days this week and my distance was a little over 28 miles for those five days.
And I saw these, among other things.
Fleabane. Perhaps prairie fleabane.
Red coral.
I know I've posted this flower before and probably the fleabane as well but they are just so pretty.
A long time ago, Jessie and Vergil told me I should listen to a podcast called S-Town and I duly made a note of it and even subscribed to it at some point but had never listened to a minute of it until yesterday when the book I was listening to ran out before my miles did. I thumbed my phone and found S-Town and hit the little triangle for play and, as these things sometimes happen, I will never quite be the same again. I got through a good many episodes yesterday and finished listening to it today and immediately started googling it, lapping up the pictures of the folks who'd been interviewed in it as well as any more information available about the story because people, this piece of radio reporting about a man in Alabama named John B. McLemore and the small town he lived in was art and it was beautiful and profane and painful and horrible and wonderful and filled with angels and demons and clocks and time and climate change and tattoos and lust and love and ignorance and madness and genius all at once, all bound together in a way that felt like the maze John B. created with rose bushes and gates where one minute I thought, okay, all is revealed, uh-huh, and the next minute like, whoa, how in hell do I get from here to the truth of it all, the center, the heart, the meaning, the way out?
And I have no idea. I doubt there is one.
But I know I'll never in my life forget that town and mostly, I'll never forget John B. McLemore, and I have no doubt I'll listen to it again. And maybe again.
And then again.
So I guess what I'm saying here is, please listen to this podcast if you have not.
And if you have- tell me what you think about it, please.
As I wrote to a dear friend, "It blew me away," and although that may be a hippiefied hackneyed phrase, I could not come up with a better description unless I'd said, "It blew my mind," and well, yes, that too.
I fixed two overall straps today. I gave the chickens fresh water. I washed the sheets and dried them on the line and made up the bed. I tried to take a nap but my left leg would not let me.
I pulled a giant spent collard plant from the garden with lots of tasty bugs on it and gave most of it to the chicks and they flocked around it and ate as if they'd never seen greens before.
I'm about to go make a venison meatloaf. It is still hot and the cicadas' chant is rising and falling and the air conditioning rattles and chugs in a rhythmic mechanical breath. I hate the sound but god, I love the cool.
Tomorrow we might go to the river. I am way overdue for a baptism.
Happy Friday, y'all.
Love...Ms. Moon
I devoured it in just a few days when it first came out and still occasionally ponder over it. John B could’ve just as easily lived around here. Nothing like a good southern eccentric.
ReplyDeleteVicki
A good, tortured southern eccentric. Who was a genius. I think I will ponder it for the rest of my life.
Deleteshit town was EVERYTHING! Thank you for the reminder! And look at you walking around the world like you do! Very good, I hope to catch up with you by the end of this healing stint! ( saw your baby girl on FB and nearly died from Ga-ga baby love)
ReplyDeleteYou'll be eating up the miles before you know it.
DeleteIsn't Maggie just the peachiest peach of a baby doll?
S-town. Thanks for the recommendation. I have yet to truly discover the magic of podcasts though I did listen to the first season of Serial.
ReplyDeleteThere is absolutely nothing to compare S-Town too. Nothing. I hope you listen to it. It's amazing.
DeleteI will check out s-town. By the time I’m 80 I hope to be walking 5 miles a day tho I’d settle on 4. I’m kinda down on my physical strengths right now but I can start.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I like about walking. You put your shoes on, you go outside, you start. I think it's good to start with time instead of distance. Walk for ten minutes, turn around and walk back for ten minutes. But whatever works is what works. I'd like to think that I'll be walking when I'm 80 but I seriously doubt I'll be alive at that age so probably not.
DeleteThank you for the recommendation! I love podcasts and have been casting about for something new. Isn't it the best, listening to stories, ideas etc while walking? I aspire to log as many miles as you do. XXOO
ReplyDeleteOh, Yolie. You can probably walk far more miles than I can. You are the essence of fit beauty.
DeleteI wish we lived nearer so if I head to Alaska that I could ask to leave my chickens with you. I am so fond of these little feathered friends now and I know you understand. I love how they come rushing when they see or hear me, how if I'm working in the yard they all want to hang out with me and when I turn around they jump in to dig whatever I was digging, and even how they scold me when I'm not complying with their demands. They're hilarious.
ReplyDeleteThey ARE hilarious. I am sure that someone you know and trust will fall in love with them too and thus, you will have enriched their life. But of course I would take your hens. Be a mighty long drive just to give some hens away, though.
DeleteI just found your blog and totally agree with you that S-town blew me away and was beautiful, sad, surprising, heartbreaking and bittersweet. I listened to it 3 times in one week. I thought of Flannery O'Connor, Eudora Welty & other great Southern writers as I listened. John B. was both a genius and a lonely, broken soul. Brian Reed did an excellent job putting this podcast together with tender care. I look forward to more of his work in the future. The cicadas are singing here in Louisiana, too. We need rain, though.
ReplyDeleteIf only those frogs would sing up a few rain clouds! xo
I agree with everything you said about S-Town. It's phenomenal. John B will live forever in a lot of minds now.
DeleteHave you gotten any rain yet? I hope so. Do you suppose the frogs and cicadas are actually sing-praying for rain?
That's a nice mirror-picture, and yes, I remember being entranced by S-town, listening to all of it straight through.
ReplyDeleteIt's like the most amazing crack, isn't it?
DeleteI listened to S-Town about a year ago and LOVED it!! I'm glad it's sucked you in, too! I haven't listened to the new season of Serial yet -- is it even out?
ReplyDeleteI could only find two seasons of Serial and I wasn't interested enough in the second to listen. I'd like to hear more though.
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