It’s STILL watermelon week at Old Road Apples’ summer wonders. Where the livin’s easy.
Month: July 2015
Where’s Chuck? Friday 7.31.15
I’m on vacation, but I planned ahead. Presuming that we stay on track, we’ll be seeing a lot of cool things–here’s what I hope to see today.
Most of our time is going to be spent here…
But the Nebraska state capital, otherwise known as “the penis of the plains” should be worth a quick visit….
And they’ve got this sunken gardens thing that should be good for an hour or so…
But if you know anything good to do in Lincoln, I’ve got some time, let me know in the comments section…..
Yes, my religious views have been well documented across the whirled why’d web, so you’re a little surprised to see me quoting “the good book” but there’s a lot of great stuff in there, some of it resoundingly, wonderfully evocative. Like this.
Proverbs 26:11: As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.
Where’s Chuck? Thursday 7.30.15
I’m on vacation, but I planned ahead. Presuming that we stay on track, we’ll be seeing a lot of cool things–here’s what I hope to see today.
Illinois, Iowa, and on to Lincoln, Nebraska. Nothing big on the schedule today–just mileage…
Carl Sandburg’s birthplace in Galesburg, Il
The inappropriately named Sandburg Mall just across town, where we’ll stand outside and boo.
Where’s Chuck? Wednesday 7.29.15
VACATION!
By the time you wake up and read this–by the time the WordPress robot publishes this–I’ll be two large travel mugs and a couple hundred miles into our big vacation, having slipped off in the foggy pre-dawn morning on our way west, and we hope to stay on vacation for several weeks.
I’ve lived in Wyoming and Oregon, and have had the opportunity to travel back and forth across this country, with a lot of meandering along the way, many times–but my kids, who were born in Oregon, have not been on the left side of the Mississippi since we moved to Pennsylvania when they were 4 months old. It was well past time we got them out there.
I don’t know if I’ll have many–or even any–chances to check in on Old Road Apples, or to see what is going on over at your blog, and the many others I generally enjoy on a daily basis. It is strange, but I feel like I’m leaving a lot of friends behind, and in a way I guess that I am.
Not to fear, I’ve been planning for several months to make this trip go smoothly, and part of that has included maintaining Old Road Apples in my absence. I’ve prepared the usual daily features, a heavy dose of Summer Wonders, and–as a special treat–repeat posts of vintage Junk from the very early days of the blog, before anyone was reading. That’s right, I have several dozen posts–much of it poetry–that received few hits, likes, or comments–or none and at all. I’ll be throwing those out at you to see what you think this time–maybe they’re really terrible, and that’s why they went ignored. We’ll see.
Finally, it’s common wisdom not to reveal travel plans on social media, so just to let you know: if you’re one of the rare few who have penetrated my slender wall of anonymity, don’t get any bright ideas about robbing me, or whatever: we’ve got desperate, slightly dangerous and unpredictable neighbors who will be working with a dedicated circle of house-sitters, lawn-mowers, plant-waterers, dog-walkers, and other heroic souls who will providing a constant and vigilant guard on the homestead. And did I mention the dog?
See you back here in about a month–I hope to return with a mountain of tales both tall and short, and maybe a photo or two.
Tunesday: Dusty Brown
I’ve realized that I’m a musical schizophrenic–or worse. My favorite music is probably either from that transition to “college alternative” via New Wave via Punk (if you can’t guess my age from that, shame on you) or old school country western, and the modern “Americana” music that draws so much spirit from it, but I also like blues and, increasingly, I respect electronica–or whatever the hell the over-reaching genre name is for the variety of synth-drenched mellow raver music that makes me realize that, if they’d had raves when I was young, and ecstasy, I would have been very intrigued…..
Tonight, while writing, I got hooked onto a bunch of songs by DJ-based Dusty Brown, and his/their mesmerizing syth-drenched guitars intertwining with singer Jessica Brown’s (Dusty’s sister) sumptuous tones. It starts out like same old same old mournful hipster gauze until, at point, it goes all transcendental…
I can’t seem to find live videos, so you just have to listen–if anyone but me is still riding the web on a PC I’d recommend rounding up a few more from these kids in a new window and letting them ride. You can get the EP free at Dusty Brown’s website. It ain’t Portishead, but it ain’t half bad. (Okay–totally doing Portishead next week).