Yesterday was a gray day with mixed rain and snow and slushy grounds and the threat of ice on the road. However, I’ve made a pact with myself to get out and walk everyday, regardless of the weather–around the neighborhood if I absolutely must, though I hate walking through city streets, and on cement.
Walking lately has gone beyond being just something I enjoy to be become both my medicine and my salvation. There is an invisible barrier on my front door that reads, “In case of assholes, stress, or malaise, break”, and I break it daily. If the weather is good and it’s been dry for a couple of days, I head for a real hike, or to find another mill or other bit of old stuff to photograph. However, if the weather isn’t so great, I just head to one of the usual places–Shaw, Powder, the Botanical Gardens, Tower, or others close in and familiar. On these close in hikes in bad weather, I don’t take my camera, but I sometimes take my radio headset, which is a rather quaint thing that fits over my hears, has a radio tuner and a little antenna that sticks up, making me look like a Martian. It isn’t sexy, and doesn’t have white ear buds, but I’m partial to the old thing and wouldn’t think of replacing it.
Not long ago Dave Rogers wrote about how we define our own worlds, sinking further into ourselves rather than paying attention to our surroundings and each other. I thought about this yesterday when listening to my favorite oldies station as I walked along the road at Shaw. It’s a rare event indeed when there is no one at this park and with the paths so mucky, I decided to walk the road that circles the lake. I was really enjoying having the place to myself and the music, as the station plays really great music on Saturdays with hardly any commercial interruptions. In fact, after a while I was walking less and dancing more, and it was when I was listening to Dusty Springfield’s Son of a Preacher Man that I decided to get off the road and into the snowy/slushy fields and do a little dancing among the geese. Though they seemed a bit confused by my actions, they eventually went back to their eating, ignoring this odd human gyrating in their midst.
Now, while I was prancing about, using my hiking stick to pretend to hit sloppy ice balls into the lake, folks may have driven by, pausing to view the crazy woman before moving, most likely hurridly, along, but I didn’t know because I wouldn’t be able to hear them over Preacher Man, Wild Thing, or the other tunes that followed. Which I guess goes to show that sometimes being in our own worlds can be marvelously liberating.
I’ve also been thinking of getting a hand held digital voice recorder to take with me on my trips to record experiences on days such as this, when I’m full of the intoxication of living the life of the village idiot. Especially after listening to Chris aka Stavros the Wonderchicken’s recording of one of his posts this week. Who would have known that the man has such as wonderful, smoky, sexy voice as that? What made it even more special was the Canadian accent. Sort of Hemingway and Nanook of the North, collapsed into one irresistable package. Seriously, if more people podcast in this manner, I may have to consider getting one of this plastic white things with the silly ear buds.
One song I had hoped they would play yesterday is Melanie’s Brand New Key. Remember that? If you do, then you’re most likely older than dirt, as I tested out to be at Ken Camp’s History Quiz. I had a terrific time with this quiz, but the reference in it to roller skate key reminded me when skates were off foot rather than inline, which led to this great, great song.
I rode my bicycle past your window last night
I roller skated to your door at daylight
It almost seems like you’re avoiding me
I’m okay alone, but you got something I need
Well, I got a brand new pair of roller skates
You got a brand new key
I think that we should get together and try them out you see
I been looking around awhile
You got something for me
Oh! I got a brand new pair of roller skates
You got a brand new key
I ride my bike, I roller skate, don’t drive no car
Don’t go too fast, but I go pretty far
For somebody who don’t drive
I been all around the world
Some people say, I done all right for a girl
Well, I got a brand new pair of roller skates
You got a brand new key
I think that we should get together and try them out you see
I been looking around awhile
You got something for me
Oh! I got a brand new pair of roller skates
You got a brand new key
I asked your mother if you were at home
She said, yes .. but you weren’t alone
Oh, sometimes I think that you’re avoiding me
I’m okay alone, but you’ve got something I need
Well, I got a brand new pair of roller skates
You got a brand new key
I think that we should get together and try them out to see
La la la la la la la la, la la la la la la
Oh! I got a brand new pair of roller skates
You got a brand new key.
Today’s lyrics with their explicit references to sex and swearing are so dull compared to the playful metaphors and lyrical winking embedded in songs such as this. Yeah, I got a pair of roller skates, boy, and you got a new key. I looked for this song at iTunes, but of course it didn’t have it. None of the online music stores had it, either in digital form or on CD. However, I did find a wav of the song online in a page with other old classics that tried to install spyware, but I grabbed the song and ran. I am so bad.
With music like that rolling around you, how can you not dance in the fields with the geese? What think, Jeneane? Would you go to a conference that played Brand New Key as anthem? Seems a good song for folks in the tail. And it sure beats looking at monkey bottoms or dreaming about RSS. Though come to think on it, I did dream about a pancreas last night. A great big, 3 story tall bright orange-pink pancreas that was standing on end in an art warehouse.
I guess that’s what you get from dancing with geese. Speaking of which, welcome home, Loren! The trail is calling, but watch out for the geese.
(BTW, if anyone has recommendations for a good but inexpensive hand held digital voice recorder that can be used to create podcasts, please drop me a note.)
