um, MOUNTAIN LION.

So apparently my early morning walking career is kaput.  Husband-Dear refuses to let me roam far from the house on foot due to the current MOUNTAIN LION problem in Lumberton.

At the little butcher/grocery/hunting gossip hub on the main drag in town, there's a fresh computer-printed picture of the most impressive tooth-and-muscle machine I've ever seen this side of the Ozarks.  Being the kind of town that has grandfathered in permission to host all manner of picturesque herds and horses, you could see why a MOUNTAIN LION could be a cause for concern -- not to mention the sweet, chewable little children who like to play in the road next to the woods around twilight time.

So I guess I'm back to stealing a little stroll time during what brief daylight hours I have to enjoy while unshackled from working normal business hours.  Pleh.  Guess it's back to morning yoga in the library.

City Park, 6:10 a.m.

I awoke this morning to the shocking realization I had actually been asleep.  How utterly refreshing.

Out the door and pounding the pavement at 6 a.m., I watched my breath escape in curling puffs of fog as I ran very, very gently down the road toward the city park. (Gotta watch the knees.)    One of my favorite sights has become the billow of steam rolling off of the sawmill on the edge of town, visible from my front stoop.  It's become a daily reassurance to touch upon.  If logs are rolling, the world's still spinning and everything will inevitably go until it.... stops.

I make it to the park, kick it into gear and cut through a couple of laps, eyeballing my surroundings as I go.  I spot an old-school swingset.  I flick water off the plastic seat with my purple mitten, plop my 28-year-old bum down and fling my legs back with abandon as the sun rises reluctantly.  Creak, creak, creak, creak.  This is the sound of innocence to me.  
 

  

Playlist For Adjusting to New Medication, Part 1

1.  "Fortunate Son" - Creedence Clearwater Revival
2.  "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" - Bob Dylan
3.  "Dance in the Dark" - Lady Gaga
3.  "Soul Cake" - Sting
4.  "We're Not Right" - David Gray
5.  "California Dreaming"  - The Mommas & Poppas
6.  "Sing Me Back Home" - Merle Haggard
7.  "Landslide" - Stevie Nicks
8.  "Night Fever"  - The Bee Gees
9.  "Get Back"  - The Beatles
10.  "Wild Horses" - The Rolling Stones
11.  That weird Saturday morning Indian music show on the public music station.

"LET'S ROCK!"

A Brief Haiku On Congestion

I sneeze and wheeze and
snot; where is this stuff coming from?
My nose is blown.

"Lumberton", 5:55 a.m.

The acid-ochre sunrise.  The friendly pit bull mix.  The not-so-friendly shepherd mix.  The glowing warmth from the lamps of early-morning trailer dwellers.  Sleepy-eyed drivers at the helm of lazily-turning log trucks.  The fragrant steam from the sawmill.

The unfortunate former cat in the bushes, roadside.  The squirrel that came out of absolutely nowhere.  The security light shadowing the horses' barn.  The aroma of meat smoking at the smalltown grocery. The rustle of umber leaves.  Their syrupy smell as i crush them underfoot.

The calm in my limbs as I climb the next hill. 

When the going gets tough, the tough....knit.

I'm so grateful that it's sweater weather out.  I could knit myself a full-body cocoon and hang in a corner for the rest of the day. 

See mercury falling...

I'm so thankful that the first of November is one of those smoggy-foggy days ripe for the imagination, being thick with memories of Niagra in early June, Arlington Park-in-the-dark, or of Cohen brothers' movies I've visited over and over. 

Autumn is easily my favorite season in Arkansas for its tendency to draw out that perfect mood that proves fertile for songwriting and storytelling.  The frosts and mists and foliage aflame are like God's little compensations for the daylight hours growing shorter.  I'm thankful for such beauty that forces me to stand still in awe of such revelation. 

On the lighter side, Halloween in a struggling milltown is fabulous.  Feeling a bit under the weather, I opted to stay in and get rid of all the extra calories in the house by handing them out to younger hips who could afford them.  And oh, I was richly rewarded!  I was treated to a parade of pirates, princesses, razorbacks, angels, demons, baby demons and two precocious young souls dressed as Axl Rose and Slash.  The only hand that could've beaten that for my money would've been Mic Jagger and Keith Richards.  But who sells candy cigarettes anymore, eh?