I'm told that the only animals left besides humans and spiders will be the chickens. Sigh.
Wading around the Washington beltway, then out US 50, over the Bay Bridge and up through Delmarva farm country on US 301, WXPN playing. Old roads for me. I know most of the turns, the best lanes to use, the areas that law enforcement officers use for revenue enhancement. A little less stressful to drive (except the Beltway), a little safer -- but also underlaid with a feeling of going in circles, wasting time and gas going nowhere.
Listening to an NPR interview on WAMU, Joyce Carol Oates talking about her memoir, The Lost Landscape, growing up in a farm north of Buffalo, discovering books, real books with binding and unique fonts, in a few sent to her by her grandmother. Her lifelong favorite: an original version of Alice in Wonderland, complete with the first published drawings of the animal characters. She wrote, and wrote, and drew, discovered libraries, went on to college (including a mock Ivy League university in upstate New York), became a prolific and famous author. Sounds like it will be worth reading!
NPR then shifted from the sublime to the tedious: talking Beltway heads. They filled their airtime wondering whether Congress will avoid gridlock or in fact do anything, what Clinton will say to the quasi-permanent Benghazi committee, and hoping Pope Francis won't use his time with Congress to lay about with a rope and hold them accountable for their stewardship.
One of the heads suggested that His Holiness would surely leave his jawbone with the Archbishop of Chicago, though, and avoid sensitive issues when he addresses Congress. Could be, but the man hasn't shied away much yet from speaking truth to power. More than a few of us will be rallying to his side if he does as the reactio -- pardon, the conservatives -- try to hustle him him off to a secret tribunal.
A caller spoke clearly and to the point on the gridlock question; the budget showdown has become an annual festival of sorts to celebrate Washington's dysfunction, she said. Agreed. Several voices talked about changing the system, instead of just electing new names. Also agreed, cautiously, but hoping we won't be fooled again ... Change stations.
301, WXPN playing. Announcer chattering about the possibility of rain tomorrow, badly needed to break the heat wave ... but not another downpour if possible, it seems like the weather just swings between too much and too little these days. Ayup, I think to myself, that's the climate shift. I recall the same kind of weather in Arizona; very good for expanding deserts, it seems ... now it's on the East Coast? To think, I ran away from home in '72 to dodge the economic impact of water shortages.
Old roads ... and some like the Washington beltway seem to spin frustrated drivers around every day, subordinate human activity to their will rather than serving it, and swallow enormous amounts of property, money, and time while they do it.
To quote from an old MAD Magazine poem about an unfortunate baseball team --
Someday fans will have their fill
And ship the team to Louisville.
And ship the team to Louisville.
Or Leavenworth, may be.
Fleetwood Mac, Never Going Back, on the radio. Well, I have before and I'm back now. Delaware state line, 180762.
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Hope everyone is enjoying these posts. I hear that adding comments is still a problem since Google tightened up security, and I'll keep working on it. I have added a place where anyone who wants to sign up for updates can add their email address -- fair warning, I have not looked into removing addresses from the list yet.
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