The dying of another year

This is the last day of November. November rolls in on a cool breeze, with colored leaves and the last days of football season. November leaves us with rain and cold winds and the end of expectations. The old year is slowly dying. The days are interminably darker, shorter. Still, I am riding the tide of coming birthdays and Christmas around the corner. In another thirty days, the last great season of darkness and artificial lights will end with New Year's.

When I was a teenager, I loved New Years. My parents stayed out late and came home after midnight. We went to sleep in a new year, with new possibilities and the chances of a new year. The next day was football followed by football followed by football until we ended with the Orange Bowl which was always played in Miami under the lights. I could have allegiances which bore no relation to any school I had attended. Nothing was personal. Everything was family. We cheered for schools our parents attended, or in states in which we had lived.

We ate blackeyed peas and greens and feasted on pork. Corn bread with butter. There were traditions to live by. Rules. How many of those rules are around now? Everything is tenuous, temporal and temporary.

Alas.

November morning at the beach

Are you supposed to sleep late when you are on vacation? I was reading a New Yorker article from 2006 and the interviewed person, a real Bohemian from Greenwich Village in New York, was talking about feeling lost when he didn't stay awake until four in the morning. I couldn't do that. I woke today around six. I watched the sun come up at the east end of the beach (St George faces southerly) and walked westerly down the beach to the cut. No one joined me. At least no one from my immediate family. The gulls were out on the surf, chasing the water for breakfast. They were screaming at the blue skies. Later, after I had sat down on the rocks and watched some early risers scrambling over the rip rap to catch a fish or two in the frigid November water in the Gulf. I walked back to the condo and climbed up the stairs and ate breakfast. That's a morning that's hard to beat.

Thanksgiving Vacation, Day Two

Are you supposed to sleep late when you are on vacation? I was reading a New Yorker article from 2006 and the interviewed person, a real Bohemian from Greenwich Village in New York, was talking about feeling lost when he didn't stay awake until four in the morning. I couldn't do that. I woke today around six. I watched the sun peer over the eastern horizon like a small orange stub. I ate granola and yogurt and drank two glasses of orange juice. Then I walked out of the house and walked down the beach to the cut, a place in St. George Island where the government cut an inlet between two parts of the island for boats to escape rough seas to the safety of the bay.

When I got to the cut, the waves were rolling heavy through the inlet toward the bay. Several fishermen had moved inward toward the bay to escape the waves. As I headed back down the beach toward the rented house, I saw a father and son with fishing equipment. I told them the water was really rough down there. I don't think they understood me.

I took naps throughout the day and tried to avoid taking calls on my cellphone. I had to take a few. I had to turn down a total of five closings they wanted me to conduct over the next few days. I did take one scheduled for next Monday.

Later.

St. George Island in November

We drove down US 19 from Griffin to Tallahassee, then over I-10 to the turnoff toward St. George Island. We made it around four o'clock to the beach. After getting everything settled in, we finally headed over to the Blue Parrott for seafood and a nice cold beer. I had my first installment of raw Apalachicola oysters this afternoon and Cindy gave me about ten fried oysters as well. Everything was so perfect, sitting outside, listening to the waves crashing on the beach, drinking beer and eating oysters. It was so perfect I turned down the key lime pie. For some of you that may seem sacreligous; however, it was already just too perfect. There will be plenty of time for key lime pie. And there just so many oysters in the bay, and I am just one man. And I only have a week.

As Mel Brooks said in Blazing Saddles, "Work, work, work."

Ha!

Gifts, Christmas and Anxiety

Cindy and I driving up to Dunwoody this afternoon, and the subject of Christmas came up, which is appropriate at this time of November. I suppose we all are thinking about Christmas, worrying about making sure we get something appropriate for everyone on our lists.

Lists, lists. Do we really need to make sure that everyone is equally gifted? Do we need to draw names? Is it really important to set a limit for how much we spend on everyone? Is it important to fulfill lists for Christmas gifts? Should we stick to the list or is it appropriate to shop and use our imaginations to find the right gift for our loved ones?

When I was a child, my parents made a great effort to ensure that each of us three children were equally gifted. This process was good for us kids, but I wonder if it didn't just drive my parents a little crazy sometimes trying to make sure we were all equally taken care of.

I remember one time finding what I thought was the perfect gift for my grandmother: a print of Bethel College, where my aunt and my grandmother went to high school. I knew she would enjoy it and Cindy and I had it framed for Christmas. It turned out to be a nice gift which was later passed to my aunt, when my grandmother passed away. Of course, the ultimate cost of the gift dwarfed most of the other gifts we gave to others that Christmas, but I really didn't feel bad about this unequal gift and I don't think anyone felt slighted.

At the same time, I sometimes think we go overboard in our gift-giving at Christmas. We struggle to ensure that everyone is adequately gifted, with no one receiving more or less than the other. It ends creating a lot of anxiety and hides the real reason why we celebrate Christmas.

I would love to simplify the process. Erase the anxiety. Relax and enjoy the season.

Its a thought.

Peaceful journey

When you drive down Georgia 85 from Woodbury, south toward Manchester, the road runs straight south and up the side of Pine Mountain, where a farm sits atop the ridgetop. In the twilight of the early evening, the pink and orange of the afternoon sun glows through the trees and bushes off toward Columbus and Pine Mountain. The car eases across the ridge and heads downward toward the flickering lights of Manchester.

Afterward, I head back north across the same route and the road runs up to the ridgeline and the stars are thrown across the sky as the crisp November air is dry and clear. It is rare to see another car, or even lights across the fields. It is only after you clear the top of Pine Mountain that you can see the lights of Woodbury off in the distance, down below the heights of the mountain. By the time you get to Woodbury, the cars are parked haphazardly in the darkness around the old juke joint, the patrons standing, talking in the darkness.

It is a short drive from Woodbury to Manchester and back. But it provides a significant bit of peace as you drive down and back in the growing darkness.

November moonlight

A silver crescent moon was on my shoulder
Tonight I rode Georgia 85 up from Manchester
And the road led me up over Pine Mountain
And the stars were thrown across the skies
Down in Woodbury, an old black gentleman
Wore his old fatigue jacket
And tended a fire in an oil drum
To ward off the November chill
And waved mutely as I passed the juke joint


My path turned east toward Molena,
A silver crescent moon was on my shoulder
And I passed the houses, light shining
Through the drawn drapes on the front windows
The blue of the television glowing in the darkness
The moon illuminating the pastures as I passed
The dark shapes of cattle lying in the fields

A silver crescent moon was on my shoulder
As I passed through Zebulon
My path pivoted around the courthouse square
The red brick courthouse standing stern
Lit up by the streetlights surrounding the building
The lights of the police station glowing in the darkness
Ever vigilant, ever standing guard

A silver crescent moon was on my shoulder

Ambulance chasers

Perspective. I try to keep calm and create perspective in my mind which might allow me to understand. I was listening to a television show and they were referring to "ambulance chasers" and I understand the source of the sentiment, I guess. You know, I wanted to be a lawyer so I would have be someone who had stature in the community. But I have met some lawyers who I would have assumed would be leaders in their communities and lawyers don't necessarily have a monopoly on leadership ability. I know that most politicians seem to be lawyers. I don't necessarily know why that is. A lot of people who go through college like myself, without a degree which would lead to a life of practical money-making, end up in law school. Kind of a second choice choice of life. I guess most of the politicians probably don't practice much law. John Edwards may be the only one I can think of who actually used his law degree to make a living (read: fortune) before he went into politics. His problem was he was just too good to be true. Rose too quickly and fell even quicker. I think a couple others were prosecutors, but, Hell, most of them only prosecuted for a couple of years before they went into politics and left the law behind. Of course, politicians aren't much higher than lawyers in public sentiment. On the other hand, we seem to give them our adoration and votes every two years. Or even quicker. We are required to elect them to fill the posts. The posts we create to take care of our governmental needs.

Still, lawyers aren't held in much high regard these days. It is sad. The thing I wanted just doesn't seem to be available on the modern occupational market. Oh well. Its hard to keep up anyway. I probably make people happy or mad in equal proportions. Today, I kept a client out of jail. Her accuser isn't very happy with me about now. Join the club. I am sure the ones who aren't happy probably just label me as an ambulance chaser. Or something worse. Its hard to justify yourself sometimes.

"I almost cut my hair...."

I wonder if my mother has any pictures of me with a beard from back when I was in college and would grow a beard in the Winter. I included this picture because it contains a likeness of a nice young man from Tulsa, Oklahoma named Claude. Claude was a young musician who travelled to Los Angeles to make a name for himself as a keyboardist, singer and producer.

He was part of the Wrecking Crew which was a group of musicians who backed other acts in the recording studios to provide a professional sound. A lot of the Beach Boys music was actually the Wrecking Crew, as were the Mommas and the Poppas, the Grass Roots, pretty much anyone who recorded in Southern California in the 60's.

Some of the Wrecking Crew made it as acts themselves. Glen Campbell, for instance. Dr. John. And this guy. From the picture, you might recognize the young man in the middle as Gary Lewis, son of Jerry Lewis and the drummer and signer for Gary Lewis and the Playboys. His mother is next to him. The man on the right is Snuff Garrett, a record producer for Liberty Records.

The clean cut young Oklahoman is Leon Russell. You might only think of him with a long beard and white hair. It just goes to show you can't judge a book by its cover.

Hacking Weekend

It is Sunday evening. Yesterday began in a hotel bed in Dunwoody, then progressed to a borrower's house in Martinez, Georgia, near Augusta. Afterward, I drove back to Dunwoody where I settled into watching football and making dressing. In the middle of the afternoon, I went upstairs and got on line to see what was going with W&L and Hampden Sydney. Georgia had alreay taken the measure of Idaho State and found them lacking. Fortunately, W&L's offense kept them in the lead. They had two runners with heavy totals and their quarterback was on. Apparently, the defense did a good job too, creating five turnovers in the first half to give them a big lead.

Now they have won the Conference Championship and will play in the NCAA playoffs. That is the second time in five years. That is great.

Cindy and I have developed colds or something and we are on Musenex and cough drops and it makes us wake up in the middle of the night, which keeps us sleepy throughout the day. Well, Dunwoody won and the Falcons won. Sports highs can take you only so far. There is always another week, another set of games. You can only expect so much.

Upstate New York

It did look and feel like Fall today. Actually, it looked and felt that why probably more than any other day we have had. Of course, Cindy said we weren't actually in Fall yet. I don't think that is right. It actually felt like the beginning of Winter, and I know we are far away from that. It will be December before we know it and we will be wondering where the year went. Perhaps some people are already thinking about that. What a cliche.

I saw a musician that I had never heard about today on a recording of the Jimmy Fallon show. He was strange and his dad worked for IBM like me. Maybe the children of IBMers suffer from a desire to be a bit strange. That sounded a bit too autobiographical. He was originally from Endicott, New York, where one of the main offices of IBM is located.

When I was a boy, I recognized a lot of the cities spreading north and west from New York City. For instance, the Petries on the Dick Van Dyke Show lived in New Rochelle, a small town which apparently was one of the original Huegenot communities in America. Then you have White Plains, Armonk and Endicott, which were offices of IBM. My dad had to go there often when he worked for IBM. I am surprised we never ended up there at one time or another.

Boy, I would have been a rebel up there. I probably would have got my butt kicked quite often. I would have either got tough or beaten up. All in all, it's probably better that I stayed in Georgia.

Well, Go Generals!

A cold morning

Fall fell heavily today. I drove into work and it was very cool and wet from the rain we had last night. I left the office to pick up the mail and noticed that the thermometer in the car read '48' which is awful cool for eleven in the morning in Central Georgia. As the morning felt the effects of a drizzle, it was even colder, or seemed so.

Now, I am waiting for a loan package so I can close something in McDonough this afternoon. Not too far away. But my car is in the shop getting tuned up and some minor matters handled. Meanwhile, I am driving Kate's car around town until I can swap them out in the morning. It has its problems, but apparently not as much as my car.

I am still thinking about the W&L vs. Hampden Sydney game on Saturday. I guess I will be thinking about it until Saturday is over.

Well, so far so good.

Time to remove the favorites

It was definitely Autumn today and when I left my car in the Walton County Courthouse parking lot, I began to wonder if I had not underdressed this morning. Fortunately, it had warmed up a bit by the time I hit Winder and Barrow County. By the time I hit Canton (Cherokee County) it was downright balmy.

Of course, the hits of my trip were the flock of wild turkeys I saw in the front yard of a single wide mobile home in Lumpkin County and the sign for the Kangaroo Conservation Facility in Dawson County. I told Kate about this and we are both nonplussed about the presence of kangaroos in Dawson County. We thought that perhaps the good citizens of Dawson County may have mistaken large oppossums for their cousins. Kate, in particular, thought that when mistaken for kangaroos, the oppossums might turn to the camera and put their forefinger to their lips as to stop any attempts to correct the confusion.

That is assuming that oppossums have lips.

By the end of the day, I was happy that I was back home. Usually, by the time I am headed back home and hit around the airport or North Clayton, my buttocks begin to cramp up and give me fits. I enjoy the travel, but I am glad I only do that once a month.

The Giants eliminated the Rangers last night and won the World Series. I am trying to be philosophical and think that that reflects well on the Braves who were just an out or two away from beating the Giants in the Division Series. Otherwise, I am still rather blase about the series.

It is definitely football season now, despite the presence of NBA basketball and NHL hockey. I cannot get my mind beyond the W&L game against Hampton Sydney on Saturday. I am shooting positive thoughts and vibes up toward Lexington. I would appreciate any thoughts and vibes that will be offered in that regard. When I was at W&L, the football crowns were shared between Hampton Sydney and Randolph Macon and there were no scraps for the rest of us in the conference. This is a good opportunity for a little parity to rear its beautiful head and shine kindly on my alma mater this weekend. Another trip to the NCAAs would be nice.

I am going to continue to mention the Generals every day until Sunday.

Punch Brothers: W&L Fight Song

I like any version of my alma mater's fight song. This was performed recently by Punch Brothers at the Lime Kiln Theater outside Lexington, Virginia. I love it. This is still the best fight song, if only because it is the only one which is a Dixie Land Jazz song. There are some great versions of the song. This is only one of them. I include this for the week leading up to the Washington and Lee v. Hampden Sydney on Saturday, November 6th. We can only hope that the Generals will do it to the Tigers on Saturday in Lexington. Perhaps, then, we can celebrate with as many versions of the W&L Swing as I can find on the internet, on record, cd or otherwise.

Let's go Generals. Ring Tum Phi Stickeri Bum. We're the boys from Lexington!!!!

Punch Brothers - Rye Whiskey

This is my favorite song from The Punch Brothers, a band which combines traditional music with more modern songs. This song is perhaps an homage to the original Rye Whiskey, which is an Irish song which was borrowed by southerners after the Civil War. I like this version. It is funny and uses tempo and surprise to make an interesting song. Enjoy.

November

Today November rears its hoary head and gives us Georgians cool, sweater weather in the morning and evening and a warm day in the middle. This is my favorite weather and one of the reasons I enjoy this state as much as I do. Sure, I can't go to the beach in late November, and everything turns grey and brown by the time this month is ready to end, but that's alright. I enjoy that type of weather from time to time.

Meanwhile, I am reminded of a few years ago when Kate was attending Presbyterian College and Cindy and I drove up to Clinton, via Greenville, and were heading back to Griffin and decided to drive through Commerce and Athens and Madison and Monticello and Jackson to get back home.

It was late afternoon in November. It was the time of year when the the leaves have left the trees and a lot of late afternoon light shows through the branches of the trees. Of course, the evergreens are still prevalent. Little cedars growing on the old fencerows. And as we drove down 441 from Commerce toward Athens, we could see the afternoon colors showing through the trees.

The heater was providing warmth in the car and there was little traffic on the old Federal highway. I found that it provided a peace of mind that is tangible but almost incomprehensible. Incomprehensible because there really wasn't a cause for the feelings of peace and satisfaction, other than the mere beauty of the light fading through the trees.

I truly enjoyed the ride. Later, when we made it to Madison, you could see the amazing old homes in Madison, ante-bellum, victorian, and the lights from the businesses that were still open. It was delightful.

Later, when we made it to Monticello, I stopped and drove through the drive through at Dairy Queen and bought some cold, sweet treats for Cindy and myself. We drove in the darkness toward Jackson and home with the child-like delight of memories, complete sensual sweetness and peace of the early nightfall.

It made the lights of home that much more delightful.