waltzing
with my baby
to the Tennessee Waltz

Tennessee Hills

Signs

Sometimes I wake up with my hand in a fist, thumb between index and middle finger, poking out slightly.

Which seems like a signal of some sort, but I'm not sure what.

Reminds of that gesture adapted by the presidential nominees of the 90's, where instead of pointing, they'd indicate with closed fists and point with their thumbs, like they were handing you an invisible check. Or bill maybe.

Believe it was supposed to indicate strength without the accusatory tones of a pointed finger.

Yeah.

But the thumb in my gesture is tucked under and peeking out. Which looks more like a version of the black power salute. Or maybe even a throwback to childhood, a variant on the oral fixation?*

There was this one time...

I was 4, maybe 5, and this little old man on a bus bench just down from the corner drugstore (the one that smelled like cherry cigars) did this trick with his hands.

He put his fists together, left over right, with one thumb sticking out so that it looked like it belonged to the opposite hand. Then he'd pull his fists apart with a popping sound (made by his mouth) and while I gazed in amazement, he'd wriggle an apparently detached thumb.

So maybe that's it?

*Thumb sucking - duh - with all it regressive freudian insinuations. 

Outside Knoxville

Outside Knoxville
with the sunshine shining

Once in a Lifetime

So my sister has this shrine, ala' Dia del Muertos, in her basement, just a couple of feet from where LB and I laid our heads each night over the 4th of July weekend. 

And I liked the way the skull looked, with the dim light coming in through wispy curtains, and the contrast of a summer's day just the other side of the basement wall, so I snapped a few pics. 

The shrine, incidentally, is dedicated to the memory of Uncle Wally & Aunt Donna - truly two once-in-a-lifetime peeps, who passed away within a year of each other some 17 years back. 

Doesn't seem nearly that long ago but time has a funny way of marching on.

And while I was in photo-brain mode at the time - 'cause it looked so cool - now its tough to dash off a few lines without getting a little teary eyed. 

In the basement of my sister's house

Just back from Knoxville, where we slept each night in the basement with the door open wide and the night breeze coming in.

Funny how quickly you can get used to something.

Went to bed last night in my own bed, then woke up at 2 in the a.m. and haven't slept a wink since.

I guess family's like that too. All I could see that last 24 hours was the challenge in raising my hornery nieces.

Couldn't wait to get back to the peace and quiet.

Which is now deafening.

Knoxville 2014

Atlanta airport