the way to work
Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 5:31 am
well, we've had several harsh thunderstorms lately (including the one that fried my modem the other night) here in Tennesse and last night was no exception... heavy thunder and lightning, strong winds, hard rain, even some hail. and yet this morning as i arose, the black clouds had sped on past, the sun was peeking over the hills and all was pretty calm.
i had my morning coffee as usual, fed bugsy and lil' pete and the cats, then jack and miss Bell outside. got ready and took my truck out of the driveway on my way to work. and somewhere about halfway there, i noticed something... the world had changed overnight.
yeah, really. my grand dad had always told me that it took a heavy thunder storm to break away the winter set of the trees and bushes and start them budding and leafing for spring... lol. and perhaps he was right, for this morning I noticed GREEN color everywhere i looked. yep, a green so bright that it hurt the eyes to look at it. all sorts of bushes, saplings and full grown trees had suddenly and mysteriously budded and leafed out over night. a sort of miracle.
even patches of grass that had looked stale, dry and brown, yesterday---looked full of green this morning. and there were even some flowers from some of the early Flags that grow along the highways around here. beautiful.
and what about the sunrise this morning? yes, sir. just right. a mysterious thing how a heavy thunderstorm seems to wash away the impurities and such in the air and leave the morning so bright, cheerful, and CLEAN. amazing. the sun light filtering through the new greeness of the trees, even seems a bit magicial---i don't know---different, from ordinary sunlight. softer somehow, more pastel, yet at the same time brighter too... cleaner. more pure.
i rounded a bend and three wild geese flew over my truck's cab... i mean really low, barely fifteen feet in the air. as i said, the air was so crystal clear and the soft morning light so pure that the big birds seemed to be moving in s-l-o-w motion. heck, i could count near every feather on the beautiful creatures as they beat their wings in perfect time and unison across in front of my truck.
a bit further on down the road and for the first time in a LONG time, i spotted an old snapping turtle crawling out of a small ditch. a big, bastard, and one that had been around for a long, long time, very old, with his giant, heavily scarred shell on his back and his thick, knobby, reptilian legs and feet. i actually pulled over by the ditch and got out of my truck, and watched him climb out of the mud and water and inch himself up towards me. i spoke to him naturally, a friendly hello, and he obviously did not like my company or my looks and spoke back to me with his raspy, snake-hiss of a voice that snapping turtles always have---a voice and tone telling you to, "Back off, Jack!" and yeah, i backed right off. those suckers can really put a bite on you if you whiz them off and they can move their knarly old heads like greased lightning when they want to.
and while i was standing there watching the turtle, i heard the frogs a bit further down in the slew... been a while since i heard them grunting and bellowing and carrying on.
i glanced at my watch and it was time to go, so hopped back into the truck and hurried on. but man, it was a friggin' wonderful ride into work. a magicial one. and i'll tell you lads, i really hated for it to end. too bad i had to give up the wonderful morning for something as mundane as work at the store.
and yeah, Spring just hit Tennessee.
i love it.
salute!
Beowolff
i had my morning coffee as usual, fed bugsy and lil' pete and the cats, then jack and miss Bell outside. got ready and took my truck out of the driveway on my way to work. and somewhere about halfway there, i noticed something... the world had changed overnight.
yeah, really. my grand dad had always told me that it took a heavy thunder storm to break away the winter set of the trees and bushes and start them budding and leafing for spring... lol. and perhaps he was right, for this morning I noticed GREEN color everywhere i looked. yep, a green so bright that it hurt the eyes to look at it. all sorts of bushes, saplings and full grown trees had suddenly and mysteriously budded and leafed out over night. a sort of miracle.
even patches of grass that had looked stale, dry and brown, yesterday---looked full of green this morning. and there were even some flowers from some of the early Flags that grow along the highways around here. beautiful.
and what about the sunrise this morning? yes, sir. just right. a mysterious thing how a heavy thunderstorm seems to wash away the impurities and such in the air and leave the morning so bright, cheerful, and CLEAN. amazing. the sun light filtering through the new greeness of the trees, even seems a bit magicial---i don't know---different, from ordinary sunlight. softer somehow, more pastel, yet at the same time brighter too... cleaner. more pure.
i rounded a bend and three wild geese flew over my truck's cab... i mean really low, barely fifteen feet in the air. as i said, the air was so crystal clear and the soft morning light so pure that the big birds seemed to be moving in s-l-o-w motion. heck, i could count near every feather on the beautiful creatures as they beat their wings in perfect time and unison across in front of my truck.
a bit further on down the road and for the first time in a LONG time, i spotted an old snapping turtle crawling out of a small ditch. a big, bastard, and one that had been around for a long, long time, very old, with his giant, heavily scarred shell on his back and his thick, knobby, reptilian legs and feet. i actually pulled over by the ditch and got out of my truck, and watched him climb out of the mud and water and inch himself up towards me. i spoke to him naturally, a friendly hello, and he obviously did not like my company or my looks and spoke back to me with his raspy, snake-hiss of a voice that snapping turtles always have---a voice and tone telling you to, "Back off, Jack!" and yeah, i backed right off. those suckers can really put a bite on you if you whiz them off and they can move their knarly old heads like greased lightning when they want to.
and while i was standing there watching the turtle, i heard the frogs a bit further down in the slew... been a while since i heard them grunting and bellowing and carrying on.
i glanced at my watch and it was time to go, so hopped back into the truck and hurried on. but man, it was a friggin' wonderful ride into work. a magicial one. and i'll tell you lads, i really hated for it to end. too bad i had to give up the wonderful morning for something as mundane as work at the store.
and yeah, Spring just hit Tennessee.
i love it.
salute!
Beowolff
)
