Slow Down and Kick the Cobblestones

Slow down.

You move too fast.

You got to make the morning last.


Those are the opening lines to The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) from Simon & Garfunkel.

I remember it well from Junior High choir.  At that time it was fairly new.  It was like, wow, we're singing a pop song!  My own feelings about it were less enthusiastic.  I didn't care for the word groovy, and I found the part that I had to sing of it lethargic and bland.  I was a bit of a snot and a music rebel when I was in Junior High and High School.  I normally didn't like anything that became hugely popular with my peers.

My attitude on Simon and Garfunkel changed by college.  I had a much better appreciation for their lyrics and rhythms, and I was really impressed with Garfunkel's vocal range.  Bridge Over Troubled Waters became one of my favorite songs, along with Bookends.

The lines above are striking a particular chord this morning, as I wish profoundly that I could slow things down, and had more time to think and write and reflect and soak in the world before I charged over to a profession that this time of year is like an unceasing zombie, wanting to eat up all my time, energy and brain power.

This is my long, abstract way of saying that my writing, the thing I enjoy the most, may be somewhat limited over the course of the next couple of months.  I am trying to balance this, along with a demanding job, and participating in the musical The Music Man with my son, Benjamin.

I had been pretty consistently adding three to six blog entries a week, but that may slow for awhile.  That is unfortunate in that my blog traffic is beginning to slow, and it will probably take a concerted effort to bring it back,  That will probably slow to one to three entries for awhile, which will probably only accelerate the decline in visits I'm getting.  The decline doesn't have all to do with my writing - something to do with connections to Europe or some such thing.  Whatever the reasons, it's been very difficult to get back on an upward trajectory.

I would love to take more time, saunter down the lane kicking cobblestones, write some more thoughtful pieces, watch from the comfort of our screened-in porch the dance of dogs and squirrels and acorns.  But I'm not there yet.  Not quite.

Someday, lamppost.  Someday, I'm going to be able to ask wha cha' knowing, and have a deep, long conversation.

Not this morning, though.

The Wicked Witch's Revenge Song

PROPOSED SONG FOR THE WICKED WITCH FOR OUR PERFORMANCES OF THE WIZARD OF OZ!

In a day not long ago
When I was just a babe
Mother had four daughters in a row
Dividing Oz into witchy fours
That was the beginning of our scene
But alas, it wasn’t easy being green
And Glinda? Oh, so pretty Glinda? The fairest of them all? Whom I taught everything? My witchcraft! My spells!


Then suddenly from out of the sky:
A buffoon in a ridiculous balloon
That couldn’t possibly fly
Came crashing into Oz
They removed my Southern Sister without pause
And put this maroon in charge
Calling him the "Wonderful Wizard of Oz"
For crashing a balloon? -- Are you kidding me? Have you seen me play Quidditch on my broomstick?



Revenge, revenge,
I'll have it on them all.
No single slight will I forget.
I'll show no mercy you can bet.
They'll all get theirs the day I get
Revenge.

That dopey Lion
Who has no courage, oh foo!
I used to scare that sissy
With just a tiny little “boo!"
And Scarecrow with his lack of brains
I could set him afire
That heartless Tin thing my Eastern sister froze
I’d rust him on a liquid pyre.



Ah, but the thing that really
Drove me to a fury:
That wicked girl they call Dorothy.
She killed my sister and stole her slippers
And I’m the bad one? SHE STOLE MY SLIPPERS!



Revenge, revenge,
Oh, it will taste so sweet.
A misanthrope, yes, I might be,
An outcast of society.
Think what you like, but just give me
Revenge, revenge!



It really goes way back,
My parents hated me true--
You see, my birth surprised them.
Mom and Dad were Navy Blue.



Glinda smelled of poppies
And a witless Wizard  whom Oz goes “all hail!”
I'll show you Lion, and Scarecrow and Tin Thing
And Dorothy Cursed Gale.

Revenge, revenge,
That's all I live for now.
I'll make them wince and cringe and cry.
I'll spit in their collective eye
I'll have one thing before I die --


And I'll have it by destroying that Kansan symbol of goodness - Dorothy Gale!

(Wickedly accelerating witchy laughter)

Reeeee - Venge!