vituperation

June 1, 2003

Yesterday was gorgeous, sunny with big puffy white clouds all about. Of course, around these parts that can only mean one thing: road trip. Since it was pretty windy I decided not to go exploring in the kayak, so Robyn and I headed to Tennessee. Specifically, we headed to Etheridge, home of a small Mennonite enclave. We drove all around, taking pictures and buying jellies (most of which we threw away once we got home and tasted them, but that sort of ruins the whole image, doesn’t it?). Afterwards, we went back into Lawrenceburg, where we picked up lunch at Subway and ate amongst the trees in Davy Crockett State Park. On the way home we loaded up at a roadside produce stand.

Fun was had by all, except perhaps the Mennonites, who seem disinclined to the notion.

The first house we saw.
They sold bright necklaces made from colored plastic beads.

The large-uddered cow
stands patiently in the field,
staring into space.

(Didn’t know I was a poet, did you?)

One of the bigger houses we saw, this one looked like
two houses joined together.

Another house. If you look in the doorway, you’ll see a woman wearing
a bonnet in silhouette. There were a number of brightly colored hankies
or potholders hanging on this porch, along with handmade baskets.

Purty horses.

A Mennonite boy pulls a rope. We’ve no idea what was on the other end.

Mennonite menfolk, taken surreptitiously.
The picture, that is, not the menfolk.

A cool-looking black and white cow.

A cow, eating the good grass outside the pasture.
I got out of the car and tried to feed it but it ran away,
then stared at me reproachfully.

More houses.

Corn, not yet high enough for the children to be in, thank God.

When we stopped for the produce, we got a treat:
an elusive luna moth, the second one I’ve ever seen (and Robyn’s first),
was on the side of the building.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, today is also gorgeous and it calls me.