Growth, Decay, and Rock n' Roll Marching Bands

Many, many things going on of late. I'm just going to bunch them all together here and hope it doesn't sound too rambling.

Last week we trekked my little car down to Florida for the second annual Harvest of Hope Festival. I'm happy to report that there was a noticeable drop in the number of gutter punks roving the fairgrounds this year.  Much less smelly, even with the addition of the muddy ground.  Harvest of Hope is a great organization that raises money for the families of migrant workers.  We saw some great bands this time around, including The Mountain Goats, Billy Bragg, and Broken Social Scene.  One of the best acts we saw was a band from Chicago called Mucca Pazza, a sort of rag tag punk rock marching band.  They were awesome and amazingly well-arranged for having about 20 members dancing around the stage with horns, pom-poms, and guitars.  You should check out their music but don't miss a live show if you can catch it.

On the seven hour car ride back to Athens we drove the back-roads and meandered around some old Southern towns.  It was a bit sad to see the downtowns with all the empty buildings.  Tim and I are planning on moving in the next year and opening our own store in some unknown place.  All the empty storefronts made me feel both nervous and excited to get started.  It's like when you begin a big project and the task seems insurmountable but you can see a glimmer of the ultimate results.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch . . . we've started once again planting our little garden.  I'm afraid we're not very attentive gardeners, but I'm determined that this year we'll get more than just a handful of beans and tomatoes from our harvest.  I spent the day digging up the soil, planting seeds, and redesigning our compost so we don't lose so much to little scavengers.  As I was digging through the compost I came upon a big colony of earth worms.  I love those little guys.  They're so simple and singular.

Cat in a basket . . .