signs all around us

It's true, our American political landscape is littered with on-the-down-low corporatists who seem to despise the common man.

Our oceans are filling with oil, and natural resources and possibly unknown species of deep sea fish are being destroyed daily.

I worry for my children's future and their right to live on a planet where they can breathe clean air and drink non-toxic water.

Combine that with the usual annoyances like bikini razor burn, oily skin and pimples at age 38, and an informidable flea takeover of my house since we brought home two cats.

It can be upsetting...sometimes infuriating. (I keep finding little curly black pieces of flea shit on my kitchen table after I've shooed a sleeping cat off, and it's grossing me out. This seems to be one of the joys of living in sub-tropical Tennessee.)

But life doesn't stop. It can't stop, or we've lost the battle. I won't stop being silly here, or anywhere, although sometimes I may get into a little ranting funk. But lucky for everyone who reads this blog, I usually reserve my diatribes for facebook, where I think I secretly enjoy aggravating online "friends."

We can't allow ourselves to quit looking at the world with a sense of wonder. Anger and disappointment aside, there is something new and beautiful to be discovered each day.

Now I know I'm seriously late with posting some Nashville flood photos. But does anyone care anymore? They're interesting photos, if for nothing more than historical significance.

But today, I have something more timely to share with you--signage highlights from my recent trip through Virginia on our way to D.C.

If you want to see stuff like this, you have to get off the highway...there's just no other way.

Every state likes to act all normal from the safe and impersonal confines of the high-speed roads, but once you get to really know that state...well, you know what I mean.

Okay, this one isn't weird. It was late afternoon and we had just arrived at the Virginia state line. I found the cloud behind the sign to be breathtaking. I love cumulonimbus. No, the rest stop didn't smell bad, so I still had breath to behold the cloud. Although Tennessee has much nicer waysides--ours smell like potpourri and ham, and they have rocking chairs too, just like at Cracker Barrel!

I did not note any sort of crumpacking factory in the area. Apparently, in the early colonial days of Virginia, there was a Dutch Crumpacker dynasty going on, with family members soldiering and farming and all that good colonial stuff, later emigrating to Indiana where they became all political. Are you questioning whether or not I need to get a life? Because I am.

I begged my husband to stop so I could get a photo of this sign. What sort-of name was that for a state park anyways? I thought it was pretty funny. I guess anyone would think that if they didn't know the story behind the name. It's actually very sad. This story would make a good bluegrass or folk song.

The Legend of Hungry Mother

Legend has it that when the Native Americans destroyed several settlements on the New River south of the park, Molly Marley and her small child were among the survivors taken to the raiders’ base north of the park. They eventually escaped, wandering through the wilderness eating berries. Molly finally collapsed, and her child wandered down a creek until the child found help. The only words the child could utter were "Hungry Mother." The search party arrived at the foot of the mountain where Molly collapsed to find the child's mother dead. Today that mountain is Molly’s Knob, and the stream is Hungry Mother Creek.

(copied from http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/hun.shtml)

Southern food and gasoline in one place! Sure beats the usual gas station taquitos.

Have a great week! I'm off to stir my enchilada sauce :-)