jesus take the wheel

i have spent the past week unpacking too many cardboard boxes. and i get so distracted as i pad around the loft that i have multiple projects brewing at every node.

not one area is finished. or fully finnished, but there is scandinavian or scan-inspired furniture at every turn.

i returned to ann arbor midweek to fetch the rest of my things including my bike. i stayed too long in tcaup chatting with jt + amy and don, miss betty and kevin so i got on the road later than perhaps i should have. as a result, when i exited the interstate in ohio near my home, i got disoriented...the bible black sky and the shiny stars captured my fancy. i was zooming along county and state roads while singing along with lily allen, the strokes, and, another disc that i cannot recall now, but i know that the graphic design didn't match the aforementioned two. at first, i was thrilled and exhilarated. then as i drove the same roads repeatedly, i got frustrated and then angry and then sad. i cried once -- just a little burst in which i sounded like a cartoon character wailing.

i began to look at private driveway's with an eye to which one would be the best to pull into for a catnap. i crossed many churches (no catholic ones)...one tried to entice me to their VBS with the phrase JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL. if only. almost 1.5 hours later, i made my way to my home. i have empirical evidence: it is difficult to find the cardinal points in the middle of cornfields.

this morning, i made my second trip to the farmer's market in downtown oxford. the man who sold me tomatoes and zucchinis last week welcomed me back. i bought some locally grown veggies (from that nice man); locally grown and ground spelt (from the giggly amish girls); some bread and butter pickles (from a nice white gentleman who resented the disembodied woman's voice from the amplified cooking demo); some rhubarb strawberry preserves from norma who promises that her jams will remind you of your mother (if your mother is a middle-aged black woman). i bought five lemon goat cheese pillows from a woman who used the goat cheese of the farmer at the adjacent booth; sadly, she was out of red pepper and kalamata olive bread -- next week i need to arrive before 9:30. my carbon footprint is much much relieved. and, to my great delight, i found a french canadian chocolatier who is hosting a dinner later this week...the theme: "the indochine experience." in indiana. i also bought some candles that my niece and nephew would insist smell like their pappy.

it was bright and sunny. and i picked up a recipe for corncakes.

the other night, while i was lost in the ADM and monsanto's corn and soybean fields, the clock on my dashboard flickered back on...it had been blank for the past two years while in michigan.

i take these as good omens.


here are some reasons, that despite the best well-intentioned wishes of googie michael silver (the newly affianced mister silver), i will not blog openly about my personal observations of life here:

• i live in a town of 606 people
• i live close to a town of 5,000 people
• i accepted a position in a small program in a larger university at the very same time as another historian who is half in american studies and half in history
• i can't think of the other reasons right now. maybe sloth?
  

incidentally, i have heard two radio stories over the past two days about the foster care system. does it seem strange that i think that i can't take on a dog right now, but i wish that i could take in a foster person?

still catching up on personal email and correspondence.