Tuesday, October 14, 2003

Fall Stories



It was one of those vainglorious autumn-in-New-England days where you just can't help but grin at people passing by. The mountains down the valley and on the other side of the Connecticut glowed watercolor orange and yellow under the cloudless sky like a daylong sunset; closer to home each landscaped tree showed the same dappled colors on a smaller and more intimate scale. It felt, to be frank, an awful lot like we'd all walked right into the NMH admissions literature. You had to hate yourself for loving it, if only just to keep it at enough distance for the impending winter months to be tolerable by comparison.

It was a beautiful day for the Pie Race, our annual 4-point-something mile on-campus run and the oldest continuously-run road race in the world, and didn't it just suck to have to stand outside, enjoying it all, from antique cannon-shot start to that last downhill freshman finisher, almost an hour and a half after the first to cross the finish line. Well, I suppose my arm did get a little sore from holding the video camera that long. And it would have been nice to have had some pie -- the fastest runners get fresh-baked apple pies, made with our own orchard's Spys and Cortlands. But Willow ran the kids-only Tart Race beforehand, or ran for a while, anyway, until Darcie and I took turns carrying her around the football field, so we did get a mini-pie for the family to share, and memories of apple cheeks and bubbling laughter and whiteblond hair in the sunlight to last a lifetime.

Now, just back from the radio show, the moon's waning outside in the chilly fall night air, the fog that cursed us for the past few nights but a wisp of its former self. The steeplebells chime a late late song, for me and those who listen in their sleep. Feeling good: had three new-to-me CDs to feature, got three calls tonight in quick succession, read quiet love sonnets by Pablo Neruda in the dark at the halfway mark, and played a half hour of nothing but cover songs on my way out the door, just because it felt right. Tonight's playlist, as always, follows, with cover songs starred.


Tributary (10/13/03)

Bob Dorough -- Too Much Coffee Man
Juliana Hatfield -- My Darling
Col. Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit -- Basically Frightened
Marc Cohn -- 29 Ways
They Might Be Giants -- Birdhouse In Your Soul
The Biscuit Boys -- Boograss
Patty Griffin -- Changes
*Nickel Creek -- Spit On A Stranger
Mark Erelli -- Miracle Man
Phish -- Back On The Train
*Dolly Parton -- Shine
*Rani Arbo and daisy mayhem -- Turtle Dove
The Story -- The Perfect Crime
Deb Talan -- Something Burning
Sting -- History Will Teach Us Nothing
Patty Griffin -- Goodbye
*Bela Fleck -- Bach: "Prelude" from Suite for Unaccompanied Cello 1
Erin McKeown -- Slung-lo
Emmylou Harris -- My Antonia
Girlyman -- Postcards From Mexico
Great Big Sea -- Ordinary Day
*Sarah McLachlan -- The Rainbow Connection
*Los Lobos -- I Wanna Be Like You (The Monkey Song)
*Norah Jones -- Cold Cold Heart
*Nancy Griffith -- Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness
*David Wilcox -- The Kid
*Cry Cry Cry -- Fall On Me
*Shawn Colvin -- This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)

posted by boyhowdy | 12:47 AM |

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