1:20am
Big Sur, CA
August 23rd, 2000... I think... vacation tends to blur calendar dates...
Spent the night on top of the ridge
talking with Mary Lou and Magnus Toren, my hosts on this wild adventure vacation...
great stories every night here, hard
place to get to though-- long half hour ride up to cliffs above the fog line, that drifts
in all white and blankety around sunset.. great home cooked mealtonight, squash and pine
nuts, green salad, wine, etc--- and then the new story of the night-- being Mary Lou's run
in with a mountain lion the previous night... heavy footsteps, snarling in the dark- 20
feet away in the blackness--
Later-- i am back at the cabin, a twenty
minute dirt road snaking drive at 5mph away, alone in a dark red wood ravine that seems to
be the international conference place of white tailed deer even in the dark... in
otherwords-- mountain lion banquet hall...
so with these mountain lion day dreams
in my head, I walked down the short drive in the bleak dark, heart racing, much in the
same way it did the first time at the beach after seeing "Jaws"... I survived,
and am writng this as a testament.
Mary Lou survived with the help of a
Camel cigarette-- she had slipped out to sneak one, and in one of those hairpin ironies
where the cigarette actually turns and saves someone's life instead-- the mountain lion
was frightened off by the smokey scent-- she was blowing it out vigorously-- he didn't
recognize it, and figured the fog was getting angry... soft paw jumps, and he's gone
again...
anyway... I am cabin bound now, and
thought I would be more active and post short stuff here on the discussion board as often
as possible, and then occasionally pontificate more on the old notes from the road section
of the website...
here's what I am working on in the cabin tonight... lyrically..
a song called "The Speed of
Trees"-- a concept birthed from the lips of Lori B, a songwriter friend from San
Fransisco who visited the cabin here a couple days ago... (Thanks Lori!)
THE SPEED OF TREES
Sometimes
in my bed at night
I dream that I'm flying
at the speed of light
two seconds
I'm brushing past
the face of the moon
8 seconds flat
the surface of Mars
hanging with my boys
smokin' cigars
buckle in
Gentlemen
and please enjoy the flight
traveling at the speed of light
Sometime's,
I'd just settle for the
Speed of Sound
step off this porch
blow a kiss
to this whole damn town
and let off one them sonic booms
and break all the windows
in the living rooms
blow off the hats
and
shakeup
the old fair grounds
laughing at
the speed of sound
You say,
"Go.
Why don't you go.
Why don't you go,
or just decide.
Pick a road,
decide
is it a horse
or a train
or a bride
decide
decide
decide
decide
decide
decide
decide
decide
You make me want to move at the
speed of trees
put down some roots
and grow a head full
of make believes
but if it weren't
for that face of yours
I'd be rattling windows
and blowing down doors
but look at me
planted,
I've
fallen
down
on my knees...
asking for the speed of trees
the speed of trees
the speed of trees
thats it, i'm sure lines will change in
the next couple of days...
enjoy the sun,
Ellis
