Detroit (built on swamplands) summers when heat and humidity both hovered near the century mark, with nothing but fans creating wind and noise, were a misery. Multiple fans created mostly noise, and certainly very little coolness. Suffering mosquito bites, prickly with sweat, unable to sleep well, I would push the bed right up to the window, and put my pillow on the sill in the vain hope of air.
It's not like that here. At this elevation, it always cools down at least a bit at night. Swamp coolers actually work, although we have central AC in this apartment. Walking out in 100˚F leaves one well seared, though.
Got to take a little (and I do mean little) train ride.
An unexpected delight, just as fun as a real rideThanks to Jenny Woolf. She left a comment recently, and so I returned her visit. She has a amazing site, and I poked around for quite a while. Although I originally misread it as The Occasional Twitterer. Seems to be a theme this week.
D had never heard the Fifteen Miles on the Erie Canal song, brought up by a crossword puzzle twice in the last week. So, I had to go find it, and provide the reference. A song of my childhood, to be sung going under any bridge on the freeway, or if I saw a mule, or a canal. Sang it with Aunt Evelyn so often.
This is a pretty good version, I thought. The live one with Pete Seeger has an audience that simply can't keep time, so I couldn't listen through it.
6 comments:
That's quite the train ride.
Thank you for the great train ride and the lyrics to the Erie Canal song. I know the song from childhood, too, but if you had asked me, all I could remember was part about "fifteen miles on the Erie Canal." Forgot about the mule named Sal and the low bridge and all the rest. The Erie Canal was a mythical place to me. An eerie canal. The tune reminds me of another song, "Sixteen Tons," and the line, "I owe my soul to the company store." I was a child growing up in the suburbs of San Francisco, trying to piece together things about life that I had heard about in songs that I didn't truly understand but which moved me anyway.
Phil,
I know I was mesmerized.
am,
I didn't remember some of the song, either. I don't think I ever heard the "neighbor" verse. I connected it to Sixteen Tons as well.
Fun post, Z! How I miss train rides. And I've learned how to pronounce "Albany" properly ...
The train now arriving at platform 2 is the 11.47 service to Hanton Station. We apologise for the delay, which is due to GIANTS on the track.
Pacian,
Probably one of the GIANT children, they get SO excited.
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