Listening to: Rooster and Man in the box  by Alice in Chains

Reading: Same stuff as the other post.  Roosevelt, Franzen, and the like

Currently on the east coast.  Our first stop was Boston on our way to Maine.  As we were leaving, heading out on the highway, I said, “Wait! Walden Pond!”

It turns out we were only 20 minutes away from it.  So we rerouted.

So there we were, surrounded by the brilliance Mother Nature created for her writer/painter Thoreau.  She, his muse.

And he wrote it, boy did he write it.  Over 2 years studying, living, absorbing this place.  And even then he couldn’t do it justice.  You just have to be there.  You have to walk in the fields and see the dragonflies posing on little stalks of grass.  Sitting there waiting for you to, well what you could say, write them?  Yes, it seemed that way.  They just sat there, spreading their wings, sticking their little butts in the air.  Proud citizens of muse country.

And it truly is.

When you are in a place a writer knows and cherishes, you can feel it.  The air is heavy with it, along with the humidity.

Alice in Chains came on the radio and instantly connected me with the place.  Raw, original, true storytelling.  So yes, I am using it as I write.  I believe Thoreau chose the song for me today.

And yes, there was a Thoreau-mart as it were.  Filled with mugs, magnets, t-shirts,  tote bags, tiles, drink coasters, and a good and worthy storage of all his quotes.  Oh yes, and books!

I am sure it was known the dubiousness Thoreau would have projected had he seen a place like this.  There should be a sign on the door, “Yeah, we know Thoreau probably wasn’t into this merchandise/establishment shit but you KNOW you want a Walden coffee mug!”

I did, I bought one!

And then I saw this t-shirt.  Given my New Monkees journey and getting to work with my own muses, it was perfect.   A different drummer, indeed.

When the book is published I am coming back to get this shirt!