The Wayward Wind

January 15, 2021

The wayward wind is a restless wind / A restless wind that yearns to wander / And he was born the next of kin / The next of kin to the wayward wind

We’re very pleased with our new home. We’ve been here for a few nights now, and everything about it is excellent. It’s warm, comfortable, and the WiFi is strong enough that we can upload videos again. The bed is comfortable too, and we’re both sleeping really well. We’ve been startled to find ourselves sleeping through the night and not waking up until nearly 7.

I’ve been dreaming a lot. This morning I awoke to a thoroughly bizarre dream about people needing extensive surgery to protect themselves from a new exploding disease. Victims were suffering from multiple concurrent pregnancies, with newborns sprouting all over just beneath the skin - along their arms, for example - and then blowing up when the embryos got enlarged enough to rupture the surface. I assume this stems in some way to the horrors of The Handmaid’s Tale that we’ve been watching nightly for the last three weeks.

Yesterday’s dream was much less bizarre, but more surprising to me. I awoke to Gogi Grant singing The Wayward Wind, her one big hit - when it came out in 1956 it went to the top of the charts immediately, displacing Heartbreak Hotel by some guy named Elvis. In the dream, I recalled (correctly, as I confirmed after waking up) the complete lyrics to the refrain. The brain is so astonishing. I’d swear I haven’t thought of that song in 20 years, but the memory has been in there lying dormant but well preserved all that time.

I was 10 years old when it came out, and must have heard it at my grandmother’s house in Bremerton where Elizabeth and I lived for the first year after we moved back from West Virginia while my parents and younger brother were in Seattle getting established. It must have been at Grandma Woodings’ home, because it’s a sort of country song and mom loathed country music. I think I even remember asking Grandma what ‘next of kin’ meant, a phrase I think was new to me.

Waking to this song brought back a host of memories of life at Grandma’s house - listening to the grandfather and captain’s clocks, looking out at the sound from the breakfast table, collecting garter snakes in the wild back half of their small acreage, watching professional wrestling with her and her husband Uncle Harry (he really was my uncle - she divorced grandpa and married his brother), warming up in the morning sitting on top of the vent of the oil furnace looking down the stairs at the breakfast table.

Not much to say about today’s ride - just another excursion on the Loop, on another ideal cycling day. We left our new home mid morning and biked west to the Saint Mary’s access, on a modest westward wind that would shift to the northwest by the time we turned back home. We biked together north down the Santa Cruz for about five miles before splitting up. I decided I wanted to explore a bit and test out the roads branching west toward the Tucson Mountains for possible future rides together while Rachael continued on downriver. Neither Silverbell Road nor Ina Road looked at all attractive though once I got there and scoped them out, so I kept to the loop myself. I returned home about 4, proud of myself for putting in my 42 miles, but Rocky of course sniffed at my small accomplishment and bragged about her own 44 miler.

Rachael continues north when I stop to check out a clutter of ducks.

I stopped to enjoy my lunch sitting on the edge of Silverbell Lake.

He’s still here! We’ve seen him twice before now, but I finally have a shot where he’s flashing his impressive toes at us.

And he’s not alone today. Also present are a cinnamon teal, a green winged teal, and this coot included here for a sense of scale.

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Ride stats today: 44 miles, 900’; for the tour: 2,026 miles, 69,300’; for the year: 13 riding days, 576 miles, 17,300’, and 1 flat tire

Today's ride: 44 miles (71 km)
Total: 1,967 miles (3,166 km)

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Jen RahnOMG .. that dream!! You have a knack for capturing the bizarre images of the dream world.

If that one was inspired by The Handmaid's Tale series, I think we won't watch it. The book was plenty disturbing enough!

Also .. love hearing stories about your childhood. Grandma Wooding's house sounds like it was a fun place to hang out. And not many kids can say they watched professional wrestling with Uncle Grandpa!
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3 years ago

Andrea BrownThanks for the earworm. Although I admit, I do love that song and probably grew up hearing it on our local radio station which played polkas in the morning, country in the afternoon, and rock 'n roll in the evenings until signoff at ten.
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3 years ago

Suzanne GibsonSeems like you two are next of kin to the wayward wind yourselves!

Wonderful memories from life at Grandma's.
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3 years ago

Bob DistelbergI remember hearing that song as a young child as well, although it was a few years after it was first released. The other memory you triggered for me; sitting in front of the vent on the old oil stove in our living room (no central heating), frequently with a blanket over my head to catch more heat. I imagine I must have inhaled quite a bit of carbon monoxide in those days. It's a wonder my brain functions at all...
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3 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Andrea BrownIt does stick around, doesn’t it? It’s also good for keeping cadence to - I’ve been biking to it for the last two days.

Polka/country/rock and roll? What an eclectic lineup!
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3 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Bob DistelbergYeah, yeah, yeah. Remind me that you’re younger than I.

Love recalling sitting on that register. I think I used to enshroud myself too. Except for fifth grade, which was an awful experience, that was really one of the best years of my childhood.
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3 years ago

Andrea BrownTo Scott AndersonIn a small town you have to cater to all markets.
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3 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Jen RahnIt was a unique year in our lives. Just thinking of watching wrestling brings its own set of memories. Often grandma, Uncle Harry, and Grandpa (Grandma’s first wife, and Uncle Harry’s brother) were all present watching the fights. Lots of laughter, lots of Lucky Lager.
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3 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Suzanne GibsonI admit that song always resonated with me. I’m surprised it fell off my mental playlist over the years.
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3 years ago

Bruce LellmanI, too, remember all these things. My grandpa loved watching wrestling more than anything else. My other grandpa's house had one of those cast iron grates over the furnace and I loved being on it in the unbelievably cold Minnesota winter, although I was a bit afraid of falling through the squares. (I was small.) I also remember the song. And I even had an uncle Harry. My uncle Harry was a street car conductor in Minneapolis, ironic because he was the worst driver of cars in the world; so many accidents that his license was taken away!. He only had one accident with the street car to my knowledge.
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3 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Bruce LellmanYou had an Uncle Harry also? I knew we had something in common but hadn’t imagined this. I’ll bet yours didn’t marry his sister-in-law though.
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3 years ago

Bruce LellmanTo Scott AndersonRight! I knew eventually we'd find something we had in common. However, your uncle Harry was actually a Great Uncle. My uncle Harry didn't marry his sister-in-law, it's true, but.....his wife's two brothers (my grandpa and great uncle) married sisters. So, there's that! I wonder if there was more wayward wind back then or now.
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3 years ago

Bruce LellmanAfter writing that last comment I started wondering about my uncle Harry and it suddenly dawned on me that he was not just an uncle but a Great Uncle! All my life I thought of him simply as uncle Harry (and what a bad driver he was) but it took you, Scott, to bring this revelation to light. And you never even knew my uncle Harry. And further, Andrea now tells me she had TWO uncle Harrys.
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3 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Bruce LellmanMaybe there were more wayward winds back then, but then again maybe there was just more Lucky Lager. Or even bootleg booze - I’m not sure when grandma divorced grandpa and married his brother but it could have been as far back as the prohibition era.
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3 years ago

Bruce LellmanTo Scott AndersonMy great uncle Harry's wife (my grandfather's sister) drank a lot of beer in big mugs. Germans.
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3 years ago