It was the 3rd of June another sleepy dusty Delta day, volume 47

IT’S OUR SONG DAY!

Let’s say you just got here, which you haven’t. Several years ago, my boss, fmr., who still works at my work and who I just photographed last week…

IMG_4331.jpeg
Boss, fmr.

used to get into not-work-related discussions with me that went on way too long, and one of them was about the song Ode to Billy Jo.

The thing we discussed was what the girl in the song, along with her good friend Billy Jo McAllister, threw off the Tallahatchie Bridge. I blogged about this, of course, because my boss, fmr., thought they threw

FLOWERS

off said bridge, and that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard in my life and it needed to be told. This started a giant discussion in the comments, and ever since we dutifully acknowledge the 3rd of June as being another sleepy, dusty Delta day.

The end. Pass the biscuits, please.

Meanwhile, the weekend happened.

We had a work happy hour on Friday, but then we also had a tornado warning, and at like 4:30 we got sideways hail, and naturally The Poet and I rushed to the window to watch it because we’re both deeply intelligent people. The window we went to had this bike desk near it, where you can literally work and bike at the same time. Naturally, I got on it and sang the Wicked Witch theme during our sideways hail.

Sad truth: Miss Gulch is younger than me, here.

Anyway, I abstained from the happy hour and had my own rain hour at home.

IMG_4362.jpeg

On Saturday, I went down to the mill near me that’s allegedly being renovated, but all I see is, “We’re still tearing shit down” and no “We’re now building stuff up.” This worries me. It’s supposed to get all cute and trendy like the other mill near me. WHAT’S THE HOLDUP? Get cute!

Then I did things like get a mop, because mine was from the Dollar Store and broke, and then I, oh, just wandered past the Fiat dealership. I meandered by.

My car, the yellow MINI, was seven years old. I bought it used. I’m weeks away from a long road trip and this car has died on me once already. It worried me, the same way the constantly horrific-looking mill worries me.

Fiat has a 500 that’s made to look like a 1957 Fiat, and it comes in pale green and baby blue, TWO COLORS I ENJOY. My dealership had just one available in the retro colors, and I’d been emailing them all week and obsessing and finally I said, Oh, I’ll just wander IN there, and

IMG_4370.jpeg

now I own a Fiat. LOOK HOW CUTE. It’s a convertible, and I really didn’t want a convertible but see above re all they had. But I say I didn’t want a convertible and yet who has spent the whole weekend with her top off? Hrrrrr.

I feel bad for my MINI, because I didn’t give it a long goodbye. I just patted its roof and told it it’s been a good car.

IMG_4368.jpeg
Me in a Fiat

That night, I very gingerly drove 20 miles to Lottie Blanco’s, where she was having a party. I did not take pictures because I was living in the moment. The party was on her screened-in porch and also her deck, with comfy chairs and a fire pit. The weather was just perfect–breezy and high 70s.

Somewhere around 10:00 I got so tired, I think because buying a whole new car is sort of draining and exciting all at once. So at 10:30 I drove gingerly home and fell into new-car sleep.

I announced to my mother that I had a new car, and she told me the pope drives a Fiat sometimes. Then this happened.

IMG_4373.jpeg

Someone give mom her own show, would ya?

IMG_4377.jpeg
wut

On Sunday I stuck close to home with my Popemobile out front, although I did drive my new car to the grocery store and it turns out my car is teensy. No more helping you haul wood. I know you came to rely on me for that and I’m sorry.

 

 

I heard my first cicadas of the season and tried to videotape it for you because it’s 1988, but I think you can’t hear it. I assure you that soon you will be able to hear nothing BUT cicadas, but for now, they’re like someone who dabs a tasteful amount of Chanel No. 5 behind her ears. Subtle but unmistakable. Unless you watch this video, where they are totally mistakable.

I bid you adieu, but I do wonder: Girl, what’s happened to your appetite?

That’s from Ode to Billy Jo. Keep up.

Putting a frog down your back at the Carroll County picture show,
June

43 Comments

  1. Is anyone else impressed that Ol’ Wicked up there could ride her bike without getting her skirts caught up in the spokes? I’d be tangled and bottomless in about 30 seconds.

    “What’s the hold up? Get cute”…….That’s pretty much what I think about myself every morning.

    I’m still voting baby on what was dropped off the bridge, but I do like the movie’s twist. Wikipedia says the cause the author decided was based on suicide rates for that time period.

    Like

  2. Love the new car! I heard the cicadas today for the first time this year. They remind me of summer but they’re too damn loud.

    Like

  3. Let me know when your mom gets her own show on Comedy Central. She’s such a card. And I have to tell you that my predictive text wanted me to say ‘not as small-busted ‘ after I typed “She’s”. WTF?????
    Love your Purdy new car. Pass the biscuits, please.

    Like

  4. Love the new blu. Bumble behind it in the picture will have a good home, I am surel
    Enjoy the breeze through your hair .

    Like

  5. I love you for keeping our traditions alive. June 3. I’ll always notice June 3, just like I always notice September 18 when it goes by. What? Frankie Avalon’s birthday, you twit! Jeeze.

    Like

  6. That car is exactly your size and color. I had a red Fiat for a while and was mad in love with that vehicle. It was a rusty piece of s*it and I finally had to release it back into the wild because it wouldn’t pass inspection because the floor board was held in by 4 pieces of rust or so the inspector said. It is true you could see the road just a tiny bit if you pulled up the passenger floor mat. But who at some time or another hasn’t loved a boy who was just no good for her? When I’m old I’ll sit by the fire and dream of my old red Fiat and smile. I hope you have a long loyal relationship.

    Like

  7. Biscuit day thoughts. Bobbie Gentry had a beautiful voice and dang, she was gorgeous. Just looked her up and found a 2014 photo, still gorgeous.

    Like

  8. FLOWERS? Edsel is going to love the new Blu car. We had a sunroof in a car, but never used it in the summer, it is way too hot in Georgia to enjoy a sunroof when it’s 100 degrees. However, we loved it in the cooler weather, especially the winter. We would open the top and turn the heat up full blast.

    Iris.

    Like

  10. Getting a new car is so much fun! Except for the part in the dealership. That is always a pain in the ass. I bought a new car in March. There was nothing wrong with my Subaru Forester, it really was a great car but it was just so, well, BASIC and I wanted a little more luxury and comfort and better safety features. So I traded it in for something a little bigger and fancier. But I felt so guilty driving away from my trusty, reliable Forester in my new car.

    Anyone else having a hankering for biscuits this morning? I sure wish we had a Cracker Barrel in these parts of the woods but alas, we do not.

    Liked by 1 person

  13. You getting on the bike and singing the song is the funniest thing! I just love how you think of that kind of stuff!
    Congratulations on your new car, Irmis super cute!

    Like

  14. Oh gosh I hate to be stupid, but someone please tell me, what DO they throw off the bridge? Is it horrible? I think it is, right?
    Anyway, I LOVE THE CAR SO MUCH!!!!!! Hoo care about anything else, just drive the damn car all summer with the top down!! Says a two rag top girl herself, Jeep and Miata.

    Like

  15. That car suits you so perfectly! Eds will look so dapper in that car!

    Your mom is a riot. She just is.

    Time to find out where I can find that movie. Ah Robby Benson, he was so dreamy back in the day…

    Like

  18. You look happy in your new blue car. No one will recognize you after driving yellow cars for years.
    Don’t forget the sunscreen. My friend got a bad sunburn after taking a road trip in his new convertible.

    Like

  20. Daddy probably caught that virus because he had no heart. Pass those biscuits over here, please.

    I didn’t even know there WAS a movie! Now I am going to have to watch that dang thing.

    Love the car! Oh, it is the cutest thing!

    Very nice, Coot!

    Like

    1. First there was the song. Then there was the movie. Then there was a book that came out after the movie. The book was basically the screenplay of the movie made into a novel.

      Like

  22. I think it was last year that the Third of June rolled around and I said to myself, “I am going to watch that dang movie.” And I did. Robby Benson was painfully spitty and eye-wateringly earnest and Glynnis O’Connor was ….. noble. And I know for sure what was tossed off of that bridge and with the enormous weight of the symbolism, I’m surprised Bobbie Lee could manage to get any lift.

    Wasn’t there another movie with Robby Benson being similarly innocent and …. let me go look. OMG, I just looked him up and he still has a MAGNIFICENT head of hair and has been married longer than I have. Anyway, Ice Castles, maybe? Maybe I’m thinking of some other actor? UGH. This will drive me crazy now.

    Like

    1. Maybe 1973’s Jeremy (also with Glynnis O’Connor)? Very earnest first-love story that I thought was So Beautiful.

      Liked by 1 person

  24. Soon I’m heading to Cracker Barrel where I will ask my friend (not-Billy) Joe to pass the biscuits, please. I never equated the song with my June 3 birthday until I became one of your faithful readers, so thanks for making my day special.

    Love the car!

    Like

    1. Happy birthday.

      “I’ll have another piece-a apple pie; you know, it don’t seem right…”

      Okay, Okay. I’ll give you the apple pie since it’s your birthday.

      Liked by 1 person

  25. I LOVE that you sang the wicked witch theme. I had the meanest customer at my last job and when I would see her come marching across the parking lot in her candies (she was 80 years old and it was 2006) that song would play in my head every time. I told my boss, frmr, and he agreed. She had a mad crush on him, he was 59, and we had a blast busting his balls about it.

    Your car is adorable! I enjoyed my moon roofs and our convertibles, my husband had a sun roof installed in my car. I never use it. I need to! Are those blonde streaks I see in the front of your hair? They look fantastic! (I am a bit hair obbsessed at the moment).

    Like

  26. Times when we have drove over the Tallahatchie bridge, either my husband or I say, “Here’s the bridge old Billy Joe jumped off”. Our kids think were lunatics. Maybe…

    Liked by 2 people

  27. That ole Billy Joe never had a lick of sense. Good LORD I could barely sleep waiting to read this post after the ACCIDENTAL notification that it had been posted last night. Thank goodness it’s finally here.

    Love love LOVE the new car! It’s so you. Hoooo cares if there’s no room – it’s CUTE! AND a convertible! It’s perfect!

    OK. Gotta run. There’s five more acres in the lower forty I gotta plow.

    Also PS maybe boss fmr. was confused by the END of the song, where she spends all her days throwing flowers off the bridge. We all KNOW what she and Billy Joe throw off the bridge.

    Like

Comments are closed.