Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Tumbleweed Alley

Stopped yesterday and took a few more pictures for my cookbook, which will be wrapped up - finally! - after Christmas. I'm so excited. I wrote it in four parts - one for each season - and the recipes and stories and photographs follow along that line. Just looking at a few printed out pages makes me want to live in that cookbook world: it's so friendly and warm and comforting and homey. (Sigh)

Anyway, I loved these pictures. The barbed-wire fence, above, has a heart at the top. It made me smile....

And this I've come to know, these past two months, as Tumbleweed Alley. It's off a long-forgotten county road between Liberal, Kansas and Lipscomb, Texas. Where the tumbleweeds and snow come to hide. It's the craziest thing I've ever seen: you're driving along, listening to Sarah Mclachlan, and a spindly-branched tumbleweed comes sailing through the air straight for you. They bounce and blow along roads... down streets... across the prairie. I wondered where they all went until I noticed them forming clubs and hanging out alongside fence lines, where the wind can tumble them no further. And there they sit - dozens of them - taking in the sun and wind and snow in equal measure.

If I ever have a child, I'll put her in boots and a hat and bring her here. As the sunset streams pink and orange light across the plains, we'll count the tumbleweeds and chase and kick and stack them. Maybe we'll even take one home and name it Pete and keep it in a stall in the barn. And at night, when she's too excited to sleep, we'll lean back into her fluffy, rosy bed and shut our eyes tight and count the tumbleweeds sailing by....

15 comments:

kari and kijsa said...

Love your blog...and those photographs....absolutely wonderful!

Merry Christmas blessings,

kari and kijsa

Anonymous said...

dreamy. all of it. :o)

Unknown said...

Being from Nevada, I know tumbleweeds and how they can take on a life of thier own, they also make a great fire starter! I can't tell you how anixous I am for your cookbook to come out, I might even beg for a autographed copy! lol

Anonymous said...

you'll be the best mother in the world one day, i just know it. what a fortunate child she'll be!!

Mrs. JoAnne Mabey said...

i think it is sooo awesome how you are able to travel and see all these things and experience things!
although i wouldnt trade my kids for anything, i would love to be free and travel like this. i guess i will live vicariously through you for awhile eh? ;)

Anonymous said...

I am so blessed to have stumbled upon your blog.... through a blog, through a another blog through another....and it all began at Dear Daisy Cottage at typepad. Visit her- you'll enjoy. Anywho, thank you for your wit and eye for the perfect photo. I love your blog. Happy Traveling!

Lynne said...

Brin, the early pioneers used to bring in and decorate tumbleweeds as their Christmas Tree. Prickly buggers, but it was the only kind of tree they could find on the high prairie.

They were nuisance weeds in Colorado when I lived there! Always get stuck against our fence and refused to budge.

Betty said...

Who would have found beauty in a tumbleweed. There it is...you can always see beauty in something or someone if you look for it!
I am waiting for the release of your cookbook...
Merry Christmas Brin!

Hope said...

I have always been fascinated by tumbleweeds but have never seen one. I watched my fair share of westerns when I was younger and even now watch the re-runs where you could see them tumbling along!
I was going to ask if they had stickers but Lynne answered that question in her comment! I can't imagine them coming at you as you drive along!!
Your cookbook sounds wonderful! :)

Vee said...

The photos are so nice...really enjoyed seeing them and I love the personification you use to describe how the tumbleweeds are hanging out. I have a friend who makes holiday "snowmen" out of the tumbleweeds in her corner of the country.

It'll be fun to see this marvelous cookbook of yours!

kattz*cottage said...

When I was a little girl living in Lubbock for a year we brought home a tumbleweed, covered it with colored lights & hung it on the front porch - a memory I'll never forget!

Happy Holidays!
Kathy

Jenny said...

Lovely, Brin! What a vision. By the way, what is Brin short for? Anything? I have a daughter named Brenna and she's Bren sometimes.

Looking forward to the next post,
Jenny

Jenny said...

Hey again. Is there a way I can email you? I feel I've looked all over with no luck. :) I mainly have a couple of questions about your blog design, how to do a couple of things. Have an awesome tumble-weedy day. You never know where life will take you!

Jenny (we4ap@comcast.net)

Jim Looby said...

One of the strangest sights I've seen: chasing after a storm in the southern Texas panhandle. Lightning strikes within a mile (too too close for comfort). As I watch, a half dozen tumbleweeds are ejected from the strike site, all on fire to varying degrees.

The quickly turn to smoldering masses of steam and smoke as the rain and wind extinguish the fire.

It made me forget where I was, what I was doing and that I needed to get the dodge out of there!

Anonymous said...

Tumbleweeds! God has a sense of humor.

My daughter and I were traveling in the Texas panhandle once and they were so large and rolling across the highway. In fact we got to laughing so hard as they would actually "attack" our car and make a crunching sound.