Thursday 7 August 2008

Sourwood Mountain



Chickens a-crowin' on Sourwood Mountain,
Ho-dee-ing-dong-doodle allay day,
So many pretty girls I can't count 'em,
Ho-dee-ing-dong-doodle allay day.

My true love, she's a blue-eyed dandy,
Ho-dee-ing-dong-doodle allay day,
A kiss from her is sweeter than candy,
Ho-dee-ing-dong-doodle allay day.

My true love lives over the river,
Ho-dee-ing-dong-doodle allay day,
A hop and a skip and I'll be with her,
Ho-dee-ing-dong-doodle allay day.

My true love is a blue-eyed daisy,
Ho-dee-ing-dong-doodle allay day,
If she don't marry me I'll go crazy,
Ho-dee-ing-dong-doodle allay day.


my grandparents are here until tuesday. my grandpa likes to recite poetry to me, and to be silly. so silly poetry is pretty much his forte. i found Sourwood Mountain in his "Faber Book of Popular Verse". my gran likes to teach me how to cook and speak a little welsh, and to tell me about our family, like my great grandfather who fixed watches after he came home from france in the first world war. he used to travel to all the farms around and fix their clocks and watches - all the farmhouses had grandfather clocks, and many were so old that they only had one hand because the folk who lived there were only interested in the hour and not the seconds or minutes.


it's come to my attention why i read blogs and why i write one myself. because of wonderful quietly intense posts like this one on Prick Your Finger, appreciative of small moments and detailing things that aren't necessarily of desperate importance, nor about incredibly exciting events, photographs of the prettiest people or brash moments of self gratification. the post led me to discover fleur oakes, some kind habadashery heroine like a character you would expect to find only in stories. i'd like to think that somewhere in all my own self indulgent ramblings, someone saw me as having a little depth and thought of me a little like i thought of fleur.

9 comments:

Rebecca, A Clothes Horse said...

Your grandfather sounds wonderful.
My sister likes to say, "we enjoy the little things." And it's quite true we get a kick out of the tiniest pranks (drinking someone's water when they leave the table) and also enjoy really simple pleasures...I think it's a good way to live and to blog.

Anonymous said...

I'm gonna give you 'Walden' by Henry David Thoreau. You'll love and cherish it.

Jill said...

My grand uncle does the same thing. I have an abundance of strange stories that he never tires of telling. (I definetly love the tidbits you put in about your daily life.)

yiqin; said...

Even though I was never close ot my grandfather before..I really wish he is still around :(

svenske floyd said...

First time I saw your blog, I smiled at the presentation, and I have not been disappointed since then. It can develop into something "extraordinaire", if you allow me to point at that little flaw.

Anonymous said...

your grannies seems to be very cute ones!

thetinylittlegirl said...

oh your grandparents sound so lovely!

and i wanted to let you know that i love reading your blog!

fash said...

please share, mr floyd, constructive critcism welcome. but no guarantees that i'll agree with you!

the glass pingle said...

....a very big Thankyou !love Fleur x