Time Spent with Meredith Baker: A Season in America

Cabbages and Carrots: good, clean fun. As we take our last journey with Meredith for the season, we accompany her to her friends' home for some good company and, as always, a good meal. She contemplates the journey of age and adventure, reminiscing of her time as a vegetable artist, daisy picker, and cabbage laborer. Did you know that cabbage washes up nicely? What is next for Meredith? Perhaps she'll tell us the story of her erotic carrots… “but that's another chapter.” For extra essays, citations of works referenced, and a transcript of this episode, head to www.timespentpod.com

Old Sweaters: gray skies and the warmth of old friends. In our penultimate episode of the season, Meredith urges all of us to watch “Amend” a documentary about the 14th amendment, and fills her time by falling in love with Jazz. She moves through Florida to South Carolina and then to North Carolina, visiting her daughter, granddaughter, son-in-law and their noisy dogs. Then, leaving Snowball in Annapolis, thanks to some kind neighbors, Meredith hops on a plane to Seattle, finally heading home after five months away. She thinks of health, and love, and her home community over the past year, how people have shifted in their values. “time left versus time spent. These are the questions we ponder…” Piano piece:  https://freesound.org/people/ITheRealGooglekatClaire/sounds/570769/ Ragtime: Royalty free Music by Giorgio Di Campo https://youtu.be/DPdXvM7qJds For extra essays, citations of works referenced, and a transcript of this episode, head to www.timespentpod.com

Quirks and Quiddities: farewell to Ocean Springs. Leaving Gautier Mississippi, Meredith heads to a friend's house spotting quirky signs and t-shirts along the way. When she arrives, they reminisce on old spelling words over carbonara, collards, and crunchy salad. She continues on with Willie Nelson as her traveling companion, heads East past Fortress Mausoleum & Tombs, & contemplates the upkeep of infrastructure. There's a lot to think about when you drive... For extra essays, citations of works referenced, and a transcript of this episode, head to www.timespentpod.com

Technical Difficulties: mental health challenges.   Waking up on a 23 degree morning, Meredith zips through the challenges of staying warm in frozen temperatures, considers how Texas is suffering in the unexpected cold, and what makes for good mental health. She shares with us her mother's end of life plan and her healthy mental health qualities. How are we? Well, the proper answer to that question, according to Meredith, is “Fine”. For extra essays, citations of works referenced, and a transcript of this episode, head to www.timespentpod.com

Bookends: a jar of spring daffodils and the pursuit of happiness. It's a chilly February evening as Meredith watches the egrets rise on the bayou against the setting sun. She compares our political landscape to the landscape of various trees before her. “A metaphor to learn to live together in the pursuit of happiness.” The news may flood our daily lives but hope breaks through like spring. “It always does.” For extra essays, citations of works referenced, and a transcript of this episode, head to www.timespentpod.com

King Cake Baby!: oh my! Tired of being cooped up in Shepard State Park through days of rain, Meredith wanders around Lowes and Walmart for something to do, feeling like something's off. Hopefully, just the weather. She walks us through her “Camping in an RV cookbook”: Top Ramen, Quesadillas, raisin toast and butter, tea and chocolate, jazz and a drink… the list goes on. She considers the lack of Mardi Gras parades due to Covid as she shops for a King Cake to bring to her friends (she got the baby last year). For extra essays, citations of works referenced, and a transcript of this episode, head to www.timespentpod.com

Pascagoula: soap, propane, and s'mores. While accompanying her friend to the auto body shop, Meredith recalls our country's own “advanced collision”, or the insurrection at the capitol the previous week. They grab some Dr. Peppers to wash down the week.  Then after a failed attempt to wash her hair in the sink, she heads out to get propane for Snowball suds and all. She finally hooks up with a white haired man in a mask, the man with the propane, and he boasts about chasing away some difficult campers with a rifle. With a full tank, Meredith makes her way to Gautier Mississippi to her camp, awaiting the arrival of friends from Ocean Springs with a delicious moon pie.  For extra essays, citations of works referenced, and a transcript of this episode, head to www.timespentpod.com

Woolgathering: under the sweetgum trees, a smoky fire. Beneath the trees in the Mississippi Bayou brush, Meredith sits by the fire swatting away the “no see ‘ems”. She daydreams, “woolgathering” as she calls it, of who she was in her past lives, was following a cattle driver? A sailor who traveled around Cape Horn? An immigrant running to safety and freedom? She wonders who you are with? “Where is your heart tonight?” amidst the pandemic. She decides to stay in this camp ground for a couple of months and to make use of her time writing. She talks of the insurrection at the capital, trying to process, and remembers her old friend whose husband passed away, wanting to escape and find healing and joy on the wind of dreams.  For extra essays, citations of works referenced, and a transcript of this episode, head to www.timespentpod.com

Jupiter and Saturn: align across the bayou sky. A few days before Christmas, Meredith contemplates all of us coming together like Jupiter and Saturn above. As winds blow leaf circles on earth, she considers the great divide between humans and seeks mother Mary's wisdom and comfort for our “collective unease”. So much work around Christmas time, baking, cleaning, and tired children. She wonders if Mary and Joseph had an oven to bake ginger cookies. What are we celebrating? Hope, hopefully. She tells us of her friend Frances who is expecting a baby while mourning the one she's lost. And as Meredith stares up at the night sky above, at Jupiter and Saturn, she thinks, “how fortunate we are”. For extra essays, citations of works referenced, and a transcript of this episode, head to www.timespentpod.com

Unexpected Visitors: who's in my bed. Falling asleep in glasses creates some uncomfortable evenings, but that's not all. Waking with a start, Meredith discovers avocados rolling around under her covers. After ridding Snowball from some unwelcome furry guests, she receives a packet of notes and reflections from her brother and catches up with him over the phone. She recalls a cafe in Idaho she visited once, considers her shaggy appearance, and wonders if she was taking Francis Bacon's advice and making a fool of herself. Later Meredith telephones an old friend and swaps memories accumulated over almost 50 years. Their stories mingle and one remembers what the other has forgotten. Each resilient like the  growth of the seed of a budding, rogue avocado.  For extra essays, citations of works referenced, and a transcript of this episode, head to www.timespentpod.com

Short Story Long: we don't need no stinkin' punctuation. Battling no-seeums and an over-zealous, over-sharing, oblivious neighbor, Meredith camps out at Davis Bayou, Mississippi. Why this man confides in her, she'll never know! Meanwhile across the bayou, barbecue with friends, a rosy sunset, and Christmas lights make the evening. They invite her to try alligator gumbo and charm her with delightful, rambling southern storytelling. In the spirit of trying mystery foods, Meredith entertains that maybe she will host a "socially distant durian potluck". Who knows? For extra essays, citations of works referenced, and a transcript of this episode, head to www.timespentpod.com

A Side of Dry Tortugas: sounds like a good complement to alligator meat. Meredith, leaving her daughter behind after a lovely visit, hits the highway accompanied by Willie Nelson. She thinks back to when her son joined the Navy, comparing the rag-tag young men enlisting to the “tidy convicts” she worked with while she was a correctional officer. Her heart aches. “Memories unravel with the landscape” as Meredith heads across the Rappahannock River. She thinks of John Wilkes Booth as she nears the place where he was found hiding and resisting arrest. She makes it through to Atlanta, accompanied by the gorgeous tunes of Bach. It's over the Pascagoula River to Ocean Springs Mississippi to a friend's house, then to the Davis Bayou Campground where she and Ranger Skip do a back and forth about Sedro-Wooley Washington, and the taste of alligator meat from Florida.  For extra essays, citations of works referenced, and a transcript of this episode, head to www.timespentpod.com

Bright Friends: celebration of travel and nature adventures. Meredith carefully crosses the Rocky Mountains through dangerous wintry roads. She arrives in Strasbourg, Colorado and observes several characters on her overnight stay. She cleans off Snowball, who resembles "a wet dog come from a swim", and continues on through Colorado to Kansas then to Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. As she crosses the Erie Canal she reminisces about the old song, by the same name. “Think how we learned history, correct or not… from the songs we sang as children.” She ponders how music brings us together - the “power in our collective voice”. She reaches her friend's home, the two almost unrecognizable to one another. They are soon laughing as old friends do, talking about the election, and celebrating her friend's birthday. In the morning, Meredith is off toward Maryland and the comfort of her east coast family for Thanksgiving. For extra essays, citations of works referenced, and a transcript of this episode, head to www.timespentpod.com

All Will Be Well: white-out in Parachute, Colorado. Meredith reflects on her many trips back and forth across the country from 2010-2017. She finds herself surprised at the uncommon quiet in Sturgis, South Dakota with what would have been the time for one of their famous motorcycle rallies. She stops for the night near the autumn colored Twin Falls, Idaho and then is off to the Green River State Park. It's not long until she's on the road again, thinking of poetry and heading East to Colorado with temperatures falling rapidly. All of the sudden she's in the midst of a blizzard and she bundles up to keep warm. Who can read with mittens on? Snowball is having trouble and Meredith spends the night in a hotel. The next day, as she crosses a stretch of Colorado river, a white horse on a hill captures her focus, and she is reminded, “all will be well”.  For extra essays, citations of works referenced, and a transcript of this episode, head to www.timespentpod.com

On the Highway: making tracks across the colorful country to stay ahead of the weather. Meredith revisits Camp Concrete, Washington and plots her course for the winter as fall begins its approach. Admiring the life-sustaining duties of the nurse log and the seafoam green light through the cedars, she finds peace in nature. She gets to know the local campers and their concerns. News of the pandemic gains traction as The Skagit Valley Chorale super spreader event makes headlines. Meredith decides to set out on her own for the next season.  For extra essays, citations of works referenced, and a transcript of this episode, head to www.timespentpod.com

Give Way Ye Gates:  a visitor comes to camp with a steamy and unexpected poem. Meredith answers an unexpected phone call and before she knows it, she's agreed to host the friend at Camp Concrete next Tuesday… Six feet apart, of course. When her friend arrives they sit and indulge in sweet dark cherries and discuss Hamilton the musical… well, her friend discusses it while Meredith listens on. The friend rambles on about her audition for a local production of Mamma Mia and talks about memorizing a long poem in college that may not have been what she thought it was. She recalls reciting the racy poem aloud and 35 years of embarrassment come gushing out of her as she doubles over crying and laughing with Meredith. “Eine kleine Nachtmusik: I. Allegro” by: Wolfgang's Amadeus Mozart Performed by the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Courtesy of Naxos of America, Inc. For extra essays, citations of works referenced, and a transcript of this episode, head to www.timespentpod.com

Camp Concrete: spring unfolds as we ponder this most unusual season. This week, Meredith considers how she will spend her time in the pandemic. It is early May. “There's only so much cooping up a person can do”, and so, she takes to the woods. Amidst the tall cedars of Camp Concrete, Washington,  she appreciates the sun through the trees, the gentle breeze, the colors of the wilderness, the importance of nature to the soul, all creatures across the globe, and wonders about the children and their families still at the border without necessities or comforts. She shares her story of getting tested for Covid at the college where she volunteers and her growing concern for what is happening in the world. With her camper and a resurgence to be in nature, Meredith makes a plan to camp three nights a week, using Snowball as her own cabin in the woods and imagines what she can do with this new unfilled time. She recalls more news of how Corona is manifesting in the world, bits from the radio, headlines on her phone, turning it over in her mind. Meredith reads through old writing she's made in an attempt to ground herself and find meaning. She considers how this simple, solitary travel might actually strengthen her connections.  She urges the listener to take care and stay in touch, “we need one another”.  For extra essays, citations of works referenced, and a transcript of this episode, head to www.timespentpod.com

Go Forth: Traveling alone across the country.  Meredith encourages us to Go Forth. To wander and enjoy the journey as a wayfaring stranger. Indulge in our wanderlust because, afterall, home is where our hat is. She questions what it is that drives us forward. How do we move through the world? “Can we step into the unknown? Do we have the luxury to choose travel and adventure?” What is the spark that empowers us to take action? She is galvanized by the words of her grandmother and mother at the ends of their lives, encouraging her to live her life now.  “We each must take our own trip. Make of it what we will.” Meredith says, "Take the backroads and the scenic byways," she urges us. “You'll be amazed at how much fun you'll have. YOLO! Go Forth.”

Accompany Meredith Baker in her trusty camper, Snowball, as she travels across America amidst the 2020-21 pandemic. From the tall cedars of "Camp Concrete" in Washington, to the sparkling waters of the Mississippi Bayou, join Meredith on a journey of her reflections of the past year. Listen in as she encounters friends old and new, tries alligator stew, and visits our national parks all while the sounds of nature enhance the wondrous, wandering year of a 76 year old, former Swan Lady. Her writing from the road will tickle and sooth you as she effortlessly brings you with her over the course of 18 episodes… good thing you're sitting up front, she likes the company.