the wabash cannonball

Oh, listen to the jingle, the rumor and the roar

As she glides along the woodland, o’r hills and by the shore

She climbs the flowery mountain, hear the merry hobos squall

She glides along the woodland, the Wabash Cannonball!

About four years ago, we found this undercarriage of a railroad handcar in the woods next to the summer kitchen. I didn’t feel all that romantic about the rusty ol’ thing, but my friend LuAnn convinced me not to scrap it. She told me that it would make an awesome planter or coffee table. So it has been hanging out on the edge of the woods, rusting some more, getting all tangled in creeper, and waiting for my muse to inspire.

Wait a minute. Did she just say they found a handcar in the woods? Nowhere near a railroad? Yup. Now, what do you reckon somebody was planning? My guess is some good ol’ boys figured to rig a rail from the summer kitchen down to the lake, for ease of toting their beer and fishing gear. And then they realized they’d have to push it back up to the kitchen. So they abandoned their scheme, and bought a golf cart.

So LuAnn was right. We’ve been working on this piece of land for about three summers now. And the rusty rustic railroad scrap relic is an unexpected garden feature.

Although I do have to say, I’m a little worried about our dare-devil nephews visiting this summer. “Hey, Aunt Ginny, watch this!”