In Which I Just Keep Truckin On, Like The Do-Dah Man

/ Ally Bean

“Sometimes the lights all shinin on me;
Other times I can barely see.
Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip its been.”

~ Truckin, Grateful Dead

~ • ~ 

If weeks had subtexts, then I’d say that this week’s subtext has been: HIPPIE-NESS.  [a word?]  Do you, gentle readers, have weeks like this when one unusual subject keeps turning up repeatedly?

I’m not kidding, every day this week I’ve been part of a conversation that has centered one way or another around topics that belong smack dab in the late 1960s or early 1970s.

Sock it to me, sock it to me. 

~ • ~ 

I’ve talked about:

Birkenstocks [which are now fashion forward again, btw]

AND

senior citizens who like a little toke to start the day [former neighbors, in case you’re wondering]

AND

a slightly insane off-the-grid genius who spent most of the 60s building a castle from stones he found along a river bank [photos coming next week]

AND

Colorado vacations [where weed is now legal, like you didn’t know]

AND

mothers in the 1960s who dressed their children in brightly colored matching outfits [not sure if this is technically hippie-ness, but it was a thing back then].

~ • ~ 

Yes, it’s been a groovy week– and I’ve loved it.  I’d forgotten how the hippie culture which influenced the late 1960s and early 1970s was so much less uptight and so much more in the moment than today’s world of goals and analytics and marketing and– oh, whatever.

Like, far out, man.

So what better way to end this post than to leave you, my gentle readers, with this song by the Grateful Dead that has run through my head all week?

Guess I’ll just hang it up now and see what tomorrow brings!  😉

15 thoughts on “In Which I Just Keep Truckin On, Like The Do-Dah Man”

  1. My mom wasn’t a hippy, she was just a little bit too old for that, but only by a couple of years, and she was definitely counter-culture. But she did date the lyricist for the Grateful Dead for awhile in 1962/63….she got pregnant, and he’s my brother’s father. They’ve never met, though, which is sad. Not my story, so I won’t go into more here.

    I hate to tell you this, but while Birkenstocks may be popular with a certain set, they have NEVER been fashion forward, nor shall they ever be. 😉

    Like

    • J, that’s an amazing story. I enjoyed your mother’s blog so much that learning this about her isn’t a total surprise. She was one cool woman. I miss her voice of reason.

      And as for the Birkenstocks: Au contraire, mon amie! Just this Spring they’ve been declared to be the sandal of the season. Read this & this for more details.

      Like

  2. You’ve had a very interesting week. Can’t say that I’ve ever had weeks like that. Every day brings different things to think and talk about. I loved growing up in that time period. Great memories! And I never owned a pair of Birkenstocks:(

    Like

    • Beth, every once in a while I’ll have a week like this one where all sort of different ppl in different situations bring up the same kind of obscure topic. It’s cool, but a bit disconcerting as it happens.

      Get yourself a pair of Birks. They’re the best and last forever. Highly recommended.

      Like

    • belle, very nice purchase… and in keeping with the subtext of my week. It’s really weird how a topic takes over my life like this, but in this case it’s been rather groovy. 😉

      Like

  5. philmouse, you and me both. I have no idea why everyone is talking to me so longingly about hippie-ness, but that’s the way it is.

    [OH WAIT, isn’t that Walter Cronkite’s sign-off line?! Did I just write that? *oh dear*]

    Like

  6. I have 14 pairs of Birks, which I can’t wear because they aren’t stable enough for me to walk in. Some are almost new but who wants used shoes – especially Birks which form to your feet? I so want to wear them again… And to really drive the Birk haters mad, I often wore them with socks! 🙂

    The 60s were an interesting time. I wish I had been a bit older then, I think I would have made a great flower child. My parents were much more 50s people, though, so perhaps I would still have been a pretty straight and narrow soul.

    Like

    • Zazzy, I adore my Birks, although I only have 4 pairs. Maybe someday you’ll get back to yours so that you can do your bit for the pro-Birk lobby.

      My parents were more 1950s/early 1960s than hippie. They’d never have allowed me to be involved in any of that hippie shenanigans, should I have shown any inclination to do so. But like you, I think that I would have made a good flower child.

      Like

  7. Tie dye is definitely back in! 🙂 I like the hippie attitude of not caring as much about money/material possessions. Now it seems to be the opposite.

    Like

  8. I forgot to mention that my high school Class of ’75(the year after me) chose the following class yell, “We’re the class of pep and drive, “keep on truckin’ 75!” I can only imagine how they cringe at that now. 😉

    Like

    • Margaret, that’s hilarious. Wonder who came up with that one! I cringe just reading it.

      And I agree that the late 1960s focus on things other than materialism is 180º opposite of how we are today. Maybe that’s what I find so charming about hippieness… says the woman who is up to her eyeballs in stuff [not literally, am not a hoarder, to be clear].

      Like

  9. I know a lot of DeadHeads, and I can’t figure it out, this appeal of The Grateful Dead. I understand personal taste and all that, but…I don’t know. Maybe it’s a Package Deal, the whole Culture of The Grateful Dead and all.

    Like

    • nance, I’ve only known one guy who was a Dead Head. He was out to lunch most days of the week. Nice guy, though. I suspect that my enchantment with the Grateful Dead would end if I’d have ever gone to a concert. Still, I can dream that I’m a hippie soul at heart! 🙂

      Like

Comments are closed.