Bottle Up and Go

 The first week of April and the world still has eyes only for the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.  And why not?  It's much more important than "the slap" which will soon evaporate.  But with COVID seemingly on the wane, some things are emerging like the early blossoms and buds of spring.  

Here in the Northwest, we have a false Spring before we can even think about the turning of the seasons.  We get all manner of white and pink blossoms on the trees only to see them blown and then washed away by the cold rains of March and April.  But there are other signs that life is emerging.

Change is in the air, along with the pollen.  Fewer masks are worn and some restaurants reemerging give way to silent hope.  In my neighborhood, a new restaurant has graced the string of abandoned storefronts.  It's someone's dream, and with a name like the Rockabilly cafe, holds promise.  The trouble is I see far too few folks giving it a try.  I'll get down there before too long and I hope the owner is there.  That's because I'm still trying to find a home for my Elvis wine bottle.  It might look good sitting on a shelf surrounded by 50s memorabilia and a jukebox.  

Back in the late 70s, shortly after the death of "The King" I was picking up a few things in one of the Bay Areas' most upscale markets.  I chanced to see a display of wine and thought this bottle might be a collector's item one day.  I think I paid something like $15 for the promotion and was thrilled to find an original poem by "The colonel" on the label.  Col. Tom Parker, the former manager of Presely had apparently penned this masterpiece of trite imagery.  All in all, a good deal.  So now I'm left with finding a forever home for this bottle that still might find favor with some folks.  

If business is waning at the Rockabilly Cafe, perhaps a small museum on-site with artifacts of the genre might be just the thing to stimulate the popularity of the place.  I'd love to make this donation so that I could rest easy knowing that my Elvis wine bottle would have a home.  It's now or never.