Yellow Root

Today's boxcar. I like how, between the two cars, it's possible to make out a kingly old oak dappled in the afternoon sun and, just beyond, somebody's front porch. And what's Union Pacific up to? It's building America.

The graf was obviously a wild style rush job or practice run of some kind, but I like the tag in the lower right corner: "Valerie," which is likely the name of the artist who crafted this piece. Combined with the other add-on elements - "LA" and "818" - we can surmise that Valerie hails from LA's San Fernando Valley (of which "818" is the telephone area code). I have no idea who you are or what you're about, besides tagging trains, Valerie, but this blog's fer you...

Today at work an ancient, gnarled co-worker of mine named Miss Elaine handed me a paper bag full of yellow root: "I walked out into the woods behind my house and picked a bunch myself this winter. You can have this." (The day before, we had had a long talk about yellow root, polk salad, and other folk remedies/recipes of the South.) I told her, "They say yellow root is good for just about everything. When I was a little bit younger, one summer I drank a shot of yellow root tea every morning. It's godawful bitter, but it lets you know that you're alive."

It's true. Yellow root (Xanthorhiza simplicissima ) is regarded as a general cure-all tonic. It has long been used in folk medicine for mouth infections and sore throats, diabetes, during childbirth, and as an antibiotic, immunostimulant, anticonvulsant, sedative, hypotensive, uterotonic, and choleretic. In exchange for the batch of yellow root, I'm to bring Miss Elaine a bottle of homebrew next time I brew some up. And did you know that Los Angeles, California is a little over 2,200 miles from Manchester, Georgia?