“all alone, all alone, Good is everywhere”

From Linda Colwell — Blog by Linda Colwell

April 29, 2009

I grew up when the cartoon Davy and Goliath was Sunday morning entertainment. Deborah and Patrick’s wonderful exploration of eating alone combined with the Davey’s chant “all alone, all alone, God is everywhere” brought a surprising collision of images from my reality and ideality sectors. The reality is I am rarely alone. The cat demands, the dog politely requests a share of avocado. The teens walk in like graveyard shifters in an all night diner to place their orders for food. My ideal is to be alone so I can eat, undisturbed and un-distracted, fully gluttonous in my attentions.

In the episode “All Alone”, Davey and his family are off on a Sunday family outing. Davey exploring, hops on a train and is trapped as the doors close and the train pulls away. Alone in the dark and empty train compartment, Davey’s fear of being all alone is comforted by the rhythm of the train chug-chugging along to the words “All alone all alone, God is everywhere”.

Two mornings ago, as the household slept late, I stole a moment, snuck about and made a new favorite. Puree of Watercress Soup with a duck egg poached in. A drizzle of olive oil and chili flakes. If the egg is just right it bleeds the warm centerpiece yolk into the green piquant goodness and leaves that wonderful tacky film on my lips.

My early childhood religious education has definitely contributed to my williness to find and yes, even look for godliness, in good food. As I tipped my hat to Davey and Ruth Cloakey Goodell (also the creator of Gumby) I sat quietly in my morning light and chanted “I’m alone I’m alone Good is everywhere”.