Poem for Tuesday

My Father's Geography
By Afaa M. Weaver

I was parading the Côte d'Azur,
hopping the short trains from Nice to Cannes,
following the maze of streets in Monte Carlo
to the hill that overlooks the ville.
A woman fed me pâté in the afternoon,
calling from her stall to offer me more.
At breakfast I talked in French with an old man
about what he loved about America--the Kennedys.

On the beaches I walked and watched
topless women sunbathe and swim,
loving both home and being so far from it.

At a phone looking to Africa over the Mediterranean,
I called my father, and, missing me, he said,
"You almost home boy. Go on cross that sea!"

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Things I did today: Talked to one of the associates at Ritz Camera for a long time about Nikkor lenses, the differences between Nikon and Canon digital SLRs and Wolf Camera's free classes. Bought younger son a present off his wish list. Wrote an article on Anthony Montgomery and news bullets. Finished all my holiday cards, which are going in the mail tomorrow -- if you haven't gotten one from me yet and you were expecting one, that doesn't mean I don't love you, it means you are either someone I have met in real life, someone I have known for years in fandom or someone whose address somehow did not migrate from Outlook to Thunderbird so I had to go looking for it for my list, but it is on the way! Chatted with about how incredibly hot Lucius is in GOF. Watched older son have a meltdown over -- get this -- the fact that he does not want new shoes, even though his current shoes are falling apart (there is literally a hole in one of them). Dragged older son to shoe store once hubby was home, only to discover that it is THE only store on the planet that closes EARLY in December instead of staying open late for holiday shoppers. Went out to dinner since we were already at the mall. Came home and helped younger son prepare for a field trip tomorrow to a historic school where he needs to act out the role of a historic nine year old.

Things I did not do today: Finish my Narnia review. Catch up on comments, betas, other people's journals, etc. Catch up on laundry. Catch up on paying enough attention to the cats (though that is every day!). Restrain myself from eating the best thing in the entire world, a.k.a. this peppermint bark. Figure out what to get my mother in lieu of the digital picture frame I can't afford. Call my aunt to wish her a happy birthday...since she did not call me on mine, does that make us even? *g*


The upstairs dining room with hobbit mural at Bilbo Baggins. (Younger son had the smoked duck salad, older son had the cinnamon pork loin, had the yellowfin tuna and I had the swordfish special in mango sauce with coconut mashed potatoes, but the highlight for everyone was The Lord of the Rings.)