Poem for Thursday

Lonelyhearts
By Nicanor Parra
Translated by Miller Williams

A gentleman of good will
Gifted in the personal services
Is available to care for ladies at night
But it must be at night.

Free
Without obligation
Completely responsible
Disposed to matrimony
Provided a lady knows how to move her hips

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Was nearly flattened by a time-of-month migraine for much of the day...sorted more clothes to be given away for charity, created a photo book of the Gerbils of Gondor with a free Shutterfly coupon from Catster (hope they don't mind I used it on gerbils rather than cats, see it here if you'd like), was all prepared to take Adam to a 5:30 orthodontist appointment then got a call from the office asking where we were -- they had us down at 4:30, although I had 5:30 down on my phone calendar, in my Outlook and on my Google Calendar (I suspect daylight savings screwed up Outlook despite that patch they gave us last year and everything syncs with that). They let me reschedule, but not for two weeks.


A ceramic teapot from the museum at Mount Vernon protesting the tax on printed materials that was one of the triggers of the American Revolution. Gunston Hall, George Mason's estate, has merchants' account books documenting the import of such teapots, which allowed well-off colonists to reveal their political sentiments. There is a similar one at the Smithsonian.


Recently planted crops are brightly colored as well in the pioneer farm area of Mount Vernon near the 16-sided barn.


The path through the woods from the farm to the mansion passes huge old trees. In addition to this one with the interesting root system, there are tulip poplars planted by Washington when he lived at Mount Vernon.


The trees along the Potomac River are not as old but at this time of year they're particularly beautiful. Washington had a fantastic backyard view!


The icehouse at Mount Vernon is based on the Robert Morris icehouse in Philadelphia, which served as the fledgling United States president's house.


The spinning house contains historic wheels, looms and hand equipment used by slave workers at Mount Vernon.


And here's a glimpse of the line waiting to tour the mansion this weekend in conjunction with the reenactment of the British incursion in the Potomac.

In the evening we watched The Tudors, which I'm enjoying more this season than last season; I seem to have developed the ability to ignore history entirely and take the drama for what it is, and it's an entertaining take on More, Cromwell, Suffolk, Mary Tudor (who's very pretty for a change -- a lot of times she gets characterized as ugly and thick), and particularly Anne, whom I really like, particularly her Protestant commitment; in this production she's neither the pawn of her father, an ambitious shrew nor an aristocratic girl in over her head. (I can't feel sorry for More this time out; he may be a man of conviction but he's also a dangerous fanatic.)

After that we watched "Booby Trap," the decent but not brilliant Next Gen episode I need to review on Friday -- Leha Brahms! -- and a DVD on Yellowstone National Park that our local library had, clearly not very new because the wolf population was on the rise rather than back to being hunted nearly to extinction in the park. We'll be there this summer for the first time in ten years and I can't wait! The Supreme Court sucks and I couldn't bear to watch more than sound bytes from the Clinton/Obama debate, so that's all the political commentary I have for the evening.