By Kathleen Raine
Primrose, anemone, bluebell, moss
Grow in the Kingdom of the Cross
And the ash-tree's purple bud
Dresses the spear that sheds his blood.
With the thorns that pierce his brow
Soft encircling petals grow
For in each flower the secret lies
Of the tree that crucifies.
Garden by the water clear
All must die who enter here!
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I had to get up extremely early to listen to drilling and hammering as my front door was put back on its hinges -- the door is in great shape, the wall around it is in crappy shape, and let's not even talk about how the molding looks now. But we can open and shut and lock the door without breaking anything! I had lots of running around to do in the afternoon, the fun part of which was looking at Bar Mitzvah invitations with the friend of my mother's who did the invitations for Daniel's Bar Mitzvah -- we must have gone through 16 books looking for a tasteful and appropriate Jewish-themed card with a penguin on it, which is not an easy thing to find. *g*
The late afternoon was chaos because our local gas station had closed unexpectedly and I had next to nothing in the tank, plus I had to get Adam to his Bar Mitzvah tutor, who was teaching from home since she just had foot surgery. I went looking for a gas station off a side street that had once existed but no longer, then freaked out slightly and managed to get to a Shell station in the next town over before rushing to get Adam back for the lesson (he's way ahead of the timeline even though he missed a lesson last week while she was having the surgery). Fortunately she has two adorable dogs who gave us a big wet greeting once we got there, which calmed me down.
I did not catch the name of either dog, but this one tried to lick my face for several minutes, then as soon as the chanting started, she went to collapse on her bed...
...while this one rubbed my leg and whined to be pet until the chanting started, at which point she lay down right where she was. There must be something about Hebrew chanting that puts dogs to sleep. Either that or they've sat through Yom Kippur services, hee.
These are the Mastoris Mardi Gras cupcakes that my parents brought us yesterday. I had to take a photo because they're adorable.
That photo reminded me for some reason of this photo of flowers at Mount Vernon last fall that I never got around to posting.
As long as I'm posting pictures from Mount Vernon, here is the rebuilt historic barn...
...and, much closer to the mansion, one of the necessaries (no longer in use, sadly for those stuck in the long entrance lines).
The view of the Potomac River through the arch nearest the mansion.
And here is the house itself, seen from across the wide bowling green.
My evening TV (Verdi's Macbeth on PBS, then the Maryland-Duke game whose final minutes shall not be mentioned) was interrupted a lot by older son trying to figure out his schedule downtown for the next few days at the regional robotics competition. Now, however, I am completely in hysterics over Stephen Colbert playing with his nipples over politics and having tarantulas all over him, which has utterly cleared my sinuses. So I feel better than I have in days!
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