Monday, November 08, 2010

Poem for Monday and Sugarloaf Mountain

Ditty of First Desire
By Federico García Lorca
Translated by Alan S. Trueblood


  In the green morning
I wanted to be a heart.
A heart.

  And in the ripe evening
I wanted to be a nightingale.
A nightingale.

  (Soul,
turn orange-colored.
Soul,
turn the color of love.)

  In the vivid morning
I wanted to be myself.
A heart.

  And at the evening's end
I wanted to be my voice.
A nightingale.

  Soul,
turn orange-colored.
Soul,
turn the color of love.

--------

The weather was as beautiful on Sunday as it was on Saturday, so after Adam got finished volunteering at Hebrew school, we went hiking on Sugarloaf Mountain. Last time we went the weekend after Halloween, most of the leaves had already fallen, but this time there were lots of reds and yellows all over the hillside, and the views from the summit, though hazy, were quite pretty, with still-green farms in the distance and evergreens mixed in with the maples and oaks. Adam stubbed his toe badly not long after we arrived, so he didn't have the best time climbing up, and the sun set an hour earlier than the day before, which is always a bummer -- I don't mind the cold in winter, just the early darkness -- but it was a nice afternoon.


Despite the fact that autumn is more than half over, there was plenty of fall color on Sugarloaf Mountain.


We took the trail with the Civil War overlooks.


It was partly overcast and windy, but not too cold when the sun came out.


And although there were many cars in the parking lot, we saw few people while hiking on the trails...


...though we were amused to see a family racing their remote control trucks down the summit trail while we were climbing up.


We also saw people rappelling down the steep rocks.


As ever, Daniel did not really want his photo taken but here he is with Adam for posterity.


In addition to the cows on a farm we pass on the way to the mountain, there are now sheep, too.

Since we had Swedish food from the bazaar on Saturday, Paul made meatballs for dinner and we had them with mashed potatoes, cheese, and limpa bread. We all watched this year's Treehouse of Horror on The Simpsons to see Daniel Radcliffe do Robert Pattinson -- too short a segment, sadly, I wished there had been more of his romance with Lisa, though the Satanic game segment was very funny -- then we watched Boardwalk Empire, which continues to be excellent in most ways...needs more independent women and more attention to the black community, but the dialogue and acting are very good and I loved the Republican convention setup in this week's episode (plus ça change...)

We followed the Ravens-Dolphins game entirely via espn.com while we were on the mountain, and I am pleased to report the continuation of the trend in which the Ravens win any game of which I don't watch a single minute. We'll probably be home next Thursday night when they play Atlanta, so I will have to make sure not to put it on between Nikita and The Daily Show.

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