Poem for Friday and Breezy Hill Farmyard

(Re)location 

By Kinsale Drake 

Salt Lake City boasts white tabernacles,

half-filled parks, a mineral 

highway, and archives so vast

they fill mountainsides.

One summer, we researched our family

genealogy there, surrounded by giddy Mormons.

Their screens flickered with famous 

relatives: a Custer, Jackson, Theodore,

Kit. Nothing came up on ours, 

so we went and got burgers at a place

that sold no liquor. The burgers

were okay. But we shared our shakes

and secret smiles and imagined

ourselves renegades in that room.

Old-West-portrait: an Indian girl

on the run with no records and no documents,

her wind-whipped father clutching

his sarsaparilla. We had infiltrated

the saloon and city hall. 

I locked eyes in the burger joint

with the confidence of a pistol-whipper.

The room stirred.

It smelled of grass

and gunsmoke.

I would not be moved again.

-------- 

We had spectacular weather on Friday, which I got to enjoy! We went to get bagels, I took a walk on the dock around lunchtime to see the ducklings -- and herons and eagles -- and we went to the beach in the afternoon, where we got to hang out with more waterfowl and watch swooping eagles and neighborhood dogs. 

There was a rainbow across the lake at dinnertime, a surprise because we had no rain here at all. We watched the Orioles blow it in the 10th, the Mariners hit a grand slam in their win, and now we're catching up on Ghosts, which we somehow got a few weeks behind on. Animals we met at Breezy Hill Farm last weekend:

Poem for Thursday and Washingtonian Goslings

Above the Dock 

By T.E. Hulme 

Above the quiet dock in mid night, 

Tangled in the tall mast’s corded height, 

Hangs the moon. What seemed so far away 

Is but a child’s balloon, forgotten after play. 

-------- 

Much of my Thursday involved chores, but the trip laundries are folded and put away and the various cleaning and recycling have been taken care of. And we took a walk to the beach in the rain, where we saw eagles and coots, then walked out on the newly refurbished dock and saw two families of tiny ducklings -- one with six baby ducks and one with a dozen! 

I talked to my Thursday night chat group, visited with my cat-sitting neighbors, then we watched this week's episode of Sugar as well as the finale of Shogun (less seppuku than I was expecting, but of course the death fetish had to be indulged; I'm not sorry this series is over). We may have ducklings here, but Washingtonian Lake in Gaithersburg has goslings:

Poem for Wednesday and McCrillis Azaleas

Rhododendron 

By Matthew Dickman 

I'm walking my infant

son through a stand of rhododendrons.

It feels like we are walking 

through a cloud of jellyfish

made of pink and purple paper

petals falling

to the ground.

These jellyfish are the fish of spring.

He is making sounds 

like a mouse, small but all out

of his body. Inside,

his organs are so new

that they are both organs

and the beginnings of organs.

When he cries for his mother

to nurse him

he sounds like a rooster.

He is not

just hungry,

but hunger itself.

He is the thing

he cries for. Sunlight is turning

the rhododendrons

into balls of pink light if light

were liquid

and something else,

splashing,

that’s what the pink is doing,

splashing all over us,

lucky without a god,

animals under the bright pink

idea of earth.

-------- 

I had a nice Wednesday around lots of unpacking and laundry. I talked to my three best high school friends, although I had seen Linda and Kay over the weekend and spent most of my time in Maryland with Hildy's daughter Haley -- we had kid gossip to catch up on -- and I watched the last episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier with Kristen, plus the Rogers: The Musical number from Hawkeye, which we'll watch next, after I get to see her in person next weekend. 

Paul and I walked to the beach in drizzle and saw mallards, Canada geese, coots, an eagle, an osprey, wood ducks landing in trees, which I hadn't even known they could do, and salmon slapping the water, which I hadn't known they did either. We watched The Masked Singer -- wrong choice, judges -- followed by the season finales of Vice's Icons Unearthed shows about Batman and The Lord of the Rings. Rhododendrons and azaleas at McCrillis Gardens: 

Greetings from SeaTac

Back in Seattle area! Had pizza with my family and my good friend Linda (well, she had tuna on matzah as she is more observant than my parents), said goodbye to Adam and Haley who were headed out to see his high school friends, went to Dulles and sat in Cava on our devices for a bit before boarding, brought Cava to eat on the plane with us and had a relatively uneventful flight! More tomorrow!

Greetings from Potomac

Back from huge fabulous Passover meal at my parents' house with Adam and Haley, after I got to spend the day with the latter two because Paul had to work (which was the reason we could work out coming east for the holiday). We took a walk around Washingtonian Lake with Pepper, then went to Montgomery Mall, where we met my father for lunch after taking some photos of the cherry blossom decorations and attempting to recreate a photo of Adam and Haley from 2015, when myself and one of my oldest friends -- their moms -- made them meet at the mall to discuss summer internship programs. 

We went to McCrillis Garden, where the azaleas were in bloom and beautiful, and took a walk around our old neighborhood, which also had lots of flowers and gave Adam an opportunity to tell Haley about various places he and his friends got into trouble when they were younger. I ran into one of my neighborhood friends whom I'm still in touch with because we both play Pokemon Go. Then we went to my parents' for Passover, though first we took a walk around their neighborhood since Haley's grandparents lived there for many decades. I even got to talk briefly to my sister. Chag Sameach!

 

 Mall Cherry Blossoms

 

Attempted recreation of...

 

...this pic from 2015 

 

Lunch with my dad (most of us got Cava)

 

McCrillis Garden mansion

 

Kids in azaleas

 

Pepper in azaleas 

 

On the swingset in our old neighborhood

 

Frogs on our heads for Passover

Greetings from Hanover

Another lovely day with family and friends, again starting with a walk around Washingtonian Lake with Adam and Pepper. Then we all had Cinnabons for breakfast and drove to Hanover to visit Paul's parents, picking up lunch at Blue Koi on the way (with a quick stop in the Red Barn local craft store). We had lunch with my in-laws, looked at old photos, talked about tax filings, and Clair played the violin for us. 

Then we headed to Gaithersburg, stopping at Giant for drinks and at Lake Whetstone to take a walk and see the many goslings, plus the big great blue heron nests and a few egrets in the trees. We went on to visit Kay and her family, who served us appetizers and pizza for dinner. Now we're back at the hotel watching Captain Marvel on TBS while we get organized for Monday, when Paul has to work before the seder. 

Greetings from Sugarloaf

Quickie after long lovely day with family and friends, starting with a walk around Washingtonian Lake with Adam and Pepper to see goslings. Cheryl met us at the hotel and we all drove to Beans in the Belfry in Brunswick for brunch, stopped at Point of Rocks so I could take a pic of the historic train station, and went to Dancing Leaf Farm as our first stop on the Sugarloaf Countryside Artisans tour. From there we went to the glassblowing studio Art of Fire to buy gifts, admire their vases, and pet their cats before heading to Breezy Hill Farm, where Pepper was much admired by alpacas and the rest of us enjoyed the donkey, sheep, goats, chickens, bunnies, and big dogs who admired Pepper too much. 

We went to Heron's Meadow Tea Farm to buy tea and finished up at Something Earthy Pottery, which has lots of crafts besides pottery plus local-made food. All the artists had snacks, mostly cookies and homemade drinks, so we snacked quite a bit. When we got back to Gaithersburg, we said farewell to Cheryl and went to pick up Grand Fusion for dinner, which we brought to my parents. It was the evening of my 40th high school reunion, which I hadn't thought I could attend because we hadn't expected to be in town, but my friend Linda and her husband came over for dessert and that was enough high school reunion for me (plus we texted Haley's mother all day, whom I've known since we were 6)!

Greetings from Gaithersburg

We made it to Maryland, as did Adam and Haley after we both had a day of travel -- theirs involved a huge Indian buffet meal at her sister's fiance's parents' restaurant in New Jersey, ours involved an hourlong delay taking off at SeaTac but a relatively quick flight (with unexpected free wifi, I guess to make up for the late start). We had made sandwiches for lunch, but got in the mood for Alaska's hummus box, so we ate that on the plane and had the sandwiches for dinner. 

Adam arrived to check in just after we finished at our hotel on Washingtonian Lake, so we took a few minutes to get organized, then walked Pepper around the lake with brief stops in Target and Barnes & Noble (she is welcome in the latter but not the former). Now we're watching CBS's Billy Joel 100th concert at Madison Square Garden, which we missed when it aired, and getting things organized for a very busy couple of days on this short trip. Airports, hotel, and the dog being the I in Rio: