Poem for Monday

Child on Top of a Greenhouse
By Theodore Roethke

The wind billowing out the seat of my britches,
My feet crackling splinters of glass and dried putty,
The half-grown chrysanthemums staring up like accusers,
Up through the streaked glass, flashing with sunlight,
A few white clouds all rushing eastward,
A line of elms plunging and tossing like horses,
And everyone, everyone pointing up and shouting!

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Another poem from yesterday's Poet's Choice on Theodore Roethke, a wonderful mood-setter. I have had an Imitrex Day, meaning that my entire day can be divided into Before, hazed by migraine, and After I broke down and took the medicine and was blessedly content afterward. Forgive me if I am still somewhat slow and stupid.

Following Hebrew school and soccer, we went hiking along the C&O Canal at Riley's Lock, just above Swain's Lock which is more familiar to most people since you can rent bikes and boats there. Then we went apple picking at Homestead Farms. I completely lost about three hours from that point dealing with my head, though I wrote what may be an entirely incoherent article about this week's Enterprise reviews without being able to see straight. Then this evening we all got the urge to watch Galaxy Quest because we'd been talking about Star Trek (and I wouldn't turn down Alan Rickman in anything anyway).

Shall post the canal pictures today and spread out the farm pictures over the rest of the week, since in addition to apples, they had animals, pumpkins, a corn maze and other fun fall things.


This is the Potomac River at the Seneca Aqueduct, where Seneca Creek crosses the bed of the C&O Canal and flows into the river. The river was so bright it was hard to look at -- beautiful, but no help whatsoever for my head.


Here is the aqueduct bridge itself, damaged in a flood and never fully restored. The house in the background is Riley's Lockhouse, now managed by the Girl Scouts who give tours, churn butter and exhibit 19th century quilts. We took the tour and got to sample the homemade butter.


The C&O Canal here is thick with weeds in places, covered with leaves in others and coated with surface growth in spots like this one.


This creates fertile little ponds full of fish, which attract herons like this blue one.


There are also areas where the canal is entirely dry, including this section just by the towpath, and in front of the lockhouse where the water has been dammed above the aqueduct.


The leaves are only just beginning to turn around here, which makes this perfect weather for canoeing and kayaking on this smooth part of the Potomac -- compare this to a few miles downriver at Great Falls!


A wide variety of animals live in the woods, from squirrels and chipmunks to snakes and frogs to deer, raccoon, rabbits and a great many birds.

Tomorrow is parents' visiting day at both kids' schools, which are also having book fairs and fundraisers and all those things that go along with parents' visiting days. So I expect to be entirely taken up with my children tomorrow.