Poem for Saturday

Autumn
By Kahlil Gibran

Let us go and gather grapes in the vineyard
For the winepress, and keep the wine in old
Vases, as the spirit keeps Knowledge of the
Ages in eternal vessels.

Let us return to our dwelling, for the wind has
Caused the yellow leaves to fall and shroud the
Withering flowers that whisper elegy to Summer.
Come home, my eternal sweetheart, for the birds
Have made pilgrimage to warmth and lest the chilled
Prairies suffering pangs of solitude. The jasmine
And myrtle have no more tears.

Let us retreat, for the tired brook has
Ceased its song; and the bubblesome springs
Are drained of their copious weeping; and
Their cautious old hills have stored away
Their colourful garments.

Come, my beloved; Nature is justly weary
And is bidding her enthusiasm farewell
With quiet and contented melody.

--------

My quiet morning was interrupted by a call from my son's elementary school to tell me he had fallen off a jungle gym, hit his head on a bottom rung and had an enormous bump on his head. Of course I rushed over to pick him up, called the doctor and watched for signs of concussion...and mostly saw signs of a bored kid being encouraged to lie down and avoid yammering when that was what he wanted to do. He has a horrible purple bruise on his forehead and another lump under his hair, but no nausea, no headache beyond the spots that were injured and we are supposed to wake him up every few hours tonight just to make sure he doesn't lose consciousness.

I had to bore poor at lunchtime; she was going to come over for a spot of mischief but since I had a child in the room we had to settle for gossip and her report on A History of Violence which she saw at a sneak preview. Do I like Viggo enough to get over my general aversion to Cronenberg's particular forms of violence? I can't decide, but I think I will put Flight Plan and The Corpse Bride higher on my to-view list, anyway. Jennifer Cutting's Ocean Orchestra's performance at the Tacoma Park Folk Festival was on local TV in the late afternoon so my kids and I watched that, then we had Shabbat dinner with my parents, then we came home and watched Threshold which remains entertaining and rather X-Files-ish and Molly so should do it with Cavanaugh. In and around all this I wrote a possibly-not-very-coherent review of "Arena".

Given this excitement, we are going to forego the Renaissance Faire tomorrow as it's a long way from home, and as we are going to have a long day Sunday with Hebrew school, soccer and my in-laws coming to visit for my older son's birthday on Monday. If son is feeling up to it we may go to a War of 1812 reenactment and accompanying craft fair; if son is not feeling up to it we may go to the movies or something quiet. The only thing he wants is to watch the new Furby movie on TV tomorrow morning!


A heron on the rocks at Great Falls in the C&O Canal National Park trying to catch fish in the rather low waters of the Potomac River last weekend.


Despite the relatively low water mark, parts of the falls were still flowing more freely than they were last year when they were blocked by debris left over from Hurricane Isabel.


Here is the bridge from which that photo was taken, seen from the path down the hillside near the towpath. Again, compare to last year when it was completely dry beneath!


But here you can see how many very dry rocks there are. This is how it looks in a stormy season.


Because the river is so low, shells (mostly Asian invaders) and leaves have been left high and dry among the rocks.


The park service at the Virginia side of Great Falls National Park has finally finished rebuilding its overlooks. You can see the leaves just beginning to change.


: Name 5 shows you're watching in the new television season.
1. Threshold
2. Commander in Chief
3. The West Wing (still)
4. Smallville (still)
5. Veronica Mars (still)
All subject to change if any of them start or continue to suck.

: Sell your soul for complete control.
1. What kind of lighting is around you? A candle, a torchiere lamp and a ceiling light that isn't on.
2. What do you think of your singing voice? It's awful. My ear is pretty good, so I know I can't reproduce the notes.
3. Who do you try to please? Myself, my family, some of my friends.
4. Describe your last dream: It involved being in a big fancy bathtub surrounded by flowers where I knew I was supposed to be getting the kids ready to go somewhere but I didn't feel like getting out. (Quick, is the tub a womb or a tomb?)
5. When is the last time you bought flowers? In that dream I suppose...hahahaha! I honestly don't remember. It would probably have been some time when they weren't for me but a gift for someone who was ill etc.

: Fate, conspiracies and sweets.
1. Do you have a dream you will always strive to achieve until your dying day? Yes.
2. Do you believe in fate or free will, or something else? Some combination of the two. There are many things within our control and many things not within our control.
3. Marilyn Monroe. Conspiracy or tragic accident? Tragic accident.
4. Favourite childhood sweets/candy? Mounds Bars and Junior Mints.
5. Favourite cocktail (alcoholic or virgin) and its ingredients? Depending on whether I'm drinking alone or in company and with or without food, very weak pina colada (watered-down rum, pineapple juice, cream of coconut, very little ice) or a screaming orgasm without the vodka and diluted with milk (Bailey's Irish Cream, Amaretto, Kahlua).

While I have you back here where my children are highly unlikely to look, the archive for , the Aubrey/Maturin fan fiction community, is in urgent need of a new home, as the previous host can no longer afford it the space or bandwidth. There are more details in this post. I can't offer to host it as I don't have the space and I am trying to get all fan fiction off my personal domain anyway, but I wondered whether anyone here knew where the archive might find a permanent home -- it's not very large and the fandom is relatively small, so this wouldn't be like hosting an archive for a big Harry Potter pairing! And you would be doing O'Brian slash fans a very great service!

And speaking of fic, I must recommend that Lupin/Snape fans go look up , whose wonderful Lupin stories I have been beta reading, which has been pure pleasure.