Poem for Thursday

Country Fair
By Charles Simic

If you didn't see the six-legged dog,
It doesn't matter.
We did, and he mostly lay in the corner.
As for the extra legs,

One got used to them quickly
And thought of other things.
Like, what a cold, dark night
To be out at the fair.

Then the keeper threw a stick
And the dog went after it
On four legs, the other two flapping behind,
Which made one girl shriek with laughter.

She was drunk and so was the man
Who kept kissing her neck.
The dog got the stick and looked back at us.
And that was the whole show.

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I lost a big chunk of Wednesday to a migraine. An inexplicable one, since it's not that time of the month, there isn't a weather front moving in till tomorrow and I can't think of anything I ate that would have been a likely trigger -- no alcohol, no significant amounts of corn syrup or caffeine. Before that, I took Daisy to the vet for her last FLV shot, driving to the vet in the middle of farm country on the far side of Seneca, past old barns and new, phenomenally expensive houses. The woman there with her dog before me spent a lot of time talking to the vet about Indian spirituality and animals, which was kind of interesting to overhear though she was awfully well-dressed, hair bleached, etc. for someone so dedicated to giving up personal possessions.


Kids making a scarecrow at the Agricultural History Farm Park's harvest festival.


People were invited to bring discarded clothes and stockings, or get some for a small donation.


The bluegrass band in the barn.


Barn and silo.


One of the cabin sheds on the property.


Horseshoes evolved into fish -- that's exactly how the blacksmith explained it. *g*


A historic tractor.



Like I said, I was half-blind for most of the afternoon and got pretty much nothing done besides sleeping, waiting for the Imitrex to kick in. Younger son probably played too much Runescape and did too little reading but I couldn't manage to look over his shoulder. We had chicken korma and chana masala for dinner, which cleared my sinuses, and watched Pushing Daisies which is easily my favorite show of the new season -- clever, funny, well-acted and heartwarming in a very twisted way. My favorite line in the episode was Olive's reply to being told that medicine was homeopathic -- "Meaning it relates to gay people?" -- but the whole plot with Ned having bought Chuck a "Be kind to animals, kiss a beaver" shirt when they were eight and Chuck playing Winnie the Pooh with Emerson made me howl too. (How does a dead woman afford Chuck's clothes?)

And there are just so funny lines: "My Dad gave me a watch just like that!" "Stealing from a pirate who already stole is still stealing!" "What part of 'do not resuscitate' don't you people understand?" And the aunts calling the pie-maker "Beaver Boy" and the last line visible in the written death threat, "Looking forward to killing you." And the Chinese guy wanting to honor his ancestor by being a Civil War reenactor, and Ned retorting, "I wanted to be a Jedi." And really the whole can't-kiss-without-plastic-wrap device is charming...the ultimate in safe sex, which means their relationship is totally about love, not lust. It's completely charming.

Also sort of watched Bionic Woman because the kids were watching, but really that show isn't grabbing me at all...maybe it's suffering from being on after Pushing Daisies but it's not a good La Femme Nikita ripoff nor a satisfying remake so far as I'm concerned. I like the actors, but the writing really leaves a lot to be desired, and Katie Sackhoff continues to blow Michelle Ryan away. Drifted off to South Sydney Story, where Russell is delightful as always but I really need a "Rugby For Americans" primer because I can't figure out how the game is played! ("It's not a fluffy white bunny, it's a black rabbit, and black rabbits eat people. Anyone who's a fan of Monty Python knows that.")