Poem for Wednesday

Charades
By Edward Hirsch

We waited on two sides of the subway tracks:
you were riding uptown and I was heading downtown
to a different apartment, after all these years.

We were almost paralyzed, as anxious
travelers surged around us in waves,
and then you started to pantomime.

First, you touched your right eye.
Then you palmed your left knee.
Finally, you pointed at me.

I made of a sign of understanding
back to you but the train suddenly roared
into the station and you disappeared.

--------

It was a better day than Monday, though my children might disagree; on the positive side, the pool was open so they got to swim, but on the negative side, they both had their annual check-ups and Daniel needed two shots while Adam needed three (including tetanus, which I recall from recent experience is very uncomfortable and continues to be so for several days). To add to the indignity, the doctor predicted that based on the growth curve, Daniel will probably be 6 feet tall, whereas Adam will probably be a couple of inches shorter. They're both right on average for weight for kids their age and had no suspicious conditions otherwise, phew! To console them after this woe, we met Paul for lunch at Minerva, the awesome Indian restaurant, and they got to play video games while waiting for the food to digest before going to the pool. I had a good day just because Plaxo worked perfectly and my calendars are all in sync and I am absurdly relieved about this!


The Boyds Bear Country barn in Gettysburg was closed for several months for redecorating, and now there are new displays.


For one thing, there's a lot more non-Boyds merchandise; most of the second floor has animals and dolls from other designers, like these witches.


There are still seasonal bears, particularly for Christmas, Easter and Halloween, like this devil-bat-ghost trio...


...and the inevitable year-round Christmas bear display.


There's also a larger upstairs stage where there used to be a photo station, which had a live country band while we were there.


Plus a cozy fireplace with big couches to sit on, surrounded by bears. All right, so the fireplace doesn't work!


And the penguins are even more prominently displayed.


Apparently it was a big renovation project that took work from everyone.

I finally caught up on the two first season Torchwood episodes I had never seen -- "They Keep Killing Suzie," which I had avoided because a couple of people told me they thought I would really dislike it (it definitely wasn't my favorite but I enjoyed it vastly more than "Countrycide," particularly Gwen's role), and "Random Shoes," which I really loved (again, Gwen more than anyone else, though there is a lovely Jack/Ianto moment in there). Have spent the evening watching the Celtics blow out the Lakers and working on trip planning stuff. We will be right near this Utah dinosaur discovery, though it sounds like they don't want people around -- Goblin Valley State Park, where Galaxy Quest's battle with cute little aliens was filmed, is close by. Wednesday I must prepare for even more woe and misery, as the cats are going to the vet for their shots!