Poem for Saturday

Understanding
By Constantine Cavafy
Translated by John Ioannidis

The years of my youth, my sensual life --
how clearly I see their meaning now.

What needless repentances, how futile...
But I did not understand the meaning then.

In the dissolute life of my youth
the desires of my poetry were being formed,
the scope of my art was being plotted.

This is why my repentances were never stable.
And my resolutions to control myself, to change
lasted for two weeks at the very most.

--------

My day was mostly taken up with pre-trip chores -- picking up prescriptions, getting Adam's braces adjusted, taking the kids to California Tortilla for lunch, shopping for necessities, packing, writing a review of "Sins of the Father". Reading in disgust about John Edwards and being so very grateful that he was out of the race before doing any damage. Watching the Olympic opening ceremonies (absolutely no comment on US outfits) while organizing toiletries. Nearly everyone I know fannishly is either at the Harry Potter convention in Chicago or the Star Trek convention in Las Vegas this weekend, so I assume few people are reading this anyway!


Monkeys in the fantastic Lied Jungle at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo.


Also in the jungle exhibit, Asian tapirs...


...and scarlet macaws.


In the desert dome, rock hyraxes...


...and a sub-Saharan boomslang (whose skin is hopefully safe here from harvesting for Polyjuice potion).


Parakeets -- or budgerigars, depending on where you're from -- in the Budgie Encounter.


Flamingos below the trees and cattle egrets in nests in the trees in the aviary.


And in their enclosure outside the Scott Aquarium, little blue penguins.

The Friday Five: Memories
1. Smells, and memories. Do you have a scent that when you smell it, brings up a memory? Do share. Lots. Juniper bushes are being in my great aunt and uncle's backyard, Chinese food lunch trucks are being in front of my college library, anything sulfuric makes me think of being in Yellowstone.
2. Songs. Is there a particular song that brings back happy memories? Song title and memory, if you care to share that much. Again, lots. "Y.M.C.A." is several different weddings and Bar Mitzvahs, "Uncle John's Band" is driving on vacation, "These Are Days" is the summer I was pregnant with my first child.
3. How about a song that brings up painful memories? Song title and memory, if you care to share that much. "Dream On." Bad month.
4. Food. Is there a certain food that conjures up memories? Matzoh ball soup is my grandmothers, peanut noodles are summers between school years, chocolate chip pancakes are after midnight at IHOP when I had a movie to review in college.
5. Clothing? Do you have an item of clothing or if you see a certain item, does it make you think of a time/place or person? A lot of my favorite clothes were gifts -- some from my mother, some from Gblvr, some from DementorDelta, some from MamaDracula -- so they make me think of when they gave them to me and places we went together.

Fannish 5: Five reasons your OTP/a favorite pairing belong together.
Should I write about Kirk/Spock or Aubrey/Maturin? Oh, how about both?
1. Complementary personality types.
2. Common interests with different areas of expertise about them.
3. Logic-intution balance.
4. Extrovert-introvert balance.
5. Great mutual respect, affection, joy in one another's lives.

We are leaving Saturday morning for the beach in Delaware, stopping at several places on Maryland's Eastern Shore! PerkyPaduan has another date with my cats!