Poem for Friday

Sea Rose
By H.D.

Rose, harsh rose
marred and with stint of petals,
meagre flower, thin,
sparse of leaf,

more precious
than a wet rose
single on a stem --
you are caught in the drift.

Stunted, with small leaf,
you are flung on the sand,
you are lifted
in the crisp sand
that drives in the wind.

Can the spice-rose
drip such acrid fragrance
hardened in a leaf?

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I got to have lunch with Perkypaduan, who told me that there were Sanrio watches in the Happy Meals at McDonald's, so even though I could not bear the thought of eating McDonald's food and went next door to get sushi, I asked her to pick me up a Hello Kitty watch! We brought the food back to my house and watched the three episodes of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys that introduced Xena -- "The Warrior Princess," "The Gauntlet," and "Unchained Heart." I hadn't seen them before, and off the top of my head, I can't think of a more homoerotic episode of Hercules than "The Warrior Princess" -- Herc's obsession with Iolaus and conviction that Xena must be a bad influence even before he knows what she's up to would be irksome if it weren't played so transparently like lovesickness. I'm tempted to go see if there's fan fiction from that far back in which the three of them live happily ever after together.


Poor cats suffer greatly when the weather turns cold.


Daisy sneaks onto the heating vent under the desk just before being booted.


Cinnamon's preferred snuggle spot is inside the fishie cat bed...


...while Rosie will often opt for a pile of afghans, assuming there is no lap available for a long nap.


However, evil visitors to the bird feeder will bring all three cats to the back window.


Daisy is always terribly distressed when she finds doves resting on the deck railing.


But Daisy is also perfectly content to play mountain goat and climb up on someone's back while he or she is leaning over the kitchen table and will try to nap there if not booted hastily.

In the evening after everyone finished his homework, we watched Bottle Shock, which I had almost watched with until we opted for Herc/Xena. I was in an Alan Rickman mood, for which I blame Lindsay Duncan, since I was reading an interview in which she said of Les Liaisons Dangereuses -- which made them both famous -- that after seeing the play, everyone left the theater wanting to have sex, and most people wanted to have it with Alan Rickman. I know I'm supposed to think that Sideways is the deep and profound movie about Napa Valley, but I find that one sexist and somewhat annoying, whereas Bottle Shock is largely just fun. Plus there's a documentary about oenophilia at Chateau Montelena on the DVD that's very interesting to a novice like me.