Poem for Saturday

The House
By Richard Wilbur

Sometimes, on waking, she would close her eyes
For a last look at that white house she knew
In sleep alone, and held no title to,
And had not entered yet, for all her sighs.
What did she tell me of that house of hers?
White gatepost; terrace; fanlight of the door;
A widow's walk above the bouldered shore;
Salt winds that ruffle the surrounding firs.
Is she now there, wherever there may be?
Only a foolish man would hope to find
That haven fashioned by her dreaming mind.
Night after night, my love, I put to sea.

--------

From this week's New Yorker.

We had an enormous thunderstorm in the late morning, so not a lot of excitement went on here. I couldn't send the kids to the pool, so they played some video games and rode their scooters and finished the last of their summer homework -- younger son has his first official day of school on Monday, older son on Tuesday. While they were distracted, I wrote a review of Next Gen's "Hero Worship" and tried to distract the cats, who were convinced that, since the boys were home, it must be time to eat.


Tents overlook the river in the reconstructed Continental Army encampment at Yorktown Victory Center.


These are the luxury quarters -- the general's tent -- in the center of the camp.


And on the general's desk, this is a map of the region as it looked during the American Revolution.


The soldiers slept six to a tent. They must have been practically on top of each other. Of course, in cold weather that might not have been so bad.


Reenactors talked about camp life, food, travel, uniforms, and other aspects of soldiers' lives.


It was too hot on the afternoon we were there for a full demonstration of the cooking fire.


Congressional rulings and proclamations were posted near where the soldiers slept.


One of the principal causes of the war -- the stamp placed on imported printed goods, books, licenses, even playing cards.

Fannish 5: Name five effective uses of songs in movies or tv shows.
It was incredibly difficult to limit this to five. I mean, I didn't get Boston Legal or Due South in, and they've both had very deserving moments. But if I must limit it to five:
1. "Come And Go With Me To That Land" by Jesse L. Martin, The X-Files, "The Unnatural" -- when Mulder and Scully are hitting baseballs together after learning the truth out there about Josh Exley.
2. "Full of Grace" by Sarah McLachlan, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Becoming, Part Two" -- when Buffy leaves Sunnydale after losing everyone and everything.
3. "Promise Me This" by Pancho's Lament, Dawson's Creek, "True Love" -- when Dawson realizes that Joey is miserable without Pacey.
4. "Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves" by Lucy Lawless, Xena: Warrior Princess, "Lyre, Lyre, Hearts on Fire" -- when Xena's mother is trying to convince her to find a man.
5. "I Grieve" by Peter Gabriel, Smallville, "Reckoning" -- Jonathan Kent's funeral.

No Friday Five today. We had dinner with my parents (Chinese food, at younger son's request, never my favorite but the lo mein was pretty good), then came home and watched Sixteen Candles in honor of John Hughes -- still funny in a lot of inappropriate ways, and a weird movie to watch with one's children when one was about the same age as the main characters when the movie was new. I forgot how atrociously Caroline was treated, and having my memory refreshed on that reminded me how sexist I found most John Hughes movies which is why I haven't watched any in years and years. Ah well, artifact of my youth.