Friday, October 22, 2010

Poem for Friday and Brookfield Pumpkins

The Great Hunt
By Carl Sandburg


I cannot tell you now;
    When the wind’s drive and whirl
    Blow me along no longer,
    And the wind’s a whisper at last—
Maybe I’ll tell you then—
                                some other time.

    When the rose’s flash to the sunset
    Reels to the rack and the twist,
    And the rose is a red bygone,
    When the face I love is going
    And the gate to the end shall clang,
    And it’s no use to beckon or say, "So long"—
Maybe I'll tell you then—
                                some other time.

I never knew any more beautiful than you:
    I have hunted you under my thoughts,
    I have broken down under the wind
    And into the roses looking for you.
     I shall never find any
                                greater than you.

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I got to see Hufflepants! She was en route to DC, so we met at Wheaton Plaza and had lunch, plus some shopping -- the JCPenney in the mall does not have sofa slipcovers in stock, and though the Target does, they were all either beige twill which would boys would stain in two days or stretch velour which cats would shed all over in two seconds. I tried getting a couple of cheap microfiber throws to see whether they would cover enough of the sofa and loveseat to make replacing the slipcovers unnecessary, but they really don't...and microfiber is an even bigger cat fur magnet than velour. Other than that failure, though, it was a good shopping day: $1 Halloween socks, little trick-or-treat boxes of Junior Mints, nothing that cost more than $6 total including lunch (Sbarro's spinach calzone). And Hufflepants brought me a pirate grog glass from the Outer Banks, which I got even though I forgot various things I had for her, including a duvet cover she had generously loaned my cats!

It was a relatively quiet evening for everyone but the cats, who have still not forgiven me for removing the microfiber throws from the sofas (the regular ratty slipcovers are in the wash so they are having to make do with crocheted afghans on the sofas, the horror). We watched $&!# My Dad Says, which had even more gay jokes than the gay restaurant episode -- Shatner's character pretended to be the lover of a dead man who wasn't gay and his son kissed a man to get over his jealousy that his wife once kissed the same man, so he could conclude that it was revolting, and I really wish this show would fire the writing staff so I could keep watching Shatner -- then Nikita, which I am enjoying a lot (sorry, people who think USA's version is the only version ever worth watching, but I think you are depriving yourselves of a show with several terrific complicated female characters).


My family with the Halloween pumpkins we will be carving next week.


We picked them at Brookfield Pumpkins, which has fields of pumpkins, squash and gourds, last weekend on the Frederick County farm tour.


Guests ride out to the fields on a hayride with gorgeous views of the nearby Appalachian foothills...


...and gorgeous views of many, many pumpkins.


During the harvest season, they also have animals in pens for guests to visit, including goats...


...calves like this one, who tried to eat my sweatshirt when I went to pet her...


...some of the farm's chickens, who were happily eating some of the farm's recently-harvested corn...


...and piggies, who were happy to eat anything they were offered!

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