Poem for Tuesday and Saturday Festivities

The Cucumber
By Nazim Hikmet

          for Ekber Babayev

The snow is knee-deep in the courtyard
and still coming down hard:
it hasn't let up all morning.
We're in the kitchen.  On the table, on the oilcloth, spring –
on the table there's a very tender young cucumber,
                                  pebbly and fresh as a daisy.
We're sitting around the table staring at it.
It softly lights up our faces,
and the very air smells fresh.
We're sitting around the table staring at it,
amazed
         thoughtful
                     optimistic.
We're as if in a dream.
On the table, on the oilcloth, hope –
on the table, beautiful days,
a cloud seeded with a green sun,
an emerald crowd impatient and on its way,
loves blooming openly –
on the table, there on the oilcloth, a very tender young
                                                                         cucumber,
                                             pebbly and fresh as a daisy.
The snow is knee-deep in the courtyard
and coming down hard.
It hasn't let up all morning.

--------

Gblvr and I met for Lebanese Taverna and a bit of shopping, by which I mean we went to look at jewelry in Of Kindred Spirits, then to Michael's, where we both bought beads (I had a coupon for half off anything, so I got one of those big sets of glass seed beads cheap, yay)! Then we went our separate ways and she took photos for her Etsy store (now live, yay, go look) and I took apart three pairs of earrings I haven't worn in years (Chalice Well, Celtic knots, peace signs) and put them back together with some color, so it's like having new earrings. Plus I made a pair with Swarovski crystals and miniature crystal balls, which are very shiny -- I needed something to wear to Deathly Hallows next week! Here are some more photos from my busy Saturday visiting festivals and parks:


Carpenter Michael Cavagnaro makes a wooden pen on a lathe at the Agricultural Farm Park's Blacksmiths & Friends event.


There was a craft display in the barn, including jewelry, dolls, holiday decorations, and wood decoys.


And behind the barn were goats. Signs warned that the goats might bite or kick, but they mostly maaaaaed and ate grass out of people's hands instead.


Earlier we went the annual Swedish Bazaar at St. James' Episcopalian Church.


There are always many stuffed reindeer as well as straw animals and Pippi Longstocking.


The model train show at Damascus Library had a large Lego display...


...where Thomas the Tank Engine shared table space with Star Wars speeders and Toy Story spaceships.


We ended up at Black Hill Regional Park, where many geese, ducks, blue jays, finches, etc. tried to convince us that they were starving and we should feed them, despite the numerous bird feeders around.

After dinner -- (fake) chicken parmesan with spaghetti -- we watched the first episode of National Geographic's Great Migrations, which is fantastic -- wonderful story on elephant seal dives, moving story about a group's attempt to tag elephants with transmitters to send text messages to warn people when they'd be coming around, and lots of gratuitous penguins -- we decided to try to catch up on The Sarah Jane Adventures with "Vault of Secrets" -- not my favorite episode story-wise, but the many references to other sci-fi franchises made up for it ("Prepare to be incinerated." "Here come Mulder and Scully."), and, even given how badly Rani's mother is written, better connections between characters than Doctor Who managed most of last season. I wonder how I'll like Matt Smith with Elisabeth Sladen...