Friday, July 08, 2011

Poem for Friday and Fort McHenry Festivities

Miracles
By Walt Whitman


Why, who makes much of a miracle?
As to me I know of nothing else but miracles,
Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,
Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,
Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of
   the water,
Or stand under trees in the woods,
Or talk by day with any one I love, or sleep in the bed at night
   with any one I love,
Or sit at table at dinner with the rest,
Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car,
Or watch honey-bees busy around the hive of a summer
   forenoon,
Or animals feeding in the fields,
Or birds, or the wonderfulness of insects in the air,
Or the wonderfulness of the sundown, or of stars shining so
   quiet and bright,
Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in spring;
These with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles,
The whole referring, yet each distinct and in its place.

To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,
Every cubic inch of space is a miracle,
Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with
   the same,
Every foot of the interior swarms with the same.

To me the sea is a continual miracle,
The fishes that swim—the rocks—the motion of the waves—
   the ships with men in them,
What stranger miracles are there?

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My big goal for Thursday was to get to the Vera Bradley fall release party at Tiara Galleries. Daniel's big goal for Thursday was to get an EVGA GTX 550 Ti and an Asus PCE-N13, which I gather are a graphics card and a wireless connector card respectively; he explained to me several times why the graphics card that came with his computer and the USB wireless connector we already had were not up to speed, but I am still confused. Still, the fact that he wanted to go out for those despite his recent dental surgery meant that I could get a Happy Snails Life in Progress notebook for free, so that was a worthwhile shopping trip for both of us. (Adam was out running with friends.)

Plus I got to have dinner with Gblvr and Wolfshark! I was craving samosa chaat, so I had that instead of crepes for a change, and we walked around the mall and tried on shoes and I got a long Viva la Vera lanyard to clip onto my tech case, so it was a very Vera Bradley day for me. In the evening we watched an animated Star Trek episode of which I had absolutely no memory, then a fabulous Nat Geo Wild show about the Galapagos Islands and Darwin, then this week's hilarious Futurama which skewers several sci-fi cop movies. Here are some more photos from the Fourth of July at Fort McHenry in Baltimore:


A reenactor leads a reading of the Declaration of Independence...


...at Fort McHenry for Independence Day.


The flag is a replica of the one Francis Scott Key saw flying over the fort when he composed "The Star Spangled Banner."


He was being held on a ship in the Patapsco River during the War of 1812.


The reenators provided water for a toast, not being allowed to serve alcohol...


...and fired one of the cannons under the supervision of the park rangers.


There were playing cards and dominoes so visitors could enjoy the pastimes of soldiers.


Most of the cannons that ring the fort date not to the War of 1812, but the Civil War.

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