Poem for Thursday, P&P, Kenilworth Insects

What Best I See In Thee
By Walt Whitman

What best I see in thee,
Is not that where thou mov'st down history's great highways,
Ever undimm'd by time shoots warlike victory's dazzle,
Or that thou sat'st where Washington sat, ruling the land in peace,
Or thou the man whom feudal Europe feted, venerable Asia, swarm'd upon,
Who walk'd with kings with even pace the round world's promenade;
But that in foreign lands, in all thy walks with kings,
Those prairie sovereigns of the West, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois,
Ohio's, Indiana's millions, comrades, farmers, soldiers, all to the front,
Invisibly with thee walking with kings with even pace the round world's promenade,
We all so justified.

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Younger son had his annual physical today so he could get his forms signed for cross country season (the good news as far as he's concerned: no shots). He drove me there and back, then drove us to the mall for froyo as a substitute for a late lunch, where we ran into my mother and one of her friends and talked to them for a while before checking out Urban Outfitters' sale shelves (as one of my Facebook friends says, the salespeople there look at me like I have Old People Smell). Meanwhile older son had lunch with my father.

It was a bonanza afternoon walking in the woods and through the neighborhood: eight bunnies, two adult deer and a fawn, several chipmunks, two pileated woodpeckers, and a racooon (who ran into a drainpipe as soon as he saw me). We watched the Keira Knightley Pride and Prejudice in the evening because was in the mood for it after the special on Chatsworth that we watched the other night, but it still doesn't compare with the miniseries. Here are some insects from Kenilworth Water Gardens (don't worry, no spiders):