Poem for Monday and Scotts Run

"I'm afraid of death"
By Kathleen Ossip

I'm afraid of death
because it inflates
the definition
of what a person
is, or love, until
they become the same,
love, the beloved,
immaterial.

I'm afraid of death
because it invents
a different kind of
time, a stopped clock
that can't be reset,
only repurchased,
an antiquity.

I'm afraid of death,
the magician who
makes vanish and who
makes odd things appear
in odd places--your
name engraves itself
on a stranger's chest
in letters of char.

--------

Our morning was spent doing chores -- Adam had to get forms signed for school, Daniel needed his new linens washed, things like that. Then, since it was Daniel's last full day at home, we all went out to Minerva for Indian buffet for lunch and ate lots -- they had more vegetarian choices than ever before, plus Tandoori eggs. After a couple of shopping stops, we went to hike to the river at Scotts Run, having realized that we might not be able to get everyone there in the fall for the annual family photo and wanting to do it while we had the opportunity, even if it will have greener leaves than usual!


A dog enjoying the creek at Scotts Run...


...and a snake enjoying the sun.


We had to climb over and around the branches of a big tree down across the path.


But we made it to the Potomac.


Here is Scotts Run falling to the river.


There were damselflies above the water...


...and toads hiding in the woods.


A variation on the annual family Scotts Run photo.

We came home and watched the end of the Saints-Texans game, sent Adam off to go swimming with a friend since he'd finished his summer homework, and had a small dinner since we were all still full from lunch. Then we put on the VMA Awards -- Daniel wanted to see Daft Punk, I wanted to see N'Sync, Paul wanted to see what was the silliest performance -- but after Miley Cyrus and the bears, we couldn't take any more and switched to this week's episode of The White Queen (wow it's hard not to hate Margaret), then the end of the 49ers-Vikings game. We did not see the Orioles win or the Nationals lose!